Several killed in Hurricane Milton sweeping Florida

Several people were killed, homes were destroyed, and more than two million homes were without power in the US state of Florida as a result of Hurricane Milton.'We are not going to get into how many, but I can tell you its more than one person who has lost their life that we already recovered,' St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told CNN, adding that hundreds of homes were 'completely totaled' by tornadoes across the county.The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the hurricane's wind speed reached 193 km/h, as it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, making it one of the most dangerous hurricanes the region has recently faced, along with heavy rains and dangerously high tides.The NHC expected Hurricane Milton to move from the Gulf Coast of Florida across the state towards the Atlantic Ocean, with severe destruction occurring offshore.The hurricane caused severe storm surges in parts of Florida, with water levels rising rapidly, causing massive flooding.US authorities have called on millions of residents to evacuate their homes, adding that there have been reports of traffic jams and fuel shortages.Hurricane Milton arrived just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene hit Florida and other southeastern states, leaving extensive destruction and casualties.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692295/international/several-killed-in-hurricane-milton-sweeping-florida

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon target critical civilian infrastructure : OCHA

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that Israeli occupation's airstrikes on Lebanon have increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure.In a statement on Wednesday, OCHA warned that Lebanon's humanitarian crisis is deteriorating at an alarming rate.'Israeli airstrikes have not only intensified but also expanded into previously unaffected areas and increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure,' OCHA said in the statement.'The relentless bombardment is amplifying the suffering of vulnerable populations,' it added.In a single day Oct. 6, more than 30 airstrikes struck the Beirut southern suburbs and surrounding areas frightening residents and forcing additional displacement from densely populated areas, including Shatila Palestine refugee camp.On Tuesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported that the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 2023 has resulted in 2,141 deaths and 10,099 injuries.In recent days, the Israeli entity has significantly intensified its aerial and artillery bombardment and expanded its targets to include the capital, Beirut, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries and forcing over a million people to flee their homes.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692293/international/israeli-airstrikes-on-lebanon-target-critical-civilian-infrastructure-ocha

Five dead after Russian missile attack on Odesa Region's Port: Ukraine

Ukraine has announced that five people were killed and nine were injured as a result of a Russian ballistic missile strike targeting the port infrastructure in Odesa region, southern Ukraine.Five dead and nine injured is the consequence of yet another ballistic missile attack by Russia on the port infrastructure in Odesa region, the Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine Oleksiy Kuleba said in Telegram post.During the attack, a civilian vessel flying the flag of Panama - the container ship Shui Spirit - was damaged, he added.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692292/international/five-dead-after-russian-missile-attack-on-odesa-regions-port-ukraine

International conference on Lebanon to be held on Oct. 24 : French Foreign Ministry

The French Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the international conference on Lebanon, announced by President Emmanuel Macron, will be held on Oct. 24.The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that this ministerial conference will bring together Lebanon's partner countries, the United Nations, the European Union, international and regional organizations, and civil society.It added that the conference aims to mobilize the ranks of the international community to respond to the urgent protection and relief needs of the Lebanese people, and to identify ways to support Lebanese institutions, especially the Lebanese Armed Forces, which guarantee internal stability in the country.The ministry stressed that in the face of a serious and profound political and humanitarian crisis, France will recall through this conference the urgent need to stop the fighting and reach a diplomatic solution based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and allow the safe return of the displaced to their homes, noting that electing a president in Lebanon is the first step towards the return of regular political institutions.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692287/international/international-conference-on-lebanon-to-be-held-on-oct-24-french-foreign-ministry

Duo win Physics Nobel Prize for ‘foundational’ AI breakthroughs

US scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.The pair’s research on neural networks in the 1980s paved the way for technology that promises to revolutionise society but has also raised apocalyptic fears.Hinton has been widely credited as a “godfather” of AI and made headlines when he quit his job at Google last year to be able to more easily speak about the dangers of the technology he had pioneered.“We have no experience of what it’s like to have things smarter than us,” Hinton said over the phone to the Nobel press conference, speaking from a hotel in California.“It’s going to be wonderful in many respects, in areas like healthcare,” Hinton said. “But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences. Particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.”Hopfield, 91, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.“When you get systems that are rich enough in complexity and size, they can have properties which you can’t possibly intuit from the elementary particles you put in there,” he said in a press conference convened by Princeton. “You have to say that system contains some new physics.”He echoed Hinton’s concerns, saying there was something unnerving about the unknown potential and limits of AI.“One is accustomed to having technologies which are not singularly only good or only bad, but have capabilities in both directions,” he said.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it awarded the prize to the two men because they used “tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning” that is “revolutionising science, engineering and daily life”.The award comes with a prize sum of 11mn Swedish crowns ($1.1mn) which is shared by the two winners.British-born Hinton, 76, now professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, invented a method that can autonomously find properties in data and carry out tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures, the academy said. – Reuters/AFP

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692224/international/duo-win-physics-nobel-prize-for-foundational-ai-breakthroughs

Qatar, France launch joint humanitarian aid to Lebanon

Qatar and France on Tuesday launched joint humanitarian aid to Lebanon. A Qatari and a French aircraft carrying aid including medical supplies, medication and shelter equipment provided by the State of Qatar and the French Republic arrived in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.This aid comes within the framework of the strategic partnership between Qatar and France aimed at supporting those affected by the recent developments in Lebanon.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692204/qatar/qatar-france-launch-joint-humanitarian-aid-to-lebanon

Nobel prize in physics goes to machine learning pioneers

Prize awarded for work laying foundation for machine learningHinton quit Google last year to speak more freely about dangers of AIPrinceton professor Hopfield created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct imagesPhysics second award in this year's Nobel line-upPrizes announced through course of weekUS scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries and inventions that laid the foundation for machine learning, the award-giving body said on Tuesday. Hinton has been widely credited as a godfather of artificial intelligence and made headlines when he quit his job at Google last year to be able to more easily speak about the dangers of the technology he had pioneered.'We have no experience of what it's like to have things smarter than us,' Hinton said over the phone to the Nobel press conference, speaking from a hotel in California.'It's going to be wonderful in many respects, in areas like healthcare,' Hinton said. 'But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences. Particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.'Hopfield, 91, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prize, said.'This year's two Nobel Laureates in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today's powerful machine learning,' the academy said in a statement.'Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionising science, engineering and daily life.'The award comes with a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) which is shared by the two winners.British-born Hinton, 76, now professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, invented a method that can autonomously find properties in data and carry out tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures, the academy added.Though he quit Google in 2023 after realising computers could become smarter than people far sooner than he and other experts had expected, Hinton said the company itself acted very responsibly.Hinton also said that he regretted some of his research, but that he acted on the information he had at the time.'In the same circumstances I would do the same again,' he told the Nobel press conference. 'But I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control.'Asked about the concerns surrounding machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence, Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said: 'While machine learning has enormous benefits, its rapid development has also raised concerns about our future.'Collectively, humans carry the responsibility for using this new technology in a safe and ethical way, for the greatest benefit of humankind.' Widely considered the most prestigious award for physicists across the world, the prize was created, along with awards for achievements in science, literature and peace, in the will of Alfred Nobel.The prizes have been awarded with a few interruptions since 1901, though the Nobel economics honour is a later addition in memory of the Swedish businessman and philanthropist, who had made a fortune from his invention of dynamite.Outside the sometimes controversial choices for peace and literature, physics often makes the biggest splash among the prizes, with the list of past winners featuring scientific superstars such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi. Last year's physics prize was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier for their work in creating ultra-short pulses of light that can give a snapshot of changes within atoms, potentially improving the detection of diseases. Physics is the second Nobel to be awarded this week, after US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the medicine prize for their discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation, shedding light on how cells specialise.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692167/international/uslatin-america/nobel-prize-in-physics-goes-to-machine-learning-pioneers

Occupation will eventually pay price for Gaza genocide : Turkish President

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Israel will eventually pay the price for the genocide that has been going on in Gaza for a year.'Exactly 365 days ago, 50,000 of our brothers and sisters, mostly children and women, were brutally murdered,' Erdogan wrote in an X post.'Hospitals, places of worship belonging to different faiths, and schools in Gaza are no longer standing. Many journalists, representatives of civil society organizations and ambassadors of peace are no longer among us,' he added.'What is dying in Gaza, Palestine, and nowadays in Lebanon is not just women, children, babies, innocent civilians; it is humanity (and) the international system that is expected to serve humanity,' he wrote on X.'For a year, what has been killed before the eyes of the world is humanity itself and all of humanity's hopes for the future,' he said, stressing that Israel's policy of genocide and occupation must come to an end.'A world in which no account is held for the Gaza genocide will ever find peace,' President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692153/international/occupation-will-eventually-pay-price-for-gaza-genocide-turkish-president

UN High Commissioner calls for greater international support to stem humanitarian catastrophe in Lebanon

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called on Sunday for greater international support to stem the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Lebanon.'Two weeks of deadly Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds and forced over a million people to flee their homes,' according to a press release issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).'I've witnessed today the tragic toll this war is taking on entire communities,' said Grandi, adding 'International humanitarian law must be respected and cannot be ignored. Families have been left homeless, stranded in the open air with traumatized children unable to understand what's happening.'People should not pay the price for the abysmal failure to find political solutions and end this vicious cycle of violence, Grandi said.With large numbers of people displaced within the country in just two weeks, government-run shelters are overwhelmed, UNHCR said in the press release, stressing that the international community must significantly increase funding in order for humanitarians to respond adequately.Lebanon is facing a large-scale Israeli aggression that has targeted numerous towns and villages along the border, as well as critical infrastructure, resulting in thousands of Lebanese civilian casualties. The attacks have also forced over a million people to flee their homes.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692087/international/un-high-commissioner-calls-for-greater-international-support-to-stem-humanitarian-catastrophe-in-lebanon

Biden orders more troops to help North Carolina recovery efforts

US President Joe Biden said yesterday that he has ordered another 500 active-duty troops to move into western North Carolina and assist with the response and recovery efforts after the deadly and devastating Hurricane Helene.“With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and more than 7,000 federal personnel – my administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” Biden said in a statement.He also said that he is being briefed on tropical storm Milton as it strengthened across the Gulf of Mexico.The potentially devastating storm barrelled toward the Florida coast yesterday, as the head of the US disaster relief agency lashed out at a “dangerous” misinformation war being waged over the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said Milton intensified into a Category 1 hurricane yesterday with maximum sustained winds of 80mph (130kph).Milton was churning in the Gulf of Mexico, west-southwest of Tampa, with nothing but 800 miles of warm ocean between it and the Florida coast – an area still reeling from Helene’s catastrophic winds and storm surge.It could hit by midweek as a major storm, the NHC said.Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said that the federal authorities were “absolutely ready” for Milton.“We will move resources in there to support their needs,” she told ABC’s This Week.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis upped the number of counties under a state of emergency to 51 ahead of the storm.Helene roared into the Florida coastline as a Category 4 storm on September 26 and carved a path of destruction inland to the Appalachian mountains, dumping torrential rainfall and flash flooding on remote towns in states such as North Carolina.The storm has killed more than 220 people – making it the deadliest natural disaster to hit the United States since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina – with the toll still rising.Relief workers are racing to find survivors and to get power and drinking water to mountainous communities cut off by the devastation.However, that effort has been hit by a wave of false claims and conspiracy theories.Among the litany of disinformation is the lie pushed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that funding for relief has been misappropriated by his rival for the White House, Democrat Kamala Harris, and redirected toward migrants.“It’s frankly ridiculous and just plain false ... it’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people,” Criswell told ABC.It is a “truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help”, she said.ABC reported that law enforcement is monitoring threats made toward FEMA officials and other recovery agencies that were prompted by the disinformation.In addition to Trump’s false claim, the Washington Post reported yesterday on a series of other lies swirling around Helene that it said were “adding to the chaos and confusion in many storm-battered communities”.They include a false claim that a dam was about to burst, which the Post said prompted hundreds of people to unnecessarily evacuate, and a “troubling” lie that officials planned to bulldoze bodies under the rubble in one North Carolina town.One user suggested “a militia go against FEMA” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, which has received more than half a million views.Asked about that post, Criswell said it “has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees to be able to go out there” and called it “demoralising”.“It’s just, you know, a shame that people are sitting home on their comfortable couches (while) we have thousands of people here on the ground that have left their own families to be able to help those in need,” she said.The FEMA has begun debunking the rumours online, as have authorities in the hard-hit state of North Carolina.Local officials have urged residents to ignore the online falsehoods.“I would encourage the good residents of western North Carolina to turn that garbage off,” one local sheriff said.Much of the focus was on X.Before the platform was purchased by Elon Musk, when it was still known as Twitter, it was a go-to place for disaster co-ordination and information sharing.However, the billionaire has allowed right-wing disinformation and conspiracy theories to flood the platform.“When Musk bought Twitter, there were many of us in the disaster space who warned that there would likely be changes that would make the platform less useful during disasters,” Sam Montano, a disaster expert, told the Post. “I think that we’re seeing that manifest now.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692086/international/biden-orders-more-troops-to-help-north-carolina-recovery-efforts

Thousands stage pro-Palestinian protests worldwide, on eve of Oct 7 anniversary

Protests held in cities from Jakarta to Istanbul to RabatIsrael's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon face international condemnationThousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested in cities around the world on Sunday on the eve of the first anniversary of the war in Gaza.Demonstrations were held in major cities from Jakarta to Istanbul to Rabat, and followed protests on Saturday in major European capitals as well as Washington and New York.'We are here to support the Palestinian resistance,' said protester Ahmet Unal in Istanbul, where thousands assembled.On October 7 last year, Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.Israel's subsequent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and laid waste to the enclave.Israel launched air attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and early on Sunday, the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iranian-backed group Hezbollah last month.In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia at least 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on Sunday morning near the US embassy demanding that Washington stop supplying weapons to Israel.In Sydney, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary, chanting and waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags amid a heavy police presence.One person was arrested for waving an Israeli flag with a swastika in the middle of it instead of the Star of David.In Rabat, thousands of Moroccans marched, calling for a halt to the violence in Gaza and Lebanon, in one of the largest protests in the country since the beginning of the war in Gaza.Protesters demanded an end to Morocco's diplomatic ties with Israel, chanting 'no to normalisation, Palestine is not for sale,' referring to Morocco's establishing of diplomatic relations with Israel.Over the past year, the scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza has prompted some of the biggest global demonstrations in years, including in the US, which saw weeks of pro-Palestinian college campus encampments.Israel has faced wide international condemnation over its actions in Gaza, and now over its bombarding of Lebanon.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692058/region/thousands-stage-pro-palestinian-protests-worldwide-on-eve-of-oct-7-anniversary