Press "Enter" to skip to content

News Brief: August 8 – 12

International

What could be worse than Chernobyl? Zaporizhzhia

Zaporizhzhia would be “bigger than Chernobyl,” according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zaporizhzhia – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – is located in southeast Ukraine and currently occupied by Russia, who seized control of the site in March. Later in July, Russia reportedly brought in rocket launchers, effectively making it a military base.

The site has been shelled multiple times since March, though both sides blaming the other make who is at fault uncertain.

The danger, however, is imminent, prompting foreign entities to speak up.

The US wants a demilitarized area to be established around Zaporizhzhia, while members of the G7 group of industrialized nations said Russia needs to relinquish control of the plant back to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

America’s “Screaming Eagles” Fly to Europe

According to a tweet by USNATO, the U.S. has sent its renowned “Screaming Eagles” – the 101st Airborne Division – to Europe to “reassure our Allies, and deter our adversaries.”

This decision may have been prompted by Kremlin officials who said Russia is effectively fighting a war with NATO on Ukrainian soil.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said with the West arming Ukraine, “NATO is essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy.”

In recent months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of retaliatory strikes against any country that creates a strategic threat to Russia. At the same time, fear of conflict spilling beyond Ukraine’s borders has led to an increased presence of NATO forces in Europe, and the U.S. now contributing its own forces.

The 2,400-strong deployment of U.S. soldiers has been sent to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia to protect NATO’s eastern flank.

What Does Meta’s New AI Have to Say?

Meta – the owners of Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp – released to the public its new AI chatbot prototype “BlenderBot 3” on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022.

The AI derives its answers by “learning” from publicly available language data. This comes at a risk, and has produced some interesting results, but was done for a reason.

The risk is in whether Blenderbot 3 will follow in the footsteps of Microsoft’s Twitter bots, which also learned from its conversations and were subsequently taught to be racist, for which Microsoft issued an apology in 2016.

So far, BlenderBot 3 has told BBC journalists that Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Meta, did a terrible job testifying before Congress, the company he owns exploits people for money, and more. It has also reportedly told The Wall Street Journal Donald Trump was and will always be president of the United States.

It is not perfect. It is a prototype and needs more data to be fully developed, hence its release at this stage.

In the meantime, Meta has tried to implement safeguards and asks for user awareness and responsibility.

National

Attempted Armed Entry at FBI’s Ohio Office

An armed suspect attempted to enter the FBI’s office in Cincinnati, Ohio, around 9 a.m. Thursday.

Following an alarm and response by armed FBI officials, the suspect fled north to a rest stop along Interstate 71. Lt. Nathan Davis, a spokesperson for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said in a news conference a state trooper identified the suspect’s vehicle and attempted to initiate a traffic stop.

The pursuit resumed and came to a stop near Wilmington, where gunfire was exchanged with the suspect allegedly armed with body armor, a nail gun, and an AR-15.

According to CNN, the suspect’s identity has been confirmed, but not released.

In a statement, the FBI confirmed  “an armed subject attempt[ed] to breach” the Visitor’s Screening Facility.

LOCAL  

OSDH confirms 12th Monkeypox case in Oklahoma

On Thursday, the OSDH confirmed 12 cases of Monkeypox to be in the state of Oklahoma.

The virus’ symptoms, which are not likely to appear before 12 days, can include fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes. Transmission can occur between an infected person or animal via respiratory droplets or direct contact with bodily fluids or lesions.

“It’s not something where if you’re out and about, you’re going to have the risk of being exposed to Monkeypox,” said Jolianne Stone, Oklahoma State Department of Health epidemiologist. “You have to be in close contact.”

Email this to someonePrint this pageShare on Facebook0Tweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedIn0

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *