“Archaeologists have uncovered charcoal sketches drawn by children in Pompeii, depicting possibly violent fights they may have witnessed. The sketches of gladiator stick figures were discovered during excavations in recent months in Pompeii, a once-thriving city that was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago … Psychologists from the Federico II University in Naples believed the sketches depicted events the children had witnessed, rather than imagined, he said … ‘In Pompeii, even young children were exposed to extreme violence between humans and between humans and animals in the sands of the ancient city’s amphitheatre,’ Zuchtriegel said … At the entrance of that house, the skeletons of a man and a woman were discovered, an elderly couple that had probably sought refuge in vain from the pumice and ash that rapidly overwhelmed the city during the volcanic eruption. Last month, authorities in Pompeii revealed a black-walled dining hall with paintings inspired by the Trojan War.” (Matteo Negri/Independent)
“Democracy requires rule of law, and former President Trump’s claims of absolute immunity have helped embolden strongmen around the world who have made similar claims that the law does not apply to them, and who have sought to evade regulations aimed at ensuring citizens can exercise their democratic rights. I don’t know how the world will react, but a case in which Trump is found guilty by a citizen jury for charges related to undemocratic campaign tactics should give others some faith in the potential resilience of democracy and rule of law in the face of those around the world who threaten democracy.” (Susan Hyde)
“Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher their lyrics. Are the animals producing complex messages akin to human language? Or sharing simpler pieces of information, like dancing bees do? Or are they communicating something else we don’t yet understand? In 2020, a team of marine biologists and computer scientists joined forces to analyze the click-clacking songs of sperm whales, the gray, block-shaped leviathans that swim in most of the world’s oceans. On Tuesday, the scientists reported that the whales use a much richer set of sounds than previously known, which they called a ‘sperm whale phonetic alphabet.’ People have a pho-ne-tic alphabet too, which we use to produce a practically infinite supply of words. But Shane Gero, a marine biologist at Carleton University in Ottawa and an author of the study, said it’s unclear whether sperm whales similarly turn their phonetic sounds into a language. ‘The fundamental similarities that we do find are really fascinating,’ Dr. Gero said. ‘It’s totally changed the way we have to do work going forward.’ Since 2005, Dr. Gero and his colleagues have followed a clan of 400 sperm whales around Dominica, an island nation in the eastern Caribbean, eavesdropping on the whales with underwater microphones and tagging some of the animals with sensors. Sperm whales don’t produce the eerie melodies sung by humpback whales, which became a sensation in the 1960s. Instead, they rattle off clicks that sound like a cross between Morse code and a creaking door. Sperm whales typically produce pulses of between three and 40 clicks, known as codas. They usually sing these codas while swimming together, raising the possibility that they’re communicating with one another. Over the years, Dr. Gero and his colleagues have reviewed thousands of hours of recordings of the undersea noise. It turns out that sperm whale codas fall into distinct types.” (Carl Zimmer/NYTimes)
“Although Interpol has asked governments around the world to find and provisionally arrest Isabel dos Santos, the Angolan former billionaire is not hiding. Instead, she regularly posts about her lavish lifestyle at a Dubai residence on social media. Now, confidential land records connect dos Santos and her mother to other properties on the waterfront of the United Arab Emirates’ financial hub. The eldest daughter of Angola’s former president, dos Santos came under scrutiny by authorities on three continents after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Luanda Leaks investigation revealed how lucrative deals obtained under her father’s rule helped her become Africa’s richest woman. Since 2019, courts in Angola, Portugal and other countries have issued orders to freeze her assets. Despite that, Dubai has remained a safe haven for dos Santos.” (Nicole Sadek, Scilla Alecci and Karrie Kehoe/ICIJ)
“The May 29 election in South Africa could be historic. For the first time since apartheid ended 30 years ago, polls predict that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) will fall short of the 50 percent needed to govern alone. Rolling power cuts known as load shedding, record unemployment, crime, and a lack of water are key election issues. Many voters’ grievances center on the ANC’s inability to provide electricity, water, and transportation. But there are broader political issues at play: President Cyril Ramaphosa’s tenure has not reversed the legacy of state corruption that tainted his party under former President Jacob Zuma. In 2022, a judicial inquiry detailed the widespread looting of state coffers under Zuma and concluded that Ramaphosa should have done more to prevent the graft while he was Zuma’s deputy between 2014 and 2018. ‘There was surely enough credible information in the public domain … to at least prompt him to inquire and perhaps act on a number of serious allegations,’ the inquiry report stated. Ramaphosa’s own ‘Farmgate’ scandal, involving an alleged heist and undeclared cash found in a sofa, will be the least of the party’s worries. The joblessness rate hovers at about 32 percent; GDP per capita has dropped from $8,800 in 2012 to $6,190 in 2023, around the same level as in 2005; and 47 percent of South Africans rely on state welfare. Xenophobia is also rampant. Politicians have blamed African migrants for the country’s economic stagnation and high crime.” (Nosmot Gbadamosi/Foreign Policy)
“The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Monday that his office will seek arrest warrants for several Israeli and Palestinian leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes committed during the Gaza war. If the warrants are approved by the ICC, Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will face charges of starving civilians, intentional attacks on innocents, and other aspects of what Prosecutor Karim Khan described as ‘a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.’ Hamas leaders, for their part, could face charges of hostage taking, rape, and intentionally killing civilians. Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, military boss Mohammed Deif, and politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh. The warrants would dramatically reduce freedom of movement for Netanyahu and Gallant, who could no longer step foot in roughly half of the world’s countries without facing arrest. Parties to the ICC include nearly all of Europe and Latin America, as well as Canada, Australia, Japan, and much of Sub-Saharan Africa. Those restrictions will be more familiar for Hamas leaders, who have historically only traveled to friendly or neutral countries like Russia, China, Iran, and Qatar, none of which are parties to the Rome Statute, the international agreement that underpins the ICC. The decision over whether to issue a warrant now goes to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber, which could take several months to make a decision, according to Just Security. Only one publicly known request for a warrant has been denied by this chamber, suggesting that the charges are likely to move forward. ICC states have sometimes chosen not to arrest leaders facing charges out of political convenience, usually justified as a result of special diplomatic immunity. Such was the case for former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, who traveled freely to South Africa and Jordan while serving as president despite an outstanding warrant. But, in 2019, an ICC appeals court ruled against this immunity doctrine, making it more difficult to justify any attempt to avoid arresting Netanyahu, Gallant, or the Hamas leaders.” (Connor Echols/Responsible Statecraft)
“Given this is an important policy shift for the U.S. administration, what might be the key implications that can be drawn at this early stage? First, it will allow for Ukraine to target Russian troops, especially high value targets such as command and control elements, artillery, logistics and air defence units that are located on Russian territory near Kharkiv and concentrating or rehearsing future operations against Ukraine. While the horse may have bolted on this particular requirement, there will be locations where reinforcements and reserve units are held, as well as logistic supply locations that might be useful targets. This is the kind of operational strike - the ability to destroy Russian military forces before they are commited to combat operations - that is essential while Ukraine reconstittues its forces in 2024. Second, the agreement appears to allow for targeting of Russian combat aircraft - including bombers - that are targeting Kharkiv. This is important because as Ukraine has shown in the past, with the right planning it can conduct air defence ambushes to down Russian aircraft targeting Ukraine with their missiles. Importantly, this might allow Ukraine to also down Russian tactical aviation that is employing long-range glide bombs which are now being used in their dozens every day against Ukrainian ground forces. Whether the agreements restricts the interception of Russian aircraft to Kharkiv remains to be seen. Third, much of the concentration of Russian forces employed in attacks against Ukrainian ground forces occurs on Ukrainian occupied territory. This is particularly the case in the south, as well as in the east where bitter ground combat is taking place on several axes. Therefore, this change in policy will not impact on all Russian offensives and may not be the silver bullet that some hope.” (Futura Doctrina/Mick Ryan)
“For more than a year, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray has warned about a wave of election interference that could make 2016 look cute. No respectable foreign adversary needs an army of human trolls in 2024. AI can belch out literally billions of pieces of realistic-looking and sounding misinformation about when, where and how to vote. It can just as easily customize political propaganda for any individual target … Almost 80 percent of Americans think some form of AI abuse is likely to affect the outcome of November’s presidential election. Wray has staffed each of the FBI’s 56 field offices with at least two election-crime coordinators. He’s urged people to be more discerning with their media sources. In public, he’s the face of chill … On May 15, the Senate released a 31-page AI road map that drew immediate friendly fire — ‘striking for its lack of vision,’ declared Alondra Nelson, President Biden’s former acting director of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The road map contains nothing that would force the AI makers to step up and nothing that would help Wray. No content verification standard, no mandatory watermarking of AI content, and certainly no digital privacy law to criminalize the deepfaking of voices and likenesses. If the AI industry thinks it should be both arsonist and firefighter, Congress appears happy to provide them matches and water. But we can at least savor how Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), a member of the Senate’s self-described AI Gang, summarized the abdication of responsibility: ‘Where vagueness was required to come to an agreement, we embrace vagueness.’” (Josh Tyrangiel/WashPo)
“Indeed, this fact seemed to offer a rare point of consensus between mainstream media and its not-so-funhouse right-wing counterpart yesterday. It was an apparent point of consensus, too, between the Trump and Biden campaigns. As the trial began to wrap up earlier this week, the latter organized a press conference, fronted by Robert De Niro among others, outside the courthouse—the chief locus of the media circus in recent weeks, and one that had previously been monopolized by Trump and his allies. When a reporter asked a campaign spokesperson why they’d decided to finally show up, they replied, ‘Because you all are here.’ Indeed, figures in Bidenworld have reportedly been frustrated of late that so much media attention has been lavished on Trump and his trial. They think voters care more about various policy issues, per Politico—and that next month’s debate will be ‘a far more important moment to jostle the race.’” (Jon Allsop/CJR)
“It only took a jury a day and a half to decide that Donald Trump, former President of the United States, was guilty on all counts today. He will wear the convicted felon label on his back forever, no matter what happens in November. A jury of seven men and five women voted guilty on all 34 counts against him. He will be sentenced July 11. The penalty includes prison time. He likely won’t go, and in the unlikely event that he does, Never Trump conservative lawyer George Conway told me the Constitution would likely be read to require that any state holding him open the cell door if he is elected in November. But the verdict is another historic landmark in the long list of awful firsts that the MAGA cult leader has inflicted on our country since he rode down the golden elevator in the summer of 2015, enthralling first the media and then a swath of America. The first of those horrors is the separation of millions of Americans from faith in the law and process of democracy. In the hour after the verdict, on Xitter, on Fox, on rightwing platforms and channels, MAGAs were blind with rage, spitting accusations. It’s a measure of the success of this one man’s assault on American institutions - ‘fake news’!’ ‘Deep State!’ ‘Rigged against me!’ - that untold millions will refuse to accept the fairness of the trial. His people are so unplugged from our commonweal that they are willing to believe the Manhattan DA works for a Hungarian billionaire whose name the rabid right made synonymous with their own invisible donor-monster the Koch family. They are willing to believe that a sitting judge who spends his days in a cold, smelly courtroom at 100 Centre Street, and the men and women of the jury who did their civic duty in the same room and listened to all the evidence, were just pawns of Joe Biden and the Democrats.” (Nina Burleigh/American Political Freakshow)
“Besides obvious artifacts you might see in an AI-generated video, there’s the concept of content provenance, which in practice means a set of technical standards that imagery must adhere to so it can include metadata — nonvisible information that reveals whether an image was created by AI or not — and what modifications there were before it hit your eyeballs. The thing is, for content provenance to work, you need everyone in the chain — from camera to website — to pay attention to it. So it turns out infrastructure plays a big role, and that’s what I wanted to to talk to Livepeer CEO Doug Petkanics about on The Media Copilot podcast. Livepeer is a decentralized video platfom, which has an ace up its sleeve with respect to content provenance: the blockchain. By using the same tech that powers cryptocurrencies, Livepeer aims to create a cost-effective, scalable, and reliable way to both process video and label it properly. Its new AI subnet means the network now supports AI-generated content, including tools like OpenAI's video generator, Sora. Doug and I explored the critical issue of content authenticity in the age of AI. As deepfakes and AI-generated media become more prevalent, this is obviously a growing challenge.” (Pete Pachal/The Media CoPilot)
“Years ago, I stood frozen in the doorway of Room 818 as the Children’s Hospital staff ran back and forth along the hall. Inside our room, my son, Lou, who was in treatment for cancer at the time, was watching the film Sing! with my mom. It was the scene where the mama pig, Rosita, dances up and down the grocery store aisle to the Gipsy Kings’ song, ‘Bamboléo.’ As the wailing grew louder from the room next door, my mom and I spoke without speaking. She held Lou, and I quickly closed the door behind them, joining the other mothers in their doorways, the wailing flying like fire over ‘Bamboléo,’ straight to our hearts. Though I had never heard sounds like that before, I knew in the deepest part of my body what had happened. The mother next door had lost her child. I looked on in disbelief at the other moms, all of us frozen. The staff formed a circle outside, their heads down.” (Alexa Wilding/A Mother’s Wail)
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