Africa
Retracing the Past: LLMs Emit Training Data When They Get Lost
Ko, Myeongseob, Billa, Nikhil Reddy, Nguyen, Adam, Fleming, Charles, Jin, Ming, Jia, Ruoxi
The memorization of training data in large language models (LLMs) poses significant privacy and copyright concerns. Existing data extraction methods, particularly heuristic-based divergence attacks, often exhibit limited success and offer limited insight into the fundamental drivers of memorization leakage. This paper introduces Confusion-Inducing Attacks (CIA), a principled framework for extracting memorized data by systematically maximizing model uncertainty. We empirically demonstrate that the emission of memorized text during divergence is preceded by a sustained spike in token-level prediction entropy. CIA leverages this insight by optimizing input snippets to deliberately induce this consecutive high-entropy state. For aligned LLMs, we further propose Mismatched Supervised Fine-tuning (SFT) to simultaneously weaken their alignment and induce targeted confusion, thereby increasing susceptibility to our attacks. Experiments on various unaligned and aligned LLMs demonstrate that our proposed attacks outperform existing baselines in extracting verbatim and near-verbatim training data without requiring prior knowledge of the training data. Our findings highlight persistent memorization risks across various LLMs and offer a more systematic method for assessing these vulnerabilities.
Ibom NLP: A Step Toward Inclusive Natural Language Processing for Nigeria's Minority Languages
Kalejaiye, Oluwadara, Beyene, Luel Hagos, Adelani, David Ifeoluwa, Edet, Mmekut-Mfon Gabriel, Akpan, Aniefon Daniel, Urua, Eno-Abasi, Andy, Anietie
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a population of more than 200 million people. More than 500 languages are spoken in Nigeria and it is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. Despite this, natural language processing (NLP) research has mostly focused on the following four languages: Hausa, Igbo, Nigerian-Pidgin, and Yoruba (i.e <1% of the languages spoken in Nigeria). This is in part due to the unavailability of textual data in these languages to train and apply NLP algorithms. In this work, we introduce ibom -- a dataset for machine translation and topic classification in four Coastal Nigerian languages from the Akwa Ibom State region: Anaang, Efik, Ibibio, and Oro. These languages are not represented in Google Translate or in major benchmarks such as Flores-200 or SIB-200. We focus on extending Flores-200 benchmark to these languages, and further align the translated texts with topic labels based on SIB-200 classification dataset. Our evaluation shows that current LLMs perform poorly on machine translation for these languages in both zero-and-few shot settings. However, we find the few-shot samples to steadily improve topic classification with more shots.
The First Radio Signal From Comet 3I/Atlas Ends the Debate About Its Nature
An observatory detected the first radio signal from the interstellar object 3I/Atlas. An image of the interstellar comet 3I/Atlas, captured by the Hubble telescope on July 21, 2025. More evidence has emerged to support the natural origin of comet 3I/Atlas . After several weeks of conspiracy theories, social media debates, and speculation on popular podcasts such as Joe Rogan's, this interstellar object is still a comet . The most recent confirmation came from an observatory in South Africa that detected the first radio signal from 3I/Atlas.
Nothing to hide here! Humanoid robot moves so smoothly, its inventor is forced to cut it open to prove there's not a person hiding inside
Newsom blasts'pathetic' Democrats for'surrendering' to Trump as'gang of eight' senators join Republicans to end longest government shutdown in US history Olympics set to ban ALL transgender athletes and Imane Khelif'DSD' competitors from female events after'finding scientific evidence of advantages to being born male' The REAL story of how Meghan lost her best friend: They've not spoken in years... but now insiders reveal'aggravation' and tensions that go'deeper than anyone knows' Scientists are baffled to discover mysterious'voids' in the third-largest pyramid of Giza - as scans suggest they could be a secret entrance Jordon Hudson appears to dodge encounter with Bill Belichick's daughter-in-law at UNC game after social media dig PayPal billionaire delivers chilling warning about spread of Communism as eerily prescient comment comes to light in wake of Mamdani's win Has Sydney Sweeney become too toxic for Hollywood? Star suffers box office flop with new film Christy after THAT controversial ad, Zendaya'feud' and backlash over her political views Dark side of Danielle Bernstein: She is America's most hated influencer... but now insiders reveal claims of behavior so outrageous they'kind of respect her' for getting away with it My brother was ALIVE on the operating table as surgeons tried to harvest his organs. Donald Trump launches new broadside at'corrupt' BBC journalists as director-general Tim Davie and news boss both quit in disgrace over doctored video of US President Meghan Markle wealthy pal's bookshop'is reported to council for serving her As Ever wine without a licence' after duchess used it as promotional pop-up Sussexes attended charity gala with Serena Williams before Kris Jenner's birthday party - while Royal Family marked Remembrance Sunday NFL announcer Tony Romo slammed by fans after outrageous'DTF' sexual reference live on air Donald Trump makes stunning flyover for first NFL visit of the season... hours after it emerged he wants $3.7bn new stadium named after him Jay Leno makes touching remark about caring for wife Mavis after 45 years of marriage amid heartbreaking'advanced' dementia diagnosis Barbara Bach captured America's hearts as a Bond girl... see her now after 44 years as a Beatle's wife Humanoid robot moves so smoothly, its inventor is forced to cut it open to prove there's not a person hiding inside READ MORE: Nike launches the world's first powered footwear A humanoid robot has reached new depths of the uncanny valley with its smooth, humanlike movements. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, Xpeng, revealed its latest robot dubbed the Xpeng IRON, at an event last week. The bot proved so eerily lifelike that its inventors were forced to cut it open on stage to prove there wasn't a person hiding inside.
Is the fall of Pokrovsk, Ukraine's key eastern stronghold, inevitable?
Is Trump losing patience with Putin? Will sanctions against Russian oil giants hurt Putin? Is the fall of Pokrovsk, Ukraine's key eastern stronghold, inevitable? Pokrovsk, a key fortress and logistical hub for Ukrainian forces in the eastern region of Donbas, has been under siege for almost two years. But in recent weeks, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been storming the town around the clock, taking over the streets where buildings are mostly reduced to bombed-out, deserted ruins. They use reconnaissance drones and satellite images to identify gaps in Ukrainian defences and use tiny groups of soldiers who are attacked and killed in droves by Ukrainian drones .
David Byrne's Career of Earnest Alienation
At seventy-three, the former front man of Talking Heads is still asking questions about what it means to be alive. "When you step onstage, it's a very artificial situation," Byrne said. "To pretend it's not--that isn't being authentic." If you spend enough time wandering around downtown Manhattan, the odds are that you'll eventually encounter the musician David Byrne riding a bicycle. One day this past June, pedalling alongside Byrne from his apartment in Chelsea to the Governors Island ferry, I watched at least a dozen New Yorkers clock his profile, whipping around to squint, softly pinching the arm of their companion and whispering, "Was that . . . By then, Byrne was gone, a tuft of white hair whizzing toward the horizon. Spotting Byrne on two wheels has become a New York City rite of passage, like sussing out the best halal cart in midtown, or dropping something important onto the subway tracks. During the few months that Byrne and I spent together, I never saw him traverse the ...
Alex Karp Goes to War
Palantir's CEO is good with ICE and says he defends human rights. But will Israel and Trump ever go too far for him? Alex Karp and I would not seem to have much in common. I work for WIRED, which does tough reporting on Trumpworld; Karp is the CEO of Palantir, a $450 billion firm that has contracts with agencies like the CIA and ICE and worked for the Israeli military during its campaign in Gaza. I live in the East Village of New York City, and the home Karp spends the most time in is a 500-acre compound in rural New Hampshire. I was a plain old English major, and he's got a law degree and a PhD in philosophy, studying under the legendary Jรผrgen Habermas. I consider myself a progressive; Karp regards that stuff as "pagan religion." But we can bond over one shared status: Both of us are alumni of Central High School, a Philadelphia magnet school. I have some years on the 58-year-old executive.)
Stock markets surge after US lawmakers move to end government shutdown
Stocks from the United States to Japan have risen sharply amid hopes that an end to the longest US government shutdown in history is imminent. US lawmakers on Sunday moved to end a five-week impasse over government funding, a boost for investors unnerved by signs of growing weakness in the US economy and the sky-high evaluations of firms involved in artificial intelligence. The funding package still needs to win final approval in the Senate and then pass the US House of Representatives, after which it would go to US President Donald Trump for his signature - a process expected to take days. Stock markets in the Asia Pacific made large gains on Monday, while futures in the US also rose in advance of stock exchanges reopening. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI led the gains, rising about 3 percent as of 4pm local time (07:00 GMT).
Surgeons from Scotland and US achieve world-first stroke surgery using robot
Doctors from Scotland and the US have completed what is thought to be a world-first stroke procedure using a robot. Prof Iris Grunwald, of the University of Dundee, performed the remote thrombectomy - the removal of blood clots after a stroke - on a human cadaver that had been donated to medical science. The professor was at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, while the body she was operating on while using the machine was across the city at the university. Hours later, Ricardo Hanel - a neurosurgeon in Florida - used the technology to carry out the first transatlantic surgery from his Jacksonville base on a human body in Dundee over 4,000 miles (6,400km) away. The team has called it a potential game changer if it becomes approved for use on patients.
Surgery plunged me into menopause - it was like falling off a hormonal cliff edge
A woman who was plunged into sudden menopause after surgery to remove both ovaries is spearheading efforts to change NHS policy. Kate Dyson, 44, from Hastings, East Sussex, underwent the surgery six months ago after having a subtotal hysterectomy in 2021 to remove her uterus - a procedure which leaves the cervix in place. The mum-of-three says she was completely unprepared for the impact of surgical menopause, which is triggered by both ovaries being removed. Honestly, it was like falling off a hormonal cliff edge, she told BBC Radio Sussex. Within hours of the surgery I was home the same day.