To help evaluate and understand the latent capabilities of language models, this paper introduces an approach using optimized input embeddings, or 'soft prompts,' as a metric of conditional distance between a model and a target behavior. The technique aims to facilitate latent capability discovery as a part of automated red teaming/evaluation suites and to provide quantitative feedback about the accessibility of potentially concerning behaviors in a way that may scale to powerful future models, including those which may otherwise be capable of deceptive alignment. An evaluation framework using soft prompts is demonstrated in natural language, chess, and pathfinding, and the technique is extended with generalized conditional soft prompts to aid in constructing task evaluations.

This paper addresses the growing concern of cascading extreme events, such as an extreme earthquake followed by a tsunami, by presenting a novel method for risk assessment focused on these domino effects. The proposed approach develops an extreme value theory framework within a Kolmogorov-Arnold network (KAN) to estimate the probability of one extreme event triggering another, conditionally on a feature vector. An extra layer is added to the KAN's architecture to enforce the definition of the parameter of interest within the unit interval, and we refer to the resulting neural model as KANE (KAN with Natural Enforcement). The proposed method is backed by exhaustive numerical studies and further illustrated with real-world applications to seismology and climatology.

Waves of Ukrainian drones have hit Moscow in recent days as the Russian capital prepares for the country's most important national holiday, Victory Day, this week. Russia celebrates May 9 as Victory Day to mark the defeat of Nazi forces in World War II. The day involves a major military parade, with leaders of Russia's allies often in attendance. But this year, the run-up to the day has been clouded by a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has said Kyiv cannot guarantee the safety of the foreign leaders attending the parade in Moscow. Here is more about Ukraine's attacks, Victory Day and why it is significant. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Tuesday that Russia's air defence systems shot down 19 drones flying towards Moscow from different directions.

Appropriate modelling of extreme skew surges is crucial, particularly for coastal risk management. Our study focuses on modelling extreme skew surges along the French Atlantic coast, with a particular emphasis on investigating the extremal dependence structure between stations. We employ the peak-over-threshold framework, where a multivariate extreme event is defined whenever at least one location records a large value, though not necessarily all stations simultaneously. A novel method for determining an appropriate level (threshold) above which observations can be classified as extreme is proposed. Two complementary approaches are explored. First, the multivariate generalized Pareto distribution is employed to model extremes, leveraging its properties to derive a generative model that predicts extreme skew surges at one station based on observed extremes at nearby stations. Second, a novel extreme regression framework is assessed for point predictions. This specific regression framework enables accurate point predictions using only the "angle" of input variables, i.e. input variables divided by their norms. The ultimate objective is to reconstruct historical skew surge time series at stations with limited data. This is achieved by integrating extreme skew surge data from stations with longer records, such as Brest and Saint-Nazaire, which provide over 150 years of observations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Vladimir Putin of "playing games" after the Russian leader proposed a three-day unilateral ceasefire to coincide with Moscow's Victory Day commemorations. "This is more of a theatrical performance on his part. Because in two or three days, it is impossible to develop a plan for the next steps to end the war," Zelenskyy told a small group of journalists on Friday, in remarks embargoed until Saturday. Russia announced a 72-hour halt in hostilities beginning May 8, but has so far rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire pushed by Ukraine and the United States, which is trying to broker an end to the three-year war. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not be "playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin's exit from isolation on May 9" when some foreign leaders are due in Moscow for Russia's World War II commemorations.

I feel a troubling kind of opacity in my brain lately--as if reality were becoming illegible, as if language were a vessel with holes in the bottom and meaning was leaking all over the floor. I sometimes look up words after I write them: does "illegible" still mean too messy to read? The day after Donald Trump's second Inauguration, my verbal cognition kept glitching: I got an e-mail from the children's-clothing company Hanna Andersson and read the name as "Hamas"; on the street, I thought "hot yoga" was "hot dogs"; on the subway, a theatre poster advertising "Jan. Ticketing" said "Jia Tolentino" to me. Even the words that I might use to more precisely describe the sensation of "losing it" elude me.

Aid workers trying to deliver supplies to Gaza were left stranded on a burning ship in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea after they say it was attacked by drones. The ship was part of an attempt to challenge Israel's two-month blockade of Gaza.

Ukraine's parliament is expected to ratify a controversial minerals deal with the United States in a decisive step towards securing the latter's long-term commitment to the war-battered country amid stalled efforts to strike a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire. The deal, signed by Kyiv and Washington on Wednesday, pushed by US President Donald Trump and after protracted negotiations, marks an inflection point of sorts in the war, granting the US priority access to Ukraine's critical minerals as a means of deterring future Russian aggression. However, it stops short of offering specific security guarantees and questions remain over accessing minerals in areas under Russian control. Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said on Thursday that the deal "marks an important milestone in Ukraine–US strategic partnership aimed at strengthening Ukraine's economy and security". "We're expecting it to be discussed and ratified by Ukraine's parliament later today," said Al Jazeera's Zein Basravi, reporting from Kyiv.

The enemy is attacking Odesa with strike drones. There is considerable damage to civilian infrastructure, particularly dwellings,

Russian drones attacked Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa early on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring five, the regional governor said. The attack sparked fires and damaged residential dwellings and infrastructure. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city in the northeast, the mayor said another Russian drone had struck a petrol station in the city centre, triggering a fire. Ukraine's SBU security agency claimed responsibility for a drone strike on a defence manufacturing facility in Russia. The strike on Murom Instrument-Building Plant, 300km (186 miles) east of Moscow, sparked a fire and damaged two buildings, the region's governor reported.