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Americans, this is your chance to slap down the tech broligarchs

The Guardian

'Like the Trump administration, the tech overlords have proceeded on the assumption they can ignore or override the will of the people.' 'Like the Trump administration, the tech overlords have proceeded on the assumption they can ignore or override the will of the people.' The midterms will be a referendum on the GOP's alignment with tech overlords over the public they're meant to serve "The world should accept some bad things happening," Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, said recently, "for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency." Like so many things tech oligarchs say, it's incoherent, since Altman would like to deny the world and the people in it the agency to decide whether or not we should accept his bad things. Surveys show that most Americans would like to pause AI; opposition to AI datacenters is a factor in many races in the midterm elections. People are outraged and anxious about what tech hath wrought, mad enough to fight back in what is coming to seem like a human v machine battle. I've been a fan of the film Terminator 2 forever, the one where a badass female protagonist leads the action-movie-style spectacular destruction of Skynet, the massive computer system that will otherwise go rogue and pit itself and a plethora of advanced weapons against the human race.


Could France's riots happen here? Experts see parallels in socialism, immigration -- and key differences

FOX News

France riots fueled by immigration, education and economic frustrations have experts warning similar political unrest could surface in America.


An Idaho ICE Raid Rounded Up Hundreds. The Fallout Could Change How ICE Operates

TIME - Tech

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Why is France Burning?

TIME - Tech

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My Education on the Border of the Syrian War

The New Yorker

In the last Turkish town on the road to Aleppo, jihadis and spies mixed with reporters trying to prove themselves. At the Hotel Istanbul, I was to meet a Syrian activist who went by the code name Harvester. I was twenty-two and wanted to learn how journalists work in conflict zones. In the spring of 2013--when I was twenty-two and had little sense of the direction my life might take--I travelled to the Turkish-Syrian border, to learn how journalists work in war. During the previous two years, the security forces of the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, had carried out a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters, and the situation had spiralled into armed conflict, with thousands of civilians dead and hundreds of thousands of refugees spilling into neighboring countries. Rebels had captured half of Syria's largest city, Aleppo, and most of the territory north and west of it, including the official crossings into southern Turkey. In practice, that meant any freelancer, humanitarian, or ...


'Someone else will do it for less': Refugees in Kenya are powering tech for dwindling pay

The Guardian

The International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint World Trade Organization and United Nations agency that has trained digital workers in Kakuma, estimates jobs such as transcription, data entry, translation and web research have declined by about 50% since 2022, said ITC spokesperson Susanna Pak. Oxford Internet Institute research similarly shows that growth of popular AI tools coincided with a measurable drop in many of the tech jobs promoted as paths to refugee self-sufficiency. Merci Biamungu, a refugee trained in 3D modeling, said he regularly received opportunities with guaranteed pay throughout 2023 and 2024. However, in one of his final projects, he and 20 other workers competed in teams of five to design a 3D model of a potato. The best-performing group received a reward of 15,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $116, split among the five. Now, the AI tools that Biamungu believes he helped train can build 3D images faster, eliminating the need for workers like him, he said. It's now been two years since Biamungu has found remote work in tech.


Protesters gather as migrants brought ashore on south coast

BBC News

Protesters have gathered in a south coast town as more than 100 people believed to be migrants were brought ashore after crossing the Channel in a small boat. A number of people were seen arriving at a marina in Gosport, Hampshire, having been transported aboard two RNLI boats late on Sunday. Their dinghy appeared to have set off from near Utah Beach in Normandy during the morning, according to ship tracking data. French media reported there were about 120 migrants on board. Hampshire Police said it deployed officers to support our partners in the event of an emergency at sea.


Missed the JLPT? Here's what you can do next

The Japan Times

Here's what you can do next Japan is increasingly tightening its language requirements for those looking to live in the country. Japan is increasingly tightening its language requirements for those looking to live in the country, with the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) releasing its stricter language requirements for permanent residency applications this week. Over the course of this year, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has rolled out a raft of Japanese-language requirements across several residence statuses -- leading to a surge in demand for the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), considered the gold standard in measuring fluency. The revised guidelines released by the ISA on Thursday require permanent residency applicants to demonstrate ability at B1 or above -- roughly N3 on the JLPT -- on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) starting in April next year. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.


Gas prices, AI data centers and Trump's long shadow: Top takeaways from the governor's race debate

Los Angeles Times

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. California gubernatorial candidates Xavier Becerra, left, and Steve Hilton during CNN's California Gubernatorial Debate on Wednesday in CNN's studio in Burbank. The debate was moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here .


Japan raises residency fee for foreign nationals by twenty-fold

BBC News

Image caption, The hikes are part of immigration policy changes introduced to manage Japan's growing foreign population Japan has raised fees for foreigners looking to reside in the country, with the cost of permanent residency going up 20 times to 200,000 yen ($1,270; £955). Those seeking permanent residency must now also meet new income, pension and Japanese-language requirements. Long lines formed outside immigration offices earlier this week as applicants sought to beat the fee hikes, with Tokyo's main immigration bureau reporting wait times of over seven hours. The fee increases are part of a series of changes to Japan's immigration policy under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, which aim ito manage its rapidly growing foreign population. In July, Japan implemented a five-fold increase in visa fees for all foreigners - its first visa fee hike in 50 years.