Saturday, July 25, 2026


Your Daily News Update About CALABARZON and Beyond.
ISSN 2799-1911

Home Blog Page 559

UN tech agency rolls out human-looking robots for questions at a Geneva news conference

0

BERLIN. A United Nations technology agency assembled a group of robots that physically resembled humans at a news conference Friday, inviting reporters to ask them questions in an event meant to spark discussion about the future of artificial intelligence.

The nine robots were seated and posed upright along with some of the people who helped make them at a podium in a Geneva conference center for what the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union billed as the world’s first news conference featuring humanoid social robots.

Among them: Sophia, the first robot innovation ambassador for the U.N. Development Program, or UNDP; Grace, described as a health care robot; and Desdemona, a rock star robot. Two, Geminoid and Nadine, resembled their makers.

Organizers said the event at the AI for Good Global Summit was meant to showcase the capabilities, but also the limitations, of robotics and how those technologies could help the U.N.’s sustainable development goals. The media event featured introductions from the robots’ companions or creators, and a round of questions to the robots from reporters.

And while the robots vocalized strong statements — that robots could be more efficient leaders than humans, but wouldn’t take anyone’s job away or stage a rebellion — organizers didn’t specify to what extent the answers were scripted or programmed by people.

The summit was meant to showcase “human-machine collaboration,” and some of the robots are capable of producing preprogrammed responses, according to their documentation. The UNDP’s Sophia, for example, sometimes relies on responses scripted by a team of writers at Hanson Robotics, the company’s website shows.

Reporters were asked to speak slowly and clearly when addressing the robots, and were informed that time lags in responses would be because of the internet connection and not the robots themselves. That didn’t prevent awkward pauses, audio problems and some stilted or inconsistent replies.

Popular tech products such as Apple’s Siri have been using speech recognition technology to respond to relatively simple human queries for more than a decade. But last year’s release of ChatGPT, a chatbot with a strong command of the semantics and syntax of human language, has triggered worldwide debate about the rapid advancement of AI systems.

An extremely overdue book has been returned to a Massachusetts library 119 years later

BOSTON. On Feb. 14, 1904, someone curious about the emerging possibilities of a key force of nature checked out James Clerk Maxwell’s “An Elementary Treatise on Electricity” from the New Bedford Free Public Library.

It would take 119 years and the sharp eyes of a librarian in West Virginia before the scientific text finally found its way back to the Massachusetts library.

The discovery occurred when Stewart Plein, the curator of rare books at West Virginia University Libraries, was sorting through a recent donation of books.

Plein found the treatise and noticed it had been part of the collection at the New Bedford library and, critically, had not been stamped “Withdrawn,” indicating that while extremely overdue, the book had not been discarded.

Plein contacted Jodi Goodman, the special collections librarian in New Bedford, to alert her to the find.

“This came back in extremely good condition,” New Bedford Public Library Director Olivia Melo said Friday. “Someone obviously kept this on a nice bookshelf because it was in such good shape and probably got passed down in the family.”

The treatise was first published in 1881, two years after Maxwell’s death in 1879, although the cranberry-colored copy now back at the New Bedford library is not considered a rare edition of the work, Melo said.

The library occasionally receives books as much as 10 or 15 years overdue, but nothing anywhere close to a century or more, she said.

The treatise was published at a time when the world was still growing to understand the possibilities of electricity. In 1880, Thomas Edison received a historic patent embodying the principles of his incandescent lamp.

When the book was last in New Bedford, the nation was preparing for its second modern World Series, incumbent Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was on track to win another term, Wilbur and Orville Wright had conducted their first airplane flight just a year before and New York City was celebrating its first subway line.

The discovery and return of the book is a testament to the durability of the printed word, especially in a time of computerization and instant access to unfathomable amounts of information, Melo said.

“The value of the printed book is it’s not digital, it’s not going to disappear. Just holding it, you get the sense of someone having this book 120 years ago and reading it, and here it is in my hands,” she said. “It is still going to be here a hundred years from now. The printed book is always going to be valuable.”

The New Bedford library has a 5-cent-per-day late fee. At that rate, someone returning a book overdue by 119 years would face a hefty fee of more than $2,100. The good news is the library’s late fee limit maxes out at $2.

Another lesson of the find, according to Melo? It’s never too late to return a library book.

A Massachusetts library is celebrating the return of a book more than a century after it was last checked out. AP

Chairman, pinatay sa gitna ng paliga ng basketball

0

Sariaya, Quezon. Patay ang isang barangay chairman matapos siyang pagbabarilin ng isang lalaking nakasagutan sa gitna ng paliga ng basketball sa Brgy. Guisguis San Roque sa bayang ito, kamakalawa ng gabi.

Ang biktima na nagtamo ng mga tama ng bala ng hindi pa natutukoy na kalibre ng baril sa ulo at katawan ay kinilalang si Benedictk Alcaide Robo, kasalukuyang tserman ng nasabing barangay.

Nagsasagawa na ng manhunt operation ang Sariaya Police upang dakipin ang suspek na si Marvin Fajarda alyas “Pong-Pong”, edad 40-50 at residente ng Brgy. Bignay 2, Sariaya, Quezon.

Ayon kina Police Staff Sgt. Ruel Tina at PCpl. Junard John Ravalo, officers-on-case, habang ginaganap ang paliga ng basketball sa Brgy. Guisguis San Roque bandang 11:00 ng gabi ay pinagsabihan ng kapitan ang suspek na iwasan ang hindi magandang kilos at asal nito, ngunit humantong ito sa mainit na pagtatalo ng dalawa.

Upang hindi na lumala ang debate ay minabuti ng kapitan na lumabas sa basketball court at bumili na lamang ng siopao at kumain ngunit hindi niya alam na sinundan na siya ng suspek at kinompronta saka malapitang pinagbabaril at mabilis na tumakas.

Nadala pa sa ospital sa Lucena City ang kapitan ngunit namatay habang ginagamot.

The Dutch prime minister hands in his resignation as the government collapses over migration

THE HAGUE, Netherlands. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited the king Saturday to turn in the resignation of his four-party coalition and set the deeply divided Netherlands on track for a general election later this year.

King Willem-Alexander flew back from a family vacation in Greece to meet with Rutte, who drove to the palace in his Saab station wagon for the meeting to explain the political crisis that toppled his administration.

Rutte declined to answer reporters’ questions as he drove away from the meeting that lasted over an hour, saying the talks with the monarch were private.

The vexed issue of reining in migration that has troubled countries across Europe for years was the final stumbling block that brought down Rutte’s government Friday night, exposing the deep ideological differences between the four parties that made up the uneasy coalition.

Now it is likely to dominate campaigning for an election that is still months away.

“We are the party that can ensure a majority to significantly restrict the flow of asylum seekers,” said Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration Party for Freedom, who supported Rutte’s first minority coalition 13 years ago, but also ultimately brought it down.

Opposition parties on the left also want to make the election about tackling problems they accuse Rutte of failing to adequately address — from climate change to a chronic housing shortage and the future of the nation’s multibillion-euro (-dollar) agricultural sector.

Socialist Party leader Lilian Marijnissen told Dutch broadcaster NOS the collapse of Rutte’s government was “good news for the Netherlands. I think that everybody felt that this Cabinet was done. They have created more problems than they solved.”

Despite the divisions between the four parties in Rutte’s government, it will remain in power as a caretaker administration until a new coalition is formed, but will not pass major new laws.

“Given the challenges of the times, a war on this continent, nobody profits from a political crisis,” tweeted Sigrid Kaag, leader of the centrist, pro-Europe D66 party.

Rutte, the Netherlands’ longest serving premier and a veteran consensus builder, appeared to be the one who was prepared to torpedo his fourth coalition government with tough demands in negotiations over how to reduce the number of migrants seeking asylum in his country.

Rutte negotiated for months over a package of measures to reduce the flow of new migrants arriving in the country of nearly 18 million people. Proposals reportedly included creating two classes of asylum — a temporary one for people fleeing conflicts and a permanent one for people trying to escape persecution — and reducing the number of family members who are allowed to join asylum-seekers in the Netherlands. The idea of blocking family members was strongly opposed by minority coalition party ChristenUnie.

“I think unnecessary tension was introduced” to the talks, said Kaag.

Pieter Heerma, the leader of coalition partner the Christian Democrats, called Rutte’s approach in the talks “almost reckless.”

The fall of the government comes just months after a new, populist pro-farmer party, the Farmers Citizens Movement, known by its Dutch acronym BBB, shocked the political establishment by winning provincial elections. The party is already the largest bloc in the Dutch Senate and will be a serious threat to Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.

The BBB’s leader, Caroline van der Plas, said her party would dust off their campaign posters from the provincial vote and go again.

“The campaign has begun!” Van der Plas said in a tweet that showed her party’s supporters hanging flags and banners from lamp posts.

Lavish tomb in ancient Spain belonged to a woman, not a man, new research shows

WASHINGTON. When archaeologists first discovered the 5,000-year-old ornate tomb in Spain, they assumed it was for a man. It held a rock crystal dagger, ivory tusks and other lavish items. But now they’ve determined the remains are those of a woman, and all it took was two teeth.

The researchers used a new method of determining sex that analyzes tooth enamel. This technique, developed about five years ago, is more reliable than analyzing skeletal remains in poor condition, according to their study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports.

Most details about the life of the “Ivory Lady,” as researchers dubbed her, remain a mystery but there are some clues.

“She was buried alone in a tomb with very special artifacts,” said Leonardo Garcia Sanjuan, a co-author and archaeologist at the University of Seville in Spain. “That shows that she was a special person.”

The tomb is located a few miles west of Seville, near Spain’s southern coast, and was excavated in 2008. Archaeologists thought it contained a young man based on an examination of the poorly preserved bones and the fact that several precious items found in the tomb — including ostrich eggshells and amber along with the tusks and dagger — indicated that the individual held a high social status.

The new technique detects differences in the chemistry of tooth enamel between males and females and can be used even when full DNA is not available.

“This research provides one more piece of evidence questioning old historical narratives,” said Alison Beach, an historian at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, who was not involved in the study. It shows that “it’s not exclusively true that men have always been the most revered or held the most authority.”

Marta Cintas-Pena, a co-author and archaeologist at the University of Seville, maintains a database of Copper Age burials found at 21 different archaeological sites on the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain and Portugal. It currently has records for 1,723 individuals.

“The Ivory Lady’s burial stands out, head and shoulders, above everyone else — there is absolutely no known male or female burial that compares to hers,” said Garcia Sanjuan.

For around 250 years after the Ivory Lady’s burial, newer graves were built around hers — but always with a 100-foot (30-meter) buffer zone, he said. And around 80 years after her death, people reentered her tomb and placed additional votive objects inside, including the crystal dagger.

Researchers know little about the social or political structure of the society that she belonged to — which was roughly contemporaneous with the rise of the pharaohs in Egypt’s Nile River Valley and with the construction of the first planned city on the banks of the Euphrates in Mesopotamia.

Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, a co-author and archaeologist at the University of Vienna in Austria, suspects the same misidentification might be true at other ancient tombs where researchers assumed, “Oh, this is a rich and prominent person, it must be a male.”

Recently other researchers determined through DNA analysis that a decorated Viking warrior buried in Sweden was a woman, upending prior assumptions.

“If we go back and test, we will get a few more surprises,” Rebay-Salisbury said.

Boracay getaway ng grupong Idol Kong Amben: Matagumpay na team building experience

SAN PABLO CITY, Laguna. Ipinadama ni  Laguna Rep. Loreto ‘Amben’ Amante (3rd District) ang kanyang pasasalamat at pagkilala sa kanyang mga volunteers at social media campaign team sa pamamagitan ng isang espesyal na regalo – isang team building retreat sa magandang isla ng Boracay na matagal na naantala dahil sa Covid-19 restrictions.

Kasabay nito ay sumailalim sa team building ang mga bumubuo ng koponan ng “Idol Kong Amben Amante,” ang makinarya sa likod ng tagumpay ni Rep. Amante.

Nagpasya si Rep. Amante na bigyan ng pahinga at pasasalamat ang kanyang mga tauhan na nagsilbing katuwang sa tagumpay ng kanyang kampanya noong nakaraang halalan.

“Volunteers are worth their weight in gold. Ibinabahagi nila ang kanilang oras at talino ng walang kapalit, kaya mahalagang kilalanin ang kanilang mga kontribusyon at ipaalam sa kanila na pinahahalagahan sila,” ayon kay sa kanya.

Ang Boracay ay isang kilalang destinasyon sa Pilipinas na tanyag sa puting buhangin, malinaw na tubig, at magandang tanawin. Sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng pagkakataon sa kanyang social media campaign team at mga volunteers na maranasan ang kahanga-hangang ganda ng isla, ipinakita ni Rep. Amante ang kanyang pagpapahalaga sa kanilang mga pagsisikap at isang patunay ng kanyang liderato at pagpapahalaga sa mga taong sumusuporta sa kanya.

Sa bawat tagumpay na nakamit, ipinapaalala ni Rep. Amante ang kahalagahan ng pagtutulungan at pagkakaisa. Ang kanyang pagtrato sa kanyang social media campaign team at mga boluntaryo ay isang inspirasyon sa iba pang mga lider na magsilbi ng tapat at magpahalaga sa mga taong nagtatrabaho sa likod ng mga kampanya.

Naniniwala si Rep. Amante na sa pamamagitan ng pagsasama-sama at pagkakaisa, patuloy na makakamit ang mga reporma at pagbabago para sa bayan. Ipinakita ni Rep. Amante na hindi lamang siya isang mambabatas, kundi isang lider na tunay na nag-aalaga at nagpapahalaga sa mga taong sumusuporta sa kanya.

Matapos ang masaya at makabuluhang team building event sa Boracay, ang koponan ni Rep. Amante ay nagbalik na puno ng bagong sigla at determinasyon. Ang kasiyahan at pagkakaisa na naranasan nila sa kanilang paglalakbay ay nagpalakas sa kanilang pagsisikap upang ipagpatuloy ang paglilingkod sa komunidad at pagtataguyod ng mga adhikain ng kanilang mambabatas.

Umuwi sila na puno ng bagong sigla at determinasyon. Ang kasiyahan at pagkakaisa na naranasan nila sa kanilang paglalakbay ay nagpalakas sa kanilang pagsisikap upang ipagpatuloy ang paglilingkod sa komunidad at pagtataguyod ng mga adhikain ng kanilang mambabatas.

Sa pamamagitan ng kanilang pinalakas na pagkakaisa at dedikasyon, inaasahan na patuloy na magiging matagumpay ang kanilang mga layunin para sa ikabubuti ng Ikatlong Distrito ng Laguna.

“Volunteers are worth their weight in gold. Ibinabahagi nila ang kanilang oras at talino ng walang kapalit, kaya mahalagang kilalanin ang kanilang mga kontribusyon at ipaalam sa kanila na pinahahalagahan sila,” ayon kay Laguna Rep. (3rd Distrcit) Loreto ‘Amben’ Amante. Photo credits:  Idol Cong. Amben Amante on Facebook
Sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng pagkakataon sa kanyang social media campaign team at mga volunteers na maranasan ang kahanga-hangang ganda ng isla, ipinakita ni Rep. Amante ang kanyang pagpapahalaga sa kanilang mga pagsisikap at isang patunay ng kanyang liderato at pagpapahalaga sa mga taong sumusuporta sa kanya. Photo credits:  Idol Cong. Amben Amante on Facebook

2 Pulis at 3 sibilyan, naaktuhan sa pangingikil sa isang Egyptian

0

Dasmariñas City, Cavite. Dalawang pulis at tatlong sibilyan ang inaresto dahil sa umano’y pangingikil sa isang Egyptian national na inakusahan ng panggagahasa sa Dasmarinas City, Cavite nitong Huwebes ng gabi.

Kinilala ang mga suspek bilang sina Police Cpl. Roderick Bajado at Staff Sgt. Randy Batonhinog. Sila ay sinibak agad sa kanilang mga pwesto sa Dasmariñas at Imus City Police Stations matapos silang maaresto ng mga tauhan ng Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG).

Sa ulat ni IMEG director Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon, ang dalawang nabanggit na pulis kasama ang mga sibilyan na sina Nemecio Sevilla, Jacquiline Rubenacia, at Jessa Rose Dalsaitan ay naaresto sa Brgy. Salitran IV.

Sinabi ni De Leon na tinakot ng mga pulis at mga kasamahan ang Egyptian national. Nagbanta sila na sasampahan siya ng kaso ng panggagahasa kung hindi magbabayad ng P200,000.

Itinanggi ng Egyptian ang alegasyon ng panggagahasa laban sa kanya at isinumbong sa mga imbestigador na binantaan siya ni Cpl. Bajado na ikukulong siya at sisirain ang kanyang reputasyon sa social media kung hindi siya makapagbigay ng hinihinging halaga.

Bilang tugon dito, agad na nagplano ang IMEG ng entrapment operation kasama ang biktima laban sa mga suspek.

Agad na pinosasan ang dalawang pulis at tatlong kasamahan matapos nilang tanggapin ang P112,000 na markadong pera mula sa biktima.

Ipinapaghanda na ang kasong robbery extortion laban sa mga suspek kabilang ang dismissal proceedings laban sa dalawang pulis.

Maharlika Investment Fund sa final stage na 

Sa pagsisikap na maisakatuparan ang Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), kasalukuyang nasa panghuling yugto na ang pagbuo ng implementing framework nito.

“The crafting of the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) started right after the approval of the MIF bill. It’s now in its final phase,” ayon sa pahayag ni Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno noong Biyernes, Hulyo 7.

Kamakailan ay ipinasa ng Kongreso ang MIF bill at tinanggap ang bersyon ng Senado sa ginanap na bicameral conference committee meeting. Sa pagpapabuti ng bersyon, nagkaroon ng mga pagbabago tulad ng pagbabawal sa paggamit ng state pension at insurance fund para sa MIF. Ang nasabing probisyon ay bahagi na ng bersyon na naaprubahan ng Kamara noong Disyembre sa ikatlong at huling pagbasa.

Kaugnay nito, kinumpirma rin ng Malacañang noong Miyerkules na natanggap na nila ang kopya ng panukalang batas ng MIF. Agad na pipirmahan ito ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sa sandaling ito ay dumating sa kanyang tanggapan.

Inaasahang ang pagbuo ng implementing framework at ang pagsasabatas ng MIF ay magbubunsod ng paglikha ng mga kinakailangang proseso, regulasyon, at mekanismo para maisakatuparan at maisabuhay ang layunin ng programa.

Ang Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) ay inilaan upang suportahan ang mga pangmatagalang proyekto at mga gawain sa bansa na naglalayong mapalago ang ekonomiya at maghatid ng oportunidad sa mga mamamayan. Sa pamamagitan ng MIF, inaasahang magkakaroon ng mas malawakang imprastruktura, kaunlaran sa mga sektor ng agrikultura, industriya, at iba pa, at paglikha ng trabaho para sa mga Pilipino.

Bilang tagapagtaguyod ng pang-ekonomiyang pag-unlad, ang MIF ay tinitingnan bilang isang mahalagang hakbang para sa hinaharap ng bansa. Sa mga susunod na buwan, inaasahang matatapos na ang pagbuo ng implementing framework ng MIF upang maisakatuparan ang mga pangako at layunin nito para sa bansa, ayon sa report.

Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi has full FDA approval

FDA grants full approval to new Alzheimer’s drug meant to slow disease

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday fully approved the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, amid concerns about its safety, cost and accessibility. 

The move marks the first time that a drug meant to slow the progression of the disease has been granted full regulatory approval. Other approved drugs only target its symptoms.

“I don’t think we can understate the significance of this moment,” said Donna Wilcock, the assistant dean of biomedicine at the University of Kentucky.

About 6.7 million adults ages 65 and older in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association

Leqembi, from Japanese drugmaker Eisai and U.S.-based drugmaker Biogen, targets a type of protein in the brain called beta-amyloid, long thought by scientists to be one of the underlying causes of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a phase 3 clinical trial of 1,795 patients with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage disease, progression of the illness was slowed by 27% over an 18-month period.

“While patients still do decline on the drug, the decline is slowed,” Wilcock said.

Dr. Ronald Petersen, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said in an email that Leqembi is not a cure, nor does it stop the disease.

“It’s a first step for hopefully more therapeutics in the future,” he said. 

The Alzheimer’s Association, which has vocally advocated for the drug’s approval, praised the decision.

The treatment could “give people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s more time to maintain their independence and do the things they love,” Joanne Pike, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, said in a statement.

“This gives people more months of recognizing their spouse, children and grandchildren,” Pike said.

Bayan sa Laguna na dating bulwarte ng NPA, insurgency-free na

KALAYAAN, Laguna. Sa nilagdaang Memorandum of Agreement noong Miyerkules ng hapon sa Kalayaan multi-purpose hall, idineklara ng militar at kapulisan na insurgency-free na ang bayang ito na halos tatlong dekada nang pinamamahayan ng New People’s Army sa ilalim ng pamamahala ni Ka Gregorio Rosal, o mas kilala bilang “Ka Roger”.

Ayon kay Brig. General Cerilo Balaoro Jr., battalion commander Philippine Army 202nd Infantry Brigade, ang Kalayaan ang kauna-unahang bayan sa Laguna na napasailalim sa Stable Internal Peace and Security (SIPS) status.

Ang memorandum of agreement ay naisakatuparan ng inter-agency body matapos ang ilang taon na walang insidente ng karahasan sa lugar na may kaugnayan sa mga rebelde at anumang recruitment activities ng CPP-National Democratic Front.

Dumalo sa kasunduan si Laguna police director na si Col. Harold Depositar, Laguna Governor Ramil Hernandez, DILG chief John M. Cerezo, General Balaoro, at Kalayaan Mayor Sandy Laganapan, kasama ang iba pang mga stakeholder.

Nagpahayag ng kanyang pag-asa si Mayor Laganapan na ang nabanggit na MOU ay magsisilbing daan para sa patuloy na pag-unlad ng kanilang bayan.

Samantala, hinimok naman ng pamunuan ng Laguna PNP at ng Militar ang natitirang mga rebelde sa Laguna na kusang sumuko sa kanilang tanggapan at tanggapin ang alok ng maganda at maayos na kabuhayan mula sa pamahalaan.

NAKATUON LABAN SA LOKAL NA TERORISTANG GRUPO. Ang mga lokal na opisyal at kinatawan mula sa mga ahensya ng pamahalaan ay pumirma ng isang paninindigan na hindi nila tinatanggap ang Communist Terrorist Groups (CTG) at ang kanilang mga sectoral front organizations gayundin ang kanilang mga aktibidad sa Kalayaan. Photo credits: 202nd IB, Philippine Army.