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The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians has warned against the unchecked rise of artificial intelligence and automation, calling it an “impending robotocracy.”

The Pakistani military says India fired attack drones into Pakistan, wounding four soldiers

At least 123 vultures have died in South Africa’s flagship national park after eating the carcass of an elephant that was poisoned by poachers with agricultural pesticides

Dubai police have arrested several people involved in fights after a weekend soccer match between UAE Pro League clubs Shabab Al Ahli and Al Wasl in a rare disturbance in the tightly policed sheikhdom

Conclave watching turns out to be a perfect aperitivo activity

A Virginia man convicted of financing the Islamic State terror organization launched into an outburst at his sentencing hearing, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, and was met with an irate judge and a sentence to hard time.Mohammed Chhipa, 35, of Springfield, who emigrated from India as a child, was convicted last year of a cryptocurrency scheme that raised $185,000 for ISIS, per a Justice Department news release in December."From at least October 2019 through October 2022, Chhipa collected and sent money to female ISIS members in Syria to benefit ISIS in various ways, including by financing the escape of female ISIS members from prison camps and supporting ISIS fighters," said the release. "Chhipa would raise funds online on various social media accounts. He would receive electronic transfers of funds and travel hundreds of miles to collect funds by hand. He would then convert the money to cryptocurrency and send it to Turkey, where it was smuggled to ISIS members in Syria."ALSO READ: ‘Pain. Grief. Anger’: Families heartbroken as Trump backlash smashes adoption dreamsAt sentencing, Chhipa, who was let off with a warning by the FBI in 2019 when first identified as an ISIS sympathizer, tried to vent some of his grievances.His attorneys tried to introduce him as a remorseful man who understands "he needs help." But when given the chance to speak, he proclaimed the government is "evil and oppressive" and bemoaned what the happened to his wife, Allison Fluke-Ekren, who per the report is "serving two decades in prison for leading an all-female Islamic State battalion that trained women and girls to use rifles and suicide vests." He added, “I didn’t commit any crime” when reminded by U.S. District Judge David Novak why he was there.“This is not a forum for you to complain about the United States of America,” Novak said, shutting him down, before sentencing him to 30 years and four months in prison.The United States has for years sought to root out the leadership and capabilities of ISIS, an extremist splinter group of al-Qaeda that considers itself an Islamic caliphate with dominion over all Muslims; in March, the Trump administration announced the killing of a long-fugitive ISIS leader.

Security minister says US delegation wanted classification for PCC and Comando Vermelho to aid immigration policyThe Brazilian government has rejected a request by the US state department to designate two major criminal gangs as terrorist organizations, according to Mario Sarrubo, Brazil’s national secretary of public security.Sarrubo said the request was made on Tuesday during a meeting between US and Brazilian officials in Brasília. Continue reading...

University of Michigan Economics Professor Justin Wolfers warned that things are going to be a lot worse than Americans understand as a result of President Donald Trump's tariffs. Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday, Wolfers said the best thing that could happen is that Trump would "back off" his trade war. Trump ran on tariffs in 2024, but he also ran on them in 2016, he recalled. "And when he ran on them last time, he used them a little bit more carefully. There were tariffs on steel and aluminum and washing machines. They were all quite destructive, but they're actually small parts of the economy," said Wolfers. "The thing he's done differently this time is he's ratcheted up American tariffs. So, we are easily the highest tariff nation among any leading industrialized country."ALSO READ: Trump is doing it all in broad daylight because he thinks no one will stop himNow, he explained, U.S. tariff rates are roughly 10 times those of trading partners. "You may have heard of the Depression era Smoot-Hawley tariffs, and there's a funny fact — you have to be an economist to really geek out on this — which is the pain that a tariff causes rises in the square of the tariff rate," Wolfers said. "So what that means is not just that things are bad or worse, they're worse squared. In fact, I did a calculation that suggested the pain that this set of tariffs is going to cause is going to be roughly 50 times larger than the tariffs that Trump imposed in his first term."When it happened in 2018, "mostly life went on." The only real change was if someone wanted to buy a washing machine. But for Americans going to the grocery store, things were normal. "But now, realize that everything we buy is at risk. So, next time you go to the grocery store, pick things up off the shelf and have a look at where they're made. Many of them will be made in China. Many of the things that aren't made in China, though, are made maybe in the U.S. using inputs from China. Think about things like, yes, the president makes fun of plastic dolls, but actually, it turns out American Girl dolls also come from China. But more than that, it's strollers. It's toasters, it's equipment."So, with the 145% tariff Trump imposed on China, family budgets and planning "depend entirely on what happens in the White House."See his full comments below or at the link here. - YouTube youtu.be