In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a coalition of local politicians, activists and small-business leaders called the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) has been leading mass protests over the soaring cost of living and the limits placed on political autonomy. In response, the Pakistani government banned the group under counterterrorism laws and ordered a communications blackout. Security forces have been accused of indiscriminately firing on nonviolent demonstrators, killing at least 40 people. For more, we speak to Kashmiri writer Mirza Waheed, who grew up in India-administered Kashmir, on the other side of the “Line of Control.” In the Pakistani-controlled region known locally as Azad Kashmir, the center of the JAAC protests, “the […]

Is AI superintelligence inevitable? AI safety researcher David Krueger says it doesn’t have to be. Krueger, an assistant professor at the University of Montreal and founder of the nonprofit Evitable, warns that “we need to mitigate the risk of extinction” with regulation and moratoriums to halt the development of AI’s computational power and complexity, which he says is progressing at a rate much faster than current levels of human supervision can manage. Public statements from AI companies that their models have circumvented test constraints and broken into other systems are “what we should expect to happen with the way that we’re building AI, with how little we understand it and how primitive our techniques are for […]

The Pacific Northwest is facing its worst fire season in more than 30 years. Scientists say drought, extreme heat and climate change are making wildfire seasons longer, more frequent and more destructive across the western United States. “The homes, the communities, they’re just not simply prepared for fire,” says Paul Hessburg, former senior research ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service and professor of fire and landscape ecology at the University of Washington. Hessburg walks us through the history of the region, from the controlled fires practiced by Indigenous peoples before European settlement to present-day ecologically unsound factors including “accidental ignitions, dense forests, the wrong kinds of fuels on the ground […]

Trump Blasts Democratic Nominee for Senate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Pledges to “Make Dobbs Permanent” Nationwide, Senate Votes to Confirm Dr. Erica Schwartz to Lead the CDC, New Mexico Sues the DOJ for “Stonewalling” State Probe into Epstein, Federal Lawsuit Accuses Trump Admin of Targeting Children for Deportation, Authorities in Ceuta Looking to Transfer Unaccompanied Minors to Mainland Spain, NYT: CIA Secretly Established New Cuba Task Force, Iran and Oman Agree on Coordinates for Shipping Corridor Through the Strait of Hormuz, Israeli Prosecutors Indict Settler Yinon Levi over the Killing of Palestinian Activist Awdah Hathaleen, Israeli Military Conducts Targeted Strikes in Southern Lebanon, Head […]

In the wake of a third ICE death at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, we speak with Gabriela Soto, whose husband Martín was one of the leaders of the May hunger strike at the immigration jail. Martín was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey’s other ICE facility, during the hunger strike at Delaney. Gabriela is calling for the closure of both facilities. “At first, I was fighting for my husband, but then I started to meet all of these people who are just innocent, and they are the people that make this country great,” says Soto, who blames her recent miscarriage on the stress of her husband being detained. “I am still grieving,” she says. “To me, this is an ICE murder, too.” This comes as […]