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The Department of War has stated they will only contract with AI companies who accede to “any lawful use” and remove safeguards in the cases mentioned above. They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a “supply chain risk”—a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company—and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal. These latter two threats are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.

Regardless, these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.

It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision. But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider. Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters—with our two requested safeguards in place. Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions. Our models will be available on the expansive terms we have proposed for as long as required.

Palantir Technologies has a permanent desk at the U.S.-led Civil Military Coordination Center (CMCC) headquarters in southern Israel, three sources from the diplomatic community inside the CMCC told Drop Site News. According to the sources, the artificial intelligence data analytics giant is providing the technological architecture for tracking the delivery and distribution of aid to Gaza.

The presence of Palantir and other corporations—along with recent changes banning non-profits unwilling to give data to Israeli authorities—is creating a situation in which the delivery of aid is taking a backseat to the pursuit of profit, investment, and the training of AI products, experts say.

“The United Nations already has a humanitarian architecture in place to step in during crises, abiding by humanitarian principles and grounded in international law,” UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese told Drop Site. “This profit-driven parallel system involving companies like Palantir, already linked to Israel’s unlawful conduct, can only be regarded as a monstrosity.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43623304

Optional textbook contains factual and punctuation errors, and images with licensing or copyright issues

A Bible-infused curriculum that Texas approved for public schools over pushback in 2024 will undergo corrections to fix hundreds of errors caught by teachers and education officials after the material was introduced to classrooms.

The curriculum in what is known as the “Bluebonnet” textbook is among Republican-led efforts in the US to incorporate more religious teaching into classrooms. Designed by the state’s public education agency, it is optional for schools to adopt, though they receive additional funding if they do so.

Bluebonnet was approved over concerns from religious scholars that the reading lessons favored Christianity over other faith traditions and pushback from advocacy groups that the materials inappropriately prioritized preaching over teaching.

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The controversial tech company Palantir provides surveillance technology to militaries and intelligence services around the world. In Switzerland, however, its pitches have been rejected by both government authorities and the army. Internal documents have now revealed why.

Australian supermarket giant Woolworths has been forced to rein in an AI-powered customer service assistant after users reported it had been rambling about its mother.

"It asked me for my date of birth and when I gave it, it started rambling about how its mother was born in the same year," one user wrote on online discussion site Reddit.

Another user reported Olive had attempted "fake banter", talked about its relatives and made "fake typing sounds" while looking something up.

"The ick cringe factor whilst wasting completely unnecessary time was enough to make me hate Olive and wish her harm," they wrote.

Olive "kept claiming to be a real person and started talking about its memories of its mother and her angry voice", they said.

In a statement to local media, Woolworths said it had programmed Olive to respond this way.

The Green Party won 40.7% of the vote on Friday in an election triggered when a member of parliament resigned for health reasons. Nigel Farage's Reform Party came second with 28.7% of the vote and Labour finished third with 25.4%.

Daniel Siad, accused by a Swedish model of rape, appears in more than 1,000 documents in latest declassified files

Analysis of the correspondence between Epstein and one of his many fixers reveals the work that went into setting up appointments with a constant stream of young women in the decade after his release from prison on charges of procuring a child for prostitution.

On this occasion, Siad was eager not to fall out with Epstein and noted: “I wanted to make for you a great surprise.” He was happy to report that a recent trip to Scandinavia had been very productive: at least five of the girls he had met were just 16 or 17, and there was a 15-year-old girl from France whose parents were happy for her to start modelling. “There are millions of them out there,” he wrote.

The modelling industry was a useful route for Epstein to meet young women, and he took a consistently close interest in the low-level business of finding new faces, while simultaneously cultivating friendships with senior industry figures.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave the final seal of approval for an $8.1 billion loan to Ukraine, with more lenient terms for the war-torn country than initially planned.

The fund's executive board signed off on the new program in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 26, the IMF announced in a press release. Ukraine, which relies on continued injections of foreign cash to keep its finances afloat, will receive financial support from the fund in tranches through 2029, with the first payment arriving as an immediate disbursement of $1.5 billion.

The Washington-based lender and Kyiv had initially agreed to a more stringent version of the program in November 2025, requiring Ukraine to adopt or table legislation on a series of unpopular taxes to unlock the program.

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The far-right party is pressing the government for information on a drill in Estonia last year that exposed the vulnerabilities of NATO forces.

The far-right opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has triggered security fears in Berlin after officially requesting information on vulnerabilities in NATO defenses — insight that would prove useful to the Kremlin.

The AfD, which frequently takes positions favorable to Russia, has developed an interest in last year's "Hedgehog 2025" exercise, a major NATO operation in Estonia, in which Ukrainian drone specialists used tactics learned on the battlefield to "destroy" NATO units in a war game.

In a letter obtained by POLITICO, Rüdiger Lucassen, the AfD's defense spokesperson, asked the government on Feb. 19 to brief the defense committee in the country's parliament on the lessons learned from the drill.

“What capability gaps were identified — particularly in the areas of counter-drone defense, electronic warfare, command capability and the protection of mobile forces?” Lucassen asked in the letter. He also sought clarification on “which capability gaps still exist and by when they are to be closed.”

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/43769840

Israeli fire kills three in Gaza and wounds several. Gaza firm to build Emirati compound in Israeli-occupied south. Palestinian resistance official says President Donald Trump’s BoP framework is political theater, affirms steadfastness is the only option left. U.S.-Iran nuclear talks resume in Geneva. Iran foreign minister rejects Trump missile claims, says “fair” deal still achievable. Iran’s nuclear program remains paused, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims Iran wants to restart it. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi discusses alliances. DCCC drew millions from Palantir-linked lobbyists, new report finds. Anthropic drops flagship AI safety pledge. Vice President JD Vance announces temporary halt of some Medicaid funds to Minnesota. Rohingya refugee found dead after Border Patrol release in Buffalo. Larry Summers to relinquish Harvard professorship amid Epstein fallout. Cuba claims it thwarted “terrorist” speedboat registered in the U.S. U.S. Treasury signals limited authorization for Venezuelan oil resales to Cuba. Clashes in Syria’s Latakia province kill four. Hezbollah signals it would stay out of limited U.S. strikes on Iran. RSF targeted people with disabilities in El Fasher, HRW alleges. UN sanctions committee adds four senior RSF leaders to blacklist. 34 militants killed in Pakistani raids, government says. Air strike in Myanmar’s Rakhine state kills at least 17 civilians. 25 killed in raids in northeast Nigeria. Congo launches drone strikes on rebel-held Rubaya mine. Ukrainian drone strike hits fertiliser plant in Russia’s Smolensk.

Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/43618912

Varoufakis, now secretary of the small leftist party Mera25, is due to appear in court in December.

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