All posts tagged: Increasingly

Elon Musk Fans Increasingly Disgusted by His Toxic Outbursts

Elon Musk Fans Increasingly Disgusted by His Toxic Outbursts

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Elon Musk is expectorating racist diatribes even more than usual, and it’s alienating his fans and investors. On his website X, over six percent of Musk’s posts have been about race in the past seven months, which is almost triple the rate of the two previous years, a new investigation by The Washington Post found. More than half of these posts included the word “white,” reflecting Musk’s obsession with the racist myth that white people are being “replaced.” “Whites are a rapidly dying minority,” Musk seethed in January, for instance.  He has paid particular attention to his home country of South Africa, whose government he frequently accuses of being “anti-White.” “There are now more anti-White and anti other race laws in South Africa than there were anti-Black laws under Apartheid!” Musk tweeted at one point, a claim he has repeatedly nearly verbatim, without evidence. Tesla was once seen as a shining beacon of green energy and the future …

Trump is facing an increasingly patient Iran

Trump is facing an increasingly patient Iran

Published by Sam Flores

The president has extended his deadline on coming to a deal with Iran five times now, always accompanied by severe threats. There’s an internal debate at the White House about whether to publicly set another firm deadline only to blow past it, according to a person familiar with the White House discussions. Weeks ago, the president vowed to “obliterate” power plants if Iran did not “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz. Two days later, the president announced a five-day pause on those strikes, citing progress in the diplomatic negotiations. Two days after that, he pushed it back further, and then did so again on April 7. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that only President Trump can set the next deadline on an Iranian proposal to end the war. On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance prepared to travel to Pakistan for a second round of talks after the first session failed, only for the trip to be postponed. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were summoned to the White House to …

MAGA Is Increasingly Convinced the Trump Assassination Attempt Was Staged

MAGA Is Increasingly Convinced the Trump Assassination Attempt Was Staged

Published by skeptic

In recent weeks, as criticism of President Donald Trump from his own supporters has reached a fever pitch, a new conspiracy theory has taken hold: Some of the president’s biggest supporters are now claiming, without evidence, that Trump staged the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024 and is covering it up. During an open-air campaign rally on July 13, 2024, Trump survived an attempted assassination when a bullet fired by a 20-year-old on a roof nearby clipped the top of his ear. Corey Comperatore, a Trump supporter sitting near the president, was shot and killed. The shooter was later killed by Secret Service agents. Conspiracy theories around the Butler assassination quickly permeated the internet, but for many Trump supporters, his survival was seen as a sign from God that he was the chosen one. As Trump’s hold over MAGA has waned, though, an increasing number of his supporters have begun to push the narrative that the entire incident was staged. “I think that maybe it was staged,” Tim Dillon said on …

Is Anthropic ‘nerfing’ Claude? Users increasingly report performance degradation as leaders push back

Is Anthropic ‘nerfing’ Claude? Users increasingly report performance degradation as leaders push back

Published by skeptic

A growing number of developers and AI power users are taking to social media to accuse Anthropic of degrading the performance of Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Code — intentionally or as an outcome of compute limits — arguing that the company’s flagship coding model feels less capable, less reliable and more wasteful with tokens than it did just weeks ago. The complaints have spread quickly on Github, X and Reddit over the past several weeks, with several high-reach posts alleging that Claude has become worse at sustained reasoning, more likely to abandon tasks midway through, and more prone to hallucinations or contradictions. Some users have framed the issue as “AI shrinkflation” — the idea that customers are paying the same price for a weaker product. Others have gone further, suggesting Anthropic may be throttling or otherwise tuning Claude downward during periods of heavy demand. Those claims remain unproven, and Anthropic employees have publicly denied that the company degrades models to manage capacity. At the same time, Anthropic has acknowledged real changes to usage limits …

Politicians Are Spending More Money on Security as They Increasingly Become Targets

Politicians Are Spending More Money on Security as They Increasingly Become Targets

Published by skeptic

Federal campaign and political action committee spending on security during the 2024 election cycle was over five times the amount spent ahead of the 2016 election, according to a new report published on Thursday. The report by the Security Project at the nonpartisan group Public Service Alliance notes that the jump in spending comes as violent threats against public servants and their families are rising at all levels of government. Justin Sherman, interim vice president of the Security Project and the author of the report, finds the rising costs of addressing such threats concerning and says for some candidates it can create additional financial pressure. “No candidate, regardless of party, regardless of where in the country they’re running, should have to weigh serving in public office against threats to them or their families,” Sherman says. A Minnesota Star Tribune investigation recently found that threats against Minnesota State Capitol workers had increased from 18 incidents in 2024 to 92 in 2025, and that in the first two months of 2026, there were 45. Other research from …

Desalination plants in the Middle East are increasingly vulnerable

Desalination plants in the Middle East are increasingly vulnerable

Published by skeptic

Membrane technologies have made up essentially all new desalination capacity in recent years; the last major thermal plant built in the Gulf came online in 2018. Many reverse osmosis plants still rely on fossil fuels, but they’re more efficient. Since then, membrane technologies have added more than 15 million cubic meters of daily capacity—enough to supply water to millions of people. Capacity has expanded quickly in recent years; between 2006 and 2024, countries across the Middle East collectively spent over $50 billion building and upgrading desalination facilities, and nearly that much operating them. Today, there are nearly 5,000 desalination plants operational across the Middle East. And looking ahead, growth is continuing. Between 2024 and 2028, daily capacity is expected to grow from about 29 million cubic meters to 41 million cubic meters. Uneven vulnerabilities Some countries rely on the technology more than others. Iran, for example, uses desalination for about 3% of its municipal fresh water. The country has access to groundwater and some surface water, including rivers, though these resources are being stretched thin …

Commentary: How Southeast Asia might change the way it engages an increasingly disruptive America

Commentary: How Southeast Asia might change the way it engages an increasingly disruptive America

Published by Sam Flores

Now, however, this approach appears to be in limbo. The Supreme Court’s overturning of the Liberation Day tariffs raised questions about the sanctity of the trade deals that the US made with Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia. In fact, there is ongoing confusion in Malaysia about the status of their deal with the US. The announcement of the Section 301 investigations into excess capacity and forced labour raised further questions about the value of entering deals with the US when they can be broken so easily.  Public hearings for the Section 301 cases will occur in late April and early May. Accused Southeast Asian countries are expected to attend the hearings to plead their cases, though it is unclear what they will offer or promise to earn Washington’s favour.  A NEW ANCHOR FOR US-SOUTHEAST ASIA TIES? Overall, countries are choosing to continue engaging a “revisionist” Washington, whether in pursuit of potential benefits through pragmatic arrangements or to mitigate disruptive outcomes from tariffs.  Pointing out that countries are embarking on diversification efforts to reduce their vulnerabilities in …

In Win For Putin, India Buys 60 Million Barrels Of Russian Oil, As Refiners Increasingly Transact In Yuan, Dirham

In Win For Putin, India Buys 60 Million Barrels Of Russian Oil, As Refiners Increasingly Transact In Yuan, Dirham

Published by Jenni Sidey

Indian refiners have bought about 60 million barrels of Russian oil for delivery next month, which is set to ease some supply concerns as the Middle East war chokes flows. Citing people familiar, Bloomberg reports that the cargoes were booked at premiums of $5 to $15 a barrel to Brent. The volume is similar to the amount of purchases for this month, but more than double than that for February, according to data intelligence firm Kpler. The buying spree followed a US waiver that allowed India to take Russian oil that was already loaded onto vessels before March 5 to offset shortages caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The measure was subsequently expanded to include other countries and updated to allow purchases of crude already at sea before March 12. India has bought ~60 million barrels of Russian oil in March, and already booked a similar amount for delivery in April. The purchases are at a premium of $5-$15 a barrel **above** the Brent benchmark. And current prices, that’s worth >$6.5 billion for …

Cocaine bound for Europe increasingly routed through West Africa – Eye on Africa

Cocaine bound for Europe increasingly routed through West Africa – Eye on Africa

Published by Sam Flores

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again EYE ON AFRICA © FRANCE 24 Issued on: 12/03/2026 – 22:34Modified: 13/03/2026 – 10:40 14:11 min From the show Reading time 1 min In tonight’s edition: a new report warns that trafficking routes from Latin America to Europe are increasingly passing through West Africa. The new US ambassador to South Africa has backtracked on his criticism of the “Kill the Boer” chant. And more than a month after Cyclone Gezani devastated eastern Madagascar, survivors are facing a new crisis as construction material prices have surged by 50 percent. Produced by Clarisse Fortuné and Antonia Cimini Source link

Extreme heat is making life increasingly unlivable

Extreme heat is making life increasingly unlivable

Published by Sam Flores

The number of days where extreme heat makes it too dangerously hot to walk the dog, sweep the porch and engage in other ordinary pursuits has doubled around the world over the last 75 years, according to new research. Scientists determined that on average, those 65 and older experience a month a year when heat prevents them from routine activities. Parts of Asia, Africa, Australia and North America are becoming unlivable for senior citizens, the researchers said. Younger adults also are losing time as climate-driven heat restricts their lives for 50 hours a year. Overall, more than a third of the global population resides in regions where heat severely affects daily life, according to the peer-reviewed paper published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research: Health. Although previous research has shown the effect of extreme heat on human health, authors of the new study said it’s the first to document the consequences of rising temperatures on everyday life. “Extreme heat isn’t just affecting our ability to survive or work physically demanding jobs, but also just to …