All posts tagged: Nearing

Trump makes his case for war with Iran, saying the conflict is ‘nearing completion’ : NPR

Trump makes his case for war with Iran, saying the conflict is ‘nearing completion’ : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

President Trump speaks about the war with Iran from the White House on Wednesday. Pool/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Pool/Getty Images President Trump used a prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday to announce that the administration’s goals in Iran have nearly all been achieved and that the war there is “nearing completion.” The roughly 20 minute speech was Trump’s first formal address about the war since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran more than a month ago. With rising gas prices sapping public support for the war, Trump sought to frame the conflict as a success thus far. “In these past four weeks,” he said, “our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield.” However, the Trump administration has given shifting explanations of its goals, and its list of accomplishments in the conflict are mixed and unclear, at a time when the president has been talking about finding a way out of the war. When he first announced the strikes on Iran, Trump listed several military objectives: destroying Iran’s …

Israeli Military Chief Warns Army Nearing Internal Collapse As Netanyahu Pushes Service Extensions

Israeli Military Chief Warns Army Nearing Internal Collapse As Netanyahu Pushes Service Extensions

Published by Jenni Sidey

In a surprising announcement splashed all over Israeli media front pages, especially given the ongoing censorship regimen related to the Iran war, Israel’s military chief has sounded the alarm over a severe manpower crisis in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has warned the “IDF is going to collapse in on itself” during a security cabinet meeting this week, according to Times of Israel and others. This as Israeli forces are now fighting on multiple fronts: there’s the major war against Iran, as well as the ‘northern front’ against Hezbollah in Lebanon and amid IAF airstrikes on Beirut, and Israeli forces are still operating in Gaza.  via AFP “I am raising 10 red flags in front of you,” Gen. Zamir warned the country’s civilian leadership, citing intensifying operational demands across all the fronts. “Right now, the IDF needs a conscription law, a reserve duty law, and a law to extend mandatory service,” he laid out, per local media sources. “Before long, the IDF will not be ready for …

Senate, White House nearing deal to end DHS shutdown

Senate, White House nearing deal to end DHS shutdown

Published by Sam Flores

San Diego, CA – March 23: Travelers stand in a long Transportation Security Administration line that wrapped throughout Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport in California, March 23, 2026. K.C. Alfred | The San Diego Union | Getty Images Senate Republicans and the White House appear near to a deal to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security and end the partial government shutdown as the shutdown’s second month leads to worsening airport delays. Talks are still underway, but “this deal seems to be acceptable,” a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said Tuesday. President Donald Trump has said he wants to not only fund DHS but include other changes such as prohibitions on transgender care and a voter-ID measure. Democrats, however, say they’re not satisfied with the Republicans’ proposal. At a swearing-in ceremony for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday, Trump said he would “take a good hard look” at the compromise funding proposal. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said at a press conference Tuesday that “Democrats have …

As A Gen-X Kid I Was Taught Success Meant My Career, But Nearing 50, I Finally See The Problem

As A Gen-X Kid I Was Taught Success Meant My Career, But Nearing 50, I Finally See The Problem

Published by Jenni Sidey

Halfway through her emotional interview with Ellen DeGeneres in 2016, human fighting machine Ronda Rousey started to sob. And it wasn’t any of this fake TV ratings stuff, either. The 29-year-old began to weep as she recalled her mindset right after she was knocked out while defending her UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship title against Holly Holm in November of 2015, a fight she was wildly favored to win. “What am I anymore if I’m not this?” Rousey recalled wondering in the locker room immediately following her upset loss. “I’m nothing.” She admitted that she seriously thought about taking her own life. “What’s the point now,” she remembered thinking, “people will hate me.” As a Gen-X kid, I was taught success meant my career, but nearing 50, I finally see the problem: Even the most successful have doubts. It was a rare human glimpse into the mind of the sort of person we all expect to be fiercer than us, stronger than us, and tougher than we’ll ever be.  And yet, there she was: Ronda Rousey, the definition of a self-made modern woman doing exactly what she wanted to do in this world, revealing how she …

Xiaomi stuns with new MiMo-V2-Pro LLM nearing GPT-5.2, Opus 4.6 performance at a fraction of the cost

Xiaomi stuns with new MiMo-V2-Pro LLM nearing GPT-5.2, Opus 4.6 performance at a fraction of the cost

Published by skeptic

Chinese electronics and car manufacturer Xiaomi surprised the global AI community today with the release of MiMo-V2-Pro, a new 1-trillion parameter foundation model with benchmarks approaching those of U.S. AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic, but at around a seventh or sixth the cost when accessed over proprietary API — and importantly, sending less than 256,000 tokens-worth of information back and forth. Led by Fuli Luo, a veteran of the disruptive DeepSeek R1 project, the release represents what Luo characterizes as a “quiet ambush” on the global frontier. Furthermore, Luo stated in an X post that the company does plan to open source a model variant from this latest release, ” when the models are stable enough to deserve it.” By focusing on the “action space” of intelligence—moving from code generation to the autonomous operation of digital “claws”—Xiaomi is attempting to leapfrog the conversational paradigm entirely. Prior to this foray into frontier AI, Beijing-based Xiaomi established itself as a titan of “The Internet of Things” and consumer hardware. Globally recognized as the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer, …

BuzzFeed Nearing Bankruptcy After Disastrous Turn Toward AI

BuzzFeed Nearing Bankruptcy After Disastrous Turn Toward AI

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech In January 2023, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced in a memo to staff that the company was making a hard pivot to AI — years before the word “slop” was added to the public lexicon. In the memo, which was published roughly two months after OpenAI unveiled its groundbreaking ChatGPT chatbot, Peretti said BuzzFeed would be using the software to enhance the company’s infamous quizzes by generating personalized responses. The company’s stock price jumped aggressively, from around $3 per share to north of $15. But longer-term, neither insiders nor the public were particularly compelled by the move. Nonetheless, Peretti doubled down, promising in May 2023 that AI will “replace the majority of static content” on the site, just a month after shuttting down its Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News division. Reality soon set in. The AI quizzes were underwhelming, and the site was soon caught publishing entire AI-generated articles that were sloppy and repetitive. After the initial spike in …

Apple’s First Foldable Displays Nearing Mass Production

Apple’s First Foldable Displays Nearing Mass Production

Published by skeptic

Advanced display panels destined for Apple’s first foldable iPhone are reportedly nearing mass production. The Weibo leaker known as “Instant Digital” today said that Samsung Display is set to begin mass production of OLED panels for the first foldable iPhone in May 2026. Meanwhile, the user “Fixed Focus Digital” claims that the foldable iPhone’s screen may be flatter than many of the existing foldable devices currently on sale, suggesting that Apple has largely solved the crease problem. Previous reports have variously described the Samsung panel as as being “virtually crease free” and having “no crease at all.” Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman claims that the new display technology Apple is using reduces the crease without eliminating it entirely, but the result is “not perfect.” Rumors suggest that Apple’s first foldable iPhone will feature a 7.8-inch crease-free inner display, a 5.5-inch cover display, ‌Touch ID‌, two rear cameras, the A20 chip, and the “C2” modem. It is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and ‌‌iPhone 18‌‌ Pro Max in the fall. Production will almost certainly ramp …

Democrats rebut Trump’s claim that Iran war nearing end

Democrats rebut Trump’s claim that Iran war nearing end

Published by Sam Flores

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., from center left, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Sen Jon. Ossoff, a D-Ga., and Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., during the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 24, 2026. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images Senate Democrats on Tuesday rebutted President Donald Trump’s claims that the war in Iran may soon be over, warning that the U.S. risks getting dragged into another prolonged conflict in the Middle East. The concerns from Democrats who attended a bipartisan classified briefing with military brass on Tuesday stand in stark contrast with the president, who on Monday suggested the U.S. may be nearing the completion of its operation. Trump’s statements sent slumping markets soaring and cratered oil prices that had skyrocketed in recent days. The senators were briefed as the Trump administration continues to whipsaw between explanations, goals and timelines for the war that has seen eight U.S. service members killed in action and left the longtime leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dead. “What I heard …

US says it is nearing ‘complete control’ of Iran’s airspace

US says it is nearing ‘complete control’ of Iran’s airspace

Published by Sam Flores

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine speak at a press briefing at the Pentagon, in Washington, on March 4, 2026. KONSTANTIN TOROPIN / AP The United States expects to have “complete” control of Iranian airspace in the coming hours, the White House said on Wednesday, March 4, the fifth day of US-Israeli operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran. “We expect to have complete and total dominance over Iranian airspace in the coming hours,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier in the day that the United States and Israel “will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace,” without giving a specific timeline. That means “we will fly all day, all night, day and night, finding, fixing and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military,” Hegseth said. President Donald Trump on Wednesday rated the US performance in the war with Iran as a 15 on a scale of 10, saying the Islamic Republic of Iran’s leaders …

Solid-state EV batteries debut in China, nearing 1,000 miles range

Solid-state EV batteries debut in China, nearing 1,000 miles range

Published by skeptic

Chinese battery manufacturers already account for well over 50% of the global market, but new battery types, including solid-state, are rolling out, promising to be safer, more efficient, and safer. Solid-state EV batteries set to launch in China in 2026 Changan Automobile, one of China’s “Big Four” state-owned carmakers, will begin deploying solid-state batteries in vehicles over the next few months. The Chinese auto giant announced on Tuesday that it will begin trial installations before the end of the third quarter. After unveiling its “Golden Bell” all-solid-state EV battery in late 2023, Changan said it plans to launch eight self-developed battery cells, including liquid, semi-solid, and solid-state by 2030. At the time, Changan said it was developing new electrolytes and key processes for semi and all-solid-state EV batteries. Advertisement – scroll for more content The all-solid-state EV battery has an energy density of 400 Wh/kg, enabling over 1,500 km (932 miles) CLTC driving range, the automaker previously said. Using AI-powered diagnostics, Changan said it improved safety by 70%. Changan showcases “Golden Bell” all-solid-state EV battery …