Automakers urged to collaborate with defense industry

Defense Secretary James Mattis has a lot on his mind these days. North Korea, obviously. China's expanding claims on the South China sea. Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria. And, closer to home, the Pentagon lagging behind the tech industry in leveraging artificial intelligence. Mattis admitted to that concern Thursday during the Silicon Valley leg of a West Coast tour that includes visits to Amazon and Google. When WIRED asked Mattis if the US had ambitions to harness recent progress in AI for military purposes like those recently espoused by China, he said his department needed to do more with the technology. “It's got to be better integrated by the Department of Defense, because I see many of the greatest advances out here on the West Coast in private industry,” Mattis said. Mattis, speaking in Mountain View, a stone’s throw from Google’s campus, hopes the tech industry will help the Pentagon catch up. He was visiting the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, an … [Read more...] about Defense Secretary James Mattis Envies Silicon Valley’s AI Ascent

Environmental campaigners and human rights groups have said the revelations of slavery in the prawn supply chain are a wake-up call for consumers. They are urging shoppers to boycott cheap Thai prawns and other imported seafood if supermarkets cannot guarantee the goods have been sourced ethically. The Marine Stewardship Council, which backs a labelling scheme to help shoppers buy fish ethically, said the other option was to buy cold-water prawns fished from the north Atlantic – which accounts for about a third of all prawns eaten in the UK – or Dublin Bay prawns from the Irish Sea. An MSC spokesman said: "This is undoubtedly an extremely serious and important issue. We condemn the practices described in the Guardian investigation." The Marine Conservation Society, which advises consumers on fish to eat and fish to avoid on ethical grounds, urged consumers to try to find out, before buying, whether supermarkets were engaged with improvement projects in Thailand or the rest … [Read more...] about Slavery in prawn trade: consumers urged to check source of seafood

Passengers have been urged to check their train times ahead of a major timetable change on Sunday, which will see more faster services on various routes around the country. Rail companies have promised to prioritise reliability and punctuality in the changeover, aiming to reassure passengers after the botched introduction of a new schedule in May 2018 caused mass disruption. Changes from 15 December include nonstop trains between London and Bristol, direct links from Norwich to Stansted airport and full train services on Sundays in parts of Wales that previously ran only six days a week. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents train operators and Network Rail, said the new timetable would add 1,000 extra weekly services in total and show the results of investment in the network, including in new and upgraded carriages. Some journey times will be reduced, while other regions will involve more frequent trains, as well as new routes. The long-running electrification of Great … [Read more...] about Rail passengers urged to check trains ahead of timetable change

An international workers' union has declared the Thai government to be "on trial" in an impending defamation case against a British human rights defender who exposed alleged modern-day slavery in its canned fruit and fishing industry. The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) has demanded that all charges against Andy Hall, 33, be dropped immediately, and described the trial – due in September – as "a national and international embarrassment". Thailand's Natural Fruit Company filed civil and criminal cases against Hall earlier this year after he exposed alleged labour and human rights abuses, including violence against employees, forced overtime, the use of underage labour and the confiscation of passports of Burmese migrant workers. He published his findings in a report called "Cheap has a high price" for the Finnish NGO Finnwatch in January last year and was hit with the libel suit one month later. In May, separate defamation charges were filed by the same … [Read more...] about Thai government urged to drop libel case against British slavery researcher

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) — All of it is possible due to the Smart Lab at the Mitchell Middle School, which is now fully implemented after receiving an additional $25,000 in grant money from America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education program, sponsored by Monsanto. Principal Justin Zajic started looking into replacing the industrial technology course last December and put together a committee involving the Mitchell Area Development Corporation, Toshiba, Muth Electric, Mitchell Technical Institute and other community members, the Daily Republic “We discovered we were having problems getting people into these major tech industries that we have here in Mitchell, so we brainstormed on how to grow locally. We wanted to look at curriculums that would put our middle schoolers on the right path to develop skills for these industries,” Zajic said. The program offers a combination of curriculum and assessment, hardware and software. The classroom is what used to the former … [Read more...] about Lab aims to encourage youth to pursue Mitchell tech industry