Briefly

BANGLADESH

Road accidents claimed over 400 lives in July

A total of 418 people were killed and 856 others injured in 443 road accidents in Bangladesh in July, a report said on Tuesday. According to a report by the Road Safety Foundation, an NGO, the deceased included 72 women and 53 children. The report said 109 people died in 131 motorcycle accidents. There were also four waterway accidents, where six people were killed.

UNITED STATES

Utah shooting leaves 2 police officers dead

Two police officers were killed and another was injured in a shooting in the US state of Utah on Sunday night, local media reported on Monday. Officers from the Tremonton Garland Police Department responded to an apparent case of domestic violence in the city of Tremonton, after someone called 911 multiple times and hung up, the neighboring Brigham City Police Department said on Monday in a news release, according to local media. A man came out with a firearm and shot the first officer, killing him. A second officer, responding to help the first one, was also struck and killed by the man's gunfire, according to reports.

Displacement by AI worrying workers: Poll

US people are deeply concerned over the prospect that advances in artificial intelligence could put swathes of the country out of work permanently, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The sixday poll, which concluded on Monday, showed 71 percent of respondents said they were concerned that AI will be "putting too many people out of work permanently". The new technology burst into the national conversation in late 2022 when OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot launched and became the fastest-growing application of all time, with tech heavyweights like Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Google owner Alphabet and Microsoft offering their own AI products. Some 77 percent of respondents to the poll said they were worried the technology could be used to stir up political chaos, a sign of unease over the now-common use of AI technology to create realistic videos of imaginary events. More than half of US citizens, some 61 percent, said they were concerned about the amount of electricity needed to power the fast-growing technology.

UK drops demand for Apple data: Gabbard

Britain abandoned its demand that Apple provide so-called backdoor access to any encrypted user data stored in the cloud, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Monday. Gabbard indicated London and Washington had resolved their high-stakes dispute over electronic privacy, writing on X that she and President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance spent the "past few months" working with the UK government. The dispute surfaced at the start of the year with a news report that British security officials had issued the US tech giant with a secret order requiring the creation of backdoor access to view fully encrypted material. Apple challenged the order, which raised fears of electronic spying by national security officials.

UNITED KINGDOM

300-year-old violin to star at music festival

One of the most valuable violins in the world, crafted three centuries ago and once owned by composer Niccolo Paganini, is to be played at a top UK classical music festival. The violin, known as the Carrodus, is one of only around 150 made by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu known to have survived down the centuries, and was acquired by a philanthropic group for $20 million in June. It was crafted in 1743 in Cremona, northern Italy, and will be played for the first time as part of the BBC Proms by South Korean violinist Inmo Yang. The violin will be seen on Aug 28 at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Xinhua - Agencies