WORLD NEWS
Guyana appeals to US and UN as Maduro advances annexation of territory

Guyana has asked for assistance from the United Nations and the United States as Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro takes steps to annex two-thirds of Guyana's territory.

Maduro announced measures to formalize a referendum in which voters supported recognizing a 160,000km2 oil-rich region in Guyana as Venezuelan territory. He ordered the creation of a new state, the Guayana-Esequiba, and the mining and oil extraction operations in the area. This has caused concerns and prompted Brazil to send armored vehicles to its border.

Venezuela has long claimed Essequibo, disputing the borders drawn with Guyana. The international court of justice is arbitrating the dispute, but Maduro asked the Venezuelan people whether they should disregard the court's decision. The Venezuelan government says that 95% of voters agreed to recognize Essequibo as part of Venezuela.

Guyana's President Ali called Maduro's actions a direct threat to Guyana's territorial integrity and sought support from Caricom, the US, and other allies while raising the issue with the UN Security Council.

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TECH
Google launches its largest and ‘most capable’ AI model , Gemini

Google has launched its most ambitious effort yet in the field of generative artificial intelligence with the introduction of its AI model called Gemini.

The model is designed to compete with OpenAI's GPT models and will be used to enhance Google's consumer apps and Android smartphones.

Unlike existing AI models, Gemini is multimodal, meaning it accepts inputs that include text, images, audio, video, and programming code.

The announcement marks an attempt by Google to push generative AI out to the farthest reaches of its empire.

Gemini comes in three different sizes: Nano, Pro, and Ultra.

Google's advances in cloud computing were also showcased during the launch. The company said it trained Gemini using a new generation of powerful cloud-based processors that can train large AI models three times faster than the prior version.

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EDUCATION
Top US universities under fire

The presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania are facing intense scrutiny after their testimony at a House hearing on campus antisemitism and calls for genocide in Israel.

Business leaders, donors, and politicians are criticizing the university leaders for their responses to questions about whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates their schools' code of conduct on bullying or harassment.

The leaders did not explicitly state that such calls would violate their code of conduct, but instead explained that it would depend on the circumstances.

The criticism has led to calls for resignations and concerns about reputational damage to the universities. Harvard and Penn have issued statements attempting to clarify their positions, emphasizing that calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community have no place on their campuses.