Isreal
Famous Holocaust escape tunnel located in Lithuania using hi-tech jpost
For the first time since the end of World War II, the famous tunnel dug by Jewish prisoners of Ponar, near Vilnius in Lithuania, to escape from the Nazis, has been located using new state-of-the-art technology for underground predictive scanning.
Egypt foreign minister to visit Ramallah for peace plan powwow timesofisrael
Shoukry will discuss Egypt’s part in achieving a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Palestinian news site Wattan reported. He is reportedly carrying a personal message from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to Abbas.
Turkey-Russia
Putin Ends Russian Tourism Ban to Turkey After Erdogan Talks bloomberg
It’s time “to begin the process of normalizing trade relations” with Turkey by lifting sanctions, starting with tourism despite the threat of terrorism shown by the attack on Istanbul airport, Putin told a government meeting on Wednesday. Erdogan “assured me that the Turkish government will do all they can to ensure the safety of our citizens” in Turkey, he said.
Mexico
Supplies run out in southern Mexico amid teachers' protests sfgate
The department said there were severe shortages of even the most basic goods, including food and medicine, in many other areas.
Invasive Tech
Smart billboards will identify car models and target ads to drivers digitaltrends
Cloudian and Dentsu tested smart billboard vehicle recognition earlier this year with impressive results. Combining big data and deep learning, the test identified vehicles in traffic correctly 94 percent of the time.
Once the system has identified a vehicle, it displays a targeted ad on the LED billboard for as long as five seconds. The choice of ads to be displayed to specific vehicles is determined by the advertisers. For example, people driving a five-year old vehicle might see an ad for a newer model of the same car. Truck drivers might be shown ads for upcoming trucker-friendly stops.
Robotics
Sony is working on a robot that can 'form an emotional bond' with people theverge
"Sony will seek to propose new business models that integrate hardware and services to provide emotionally compelling experiences," the company says in notes from the presentation; no further details on the robot are available. Japanese telecoms company SoftBank makes similar "emotional" claims about its Pepper robot, while Sony arguably achieved the goal to some extent with its AIBO dogs, which some users have gone as far as to hold funerals for.
AI
Artificial intelligence: The advent of virtual humans cbsnews
Sara, for "socially aware robot assistant," has spent the past several days greeting hundreds of people coming to the event, hosted by the World Economic Forum, at a station showcasing the office of the future.
People can sit down and chat with Sara, who asks what they want to get out of the conference before suggesting people to meet and sessions to attend. It's all conversational. No keyboards required. If a guest seems nervous around Sara, the autonomous virtual personal assistant kick-starts the conversation by introducing herself.
Driverless Cars
Your Grandmother’s Driverless Car theatlantic
In the 1920s and 1930s, a driverless car was more commonly known as a “phantom auto,” and demonstrations of the technology drew thousands of spectators in cities across the United States.
Society
Anger as Christian cross removed from Church of England school's logo examiner.co.uk
Parents claim the school had a change of heart over the logo following complaints but Kirklees Council denied any complaints had been made and claimed the original logo was “temporary”.
Regular Christians Are No Longer Welcome in American Culture time
Traditional American Christians have long been on the losing end of culture-war contests—on school prayer, same-sex marriage and other issues. But recent events, including the Supreme Court decision overruling Texas’ restrictions on abortion clinics and the mandate that employers provide access to contraception, have added to the sense that religious expression is under attack.
I was surprised to find a fairly clear-headed, grounded article like this in Time. Course, when she says "Christians" she generally means Roman Catholics.
Military removes ‘man’ from 19 job titles in a step towards gender-neutrality independent.co.uk
The military occupation specialities (MOS) were agreed to be changed in name after a month-long review ordered by the Navy secretary Ray Mabus, one month after defense secretary Ash Carter demanded that all military jobs be opened up to women.
Also see Marines strip ‘man’ from 19 job titles: ‘We have reached peak crazy’
Apostasy
Methodists nominate 3 openly gay candidates for bishop deseretnews
It’s not the first time an openly gay candidate has been nominated — Wulf has been nominated before, according to Reconciling Ministries Executive Director Matt Berryman — but there’s “no question” there is momentum this time after last month’s United Methodist Church General Conference in Portland, Ore.
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