International
Kamala Harris leads Trump in polls on eve of Democratic National Convention
Kamala Harris leads Trump in polls on eve of Democratic National Convention
United States Vice President Kamala Harris is leading former President Donald Trump as she prepares for her headline moment at the Democratic National Convention, opinion polling shows.
On the eve of the convention in Chicago, Harris holds a lead of between three and six percentage points in the race for the White House, two opinion polls showed on Sunday.
Harris is ahead of Trump by 49-45 percent among registered voters and 51-45 percent among likely voters in a two-way race, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll.
In a five-way race that includes Robert F Kennedy, Cornel West and Jill Stein, Harris leads Trump 47-44 percent among registered voters and 49-45 percent among likely voters.
In a CBS News poll, Harris is three points ahead nationally, leading Trump 51-48 percent.
In the seven battleground states considered pivotal to the outcome of the election – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina – Harris and Trump are tied 50-50.
The polls are the latest sign that Harris’s late entry into the race has energised Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters after months of poor polling for President Joe Biden, who dropped his re-election bid last month amid concerns about his fitness to serve a second term.
On Saturday, a New York Times/Siena College poll showed Harris in contention in the “Sun Belt” states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, which had been leaning heavily towards Trump when Biden was the Democratic nominee.
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Before heading to Chicago on Sunday, Harris held several campaign events in Pennsylvania, whose 20 electoral votes flipped from Trump to Biden in 2020.
“I very much consider us the underdogs,” Harris said at a campaign stop in the township of Moon.
“We have a lot of work to do to earn the vote of the American people. That’s why we’re on this bus tour today and we’re going to be travelling this country as we’ve been and talking with folks, listening to folks and hopefully earning their votes over the next 79 days.”
Speaking at a campaign in Pennsylvania a day earlier, Trump criticised Harris on inflation and her previous opposition to fracking, which is popular in the state, while also launching a series of personal attacks.
“People say, ‘Be nice’. Have you heard her laugh? That is the laugh of a crazy person… It’s the laugh of a lunatic,” Trump said.
While Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, were formally nominated in a roll-call vote earlier this month, the four-day convention that kicks off on Monday will give Democrats an opportunity to display unity and drum up enthusiasm among voters.
Biden, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former First Lady Michelle Obama are among the Democratic luminaries scheduled to address the convention.
Although Democrats have quickly coalesced around Harris, the Democratic nominee is expected to face demonstrations over the Biden administration’s support for the war in Gaza on the sidelines of the convention.
Dozens of Democratic delegates calling themselves “Delegates Against Genocide” have said that they will use the convention to press for an embargo on US arms sales to Israel.
The Democrats’ draft platform released last month calls for an immediate ceasefire in the war, without mentioning the Palestinian death toll or calling for a halt to US arms shipments to Israel.
Kamala Harris leads Trump in polls on eve of Democratic National Convention
International
$100m coin collection buried for decades to be auctioned
$100m coin collection buried for decades to be auctioned
A coin collection, much of which remained buried underground for over 50 years, is expected to surpass $100 million at auction, according to experts.
Named the Traveller Collection, this extraordinary assemblage is believed to be the most valuable coin collection ever brought to auction.
The coins will be sold gradually over the next three years, with the first auction set for May 20.
Beyond its immense value, the collection’s origins make for a fascinating tale.
Spanning over 100 territories and encompassing coins from ancient times to the modern era, the collection is being auctioned by Numismatica Ars Classica.
What sets it apart is that most of the coins remained hidden underground for half a century before resurfacing.
According to a press release shared with CNN, the anonymous collector behind the collection began acquiring gold coins after the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
Over time, he developed “a taste for coins with great historical interest, beauty and rarity” and eventually amassed approximately 15,000 coins.
During the 1930s, he and his wife traveled extensively across the Americas and Europe, acquiring rare and historically significant coins while meticulously documenting their purchases.
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Despite settling in Europe at a time when Hitler’s Nazi party loomed over the continent, the collector sensed the impending danger. In response, he carefully packed the coins into cigar boxes, which were then placed inside aluminum containers and buried underground, where they remained undisturbed for five decades.
Among the collection is a 50 Toman coin, part of an “exceedingly rare” set minted in Tehran and Isfahan during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
International
AI will replace doctors, teachers, others in 10 years – Bill Gates
AI will replace doctors, teachers, others in 10 years – Bill Gates
Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft, has claimed that improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) over the next decade may render humans superfluous for the majority of work.
In a recent interview with comedian Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s The Tonight Show in February, the billionaire philanthropist discussed how AI may take over many facets of life and business.
Gates remarked that expertise is currently “rare”, emphasising the continuous reliance on human specialists in industries such as medicine and education.
For example, we continue to rely on highly trained individuals, such as “a great doctor” or “a great teacher”, whose knowledge cannot be simply replaced by AI.
However, “with AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring,” Gates said.
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In other words, Gates believes that the world is entering a new era of “free intelligence”, as he described in a recent interview with Harvard University professor and happiness specialist Arthur Brooks.
According to Gates, this transition will result in rapid breakthroughs in AI-powered technology, making them more accessible and affecting almost every part of our lives.
These breakthroughs will vary from more effective treatments and diagnoses to widely available AI instructors and virtual assistants.
“It’s very profound and even a little bit scary — because it’s happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound,” Gates told Brooks.
The discussion of how humans will fit into an AI-powered future continues.
Some analysts suggest that artificial intelligence will improve human productivity rather than completely replacing labour, hence driving economic growth and creating new jobs.
However, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman cautions that technological improvements in the coming years will disrupt the nature of most occupations across nearly all industries, potentially exerting a “hugely destabilising” influence on the workforce.
AI will replace doctors, teachers, others in 10 years – Bill Gates
International
Poland suspends migrants’ right to apply for asylum
Poland suspends migrants’ right to apply for asylum
Poland has temporarily suspended the right of migrants arriving in Poland via its border with Belarus to apply for asylum.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced it would be happening after the controversial bill, which will allow Polish authorities to suspend this right for up to 60 days at a time, was signed into law by President Andrzej Duda.
Tusk had said it would be adopted “without a moment’s delay” while Duda said the changes were needed to strengthen security on the country’s borders.
But the law has been criticized by rights groups including Human Rights Watch, which said the EU should take legal action against Poland if it was implemented.
The group urged the country’s parliament last month to reject the bill, saying it “flies in the face of Poland’s international and EU obligations” and could “effectively completely seal off the Poland-Belarus border, where Polish authorities already engage in unlawful and abusive pushbacks”.
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The government said previously the suspension would only be applied temporarily to people who pose a threat to state security, for example large groups of aggressive migrants trying to storm the border.
Exemptions will be made for unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, the elderly or unwell, anyone exposed to “real risk of serious harm” by being returned and citizens of countries accused of conducting the instrumentalization of migration – like Belarus
Tusk has dismissed criticism from human rights groups.
“Nobody is talking about violating human rights, the right to asylum, we are talking about not granting applications to people who illegally cross the border in groups organised by Lukashenko,” he said in October.
Since 2021, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland have seen a huge increase in the number of people crossing into their countries illegally from Belarus and Russia.
Polish authorities have sent thousands of troops and border guards to police its border with Belarus and built a 5.5-metre-high steel fence along 186 km of the frontier where at times several thousand migrants have been left stranded.
Rights groups estimate more than one hundred people have died on the borders between Belarus and Poland, Lithuania and Latvia since 2021.
EU eastern flank countries and the European Commission have accused the Belarusian and Russian authorities of weaponising migration to create a new route into the EU to destabilize the bloc.
Poland suspends migrants’ right to apply for asylum
BBC
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