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When xAI launched Grok 4 last week, the company claimed the large language model outperformed several competitors on different benchmarks. But the Grok account on X that runs off the model immediately showed there were some major issues: It started saying its surname was “Hitler”, tweeted antisemitic messages, and seemed to reference Elon Musk’s posts when asked about controversial topics, siding with the xAI owner’s views as a result. xAI soon afterwards apologized for Grok’s behavior. On Tuesday, the company said it has now addressed both issues. We spotted a couple of issues with Grok 4 recently that we immediately…

CNN  —  At least 20 people were killed in a crowd crush at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial Israeli- and US-backed organization said Wednesday, the first time it has acknowledged deaths at one of its sites. According to the GHF, the people died in a “chaotic and dangerous surge,” which it said was “driven by agitators in the crowd.” The aid group said 19 people were trampled and one person was stabbed in the crowd crush. The GHF alleged that individuals who were “armed and affiliated with Hamas” deliberately instigated the chaos.…

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Romance novels have always spiced up quiet nights. Now, a genre that has sometimes been dismissed as a guilty pleasure is bringing readers and writers together through social media, book clubs and a growing number of romance-specific bookstores.At a recent launch party for Nora Dahlia’s enemies-to-friends romance “Pick-Up” at Lovestruck Books, a romance-dedicated store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a crowd of women sipped cocktails from the bar-café as they browsed the shelves.After Dahlia’s reading, patrons stuck around to mingle, swap contact info and trade author recommendations.It was a particularly social event for a book talk. But the…

Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels walks to a session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 9, 2025 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Kevin Dietsch | Getty ImagesLegacy media is in a time of tumult. And it’s bringing a new crop of decision-makers to the fore.In an industry that’s long been run by storied Hollywood executives, usually with resumes in content and programming, those with finance backgrounds and track records of deal-making are increasingly reshaping the landscape.Many of those leaders — some of whom recently attended Allen & Co.’s annual conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, known…

Open source database management system Postgres is nearly 40 years old, but has recently started seeing explosive demand due to being very well-suited for AI applications. Despite this rise in popularity, search and analytics functionality remain limited. ParadeDB is changing that. ParadeDB is an open source Postgres extension that facilitates full-text search and analytics directly in Postgres without users needing to transfer data to a separate source. The platform integrates with other data infrastructure tools, including Google Cloud SQL, Azure Postgres, and Amazon RDS, among others. Philippe Noël, the co-founder and CEO of ParadeDB, told TechCrunch that he and his…

China’s Geely Auto is officially taking its luxury EV subsidiary Zeekr private, just over a year after the company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. The news comes two months after Geely offered to take Zeekr private, following President Donald Trump’s threats earlier this year to delist Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges. When the merger closes, Zeekr shareholders will receive either $2.69 in cash per share or 1.23 newly issued Geely shares for each Zeekr share they own, per a regulatory filing. Holders of Zeekr American depositary shares (ADSs), which each represent 10 Zeekr shares, will receive either $26.87…

Seoul, South Korea CNN  —  Japan is facing its most severe security environment since World War II as three potential adversaries in East Asia – China, Russia and North Korea – ramp up military activities in the region, the country’s defense minister said Tuesday. “The existing order of world peace is being seriously challenged, and Japan finds itself in the most severe and complex security environment of the post-war era,” Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in an introduction to the ministry’s annual defense white paper. China’s military activities present “an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge” to Japan, the report…

The 2025 Kia Sorento Hybrid and 2025 Toyota Highlander Hybrid are two three-row SUVs with compelling attributes if you’re shopping for a family-oriented vehicle. First, they’re both hybrids and get excellent fuel economy. They’re also smaller and less expensive than many other three-row SUVs, such as the Kia Telluride and Toyota Grand Highlander. Not everyone needs a giant vehicle with a third-row seat that can fit full-size adults — something for occasional use by bigger kids or teens can easily suffice. If any or all of that sounds like what you’re looking for, the Sorento and Highlander hybrids should fit…

Apple is investing $500 million in MP Materials, the only fully integrated rare-earth mining company currently operating in the United States, as part of a broader effort to strengthen the domestic rare-earth supply chain. The tech giant announced on Tuesday that with this deal, it’s committed to buying American-made rare-earth magnets developed at MP Materials’ flagship facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The factory will develop a series of neodymium magnet manufacturing lines specifically designed for Apple products. Apple says that once the American-made magnets are built, they will be shipped across the country and all over the world to help…

Reuters  —  Teatime revels in China now include hugs with lion cubs in a four-course afternoon set offered by a restaurant in the northern province of Shanxi, drawing widespread attention online and fueling concern for the animals’ welfare. Customers cradled the lion cubs as if they were babies in pictures and video clips posted online on China’s Wechat and Weibo platforms. The Wanhui restaurant in Taiyuan city features llamas, turtles and deer in addition to the cubs on its page on Douyin, China’s counterpart to social media app TikTok. Wanhui, which opened in June, sells about 20 tickets a day…