by Jonathan Sawaya  — Beirut (AFP) Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been trading daily cross-border fire with its sworn enemy Israel as war rages in Gaza, with the Iran-backed group deploying a large weapons arsenal amassed over decades. AFP looks at the Shiite Muslim group’s firepower and how it has expanded since it fought a war with Israel in 2006.

– Armed and dangerous –

Hezbollah is the only Lebanese faction to have retained its weapons after the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and is now considered to have a more powerful stockpile than the national army. It is also the most powerful group in the “axis of resistance” — an alliance of Tehran-supported groups mainly in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian territories. The 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, largely soldiers. Since then, “Hezbollah has robustly expanded the quantity and the quality of its arsenal,” said Dina Arakji from Control Risks consultancy. “The group in 2006 reportedly had about 15,000 rockets, while estimates over the past couple of years suggest that this number has multiplied by almost 10 times,” she said. The group has also gained significant combat experience after years of fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war. Skirmishes on the Lebanon-Israel border began on October 8, one day after Hamas attacks against Israel sparked war, but so far Hezbollah has largely limited itself to targeting sites near the Israeli border. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly said his group holds advanced weaponry capable of striking deep into Israeli territory.

– Fighters and tunnels –

by Louis Columbus @LouisColumbus VentureBeat presents: AI Unleashed – An exclusive executive event for enterprise data leaders. Hear from top industry leaders on Nov 15. Reserve your free pass DevOps teams rely more on AI-coding assistants to boost team productivity by automating coding tasks with only the most conscientious scanning final code for security flaws, Forrester warns in their 2024 cybersecurity, risk, and privacy predictions. The research and advisory firm predicts inconsistent compliance and governance practices combined with many Devops teams experimenting with multiple AI-coding assistants simultaneously to increase productivity will lead to flawed A.I. code responsible for at least three publically-admitted breaches in 2024. Forrester also warns that A.I. code flaws will pose API security risks.

AI-coding assistants are redefining Shadow I.T.

49% of business and technology professionals with knowledge of AI-coding assistants say their organizations are piloting, implementing, or have already implemented them in their organizations. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75% of enterprise software engineers will use A.I. coding assistants, up from less than 10% in early 2023. Devops leaders tell VentureBeat it’s common to find multiple AI-coding assistants being used across teams as the pressure to produce a high volume of code every day is growing. Tighter timelines for more complex coding combined with the proliferation of over 40 AI-coding assistants available is leading to a new form of shadow I.T. where Devops teams switch from one A.I. assistant to another to see which delivers the highest performance for a given task. Enterprises are struggling to keep up with the demand from their Devops teams for new AI-coding tools approved for use corporate-wide.

CISOs face a challenging balancing act in 2024

A robust boycott campaign targeting Western companies that support Israel is gaining momentum in the Arab world. Sparked by social media, the movement has grown in response to the recent Israeli conflict in Gaza, which has been labeled by some as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”. With a death toll of over 10,000 Palestinians, most of […]

The air in Silicon Valley was charged as OpenAI’s Dev Day announcements—boasting custom GPTs, GPT-4 Turbo, and an Assistants API—sent ripples of excitement across the globe. As an AI enthusiast, the surge of updates was exhilarating yet overwhelming, coming hot on the heels of a deluge of AI news the previous week. It wasn’t just […]

Understanding How LeMa Works: The journey to enhanced mathematical reasoning within artificial intelligence starts with foundational models like LLaMA-2, which are designed to simulate flawed reasoning paths in math word problems. Following this, a more advanced model such as GPT-4 steps in to critique these paths, identifying and explaining errors before suggesting corrections. These iterative refinements are then fed back into the initial models, enriching their learning and reasoning capabilities.

Developments are accelerating in the Gazan field, and with them, the intensity of confrontations in South Lebanon is increasing between Hezbollah and the Palestinian factions on one hand, and the Israeli army on the other, despite being still constrained to the rules of engagement that expanded on the eve of the appearance of the party’s Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, from five kilometers to more than ten kilometers on both sides of the border.

The Lebanese developments concern the interior, Israel, and the outside, especially with the approach of the retirement date of Army Commander General Joseph Aoun on January 10, amid the presidential vacuum and internal clash regarding the necessity of extension for him or appointing a new Chief of Staff to replace him in the leadership position, or handing over the highest rank officer as demanded by the Free Patriotic Movement for many known reasons, mostly dating back to the days of the October 17 revolution, and charging the army leader with the responsibility of keeping the roads closed and accusing him of a coup against President Michel Aoun.

The Strong Republic bloc, sensing the dangerous phase and the army remaining without a leader, proposed a repeated urgent law project to extend the rank of General for one year, which allows the extension for General Aoun in his position. However, the forces’ step did not go down well with the heart of the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who probably saw it as an opportunity to return the favor to the forces, who have been boycotting the legislation for over a year. Sources close to Berri told “Lebanon Files” website that the Speaker, as he said, does not legislate “a la carte” or on-demand or delivery, indicating that Speaker Berri will soon call for a legislative session with many law projects on its agenda to be discussed and approved, then we will wait and see. The sources reveal to our site that “there is something being cooked between Presidents Nabih Berri and Najib Mikati to prevent a vacuum in the army leadership, but not in the way of Strong Lebanon or the Strong Republic, as neither of them will achieve their goal, and while refusing to assert the extension for Aoun, they suffice by saying maybe”.

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM Company has made a significant move into the Web3 space by investing $50 million into Animoca Brands, a leader in Web3 gaming. This aligns with the Saudi Vision 2030, aiming to diversify the nation’s economy away from oil reliance. This is part of a wider $37 billion initiative to boost the gaming sector. NEOM is a bold project to build a new city named The Line. It’s a linear city, extending 170 kilometers across the NEOM area in northwest Saudi Arabia. The plan is to create a modern city for nine million residents, integrating advanced industries and housing solutions. The investment in Animoca Brands is seen as a step towards modernization. It signals a commitment to developing the Web3 ecosystem, which bridges the current internet (Web2) and the decentralized web (Web3). The focus is on creating enjoyable games that leverage both Web3 and Web2 technologies.

NEOM is envisioned as a beacon of human progress, a city built from scratch that serves as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. It’s designed to be a place where business flourishes alongside environmental conservation, promising an exceptional quality of life.Yat Siu of Animoca Brands commented on the partnership with NEOM, recognizing the project’s ambition to integrate innovative technologies like blockchain. He sees NEOM as potentially the first region to fully embrace the capabilities of blockchain. The NEOM Investment Fund’s strategy includes purchasing convertible notes and shares in Animoca Brands. This investment is meant to enhance Animoca’s ability to grow the Web3 ecosystem, which includes the decentralized internet based on blockchain technology.

Forrester Research’s latest 2024 predictions report emerges as a vital beacon, illuminating the path for AI’s calculated expansion while simultaneously alerting business magnates to the burgeoning “shadow usage” phenomenon. This refers to a trend where employees, in their quest for enhanced productivity, are increasingly depending on personal AI tools, bypassing official channels. The 38-page dossier forecasts a tripling of AI platform budgets come 2024, as corporations pour funds into scalable systems designed for crafting, deploying, and overseeing AI models. Yet, Forrester’s analysis suggests that such investments may not fully quench the thirst for AI-driven efficiency among the workforce.

Indeed, the report projects that a staggering 60% of employees will gravitate towards self-sourced AI tools for work-related tasks, thereby ushering in a new era of regulatory and compliance complexities. In response, a notable 85% of companies are predicted to broaden their AI arsenals, embracing open-source frameworks like GPT-J and BERT, stepping beyond the conventional bounds of widely-used proprietary models such as ChatGPT. Concurrently, a proactive 40% of enterprises are anticipated to fortify their AI governance, preemptively bracing for the impending wave of regulations from international powerhouses like the E.U., U.S., and China.

In a particularly innovative vein, Forrester postulates that a prominent insurer will unveil a novel “AI hallucination insurance” in 2024. This pioneering insurance variant is tailored to mitigate the repercussions of AI inaccuracies, specifically covering the damages attributable to the AI’s erroneous outputs or “hallucinations” as they become more widespread in use. Forrester’s 2024 Predictions Report caps off a tumultuous year that witnessed the meteoric rise of generative AI’s popularity among both consumers and employees alike.

A recent survey by the Arab American Institute (AAI) unveils a substantial dip in support for President Joe Biden among Arab American constituents, predominantly due to his staunch backing of Israel amid the escalating conflict. The data illustrates a plummet from 59% in 2020 to 17% currently, marking an unprecedented shift within this demographic. Remarkably, this is the first instance in the AAI’s 26-year history of polling where the majority of Arab Americans don’t favor the Democratic party. The analysis further underscores a growing affinity towards the Republican party, with 40% expressing intent to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming 2024 elections, a five percentage-point uptick from 2020. This trend sets a new record for Arab American affiliation with the Republican party, signaling a significant political reorientation. James Zogby, the president and co-founder of AAI, stressed the importance of recognizing this shift, articulating the necessity of understanding the community’s stance and communicating the potential risks to the administration.

This political realignment could pose challenges for Biden in the 2024 elections, especially in pivotal states like Michigan with substantial Arab American populations. The survey also brings to light a 66% disapproval among Arab Americans regarding Biden’s handling of the conflict, mirroring a broader discontent within the community. Additionally, a substantial majority (68%) advocate for halting military aid to Israel, urging the U.S. to leverage its influence for ceasefire negotiations instead. The findings also unveil a rising tide of discrimination faced by Arab Americans, particularly the youth between 18 to 34 years of age. A significant number reported experiencing bias based on their ethnicity or national origin, heightening fears within the community. The ongoing violence in the Middle East resonates deeply, with eight out of 10 respondents expressing anxiety over escalating anti-Arab bigotry and two-thirds apprehensive about rising antisemitism in the U.S.

Amid the recent turmoil in Palestine and Israel, half of the Arab American respondents expressed concerns about encountering discrimination in va

MIT’s deep learning system, Air-Guardian, is a revolutionary step towards enhancing flight safety by working alongside airplane pilots. The system aims to act when a pilot overlooks a critical situation, thereby preventing potential incidents from occurring. Air-Guardian’s core is powered by a unique deep learning system called Liquid Neural Networks (LNN) developed by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). LNNs have already proven their effectiveness in various fields, especially those requiring compute-efficient and explainable AI systems, presenting a promising alternative to popular deep learning models. The operation of Air-Guardian involves a meticulous method to augment flight safety by monitoring both the human pilot’s attention and the AI’s focus. When a discrepancy arises, where a human pilot misses a critical aspect, the AI system intervenes, taking control of that particular flight element. This innovative human-in-the-loop system is engineered to retain the pilot’s control while allowing the AI to cover the lapses. The overarching idea is to develop systems capable of collaborating with humans, aiding them in challenging situations and letting them continue with tasks they excel at.

In scenarios where an airplane is flying close to the ground, and gravitational force becomes unpredictable, Air-Guardian is designed to take over to avert incidents. Similarly, when a pilot is inundated with excessive information displayed on the screens, the AI system filters through the data, emphasizing the crucial information that the pilot might have missed. This level of intervention is particularly vital when a pilot may lose consciousness due to unforeseen circumstances or becomes overwhelmed. A distinctive feature of Air-Guardian is its use of eye-tracking technology to monitor human attention, while employing heatmaps to showcase where the AI system’s focus lies. When a divergence between the human pilot’s attention and the AI’s focus is detected, Air-Guardian steps in to evaluate whether the AI has pinpointed an issue requiring immediate attention. This mechanism ensures that critical issues are not overlooked, and timely interventions are made to maintain flight safety.