Hard Numbers: Guatemala to take more deportees, Trump vs. transgender athletes, Google axes AI-weapon ban, Taliban shuts women’s radio, Israelis like Trump’s Gaza plan, Scientists unwrap ancient scroll
40: During a press conference with visiting Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo announced Wednesday that his country will accept 40% more deportation flights from the United States. Guatemala also agreed to the creation of a task force for border control aimed at fighting “all forms of transnational crime.” Under the previous administration, Guatemala received roughly 14 deportation flights per week.
20: President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that aims to bar federal funding for schools that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports, claiming it violates Title IX. The order conflicts with laws in 20 states protecting transgender people from discrimination and allowing them to play on sports teams. It remains to be seen whether any of those states will file lawsuits to try to override the order.
0: The number of promises made by Google to not use artificial intelligence for weapons and surveillance systemsis now zero. Alphabet — Google’s parent company — updated its AI principles penned in 2018 that prohibited its AI to be used in tech that “cause or are likely to cause overall harm.” In a blog post defending the decision to remove the pledge, Google’s head of AI on Tuesdayclaimed the move reflected a changing world and “supports national security.” The news comes two months after OpenAI made a similar policy change.
12: In another blow to women’s rights in Afghanistan, officers from the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture on Tuesday raided andshut down the country’s only women’s radio station and arrested two employees. The Taliban, who closed at least 12 media outlets last year, blamed the suspension on violations of broadcasting policy. Kabul-based Radio Begum was not only run by women but also released content aimed at women’s education.
80: Results from a Jewish People Policy Institute Israel Index poll this weekshow that approximately 80% of Israeli Jews support President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Gaza’s entire population. The same poll found that less than 15% believe the plan is immoral.
2,000: Scientists used X-ray imaging and AI to virtually “unwrap” ascroll uncovered in Herculaneum, Pompeii’s less famous neighbor that was also buried in the infamous 79 CE eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. It was announced Wednesday that researchers from Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and the Vesuvius Challenge were the first to peek inside the scroll in nearly 2,000 years — and while more time is needed to fully decipher the full text, they believe it contains a work of philosophy.