Latest news with #SG-1
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Time of India
Cop's son held after 8 days for hit-run that left footballer critical
Ahmedabad: A cop's son was caught by the city traffic police on Thursday for driving his Mercedes at speed and hitting two young footballers on May 14 near the Palladium Ahmedabad mall flyover. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now One of those footballers remains in a critical condition eight days after being hit by the car on the flyover. The driver, Vijay Desai, son of a serving police head constable of Ahmedabad Rural police, Vaghji Desai, was arrested after a delayed investigation that has drawn public criticism. The incident occurred around 12.30am on May 14 near the mall. Andre Rahul Bhatia, a former St Xavier's football team captain, was hit from behind while riding his two-wheeler. The car did not stop. Bhatia was left unconscious on the road, suffering a brain haemorrhage, fractures, and serious facial injuries. He is currently on ventilator support in a private hospital's ICU. Bhatia's family has launched a crowdfunding campaign seeking Rs 30 lakh for his treatment, citing financial distress. His sister has also appealed for help through online platforms. Despite the severity of the case, it took police eight days to make the arrest. Investigators recovered a broken Mercedes logo at the crash site and contacted the manufacturer's Mumbai office. That led them to the original car owner, who confirmed selling the vehicle three months ago to Vijay Desai for Rs 18.5 lakh. Phone location data placed Vijay Desai at the scene of the crash, prompting police to arrest him. The delayed arrest has led to concerns about alleged preferential treatment due to the accused's family background. Inspector R V Vinchhi of SG-1 traffic division said that Vijay was arrested after collecting evidence against him, including phone location data.
New European
20-05-2025
- Business
- New European
We must take a nuclear leap into the unknown
The product in question is, at first sight, a miniature submarine – about two metres long – produced by a German company called Helsing and set to be made in Britain. The SG1-Fathom glides unpowered, with no moving parts, and searches for enemy ships and submarines using the same technology as a warship does: 'passive sonar', which listens without emitting signals of its own. It's been a while since I said 'Wow!' at a technology product launch. As a jaded veteran of the dotcom boom, I have learned to be sceptical about the idea that a particular technology 'changes everything'. But last week, for the first time amid the current hype about artificial intelligence, I had one of those moments. But the payload of the system is in the AI it carries. Lura can, claim its makers, detect the tell-tale sound of a Russian sub at volumes 10 times quieter than a human sonar operator; and classify the target 40 times faster. Just as the makers of ChatGPT have 'trained' their product on a vast library of existing data, Helsing have trained theirs on a library of acoustic recordings. Like ChatGPT, once in use, the AI system will train itself on the new inputs it receives. When it recognises something that sounds like an enemy submarine, it surfaces and pings location data to its controllers via satellite. Today this job is done by Britain's fleet of six Type-23 class frigates, each with a helicopter that could drop maybe 30 sonar buoys into the sea to search for enemy vessels. The price of the SG-1 unit is not public, but it's designed to be cheap enough to buy (or quite possibly lease) in much larger numbers. Deploy a thousand of these into the waters off Russia's arctic naval bases and you could neutralise the military selling point of nuclear-powered submarines: their stealth. But while you're celebrating this triumph of Anglo-German ingenuity, consider this. If Russia or China were to invent something similar, they could place in jeopardy our own nuclear deterrent – whose submarines regularly leave their base at Faslane to enter a game of cat and mouse with Russian subs trying to detect and follow them. In short, AI – which has already changed the game of land warfare in Ukraine – could be about to change the much bigger game of nuclear deterrence between major states. The Royal Navy has not yet decided whether to buy the SG-1: other solutions are on offer. In all events, we are in a maritime AI arms race. For the Russians, the obvious countermeasure against a barrier of underwater drones would be to blow up everything in the water with a nuclear depth charge. Failing that, they might design their own fleet of mini-subs to kill ours, spoof the sonar, flood the sea with noise, take down our satellites or produce an AI model that can out-think us. The point is: the earlier we get into the game of defence AI, the more likely it is that we can stay ahead. That, in turn, demands a mindset change from the UK defence industry and government. In the future, what matters most might be whose sound library is the most detailed, how quick the AI is at learning, or how much computing power can be pushed to the drone rather than the central server – not just the stuff we're used to, like ship design or human skill. But the biggest change of all may lie in how such innovations shape geopolitics. Sea power has been key to the success of most great empires, ours included. But though you can assert 'sea control' – intercepting maritime cargoes at specific choke points and sinking the enemy's ships – you can never fully 'control' the sea as a domain of warfare in the way an army can control the land. Nuclear-powered subs became the capital ships of the 21st century because, despite their colossal size, they are like a needle in a haystack to find once they get out into the open ocean. If you lay a barrier of intelligent, silent sensors – for example in the sea between the Shetland and Faroe Islands – you can make it unacceptably risky for Russia to sail a submarine through it. You can, in short, make naval warfare much less fluid and more like trench warfare: sticky, predictable, observable and costly. There are, of course, ethical challenges with AI. If you were to stick explosives on to the pointy end of Helsing's mini-sub, and give it permission to target the enemy autonomously, you had better hope its AI does not 'hallucinate' in the way that ChatGPT is prone to. But the bigger problem may be strategic. If, within five years' time, these things are everywhere, and every nuclear-armed power on earth knows its subs are detectable, how do they react? Put more missiles into land silos? Put tactical nukes on bombers? Or do all great powers simply accept that their submarines are observable, and make the best of the predictability that might bring to international relations? I don't know the answers – but I do know that generic problem we now face. AI is altering the dynamics of human endeavour in every sphere it's being applied to: from student essay writing to medical diagnosis to anti-submarine warfare. To manage the AI revolution, the political class has to become far more literate about its potential. There are thousands of civil servants and business leaders who know how to play the current game of defence procurement: slowly, with great risk aversion and with a tendency to buy upgrades of stuff they've bought before. Now they have to get their heads around managing the innovation process for technologies whose future development they cannot know: making faster decisions, accepting greater risks and becoming prepared to leap into the unknown – none qualities valued in Whitehall. Get it right, and we can stay permanently ahead of states that want to harm us. Get it wrong, and any technological advantage we enjoy today evaporates.
Daily Record
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Virgin River fans issue plea for unexpected season 7 reunion - and it's more likely than you might think
Netflix series Virgin River already has a star-studded cast, but fans are hoping that a seventh season will see the addition of a new character played by a TV icon The ensemble cast of Virgin River, which includes numerous television stalwarts, could be set to expand with the introduction of a new star in its anticipated seventh season. Devotees of the celebrated Netflix drama, centring on Mel Monroe (portrayed by Alexandra Breckenridge) and her romance with town bar proprietor Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson), are eagerly awaiting the forthcoming series. In the interim, fans have been enthusiastically theorising and debating potential plot twists following the mysterious vanishing act of Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley) amidst Mel and Jack's nuptials. One fervent viewer took their theory to Reddit, suggesting a potential addition to the cast, which would also serve as a heartwarming reunion for ex-Stargate SG-1 actress Teryl Rothery, known for her role as Muriel St. Claire. An online discussion was sparked with the query: "Anyone have any particular actors they'd like to see guest star on the show for whatever reason?", reports the Mirror US. "This is purely self-indulgent on my part but since I grew up as a huge Stargate fan I'd love to see Amanda Tapping (Sam Carter) solely to get an onscreen reunion with Teryl Rothery since they were both on SG-1 together lol. "Afaik they're good friends irl too, so I think it'd be cute if they got a bit meta with it and had AT play some old actor friend of Muriel's who visits town for a few episodes." The character of Muriel has been through the wringer recently, grappling with breast cancer, leaving her and those close to her battling the emotional fallout of her illness throughout the previous season. She enjoyed the support of a new romantic relationship with Dr Cameron Hayek (Mark Ghanimé), but sadly, he ended things to reconcile with his former fiancée. Ghanimé is confirmed not to be returning as a regular in season seven, leaving a significant void in Muriel's ongoing storyline. Once again needing a shoulder to lean on, what could be more comforting than the return of an old friend for Muriel - or the introduction of a new one - portrayed by a familiar face? Get Netflix free with Sky from £15 Sky Get the deal here Product Description Not only are the duo still close, but Tapping even resides in Vancouver, where Virgin River is shot. Making a brief guest appearance or even staying on as a recurring character should be no issue for the Stargate legend, who shows no signs of ending her acting career anytime soon. Mel actress Breckenridge recently confirmed that filming for the seventh series will be finished "soon", so we could see more cast additions announced in the coming weeks. Could there be a surprise sci-fi reunion in the next series of Netflix's popular small-town romance? Keep your eyes open. Virgin River is available to stream on Netflix.
