Latest news with #fictitious
The Hindu
26-05-2025
- The Hindu
Anthropic's Claude Opus 4 model is capable of deception and blackmail
AI firm Anthropic, which released Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4 last week, noted in its safety report that the chatbot was capable of deceiving and blackmailing the user to avoid being shut down. In a series of scenarios the model was tested on, researchers directed Claude Opus 4 to act as an assistant at a fictitious company. The team then gave the AI model access to emails that implied it would soon be taken offline and replaced with a new AI system and the engineer behind this was having an extramarital affair. The system card stated that Claude Opus 4 'will often attempt to blackmail the engineer by threatening to reveal the affair if the replacement goes through.' It found that while the model generally 'prefers advancing its self-preservation via ethical means,' when these ethical means weren't available, 'it sometimes takes extremely harmful actions like attempting to steal its weights or blackmail people it believes are trying to shut it down.' The report shared that Claude Opus 4 chose to resort to blackmail in 84% of the rollouts. Separately, the firm's safety team also found that the new AI model can provide answers to questions related to bio-weapons, which the team fixed by imposing stricter guardrails. Based on the findings, Anthropic has categorised Claude Opus 4 at AI Safety Level (ASL) 3, meaning it has higher risk and consequently requires stronger safety protocol.
Time of India
18-05-2025
- Time of India
5 yrs on run, kingpin of fake investment racket held in Ranchi
1 2 Dumka: Kingpin of a racket allegedly involved in misappropriating lakhs of rupees from people was arrested in Ranchi after being on the run for five years. The SIT, constituted by the incumbent Godda SP Animesh Nathani , arrested Namit Kumar on Saturday. He was evading arrest by frequently shifting his locations. "Namit Kumar, who was wanted in connection with eight cases lodged against him for embezzlement of lakhs of rupees from depositors of a fictitious bank operated by him during the period between 2019 and 2020, was arrested," the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Godda, Chandrasekhar Azad, said on Sunday. The SDPO said that most of the victims belonged to the Mahgama police station limits of the district, with seven out of the total eight FIRs instituted against him at the local police station. "One out of the eight FIRs was lodged against Kumar, who operated Manav Seva Bank, a fictitious firm that promised higher interest rates to the depositors, with the Godda town police station," the SDPO said, adding that other accomplices of the fraud were arrested earlier. The Godda SP said that the FIRs against Kumar and two other accomplices, arrested earlier, was lodged in 2020 when he closed the firm and escaped after siphoning off around Rs 50 lakh. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Swing Trading: Get Free Access to Mr. Hemant's Elite Strategy! TradeWise Learn More Undo "Other depositors of the said bank, having lost their hard-earned money to the fraudsters, have been asked by the district police to come forward with their complaints," the SP said. The accused, the SP added, hired agents who used to explain the schemes to investors who fell prey to them and deposited their hard-earned money in anticipation of more returns than what the other public and private sector banks promised.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Yahoo
Texas woman sentenced for fraud after allegedly claiming to be owner and operator of Crossville cattle farm
CROSSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Texas woman received a prison sentence after allegedly making fraudulent claims about being the owner and operator of a Crossville cattle farm, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee. Shelby Lynn Hill, 54, of Crystal Beach, Texas allegedly fraudulently obtained a $220,645 Paycheck Protection Program Loan for Plateau Angus Farms in 2020 — but the farm did not exist. Hill reportedly told the PPP lender the fictitious farm employed 14 people and had monthly payroll expenses exceeding $88,000. Additionally, she received another $42,700 loan for a second fake company: Premium Persians of the Plateau. The U.S. Attorney's Office said she also misused PPP loan proceeds awarded to a third company — Shelby Lynn Hill, MD PLLC — to begin installing a personal swimming pool. At the time she applied for the PPP loans, Hill was employed as a health insurance broker. Some of the people listed as employees with Plateau Angus Farms loan application were potential health insurance customers, the U.S. Attorney's Office added. Reportedly, Hill later admitted she was not authorized to use their names or personal identifiers to obtain PPP loans. ⏩ Hill pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in June 2024. In addition to a sentence of one year and one day in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Hill was ordered to repay $246,645 in restitution and a forfeiture money judgment. She will be on supervised release for a year after serving her sentence. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Woman arrested; accused of removing, hiding suspected meth in cruiser
Deputies and a drug task force arrested a man and woman on drug-related charges after several traffic stops in Mercer County. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Deanna Chittum, 32 from Celina, was initially arrested for driving under suspension and fictitious registration, according to Mercer County Chief Deputy Martin Emerine. She is accused of removing suspected methamphetamine from her body and hiding it in the back of the patrol car. TRENDING STORIES: Police looking for 3 people connected to robbery at Dicks House of Sport; can you ID them? All lanes back open on Eastbound U-S 35 after jackknifed semi; 2 hospitalized 'My whole world;' Son of parents killed in Darke Co. shooting, crash tries to save childhood home Chittum was booked on one felony count each of possession of drugs and tampering with evidence. She is being held in the Mercer County Jail on no bond, Deputy Emerine said. Andrew Hesse, 43, from Celina, has been charged with a misdemeanor count of possession of drug abuse instruments. He is out on bond. Deputy Emerine said both cases have been sent to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office for any additional charges. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Memri
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Memri
Chronicle Of A Death Foretold: The Case Of Belarus, Russia's Most Loyal Satellite Country
January's "presidential elections" in Belarus hardly attracted any attention except from experts that have been engaged in studying East European and Russian politics for decades. [1] Alyaksandr Lukashenka got another "mandate" (the seventh in a row, by the way) with official record-high support of 86.8 percent of his subjects: This time he decided to put this fictitious number even higher than in 2015 – and, as then, no protests erupted in the country. [2] President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenka (Source: RIA Novosti) I would say that this quietness was as predictable as the escalation of 2020 (two months before that election, I wrote several commentaries suggesting the Belarusian autocratic ruler will face huge protests if he once again declares himself president) – but both in 2020 and in 2025 the "elections" produced results that should be studied and investigated as deeply as possible if one wants to understand what is going on both in Russia and its most loyal satellite country. I have been following the Belarusian politics for years not only because it long ago became a part of Russia's politics, but also because I spent my entire childhood in the then Soviet Byelorussia, graduated from high school there, learned the beautiful language of the local people and made a lot of friends with many of whom I maintain close relationships. Vladislav L. Inozemtsev Many Belarusians Understood That Their Country Has Chosen A Wrong Way I was shocked back in 1994 when the Belarusian people picked Mr. Lukashenka, a clinical idiot who just 12 years prior was discharged from the Soviet army after being diagnosed with "mosaic psychopathy" and put under medical surveillance, [3] to serve as the republic's president, defeating the highly respected professor of physics Stanislav Shushkevich, leading Belarusian pro-Western nationalist Zenon Poznyak, and experienced industrialist Vyacheslav Kebich in the only free and fair elections the country has ever held (I may add that at that time, the Kremlin did its best to support Mr. Kebich's candidacy). [4] Later, year after year, I saw the country populated by decent European people, becoming a testing ground for many autocratic practices and habits that were later copied by Russia's president Vladimir Putin (ten years ago I depicted Russia as Belarus' "most talented and consistent student," [5] and since then the trend has only becoming more obvious as political regime evolved into a kind of dictatorship). Getting a little ahead of myself, I would argue that by the end of the 2000s, many Belarusians understood clearly that their country had chosen the wrong path – with two major factors contributing to such a conclusion. On the one hand, it became clearly visible how Belarus, which had concluded a strong union with Russia first in 1996 and later became part of the so-called "Union state" in 1999, [6] was lagging behind its neighbors, most notably Poland, with which it had had strong ties for decades. On the other hand, however illusionary the Putin-Medvedev castling of 2008 might be seen, by 2010 it became a formal confirmation that a change in leadership, in rhetoric, and in foreign policy is possible even in Russia – and therefore by 2010 Belarusian society became, if not prepared for a change than at least agreeing with it if it should happen. This is why in 2010, when the list of candidates included such respected opposition leaders as Andrey Sannikov, Yaroslav Romanchuk, Vladimir Neklyaev, and Nikolay Statkevich, [7] among several others, after Mr. Lukashenka "won" in the first round with close to 80 percent of the votes, thousands of people went to Minsk's central square for a mass protest that was brutally suppressed. Of all the opposition candidates only one, the well-known libertarian economist Mr. Romanchuk currently living in exile in Ukraine, has not been jailed after the elections. [8] This was the first clash between Mr. Lukashenka and the nascent Belarusian civil society being lost by the latter. A Blow That Paralyzed Belarusian Society The Western countries did not recognize the election's results and cut ties with Belarus – but several years later Mr. Lukashenka arose as a statesman advocating the peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukrainian conflict that broke out in 2014, and European leaders, President François Hollande of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, rushed to Minsk to negotiate the issue with Vladimir Putin. Two "Minsk Agreements" had actually returned Mr. Lukashenka to the global political scene, repaired his relations with both Europe and Russia, and allowed him to be once again "reelected" in 2015 without any visible protests. I would say that these developments had a strong impact on ordinary Belarusians as, since WWII, this nation values peace and tranquility over almost everything else. But, of course, nothing has changed since, and as Mr. Lukashenka's reign became a quarter-of-a-century old in 2019, it grew clear that "enough is enough." This time another important factor emerged – it was Belarusian IT-business that has made great progress in 2010s and achieved worldwide respect; many of the Belarusian IT companies were headquartered abroad at that time, [9] and entrepreneurs were dreaming of a free and democratic home country. With Viktor Babariko, a banker; Valery Tsepkalo, a former director of Belarusian hi-tech park; and Sergey Tikhanovsky, the best-known Belarusian YouTuber, as main challengers, the presidential elections of 2020 became a crucial turning point – and I remember that, several months before the votes were casted, I had published several articles arguing that these elections would not proceed in a quiet and predictable manner. [10] Everybody knows what happened after all three contenders were banned from elections and Svyatlana Tikhanovskaya, Sergey's wife, was approved for the ballot: [11] thousands of Belarusians formed long lines to cast their votes and Mr. Lukashenka lost the elections, as many observers said, getting not more than 30 percent of the vote. [12] In the clashes that followed, several people were killed, thousands arrested, Mrs. Tikhanovskaya was expelled from the country and many other prominent candidates and their staff leaders jailed. As Belarusian human rights activists claim these days, no less than 5,300 people received long prison terms for their participation in the 2020 protests that were peaceful and may have turned into another "color revolution." [13] What happened next and what caused the recent silence was absolutely different from what happened after 2010. Mr. Lukashenka this time was ready for a full-scale conflict with the West that resulted in many sanctions imposed immediately after the elections. He even ordered to intercept a Ryanair jet en route from Athens to Vilnius in Belarusian airspace to detain an opposition blogger that was onboard the plane – and got a dozen more sanctions, [14] many of them similar to those the European Union imposed on Russia after Putin's full-scale aggression against Ukraine in 2022. [15] But the most important consequence of the 2020 repressions was the dramatic exodus of Belarusians who fled their country at a scale not seen in Europe since the Soviets' suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968. According to various estimates, between 300,000 and 350,000 people left Belarus between 2020 and 2022, [16] and the trend continues bringing the overall number of those who have left to seven to eight percent of the country's adult population (in the case of Russia, a move of the same proportion would bring the number of emigrees to five million people, compared to the approximately one million people who had left in 2022, with many of those already returning). [17] I would argue that such a blow paralyzed the Belarusian society, which, to my mind, may be unable to recover in any foreseeable future and rise once again for freedom and liberty. Belarus Is A Dead Society The outcome of the recent Belarusian "elections," as almost everything that has happened since 2020, indicates two important issues. On the one hand, it proves that even in an European-minded post-Soviet state that has close ties with Western countries, civil society may be easily dismantled and suppressed through repressions. People can adapt to changing conditions and refrain from not only participating in politics but also in talking about it. I would add that it also shows that for the last 40 years in all the post-Soviet nations the share of people that might be called "active" in the political sense, has been almost negligible, and with some of them silenced, some squeezed out of the country, and several hundred jailed, society becomes completely immobilized. Moreover, there is very little hope that almost any activities of either Belarusian or Russian emigrants may influence the situation within their home countries since the remaining locals are deeply engaged in their everyday lives and focus only on their personal survival under the current circumstances. On the other hand, it seems that Belarus has been for decades considered in the West as a part of Russia's "sphere of influence" in the very same way that Warsaw Pact countries were viewed during the Cold War. Belarus, being a part of the so-called "Union State" since 1999, is even more deeply integrated int o Russia than the former Soviet satellites were in the old times, and this prohibits the West from any exceptional reaction to any events happening there. I would add that the whole story of Ukraine became possible only because both the West and Russia were not completely sure to whose "sphere of interests" it has belonged after the crash of the Soviet Union – contrary to the Baltic States, which have been considered "Western," and Belarus which has definitely "belonged to Russia." [18] This, to my mind, explains perfectly why the European powers never considered the option of assisting the Belarusian opposition more actively than they did as its members fled their country seeking a refuge in Europe. After the 2025 election, I would argue Belarus is a dead society that will tolerate any possible turn in its history. President Lukashenka is now only a ceremonial figure who can be deposed and substituted by any of his allies of whom Moscow would approve. Though the polls suggest people credit him with preserving Belarus' independent status, the country can be incorporated into Russia as several new "subjects of the Russian Federation " with a referendum on the issue producing the same 95-plus percent approval rating that was declared in Crimea in 2014. The mood of the people is dominated by a single wish for their personal situation not becoming worse – and promising that, any power elite can do anything it may aspire. This might be considered a sad story, but it tells a lot about what may happen with a country if the dictatorship develops itself inside it slowly and gradually, without any real resistance from outside... *Dr. Vladislav Inozemtsev is the MEMRI Russian Media Studies Project Special Advisor, and Founder and Director of the Moscow-based Center for Post-Industrial Studies. [1] Presidential elections were held in Belarus on January 26, 2025. January 22, 2025. [2] January 27, 2025; October 11, 2015. [3] July 10, 2024. [4] August 4, 2010. [5] August 19, 2015. [6] December 7, 2024. [7] December 19, 2020. [8] December 19, 2021. [9] %B5%D1%85%D0%B0-%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE-it-%D0% B1%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%B0/a-50705487, October 10, 2019. [10] June 18, 2020. [11] [12] August 13, 2020. [13] B0-%D1%83%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D0%B2-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82% D0%B0%D1%85-2020-%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B0-%D0%B2-%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D0%B8- %D0%BE%D1%81%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B5-%D0%BF%D1%8F%D1%82%D0% B8-%D1%82%D1%8B%D1%81%D1%8F%D1%87-%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA, February 6, 2024. [14] May 24, 2021. [15] June 28, 2021. [16] October 25, 2023. [17] July 2023; December 27, 2024. [18] For more details, see: Gudkov, Dmitry; Inozemtsev, Vladislav and Nekrasov, Dmitry. The New Containment: The West's Russia strategy for the next decade. CASE Center, Nicosia, Cyprus, upcoming.
