World
Indian military ramps up AI capabilities to keep up with regional powers
CHENNAI, India — India, a country blessed with a strong high-tech industry, is applying its brains not just to commercial artificial intelligence (AI) but also to its military, as its neighbor and regional rival China continues to pour billions into AI research.
A 2023 report by an Indian think tank, the Delhi Policy Group, said India spends around $50 million a year on AI. The report noted that while India’s spending was a “good initial step,” it was “clearly inadequate compared to our primary strategic challenger, China, which is spending more than 30 times this amount. If we are not to fall behind the technology cycle, greater investments will have to be made, primarily to promote the indigenous industry players.”
Antoine Levesques, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told Fox News Digital India “is pursuing its own efforts to build a national sovereign AI capability that can be used for its defense.”
“India has very ambitious plans,” he added. He cited the need to acquire foreign-made chips to “bolster the AI hardware capacity,” noting the “abundance of talent in its tech industry already.”
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The Eastern Command of the Indian Army showcased the latest defense artillery robot during East Tech 2023 in Guwahati, Assam, India, Oct. 10, 2023. (David Talukdar/NurPhoto via AP)
In October, the military launched a robotic buddy, which was able to carry out tasks such as traverse and scout rugged terrain, remove unexploded shells and double as a stretcher for injured soldiers. It has two arms and two cameras and a platform with two additional cameras. The robot will be manually operated by a ground controller. The army may further develop this technology. The country’s navy is also believed to have autonomous aquatic robots that can go where humans cannot.
“This battery-powered platform is built to withstand rugged terrain and measures one meter by one meter,” an Indian army official told The Times of India.
The Indian Army’s elite unit, the Signals Technology Evaluation and Adaptation Group (STEAG), is researching and evaluating the implementation of emergent technologies such as AI and other potential updates in the ever-evolving arena of modern warfare.
According to an analysis by Levesques, both India and the U.S. have, and are partnering in AI.
At a meeting in 2022, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Indian counterpart, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, at the ninth ADMM (ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting), and AI was among the topics they discussed. Also that year, U.S. President Biden and India’s Prime Minister Modi announced a partnership known as the U.S.–India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.
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Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh attends the Artificial Intelligence in Defense exhibition at Vigyan Bhawan July 11, 2022, in New Delhi, India. (Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Levesques described an abundance of talent in India’s tech industry. He also noted that India’s higher English proficiency level could give it a slight edge in “availability of talent” but said that’s “not enough to counterbalance China’s capability.”
“Adapting U.S. technology and developing your own both take time,” he added. He also noted that India is doing both of these in terms of economic and defense sectors.
Patrick Cronin, the Asia Pacific security chair at the Hudson institute in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, “Generative AI (based on large language models) in particular is leading to rapid advances for understanding a common operating picture, so militaries can use this for intelligence to see what’s happening on a battlefield.”
Indian Army soldiers, CRPF and JK Police officers stand at alert as security is beefed up ahead of the fifth phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, India, May 19, 2024. (Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
AI may help gauge what overseas nations such as Pakistan and China are doing. Cronin explained that, akin to ChatGPT (also a form of generative AI), this technology can be used for providing information on real-time simulations and exercises bringing information as to what could happen.
There is potential military use in three sectors — intelligence, training and education.
Cronin warned that “China has a robot army” that possesses multiple autonomous drones in its arsenal, but he still believes that wider use of “autonomous systems” in general is “5-10 years away.”
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
In this April 12, 2018, file photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks after reviewing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy fleet in the South China Sea. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP, File)
A senior Indian defense ministry official told Deutsche Welle AI-powered drones and robots could patrol borders and reduce the need for human intervention in dangerous situations. Fox News Digital’s requests for comment from the Indian military were not immediately answered.
Cronin noted concerns, including the belief that AI, like any developing technology, could be used for many purposes, including those that are nefarious, such as the use of deepfakes to sow disinformation and other negative aspects.
Thousands of Indians and Chinese at overseas universities are studying artificial intelligence. Cronin said he felt India has had an edge in the civilian sector of AI development but that it was countered by the Chinese having a military system that’s more “centralized and well-funded.”
Indian army soldiers on top of a military vehicle crossing the Srinagar-Leh National highway on Sept. 1, 2020. (Faisal Khan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“When you think of facial recognition and tie that to a distant battlefield with satellite imagery and to a drone that could be lethal, this is something that you could not have done 30–40 years ago, but now it is easily done,” Cronin added.
“The outcome of war is still horrible and tragic, and it needs to be as ethical, precise, justifiable and limited as possible. India has a leading role to play potentially in the debate of the growing use of AI in the battlefield or society in general. These issues are still in the beginning stages of what could be the future laws of war and the guardrails of high-tech civilization.”
India’s military continues to further its ambition and research in the field of AI as it seeks to level the playing field with China.
World
Landlords allegedly posting ‘Muslim-only’ apartment ads in violation of country’s equality act: report
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Some landlords in England are apparently advertising “Muslim-only” apartments online, according to a local media report.
An investigation by The Telegraph found that alleged listings posted in London on Facebook, Gumtree and Telegram feature phrases such as “only for Muslims,” “for 2 Muslim boys or 2 Muslim girls,” and “Muslims preferred.”
Other ads appeal to Punjabi and Gujarati speakers, while some job vacancies on the platforms are advertised for men only.
Some listings specify “Hindu only,” in addition to posts that likely use religious subtext by stating: “The house should be alcohol and smoke-free.”
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On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” “one double room is available for Muslims,” and “suitable for Punjabi boy.” A Meta spokesman told Fox News Digital that Facebook then removed the company’s page “for violating the platform’s policies on discriminatory practices.”
Apartment buildings in Westminster, London, U.K. (John Keeble/Getty Images)
The ads run afoul of Britain’s Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination based on religion or belief, race and other protected characteristics.
“These adverts are disgusting and anti-British. It goes without saying that there would be a national outrage if the tables were turned,” Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s economic spokesman, told The Telegraph. “All forms of racism are unacceptable, and no religious group should get a special exemption to discriminate in this way.”
Houses and properties line Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, London, U.K. Some landlords in the city are illegally advertising for “Muslim only” tenants across the city, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. (Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images)
One landlord told The Telegraph to “go away” when asked about an ad for a “Muslims only” room for $1,150, and whether it was available to renters of other faiths.
A spokesperson for Gumtree told the newspaper that the company has clear policies in place that prohibit unlawful discrimination.
On Facebook, a company called Roshan Properties posted dozens of listings stating “prefer Muslim boy,” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“We take reports of inappropriate listings very seriously,” the spokesperson said. “The ads referenced appear to relate to private rooms within shared homes, where existing occupants may express preferences about who they live with. This is different from renting out an entire property, which is subject to stricter rules under the Equality Act.”
Telegram did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
World
Is Europe too late to the metal recycling game?
Europe’s critical raw materials crisis has a partial answer sitting in the waste stream — but the continent has been too slow to see it.
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Dorota Włoch, CEO of Eneris Surowce, was direct: recycling is no longer optional.
Unlike plastics, metals can be recovered and reused indefinitely, making urban mining — the recovery of raw materials from existing products and waste — increasingly valuable, particularly for batteries.
“From recycling, we recover metallic aluminium and so-called black mass, which is a concentrate of metals, mainly cobalt-nickel. These are some of the most valuable battery metals. And batteries are crucial today, not only in the automotive sector, but also in storing energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar,” she said.
‘Europe is 25 years late’
Włoch put the scale of the problem plainly. “Deposits are critical — any machine can be bought, but natural resources are not. They are non-transferable and non-renewable. If we use them, they simply disappear,” she said.
Europe’s belated recognition of that reality has cost it dearly.
“The regulation of critical raw materials came 25 years after other regions of the world had invested heavily in deposits. Europe was too passive. Today we are catching up, but the regulations are often so demanding that countries like Poland have difficulty implementing them.”
Who benefits most from extraction?
Poland holds significant reserves of raw materials critical to the modern economy, such as copper, coking coal, nickel, platinum group metals, helium, rhenium, lead and silver.
But the minerals needed most for the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and graphite, exist only in limited quantities, forcing imports.
Arkadiusz Kustra, dean of the faculty of civil engineering and resource management at AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, told a panel at the European Economic Congress that awareness of the full supply chain, and who profits from it, was now essential.
He pointed to Serbia as a case study.
“Serbia has lithium deposits and is already in talks with Mercedes or Stellantis,” he said. Belgrade is using that leverage to attract investment in battery factories and car plants, keeping more of the value chain at home.
The goal, Kustra argued, should be regional supply chains that retain added value locally.
“You can earn the least at the beginning and the most from the end customer,” he said.
The bigger obstacle is Chinese dominance.
“Margins in critical raw materials largely go to the Chinese, who control more than 90% of processing and trading, even though they do not own most of the deposits,” he said.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo — among the world’s most resource-rich countries — Chinese entities control around 90% of deposits.
The panel also pointed to growing interest in new supply partnerships, with Poland eyeing assets in the Congo region and the Americas.
World
Israeli Strikes Kill a Journalist and Injure Another in Lebanon
Israeli strikes killed one journalist and wounded another in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, rattling a tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said the Israeli military had targeted the journalists in the town of Tayri, where they took shelter in a nearby house after an airstrike struck a vehicle in front of the car they were traveling in. About an hour and a half later, a second strike hit the house they were hiding in, according to a statement by a Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which employed the journalist who was killed.
The Lebanese Red Cross said its teams came under fire while trying to evacuate the journalists from the house, forcing them to withdraw. The rescue crews were targeted by a warning strike and machine-gun fire, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Zeinab Faraj, a photojournalist, was rescued from the house. The other journalist, Amal Khalil, who was a reporter for Al-Akhbar, remained trapped under rubble for hours before emergency medics recovered her body, according to the Lebanese Civil Defense.
In addition to Ms. Khalil, the two people in the car in front of her were killed in the strikes, Al-Akhbar reported.
Amid the 10-day truce between Israel and Lebanon, Israel has continued strikes against what it says are Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, citing its right to self-defense. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia group, said that it had fired rockets and drones into Israel on Tuesday in response to what it said were violations of the cease-fire. Earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese News Agency reported that an Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded two others in another part of the country.
The Lebanese health ministry called the strikes in Tayri a “blatant double breach, involving both the obstruction of rescue efforts for a civilian known for her media and humanitarian work, and the direct targeting of an ambulance clearly marked with the Red Cross.”
The Israeli military denied in a statement that it had prevented rescuers from reaching the injured journalists, and said the incident was under investigation.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said Israeli forces had spotted two vehicles emerging from a military building used by Hezbollah. The military observed the vehicles cross what the spokeswoman called the forward defense line, determining the move to be a violation of the truce agreement.
The spokeswoman confirmed that the Israeli military had struck one of the vehicles and the building some of the occupants of the second vehicle had taken shelter in.
Ms. Khalil had covered southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah exercises strong control, since at least 2006. In a tribute to Ms. Khalil, a colleague from Al-Akhbar said she embodied the resilience of the southern Lebanese through her relentless reporting, refusing to leave the front lines of war where thousands of Lebanese had been displaced.
“As with every act of aggression, wearing a press vest did not protect those who wore it from the treachery of the Israeli enemy,” Al-Akhbar said in a statement. “Instead, it has become a danger to journalists’ lives, as part of a systematic Israeli policy aimed at silencing anyone who seeks to expose the crimes and practices of the occupation.”
In a forceful statement on social media, Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese prime minister, accused the Israeli military of war crimes for targeting journalists and obstructing access to medical aid. He said that Lebanon would pursue action to ensure Israel is held accountable with international bodies.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that it was outraged by the attack, and that it raised serious concerns of deliberate targeting.
“The repeated strikes on the same location, the targeting of an area where journalists were sheltering, and the obstruction of medical and humanitarian access constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
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