Iranian missiles strike Israel killing 3, injuiring dozens

Today's news: Thai and Cambodian officials meet to avert armed clashes after border tensions; Vietnam has been admitted as a “partner country” of the BRICS; India and Pakistan both claim victory in the May conflict; Chinese scientists discover the first evidence that AI could think like a human being.

ISRAEL - IRAN

Iran launched several waves of ballistic missiles at Israel last night and early this morning. Israelis and expats across the country took shelter as the skies were filled with streaks of fire. Many strikes were intercepted, but several hit central Israel, with explosions in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, killing at least three people and injuring dozens. Iran claims that Israel killed at least 78 people, including women and children, and wounded more than 320 in its attacks as part of Operation Rising Lion. It accuses the United States of complicity.

THAILAND - CAMBODIA

Thai and Cambodian officials are meeting today to try to avert military clashes after a long-running territorial dispute has reignited, leading both countries to mobilise troops on the border. Tensions are running high on the eve of the talks. The two neighbours share an 820 km land border, parts of which are undemarcated and include ancient temples that both sides have claimed for decades. The latest clash on 28 May resulted in the death of a Cambodian soldier.

VIETNAM

Vietnam has been officially admitted as a “partner country” of the BRICS group of major emerging economies, the Brazilian government announced on Friday, as the bloc continues its expansion. Vietnam is the tenth country to receive this status, which allows invited countries to participate in BRICS summits and other sessions. Vietnam had expressed its willingness earlier this year to discuss a partnership with BRICS, whose original members were Brazil, Russia, India and China.

INDIA - PAKISTAN

Thanks to a ceasefire in May, India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, avoided a potentially catastrophic collision, but waves of nationalism sparked by the four-day clash continue to grow on both sides of the border. Now, the leaders of both countries are seeking to consolidate their political capital in the conflict, with conflicting claims of victory aimed at a domestic audience sensitive to triumphalism whenever the two nations clash.

CHINA

Chinese researchers - in an article in the scientific journal Nature Machine Intelligence - have confirmed for the first time that large artificial intelligence language models can spontaneously create a human-like system for understanding and classifying natural objects. This provides new evidence in the debate about the cognitive abilities of artificial intelligence models, suggesting that artificial systems that reflect key aspects of human thinking may be possible.

UKRAINE

Several relatives of Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine have had to bury their loved ones without certainty of their identity, as no identification or DNA testing has been carried out, with a strict ban on opening the coffins and a promise to send a document with the medical conclusions and a package of personal effects at a later date, which, however, have not been sent.

POLAND - GEORGIA

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has proposed to the European Parliament that visa-free travel to EU countries be cancelled or restricted for Georgian citizens, even though “at least a third of Georgians share European values”, sparking anger from Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who called the idea “blackmail and a threat”.