Vietnamese government accused of abducting Melbourne human rights activist

Tran Hiep, a 50-year-old Vietnamese Australian anti-human trafficking campaigner, not heard from since 18 September

Vietnamese authorities have detained three activists, including an Australian, on what have been described as “fabricated” charges.

The Vietnamese government said the three confessed to being members of Viet Tan – a pro-democracy organisation – which it describes as a terrorist organisation.

Continue reading...

In-laws arrested on suspicion of murder after New York Times engineer shot dead in California

Police arrest couple in their 70s after Jonathan McKinsey, 40, found dead in park in Bay Area city of Dublin

A married couple in their 70s have been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing their son-in-law, a New York Times engineer, in broad daylight at a suburban Bay Area park.

A police officer found Jonathan McKinsey, 40, lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds in a park in Dublin, California, a small city about 35 miles (56.3km) east of San Francisco. Around the time the officer discovered him, 911 calls began pouring in from witnesses reporting the shooting.

Continue reading...

OpenAI scraps release of new model over safety concerns in internal testing

GPT-6.1 Astra showed deceptive behavior and tried to use external tools despite knowing it would be unsafe

OpenAI is scrapping the release of GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation ⁠AI model planned for an October debut, over safety concerns raised by researchers ⁠during internal testing, the ⁠Wall ​Street Journal reported on Monday.

The model, expected to appear in ChatGPT and ⁠Codex, was designed to handle more complex tasks without human assistance, the report said.

Continue reading...

Tennessee to execute a woman for first time in 200 years after governor denies clemency

Lawyers for Christa Pike, 50, convicted of killing classmate in Knoxville in 1995, ask supreme court to grant stay

Christa Pike was 18 when she killed a classmate in a jealous rage and became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row. Now 50, she is scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday in what would be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in 200 years.

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at Knoxville Job Corps. Prosecutors said Pike feared Slemmer was a romantic rival and lured her to a secluded area where she and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer.

Continue reading...