March Madness: Duke named top men’s seed as Miami (Ohio) squeak in as No 11
Source: US news | The Guardian · Bias: Center Left
Summary
Arizona, Michigan and Florida also No 1 seeds31-1 RedHawks must play in First Four gameDuke received the top overall men’s seed for March Madness on Sunday, followed by Arizona, Michigan and Florida, each of whom would love a repeat of last season when all four No 1s made it to the Final Four.The top line was the most predictable thing to come out of Selection Sunday, with Michigan’s drop of one spot to the overall No 3 the result of the Wolverines’ loss to Purdue moments before the brackets were revealed, according to tournament selection chair Keith Gill. Continue reading...
March Madness: Duke named top men’s seed as Miami (Ohio) squeak in as No 11
Center Left
Arizona, Michigan and Florida also No 1 seeds31-1 RedHawks must play in First Four gameDuke received the top overall men’s seed for March Madness on Sunday, followed by Arizona, Michigan and Florida, each of whom would love a repeat of last season when all four No 1s made it to the Final Four.The top line was the most predictable thing to come out of Selection Sunday, with Michigan’s drop of one spot to the overall No 3 the result of the Wolverines’ loss to Purdue moments before the brackets were revealed, according to tournament selection chair Keith Gill. Continue reading...
European NATO allies have mostly replaced the assets that the US has cut from its rescue plans in case of a war in Europe, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe Sir John Stringer said in an interview.
The fight that scrubbed the world's most powerful AI models from the internet featured personality clashes, industry confusion, and international backlash.Why it matters: Anthropic's models are back online, but the impact of its 20-day showdown with the Trump administration will be long lasting.Behind the scenes: It began when Amazon, Anthropic's partner and investor, sounded an alarm that was later disputed by cybersecurity experts.It warned about a "jailbreaking" issue it found with the AI lab's latest models, Mythos and Fable — meaning a technical flaw that could have caused a failure of their guardrails.Amazon flagged its concerns to the administration, triggering sweeping export controls. A U.S. official said the government conducted its own tests once it became apparent that the issue needed to be addressed.Cybersecurity experts, however, later wrote in an open letter to the administration that other leading AI models have the same issue Amazon warned about with Anthropic.On June 12, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, at the direction of President Trump, called Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Lutnick made clear to Amodei the issue needed to be resolved fast and alerted the CEO that the company would be receiving a letter imposing sweeping export controls, the U.S. official said.Amodei called Lutnick back that night after receiving the letter, realizing it effectively meant the models would have to be taken offline — to which Lutnick responded that was indeed the goal.That decision led to a three-week, multi-agency crash course in AI safety.Anthropic deployed engineers to Washington D.C. According to a U.S. official, the company wanted to prove everything was already resolved and further changes were being fine tuned.But the federal Center for AI Standards and Innovation and the National Security Agency said those changes weren't good enough, prompting further fixes, according to the U.S. official.Gradually, various agency heads approved of the changes, and on July 1 the models were released, the official said.Out of all of the administration officials Amazon's Andy Jassy could have called, it was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who first heard about the jailbreaking issue found in the company report, according to a separate source familiar.Bessent was early to sound the alarm on Mythos, work with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to re-engage the embattled company, and help get a cybersecurity executive order across the finish line.While technical discussions to address the jailbreaking issue took place in D.C., it was Bessent who stood next to President Trump during the G7 where allies called for global cooperation on safety standards.At the center of the showdown was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who also flanked Trump at the G7 meeting while his department's teams led technical discussions.National cyber director Sean Cairncross, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Treasury Department chief information officer Sam Corcos, and the NSA also all participated in technical discussions, according to various sources.Washington mobilized faster to hold scores of meetings and pulled in far more agencies than one would expect for a single technical issue, one source said.The tension spiraled amid personality clashes and poor communication.Anthropic eventually understood that in order to be successful they needed to be on the same side as the government, the U.S. official said.As discussions turned more technical, Anthropic policy chief Sarah Heck and Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown got more involved. Brown also had multiple conversations with Lutnick and Cairncross the weekend of June 12.There was never a moment where Dario stepped offstage and someone else replaced him, one source said, adding that Brown's technical expertise allowed him to sit in a room with government specialists and go line‑by‑line through how models behave under stress.Between the lines: It remains uncertain when and how Anthropic's models will be released to ally countries around the world — which proponents say is key to beating China — or how other labs from OpenAI to Google will release their latest models.OpenAI, whose latest model GPT-5.6 is on hold, did not have visibility into discussions between Anthropic and the White House and is engaged in daily technical discussions on the release of its own model, a source said.The bottom line: There's a lot of work left to be done on a framework for approving future models with a clear inclusive process that has transparency standards and timelines, sources familiar said.
Superfans and sleuths appear to have their hunches confirmed on Friday, as dozens of black cars dropped off elegantly dressed guests outside of Madison Square Garden in New York City. The wedding bash is expected to last into Saturday morning.
As food, fireworks and festivities kick off in celebration of Independence Day 2026, frequent flyers in and around the Big Apple are likely to face nixed or postponed takeoffs.
Florida is taking action against nearly 100 organizations that will likely soon have a new "terrorist" designation under Florida law.On Wednesday, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that some significant legislation, which provides a stronger framework for declaring groups terrorist organizations, took effect on the first day of the month. 'We are not going to fund terrorism in our great state.'During his announcement, DeSantis said that officials "are not going to waste any time" before beginning the "initial tranche" of domestic terrorist designations in Florida, suggesting more to come in the future as well. "Based on the recommendations of Florida's domestic security professionals and the authority, the newly established authority in law, my office and the [C]abinet are poised to officially designate the first slew of terrorist organizations under the new law," DeSantis said in the announcement.RELATED: Florida AG calls for impeachment after judge acquits mother who killed baby and blamed COVID Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesAmong those organizations designated, DeSantis named familiar Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but also mentioned the addition of Antifa to the list. He also named a couple of groups affiliated with drug cartels, like Cartel de Sinaloa and Tren de Aragua.Notably, DeSantis added that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran would also be added to the list among "more than 90 Foreign Terrorist Organizations."Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, who also serves as the state’s chief domestic security officer, explained that the new law gives more tools to prevent taxpayer dollars from reaching those organizations that have been designated as terrorist groups, Florida's Voice reported."We are not going to fund terrorism in our great state," Glass told Florida's Voice. "We’re just not going to do it."Glass added that the new framework will allow greater transparency for the public to see where taxpayer dollars are being distributed: “It’s actually even a public service campaign to ensure that you know where you’re receiving dollars or you’re giving dollars."These actions, however, have been under legal threat for months, dating back to before the legislation was signed. DeSantis acknowledged to Florida's Voice that "we'll definitely get sued," though he believes the outcome "will be beneficial." The new law, which went into effect on Wednesday, builds upon an executive order from DeSantis on December 8, which laid the groundwork for legislation to be drafted and signed by the governor in early April. The December executive order singled out CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, CAIR sued the administration over the executive order, arguing that its rights had been violated.On March 4, United States District Judge Mark Walker granted the motion for a preliminary injunction, freezing the use of the executive order. The DeSantis administration appealed the injunction two days later in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.The law, signed almost exactly a month later, will likely be used as a new legal support in the ongoing legal fight over the executive order. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
