Cook Islands releases terms of deal with China amid protests about lack of transparency | Cook Islands

A strategic partnership deal between China and the Cook Islands spans areas from deep-sea mining to education scholarships but excludes security ties, a document released by the Pacific island nation’s government showed. Western nations that traditionally held sway in the region have become increasingly concerned about China’s push for influence in the Pacific, after Beijing…

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Who bought this smoked salmon? How ‘AI agents’ will change the internet (and shopping lists) | Artificial intelligence (AI)

I’m watching artificial intelligence order my groceries. Armed with my shopping list, it types each item into the search bar of a supermarket website, then uses its cursor to click. Watching what appears to be a digital ghost do this usually mundane task is strangely transfixing. “Are you sure it’s not just a person in…

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I worked as a triple zero call-taker for six months. It hardened my heart and changed my view of humanity | Australian lifestyle

For six months in 2023, I worked as an ambulance call-taker at Triple Zero Victoria, then known as the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (Esta). I had always been deeply curious about the job and my own experiences taught me that one kind, reassuring voice – or its opposite – can change the way you process…

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