DeepMind Says Its AI Solved a Math Problem That Humans Were Stumped By

Noor Al-Sibai
Sat, December 16, 2023 



Fun Times

DeepMind claims that for the first time, an AI has solved a famously difficult math problem with a solution that eluded human mathematicians — which could be huge if it holds up to scrutiny.

In interviews with MIT Technology Review and The Guardian, Google DeepMind researchers waxed prolific about their new AI tool, which they claim has generated a brand new solution to what's known as the "cap set problem," which involves plotting more and more dots without any of them ever forming a straight line.

The novel findings, which the researchers announced in a paper published in the journal Nature, would mark the first time AI has made a unique scientific discovery which, because it was previously unknown, was not part of its training data. That would be a pretty big deal considering that AI is known for conjuring up nonsense and made-up junk even when its training data has the right answers.

DeepMind built the tool in question, called "FunSearch" in reference to mathematical functions (and not the other kind of fun) on the back of its AlphaZero AI, which solves math problems as if it were playing a game. The LLM it uses is called Codey, which is trained and honed on computer code and programmed to reject incorrect answers and feed correct ones back into its model.
No Known Answer

Feeding code into an AI is one thing, but having it spit out a brand-new solution to a famous puzzle — even though it took a few days, as MIT Tech points out — is a different thing entirely.

"It’s not in the training data," DeepMind research VP Pushmeet Kohli told the website. "It wasn’t even known."

There is something of a mystical quality to what the DeepMind scientists are claiming: that the LLM managed to — just maybe — think for itself.

"To be very honest with you, we have hypotheses, but we don’t know exactly why this works," DeepMind researcher scientist Alhussein Fawzi told MIT Tech. "In the beginning of the project, we didn’t know whether this would work at all."

While there will obviously need to be lots more research to verify the claims and try to figure out exactly how FunSearch generated its novel solution to the cap set problem, its creators are clearly stoked.

"When we started the project there was no indication that it would produce something that’s genuinely new," Kohli told The Guardian. "As far as we know, this is the first time that a genuine, new scientific discovery has been made by a large language model."

More on AI breakthroughs: Bizarre Theory Claims ChatGPT Is Suffering From Seasonal Depression

Aerial before-and-after illusion reveals ‘depressing’ reality of urban development: ‘This looks so surrealistic to me’

Leo Collis
Sat, December 16, 2023 
433

If you get fooled when you see this image on first glance, you probably won’t be the only one.

One Redditor took to the platform to share an apparent before-and-after aerial picture of an urban development in the middle of a desert.

Photo Credit: u/TownPro / Reddit

But upon closer inspection — and after a quick reveal from the Redditor in the caption — it turns out to be an image of a real community in Arizona, with one long road separating the desert on the left from the housing on the right.

“This looks so surrealistic to me,” said one commenter. “It’s weird how there’s only houses and no businesses/downtown area. Looks almost like something out of a dream.”

“God the American burbs are so depressing,” commented another.

Upon expanding the picture, the original image came from r/CityPorn, which explained it’s the border between the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the city of Scottsdale in Arizona.

So while the planning might seem a little unusual, there is a good reason for the lack of development on one side of the border.

Interestingly, the symbol of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is the “Man in the Maze.” The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona describes how the legend “depicts the experiences which occur during the journey through the maze of life.”

But as the council noted, it’s also “an apt design for an Indian Community caught in the web of burgeoning metropolitan pressures.”

Of the 52,600 acres of land, 19,000 remains as natural preserve. The community was established in 1879 following an executive order from President Rutherford B. Hayes, and it is home to over 10,000 members from the American Sovereign Indian Tribes of Pima (“Akimel Au-authm,” or river people) and Maricopa (“Xalychidom Pipaash,” or people who live toward the water).

So, in a sense, it is a before-and-after picture. The scenery on the left remains relatively untouched, whereas the right shows what happens when urban developers create housing communities that seem incongruous with the history and traditions of what had been there for centuries before.

Mysterious Signals From Space Are Getting Stranger, Scientists Say

Victor Tangermann
Sat, December 16, 2023 


Blipped Out

Ever since the first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007, scientists have been racing to understand the unusual flashes of radio waves emanating from extremely distant locations.

Some of these signals blip at astonishingly regular intervals, while some blast out extremely powerful flashes all at once, lighting up ground-based radio dishes like a Christmas tree for mere milliseconds.

Some FRBs emit as much energy in a fraction of a second as the Sun does in a few days. One signal that astonished astronomers earlier this year had been pulsing every 20 minutes since at least 1988.


And while scientists can still only hazard a guess as to what's behind them, the latest fast radio burst that was just discovered is only adding to the mystery — and highlighting just how much we still have to learn about the celestial phenomenon.
Ready SETI Go

As detailed in a new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society this week, researchers spotted a "never-before-seen" burst dubbed FRB 20220912A using the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array, a collection of 42 antennae stretching out across the Cascade Mountains in California.

Over two months, the team detected 35 bursts from a single source. Unlike previous FRBs that repeated over time, the team noticed that the signal dropped in the center frequency of the bursts, kind of like a "celestial slide whistle," as CNN put it.

Despite their best efforts, the team wasn't able to detect a regular timing between each of the bursts.

Strange as that is, the findings could still help scientists get a better sense of where to look for more signals like it.

"This work is exciting because it provides both confirmation of known FRB properties and the discovery of some new ones," said SETI Institute researcher and lead study author Sofia Sheikh in a statement.

Scientists are still hunting for a source behind these FRBs. One popular theory that some have since put forth is that these signals could be released by the extremely magnetized remains of a collapsed star that might be emitting these radio waves like a cosmic lighthouse.

"We’re narrowing down the source of FRBs, for example, to extreme objects such as magnetars, but no existing model can explain all of the properties that have been observed so far," Sheikh added.

More on FRBs: Scientists Intercept Signal That Took 8 Billion Years to Reach Earth


Mysterious never-before-seen deep space radio signal found beyond Milky Way
Chris Oberholtz
Sat, December 16, 2023 

Mysterious never-before-seen deep space radio signal found beyond Milky Way

A team of astronomers says they have detected a never-before-heard radio signal that offers insights into the mystery of uncharted deep space.

This signal is known as a Fast Radio Burst (FRB), a bright flash of radio light lasting for a few milliseconds and originating from beyond the Milky Way.

Some FRBs repeat themselves, and a new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society has shed new light. The study has detected a highly active repeating FRB signal behaving differently than anything previously detected.

"This work is exciting because it provides both confirmation of known FRB properties and the discovery of some new ones," said lead author Sofia Sheikh, of the SETI Institute in California.

Over a two-month period, Sheikh and other scientists observed 35 FRBs from a single source, FRB 20220912A. They discovered a fascinating pattern emerging from their observations.

Most repeating FRBs gradually get lower in pitch as they go on, according to astronomers. However, FRB 20220912A is different. It has a never-before-seen change in pitch that sounds like a cosmic slide-whistle which can be heard when the data is converted into a sound clip using a xylophone.

Dynamic spectra (or "waterfall" plots) for all the bursts from FRB 20220912A detected using the Allen Telescope Array, the frequency-averaged pulse profiles, and the time-averaged spectra.

The high-pitched notes are at the beginning of the clip, while the low-pitched notes are at the end, like someone playing a xylophone and repeatedly hitting the lowest note, scientists at the SETI Institute report.

Astronomers believe some FRBs are caused by a type of neutron star called a magnetar. These neutron stars have very strong magnetic fields and are the cores of dead stars.

"We’re narrowing down the source of FRBs, for example, to extreme objects such as magnetars, but no existing model can explain all of the properties that have been observed so far," Sheikh said.

Other ideas suggest that FRBs could also be produced by colliding neutron stars or merging white dwarfs.

The latest research is another step forward in the quest to unlock the secrets of FRBs, Sheikh said, which generate as much energy in a thousandth of a second as our Sun does in an entire year.

Original article source: Mysterious never-before-seen deep space radio signal found beyond Milky Way

Tang Xiao'ou, the CUHK professor and founder of the artificial intelligence giant SenseTime, dies at age 55

South China Morning Post
Sat, December 16, 2023 

Tang Xiao'ou, the Chinese University of Hong Kong professor who turned his computer science laboratory into a multibillion dollar business and leader in artificial intelligence called SenseTime, has died. He was 55.

Tang passed away at close to midnight on December 15 after succumbing to an illness, according to a Saturday announcement by SenseTime in its official WeChat account, without disclosing the nature of his illness.

As a "pioneer in China's AI industry", Tang will continue to serve as an inspiration for others, the company said, turning its corporate website including its red logo into a black-and-white colour scheme as a sign of mourning.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

SenseTime's corporate mission - set out by Tang - to create a better AI-empowered future through innovation "will inspire everybody to ascend to the top and complete his unfinished business", the company added.

\ Photo: Reuters.>

Tang, who taught information engineering at CUHK, founded SenseTime in 2014 with a group of computer scientists including Xu Li, an alumnus of the university and the company's current CEO.

He was born in Liaoning province in northeastern China in 1968. He received his bachelor's degree in 1990 from the University of Science and Technology of China, located in the Anhui provincial capital of Hefei in eastern China. He moved to the US to further his education, receiving a master's degree from the University of Rochester in 1991 and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1996.

With research interests spanning computer vision, pattern recognition and video processing, Tang worked as the group manager of the Visual Computing Group at the Microsoft Research Asia from 2005 to 2008.

His academic career at the Chinese University (CUHK) began in 1998. During his tenure, he mentored many accomplished engineers and computer scientists who would go on to spur China's lead in facial recognition, pattern recognition and many applications in artificial intelligence.

One of his students, Wang Xiaogang, was so taken by Tang's demonstration of a computer algorithm that mimicked artistic styles, that he embarked on a career path that would turn him into a SenseTime co-founder and one of China's foremost experts on AI, he said during a 2021 interview with the Post.

SenseTime's rapid growth over the past decade led to it being referred to as one of China's "four little dragons" of AI, along with Cloudwalk Technology, Megvii and Yitu.

It went public in Hong Kong in December 2021. The company's Chinese name Shangtang is an amalgam of the character representing China's earliest imperial dynasty, with Tang's surname.

Tang was SenseTime's largest shareholder, holding 20.63 per cent of the company with 68.28 per cent of its voting rights, according to SenseTime's interim report in September. With a net worth of US$2.5 billion, he was listed by Forbes as the 33rd richest person in Hong Kong in February.

SenseTime develops AI technology for applications ranging from autonomous driving to augmented reality and medical imaging. The company has also been doubling down on the development and application of large language models, the technology underpinning OpenAI's ChatGPT, amid a heated race among Chinese tech giants to come up with their own generative AI products.

SenseTime's meteoric rise ran into trouble in 2019 when the US Commerce Department placed the company on its Entity List, alongside more than 20 other Chinese firms, for its alleged role in human rights abuses in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, where a United Nations committee has said as many as 1 million members of the predominantly Muslim Uygur ethnic group were detained in "re-education centres".

Companies on the blacklist are prohibited from doing business with American companies without a licence.

SenseTime shares rose 3.3 per cent to close at HK$1.26 (16 US cents) on Friday in Hong Kong. It has lost nearly two-thirds of its price since its shares were listed in 2021 through an initial public offering.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

China hits back at economic war of words as 'some people with ulterior motives' fabricate threats

South China Morning Post

Fri, December 15, 2023

China's national security apparatus vowed on Friday to fight back against a narrative war over its economic condition, elevating the issue about how to describe the status quo and outlook of the Chinese economy to the level of economic security.

The statement from the Ministry of State Security came three days after the tone-setting central economic work conference, during which President Xi Jinping pledged to maintain economic stability, guide public opinion and play up China's "bright prospects" in 2024.

The economic domain has become a "battlefield" of superpower rivalry, and dealing with various cliches denigrating China's economy has become an external challenge, the ministry said on its WeChat account.

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"Talk concerning China's decline is in essence an intention to create a 'narrative trap' or a 'cognitive distortion'," it said.

"It aims to doubt or deny China's socialist system and attempts to strategically contain China's development.

"There are some people with ulterior motives. They are fabricating a China threat again ... with the intention to disrupt market expectations and economic growth momentum."

In the statement that followed the two-day central economic work conference, which concluded on Tuesday, Beijing's top leadership claimed China had "withstood the external pressure and overcome domestic difficulties" this year, with the world's second-largest economy set to hit its 2023 growth target of "around 5 per cent".

It also placed a focus on economic construction and listed development as China's "biggest political priority".

The growth rate would be higher than most developed nations, including the United States and European countries.

But analysts point to the crisis involving Evergrande, Country Garden and other property developers, the debt mountain facing local government financing vehicles, high youth unemployment, a demographic crisis and faltering investor confidence, as potential problems for future growth.

"The national security ministry must echo the top leadership's mandate and we know the backdrop of intensifying rivalry with America," said a Shanghai-based scholar, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

"We still wonder if normal discussions about the problems of the economy will inadvertently cross the vague red line, now that Beijing clearly wants us to focus on the bright prospects."

It is not the first time that the state security ministry has touched economic topics, having warned about the security of strategic minerals overseas at the end of November.

Earlier this month, it also defended Beijing's high-profile investigation into foreign firms on national security grounds.

The moves against the likes of Capvision, Bain & Company and Mintz Group were seen to contrast with widespread efforts by Beijing to lure both foreign and private investors with a promise of equal treatment and wider market access.

On Friday, the Beijing-based semi-official China Chamber of International Commerce set up a work committee to help solve complaints and problems raised by foreign-funded firms.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Christians living at the Lebanon border see Israel-Hamas war igniting hostilities with Hezbollah

Melanie Lidman
Fri, December 15, 2023 

Maryam Younnes, left, and Shadi Khaloul walk through ruins of homes last month in an ancient Maronite village that is now a national park in Baram, Israel. 

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Birds swoop across a valley separating Lebanon and Israel as olive and pomegranate trees rustle in the wind.

The flash of light from an opposing hillside looks small from a distance — until a boom cracks across the landscape, announcing another Hezbollah rocket launched toward Israel. Minutes later, more explosions peal through the air, as the Israeli military responds to the source of the fire.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza Strip, hostilities have spread north to these hills, where Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters have launched hundreds of missiles toward Israeli border communities, and Israeli forces have shelled targets to the north.

“This is happening every day,” said Shadi Khaloul, a Christian Aramaean activist, as he stands in a pastoral orchard in the northern Israeli town of Jish.

Aramaeans are a community of native Christians who trace their lineage to the time of Jesus. Khaloul has been instrumental in reviving spoken Aramaic, believed to be the language of Jesus and one used in portions of the Bible.

Shadi Khaloul stands in an ancient Maronite Church in Baram, Israel. A Christian Aramaean activist, he has been instrumental in helping gain recognition within Israel for Aramaean Christians.

 (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Like many Aramaeans in Israel, Khaloul has distant family in Lebanon. “I am worried both for my Christian community here in Israel, and for our brothers across the border,” he said, looking over the valley toward the southern Lebanese village of Maroun el Ras.

For Maryam Younnes, the conflict is wrenchingly personal.

She was born in a small, rural Lebanese village called Debel. Her father was a commander in the Christian-dominated militia South Lebanon Army, which cooperated with the Israeli army during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.

Many in Lebanon viewed members of the SLA as traitors and collaborators for fighting alongside Israel and against Hezbollah. Human rights groups accused the SLA of systematic torture and abuse of Lebanese prisoners at a facility it controlled.

When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, the SLA collapsed and many members and their relatives fled to Israel. Younnes and her family hoped to stay only a few days, until hostilities calmed down.

Twenty-three years later, her family is still there. The SLA members and their families were eventually offered and accepted full Israeli citizenship.

Read more: 'The Bedouins are being whipped from both sides' in the Israel-Hamas war

She said she has been completely cut off from her extended family in Lebanon, with no communication since they left.

“The fact that my family is on the other side of the border, it’s not easy, because I know that they will get hurt if a broader war will happen,” Younnes said. “The southern Lebanese never wanted this war .... And then when the war is over, we are the ones who pay the price.”

Younnes said the villagers in southern Lebanon — many of whom are Christians — have little choice when Hezbollah militants set up military infrastructure, including rocket launchers, on their property, which puts them at risk for retaliation from Israel.

She blames Iran-backed Hezbollah — the militant group and Islamist political party with representatives in Lebanon’s government — for forcing her to stay in Israel. “For me, and for many Lebanese, Hezbollah is occupying Lebanon."

Of the roughly 7,000 SLA members and their families who came to Israel, about 3,000 remain, Younnes said.

The others resettled in third countries or went back to Lebanon. Returning SLA officials faced prison sentences, though many family members were not prosecuted. They have struggled to reintegrate into Lebanese society.

Maryam Younnes lived in Lebanon until age 5. Her father was a commander in the South Lebanon Army, which cooperated with Israel during its occupation of southern Lebanon, and the family fled to Israel in 2000, where she has lived since, part of a tiny group of Lebanese refugees in Israel. 

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

In October, the Israeli government directed citizens living within 2½ miles of the Lebanese border to evacuate, including more than 30 towns and the city of Kiryat Shmona. At least 63,000 residents from the north are living in temporary accommodations in the center of the country, funded by the government at least until the end of the year. Nearly 70,000 additional Israelis were evacuated from their homes near the Gaza border.

Both Younnes and Khaloul live outside the evacuation zones and have stayed put. But the booms from the exchanges of fire shake their homes, providing a constant reminder of the threats in the north, even though the fighting in the south in Gaza captures most of the daily headlines.

Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system intercepts most missiles from Lebanon, though they have killed 10 people in Israel in the last two months. In Lebanon, at least 100 civilians and Hezbollah militants have died due to Israeli artillery fire, according to media reports.

Khaloul said that people in northern Israel fear that Hezbollah will carry out a similar strike to the one on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants in Gaza burst through the border fence and attacked Israeli communities, army bases and a music festival, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back to Gaza.

“If the [Hezbollah] terrorists will stay on the border with no solution, a lot of people will not return in the border line communities,” he said.

In Israel, the Aramaean Christian minority is concentrated in the north, in isolated, rural communities that often do not have adequate shelters from rocket fire. About 3,000 South Lebanon Army soldiers and their families live in Israel, many of whom are Aramaean Christians as well. They live mostly clustered along the northern towns, “as close to Lebanon as possible,” Younnes said.

The Aramaean Christian community numbers just 15,000 in Israel; there are thought to be more than a million Aramaean Christians in Lebanon, and more than 15 million worldwide.

Aramaeans such as Younnes and Khaloul struggle to find their place in the complex tapestry of identities that make up northern Israel. Younnes and Khaloul speak Arabic, but do not identify as Arab Israelis.

Khaloul led a long legal battle to recognize the community as a distinct official minority group, and in 2014 his son became the first to receive an Israeli identity card listing him as “Aramaean.”

Still, many don’t feel fully accepted by the Jewish majority, despite speaking Hebrew and often attending Jewish schools.

“Minorities like the native Christians and Druze, especially Aramaic-speaking Christians ... have no one that can protect them,” Khaloul said.

To foster greater acceptance in Israel, he has advocated for members of his community to serve in the Israeli army. Khaloul, who works at the Alma Research and Education Center think tank, helped start a preparatory program that brings together young Christians and Jews for a year of study and leadership training ahead of their conscription into the military.

Serving in the army helps his community integrate into Israeli society and connect them with better economic and educational opportunities, Khaloul said.

Read more: How the U.S. has fueled Israel's decades-long war on Palestinians

Many worry that the tit-for-tat hostilities on the northern front will expand into a major regional war, roping in Iran, Syria, Lebanon and possibly the U.S. and other international powers.

“People are asking me all the time if we will be in a wider war, and what we’re saying is that right now we are below the threshold of war,” said Orna Mizrahi, a researcher with the Israel-based Institute for National Security Studies who served for 12 years with the National Security Council of the prime minister’s office.

So far, Hezbollah is showing its presence with rockets aimed at targets very close to the border, but not utilizing the organization’s full arsenal by sending missiles deeper into Israel. Hezbollah is believed to have an arsenal of at least 150,000 rockets with high-precision capabilities that can target the entirety of Israel.

Father Sandi Habib leads a Sunday prayer service in a makeshift worship area in the basement of the Mar Maroun Maronite Church in Jish, Israel. Books during a prayer service. Georgette Sliman, 75, prays during the service. 

Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times

During Israel's weeklong cease-fire with Hamas in November, when 110 hostages were freed, Hezbollah mostly honored the truce, renewing rocket attacks only after the deal collapsed.

“Neither Hezbollah nor Iran are interested in a wider war," Mizrahi said.

For its part, the Israeli army is “ready at any moment to go on the offensive in the north,” Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said during a Dec. 5 news conference. Halevi added that Israel was exploring both diplomatic and military options to deal with the Hezbollah threat.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah boasted in a November speech that its attacks in the north have forced Israel to divert a large amount of its army, navy, and air force resources away from Gaza, which has helped the Palestinians there.

The group has also sought to pressure the international community into intervening in the Gaza conflict by demonstrating how violence could spread into a regional war.

Congregants raise their hands during prayer service at Mar Maroun Maronite Church. Shadi Khaloul lights a candle in an ancient Maronite church in a national park in Bar'am, Israel. Father Bishara Sliman offers sacramental bread to the congregation at Mar Maroun Maronite Church in Jish, Israel. 

Marcus Yam / Los Angeles TimesMore

Both Mizrahi and Khaloul said that for Israelis to regain their sense of security in the north, Hezbollah fighters must be pushed back from their footholds along the border, creating a buffer zone controlled by United Nations forces and the Lebanese army.

Evacuated families from the north have railed against the Israeli government, fearful they will be forced to return to a reality where they are living just a couple of miles from a militant group that is better funded, better organized and better armed than Hamas.

Mizrahi cited the Litani River, whose western branch runs parallel to the border about 13 miles north, as a psychological boundary for Israelis. If Hezbollah were contained north of the Litani River, that would restore some feeling of safety for Israelis, she said.

This is also the boundary that was agreed upon in United Nations Resolution 1701, which helped end the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon.

But Resolution 1701 has been mostly ignored as Hezbollah has crept closer to the border in recent years. Militants now operate so close to the border that Israelis can see them with their bare eyes.

Hezbollah "is just one mile from our homes, maybe two miles from our homes," Khaloul said. "We don't need another Oct. 7 to happen here."

Lidman is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report.

Israel's Gen Z conscientious objectors are being shunned and are even going to prison for refusing to join the army

Joshua Zitser
Fri, December 15, 2023 

Israel's Gen Z faces backlash and potential imprisonment for refusing to join the Israeli army.

BI spoke to four "refuseniks" — including one who went to prison, and another awaiting sentencing.

All four said social media played a major role in helping them form their anti-war ideologies.

As a child, Tal Mitnick thought it was inevitable that he would end up in the Israel Defense Forces.

It wasn't out of any particular desire to serve — it just felt inevitable.

Conscription is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis, though some exemptions are granted on humanitarian, medical, religious, and legal grounds.

It's a constant source of conversation among Mitnick's friends.

"The first question we ask when we meet each other is: 'Where are you going in the military?' From what I hear, it stays this conversation, throughout your 20s and 30s," he told Business Insider.

Conversations about national duty have surged since October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people.

And emotions are heightened on all sides, with ubiquitous footage of Israel's air campaign and ground invasion of Gaza, which the Hamas-run Ministry of Health says has killed more than 18,000 people.

For Mitnick, it was this sort of footage that ultimately made him resolve to reject IDF service of any kind.

More than that, he decided to boldly out himself as a so-called "refusenik" — a controversial position in a militaristic nation.

That position may ultimately land the 18-year-old behind bars.


Tal Mitnick stands with a raised fist next to an anti-fascism sign.

Tal Mitnick

Growing up in a liberal-minded household, Mitnick had considered signing up for a non-combat role, which he hoped would prevent him from, in his words, contributing to the "cycle of violence" with Palestinians.

But his perspective shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic as he spent time browsing YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter, like many other Gen-Z kids during the lockdowns.

Encountering footage of settler violence from anti-occupation organizations profoundly changed him, he said, resulting in him taking his current stance.

Mitnick recognizes that he might lose friends in the process, and is now preparing for even harsher repercussions.

He's awaiting sentencing by a military tribunal, which could result in him serving time in an army prison.
Refuse to serve, go to prison

Somebody who knows all too well what this is like is Yuval Dag, who spent 64 days in a military prison earlier this year for refusing to serve in the Israeli army.

"It's not a good time, obviously," the 21-year-old told BI of this experience. But "I managed and I pushed through," he said.

Dag's journey from growing up in a staunchly Zionist home to becoming a vocal critic of the IDF, and now the Gaza campaign, was also heavily influenced by social media.

"Instagram is my news application," he said.

Yuval Dag, who served time in a military prison, poses for a photo.

Tali Nachshon Dag

Around the time he received his first draft notice, about four years ago, Dag started coming across material from international left-wing news organizations on Instagram.

He said that the exposure helped him see beyond Israeli propaganda.

"Always when somebody asks me about how I developed my ideas, social media is one of the biggest parts of this," he said.

Dag believes that social media offers Gen Z Israelis unprecedented and direct access to the realities of life in Gaza and the West Bank, facilitated by footage from Palestinian citizen journalists and on-the-ground activists.

Dag says that Gen Z Israelis now have the opportunity, if they are willing, to be exposed to alternative views, particularly those that oppose Israel's policy toward Gaza.
Feeling like an outsider

Social media has allowed Israeli conscientious objectors to go public with their refusals, rather than refusing quietly or seeking an exemption.

Sofia Orr and Iddo Elam are among those who now intend to publicly reject the draft.

And they say that being vocal online may convince other young Israelis to reconsider serving.

A headshot image of Sofia Orr, who intends to refuse to serve in the IDF.

Yevgenia Belfer

Orr said she is due to be conscripted in February, and will refuse.

She said her decision was made easier by her "very left-leaning" family and her tendency to avoid reading social media comments.

The 18-year-old told BI that "it wasn't ever really an option not to be vocal about it."

Nevertheless, she said outing herself as a conscientious objector is a "scary process," and she anticipates other Gen Z Israelis will label her a traitor.

Orr said she has already been made to feel like an "outsider" by other young Israelis for not wanting to enlist.

Iddo Elam, 17, has plans to become a "refusenik" next summer.

Mesarvot

Elam, 17, said he will refuse sometime next summer. He agreed that there is a huge social cost to marking yourself out as a refusenik.

Skipping the army in a society built around military service ultimately leads to some level of ostracization, he said.

"You do feel like an outsider a lot of the time, even in a place like Tel Aviv, which has more people that don't enlist," Elam told BI. "People view you differently."

But despite facing discouragement from friends and family, who have urged him to fulfill his national duty, Elam said he remains steadfast in his desire to reject the system.

He hopes, in turn, that this will encourage others to follow suit.

For Mitnick, inspiring others to follow his example is worth potentially going to military prison for.

He said: "If there's one person that I get to not join the army for political reasons, I will always stay optimistic."

Read the original article on Business Insider

UK

Pro-Palestinian protests outside London home of Israeli ambassador who ‘opposes two-state solution’

Henry Bodkin
Sat, December 16, 2023

Pro-Palestine protesters opposite the Israeli ambassador's residence in north London - Stefan Rousseau/PA


HOISTED BY HER OWN PETARD


Pro-Palestinian protesters have demonstrated outside the home of the Israeli ambassador to the UK, days after she publicly rejected a ‘two-state solution’.

A group waving flags and chanting slogans congregated outside the north London residence of Tzipi Hotovely on Saturday, one of dozens of locally-organised protests across the country.

Police had imposed an order preventing demonstrations outside Israel’s embassy in Kensington.

However, the Met said this did not extend to the ambassador’s home and that “no issues” with the demonstration had been reported.

Footage on social media showed placards reading “Stop killing kids. Free Gaza”, “stop the genocide” and one from the “International Jewish anti-Zionist network”.

Local Palestine supporters outside Southall Town Hall - Jeff Gilbert

Ms Hotovely appeared to publicly clash with Rishi Sunak last week after she told Sky News that Israel did not support the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

“The answer is absolutely no,” she said. “Israel knows today, and the world should know now that the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel.”

On Saturday, hundreds gathered outside her house and chanted “decolonise” and “ceasefire now”, with passing cars honking their horns in support.
‘She is not a very nice person’

One man with a megaphone standing outside the gated mansion in St John’s Wood said: “Many of you have seen the ambassador of Israel and concluded she is not a very nice person.

“So she may not be a very nice person but what we object to is that she is calling for a genocide.” It was met with chants of “shame on you”.

The protesters were observed by police. Last week, officers used their powers under the Criminal Justice and Police Act to move protesters from Just Stop Oil away from outside Sir Keir Starmer’s home, where they had been singing Christmas carols.

Anti-war activists make their point outside the Israeli ambassador's home - Stefan Rousseau/PA

In north London, about 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Camden to call for a ceasefire, with some shouting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

The controversial slogan is argued by Jewish groups and many politicians to amount to a call for the eradication of the state of Israel.

The Met Police was heavily criticised for failing to clamp down on anti-Semitic slogans for at the mass Palestinian marches in central London in the early weeks of the war.

The force have in recent weeks handed out leaflets at the marches, detailing examples of racist abuse, as well as making arrests.

It has also asked stewards from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to proactively self-police their events.

Royal Society for Arts in Israel row as staff walk out over event
India McTaggart
Thu, December 14, 2023 

Pro-Palestine protesters gather outside a fundraiser for Israel at the Royal Society for Arts - VUK VALCIC/AVALON

The Royal Society for Arts (RSA) is embroiled in a row after its staff walked out over an event where Israel’s ambassador made a speech about the nation’s “resilience”.

Workers gathered outside the organisation’s building on Thursday to protest against the event, which aimed to promote trade between the UK and Israel.

Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister and Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, attended the event in Charing Cross, which was held to promote UK-Israeli trade ties and investment in startups.

But the presence of the ambassador – who is understood to have made a speech about Israeli resilience – was thought to have inflamed tensions as protesters encouraged others to join through social media and WhatsApp.

In a statement the RSA Union said staff were “shocked and disgusted” to discover that the organisation was hosting the event.

“As a union, we stand in full solidarity with the people of Palestine,” they said. “We were appalled that the RSA hosted leading figures in a government overseeing a brutal settler colonial occupation.”

The union added that “many staff made the decision to leave the building upon learning about the event”.

The RSA said it did not condone the event in an apology, claiming that details about the event were not disclosed in advance.

A spokesperson said: “An event is being held at the RSA today by an external client who did not disclose the full event details in advance. The RSA neither condones nor endorses this event. We are an apolitical organisation and have launched an internal investigation.

“We apologise extensively to anyone affected and upset by this today and will ensure that robust measures are put in place in the future to ensure this will not happen again.”

But the society was accused of being “disingenuous” in denying it knew of the event beforehand.

Atif Shafique, former senior researcher for the public services and communities team at the RSA, responded on X: “This post is disingenuous. The leaked email to staff shows you were made aware of the nature of the event yesterday.

“You could have – and should have – cancelled it then. If it was a front for a Russian fundraiser you certainly would have. As a former RSA employee, I’m appalled.”
Opportunity for entrepreneurs

The Restart IL. Economy London summit, held with support from the Israeli embassy, aimed to encourage investments in the country’s startups following the Oct 7 Hamas terror attack in which 1,200 Israelis were killed. The summit was described as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to meet with private and institutional investors rather than as a fundraiser.

The Telegraph understands there was an Israeli family present who expressed interest in investing in 1,200 startups in memory of all the victims of the attack.

A pre-recorded speech by Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, was also shown to guests.

The Metropolitan Police arrested one man, who they said was not believed to be part of the protest, after he was asked to leave the event by security.

The force added that they dispersed the demonstrating group quickly with protesters moving away from the building before 2pm.

The RSA describes itself as a social change organisation with a founding mission to “embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine art, improve our manufacturers and extend our commerce”.

Its president is the Princess Royal, who took over from the late Duke of Edinburgh in 2011, and its former patron was Elizabeth II. The organisation was granted a Royal Charter in the 1840s.

Notable fellows and former members include Stephen Hawking, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickens, Sir David Attenborough and Dame Judi Dench.

Ahead of meeting with US envoy, Israeli president says now isn't time to discuss 2-state solution
JULIA FRANKEL
Updated Thu, December 14, 2023

Israel's President Isaac Herzog speaks during an interview at his official residence in Jerusalem, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's president has joined the ranks of high-ranking Israeli officials to speak out against a two-state solution after the war in Gaza.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Isaac Herzog said it is not the time to be talking about establishing an independent Palestinian state when the country's pain from Hamas' Oct. 7 attack is still fresh.

“What I want to urge is against just saying two-state solution. Why? Because there is an emotional chapter here that must be dealt with. My nation is bereaving. My nation is in trauma,” said Herzog.

“In order to get back to the idea of dividing the land, of negotiating peace or talking to the Palestinians, etc., one has to deal first and foremost with the emotional trauma that we are going through and the need and demand for full sense of security for all people,” he said.

Herzog spoke a day before a meeting with the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The Biden administration has said that after the war, efforts must be renewed to restart negotiations aimed at establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

Herzog, whose position is largely ceremonial, is a former leader of Israel's Labor Party, which advocates a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

But in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered Israel's war in Gaza, Israeli leaders have spoken out against attempts to restart peace talks after the war and ruled out any role for the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and 240 others were taken hostage. Israel immediately declared war, carrying out weeks of airstrikes and a ground offensive in which over 18,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

With the U.S. pushing for a timetable from Israel, Herzog predicted the Israeli campaign in hard-hit northern Gaza could wrap up within weeks. But he declined to say when the war would end.

Israel has ducked international calls for a ceasefire, saying it will press ahead until it dismantles Hamas' military and political capabilities.

“I think one can see that in the northern part of Gaza, one can see the horizon," Herzog said. “We can see the end of that campaign, not far away in the next few weeks.”

He added that the end of the campaign in the south would only come when Hamas was “completely eradicated."

Herzog also spoke in favor of an emerging U.S.-led coalition to protect the Red Sea from the Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have carried out a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and also launched drones and missiles targeting Israel. In recent days, they have threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel.

The coalition, set to be formally announced next week, is composed of U.S. and European allies, and aims to protect international shipping from the Houthi attacks. Israel will not be contributing its own ships to the coalition, Israeli officials told The Associated Press, preferring to allow the international community to target the issue and focus on the war in Gaza.

“I demand and I call upon all nations who understand this to join the coalition, which is led by the United States of America, to fight against the Houthis and make it clear that this is unacceptable and won’t be repeated again,” said Herzog.

As Trump threatens to repeal Obamacare, these 'insurance godmothers' are signing Florida Latinos up

ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
Updated Sat, December 16, 2023 








An insurance agent talks with clients inside the main location of Las Madrinas de los Seguros, Spanish for "The Godmothers of Insurance," at a shopping center in Miami, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MIAMI (AP) — Salsa music blares from the food court in a rundown Miami shopping center as Latinos head to a kiosk and an office showing signs for “ Obamacare,” where they hope to renew their health coverage plans before the year ends.

It’s areas near this mall where former Democratic President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is more popular than anywhere in the country, according to federal data. The region has also shifted away from Democrats to Republicans in recent years, with Donald Trump hosting several rallies here as part of his outreach to Latino voters.

Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has pledged to renew efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 law — something that would be felt heavily in the region and could possibly reverse some of the GOP shift among South Florida's Latinos, experts say.


President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has already seized on Trump's statements about “Obamacare," which was enacted when Biden was vice president, as part of its broader efforts to shape the widely expected rematch with Trump next year.

“Health insurance is something that is extremely needed for everyone,” said Odalys Arevalo, one of the managing partners of a health insurance agency serving Spanish-speaking clients in Miami. “And I know that everybody that supports the Republican Party that has health insurance through Obamacare would not support the fact that it would be taken away from one day to another. That is a fact.”

Arevalo and her business partner, Mercy Cabrera, started enrollment centers to help people navigate the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces and remember how some Cubans would walk away uttering “no, no, no,” after seeing the name “Obamacare,” which was coined by Republicans opposing the overhaul as an expensive government takeover of health insurance.

Insurers could no longer deny coverage based on preexisting medical conditions, and that drew many Latinos to consider it, Arevalo says. In the following years, the women started enrolling tens of thousands, earning the nickname of “Madrinas del Obamacare,” or “Obamacare” godmothers, evoking the crucial role godparents play in Latino culture.

They have since renamed themselves “Las Madrinas de los Seguros,” or “insurance godmothers,” because they offer other plans. But they continue to feature the word “Obamacare” on their office walls and in their ads.

“Obamacare” is seen throughout Miami in advertising flags, businesses and bus signs. Federal data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicates how widely used it is here.

About 3.4 million Hispanics are signed up with insurance through the health law. Florida leads enrollment with more than 3.2 million consumers selecting a plan during last year's enrollment period from November 2022 to January. Miami-Dade is the county with the most people enrolled, with about 750,000 consumers, or more than one-fourth of the total population.

Florida is also one of 10 states that has resisted expanding Medicaid coverage under a provision of the health law.

The two Zip codes with the most sign-ups last year and this year are in Doral and Hialeah, hubs for the Venezuelan and Cuban communities that are just north of Miami and are common stops for Trump’s visits and rallies.

Last month, Trump posted on his Truth Social social media site that “the cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare.” While he said he is looking at alternatives, he has not shared any plans. But Trump said he would not give up on terminating it — recalling when the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blocked the then-president's effort to repeal the law in July 2017.

During Trump's administration, Republicans managed to pass a provision that reduced the penalty for not having health insurance to zero, the most unpopular part of the law and something that people in South Florida say made them feel more at ease with the plans.

The Miami Herald, in a recent editorial, called the plans by Trump — also echoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another 2024 GOP presidential candidate — “exceedingly out of touch with voters."

Biden’s campaign quickly mobilized a response and the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, Nikki Fried, specifically mentioned an area where “Obamacare” is popular.

“Miami-Dade County would be hardest hit by Trump’s anti-health care agenda,” Fried said.

According to a KFF poll conducted in May 2023, 59% of Americans say they have a favorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act. The same poll by the nonprofit organization focused on health policy found that 66% of Hispanics say they have a favorable opinion of the law.

According to APVoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of U.S. voters, 62% of 2022 midterm voters in Florida said it should be the responsibility of the federal government to make sure that all people in the country have health care coverage. About one-third of Florida voters in the 2022 midterm elections said that shouldn’t be the government’s job. Among Latino or Hispanic midterm voters in Florida, 77% said ensuring health care coverage for all should be the responsibility of the federal government, while 1 in 5 said it should not be.

Zulina Ruiz, a 72-year-old retired lawyer from Venezuela, said she found out about the Affordable Care Act options quickly after arriving in the U.S. in 2017. She said she is particularly grateful for having access to drugs to treat her high blood pressure. Green-card holders, refugees and other migrants who have been granted temporary protected status or who have come recently with humanitarian parole also qualify for coverage under the law.

“This is very important for me. I don’t think a candidate can just make this program disappear,” she said. “They would leave millions of low-income people without insurance.”

Ruiz became a U.S. citizen in May, but has not registered with any party. She does not know whom she will vote for next year.

“I am still not decided, and we don’t have official candidates yet,” Ruiz said, adding that she still feels more connected politically to Venezuela. Much of the growing support for Republicans in Miami is owed to Trump’s record opposing socialist leaders across Latin America, including imposing White House sanctions on Venezuelan officials.

“But health policy is a top priority for me,” Ruiz said.

The Biden campaign has run advertising in battleground states contrasting his efforts to lower drug costs with Trump’s renewed promise to repeal the health overhaul. The ad campaign did not include markets in Florida.

Arevalo, one of the “Obamacare godmothers,” thinks voters in Miami may not necessarily approve of all the positions of the candidates they ultimately back.

But as far as a local verdict on “Obamacare,” and despite initial hesitations about it, the program grew on people in Miami once they understood it, she said.

“When Trump was elected, some people came and said they wanted nothing to do with Obamacare. We said ‘Obamacare, Trumpcare, whatever,’” she said of what they told people. “The important thing is that everybody has access to health insurance and that they can take care of their health.”


Biden and Obama team up for Obamacare enrollment push following Trump’s latest repeal threat

Arlette Saenz and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Fri, December 15, 2023


President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama teamed up on a new video vowing to protect and expand Obamacare at a time when former President Donald Trump has threatened to renew his efforts to repeal the health care law if he wins a second term.

The White House will release the video on social media later Friday as part of its effort to promote open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act exchanges, a White House official told CNN.

The video, first shared with CNN, starts with Biden reading a text message that asks, “Hey President Biden, is Obamacare still a thing?” Biden then turns to Obama and says, “Is it still a thing?”

“Yes, Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, Bidencare, whatever you call it – yes, it is still a thing,” Obama says. “The other side’s been trying to repeal it every year since it’s existed, but we’ll keep fighting to protect it.”

“Not just protect it but expand it, saving millions of dollars for working families. We’re covering more people than ever,” Biden adds. The president ends the video by saying, “It’s still a BFD,” a reference to his hot-mic expletive moment celebrating Obamacare’s passage in 2010.

The video, which was filmed last week when Obama made a previously undisclosed visit to the White House, coincides with the deadline to enroll in Obamacare plans to receive coverage at the start of the year. This year’s open enrollment period started on November 1 and runs through January 15 on the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov. Nearly 7.3 million people have signed up for 2024 coverage in the first five weeks, up nearly 34% from roughly the same period one year earlier.

The Biden-Obama collaboration comes as the White House and Biden campaign are eager to bring the health care debate front and center heading into the 2024 election. The new video does not name Trump, but it comes after Biden’s predecessor resurrected talk of repealing and replacing Obamacare last month. Trump’s move even surprised some of his own advisers as the law has gained popularity in recent years following multiple failed Republican attempts to scrap it.

The video marks the latest effort by Biden to lean on his former boss and partner to help make a health care push. Obama’s first public appearance at the White House since leaving the presidency came last year when he joined Biden to promote bolstering Obamacare by closing a loophole that prevented millions of families from receiving subsidies.

The former president has also taped videos celebrating record enrollment and the anniversary of his signature health care law. And he taped videos – often poking fun at himself – while in office and during Trump’s tenure encouraging Americans to sign up during open enrollment.

The Biden campaign has also tapped into Obama’s appeal in its fundraising efforts, releasing joint videos and holding contests for small dollar donors to meet the two men.

Reducing health care costs, including on prescription drugs, and expanding coverage are expected to be key feature of Biden’s 2024 platform. Biden often touts how he and congressional Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, giving Medicare the ability to negotiate some drug prices for the first time and cutting the cost of insulin for Medicare enrollees.

On Thursday, he promoted another provision of that law that requires drug companies pay a rebate to Medicare if they raise their prices faster than inflation.

“It’s a rip off. They’re ripping off Medicare. They’re ripping off the American people, but we’re now fighting back,” Biden said at the National Institutes of Health. “We’re gonna save taxpayers money and discourage companies from raising prices in the first place.”

Last week, the Biden administration also took several incremental steps aimed at lowering health care costs by promoting competition.

But a recent KFF poll showed few Americans are aware of the provisions Biden often touts, highlighting one of the challenges facing the president as he tries to convince Americans his policies are helping them.


Biden, Obama team up for ObamaCare promotion after Trump threats

Brett Samuels
Fri, December 15, 2023 

President Biden and former President Obama teamed up for a video promoting the Affordable Care Act released Friday, the final day of open enrollment and as the signature law has faced renewed threats from former President Trump in his own campaign for the White House.

Obama filmed the roughly 30-second video alongside Biden during a recent undisclosed trip to the White House. Biden opens the video by reading a text message asking if ObamaCare is “still a thing.”

“Yes;, ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, BidenCare — whatever you call it — yes it is still a thing,” Obama says. “The other side’s been trying to repeal it every year since its existence, but we’ll keep fighting to protect it.”

“Not just protect it, but expand it,” Biden adds. “It’s saving millions of dollars for working families. We’re covering more people than ever.”

Friday was the final day for open enrollment for plans through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. More than 7 million people had signed up for coverage as of last week.

Obama previously visited the White House in 2022 to promote the success of his signature health care law.

Trump, who is the front-runner for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, campaigned on repealing ObamaCare during his first term, but the effort stalled in Congress. The former president, who is the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024, raised the topic again last month.

“We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!” he wrote on Truth Social.

He doubled down in a later social media post, saying ObamaCare “sucks” and that he would replace it with something else.

Trump’s remarks have already been used as fodder by the White House, the Biden campaign and Democrats, who view protecting Americans from losing health insurance as a winning argument that helped propel the party into the House majority in 2018.

The Indian Navy is shadowing a bulk carrier likely taken by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea

Associated Press
Sat, December 16, 2023 

This handout photo made available by India's Press Information Bureau shows the Maltese-flagged MV Ruen. The Indian Navy said Saturday that it is shadowing a bulk carrier that was boarded by unknown attackers in the Arabian Sea and may have been taken by Somali pirates. The Indian Navy responded to the distress call by sending its anti-piracy patrol warship and maritime patrol aircraft to locate and assist the vessel, the Indian Navy said in its statement. (Press Information Bureau via AP)More


NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian Navy said Saturday that it is shadowing a bulk carrier that was boarded by unknown attackers — likely Somali pirates — in the Arabian Sea.

The Maltese-flagged MV Ruen, with a crew of 18, had sent a Mayday message on the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations portal on Thursday indicating that six unknown people had boarded the vessel, the Indian Navy said in its statement.

The navy responded to the distress call by sending its anti-piracy patrol warship and maritime patrol aircraft to locate and assist the vessel, it added.

The aircraft overflew the hijacked vessel early Friday and has since been continuously monitoring the movement of the vessel, which the Indian Navy said was headed toward the coast of Somalia. It added that its warship, which was deployed in the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy patrols, also intercepted the carrier early on Saturday.

The Ruen, which is managed by Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, was off the Yemeni island of Socotra when it was boarded on Thursday, the private intelligence firm Ambrey and the UKMTO said. Bulgarian authorities said the ship’s crew were nationals of Angola, Bulgaria and Myanmar.

“The necessary steps have been taken to pass the information on to all foreign partners and institutions that we will count on to provide assistance,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Maria Gabriel told reporters Friday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. However, suspicion immediately fell on pirates from Somalia. Their activity has dropped in recent years, but there has been growing concern it could resume amid the political uncertainty in the country and wider chaos in the region that has included attacks on shipping by Yemeni Houthi rebels.

On Friday, the UKMTO issued a warning to shippers saying the security manager for the Ruen “believes the crew no longer has control of the vessel.” The European Union’s anti-piracy force in the region said the Spanish frigate Victoria was on its way to intercept the “alleged pirate-hijacked vessel.”