Avi Bruce appointed as head of IDF Central Command
On the evening of July 8, local time, the Israel Defense Forces issued a statement saying that Major General Avi Bluth replaced Yehuda Fox as the commander of the Israeli Central Command. Earlier that day, the Israeli army held a handover ceremony, which was presided over by the Israeli Chief of Staff Halevy.
Avi Bluth joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1993 and commanded the Israeli military operations in the West Bank. In May this year, Bruce was promoted to major general and served as a military commander in the Israeli Central Command.
CCTV reporters learned that in late April this year, Yehuda Fox, then commander of the Israeli Central Command, requested to resign and retire from the army in August this year. Fox had previously stated that he should bear part of the responsibility for the military intelligence failure on October 7 last year, and "must end his term like everyone else."
According to the official website of the Israeli Defense Forces, the Central Command is one of the four major commands of the Israeli army, headquartered in Jerusalem, and its responsibility covers nearly one-third of Israel's territory.
TikTok to introduce a new feature that can clone your voice with AI in just 10 second
Use of AI is certainly the hottest topic in the tech industry and every major and minor player in this industry is using AI in some way. Tools like ChatGPT can help you do a wide range of task and even help you generate images. The other thing is - Voice Cloning. OpenAI recently introduced a voice engine that can generate clone of your voice with just 15 seconds of your audio. There is no shortage of voice cloning tools on the web which can help you do the same. The newest tech giant which is going to use AI to clone your voice is - TikTok. We all know TikTok, posting short videos with filters, effects and all other kind of things. So TikTok found a way to use the voice cloning AI in its app. TikTok is working on this feature, which does not seem to really have a proper name, it just references it as "Create your voice with AI" and "TikTok Voice Library". In the latest version of TikTok I came across some strings which indicates that TikTok is working on it. I was also able to access the initial UI which introduces the feature and was able to see the terms and condition of "TikTok Voice Library" which user have to accept in order to use the feature. Here are the screenshots from the app- As you can in the screenshot above, this is the initial screen which a user will see for the first time they access this feature. Tiktok claims that it can create an AI verison of your voice in just 10 seconds. The generated AI voice clone can be used with text-to-speech in TikTok videos. It also outline the process of how it will work. You have to record yourself speaking and TikTok will process the voice and use information about your voice to generate your AI voice. When it comes to privacy, your AI voice will stay private and you can delete it anytime. Tapping the "Continue" button brings "TikTok Voice Library Terms" screen which a user should definitely read, you can see here and read as well - How it will work After agreeing to terms and conditions I was introduced with a screen where TikTok will show some text and user have to press the record button while reading the text. Now unfortunately I did not see any text. This is probably because the feature is not fully ready or the backend from which it fetches the text is not live yet. Manually pressing the record button and saying random things also shows an error. So, it's also not possible to provide any sample voice generated with it and see how it compares to other voice cloning competitors. If it starts working someday, it will process your recorded voice and generate AI version of your voice. Here is a screenshot of that screen - My guess is that whenever the feature starts working, users have to clone voice only one time and the saved AI voice can be used through the text-to-speech method to add voice in your videos. You just have to type the words, choice is yours :p
Russia's economic strength gives it high-income status despite sanctions
Russia is seeing income growth of around 4-5%, with earnings growing in double digits, Ostapkovich said, stressing that the driving force is economic growth. "Incomes only grow when the economy grows. If the economy grows, then profits grow. If profits grow, then the entrepreneur is keen on hiring people and raising wages," he added. Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% in 2023, with real incomes and nominal wages up by 4.5% and 13% respectively. Industrial performance, particularly in manufacturing, is propelling this growth not seen in 20 to 30 years. Notably, mechanical engineering in the military industry is expanding at 25-30%, according to Ostapkovich. Andrey Kolganov, Doctor of Economics and Head of the Laboratory of Socio-Economic Systems at Moscow State University, acknowledged that despite the challenges posed by the growth stimuli, Western sanctions failed to inflict significant harm on the Russian economy. "The Russian economy has shown great potential in adapting to these difficulties. Moreover, these difficulties stimulated the development of domestic production, which in turn led to high rates of economic growth," he added. Kolganov noted that economic growth rates were higher in 2023, compared to 2022 - and even higher in 2024. These increases promoted Russia from the classification of middle-income countries, to the rank of high-income countries. Although Russia has not caught up with the richest countries, the achievement is nonetheless remarkable, especially in the face of unprecedented sanctions. Gross national income per capita in Russia is now $14,250, according to a document released by the World Bank that classifies countries that cross the $13,485 threshold as “high income.”
Porsche AG reports sharp fall in China deliveries
July 9 (Reuters) - German sportscar maker Porsche (P911_p.DE), opens new tab said on Tuesday that global vehicle deliveries were down 7% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2023, primarily driven by a 33% year-on-year drop in China. Porsche, majority-owned by Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), opens new tab, is highly exposed to the EU-China tariff tensions, with deliveries to China accounting for nearly 20% of global deliveries. An HSBC analyst pointed to weakness in the European car market, saying that "the market is, understandably, worried about China pricing weakness and the prospect of needing to pay dealer compensation." Overall, Porsche delivered 155,945 cars worldwide during the first six months of the year. In North America, deliveries were down 6% year-on-year. Meanwhile, in Porsche’s home market of Germany, deliveries increased by 22% to 20,811 vehicles.
Clear Check | Russian satellite disintegrated and hit GPS and Starlink satellites?
On June 27, the U.S. Space Command announced that a retired Russian satellite disintegrated in low Earth orbit on June 26, generating more than 100 pieces of debris, forcing astronauts on the International Space Station to hide for about an hour. The X-platform account of the International Space Station showed that shortly after 9 p.m. Eastern Time on June 26, NASA instructed the crew on the space station to hide in their respective spacecraft for safety because NASA learned in the morning of the 26th that a satellite disintegrated near the space station. About an hour later, the crew was allowed to leave the spacecraft and the space station resumed normal operation. There are rumors on social platforms that the satellite hit six U.S. GPS satellites after the disintegration and damaged 20 Starlink satellites developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) led by Musk, triggering speculation that the relevant satellites were deliberately disintegrated.
Iran's president-elect reaffirms policy toward Israel
Iran's President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated Iran's anti-Israel stance on Monday, saying resistance movements across the region will not allow Israel's "criminal policies" against Palestinians to continue. Pezeshkian told Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, that "the Islamic Republic will always support the people of the region in their resistance against the illegal Zionist regime." This suggests that the incoming government will not change its regional policy under the relatively moderate Pezeshkian, who defeated his hard-line opponent in a runoff election last week. Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by Iranian media, "I am sure that the regional resistance movement will not allow this regime to continue its militant and criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine and other countries in the region." The Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and the Palestinian Sunni Muslim Hamas are both part of the local "resistance axis" faction organization supported by Iran. Israel did not immediately comment on Pezeshkian's speech. Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7. According to Israeli statistics, Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 hostages, triggering the Israeli-Palestinian war. The Gaza Health Ministry said that the Israeli military attack killed more than 38,000 Palestinians and injured nearly 88,000 people.