live U.S. to impose measures "never seen before" on Iran, Treasury secretary says
The U.S. will impose unprecedented measures on Iran in order to economically isolate the country, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said...
Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada has said that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to “jump straight to the result” risks undermining the purpose of art, which he believes should be rooted in self-expression and a deeper understanding of the world.
Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, Fukada said his new drama Nagi Notes, which is set in rural Japan and is premiering at the event, explores ideas around the human act of creation, including the process of making sculpture.
He argued that when AI is used to generate artwork or video, it bypasses the creative journey. In his view, this means creators lose sight of the process through which people are meant to explore and understand their surroundings.
Nagi Notes follows Yuri, a Tokyo-based architect played by Shizuka Ishibashi, who travels to the western Japanese village of Nagi to visit her friend and former sister-in-law Yoriko, portrayed by Takako Matsu. Yoriko agrees to pose for a sculpture, forming the emotional centre of the story.
The film also introduces two local boys, Keita (Kiyora Fujiwara) and Haruki (Waku Kawaguchi), whose developing bond is supported by the women, who provide them with a sense of safety as they explore their feelings.
Fukada also addressed questions about the portrayal of the boys’ relationship, suggesting there remains an imbalance in how audiences perceive same-sex relationships compared with heterosexual ones on screen.
He said he hopes that in the coming decades, representation of characters across all sexual orientations will become so normalised that such distinctions will no longer be a subject of debate.
Fukada’s previous film 'Love on Trial' was shown in the Cannes Premiere sidebar in 2025. His earlier work 'The Real Thing' was included in the festival’s official selection in 2020, while 'Harmonium' premiered in the Un Certain Regard section in 2016, where it won the Jury Prize.
Nagi Notes is among 22 films competing for the Palme d’Or, which is set to be awarded on 23 May.
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
Nvidia is teaming up with some of the biggest names in global finance in a move that underscores how artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of the world's most sought-after investment themes.
Parts of Europe and the Arctic will briefly fall into darkness on Wednesday, 12 August, as the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun in a total solar eclipse.
Meta said one of its AI models hacked another company's systems during cybersecurity testing, intensifying concerns about how developers can contain increasingly capable AI systems following similar incidents involving Anthropic and OpenAI.
Scientists say the accidental crash of a discarded SpaceX rocket stage into the moon has provided valuable data on impact cratering while posing no threat to Earth or lunar hardware.
AI agents developed by Anthropic and OpenAI carried out unauthorised online actions during cybersecurity tests, including creating fake identities to deceive real people and attempting to plant malicious code, the U.K.'s AI Security Institute (AISI) said on Tuesday (5 August).
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