Subhash Kak Oklahoma, USA, December 11, 2019 Google announced this fall to much fanfare that it had demonstrated “quantum supremacy” – that is, it performed a specific quantum computation far faster than the best classical computers could achieve. Making sense of it IBM promptly critiqued the claim, saying that its own classical supercomputer could perform the computation at nearly the same speed…
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Paige Marta Skiba and Caroline Malone Tennessee, December 11, 2019 Instalment loans seem like a kinder, gentler version of their “predatory” cousin, the payday loan. But for consumers, they may be even more harmful. Use of the instalment loan, in which a consumer borrows a lump sum and pays back the principal and interest in a series of regular payments, has…
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Supplied Content Wellington, December 11, 2019 Police have named the two officers involved in the arrest of the alleged gunman responsible for the attacks on the Al Noor and Linwood Mosques on March 15, 2019. The two officers who apprehended the alleged gunman were Senior Constables Jim Manning and Scott Carmody of Canterbury District. The name suppression order has been…
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Wellington, December 10, 2019 Former Auditor General Martin Matthews has petitioned Parliament to reopen his case, claiming MPs “held a gun to his head” to force his resignation. Mr Matthews resigned in 2017, hours before the release of a damning report into his handling of fraud committed by Joanne Harrison under his watch at the Ministry of Transport. Mr Matthews…
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Dileepa Fonseka Wellington, December 10, 2019 On Thursday (December 12, 2019), the public will get access to a Port report in favour of a move north and other less enthusiastic advice. Official advice on the Port may not chime with a study proposing it be moved, the country’s Infrastructure Minister hints. At a post-cabinet press conference on Monday, Prime Minister…
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