Learning End-to-End Goal-Oriented Dialog

End-to-end dialog systems, in which all components are learnt simultaneously, have recently obtained encouraging successes. However these were mostly on conversations related to chit-chat with no clear objective and for which evaluation is difficult. This paper proposes a set of tasks to test the...

HSBC shut down accounts linked to Gupta scandal

Bank admits concerns for the first time about its potential ties to growing South Africa scandal after closing accounts held by ‘front companies’HSBC has revealed that it closed accounts linked to South Africa’s Gupta family corruption investigation, admitting for the first time concerns about its...

The Guardian view on Lebanon: great power rivalry in a tiny state | Editorial

The regional contest for influence between Iran and Saudi Arabia is pushing Lebanon into a new phase of instability, with Israel unlikely to remain a spectatorLebanon, “the house of many mansions”, has endured an apparently endless series of wars and crises. Now its foundations are shaking once...

Trump environment nominee struggles to answer basic climate questions – video

Kathleen Hartnett White struggles to answer basic questions posed by the Senate committee on environment and public works on Thursday. Hartnett White, Trump’s nominee for the environmental quality council chair, had difficulty answering questions from Senators Ben Cardin and Sheldon Whitehouse on...