India’s Five-Decade Battle to Save Tiger Succeeding, but Road Ahead Challenging

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Five decades ago, a count of tigers in India revealed that their numbers had plummeted from tens of thousands to about 1,800 as they fell prey to recreational hunting or lost habitat to a growing population pressing into forests.   That prompted India to launch one of the world's most ambitious conservation projects.  In April 1973, the tiger was declared the country's national animal and protected areas were set up to conserve a species that lies at the top of the food chain. Hunting had been outlawed months earlier.  In its 50 years, Project Tiger has seen many ups and downs. But the nearly 3,000 tigers that now roam India's forests show the mighty cat has been saved from extinction, although conservationists warn that it still counts as an endangered…
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Call for Pause in AI Development May Fall on Deaf Ears

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A group of influential figures from Silicon Valley and the larger tech community released an open letter this week calling for a pause in the development of powerful artificial intelligence programs, arguing that they present unpredictable dangers to society. The organization that created the open letter, the Future of Life Institute, said the recent rollout of increasingly powerful AI tools by companies like Open AI, IBM and Google demonstrates that the industry is "locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control." The signatories of the letter, including Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, called for a six-month halt to all development work…
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Is Banning TikTok Constitutional?

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U.S. lawmakers and officials are ratcheting up threats to ban TikTok, saying the Chinese-owned video-sharing app used by millions of Americans poses a threat to privacy and U.S. national security. But free speech advocates and legal experts say an outright ban would likely face a constitutional hurdle: the First Amendment right to free speech. “If passed by Congress and enacted into law, a nationwide ban on TikTok would have serious ramifications for free expression in the digital sphere, infringing on Americans’ First Amendment rights and setting a potent and worrying precedent in a time of increased censorship of internet users around the world,” a coalition of free speech advocacy organizations wrote in a letter to Congress last week, urging a solution short of an outright ban. The plea came as…
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Russia Using TikTok to Push Pro-Moscow Narrative on Ukraine

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New data is suggesting at least some U.S. adversaries are taking advantage of the hugely popular TikTok video-sharing app for influence operations. A report Thursday by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) finds Russia "has been using the app to push its own narrative” in its effort to undermine Western support for Ukraine. "Based on our analysis, some users are engaging more with Russian state media than other, more reputable independent news outlets on the platform," according to the report by the U.S.-based election security advocate that tracks official state actors and state-backed media. "More TikTok users follow RT than The New York Times," it said. The ASD report found that as of March 22, there were 78 Russian-funded news outlets on TikTok with a total of more than 14…
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Chinese Hacking Group Highly Active, US Cybersecurity Firm Says

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A Chinese hacking group that is likely state-sponsored and has been linked previously to attacks on U.S. state government computers is highly active and focusing on a broad range of targets that may be of strategic interest to China's government and security services, a private American cybersecurity firm said in a report Thursday. The hacking group, which the report called RedGolf, shares such close overlap with groups tracked by other security companies under the names APT41 and BARIUM that it is thought they are either the same or very closely affiliated, said Jon Condra, director of strategic and persistent threats for Insikt Group, the threat research division of Massachusetts-based cybersecurity company Recorded Future. Following up on previous reports of APT41 and BARIUM activities and monitoring the targets that were attacked,…
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Blinken Urges Democracies to Use Technology to Help Citizens

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged democracies around the world to work together to ensure technology is used to promote democratic values and fight efforts by authoritarian regimes to use it to repress, control and divide citizens. Blinken made the comments as he led a discussion on "Advancing Democracy and Internet Freedom in a Digital Age." The session was part of U.S. President Joe Biden's Summit for Democracy, a largely virtual gathering of leaders taking place this week from the State Department in Washington. Blinken said the world is at the point where technology is "reorganizing the life of the world" and noted many countries are using these technologies to advance democratic principles and make life better for their citizens. He pointed to the Maldives, where court…
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Tech Leaders Sign Letter Calling for ‘Pause’ to Artificial Intelligence 

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An open letter signed by Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and other prominent high-tech experts and industry leaders is calling on the artificial intelligence industry to take a six-month pause for the development of safety protocols regarding the technology. The letter — which as of early Thursday had been signed by nearly 1,400 people — was drafted by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit group dedicated to “steering transformative technologies away from extreme, large-scale risks and towards benefiting life.” In the letter, the group notes the rapidly developing capabilities of AI technology and how it has surpassed human performance in many areas. The group uses the example of how AI used to create new drug treatments could easily be used to create deadly pathogens. Perhaps most significantly, the…
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US Regulator Approves Over-the-Counter Sales of Narcan

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved selling the leading version of naloxone without a prescription, setting the overdose-reversing drug on course to become the first opioid treatment drug to be sold over the counter. It's a move that some advocates have long sought as a way to improve access to a life-saving drug, though the exact impact will not be clear immediately. Here's a look at the issues involved. What is Narcan? The approved nasal spray from Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions is the best-known form of naloxone. It can reverse overdoses of opioids, including street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl and prescription versions including oxycodone. Making naloxone available more widely is seen as a key strategy to control the nationwide overdose crisis, which has been linked…
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Are Governments Obligated to Protect Citizens From Climate Change? World Court to Weigh In

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The U.N. General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution Wednesday that will ask the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory opinion on the obligations of states under international law to protect the rights of present and future generations from the impact of climate change. "This resolution and the advisory opinion it seeks will have a powerful and positive impact on how we address climate change and ultimately protect the present and future generations," said Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, whose government spearheaded the drafting and negotiations of the resolution, with a core group of 18 countries representing most corners of the world.  "Together we will send a loud and clear message, not only around the world but far into the future: On this very day, the peoples of the…
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Scientists Say Israel-Sudan Coral Reef Project Stymied

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A joint project between Sudanese and Israeli scientists to study the unique resilience of Red Sea coral reefs has stalled due to red tape [bureaucratic delays], according to those involved. The project has been hailed not only for protecting coral reefs but also for normalizing Israel-Sudan relations. Henry Wilkins reports from Port Sudan, Sudan. ...
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Biden Says GOP Policies Would Surrender Tech Economy to China

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President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Republicans' ideas for cutting the budget could undermine U.S. manufacturing and help China dominate the world economy.  Speaking at a semiconductor maker in North Carolina to highlight his own policies, Biden is trying to shape public sentiment as he faces off with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., about raising the federal government’s legal borrowing capacity.  McCarthy sent a letter to Biden on Tuesday saying that talks should start about possible spending cuts in return for the debt limit increase.   Biden has said Republicans need to put forth their own budget plan before negotiations start. Without an agreement, the federal government could default on its financial obligations.  The president tried to ratchet up pressure on Tuesday by saying that the GOP demands on the budget…
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Curbed by US Sanctions, Huawei Unveils New 4G Smartphones

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At a March 23 product launch in Shanghai, Chinese tech giant Huawei unveiled its signature P60 series of smartphones with high-end cameras and its Mate X3 series mobile phones equipped with folding screens. There were demonstrations. There were speeches. But something was missing from the Huawei offerings: 5G, which gives phones the speedy internet access wanted by many consumers in North America, Europe and Asia. The smartphones also lack access to Google's Android operating system and popular Western apps such as Google Maps. The launch quieted "rumors that it is considering selling off its handset business, thus showcasing the company's resilience amid U.S. government restrictions," according to the government-affiliated China Daily. Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's device business group, said at the event, "We have experienced four years of winter…
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Ford Battery Plant Using Chinese Tech Raises Alarms in Congress

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Ford Motor Company’s plan to create batteries for the rapidly expanding electric vehicle (EV) market could encounter congressional speed bumps because of the carmaker’s plan to use technology created by a Chinese company with ties to the communist government. Ford executive chairman William Clay Ford Jr. announced in February that the company would spend $3.5 billion to build a new battery plant in Michigan and employ U.S. workers to promote U.S. “independence” in the EV market. “Right now, many [U.S.] automakers import most of their batteries from abroad,” Ford said at that time. “This is a slow process that makes us vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.” He added that the U.S.-produced batteries would “charge faster” and be “more affordable” and “incredibly durable.” But the news did not sit well with…
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US Renewable Electricity Surpassed Coal in 2022

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Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday. Renewables also surpassed nuclear generation in 2022, after first doing so last year. Growth in wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and contributed 14% of the electricity produced domestically in 2022. Hydropower contributed 6%, and biomass and geothermal sources generated less than 1%. "I'm happy to see we've crossed that threshold, but that is only a step in what has to be a very rapid and much cheaper journey," said Stephen Porder, a professor of ecology and assistant provost for sustainability at Brown University. California produced 26% of the national utility-scale solar electricity followed by Texas with 16% and North Carolina with 8%.…
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No Atmosphere Found at Faraway Earth-Sized World, Study Says

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The Webb Space Telescope has found no evidence of an atmosphere at one of the seven rocky, Earth-sized planets orbiting another star. Scientists said Monday that doesn't bode well for the rest of the planets in this solar system, some of which are in the sweet spot for harboring water and potentially life. "This is not necessarily a bust" for the other planets, Massachusetts Institute of Technology astrophysicist Sara Seager, who wasn't part of the study, said in an email. "But we will have to wait and see." The Trappist solar system — a rarity with seven planets about the size of our own — has enticed astronomers ever since they spotted it just 40 light-years away. That's close by cosmic standards; a light-year is about 5.8 trillion miles. Three…
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Microplastic Pollution Impairs Seabird Gut Health

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Scientists have long known that wild seabirds ingest bits of plastic pollution as they feed, but a new study Monday shows the tiny particles don't just clog or transit the stomach but can subvert its complex mix of good and bad bacteria, too. Plastic-infested digestive tracts from two species of Atlantic seabirds, northern fulmars and Cory's shearwaters, showed a decrease of mostly beneficial "indigenous" bacteria and more potentially harmful pathogens. There was also an increase in antibiotic-resistant and plastic-degrading microbes, researchers reported in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. The findings suggested that certain types of microplastic may be leeching chemicals that disrupt the birds' so-called gut microbiome. Microplastics — produced when plastic products break down in the environment — are directly and indirectly ingested across most animal food chains.…
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Twitter Celebs Balk at Paying Elon Musk for Blue Check Mark

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William Shatner, Monica Lewinsky and other prolific Twitter commentators — some household names, others little-known journalists — could soon be losing the blue check marks that helped verify their identity on the social media platform.  They could get the marks back by paying up to $11 a month. But some longtime users, including 92-year-old Star Trek legend Shatner, have balked at buying the premium service championed by Twitter's billionaire owner and chief executive Elon Musk.  After months of delay, Musk is gleefully promising that Saturday is the deadline for celebrities, journalists and others who'd been verified for free to pony up or lose their legacy status.  "It will be glorious," he tweeted Monday, in response to a Twitter user who noted that Saturday is also April Fools' Day.  After buying…
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Burmese Pythons, Other Invasive Animals, Devour the Competition in Florida

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Florida has captured more than 17,000 Burmese pythons since 2000, but tens of thousands more are likely roaming the Florida Everglades. That’s a concern because the reptiles, which are not native to the area, are gobbling up the competition. “[Pythons] can take out one of our apex predators, which are alligators and crocodiles, and then it'll take down some of the other native animals that are small mammals — some of the rats, the mice, the marsh bunnies — things that are supposed to be food for other things,” says Mike Hileman, park director of Gatorland, a theme park and wildlife preserve in Orlando. “So, they compete with our native animals, and because they're a more dominant species, they win that battle.” The Everglades is among the world’s most unique…
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Twitter: Parts of its Source Code Leaked Online

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Some parts of Twitter's source code — the fundamental computer code on which the social network runs — were leaked online, the social media company said in a legal filing on Sunday that was first reported by The New York Times.  According to the legal document, filed with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, Twitter had asked GitHub, an internet hosting service for software development, to take down the code where it was posted. The platform complied and said the content had been disabled, according to the filing. Twitter also asked the court to identify the alleged infringer or infringers who posted Twitter's source code on systems operated by GitHub without Twitter's authorization.  Twitter, based in San Francisco, noted in the filing that the postings infringe…
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Five Planets Will Be Lined Up in Night Sky This Week

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Keep an eye to the sky this week for a chance to see a planetary hangout. Five planets — Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus and Mars — will line up near the moon. Where and when can you see them? The best day to catch the whole group is Tuesday. You'll want to look to the western horizon right after sunset, said NASA astronomer Bill Cooke. The planets will stretch from the horizon line to around halfway up the night sky. But don't be late: Mercury and Jupiter will quickly dip below the horizon around half an hour after sunset. The five-planet spread can be seen from anywhere on Earth, as long as you have clear skies and a view of the west. "That's the beauty of these planetary alignments. It…
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North Sea Shell Survey Brings Out Volunteers

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Hundreds of volunteers descended on the beaches of the North Sea coast this weekend to collect sea shells as a measure of the sea's biological diversity. While there is a serious scientific purpose to the exercise, it is also a fun day out on the coast for Belgian, French and Dutch families with kids. On Saturday, Natascha Perales and her children marked a wide spiral pattern on the sand in Middelkerke, in Flanders, and filled their plastic buckets with shells. The harvests were taken to a sorting center run by volunteers, to be counted and divided up by species. "We found mussels, oysters, cockles, at least six different species," 40-year-old Perales told AFP. "It's a great activity, despite the weather." Braving stiff gusts of wind, the dozen participants kept the…
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US House Speaker Says Lawmakers to Move Forward with TikTok Bill 

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U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security worries about TikTok, alleging China's government had access to the short video app's user data. In the United States, there are growing calls to ban TikTok, owned by China-based company ByteDance, or to pass bipartisan legislation to give President Joe Biden's administration legal authority to seek a ban. Devices owned by the U.S. government were recently banned from having the app installed. "The House will be moving forward with legislation to protect Americans from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party," McCarthy said on Twitter.   TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before a U.S. House Committee for about five hour on Thursday and lawmakers from both parties grilled…
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Ignoring Experts, China’s Sudden Zero-COVID Exit Cost Lives, AP Finds

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When China suddenly scrapped onerous zero-COVID measures in December, the country wasn't ready for a massive onslaught of cases, with hospitals turning away ambulances and crematoriums burning bodies around the clock. Chinese state media claimed the decision to open up was based on "scientific analysis and shrewd calculation," and was "by no means impulsive." But in reality, China's ruling Communist Party ignored repeated efforts by top medical experts to kickstart exit plans until it was too late, The Associated Press found. Instead, the reopening came suddenly at the onset of winter, when the virus spreads most easily. Many older people weren't vaccinated, pharmacies lacked antivirals, and hospitals didn't have adequate supplies or staff — leading to as many as hundreds of thousands of deaths that may have been avoided, according…
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Intel Co-Founder, Philanthropist Gordon Moore Dies at 94

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Gordon Moore, the Intel Corp. co-founder who set the breakneck pace of progress in the digital age with a simple 1965 prediction of how quickly engineers would boost the capacity of computer chips, has died. He was 94. Moore died Friday at his home in Hawaii, according to Intel and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Moore, who held a Ph.D. in chemistry and physics, made his famous observation — now known as "Moore's Law" — three years before he helped start Intel in 1968. It appeared among several articles about the future written for the now-defunct Electronics magazine by experts in various fields. The prediction, which Moore said he plotted out on graph paper based on what had been happening with chips at the time, said the capacity and…
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