WHO Downgrades COVID Pandemic, Says It’s No Longer Emergency

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The World Health Organization said Friday that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide. The announcement, made more than three years after WHO declared the coronavirus an international crisis, offers a coda to a pandemic that stirred fear and suspicion, hand-wringing and finger-pointing across the globe. The U.N. health agency's officials said that even though the emergency phase was over, the pandemic hasn't ended, noting recent spikes in cases in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. WHO says thousands of people are still dying from the virus every week, and millions of others are suffering from debilitating, long-term effects. "It's with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over…
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Could AI Pen ‘Casablanca’? Screenwriters Take Aim at ChatGPT

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When Greg Brockman, the president and co-founder of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, was recently extolling the capabilities of artificial intelligence, he turned to "Game of Thrones." Imagine, he said, if you could use AI to rewrite the ending of that not-so-popular finale. Maybe even put yourself into the show. "That is what entertainment will look like," said Brockman. Not six months since the release of ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence is already prompting widespread unease throughout Hollywood. Concern over chatbots writing or rewriting scripts is one of the leading reasons TV and film screenwriters took to picket lines earlier this week. Though the Writers Guild of America is striking for better pay in an industry where streaming has upended many of the old rules, AI looms as rising anxiety. "AI is terrifying,"…
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Hate Passwords? You’re in Luck — Google Is Sidelining Them

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Good news for all the password-haters out there: Google has taken a big step toward making them an afterthought by adding "passkeys" as a more straightforward and secure way to log into its services.  Here's what you need to know:  What are passkeys?   Passkeys offer a safer alternative to passwords and texted confirmation codes. Users won't ever see them directly; instead, an online service like Gmail will use them to communicate directly with a trusted device such as your phone or computer to log you in.  All you'll have to do is verify your identity on the device using a PIN unlock code, biometrics such as your fingerprint or a face scan or a more sophisticated physical security dongle.  Google designed its passkeys to work with a variety of…
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El Nino Expected to Raise Global Temperatures  

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Global temperatures are likely to reach new highs this year with the predicted onset of El Nino, a natural occurring phenomenon typically associated with the warming of the planet. “The development of an El Nino will most likely lead to a new spike in global heating and increase the chance of breaking temperature records,” said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization. That is bad news for global efforts to reduce climate change. Taalas noted that the onset of El Nino follows the eight warmest years on record “even though we had a cooling La Nina for the past three years and this acted as a temporary brake on global temperature increase.” El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with the warming of ocean surface temperatures in…
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WHO Experts Weigh Whether World Ready to End COVID Emergency

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A panel of global health experts will meet Thursday to decide if COVID-19 is still an emergency under the World Health Organization's rules, a status that helps maintain international focus on the pandemic. The WHO first gave COVID its highest level of alert on Jan. 30, 2020, and the panel has continued to apply the label ever since, at meetings held every three months. However, several countries have recently begun lifting their domestic states of emergency, such as the United States. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said he hopes to end the international emergency this year. There is no consensus yet on which way the panel may rule, advisers to the WHO and external experts told Reuters. "It is possible that the emergency may end, but it is…
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COVID-Related Learning Loss in US Mirrors Global Trend

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Providing further proof that U.S. children suffered significant learning loss when schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Assessment Governing Board released a report Wednesday that showed test scores measuring achievement in U.S. history and civics fell significantly between 2018 and 2022. The tests, part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as the "nation's report card," were given to hundreds of eighth-grade students across the country. Scores on the U.S. history assessment were the lowest recorded since 1994, while the scores on the civics test fell for the first time ever. Only 13% of students tested in U.S. history were considered proficient, meaning that they had substantially mastered the material expected of them. That was 1 percentage point lower than in 2018. Another 46%…
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After Decades of Attempts, US Approves 1st Vaccine for RSV

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The United States approved the first vaccine for RSV on Wednesday, shots to protect older adults against a respiratory virus that's most notorious for attacking babies but endangers their grandparents, too. The Food and Drug Administration decision makes GSK's shot, called Arexvy, the first of several potential vaccines in the pipeline for RSV to be licensed anywhere. The move sets the stage for adults 60 and older to get vaccinated this fall — but first, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide if every senior really needs RSV protection or only those considered at high risk from the respiratory syncytial virus. CDC's advisers will debate that question in June. After decades of failure in the quest for an RSV vaccine, doctors are eager to finally have something to…
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Brazil Forest Bill Aims to Unlock Carbon Credit Market

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Companies with Brazilian forest concessions would be allowed to generate carbon credits under a bill passed by its Congress this week that marks a first step in regulating the country's voluntary carbon market. Private firms have shown little interest in a government program that leases publicly owned forests for sustainable logging, but the legislation could boost the concessions' appeal with investors by generating an additional revenue stream. "This is an economic activity that will boost others that can be done in forestry concessions," said Jacqueline Ferreira, a portfolio manager at Instituto Escolhas, an environmental nonprofit involved in consultations on the bill. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who now must sign or veto parts or all of the bill within 15 days, has made reining in deforestation a priority as…
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Star Gobbles Up Planet in One Big Bite

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For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet — not just a nibble or bite, but one big gulp. Astronomers on Wednesday reported their observations of what appeared to be a gas giant around the size of Jupiter or bigger being eaten by its star. The sun-like star had been puffing up with old age for eons and finally got so big that it engulfed the close-orbiting planet. It's a gloomy preview of what will happen to Earth when our sun morphs into a red giant and gobbles the four inner planets. "If it's any consolation, this will happen in about 5 billion years," said co-author Morgan MacLeod of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. This galactic feast happened between 10,000 and 15,000…
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Early Results Show Experimental Drug Slows Alzheimer’s, Says Maker

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Eli Lilly and Co. said Wednesday its experimental Alzheimer's drug appeared to slow worsening of the mind-robbing disease in a large study. In the 18-month trial, people in the early stages of Alzheimer's who received infusions of donanemab showed 35% less decline in thinking skills compared with those given a dummy drug, Lilly announced in a press release. The drug is designed to target and clear away a sticky protein called beta-amyloid that builds up into brain-clogging plaques that are one hallmark of Alzheimer's. A similar amyloid-targeting drug, Eisai and Biogen's Leqembi, recently hit the market with similar evidence that it could modestly slow Alzheimer's — and also some safety concerns, brain swelling or small brain bleeds. Donanemab also comes with that risk. Lilly said in its study, the brain…
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258 Million Needed Urgent Food Aid in 2022: UN

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Some 258 million people needed emergency food aid last year because of conflict, economic shocks and climate disasters, a U.N. report said Wednesday, a sharp rise from 193 million the previous year.    "More than a quarter of a billion people are now facing acute levels of hunger, and some are on the brink of starvation. That's unconscionable," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.    It was "a stinging indictment of humanity's failure to make progress... to end hunger, and achieve food security and improved nutrition for all," he said.    More than 40% of those in serious need of food lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen, the U.N. report said.    "Conflicts and mass displacement continue to drive global hunger," Guterres said.    "Rising poverty, deepening inequalities, rampant…
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‘Godfather of AI’ Quits Google to Warn of the Technology’s Dangers

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A computer scientist often dubbed "the godfather of artificial intelligence" has quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of the technology, U.S. media reported Monday. Geoffrey Hinton, who created a foundation technology for AI systems, told The New York Times that advancements made in the field posed "profound risks to society and humanity". "Look at how it was five years ago and how it is now," he was quoted as saying in the piece, which was published on Monday. "Take the difference and propagate it forwards. That's scary." Hinton said that competition between tech giants was pushing companies to release new AI technologies at dangerous speeds, risking jobs and spreading misinformation. "It is hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it…
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US Announces Massive Crackdown on Darknet Fentanyl Trafficking

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In a massive global crackdown on fentanyl trafficking on the darknet, U.S. law enforcement agencies and their international partners announced Tuesday the arrests of nearly 300 suspects and seizure of a large cache of drugs, cash, virtual currency and weapons. The law enforcement action, part of a two-year-old program known as Operation SpecTor, spanned three continents and involved the collaboration of eight countries. It was part of a Justice Department initiative led by the FBI known as JCODE, which aims to dismantle darknet marketplaces that sell drugs and other illegal goods. The Justice Department described the takedown as “the largest international law enforcement operation targeting fentanyl and opioid traffickers on the darknet.” The operation netted 288 arrests, 850 kilograms of drugs, including 64 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, $53.4…
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Loneliness Poses Risks as Deadly as Smoking, US Surgeon General Says

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Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic. About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a report from his office. “We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It's like hunger or thirst. It's a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that's not right. That's why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are…
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COP28 Chair Urges Tripling of Renewables Capacity by 2030

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The president of upcoming U.N. climate talks Sultan Al Jaber on Tuesday called on participants to drastically ramp up their use of renewable energy ahead of the key summit in the United Arab Emirates later this year. The meeting in November needs "ambitious, transparent and accountable commitments from countries and businesses," Al Jaber said in a speech at the opening of the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, a meeting of climate diplomats in Berlin. "We will accelerate delivery in sectors like renewables that must triple capacity by 2030 and double it again by 2040," he added. The summit chief's call echoes a key target laid out by the International Energy Agency. Al Jaber had already raised the potential target at a closed-door meeting with G7 leaders in Japan last month. While setting…
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Scientists Use Brain Scans and AI to ‘Decode’ Thoughts

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Scientists said Monday they have found a way to use brain scans and artificial intelligence modeling to transcribe "the gist" of what people are thinking, in what was described as a step toward mind reading. While the main goal of the language decoder is to help people who have lost the ability to communicate, the U.S. scientists acknowledged that the technology raised questions about "mental privacy." Aiming to assuage such fears, they ran tests showing that their decoder could not be used on anyone who had not allowed it to be trained on their brain activity over long hours inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Previous research has shown that a brain implant can enable people who can no longer speak or type to spell out words or…
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Report: One-Third of US Nurses Plan to Quit Profession

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Almost a third of the nurses in the United States are considering leaving their profession after the COVID-19 pandemic left them overwhelmed and fatigued, according to a survey. The survey of over 18,000 nurses, conducted in January by AMN Healthcare Services Inc., showed on Monday that 30% of the participants are looking to quit their career, up 7 percentage points over 2021, when the pandemic-triggered wave of resignations began. The survey also showed that 36% of the nurses plan to continue working in the sector but may change workplaces. "This really underscores the continued mental health and well-being challenges the nursing workforce experiences post pandemic," AMN Healthcare CEO Cary Grace told Reuters in an interview. The survey showed there are various changes needed, with 69% of nurses seeking increased salaries…
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