Jan62025 by TechmanNo Comments

TikTok creators in US left in limbo while awaiting decision on potential platform ban

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Will TikTok in the U.S. be banned this month? That's the pressing question keeping creators and small business owners in anxious limbo as they await a decision that could upend their livelihoods. The fate of the popular app will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on Jan. 10 over a law requiring TikTok to break ties with its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, or face a U.S. ban. At the heart of the case is whether the law violates the First Amendment with TikTok and its creator allies arguing that it does. The U.S. government, which sees the platform as a national security risk, says it does not. For creators, the TikTok doomsday scenarios are nothing new since President-elect Donald Trump first tried to ban the…


Jan52025 by DmediaNo Comments

Here’s your 2025 guide to the night sky and other celestial wow moments

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CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — The new year will bring a pair of lunar eclipses, but don't expect any sun-disappearing acts like the one that mesmerized North America last spring. While the world will have to wait until 2026 for the next total solar eclipse, the cosmos promises plenty of other wow moments in 2025. It's kicking off the year with a six-planet parade in January that will be visible for weeks. Little Mercury will join the crowd for a seven-planet lineup in February. Five planets already are scattered across the sky — all but Mars and Mercury — though binoculars or telescopes are needed to spot some of them just after sunset. "People should go out and see them sometime during the next many weeks. I certainly will," said the Planetary…


Jan52025 by TechmanNo Comments

Tesla data helped police after truck explosion; experts have privacy concerns

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NEW YORK — Your car is spying on you.  That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk's company was impressive but also shines a spotlight on a difficult question as vehicles become less like cars and more like computers on wheels.  "You might want law enforcement to have the data to crack down on criminals but can anyone have access to it?" said Jodi Daniels, CEO of privacy consulting firm Red Clover Advisors.   Many of the latest cars not only know where you've been and where you are going, but also often have access to your contacts, your call…


Jan42025 by DmediaNo Comments

World’s oldest person, a Japanese woman, dies at 116

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TOKYO — Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was the world’s oldest person according to Guinness World Records, has died, an Ashiya city official said Saturday. She was 116. Yoshitsugu Nagata, an official in charge of elderly policies, said Itooka died on Dec. 29 at a care home in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, central Japan. Itooka, who loved bananas and a yogurt-flavored Japanese drink called Calpis, was born on May 23, 1908. She became the oldest person last year following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas, according to the Gerontology Research Group. When she was told she was at the top of the World Supercentenarian Rankings List, she simply replied, “Thank you.” When Itooka celebrated her birthday last year, she received flowers, a cake and a card from the mayor. Born in…


Jan42025 by DmediaNo Comments

Cybertruck soldier told ex-girlfriend of pain, exhaustion after Afghanistan

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WASHINGTON — The highly decorated Special Forces soldier who died by suicide in a Cybertruck explosion on New Year's Day confided to a former girlfriend who had served as an Army nurse that he faced significant pain and exhaustion that she says were key symptoms of traumatic brain injury. Green Beret Matthew Livelsberger, 37, was a five-time recipient of the Bronze Star, including one with a V device for valor under fire. He had an exemplary military record that spanned the globe and a baby born last year. But he struggled with the mental and physical toll of his service, which required him to kill and caused him to witness the deaths of fellow soldiers. Livelsberger mostly bore that burden in private but recently sought treatment for depression from the Army,…


Jan42025 by TechmanNo Comments

Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping

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Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices. The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a five-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade. The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn't seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, "Hey, Siri." Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted. The allegations about a…


Jan42025 by DmediaNo Comments

US announces $306 million in new bird flu funding

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden's outgoing administration announced Friday that it will allocate $306 million to bolster the nation's bird flu response before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The new funding will support national, state and local preparedness and monitoring programs, as well as research into potential medical countermeasures against the H5N1 virus. "While the risk to humans remains low, we are always preparing for any possible scenario that could arise," Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "Preparedness is the key to keeping Americans healthy and our country safe." The United States has reported 66 human cases of bird flu since the start of 2024, though experts believe the true number could be higher, with cases potentially going undetected among cattle and poultry workers. While the virus has…


Jan32025 by DmediaNo Comments

Seasonal illnesses in full force in most US states, CDC says

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The holidays came with a side of flu for many Americans, with 40 states reporting high or very high levels of illness last week, according to the latest government health data.  "A lot of flu out there," said Carrie Reed of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Of course, there are a number of bugs that cause fever, cough, sore throat and other flulike symptoms. One is COVID-19. Another is RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which is a common cause of coldlike symptoms but can be dangerous for infants and the elderly.  Reed said that the most recent CDC hospitalization data and other indicators show that the flu virus is trending higher than the other germs. Several seasonal flu strains are driving cases, with no dominant one, she added. …


Jan32025 by DmediaNo Comments

US surgeon general urges cancer warnings for alcoholic drinks

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WASHINGTON/LONDON — Alcoholic drinks should carry a warning about cancer risks on their label, the U.S. surgeon general said Friday in a move that could signal a shift toward more aggressive tobacco-style regulation for the sector.  U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said alcohol consumption increases the risk of at least seven types of cancer, including breast, colon and liver cancer, but most U.S. consumers remain unaware of this.  Murthy also called for the guidelines on alcohol consumption limits to be reassessed so that people can weigh the cancer risk when deciding whether or how much to drink. U.S. dietary guidelines currently recommend two or fewer drinks per day for men and one drink or less per day for women.  "Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the…


Jan32025 by DmediaNo Comments

South Sudan begins mass inoculation campaign with cholera vaccines 

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Juba, South Sudan   — More than 1.1 million doses of an oral cholera vaccine have arrived in South Sudan, as the government launched a program to inoculate more than 80 percent of the population. But the mass vaccination exercise faces numerous challenges, including a lack of access to the areas dealing with the worst cholera outbreaks. Medics in South Sudan will attempt to vaccinate at least 9 million people against cholera, an exercise that targets mostly children and mothers. More than 1.1 million doses of oral cholera vaccine arrived in the capital, Juba, and will be dispatched next week to hot spots areas like the town of Bentiu. The country’s Ministry of Health reported last week that 199 people have died of cholera, with 13,000 more diagnosed so far with the…


Jan22025 by TechmanNo Comments

US appeals court blocks Biden administration effort to restore net neutrality rules

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Washington — A U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday the Federal Communications Commission did not have legal authority to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules.  The decision is a blow to the outgoing Biden administration that had made restoring the open internet rules a priority. President Joe Biden signed a 2021 executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the rules.  A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the FCC lacked authority to reinstate the rules initially implemented in 2015 by the agency under Democratic former President Barack Obama, but then repealed by the commission in 2017 under Republican former President Donald Trump.  Net-neutrality rules require internet service providers to treat internet data and users equally rather than restricting access, slowing speeds or blocking content for certain…


Jan22025 by DmediaNo Comments

‘Dinosaur highway’ tracks dating back 166 million years discovered in England

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LONDON — A worker digging up clay in a southern England limestone quarry noticed unusual bumps that led to the discovery of a "dinosaur highway" and nearly 200 tracks that date back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday.  The extraordinary find made after a team of more than 100 people excavated the Dewars Farm Quarry, in Oxfordshire, in June expands upon previous paleontology work in the area and offers greater insights into the Middle Jurassic period, researchers at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham said.  "These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited," said Kirsty Edgar, a micropaleontology professor at the University of Birmingham.  Four of the sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway…


Jan22025 by TechmanNo Comments

VOA Mandarin: What cards does China hold in US-China tech, trade battles?  

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Beijing has launched a series of retaliatory actions against U.S. technological sanctions, including cutting off supplies of rare earth elements and punishing American companies operating in China. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly warned of additional tariffs on Chinese exports, and analysts believe he will further tighten technological restrictions on China. What other cards might Beijing play on the 2025 U.S.-China trade and technology battlefield?    Click here for the full story in Mandarin. ...


Jan22025 by TechmanNo Comments

VOA Mandarin: Quantum technology a key battleground in US-China competition 

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Quantum computing is emerging as a revolutionary technology capable of solving complex problems that traditional computers cannot address. The U.S. leads in quantum innovation, driven by companies like Google and IBM, robust government funding and top-tier research institutions. China, however, has rapidly advanced through massive state-led investments, dominating global quantum patents and establishing specialized research centers.    Click here for the full story in Mandarin. ...