Aug252024 by TechmanNo Comments

CEO of Telegram messaging app arrested in France, say French media

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paris — Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unnamed sources.  Telegram, particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union, is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. It aims to hit 1 billion users in the next year.   Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.  Durov was traveling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an…


Aug242024 by DmediaNo Comments

Cholera poses new risks for millions of Sudan’s displaced

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GENEVA — U.N. agencies are scaling up cholera prevention and treatment programs to get on top of a new, deadly cholera outbreak in Sudan that threatens to further destabilize communities suffering from hunger and the ill effects of more than 16 months of conflict. The recent cholera outbreak has resurged after several weeks of heavy rainfall and resulting flooding,” Kristine Hambrouck, UNHCR representative in Sudan, told journalists Friday in Geneva. Speaking on a video-link from Port Sudan, she warned, “Risks are compounded by the continuing conflict and dire humanitarian conditions, including overcrowding in camps and gathering sites for refugees and Sudanese displaced by the war, as well as limited medical supplies and health workers.” She expressed particular concern about the spread of the deadly disease in areas hosting refugees, mainly in…


Aug242024 by DmediaNo Comments

NASA decides to keep 2 stranded astronauts in space until February

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — NASA decided Saturday it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they'll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months. The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the trip back. After almost three months, the decision finally came down from NASA’s highest ranks on Saturday. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams…


Aug232024 by TechmanNo Comments

Chinese entities turn to Amazon cloud, rivals to access US chips, AI

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BEIJING/SINGAPORE/NEW YORK — State-linked Chinese entities are using cloud services provided by Amazon or its rivals to access advanced U.S. chips and artificial intelligence capabilities that they cannot acquire otherwise, recent public tender documents showed. The U.S. government has restricted the export of high-end AI chips to China over the past two years, citing the need to limit the Chinese military's capabilities. Providing access to such chips or advanced AI models through the cloud, however, is not a violation of U.S. regulations since only exports or transfers of a commodity, software or technology are regulated. A Reuters review of more than 50 tender documents posted over the past year on publicly available Chinese databases showed that at least 11 Chinese entities have sought access to restricted U.S. technologies or cloud services.…


Aug232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Cholera spreads as Sudan grapples with rains and displacement

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Port Sudan — For the second consecutive year Sudan is in the grip of a cholera outbreak that has left at least 28 people dead in the last month as rains fall in areas crammed with those fleeing the country's 16-month-old war, officials said. Since July 22, when the current wave began, 658 cases of cholera have been recorded across five states, World Health Organization (WHO) country director Shible Sahbani told Reuters in Port Sudan. With much of the country's health infrastructure collapsed or destroyed and staffing thinned by displacement, 4.3% of cases have resulted in deaths, a high rate compared to other outbreaks, Sahbani said. Some 200,000 are at high risk of falling ill, he said. The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has created…


Aug232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Second set of giant panda cubs born in Berlin

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BERLIN — The Berlin Zoo announced Friday that longtime resident giant panda Meng Meng has given birth to twins — for a second time. The cubs were born on Thursday, the zoo said in a statement. They were born only 11 days after ultrasound scans showed that Meng Meng, 11, was pregnant. Their sex has not yet been determined "with certainty." "Now it's time to keep your fingers crossed for the critical first few days," the zoo said. The cubs are tiny, weighing just 169 grams and 136 grams respectively, and are about 14 centimeters long. As with other large bears, giant pandas are born deaf, blind and pink. Their black-and-white panda markings only develop later. "I am relieved that the two were born healthy," zoo director Andreas Knieriem said. "The…


Aug232024 by DmediaNo Comments

UN agencies help in attempts to contain mpox in south, east Africa

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Harare, Zimbabwe — The United Nations said Thursday it is working with governments and health officials in Eastern and Southern Africa to contain the outbreak of mpox there. UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with local partners, are responding to the spread of the new mpox clade 1b variant, said Etleva Kadilli, UNICEF’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa. Kadilli said in a statement that more than 200 confirmed cases have been detected in five countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. Dr. Francis Kasolo, director and head of the WHO at the African Union and U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, told a joint WHO-Africa CDC meeting, “Our collaboration has been instrumental in enhancing surveillance, laboratory capacity and effective deployment…


Aug232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Volcano in Iceland erupts for sixth time since December

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COPENHAGEN, denmark — A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted on Thursday, the meteorological office said, spraying red-hot lava and smoke in its sixth outbreak since December. "An eruption has begun. Work is under way to find out the location of the recordings," the Icelandic Met Office, which is tasked with monitoring volcanoes, said in a statement. The total length of the fissure was about 3.9 kilometers (2.42 miles) and had extended by 1.5 kilometers (.93 mile) in about 40 minutes, it said. Livestreams from the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula showed glowing hot lava shooting from the ground. Studies had shown magma accumulating underground, prompting warnings of new volcanic activity in the area just south of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik. The most recent eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula, home to 30,000 people…


Aug212024 by TechmanNo Comments

US official holds talks in Africa on responsible use of military AI

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Abuja, Nigeria — A U.S. State Department official was in Nigeria this week to meet with local and regional authorities about the responsible use of artificial intelligence in military applications. Mallory Stewart, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence and Stability, said her two-day visit with Nigerian officials from the regional bloc ECOWAS was part of the United States’ commitment to deepen security cooperation in Africa. The U.S. government has been working with 55 nations, including African nations, “to agree upon responsible uses of AI in the military context, using AI in a manner consistent with international laws [and] recognizing inherent human bias,” Stewart told journalists Wednesday. “We've learned the hard way [that there is] inherent human bias built into the AI system ... leading to maybe…


Aug212024 by DmediaNo Comments

Thailand says mpox case recorded in traveler from Africa 

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BANGKOK — Thailand has detected an mpox case in a European man who arrived from Africa last week and is awaiting test results to determine the strain, a disease control official said on Wednesday.   Thai authorities were treating the case as if it were the Clade 1 form of mpox, as the person, a 66-year-old European man with residency in Thailand, had arrived on Aug. 14 from an African country where it was spreading, Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, told Reuters.   "After he arrives from the flight there is very little time frame where he come into contact with others," Thongchai said. "He arrives around 6 pm and on the next day, Aug 15, he went to see the doctor at the hospital."  Thongchai said…


Aug212024 by DmediaNo Comments

Botswana begins mpox screening at entry points

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Gaborone, Botswana — Health officials in Botswana have started screening travelers for mpox at the country's entry points.  Neighboring South Africa has recorded three deaths as a result of the dangerous strain of mpox, and Botswana is anxious to keep out the rapidly spreading disease. "Although we have not recorded any case of mpox in Botswana, I want to take this opportunity to assure Botswana that we have significantly enhanced our broader surveillance systems," the country's minister of health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, told the media Tuesday. "We are currently intensifying our surveillance at key entry points, which is borders and airports, focusing on high-risk areas.” South Africa shares a 1,900-kilometer border with Botswana and as of Aug. 5 had recorded three mpox deaths. In Africa, the disease has claimed the lives…


Aug202024 by DmediaNo Comments

WHO official: Mpox is not the new COVID

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Berlin — A World Health Organization official stressed on Tuesday that mpox, regardless of whether it is the new or old strain, is not the new COVID, as authorities know how to control its spread. "We can and must tackle mpox together," said Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, in a U.N. media briefing. "So will we choose to put the systems in place to control and eliminate mpox globally? Or we will enter another cycle of panic and neglect? How we respond now and in the years to come will prove a critical test for Europe and the world," he added. Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill. The clade 1b variety has caused global concern because it seems…


Aug192024 by TechmanNo Comments

Tech innovations offer hope for overburdened Africa health care system

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Nairobi, Kenya — Overcrowding in African hospitals is blamed on the scarcity of health facilities and doctors, especially in rural areas. According to the United Nations, there is only one doctor for every 5,000 people in Africa, a continent that bears 25% of the global disease burden. But with the number of mobile phone users on the rise, some technological innovations are helping to bridge the doctor-patient gap and expand health care coverage.  Yaw Asamoah is head of MedPharma Care in Ghana. The company has developed an app that allows patients to connect face-to-face with doctors and pharmacies online so they can get medicine in their homes. He says the system improves patients' experiences when they seek health care services. "That's where MedPharma care comes in to see how we can…


Aug192024 by TechmanNo Comments

Companies’ use of employee-monitoring software can have negative effects

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Some bosses might want all their workers back in the office, but a clear majority of U.S. workers crave the flexibility of remote or hybrid jobs. And studies have found that such work, if managed well, will not harm a company's culture or capability to innovate. But some companies concerned about productivity are using software to monitor employees working from home. Maxim Adams has the story. Camera: Aleksandr Bergan ...


Aug182024 by DmediaNo Comments

Cholera outbreak in Sudan has killed 22 people, health minister says

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Cairo — Sudan has been stricken by a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly two dozen people and sickened hundreds more in recent weeks, health authorities said Sunday. The African nation has been roiled by a 16-month conflict and devastating floods.   Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement that at least 22 people have died from the disease, and that at least 354 confirmed cases of cholera have been detected across the county in recent weeks.   Ibrahim didn’t give a time frame for the deaths or the tally since the start of the year. The World Health Organization, however, said that 78 deaths were recorded from cholera this year in Sudan as of July 28. The disease also sickened more than 2,400 others between Jan. 1 and…


Aug182024 by DmediaNo Comments

Magnitude 7 earthquake strikes off coast of Russia’s Kamchatka region

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moscow — A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula early Sunday morning local time, according to the regional earthquake monitoring service. The local emergencies ministry said tremors were felt along the coast including in the region's capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. "Operational teams of rescuers and firefighters are inspecting buildings," the regional branch of Russia's emergencies ministry in the Kamchatka region said on Telegram. The earthquake struck at a depth of nearly 50 kilometers just after 7 a.m. local time, some 90 kilometers east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the United States Geological Survey reported. The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center had initially issued a tsunami threat, but later said the threat had passed. Local authorities never issued a tsunami alert. Several aftershocks were recorded after the initial quake, but of…


Aug172024 by DmediaNo Comments

Rare deep-sea oarfish found in California, scientists want to know why

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SAN DIEGO — A rarely seen deep-sea fish resembling a serpent was found floating dead on the ocean surface off the San Diego coast and was brought ashore for study, marine experts said.  The silvery, 12-foot-long (3.6-meter) oarfish was found last weekend by a group of snorkelers and kayakers in La Jolla Cove, north of downtown San Diego, in the U.S. state of California, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in a statement.  It's only the 20th time an oarfish is known to have washed up in California since 1901, according to institution fish expert Ben Frable.  Scripps noted that oarfish have a mythical reputation as predictors of natural disasters or earthquakes, although no correlation has been proven.  Oarfish can grow longer than 20 feet (6 meters) and normally live in…


Aug172024 by TechmanNo Comments

Eswatini turns to nuclear technology to transform agriculture, health care, energy

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Manzini, Eswatini — Eswatini has launched an initiative to achieve sustainable development by harnessing the power of nuclear technology in such sectors as agriculture, health and energy planning. The plan was developed with the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The aim of the Country Program Framework, or CPF, launched two weeks ago by Eswatini Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela, is to leverage nuclear technology for social and economic development. Its key focus areas are energy security, food security and human health, aligning with the country’s National Development Plan and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. Bongekile Matsenjwa, a chemical engineer and engineering manager for the Eswatini National Petroleum Company, believes the partnership between Eswatini and the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, can help the…