Jun272024 by TechmanNo Comments

Russian satellite breaks up, forces space station astronauts to shelter

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WASHINGTON — A defunct Russian satellite has broken up into more than 100 pieces of debris in orbit, forcing astronauts on the International Space Station to take shelter for about an hour and adding to the mass of space junk already in orbit, U.S. space agencies said.  There were no immediate details on what caused the breakup of the RESURS-P1 Russian Earth observation satellite, which Russia declared dead in 2022.  U.S. Space Command, tracking the debris swarm, said there was no immediate threat to other satellites.  The event took place about noon EDT (1600 GMT) Wednesday, Space Command said. It occurred in an orbit near the space station, prompting U.S. astronauts on board to shelter in their spacecraft for roughly an hour, NASA's Space Station office said.  Russian space agency Roscosmos,…


Jun272024 by TechmanNo Comments

News nonprofit sues ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Microsoft for ‘exploitative’ copyright infringement

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Los Angeles — The Center for Investigative Reporting said Thursday it has sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its closest business partner, Microsoft, marking a new front in the news industry's fight against unauthorized use of its content on artificial intelligence platforms. The nonprofit, which produces Mother Jones and Reveal, said that OpenAI used its content without permission and without offering compensation, violating copyrights on the organization's journalism. The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, describes OpenAI's business as "built on the exploitation of copyrighted works" and focuses on how AI-generated summaries of articles threaten publishers. "It's immensely dangerous," Monika Bauerlein, the nonprofit's CEO, told The Associated Press. "Our existence relies on users finding our work valuable and deciding to support it." Bauerlein said that "when people can no longer…


Jun272024 by DmediaNo Comments

Canada’s 2023 fires spewed more heat-trapping gas than millions of cars

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WASHINGTON — Catastrophic Canadian wildfires last year pumped more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air than India did by burning fossil fuels, setting ablaze an area of forest larger than the U.S. state of West Virginia, new research finds. Scientists at the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland calculated how devastating the impacts were of the monthslong fires in Canada in 2023 that sullied the air around large parts of the globe. They figured it put 2.98 billion metric tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air, according to a study update published in Thursday's Global Change Biology. The update is not peer-reviewed, but the original study was. The fire spewed nearly four times the carbon emissions as airplanes do in a year, study authors said. It's about the…


Jun272024 by TechmanNo Comments

Indonesia aims to build cutting-edge spaceport but faces obstacles

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Jakarta, Indonesia — Indonesia aims to launch 19 satellites into low-Earth orbit next year, part of an ambitious plan to move the country into the forefront of the world's growing space industry and reduce its reliance on other countries for its satellite data. The broader program, known as the 2045 space map, is set to begin next year. Officials hope to boost Indonesia's economy and drive foreign direct investment by leveraging its unique geography as a near-equatorial, fuel-efficient launch point for space travel and research. While the satellite launches would support key economic sectors such as agriculture and mining with remote-sensing technology to track weather patterns, mining emissions and mineral-rich areas, the longer-term plan includes development of a leading-edge spaceport to reduce reliance on foreign launch sites. But according to officials…


Jun272024 by DmediaNo Comments

Supreme Court halts enforcement of the EPA’s plan to limit downwind pollution from power plants

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is putting the Environmental Protection Agency's air pollution-fighting "good neighbor" plan on hold while legal challenges continue, the conservative-led court's latest blow to federal regulations. The justices in a 5-4 vote on Thursday rejected arguments by the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled states that the plan was cutting air pollution and saving lives in 11 states where it was being enforced and that the high court's intervention was unwarranted. The rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution. It will remain on hold while the federal appeals court in Washington considers a challenge to the plan from industry and Republican-led states. The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, has increasingly reined in the…


Jun272024 by DmediaNo Comments

2 pandas en route from China to US under conservation partnership

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SAN DIEGO — A pair of giant pandas are on their way from China to the U.S., where they will be cared for at the San Diego Zoo as part of an ongoing conservation partnership between the two nations, officials said Wednesday. Officials with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance were on hand in China for a farewell ceremony commemorating the departure of the giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao. The celebration included cultural performances, video salutations from Chinese and American students and a gift exchange among conservation partners, the zoo said in a statement. After the ceremony, the giant pandas began their trip to Southern California. "This farewell celebrates their journey and underscores a collaboration between the United States and China on vital conservation efforts," Paul Baribault, the wildlife…


Jun262024 by DmediaNo Comments

Hilton tells Congress youth care programs need more oversight

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WASHINGTON — Reality TV star Paris Hilton called for greater federal oversight of youth care programs at a U.S. House of Representatives committee hearing on Wednesday as she described her traumatic experience in youth care facilities. Hilton, 43, the great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, has spoken publicly about the emotional and physical abuse she endured when she was placed in residential youth treatment facilities as a teen. In remarks to the committee on Wednesday, she described being taken from her bed in the middle of the night at age 16 and transported across state lines to a residential facility where she experienced physical and sexual abuse. "This $23 billion industry sees this population [of vulnerable children] as dollar signs and operates without meaningful oversight," she said. "There's no education…


Jun262024 by DmediaNo Comments

Report: Supreme Court seems poised to allow emergency abortions in Idaho

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WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appears poised to allow emergency abortions in Idaho when a pregnant patient's health is at serious risk, according to Bloomberg News, which said a copy of the opinion was briefly posted Wednesday on the court's website.  The document suggests the court will conclude that it should not have gotten involved in the case so quickly and will reinstate a lower court order that had allowed hospitals in the state to perform emergency abortions to protect a pregnant patient's health, Bloomberg said. It does not appear likely to fully resolve the issues at the heart of the case.  The Supreme Court acknowledged that a document was inadvertently posted Wednesday. That document was quickly removed.  "The Court's Publications Unit inadvertently and briefly uploaded a document to the Court's…


Jun262024 by DmediaNo Comments

Delhi grapples with water woes amid heat wave 

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New Delhi — Mushrat Parveen, a resident of a low-income neighborhood in the Indian capital, New Delhi, perches atop a tanker truck delivering water to her neighborhood to escape the chaos that ensues. “Everyone keeps fighting for water, so I climb on top and use a pipe to make sure I fill two or three buckets. Then I help others,” says Parveen, who in recent weeks has been spending about two hours daily first waiting for the truck, then filling containers and lugging them home. As taps in urban slums and working-class areas in Delhi run virtually dry, millions have been depending on water ferried by government tankers. It is not the only Indian megacity running low on water. Two months ago, a similar crisis afflicted India’s information technology hub, Bengaluru.…


Jun252024 by DmediaNo Comments

Experts: Northern Gaza spared famine, but ‘sustained risk’ remains

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New York — The situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic and there is a high and sustained risk of famine across all of Gaza as long as the Israel-Hamas war continues and humanitarian access is restricted, a United Nations-backed food security report concluded Tuesday. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, found that nearly a half-million Gazans are on the brink of famine, while 745,000 are facing emergency levels of hunger. Overall, the experts said about 96% of Gazans — some 2.15 million people — are currently facing high levels of acute food insecurity that will continue at least through the end of September. Fears of a famine in northern Gaza, projected in the IPC analysis conducted in February, have been averted for now. The analysts said the quantity…


Jun242024 by DmediaNo Comments

Senegal tightens anti-COVID controls after Mecca deaths

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Dakar, Senegal — Senegal said Monday it had implemented voluntary COVID-19 screening tests and reimposed the wearing of masks at Dakar's international airport for returning pilgrims fearing the virus was linked to the deaths of some Mecca pilgrims. Dakar suspects that a number of the some 1,300 deaths — according to a Saudi tally — are down to a respiratory syndrome ailment such as COVID-19, Health Minister Ibrahima Sy said on Sunday. "Initially, we thought it was related to heatwaves because the temperature was excessively high, but we realized that there is a respiratory syndrome with the cases of death," Sy said of the deaths during the hajj pilgrimage, which took place during intense heat. "We told ourselves that, probably, there is a respiratory epidemic, and it was our duty to be able…


Jun242024 by TechmanNo Comments

Chinese hackers have stepped up attacks on Taiwanese organizations, cybersecurity firm says

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Hong Kong — A suspected Chinese state-sponsored hacking group has stepped up its targeting of Taiwanese organizations, particularly those in sectors such as government, education, technology and diplomacy, according to cybersecurity intelligence company Recorded Future.  In recent years, relations between China and Taiwan, a self-governed island across the Taiwan Strait that Beijing claims as its territory, have deteriorated. The cyberattacks by the group known as RedJulliett were observed between November 2023 and April 2024, during the lead up to Taiwan's presidential elections in January and the subsequent change in administration.  RedJuliett has targeted Taiwanese organizations in the past, but this is the first time that activity was seen at such a scale, a Recorded Future analyst said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of safety concerns.  The report said RedJuliett attacked…


Jun242024 by TechmanNo Comments

Apple’s App Store rules breach EU tech rules, EU regulators say

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AMSTERDAM — Apple's App Store rules breach EU tech rules because they prevent app developers from steering consumers to alternative offers, EU antitrust regulators said on Monday, a charge that could result in a hefty fine for the iPhone maker. The European Commission, which also acts as the European Union's antitrust and technology regulator, said it had sent its preliminary findings to Apple following an investigation launched in March. The charge against Apple is the first by the Commission under its landmark Digital Markets Act which seeks to rein in the power of Big Tech and ensure a level playing field for smaller rivals. It has until March next year to issue a final decision. EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager cited issues with Apple's new terms. "As they stand, we think…


Jun232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Over 1,000 pilgrims died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, officials say

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Cairo — More than 1,000 people died during this year's Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced extreme high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Sunday.  More than half of the fatalities were people from Egypt, according to two officials in Cairo. Egypt revoked the licenses of 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorized pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia, authorities said.  Saudi Arabia has not commented on the deaths during the pilgrimage, which is required of every able Muslim once in their life.  The Egyptian government announced the death of 31 authorized pilgrims due to chronic diseases during this year's Hajj, but didn't offer an official tally for other pilgrims.  However, a Cabinet official said that at least 630 other Egyptians died during the pilgrimage,…


Jun232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Conservation efforts bring Iberian lynx back from brink of extinction

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MADRID — Things are looking up for the Iberian lynx. Just over two decades ago, the pointy-eared wild cat was on the brink of extinction, but as of Thursday the International Union for Conservation of Nature says it's no longer an endangered species. Successful conservation efforts mean that the animal, native to Spain and Portugal, is now barely a vulnerable species, according to the latest version of the IUCN Red List. In 2001, there were only 62 mature Iberian lynx — medium-sized, mottled brown cats with characteristic pointed ears and a pair of beard-like tufts of facial hair — on the Iberian Peninsula. The species' disappearance was closely linked to that of its main prey, the European rabbit, as well as habitat degradation and human activity. Alarms went off and breeding,…


Jun232024 by DmediaNo Comments

In South Africa, traditional healers join fight against HIV

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BUSHBUCKRIDGE, South Africa — The walls of Shadrack Mashabane's hut in the rural South African town of Bushbuckridge are covered with traditional fabrics, with a small window the only source of light. What stands out among the herbs and medicines in glass bottles is a white box containing an HIV testing kit. Mashabane is one of at least 15 traditional healers in the town who, in a pilot study, have been trained by University of Witwatersrand researchers to conduct HIV testing and counseling in an effort to ensure as many South Africans as possible know their status. It's part of the largest known effort in the country to involve traditional healers in a public health goal and study the results. Later this year, at least 325 other healers will undergo the…


Jun232024 by DmediaNo Comments

Thousands die every year in Kenya amid scarce snakebite treatments

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MWINGI, Kenya — Esther Kangali felt a sharp pain while on her mother's farm in eastern Kenya. She looked down and saw a large snake coiling around her left leg. She screamed, and her mother came running. Kangali was rushed to a nearby health center, but it lacked antivenom to treat the snake's bite. A referral hospital had none as well. Two days later, she reached a hospital in the capital, Nairobi, where her leg was amputated due to delayed treatment. The 32-year-old mother of five knows it could have been avoided if clinics in areas where snakebites are common are stocked with antivenom. Kitui County, where the Kangalis have their farm, has Kenya's second highest number of snakebite victims, according to the health ministry, which last year put annual cases…