Governments around the world have used the COVID-19 pandemic as their reason for expanding digital surveillance and collecting more data from their citizens, according to a report published Wednesday.The annual FILE – People wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus use their smartphones to enter their personal data before being allowed to enter a … continue reading -> “Report Tracks How Governments Fighting COVID Are Increasing Surveillance”
Another pharmaceutical company halted testing of an experimental COVID-19 drug treatment because of safety concerns. U.S.-based Eli Lilly and Company announced Tuesday that the clinical trial of its coronavirus antiviral drug had been paused by independent monitors “out of an abundance of caution,” but did not go into details. The drug, which Eli Lilly is developing with Canadian-based biotech firm AbCellera, is … continue reading -> “Eli Lilly Becomes 3rd Pharmaceutical Company to Halt Testing on COVID-19 Drug”
Apple unveiled four new iPhones equipped with technology for use with faster new 5G wireless networks, hoping that demand for higher data speeds will spark demand for new phones. That might not happen as quickly as Apple would like. In a virtual presentation Tuesday, the company announced four 5G-enabled versions of the new iPhone 12 … continue reading -> “Apple Unveils New iPhones for Faster 5G Wireless Networks”
Scientists have discovered that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef lost more than half of its coral populations between 1995 and 2017. Researchers at the The Great Barrier Reef stretches across 2,300 kilometers down Australia’s northeastern coast and is home to a wide variety of marine life, making it the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem. The region … continue reading -> “Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Over 50 Percent of its Coral “
Another pharmaceutical company halted testing of an experimental COVID-19 drug treatment because of safety concerns. U.S.-based Eli Lilly and Company announced Tuesday that the clinical trial of its coronavirus antiviral drug had been paused by independent monitors “out of an abundance of caution,” but did not go into details. The drug, which Eli Lilly is developing with Canadian-based biotech firm AbCellera, is … continue reading -> “Testing of Eli Lilly COVID-19 Drug Paused for Safety Reasons ”
A trio of space travelers has launched successfully to the International Space Station, for the first time using a fast-track maneuver to reach the orbiting outpost in just three hours. NASA’s Kate Rubins along with Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos lifted off as scheduled Wednesday morning from the Russia-leased Baikonur space launch … continue reading -> “Russian-US Crew Launches on Fast Track to the Space Station”
As coronavirus infections surged in Malaysia this year, a wave of hate speech and misinformation aimed at Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar began appearing on Facebook. Alarmed rights groups reported the material to Facebook. But six months later, many posts targeting the Rohingya in Malaysia remain on the platform, including pages such as “Anti Rohingya Club” and … continue reading -> “Anti-Migrant Sentiment Fanned on Facebook in Malaysia”
A mobile app launched last week in China that many there hoped would allow access to long banned Western social media sites abruptly disappeared from Chinese app stores a day after its unveiling.Tuber, an Andriod app backed by Chinese cyber security software giant Qihoo 360, first appeared to be officially available last Friday. It offered … continue reading -> “App Allowing Chinese Citizens Access to Global Internet Quickly Disappears”
Hot, dry conditions and intense winds across California are threatening to reinvigorate what has already been the worst fire season in state history, officials warned on Tuesday.Gusty winds in California’s north and extreme heat in its south are creating conditions that could fan wildfires that began earlier in the summer as well as spark new … continue reading -> “Wildfire Threat Intensifying Across California, Officials Say”
The commercial space launch company Blue Origin, in partnership with the U.S. space agency NASA, launched an unmanned reusable suborbital rocket into space Tuesday and landed it on a West Texas launch site. The 12-minute flight, 100 kilometers to the edge of space and back, was a test of a number of new technologies, including two … continue reading -> “NASA, Blue Origin Test Rocket for Future Crew Capsule “
Britain’s opposition Labor Party Leader Keir Starmer on Tuesday called on the government to implement a three-week temporary nationwide “circuit breaker” lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 throughout Britain.Starmer made the proposal in a speech in London, one day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced his three-tiered regional alert plan designed to simplify and … continue reading -> “British Opposition Leader Calls for Three-week ‘Circuit Breaker’ Lockdown”
The United Nations is warning that climate change is threatening the lives of millions of people throughout the world, and that demand for humanitarian aid could rise 50% by 2030. The U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization released a report Tuesday that found more weather-related disasters such as heat waves, storms and droughts are occurring each year. “While COVID-19 … continue reading -> “UN Report Warns Climate Change Could Boost Demand for Humanitarian Aid “
U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson paused its late-stage clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine after a participant was diagnosed with an unexplained illness. The pause was first reported Monday by the health care news website Stat, which obtained a document the company sent to outside researchers. Johnson & Johnson had just launched its wide scale testing … continue reading -> “Johnson & Johnson Pauses Late-Stage COVID-19 Vaccine Trial After Volunteer Becomes Sick”
A late-stage study of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate has been paused while the company investigates whether a study participant’s “unexplained illness” is related to the shot. The company said in a statement Monday evening that illnesses, accidents and other so-called adverse events “are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies,” but … continue reading -> “2nd US COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Paused Over Unexplained Illness”
Microsoft announced legal action Monday seeking to disrupt a major cybercrime digital network that uses more than 1 million zombie computers to loot bank accounts and spread ransomware, which experts consider a major threat to the U.S. presidential election. The operation to knock offline command-and-control servers for a global botnet that uses an infrastructure known as Trickbot to infect computers … continue reading -> “Microsoft Attempts Takedown of Global Criminal Botnet”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s doctor says the president has tested negative for COVID-19 on “consecutive days” as Trump traveled to Florida for his first campaign rally since being diagnosed with the disease earlier this month.In a memo released Monday by the White House, Dr. Sean Conley said Trump was tested using a newer rapid coronavirus … continue reading -> “Trump’s Doctor Says President Tests Negative for COVID-19”
A scientist from the U.S. space agency says what was thought to be a small asteroid heading towards Earth may actually be a 54-year-old section from a rocket coming back home. The head of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), Paul Chodas, told the Associated Press the object was first spotted by a telescope in … continue reading -> “Scientist: ‘Asteroid’ Approaching Earth May Actually Be Old Piece of Rocket “
The head of the World Health Organization is warning against a strategy of pursuing herd immunity to stop the coronavirus pandemic, calling the idea unethical.At a news briefing Monday in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said health officials should only try to achieve immunity through vaccination, not through exposing people to the virus.Herd immunity … continue reading -> “WHO Chief: Pursuing Herd Immunity Through Coronavirus Exposure ‘Unethical’ “
Facebook announced Monday that it is updating its hate speech policy and will ban all posts that deny or distort the Jewish Holocaust.Today we’re updating our hate speech policy to ban Holocaust denial. We’ve long taken down posts that praise hate…Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, October 12, 2020“We’ve long taken down posts that praise … continue reading -> “Facebook to Ban Content that Denies, Distorts Holocaust”
An icebreaker belonging to Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) returned to Germany Monday with what the scientists on board say is proof of a dying Arctic Ocean and warnings of ice-free summers, after a more than yearlong expedition that included time at the North Pole. Expedition leader Markus Rex said the team collected a wealth of data that will be used to improve scientific models of global warming to predict climate change in the decades to come, especially in the Arctic, where changes have … continue reading -> “Icebreaker Returns From A-Year-Long Expedition to North Pole”
Scientists in Australia have discovered that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can survive on solid common surfaces for as long as 28 days. In a study published Monday in Virology Journal, researchers at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), Australia’s national science agency, found the SARS-COV-2 virus was “extremely robust,” surviving on smooth surfaces at 20 … continue reading -> “Study: Virus That Causes COVID-19 Can Survive for Up to a Month on Common Surfaces”
Mounted on rooftops, utility poles and streetlights throughout China since last year are hundreds of thousands of high-tech wireless towers for 5G, a powerful sign of the country’s ambition to lead in new technology. Yet many of them are operational for only half the day.China Unicom, one of three telecommunication operators, announced in August that … continue reading -> “Chinese 5G Not Living Up to Its Hype”
A Trump administration official leading the response to the coronavirus pandemic says the U.S. can expect delivery of a vaccine starting in January 2021, despite statements from the president that inoculations could begin this month.And a growing, bipartisan chorus of lawmakers, experts and public health officials says the country is ill prepared for a projected … continue reading -> “COVID Vaccine Expected in January, Official Says, Countering Trump “
China said on Friday that it had joined a global COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan backed by the World Health Organization, becoming the biggest economy to date to pledge support to distribute the shots fairly.Meanwhile, the country is holding separate talks with the WHO to have its COVID-19 vaccines assessed, a step toward making them available … continue reading -> “Public Health Experts Urge Caution on China’s COVID-19 Vaccines”
Twitter Inc. said Friday that it would remove tweets calling for people to interfere with the U.S. election process or implementation of election results, including through violence, as the company also announced more restrictions to slow the spread of misinformation.Twitter said in a blog post that, from next week, users will get a prompt pointing … continue reading -> “Twitter Imposes Restrictions, More Warning Labels Ahead of US Election”