Author: 4am Research
23andMe files for bankruptcy, putting customers’ genetic data at risk
Genetic testing company 23andMe has begun Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, alarming regulators and privacy advocates who are warning customers to delete genetic information retained by the company. 23andMe said on Sunday it intends to put itself up for sale following the proceedings. In October 2023 it suffered a massive data breach causing major reputational damage and exposing the genetic information of more than six million people.
Zelensky speaks out on US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia
Ukraine’s leader has expressed readiness to enter a US-proposed energy truce with Russia Ukraine’s leader, Vladimir Zelensky, has offered his take on negotiations in Saudi Arabia shortly after the White House released two statements on the US contacts with Kiev’s and Moscow’s respective delegations. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Zelensky expressed readiness to observe US President Donald Trump’s proposed agreement to mutually halt strikes on energy facilities with Russia, as well as to stop fighting in the Black…
Court Orders USAGM To Halt Moves To Close Radio Free Europe
For over three years, Syed Abdul Samad Muzoon, a middle-aged former Afghan security official, has lived with his wife and their teenage daughter in Pakistan to pursue immigration to the United States. During Washington’s nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, he worked for the Afghan security forces in sensitive roles, he said, helping the US war effort. Yet, there is still no clarity on whether they will ever be able to make a fresh start in the United States because of…
Hacker defaces NYU website, exposing admissions data on 1 million students
More than 1 million students at New York University had their personal information exposed by a hacker who took over the school’s website over the weekend. On Saturday, the hacker replaced the NYU homepage with charts and links to large student datasets categorizing standardized testing scores based on race. The hacker claimed personal information identifying students was redacted but linked to four different datasets that included personal information on NYU applicants, their citizenship status and more. Cybersecurity expert Zack Ganot,…
Russian Strikes Cut Power In Odesa During Visit By Czech President Petr Pavel
Russian drone strikes targeted civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, leaving at least three people injured and several districts of the city battling power cuts while Czech President Petr Pavel was visiting for talks with officials. The head of the Odesa region’s military administration Oleh Kiper reported on March 21 that minors were among the three known injured in the strikes that sparked fires in various parts of the city. The ASTRA Telegram channel, citing information…
News from Russia: “People becoming more stupid,” according to study
The shift from reading to consuming video content may have diminished human intelligence, research finds Human intellectual abilities such as reasoning and problem-solving are diminishing, possibly due to increased exposure to visual media, the Financial Times (FT) has reported. Human intelligence appeared to peak in the early 2010s and has been in decline since, the FT added, citing PISA, an international benchmarking test for 15-year-olds that includes reading, mathematics and science, and adult cognitive evaluations. The reported trend comes amid…
News from Russia: Bosnia issues arrest warrant for Bosnian Serb leadership, Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik
Bosnian prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for the president, prime minister, and parliament speaker of Republika Srpska, the predominantly-Serb region within Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are accused of having launched an “attack on the constitutional order” by enacting laws that restrict the operations of Bosnia’s state-level judiciary and law enforcement agencies. Following a brutal civil war that pitted the former Yugoslav region’s ethno-religious groups against one another, Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into two self-governing entities, the ethnically Serbian Republika Srpska…
State Dept. suspends reporting air quality levels staff relied on overseas
State Department staff were taken aback this week by a department directive instructing embassies and consulates to stop publishing air quality monitoring data. CBS News has reviewed the message that was sent to staff on March 4, which says “currently there is no anticipated date for real-time data to be available.” Embassy staff and their families relied on the reports to alert them to poor air quality days. “I was shocked by the announcement,” said a current staffer, who asked…
Karen Read Verdict Slip and Jury Instructions
PDF File: karen-read-verdict-slipinstructions
US sets grim mass killings record in first half of 2023
Country endured 28 mass killings – a total of 140 victims – amid uptick in gun violence and calls by some for stricter laws. The United States saw a record of 28 mass killings in the first half of 2023, The Associated Press has reported, as policymakers struggle to curb gun violence across the country. The AP analysis, published on Friday, said 140 victims were killed during that period. All but one of the mass killings – incidents in which…
Shooter who killed 23 at Texas Walmart sentenced to 90 life terms
EL PASO, Texas – A federal judge on Friday sentenced a white supremacist to 90 consecutive life terms in prison for a 2019 shooting in which he killed 23 people and wounded 22 others at a Texas Walmart while targeting Hispanics, the El Paso Times newspaper reported. The sentencing by US District Judge David Guaderrama in El Paso adheres to a plea agreement from February in which shooter Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty to and agreed to 90 consecutive life…
Man dies in France’s Marseille after being shot at time of riots
MARSEILLE, France – French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the death of a 27-year old man who was hit by a projectile at the time of the riots on Saturday, the Marseille prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. There was rioting across France following the funeral of a teenager of North African descent, whose shooting by police during a traffic stop sparked nationwide unrest for several days. Prosecutors said the likely cause of the death in Marseille was a violent…
Shot teenager’s grandmother urges end to French overnight riots
The grandmother of the teenager shot dead by police during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb said on Sunday she wanted the nationwide rioting triggered by his killing to end, after a fifth night of unrest. She said the rioters were using 17-year-old Nahel’s death last Tuesday as an excuse to cause havoc and that the family wanted calm. “I’m telling them [the rioters] to stop,” the grandmother, identified as Nadia by French media, told BFM TV. “Nahel is…
Is gun violence an epidemic in the U.S.? Experts and history say it is
Six months into the year, more than 21,000 people have died because of gun-related injuries in the United States. Doctors and public health officials have a word to describe the rising number of people killed or hurt by guns in recent years: epidemic. “I would certainly consider the problem of firearm injuries and firearm violence as an epidemic in the United States,” said Patrick Carter, director of the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, whose research is…
Police release body camera video of an officer killing the gunman who killed 8 at a Texas mall
ALLEN, Texas (AP) — Police released video footage on Wednesday of an officer killing a neo-Nazi gunman, quickly ending a mass shooting that left eight people dead and seven others wounded at a Dallas-area shopping mall. The edited five-and-a-half-minute video details the final moments of Mauricio Garcia, 33, after he unleashed a rain of bullets from an AR-15-style rifle at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6. Those killed included three members of a Korean American family including a 3-year-old…
Armed man killed in gunfire exchange near US consulate in Jeddah
JEDDAH – Two people were killed when an armed man exchanged fire with Saudi Arabian security authorities near the US consulate building in Jeddah, leading to the deaths of the gunman and a security guard, the US State Department said on Wednesday. No Americans were harmed in the incident, a State Department spokesman said in a statement. “A person in a car stopped near the American Consulate building in Jeddah Governorate and got out of it carrying a firearm in…