Category: Humanitarian

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The Washington Post says it has seen documents according to which Google employees actively assisted Israel in gaining access to certain advanced AI technology quickly after the war in Gaza began. The report says Israel’s Defense Ministry sought to expand its use of Vertex AI, a Google service applying AI algorithms to data. One worker warned internally that a delay in granting access to the tech could push Israel to switch to competitor Amazon. The paper notes that while the documents confirm…

The latest disintegration of a SpaceX test flight was a spectacular sight, as broken-up rocket parts streaked like jellyfish tendrils across the Caribbean sky Thursday evening. But some experts say focusing on that dazzling light show, as many people and media outlets did, highlights a lack of understanding of the environmental aftermath of these spacecraft failures. Moriba Jah, professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas Austin, compares it to marvelling at the beauty of a nuclear bomb’s mushroom cloud. “Being mesmerized by…

Authorities in two Indian states that are driving its economic growth are drafting tighter workplace rules and inspections to protect white collar employees following the death of a young executive at global consultancy Ernst & Young (EY), which her family blamed on overwork. India’s decades-old labour laws are largely focused on blue-collar workers, leaving others vulnerable to workplace abuse such as punishing work schedules and summary dismissals, unions say. Labour authorities in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka said they…

The Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Illinois today announced a settlement with the City of Cahokia Heights, Illinois, resolving violations of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Act resulting from the city’s failure to properly operate its sanitary sewer system. The settlement requires that Cahokia Heights pay a $30,000 civil penalty and implement an estimated $30 million in extensive compliance measures. The complaint against Cahokia Heights alleges that on…

Syrian rebels said they had entered Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime appeared to collapse in the face of the insurgents’ stunning offensive across the country. The rebels said in a statement that “the city of Damascus is free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad” and that “Assad has fled”. The whereabouts of Assad were unclear, with reports that he had fled, which would bring an ignominious end to a family dynasty that has ruled Syria for more than…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a federal order requiring the testing of the nation’s milk supply amid increasing concerns over bird flu. The influenza virus has been raising alarm since it was detected in a Texas cow back in March. Since then, the virus has spread to over 710 dairy herds across 15 states, with California reporting the highest number of infections. At least 58 people have been infected with bird flu, including one child living in the San Francisco…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters have rejected a measure on the November ballot that would have amended the state constitution to ban forced prison labor. The constitution already prohibits so-called involuntary servitude, but an exception allows it to be used as a punishment for crime. That exemption became a target of criminal justice advocates concerned that prisoners are often paid less than $1 an hour for labor such as fighting fires, cleaning cells and doing landscaping work at cemeteries….

Global financiers are poised to flock to Saudi Arabia’s annual flagship investment conference next week as a tightening of the kingdom’s purse strings and a deepening of regional conflict cloud the outlook. Among those expected to descend on the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh are top CEOs, including Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser and the London Stock Exchange’s Julia Hoggett. The high-profile event, first held in 2017, fills an opulent hotel in the capital…

E. coli food poisoning linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states, including one person who died and 10 who were hospitalized, federal health officials said Tuesday. The death was reported in an older person in Colorado, and one child has been hospitalized with severe kidney complications, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Infections were reported between Sept. 27 and Oct. 11, in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon,…

The following article is from a Russian news source, Tass, which is controlled by the Russian Government. BERLIN, October 16. /TASS/. Russia is concerned with the rhetoric being thrown around inside the German government saying that the country should prepare for war with Russia, which is not threatening anyone, the Russian embassy in Berlin said. “Russia is deeply concerned by the unconstructive rhetoric of German officials, special agencies and some individual politicians, calling for preparing for war with Russia as…

On Friday, December 15, Al Jazeera journalists Samer Abudaqa and Wael Dahdouh were reporting at the Farhana school in Khan Younis when Israel struck from the air. Dahdouh took shrapnel to his upper arm but was able to apply pressure to the wound and escape to a nearby hospital for help. But Abudaqa was unable to move. Rescue teams tried to reach him, but couldn’t due to Israeli bombardment. For more than five agonising hours, as he lay bleeding, campaigns were…

MAZAN, France (AP) — The mayor of a French town making headlines for the trial of dozens of men accused of rapes that occurred there over almost a decade has apologized for comments that appeared to downplay the case. “I have been criticized for minimizing the seriousness of the heinous crimes of which the defendants are accused,” Louis Bonnet, the mayor of Mazan in southern France, said in a statement Thursday. “I understand that these remarks are shocking and I…

Israeli soldiers were filmed throwing the bodies of Palestinians off rooftops in the West Bank on Thursday. Videos circulating on social media show Israeli soldiers throwing the bodies of three Palestinians, killed in the northern West Bank town of Qabatiya, off a rooftop on Thursday morning. The footage shows three Israeli soldiers standing on the roof of a building, throwing the… pic.twitter.com/j2b8fMyDKt — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) September 19, 2024 The war crime happened during an assault on the town…

Panamanian authorities deported a group of migrants to Ecuador on a second flight financed by the United States, as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Panama to discourage irregular crossings and reduce the flow of mostly U.S.-bound migration.The flight carrying 30 Ecuadoreans departed on Thursday evening en route to the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador, Panama’s migration service said, adding the migrants were deported for evading a migration checkpoint on the popular Darien Gap route. Thousands of people…