Trump Attends World Economic Forum
January 25th, 2018Via: Reuters:
Donald Trump flew into the sanctum of the global elite on Thursday to promote his tax cuts and deregulation policies to CEOs and bankers, many of whom are eager to invest in the United States despite reservations about his turbulent presidency.
The first sitting U.S. president to visit the World Economic Forum in Davos since Bill Clinton in 2000, Trump helicoptered into the Swiss ski resort and was greeted by hundreds of curious delegates who snapped pictures as he entered the congress center.
After meeting the prime ministers of Britain and Israel, Trump hosted a dinner with leaders of some of the world’s largest corporations, including Nestle, SAP and Siemens, Deloitte and Bayer. Senior members of his cabinet were also present.
Ex-Montana House Majority Leader Gets 18 Years for Drug Trafficking
January 25th, 2018Via: Great Falls Tribune:
A former leader of the Montana House of Representatives who once supported funding for an anti-drug campaign was sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday for his central role in a methamphetamine trafficking ring.
Michael Lange, the Republican House majority leader during the 2007 Legislature, arranged deliveries of at least 20 and possibly up to 50 pounds of meth from a source in California over a seven-month period in 2016, prosecutors said. It was sold through a network of approximately 15 to 20 dealers in Montana and Wyoming, according to federal prosecutors and an FBI drug task-force officer.
Biggest Washington DC Lobbyist Is Now Google
January 25th, 2018Via: Register:
For the first time, an internet company has become the largest lobbyist in Washington DC.
With the release of fourth quarter lobbying figures – a legal requirement – it has been revealed that Google (well, Alphabet) spent no less than $18m in 2017 to lobby lawmakers in the US capital: a 17 per cent increase on the previous year.
Although a number of industry associations – such as the US Chamber of Commerce – spent more, Google is the largest corporate entity on the list, reflecting both its enormous influence, it’s bottomless pockets, and the tech industry’s efforts to push back on a growing consensus that the internet is in need of greater regulation.
It’s not just Google either: Amazon splurged $12.8m – a 17 per cent year-on-year increase; Facebook blew $11.5m – a 32 per cent increase; and Apple spent $7.1m – a 51 per cent increase on the previous year.
This huge lobbying spend does not represent the full picture when it comes to influencing Washington DC, either.
The lobbying releases only cover the costs of a company’s own employees: they don’t include the money that all these companies spent on third-party lobbying groups, who typically boast former high-level government officials and promise access and persuasion for very large sums. Nor does it cover donations made to campaign committees.
Monkeys Cloned in World First
January 25th, 2018Via: Independent:
Two monkeys are the first ever primates to be cloned using the technique that created Dolly the sheep.
The technique brings the prospect of cloned human beings even more closer. But scientists caution that there may be no good reason to create such clones, and that ethical and legal questions need to be answered about such research.
More immediately, the technique will allow researchers to create whole labs full of genetically identical monkeys. That could prove tremendously useful in scientific and medical research – allowing doctors to watch how specific treatments affect the genetic makeup of animals that are otherwise exactly the same, for instance.
Grid Up. Grid Down.
January 24th, 2018The grid has been having intermittent issues since last night’s thunderstorm, and the power was off for most of the afternoon today. Back to posting early AM NZ time tomorrow, assuming the power stays on.
When It Comes to Voice Identification, the “NSA Reigns Supreme”
January 23rd, 2018Via: The Intercept:
These and other classified documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveal that the NSA has developed technology not just to record and transcribe private conversations but to automatically identify the speakers.
Americans most regularly encounter this technology, known as speaker recognition, or speaker identification, when they wake up Amazon’s Alexa or call their bank. But a decade before voice commands like “Hello Siri” and “OK Google” became common household phrases, the NSA was using speaker recognition to monitor terrorists, politicians, drug lords, spies, and even agency employees.
The technology works by analyzing the physical and behavioral features that make each person’s voice distinctive, such as the pitch, shape of the mouth, and length of the larynx. An algorithm then creates a dynamic computer model of the individual’s vocal characteristics. This is what’s popularly referred to as a “voiceprint.” The entire process — capturing a few spoken words, turning those words into a voiceprint, and comparing that representation to other “voiceprints” already stored in the database — can happen almost instantaneously. Although the NSA is known to rely on finger and face prints to identify targets, voiceprints, according to a 2008 agency document, are “where NSA reigns supreme.”
It’s not difficult to see why. By intercepting and recording millions of overseas telephone conversations, video teleconferences, and internet calls — in addition to capturing, with or without warrants, the domestic conversations of Americans — the NSA has built an unrivaled collection of distinct voices. Documents from the Snowden archive reveal that analysts fed some of these recordings to speaker recognition algorithms that could connect individuals to their past utterances, even when they had used unknown phone numbers, secret code words, or multiple languages.
Sodium Valproate Causing Physical Abnormalities, Autism, Low IQ and Learning Disabilities Across Generations
January 22nd, 2018Via: BBC:
An MP has said the harm caused to children after their mothers were given the epilepsy drug sodium valproate is an “extraordinary scandal”.
It is thought about 20,000 children in the UK have been left with disabilities caused by valproate since the 1970s.
Norman Lamb MP said it was also “extraordinarily distressing” new research suggested medical problems could be passed through generations.
Affected families have called for a public inquiry and compensation.
Sodium valproate, also known as Epilim, can be prescribed by doctors as a treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.
It carries a risk of causing physical abnormalities, autism, low IQ and learning disabilities if babies are exposed to the drug while in the womb.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the drug is “kept under constant review”, while the Department of Health said it expects the MHRA to take further action if a review finds more can be done to highlight the risks associated with it.
Many parents have claimed they were not made aware of the risks from taking the treatment while pregnant, even after new safety warnings were introduced in 2016.
Research Credit: Jb
Amazon’s Automated Grocery Store of the Future Opens Monday
January 21st, 2018haha
Via: Reuters:
But there have been challenges, according to a person familiar with the matter. These included correctly identifying shoppers with similar body types, the person said. When children were brought into the store during the trial, they caused havoc by moving items to incorrect places, the person added.
Turkish Military Moves Into Syria
January 21st, 2018Via: BBC:
Turkish ground troops have crossed into northern Syria as part of Ankara’s campaign to rid the border area of Kurdish fighters, Turkey’s PM says.
Binali Yildirim said the aim was to establish a 30km (19-mile) “safe zone” inside Syria, Turkish media report.
Turkey launched its operation against the Kurdish YPG militia in the Afrin region with air strikes on Saturday.
The YPG denied Turkish troops were on Afrin soil, saying they had “repelled” the attacks and forced them to retreat.
The two sides have been exchanging fire. The Turkish military says it has so far taken out 153 targets belonging to Kurdish militants, while Kurdish rockets hit the border town of Kilis overnight.
The YPG (Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units) is part of a US-backed alliance with a number of ethnic Arab militias called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF has said it will have no choice but to defend itself if attacked.
Trump Signs Bill Renewing NSA’s Internet Surveillance Program
January 19th, 2018Via: Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he signed into law a bill renewing the National Security Agency’s warrantless internet surveillance program, sealing a defeat for digital privacy advocates.
