Posts made by mlnews

mlnews

Pigs can play video games with their snouts, scientists find

Pigs can play video games, scientists have found, after putting four fun-loving swine to the test.
Four pigs - Hamlet, Omelette, Ebony and Ivory - were trained to use an arcade-style joystick to steer an on-screen cursor into walls. Researchers said the fact that the pigs understood the connection between the stick and the game "is no small feat". And the pigs even continued playing when the food reward dispenser broke - apparently for the social contact. Usually, the pigs would be given a food pellet for "winning" the game level. But during testing, it broke - and they kept clearing the game levels when encouraged by some of the researchers' kind words. "This sort of study is important because, as with any sentient beings, how we interact with pigs and what we do to them impacts and matters to them," lead author Dr Candace Croney said.

mlnews

President Biden cancels funding for Trump border wall

US President Joe Biden has rescinded the national emergency order used to fund Donald Trump's border wall.
In a letter to Congress on Thursday, Mr Biden wrote that the order was "unwarranted" and said that no further tax dollars will be spent on the wall. Mr Trump declared a state of emergency over the southern border in 2019, which allowed him to bypass Congress and use military funds for its construction. When Mr Trump left office, about $25bn (£18bn) had been spent on the project. The announcement from President Biden is the latest in a series of executive orders that have rolled back key parts of the former president's agenda. Last week, Mr Biden signed orders seeking to reunite migrant families split up by Trump-era policies, and ordered a probe of his predecessor's immigration agenda.

mlnews

Bitcoin investors: From buying a Bentley to losing it all

Bitcoin has soared to trade at an eye-watering $48,000 (£34,820), following the news that Tesla has bought $1.5bn of the crypto-currency.
Enthusiasts will tell you it's the future of money - but investing in the notoriously volatile virtual currency can be a rollercoaster, and it's not without risk. The hunt for new coins, using powerful computers, is also causing a surge in energy demand - which is not so good for the environment. Here are some of your Bitcoin adventures.

mlnews

Kobe Bryant crash: Pilot 'likely disorientated amid fog'

The pilot of the helicopter which crashed killing basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, his young daughter, and seven other people had probably become disorientated amid fog, US safety investigators have said.
The helicopter smashed into a hillside near Calabasas, California, on 26 January 2020. Pilot Ara Zobayan was among the dead. Investigators also said Zobayan may have felt "self-induced pressure" to complete the flight for Bryant. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been investigating the circumstances around the crash, and met on Tuesday to vote on the probable cause. It is an independent federal agency with no enforcement powers. In its official finding, the NTSB said the main cause of the crash was most likely the pilot's decision to keep flying in inclement conditions, "which resulted in the pilot's spatial disorientation and loss of control".

mlnews

Spy planes grounded in US following privacy battle

Lawmakers in Baltimore have voted to end a controversial aerial surveillance program, which had seen spy planes constantly monitoring the city.
The program, set up by private firm Persistent Surveillance Systems, used camera-equipped planes to capture what was happening across a vast urban area. The decision to abandon the scheme followed a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It said the system disproportionately targeted people of colour. "Baltimore's termination of its unconstitutional spy plane program is a hard-fought victory for all Baltimoreans, especially for Black leaders who challenged this and communities of colour who are disproportionately targeted by this surveillance," said Brett Max Kaufman, a senior lawyer for the ACLU. But David Rocah, a senior lawyer with ACLU Maryland, said the legal case still needed to be heard.

mlnews

Marjorie Taylor Greene: US House votes to strip Republican of key posts

The US House of Representatives has voted to expel a Republican congresswoman from two committees over incendiary remarks she made before being elected last November.
Marjorie Taylor Greene had promoted baseless QAnon conspiracy theories and endorsed violence against Democrats. Before the vote, she said she regretted her views, which included claims that school shootings and 9/11 were staged. Eleven Republicans joined the Democrats to pass the motion by 230-199. It means the representative - who was elected in November, representing a district in the southern state of Georgia - cannot take up her place on the education and budget committees. This would limit her ability to shape policy as most legislation goes through a committee before reaching the House floor. Committee positions can determine the influence of individual lawmakers in their party. It is highly unusual for one party to intervene in another party's House committee assignments.

mlnews

Amazon faces spying claims over AI cameras in vans

Amazon has begun using AI-powered cameras in delivery vans that constantly record footage of drivers and upload any mistakes they make.
The firm says it is an investment in safety but privacy campaigners described it as "surveillance". The cameras will be on all the time but will only upload footage for 16 actions, including hard braking, driver distraction and drowsiness. One person told CNBC the system was even triggered by the driver yawning. The Kentucky-based driver said if someone yawns, they will be told to pull over for 15 minutes. In a statement, Amazon told the BBC: "We are investing in safety across our operations and have rolled out a number of resources to provide delivery service partners with information to help them keep drivers safe when they are on the road."

mlnews

Yemen war: Joe Biden ends support for operations in foreign policy reset

The US is to end its support for offensive operations by its allies in Yemen, which has been devastated by a six-year war in which more than 110,000 people are believed to have died.
"The war in Yemen must end," President Joe Biden said in his first major foreign policy speech. Under Mr Biden's two predecessors, the US backed a coalition led by Saudi Arabia against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The conflict has left millions of Yemenis on the brink of starvation. Fighting began in 2014 between a weak Yemeni government and the Houthi rebel movement. It escalated a year later, when Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab states - backed by the US, the UK and France - began air strikes against the Houthis. Mr Biden announced other changes to US foreign policy, such as a significant increase in the number of refugees accepted by the US, and a reversal of the decision to withdraw American troops from Germany, where they have been stationed since the end of World War Two.

mlnews

Amazon: Meet Jeff Bezos's successor - Andy Jassy

Andy Jassy is not a household name.
He is, though, about to take on one of the biggest jobs in global business - replacing Jeff Bezos as chief executive of Amazon. Accompanying the appointment of a new football manager comes endless speculation. What will the style of play be? Are they the right fit at the club? Can they manage the big stars? Business is no different. Yet with Amazon's new chief executive, we kind of know what to expect. Amazon's business is so big it essentially acts as an umbrella organisation for many different companies. Mr Jassy has been at the company for 23 years, conducted plenty of interviews, and has been pretty open about what makes him tick. He also runs its most lucrative business - Amazon Web Services (AWS).

mlnews

Proud Boys: Canada labels far-right group a terrorist entity

Canada has designated the far-right group Proud Boys as a terrorist entity.
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the decision was influenced by the group's "pivotal role" in the 6 January riots at the Capitol in Washington, DC. The designation allows the Proud Boys' assets to be frozen, and members of the groups could be charged with terrorist offences if they commit violent acts. The group is all-male and anti-immigrant, and has a history of violent political confrontations. It was founded in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, the Canadian co-founder of Vice Media. Vice has since worked to distance itself from Mr McInnes and the Proud Boys

mlnews

Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon chief executive

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is to step down as chief executive of the e-commerce giant that he founded in his garage nearly 30 years ago.
He will become executive chairman, a move he said would give him "time and energy" to focus on his other ventures. Mr Bezos, the world's richest man, will be replaced by Andy Jassy, who currently leads Amazon's cloud computing business. The change will take place in the second half of 2021, the company said. "As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions," he said in an letter to Amazon staff on Tuesday, "I've never had more energy, and this isn't about retiring. I'm super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have."

mlnews

Putin critic Navalny jailed in Russia despite protests

A Moscow court has jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny for three-and-a-half years for violating the conditions of a suspended sentence.
He has been in detention since returning to Russia last month. He was treated in Germany for a near-fatal nerve agent attack on him in August. There have been violent scenes in Moscow - video on social media show police beating and arresting protesters who came out to support Mr Navalny. Thousands have rallied across Russia. Mr Navalny's suspended sentence for embezzlement has been converted into a jail term. He has already served a year under house arrest which will be deducted from the total. Mr Navalny greeted the news with a resigned shrug, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow reports. In court he called President Vladimir Putin a "poisoner", blaming him for the attack. His supporters called for an immediate protest, and hundreds gathered in central Moscow and St Petersburg despite a heavy police presence. More than 750 have been detained in Moscow alone, according to monitors.

mlnews

Elon Musk grills Robinhood boss over GameStop row on Clubhouse

Tesla boss Elon Musk has grilled the co-founder of trading app Robinhood, Vladimir Tenev, about why it limited users buying shares in the US games retailer GameStop and other stocks.
Mr Tenev denied “conspiracies”, saying hedge funds and US financial regulators had tried to slow frenzied trading. And he instead blamed a demand from regulators for a $3bn (£2.2bn) security deposit from Robinhood at short notice. The interview was conducted on the audio-only social network Clubhouse. Mr Musk's 90-minute appearance was a major coup for Clubhouse, which is currently in a "beta" testing phase and requires users to be invited to access its platform. It allows people to join private rooms for conversations, but participants are capped at 5,000. However, fans streamed the interview on YouTube and overflow rooms on the platform, as Mr Musk's appearance attracted unprecedented attention. Mr Musk also spoke about travel to Mars, Bitcoin and brain implants during his session.

mlnews

Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi detained as military seizes control

Myanmar's military has seized power after detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders.
Troops are patrolling streets in major cities and communications are limited. The top army commander is now in charge and a one-year state of emergency has been declared, army TV announced. The move follows a landslide win by Ms Suu Kyi's party in an election the army claims was marred by fraud. She urged her supporters to "not accept this" and "protest against the coup". In a letter written in preparation for her impending detention, she said the military's actions put the country back under dictatorship.

mlnews

Google halts Play Store 'review bombing' by GameStop traders

Google has removed a wave of negative reviews of popular stock-market trading apps targeted by furious investors.
Platforms such as Robinhood have been hit after preventing independent traders buying GameStop and AMC shares. Users of a Reddit message board had managed to upset the market by buying the shares and inflating their value, hitting established hedge funds. Many online traders, feeling betrayed by Robinhood's restrictions, have hit back with critical reviews of the app. Google has removed tens of thousands of one-star reviews for the widely-used trading app - which had previously had a four-star average. It says it takes action when it sees "fake ratings", designed to manipulate a product's average score.

mlnews

China warns Taiwan independence 'means war' as US pledges support

China has warned Taiwan that any attempt to seek independence "means war".
The warning comes days after China stepped up its military activities and flew warplanes near the island. It also comes after new US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his commitment to Taiwan, and set out his stance in Asia. The US has called China's latest warning "unfortunate", adding that tensions did not need to lead to "anything like confrontation". China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province, but Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state, with its own constitution, military, and elected leaders.

mlnews

Biden to sign executive orders on environment

US President Joe Biden will sign a series of executive orders aimed to address climate change, including a new ban on some energy drilling.
The orders aim to freeze new oil and gas leases on public lands and double offshore wind-produced energy by 2030. They are expected to meet stiff resistance from the energy industry and come as a sea change from Donald Trump, who cut environmental protections. Mr Biden will also label climate change a "national security" priority. The series of executive orders that Mr Biden is due to sign on Wednesday will establish a White House office of domestic climate policy and announce a summit of leaders in the movement to tackle climate change to be held in April. Mr Biden will also call upon the US Director of National Intelligence to prepare an intelligence report on the security implications of climate change.

mlnews

Emotet botnet taken down by international police swoop

Police have seized thousands of computers running one of the most dangerous hacking networks worldwide.
The Emotet network obtains access to victims' computers, via malicious email attachments, then sells it to criminals who install more dangerous malware. Police from the UK, EU, US and Canada worked together to "disrupt" Emotet. Europol called it "one of most significant botnets of the past decade" and one of the main "door openers" for computer systems worldwide. "Once this unauthorised access was established, these were sold to other top-level criminal groups to deploy further illicit activities such data theft and extortion through ransomware," it said.

mlnews

Beware fake Covid vaccination invites, NHS warns

The NHS has warned people to be vigilant about fake invitations to have the coronavirus vaccination, sent by scammers.
The scam email includes a link to "register" for the vaccine, but no registration for the real vaccination is required. The fake site also asks for bank details either to verify identification or to make a payment. The NHS says it would never ask for bank details, and the vaccine is free. Cyber-security consultant Daniel Card told BBC News that traffic data indicates thousands of people had clicked the link to the fake site - although it is unclear how many then filled in the form.

mlnews

Biden raises election meddling with Putin in first phone call

US President Joe Biden has warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about election meddling in their first call, the White House says.
The conversation included a discussion about the ongoing opposition protests in Russia and an extension of the last remaining US-Russia nuclear arms pact. Mr Putin congratulated the new US president on winning the election, according to a Russian statement. Both parties said they agreed to maintain contact moving forward. Former US President Donald Trump was accused by critics of not being forceful enough with Mr Putin. US intelligence officials say Moscow has been involved in several US hacks. Former President Barack Obama - under whom Mr Biden served as vice-president - was also accused of weakness on Russia, and failing to check the Kremlin as it annexed Crimea, invaded eastern Ukraine and muscled in on Syria.