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POLITICS  
Trump administration erases the government's power to fight climate change
- WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government's legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet. The action is a key step in removing limits on carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases that scientists say are supercharging ...

Source: bostonglobe.com
US  
ABA, associations ask administration to retain AI risk management framework
- The American Bankers Association today joined the Business Software Alliance and seven associations in urging Commerce Department officials to retain the core structure of a risk management framework for artificial intelligence as the Trump administration seeks to spur AI adoption in the U.S. AI Risk Management Framework , or RMF, was released in 2023 in collaboration with the private and public sectors. The ...

Source: bankingjournal.aba.com
Russia fully blocks WhatsApp impacting 100 million users - TechBriefly
- The application has been erased from the national internet directory as part of a broader crackdown on unfriendly communication tools. Russian authorities have fully blocked WhatsApp, impacting up to 100 million users, according to the Financial Times. Officials removed the app from an online directory, erasing it from Russia's internet. The government previously urged users to switch to Max, an unencrypted app ...

Source: techbriefly.com
TECHNOLOGY  
Google fears massive attempt to clone Gemini AI through model extraction
- The company identified over 100,000 prompts it suspects were intended to extract proprietary reasoning capabilities. Google detected and blocked a campaign involving more than 100,000 prompts that it claimed were designed to copy the proprietary reasoning capabilities of its Gemini AI model, according to a quarterly threat report released by Google Threat Intelligence Group. The prompts looked like a coordinated ...

Source: csoonline.com
WORLD   POLITICS  
Bangladesh election results: Who won, who lost, what's next?
- Unofficial results show BNP ahead in Bangladesh election The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Tarique Rahman has won two-thirds majority in the South Asian country's historic elections – the first since the 2024 student-led uprising that ousted the previous Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina . The Election Commission (EC) on Friday released the latest results from the elections, showing that the BNP had ...

Source: aljazeera.com
US   POLITICS  
Top Goldman Sachs lawyer who called Epstein 'Uncle Jeffrey' in emails resigns
- Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Swipe for next article Former White House counsel to Barack Obama steps down saying she 'regrets ever knowing' billionaire pedophile, whom she once dubbed 'Uncle Jeffrey' and said she adored A top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and a former White House counsel to Barack Obama announced her resignation ...

Source: independent.co.uk
TECHNOLOGY  
Ariane 64 rocket reaches orbit with 32 Amazon Leo satellites - TechBriefly
- This mission marked the debut of the heavy-lift four-booster variant, which doubles the payload capacity of the previous Ariane 62 model. Europe's most powerful rocket, the Ariane 64, reached orbit for the first time on Wednesday, carrying 32 satellites for Amazon's Leo broadband internet constellation. The launch took place at 16:45 UTC from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, with the mission lasting one ...

Source: techbriefly.com
US  
FDA refuses to consider Moderna flu shot in move experts claim is part of 'anti-vaccine agenda'
- Agency says application rejected due to lack of 'adequate and well controlled' trial, but experts say 'they're just coming up with reasons' A senior US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official says Moderna's clinical trial on a new, potentially more effective flu vaccine was a "brazen failure" and that the FDA is now calling it into question. The FDA unexpectedly refused to consider Moderna's application for a ...

Source: theguardian.com
US   POLITICS  
As electricity costs rise, everyone wants data centers to pick up their tab. But how?
- HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — As outrage spreads over energy-hungry data centers, politicians from President Donald Trump to local lawmakers have found rare bipartisan agreement over insisting that tech companies — and not regular people — must foot the bill for the exorbitant amount of electricity required for artificial intelligence. But that might be where the agreement ends. The price of powering ...

Source: bostonglobe.com
SCIENCE  
Four astronauts launch to space station after prior crew's early departure
- Four new crew members are on their way to the International Space Station after launching into orbit early Friday morning. They will arrive at an unusually quiet orbiting lab. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev were originally going to overlap in space with the outgoing crew, a mission known as Crew-11. But that group ...

Source: nbcnews.com
BUSINESS  
Proofpoint acquires Acuvity to secure AI and agent-driven workflows
- Help Net Security newsletters : Daily and weekly news, cybersecurity jobs, open source projects, breaking news – subscribe here! Proofpoint has acquired Acuvity, strengthening its platform with AI-native visibility, governance, and runtime protection for AI and agent-driven workflows. As generative AI reshapes how work gets done, organisations are deploying AI copilots, autonomous agents, and model-connected ...

Source: helpnetsecurity.com
POLITICS  
UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule
- Protest group's co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws The co-founder of Palestine Action has won a legal challenge to the home secretary's decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws. The proscription of Palestine Action , which categorised it alongside the likes of Islamic State, was the first of a direct action protest group and attracted widespread ...

Source: theguardian.com
Shooting at South Carolina State University residence complex kills 2 and wounds 1
- ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — Two people are dead and one person wounded after a shooting at a South Carolina State University residential complex, the university said, prompting a nearly eight-hour lockdown that was lifted early Friday. University officials have not confirmed the victims' identities or the condition of the person wounded, the school said in a news release Thursday night. The school put the campus ...

Source: bostonglobe.com
WORLD  
Japan seizes Chinese fishing boat and arrests skipper
- TOKYO — Japanese authorities have seized a Chinese fishing boat and arrested its captain for allegedly fleeing inspection in its exclusive economic zone, an incident that could further inflame tensions between Asia's top two economies. The captain, a 47-year-old Chinese national, is accused of ignoring orders to stop for an on-board inspection on Thursday in waters off southwest Nagasaki prefecture, Japan's ...

Source: nbcnews.com
MEDICINE  
Elephants Have a Secret Sensory Ability. Scientists Say It Could Inspire Design of Future Robots
- Dr. Katherine Kuchenbecker, a roboticist from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) , was walking down a hallway tapping the railings, walls, and columns with a "wand" her student, Dr. Andrew Schulz, had given her. While she tapped the wand on different surfaces, she realized she could feel the different vibrations of surfaces, without having to look at them. The vibrations felt soft and gentle ...

Source: greenmatters.com
US   POLITICS  
House votes to block Canada tariffs in rare rebuke of Trump
- Feb. 12 (UPI) -- In a rare rebuke of the Trump administration, the Republican-led House on Wednesday moved to block sweeping tariffs imposed on Canada by President Donald Trump . In a 219-211 vote on Wednesday evening, House lawmakers approved legislation terminating a national emergency Trump declared early in his administration to slap tariffs on the United States' northern neighbor. Six Republicans joined their ...

Source: upi.com
Remote community grieves the 8 killed in Canada's deadliest attack in years
- VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The families of victims of a shooting in a remote Canadian Rockies town grappled with unrelenting grief Thursday as details emerged about those killed in the country's deadliest mass shooting in years. Authorities said the 18-year-old alleged shooter, identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, killed her 39-year-old mother, Jennifer Jacobs, and 11-year-old stepbrother, Emmett ...

Source: apnews.com
US   POLITICS  
New Jersey governor bans immigration agents from some state property
- , has banned immigration agents from some state property and launched an online portal for residents to share videos and photos of enforcement activity. , signed an executive order on Wednesday which prohibits immigration officers from access to non-public portions of state-owned property if they don't have a judicial warrant, according to . The prohibition also bars immigration agents from using state property as ...

Source: news.yahoo.com
Ukraine skeleton racer disqualified from Olympics over war memorial helmet
- Ukraine's skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said. He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue, shortly before the start of his ...

Source: aljazeera.com
US   POLITICS  
Attorney of woman shot by ICE agent accuses officials of fabricating evidence
- News , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Attorney of woman shot by ICE agent accuses officials of fabricating evidence The attorney of Marimar Martinez, whom US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot multiple times in Chicago in October, argued Wednesday that released evidence shows that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has lied about information tied to investigations. Attorney ...

Source: jurist.org
WORLD   POLITICS  
Trump directs Pentagon to purchase coal-fired electricity
- Feb. 12 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to purchase coal-fired electricity to boost domestic coal production, a move that has drawn staunch criticism from energy and environmental experts. Trump issued the directive via an executive order that he signed Thursday at the end of a White House ceremony attended by coal executives called "The Champion of Coal Event." "We're going to be buying a ...

Source: upi.com
US   POLITICS  
Republicans Approve 'Dystopian' Voter Suppression Bill That Would Force States to Give Info to DHS
- Doing President Donald Trump's bidding, the Republican-controlled US House on Wednesday approved legislation that would potentially prevent millions of Americans from participating in federal elections by instituting draconian voter ID requirements, mandating documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, and requiring states to share voter information with the Department of Homeland Security. The White ...

Source: commondreams.org
US   POLITICS  
White House immediately fires U.S. attorney chosen by judges to replace Trump's pick
- The White House fired the top federal prosecutor for upstate New York just hours after he was sworn into office Wednesday. Donald Kinsella, who has worked for decades as a government attorney and in private practice, was appointed and sworn in as the U.S. attorney in the Northern District of New York in a private ceremony, the court said on its website . Later that day, he was fired in an email from the White ...

Source: nbcnews.com
US   POLITICS  
MA Judge Stays Information-Sharing Between IRS and ICE
- On February 5, 2026, a Massachusetts federal judge issued an order staying information-sharing between the IRS and ICE, as well as a preliminary injunction prohibiting Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, acting-Director Todd Lyons, and any DHS and ICE agent from "inspecting, viewing, using, copying, distributing, relying on, or otherwise acting upon any return information that had ...

Source: natlawreview.com
US   POLITICS  
Senate fails to advance DHS funding, teeing up partial shutdown as deal remains out of reach
- Washington — The Senate failed to advance a measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, likely paving the way for another partial government shutdown without a last-minute breakthrough.  In a 52 to 47 vote, all but one Democrat — Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania — opposed moving forward with the bill, which would fund DHS through September. The motion needed 60 votes ...

Source: cbsnews.com
MEDICINE  
Colorectal cancer is rising in younger adults. Here's who is most at risk and symptoms to watch for
- WASHINGTON (AP) — Colorectal cancer is a threat not just to older adults but increasingly to young men and women, too. It's now the top cancer killer of Americans younger than 50. The deaths of "Dawson's Creek" actor James Van Der Beek at 48 this week, and a few years ago "Black Panther" star Chadwick Boseman at 43, highlight the risk for younger adults. "We're now starting to see more and more people in the ...

Source: apnews.com
US   POLITICS  
Judge temporarily blocks Pentagon action against Mark Kelly over illegal orders video
- A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has granted Sen. Mark Kelly's request for a preliminary injunction against Pete Hegseth, in a lawsuit filed by the Arizona Democrat accusing the defense secretary of trying to punish him for his political speech. Kelly, a former Navy Captain, sued Hegseth in January, one week after the defense secretary moved to formally censure him for participating in a video where he and ...

Source: npr.org
POLITICS  
Federal judge orders return of Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador under Alien Enemies Act
- A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return to the U.S. of a group of Venezuelan migrants who were sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador last yea r under the Alien Enemies Act and accused of being members of the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua. The 137 Venezuelans the ruling applies to were deported to the notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement, or CECOT, in ...

Source: npr.org
WORLD   POLITICS  
US readying another aircraft carrier for Middle East deployment: Trump
- Donald Trump has appeared to confirm that the United States is looking to further shore up military assets in the Middle East despite ongoing diplomacy to ease tensions with Iran. The US president shared on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, without comment, a Wall Street Journal article titled "Pentagon Prepares Second Aircraft Carrier to Deploy to the Middle East". The story cited US officials as saying that ...

Source: aljazeera.com
US   POLITICS  
US applications for jobless benefits fall to 227,000 last week, remaining at recent healthy levels
- WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, remaining within the historically healthy range of the past few years. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Feb. 7 fell by 5,000 to 227,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That's basically in line with the 226,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm ...

Source: apnews.com
DIGITAL   TECHNOLOGY  
YouTube Is Finally on the Apple Vision Pro. Can We Expect More Google Apps to Come?
- It took two years, but YouTube is finally an Apple Vision Pro app. The news, announced Thursday, might come as a surprise if -- like most people -- you haven't tried Apple's Vision Pro . YouTube always seemed like a perfect fit for Apple's mixed-reality device, since so many videos there work in 3D, 360 degrees or in 180-degree immersive formats. And yet, Google and Apple had never figured out a way to make it ...

Source: cnet.com
WORLD  
How a party balloon led the government to shut down a Texas airport
- Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Swipe for next article The sudden and unprecedented Tuesday closure of El Paso's airspace stemmed from border officials firing a high-energy laser at what they believed to be a cartel drone , according to reports. But, it turned out to be something considerably more innocuous: a party balloon drifting ...

Source: independent.co.uk