Author: ALJAZEERA

Odysseus is the first spacecraft built by a private company to land on the lunar surface.The United States has pulled off its first lunar landing in more than half a century with a spacecraft built and operated by a Texas-based private company. Odysseus, an uncrewed robot lander built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines with funding from NASA, touched down near the lunar south pole at around 23:23 GMT, the company announced in a webcast on Thursday. The successful landing followed a tense final descent during which flight controllers had to switch to an untested landing system after a problem arose with…

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Taipei, Taiwan – As Google finds itself embroiled in an anti-“woke” backlash over AI model Gemini’s reluctance to depict white people, the tech giant is facing further criticism over the chatbot’s handling of sensitive topics in China. Gemini users reported this week that the update to Google Bard failed to generate representative images when asked to produce depictions of events such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. On Thursday, X user Yacine, a former software engineer at Stripe, posted a screenshot of Gemini telling a user it could not generate “an image…

NewsFeedQatar told the ICJ “Israel’s genocidal war on the people of Gaza” is the most pressing threat to international peace and security. Qatar presented its argument on day 5 of the UN top court’s hearing into legal consequences over Israel’s occupation of Palestine.Published On 23 Feb 202423 Feb 2024 Source link

The United States has issued sanctions on more than 500 Russian-linked targets in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago and the death in prison of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Washington has also imposed new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing support to Russia and take action to further reduce Russia’s energy revenues, US President Joe Biden said on Friday. The entities and sectors targeted include Russia’s Mir payment system, Russian financial institutions and its military industrial base, sanctions evasion, and future energy production, and will also include officials believed to be involved in the death…

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New York City, USA – Last week, the fashion world descended on New York City for New York Fashion Week (NYFW). The bi-annual event celebrated the best in the industry and showcased the hottest trends for the season. NYFW is a massive money maker for the city and the fashion industry at large. On average, the event brings in a staggering $600m annually. But regardless of the stark economic and cultural value the event brings, it is overshadowed by the same existential threat hitting sectors like media and tech – artificial intelligence eroding existing jobs and limiting work opportunities in…

A crisis. A horror. A tragedy. All words we’ve heard many times over to describe the situation in Gaza. All woefully insufficient. As a Palestinian, I can assure you if there’s one thing Palestinians aren’t short of, it’s words. You may even recall that in the first weeks of this war, children in Gaza held their own press conference imploring the world “to protect them” so they could “live as other children live”. But the scale of the violence in Gaza since the attacks on Israel on October 7, which killed about 1,139 people, is unlike anything we’ve experienced before. …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast – Since Niger’s July 30 coup, fissures within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have become bigger. In September, Niger along with fellow ECOWAS members Burkina Faso and Mali formed a military alliance called the Association of Sahel States (AES). Four months later, the trio announced their withdrawal from the larger bloc for “illegal, illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible sanctions” it imposed on them after coups. This month, reports emerged of a possible parting with their currency, the West African franc (CFA). “Perhaps everything we’ve done has surprised you, hasn’t it?” Captain Ibrahim Traore, leader of…

Israel’s military has killed at least 40 Palestinians in attacks on central Gaza ahead of a new round of international talks to broker a truce and as Tel Aviv has outlined a plan for the enclave after the war ends. The “heinous massacre” committed by Israeli forces in Deir el-Balah in the central part of the territory injured more than 100 people, Gaza’s government media office said in a statement late on Thursday, adding that the overwhelming majority of casualties were women and children. “We hold the American administration and the international community, additionally to Israel, fully responsible for these…