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Scarlet Cardona

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Modi in India, humiliated by voters, faces powerful economic difficulties

Modi in India, humiliated by voters, faces powerful economic difficulties

Associated media - Related media The humiliation of Modi’s party resonates in part as an expression of popular frustration that India remains a land of economic peril for hundreds of millions of people, as well as a country characterized by startling contrasts in wealth. In big cities, five-star hotels boasting lavish spas look down on teeming, unplumbed slums. In rural areas, malnutrition prevails under many roofs and families struggle to find the money to send their children to school. Even though its working-age population numbers about a billion, India has only 430 million jobs, according to the Center for Monitoring…
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How the backlash against climate action is reshaping the European elections

How the backlash against climate action is reshaping the European elections

Connected media - Associated media Rystad Energy, a private company that watches energy trends, pointed out that the roughly $125 billion the European Union has invested in clean energy technology will soon fall behind the United States. Politicians are coloring the Green Deal. The main European People’s Party claims the Green Deal as its most important achievement, even as it rolls back unpopular provisions, such as on agriculture, with an eye to the ballot box. He frames it as a way to sever Europe’s dependence on Russia. “We have turned Putin’s challenge into a great new opportunity,” European Commission President…
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The Rise and Fall of BNN Breaking, an AI-Generated News Outlet

The Rise and Fall of BNN Breaking, an AI-Generated News Outlet

Linked media - Connected media A closer look, however, would have revealed that individual journalists at BNN published lengthy stories as often as multiple times a minute, writing in generic prose familiar to anyone who has tinkered with the A.I. chatbot ChatGPT. BNN’s “About Us” page featured an image of four children looking at a computer, some bearing the gnarled fingers that are a telltale sign of an A.I.-generated image. How easily the site and its mistakes entered the ecosystem for legitimate news highlights a growing concern: A.I.-generated content is upending, and often poisoning, the online information supply. Many traditional…
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Drink wine for breakfast, put on a 51-pound suit and go to the battlefield

Drink wine for breakfast, put on a 51-pound suit and go to the battlefield

Linked media - Linked media In the combat study, soldiers fought on foot and in chariots, using replica weapons including a spear with blunt edges and a point, and spent a lot of time walking and riding in chariots. They also followed a meal plan created by the researchers, which included a breakfast consisting mostly of dry bread, goat cheese, green olives and red wine. They could not wear the Dendra armor, which dates back to around 1450 BC. Instead, the soldiers wore a replica made of copper, the closest alloy to the original bronze available, the study says. The…
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US leads the way in antitrust investigations into Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI

US leads the way in antitrust investigations into Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI

Connected media - Associated media For months, Nvidia, Microsoft and OpenAI have largely escaped the brunt of the Biden administration’s regulatory scrutiny. But things started to change when generative AI, capable of producing human-like text, photos, video and audio, hit the scene in late 2022 and created a frenzy in the industry. Regulators have recently signaled that they want to get ahead of developments in artificial intelligence. In July, the FTC opened an investigation into whether OpenAI had harmed consumers through data collection. In January, the FTC also launched a broad investigation into strategic partnerships between tech giants and AI…
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FDA panel evaluates MDMA therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder

FDA panel evaluates MDMA therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder

Linked media - Connected media What is the framework for approval? In 2017, the FDA granted “breakthrough” status to MDMA-assisted therapy. Status, a recognition of a drug’s therapeutic promise, aims to shorten regulatory timelines. The original application was sponsored by the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which earlier this year created a for-profit entity, Lykos Therapeutics, to commercialize MDMA if it gained approval. FDA approval. The application presents an unusual challenge for the FDA, which typically does not regulate drug treatments associated with talk therapy, an essential part of Lykos’ regimen for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. On June 4,…
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Global hotspots target overtourism

Global hotspots target overtourism

Connected media - Linked media Hotel taxes and other taxes are increased Hotel taxes, also known as lodging or tourist taxes, are widespread in the United States and Europe, where they had been rising for a decade before the pandemic. As tourism has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, several destinations have increased or adjusted taxes to bring in more revenue. Like Hawaii, Greece – which suffered severe wildfires last summer – is trying to prepare for climate disasters, and the government wants tourists to help foot the bill. Greece calls this tax a “climate crisis resilience tax” and will be collected…
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Black baseball history takes center stage in the Hall of Fame

Black baseball history takes center stage in the Hall of Fame

Related media - Associated media After the reinstatement, Major League Baseball executives established an unwritten quota system that limits the number of Black players on rosters, Shieber said. “This led to unbalanced trading,” he added. “It’s not just a one-on-one exchange. Like, ‘We have enough black player trades.'” Toward the end of the exhibit, Shieber pointed out the locker once used by Willie Mays who Barry Bonds took over as a player for the San Francisco Giants. One of Stewart’s fondest early memories was meeting Mays, his favorite player, when he was 5 years old. But Stewart might also look…
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Muhammad Ali’s childhood home goes on the market

Muhammad Ali’s childhood home goes on the market

Related media - Associated media George Bochetto, a Philadelphia lawyer who said he owned the house with his late partner’s widow, bought it in 2016 for $60,000. “It was abandoned for many years. He was run down,” Mr. Bochetto said in an interview Tuesday. He marveled at how “this little house on the western edge of Louisville, modest as it was, could produce a magnificent world figure.” He added: “Muhammad Ali was one of my heroes as a child.” Mr. Bochetto said he wants the new owners to “make sure the house is preserved” as an honor to him. The…
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