Day: August 23, 2023

The U.S. State Department, in coordination with other agencies from President Joe Biden’s administration, is seeking a six-month extension of the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) that is due to expire on August 27.

The short-term extension comes as several Republican congressional members voiced concerns that China has previously leveraged the agreement to advance its military objectives and may continue to do so.

The State Department said the brief extension will keep the STA in force while the United States negotiates with China to amend and strengthen the agreement. It does not commit the U.S. to a longer-term extension.

“We are clear-eyed to the challenges posed by the PRC’s national strategies on science and technology, Beijing’s actions in this space, and the threat they pose to U.S. national security and intellectual property, and are dedicated to protecting the interests of the American people,” a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday.

But congressional critics worry that research partnerships organized under the STA could have developed technologies that could later be used against the United States.

“In 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) organized a project with China’s Meteorological Administration — under the STA — to launch instrumented balloons to study the atmosphere,” said Republican Representatives Mike Gallagher, Elise Stefanik and others in a June 27 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“As you know, a few years later, the PRC used similar balloon technology to surveil U.S. military sites on U.S. territory — a clear violation of our sovereignty.”

The STA was originally signed in 1979 by then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter and then-PRC leader Deng Xiaoping. Under the agreement, the two countries cooperate in fields including agriculture, energy, space, health, environment, earth sciences and engineering, as well as educational and scholarly exchanges.

The agreement has been renewed roughly every five years since its inception. 

The most recent extension was in 2018. 
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India successfully placed a lander in the moon’s southern polar region Wednesday evening, making history as it became the first country to touch down on an uncharted part of the lunar surface.  

Although the United States, Russia and China have landed around the moon’s equator, no country has so far made a soft landing on the more challenging rough terrain of the south pole.   

Scientists clapped, cheered and waved in the mission command center of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) after the unmanned lander called Vikram made its final descent. It was a huge moment for India’s space agency, whose mission to reach the south pole four years ago had ended in disappointment when the lander crashed.  

India reported success of its Chandrayaan-3 mission after Russia’s Luna-25, that was also headed to the south pole, crashed on Saturday.  

“This is the dawn of a new India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after watching the landing from South Africa, where he is attending the BRICS summit. Waving the Indian flag on a live broadcast, he said “This is a moment to cherish forever.”  

“India is on the moon,” ISRO’s chairman, S. Somanath said.  

By placing the lander on the moon, India achieved one of the mission’s major objectives — demonstrating the capability of making a controlled and safe landing on the lunar surface, which only three countries have done so far.   

Its other goals will be tested over the next two weeks when a six-wheeled, 26-kilogram robotic rover called Pragyan or wisdom, that the lander carried, is expected to map the lunar surface. ISRO scientists said it will be rolled out in the next few hours or on Thursday.   

If all goes according to plans, a range of instruments on the rover will probe the rocks and craters on the moon for the presence of water, minerals and study the topography of the south pole, which scientists say has a different geology from the equatorial regions of the lunar surface.  

“The successful landing gives us a lot of confidence that we will be able to carry out the experiments over the next two weeks,” Somanath told reporters.  

Chandrayaan-3, which means moon vehicle in Sanskrit and Hindi, is India’s third mission to the moon. The first one in 2008 helped confirm evidence of water, the second in 2019 failed in making a landing, but placed an orbiter around the moon that continues to send data back to earth.  

Experts say the Chandrayaan-3 mission marks a milestone in the country’s efforts to emerge on the frontlines of space exploration. In 2014, it became the first Asian nation to put a satellite into orbit around Mars. 

“India started its journey in planetary exploration about two decades ago. Now to have a lander, rover and orbiter on the moon and on Mars is an enormous achievement for the country,” said Amitabha Ghosh, a space scientist and a former member of the NASA mars missions.    

Interest in exploring the moon has gained new momentum in recent years as scientists seek to determine whether it will be possible to mine earth’s nearest neighbor for minerals and other resources that are shrinking on earth. 

An important focus of the Chandrayaan-3 mission will be to find evidence of deposits of water ice. “There are higher chances that water molecules could be found on the south pole, which is frigid.  It could be hidden in craters, in dark zones which ensures a high repository of water ice,” according to Chaitanya Giri, Associate Professor, Environmental Sciences at Flame University in Pune. “These could supply fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future missions or potential human settlements. “ 

The landing date was chosen to coordinate with sunrise at the landing site. The data and images will be transmitted to the lander and then onto earth.  

Scientists say transmitting back signals from the rover to ensure high-quality, scientific results before its solar-powered batteries get discharged would be crucial in conducting investigations from the moon’s surface.  

The lander’s touchdown on Wednesday evoked nationalistic fervor – millions, including schoolchildren tuned in to watch the livestreaming of the landing. “India Conquers the Moon,” “Chandrayaan-3 scripts history” flashed headlines on television channels after the landing.   

Ahead of the mission, many had offered prayers for its success, others took part in religious rituals to invoke blessings for the mission.  

India’s space endeavors are a source of national pride and seen as part of its ambitions to be counted among a select group of space faring countries.  

The program has come a long way since 1963, when the first rocket it launched was transported by a bullock cart to the launch site. The ISRO is now developing a spacecraft to take astronauts into orbit, probably in 2025 – it is part of the country’s efforts to showcase its technological advancement as it seeks to raise its global profile.   

The country, which runs its space program on a relatively modest budget, also prides itself on conducting space exploration at a modest cost — the price tag of India’s current mission is about $75 million.
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In 2023, a new way to use AI has come online. Some companies are using the tool to make lifelike avatars of people, even those who have died.  Maxim Moskalkov reports. Camera: Andrey Degtyarev.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the new BA.2.86 lineage of coronavirus may be more capable than older variants in causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received vaccines. 

The CDC said it was too soon to know whether this might cause more severe illness compared with previous variants. 

But because of the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there are concerns about its impact on immunity from vaccines and previous infections, the agency said. 

Scientists are keeping an eye on the BA.2.86 lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant. 

The CDC, however, said virus samples are not yet broadly available for more reliable laboratory testing of antibodies. 

The agency had earlier this month said it was tracking the highly mutated BA.2.86 lineage, which has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel. 

CDC said Wednesday that the current increase in hospitalizations in the United States was not likely driven by the BA.2.86 lineage.
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An Indian spacecraft has landed on the moon, becoming the first craft to touch down on the lunar surface’s south pole, the country’s space agency said.

India’s attempt to land on the moon Wednesday came days after Russia’s Luna-25 lander, also headed for the unexplored south pole, crashed into the moon.  

It was India’s second attempt to reach the south pole — four years ago, India’s lander crashed during its final approach.  

India has become the fourth country to achieve what is called a “soft-landing” on the moon – a feat accomplished by the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.  

However, none of those lunar missions landed at the south pole. 

The south side, where the terrain is rough and rugged, has never been explored.  

The current mission, called Chandrayaan-3, blasted into space on July 14.
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A Kenyan court has given Facebook’s parent company, Meta, and the content moderators who are suing it for unfair dismissal 21 days to resolve their dispute out of court, a court order showed on Wednesday.

The 184 content moderators are suing Meta and two subcontractors after they say they lost their jobs with one of the firms, Sama, for organizing a union.

The plaintiffs say they were then blacklisted from applying for the same roles at the second firm, Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors.

“The parties shall pursue an out of court settlement of this petition through mediation,” said the order by the Employment and Labour Relations Court, which was signed by lawyers for the plaintiffs, Meta, Sama and Majorel.

Kenya’s former chief justice, Willy Mutunga, and Hellen Apiyo, the acting commissioner for labor, will serve as mediators, the order said. If the parties fail to resolve the case within 21 days, the case will proceed before the court, it said.

Meta, Sama and Majorel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A judge ruled in April that Meta could be sued by the moderators in Kenya, even though it has no official presence in the east African country.

The case could have implications for how Meta works with content moderators globally. The U.S. social media giant works with thousands of moderators around the world, who review graphic content posted on its platform.

Meta has also been sued in Kenya by a former moderator over accusations of poor working conditions at Sama, and by two Ethiopian researchers and a rights institute, which accuse it of letting violent and hateful posts from Ethiopia flourish on Facebook.

Those cases are ongoing.

Meta said in May 2022, in response to the first case, that it required partners to provide industry-leading conditions. On the Ethiopia case, it said in December that hate speech and incitement to violence were against the rules of Facebook and Instagram.
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