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Guardian USA

Trump scolds Fox News reporter for question about Russia helping Iran target US troops; says Cuba is ‘going to fall pretty soon’ – live

President refuses to answer ‘stupid question’ from friendly outlet about reports Russia helping Iran target US military in Middle East

Military investigators believe it is likely that US forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children on Saturday but have not yet reached a final conclusion, two US officials tell Reuters.

Reuters was unable to determine further details about the investigation, including what evidence contributed to the tentative assessment, what type of munition was used, who was responsible or why the US might have struck the school.

HACKADAY

One Sailing Pulley To Rule Them All

When thinking of humanity’s ability to harness wind energy, many people will conjure images of windmills from places like The Netherlands or Persia. But people have been using wind energy …read more

Chinese Dictionary

却 [㕁] què

old variant of 卻|却[que4] (HSK 4)

Guardian USA

Trump administration’s embattled FDA vaccine chief ousted for the second time

Vinay Prasad to leave in April after decisions involving vaccine reviews and specialty drugs for rare diseases

The Food and Drug Administration’s embattled vaccine chief, Dr Vinay Prasad, is once again leaving the agency – the second time in less than a year that he’s departed after decisions involving the review of vaccinations and specialty drugs for rare diseases.

FDA commissioner Marty Makary announced the news to FDA staff in an email late Friday, saying Prasad would depart at the end of April. Makary said Prasad would return to his academic job at the University of California, San Francisco.

Guardian USA

Jesse Jackson hailed as ‘ambassador of hope’ at memorial attended by Clintons, Obama and Biden

Thousands in Chicago honored civil rights ‘champion’ who ‘stepped forward again and again’, Obama said

At the longtime civil rights activist’s memorial celebration on Friday, the Rev Jesse Jackson was remembered as a “champion” for the “poor and the dispossessed” – as well as “one of the most effective community and political organizers of our time”.

Such tributes came from past Democratic US presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, along with former vice-president Kamala Harris, who received cheers and applause while they joined thousands of others in a Chicago church for a celebration of life for Jackson.

Guardian USA

ICE arrests US Spanish-language news outlet reporter without warrant

Estefany Rodriguez Florez of Nashville Noticias, who had produced reports that were unflattering to ICE, was arrested during traffic stop

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Spanish-language Tennessee news outlet’s reporter who had done stories critical of the agency – but agents didn’t have a warrant, according to court documents filed recently by her lawyer.

A court filing Friday by ICE disputes the assertion that the reporter was arrested without a warrant.

Slashdot

Oura Buys Gesture-Navigation Startup DoublePoint

Smart ring maker Oura has acquired Doublepoint, a Finnish startup specializing in gesture recognition technology for wearables. Engadget reports: The Finnish startup uses smartwatches and wristbands as examples of products that benefit from its technology, but Oura will clearly be looking to incorporate it into its rings, in theory allowing you to control your connected devices with hand movements. Oura said in a press release that the deal sees it inherit an "exceptional team of AI architects and builders from Doublepoint," including Doublepoint's four founders. The newly-acquired company will remain in its native Helsinki, where it will work with Oura's international teams. It added that Doublepoint's expertise in helping devices register subtle hand movements will be key, as nobody wearing a smart ring is going to engage with gesture control if they have to thrash their hand around like a conductor.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Guardian USA

Kennedy Center exodus continues as National Symphony director Jean Davidson exits

Davidson said she found it difficult to remain, ‘given the external forces that are at work that are just so far beyond my control’

The executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, a mainstay at the Kennedy Center, is leaving to head the Los Angeles-based Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

It’s the latest departure from the Kennedy Center since Donald Trump began asserting control over the storied performing arts venue in Washington.

Slashdot

Apple Blocks US Users From Downloading ByteDance's Chinese Apps

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: While TikTok operates in the United States under new ownership, Apple has deployed technical restrictions to block iOS users in the United States from downloading other apps made by the video platform's Chinese parent organization ByteDance. ByteDance owns a vast array of different apps spanning social media, entertainment, artificial intelligence, and other sectors. The leading one is Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, which has over 1 billion monthly active users. While most of those users reside in China, iPhone owners around the world have traditionally been able to download these apps from anywhere without using a VPN, as long as they have a valid App Store account registered in China. That's not true anymore. Starting in late January, iPhone users in the U.S. with Chinese App Store accounts began reporting that they were encountering new obstacles when they tried to download apps developed by ByteDance. WIRED has confirmed that even with a valid Chinese App Store account, downloading or updating a ByteDance-owned Chinese app is blocked on Apple devices located in the United States. Instead, a pop-up window appears that says, "This app is unavailable in the country or region you're in." The restriction appears to apply only to ByteDance-owned apps and not those developed by other Chinese companies. The timing and technical specifics suggest the restriction is related to the deal TikTok agreed to in January to divest Chinese ownership of its U.S. operations. The agreement was the result of the so-called TikTok ban law passed by Congress in 2024, which also barred companies like Apple and Google from distributing other apps majority-owned by ByteDance. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act states that no company can "distribute, maintain, or update" any app majority-controlled by ByteDance "within the land or maritime borders of the United States." The law was primarily aimed at TikTok, which has more than 100 million users in the U.S. and had been the subject of years of debate in Washington over whether its Chinese ownership posed a national security risk. But ByteDance also has dozens of other apps that at some point were also removed from Apple's and Google's app stores in the U.S.. Now it seems like the scope of impact has reached even more apps that are not technically designed for U.S. audiences, such as Douyin, the AI chatbot Doubao, and the fiction reading platform Fanqie Novel.