Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Y un día, entendí… — Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga Derechos reservados conforme a la ley/ Copyright Y un día, a cierta hora, cuando regresaba a casa, me di cuenta de que la vida es breve y no tiene caso desperdiciarla en tristezas ni en desamores, y menos en causar daño a otros. Y un día, mientras recapitulaba los días de […]

Y un día, entendí… — Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

B.C. grandfather helps sick kids with handcrafted wooden bowls | Globalnews.ca

Using discarded wood to create one-of-a-kind bowls, an 80-year-old Vancouver man has turned what he calls a small gesture from his garage into a large fundraiser with global interest. “I feel so happy to do something for somebody,” Nirmal Singh Bhogal said about his effort to raise funds for kids with cancer in B.C. Bhogal’s labour of love begins at the crack of dawn nearly every day, working well past dusk and taking his core value of selfless service, known as seva in Punjabi, to a new level.

Source: B.C. grandfather helps sick kids with handcrafted wooden bowls | Globalnews.ca

Tesla stops accepting Bitcoin as payment for its cars. – The New York Times

Three months after Tesla said it would begin accepting the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as payment, the electric carmaker has abruptly reversed course. In a message posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said Tesla had suspended accepting Bitcoin because of concern about the energy consumed by computers crunching the calculations that underpin the currency. “Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at a great cost to the environment,” Mr. Musk wrote. “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel.”

Biden Signs Executive Order to Bolster Federal Government’s Cybersecurity – The New York Times

For the first time, the United States will require all software purchased by the federal government to meet, within six months, a series of new cybersecurity standards. Although the companies would have to “self-certify,” violators would be removed from federal procurement lists, which could kill their chances of selling their products on the commercial market.

The order also establishes an incident review board, much like the teams that investigate airline accidents, to learn lessons from major hacking episodes. The White House is mandating that the first incident under review will be the SolarWinds hack, in which Russia’s premier intelligence agency altered the computer code of an American company’s network management software. It gave Russia broad access to 18,000 agencies, organizations and companies, mostly in the United States.

The new order also requires all federal agencies to encrypt data, whether it is in storage or while it is being transmitted — two very different challenges. When China stole 21.5 million files about federal employees and contractors holding security clearances, none of the files were encrypted, meaning they could be easily read. (Chinese hackers, investigators later concluded, encrypted the files themselves — to avoid being detected as they sent the sensitive records back to Beijing.)

For the first time, the United States will require all software purchased by the federal government to meet, within six months, a series of new cybersecurity standards. Although the companies would have to “self-certify,” violators would be removed from federal procurement lists, which could kill their chances of selling their products on the commercial market. The order also establishes an incident review board, much like the teams that investigate airline accidents, to learn lessons from major hacking episodes. The White House is mandating that the first incident under review will be the SolarWinds hack, in which Russia’s premier intelligence agency altered the computer code of an American company’s network management software. It gave Russia broad access to 18,000 agencies, organizations and companies, mostly in the United States. The new order also requires all federal agencies to encrypt data, whether it is in storage or while it is being transmitted — two very different challenges. When China stole 21.5 million files about federal employees and contractors holding security clearances, none of the files were encrypted, meaning they could be easily read. (Chinese hackers, inv

Netanyahu’s ‘disastrous strategy’ is ‘blowing up in Israel’s face’ – In the press

As violence continues, Israel’s The Jerusalem Post calls on other countries to “stand with Israel”, while Haaretz blames PM Benjamin Netanyahu for pursuing a “disastrous strategy” that is now ‘blowing up in Israel’s face”. Emirati paper The National and Saudi paper Arab News decry Israel for “raining death on Gaza”, while other regional papers criticise Palestinian leaders and the Trump administration. In the US, The Washington Post warns Joe Biden against getting dragged back into the “long-moribund” peace process.  Source: Netanyahu’s ‘disastrous strategy’ is ‘blowing up in Israel’s face’ – In the press

Israeli unrest: Arab citizens protest over Gaza and Jerusalem – The Washington Post

“It was like a war here,” said Yousef, 35, a resident of the mixed city of Ramle in central Israel, who declined to give his last name for fear of arrest. He accused Israeli police of failing to stop religious Jews from assaulting people outside his mosque and instead attacking local Arabs.

In Ramle, videos circulated of right-wing Israelis pelting cars driven by Arabs. In nearby Lod, close to Israel’s international airport, Arabs attacked several synagogues and shops. And clashes and rioting erupted in other Israeli cities, including Haifa, Acre and Sakhnin.

Source: Israeli unrest: Arab citizens protest over Gaza and Jerusalem – The Washington Post

Uruguay coronavirus: Cases, deaths surge in South American nation – The Washington Post (Me: Brazil’s inaction has heavy costs ofr its neighbors)

Analysts blame a range of factors, from a breakdown in social distancing to the arrival of the P.1 variant, spawned next door in Brazil. The popular sportscaster Alberto Sonsol died in April, as did a pregnant woman — a first for the country — and then another.

“The situation is dramatic,” said epidemiologist Jacqueline Ponzo, who serves on an interdisciplinary panel that studies coronavirus data. “I don’t usually like to use adjectives to explain these things, but it really is fitting.”

The government has been adding hospital beds to meet the surge, but the health system is struggling to staff intensive care units, and the primary care system, where most coronavirus patients are treated, is showing signs of saturation.

Source: Uruguay coronavirus: Cases, deaths surge in South American nation – The Washington Post