News
12 Months of Record Temperatures Spark Global Climate Alarm
United States: The planet has just experienced a “shocking” new milestone, having seen for one year straight of record heat globally, as confirmed by Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service.
More about the shocking finding
The period extending through 12 months from June 2023 to May 2024 has set new records affecting global temperature, the highest on record according to the Copernicus data.
Each of the twelve months from June 2023 to May 2024 was the hottest of its kind globally, new data from the Copernicus analysis revealed.
According to Carlo Buontempo, the director of Copernicus, who has sent warnings about the worst yet to come, this 12-month heat streak was “shocking but not surprising” while human-induced climate change has been causing havoc several ways.
He said that unless the planet-warming fossil fuel pollution usage is cut, “this string of hottest months will be remembered as comparatively cold,” as CNN reported.
More about the Copernicus released data
Copernicus released its data report on the same day as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres made a heartfelt speech in New York about climate change and criticized fossil fuel companies as the “godfathers of climate chaos.”
For the first time, he clearly called on all countries to ban advertising their fossil fuel products.
Moreover, he urged world leaders to actively take control of the serious climate crisis or face dangerous tipping points. He added We are playing Russian roulette with our planet,” and, “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell,” as he said on Wednesday.
Guterres warned that given the rising global temperatures, global climate commitments are “hanging by a thread,” as CNN reported.
1.5 degrees warmer temperatures – Report
Copernicus’ data revealed that in each month starting from July 2023, the corresponding value has been at least 1.5 degrees higher than it was before industrialization when people began to use cars, factories and other things that caused Greenhouse gases.
In general, countries came together in the Paris Agreement of 2015 to prevent global temperature change of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius rise above pre-industrial levels. Though this aim traces the temperature over decades and not a month or a year, this scientists have dubbed this breach as an alarming signal.
According to Richard Allan, a climate professor at the University of Reading in the UK, “This is a harbinger of progressively more dangerous climate impacts close on the horizon,” as CNN reported.
The news is-incoming since the western US has had it first heat wave so far this summer while the temperatures are reaching the triple digits. Unfortunately, it has been warmer to dangerous levels in some countries already this spring which has led to death and devastation.
Heatwaves swept through India have claimed the lives of dozens over the past few weeks; temperatures above 50 °C (122F) are lethal; Southeast Asia suffers from heat death; schools shutting down due to heat; and burnt crops; heatwave increases in Mexico; howler monkeys fell from trees.
It also leads to increased evaporation and ultimately more intense precipitation and cyclones, as seen in the flood-like situations that have ravaged the United States, Brazil, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates, amongst others, this year.
According to Ben Clarke, a researcher at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute, the recently occurring phenomenon offers “a window into the future with extreme heat that challenges the limits of human survivability,” and, “It is vital people understand that every tenth of a degree of warming exposes more people to dangerous and potentially deadly heat,” CNN reported.
News
TikTok’s Loses Last Chance: Court Rules in Favor of US Ban!
United States: After the court’s verdict, TikTok is one step closer to be banned in the US, as it lost its legal battle in overturning a controversial law. On Friday, a US appeals court upheld the law in its ruling.
More about the news
While denying TikTok’s argument, stating that the law was unconstitutional, the judges found the law does not “contravene the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” nor does it “violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws.”
For this ruling, TikTok was optimistic about appealing, which means the platform is one step closer to being banned in the US – if it can’t persuade Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell and find a buyer by early this year, the date will be moved up to January 19, 2025.
After this deadline, US app stores and internet services that host TikTok will be subject to hefty fines if TikTok is not sold, CNN reported.
In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill that required the app to be sold to a new, non-Chinese owner, or it would be banned from the US. It was done so, following the concerns on Capitol Hil, that hinted that ByteDance poses a national security risk.
Concerns of legislators
In particular, legislators have been concerned that ByteDance could supply user information to the Chinese authorities to ensure political compliance or that the Chinese authorities could pressure ByteDance to skew TikTok’s suggestions to advertise state propaganda.
TikTok had sought a restraining order against the law in May when it said that the law violates the First Amendment rights of the platform’s over 170 million users in the US.
That lawsuit was joined by a group of individual TikTok creators who accused the company of cheating them on revenue share.
CNN reported that the court consolidated that lawsuit with claims from a group of individual TikTok creators.
During a hearing in September, the US government’s attorneys went further to claim that TikTok has full control over its feed and that ByteDance could use this control to alter the feed of American users.
In many ways, Friday’s decision hinged on deference to Congress, with the court concluding that lawmakers are acting well within their constitutional rights and following the proper procedure for passing the TikTok bill.
A major contentious feature of the case had been the offer that TikTok made to US national security officials, which TikTok said would address the spying risks.
During the litigation, TikTok also suggested that the US government was acting in bad faith as it negotiated with TikTok for several months before cutting off talks and then supporting the legislation recently signed by Biden.
US government lawyers, on the other hand, argued weakly that the draft deal should not be sufficient for addressing the security issues.
News
FBI Issues ‘Urgent’ Encryption Warning as Cyber Threats Escalate!
United States: In an unexpected turn of events, the FBI, along with CISA, has issued a sudden warning urging iPhone and Android users to begin using encrypted messages and calls whenever possible.
This marks a surprising shift from previous law enforcement positions, where agencies had argued that encrypted content hindered their ability to access information, even with a court order.
More about the news
Similar to other private messengers, Apple, Google, and Meta do not have access to content that is end-to-end encrypted.
The agency advises avoiding normal text messages over the network, and if they are via RCS, then those texts are not fully encrypted.
Although this rules out Apple’s new RCS option for messaging Androids, when messaging within iMessage (to other Apple users) or within Google Messages (to other Android users) is secure, forbes.com reported.
Though again, it was messaging that was responsible for most of the attention that followed in the wake of the FBI and CISA warnings, it also encompasses calls.
Most cellular calls are not completely encrypted, and each is vulnerable to interception, whether under the law or not.
This is resolved by using a platform like WhatsApp, Signal, or FaceTime if using iPhones.
Such calling, however, still exists but not as frequently, especially in the US and most European countries, as you would find many people use secure calling whenever they are traveling in Asia or Africa in particular due to distrusted networks.
What do we do now?
Apple is releasing iOS 18.2, which, for the first time, will allow users of iPhones – the world’s most popular smartphones – to transition from their device’s native messaging and calling apps, for example, forbes.com reported.
This basically means that when you click to call or message instead of the standard Phone or iMessage apps opening up, they won’t.
These two are calls and messages. I would suggest you switch as soon as iOS 18.2 gets released and demonstrated to be in the bottle.
Also, it should be left to messaging and calls on WhatsApp, although Signal or any other end-to-end encrypted application will work. We have two different environments – the environment for the messages and for the calls.
News
Bloodshed in US: Mass Shooting Claims Three Lives in Broad Daylight
The shooting in Chicago has insanely left three dead and five injured, and while the investigation is ongoing, no arrests have been made yet.
United States: A horrifying mass shooting erupted in the heart of Chicago on Monday afternoon, leaving three people dead and five others injured. The attack ultimately took place inside a home in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, sending shockwaves through the southwest side of the city.
As police scramble to uncover the motive, the community is left reeling from the violence that actually unfolded at around 2:10 p.m. The Chicago Police Department is investigating, but many questions remain unanswered.
Nobody has been arrested yet, the department said in a news alert, adding that an investigation is underway.
As reported by the USA TODAY, Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Jon Hein said at the press conference that, according to the police, it was a shooting that occurred at a party. He said that the victims were of a Hispanic background, aged between 21 and 35 years but was unable to establish if they were related.
There were no children present during the occurrence of the event.
Hein continued, saying, “We’re going to solve this crime and find the individuals that were responsible for this heinous terrible incident.”
Police officers reported discovering eight people who had been shot).
Cops arrived at the scene to find eight victims of shooting, three of which died in the scene, while the other at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said.
Police reported that one of the three men as 26 while the age of the other two remained unknown.
Two of the shooting victims who were basically transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, where a 25-year-old man is hospitalized in stable condition, and a 27-year-old woman is in critical condition, the department said. were also admitted at the UI Health Hospital in Chicago; the man was almost 31 years old, while the woman was 21 years old, and both are in a good condition.
A female was rushed to the hospital of the University of Chicago Medical Center in a critical condition from her injuries inflicted by several gunshot to her shoulder, right hip, left hip and left thigh.
TikTok’s Loses Last Chance: Court Rules in Favor of US Ban!
FBI Issues ‘Urgent’ Encryption Warning as Cyber Threats Escalate!
Bloodshed in US: Mass Shooting Claims Three Lives in Broad Daylight
Lake Effect Snowstorm Hits Hard: 5 Feet of Snow, Major Hazards Ahead!
