Author: KnowledgeHippo

Mediators in Cairo were pushing Tuesday for a deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip as international concern grew over Israel’s plan to launch a ground offensive on the southern town of Rafah, where nearly half the territory’s population has sought refuge.President Biden sent CIA Director William J. Burns to join the talks and said he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar to “move this forward” last month.The negotiations took place as the United Nations, the United States and other countries have expressed growing concern over the prospect…

New York City public schools on Tuesday began their first major experiment with distance learning since the coronavirus pandemic. More than 900,000 students were asked to participate in virtual classes during the winter storm.It didn’t go well.Many teachers, parents and students trying to log in found themselves locked out of their classrooms. Instead of joining their video meetings, they received an error message: “The service you are trying to reach is temporarily unavailable.””It seems like a very broad issue,” said Jay Brown, an elected parent leader in South Brooklyn who was trying to help his kids connect while trying to…

Upgrades to aging utility equipment and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have combined to drive up electricity costs across the country, with the national average rising year over year.As a business reporter for The New York Times, I examine the impact of rising electricity costs on consumer bills. With my colleague Madeleine Ngo, I recently looked at how higher rates have strained the budgets of low-income consumers — many of whom can’t afford clean energy technologies like solar panels and electric vehicles.We’re planning more stories about the rising cost of energy and how it’s affecting people across the country.…

OpenAI gives ChatGPT better memory.The San Francisco artificial intelligence start-up said Tuesday it is releasing a new version of its chatbot that will remember what users say so it can use that information in future conversations.If a user mentions a daughter, Lina, who is about to turn 5, likes the color pink and enjoys jellyfish, for example, ChatGPT can store that information and retrieve it as needed. When the same user asks the bot to “create a birthday card for my daughter,” it can create a card with pink jellyfish that says “Happy Birthday, Lina!”With this new technology, OpenAI continues…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering relaxing its recommendations on how long people should self-isolate after testing positive for the coronavirus, another reflection of changing attitudes and norms as the pandemic subsides.Under the proposed guidelines, Americans would no longer be advised to self-isolate for five days before returning to work or school. Instead, they may return to their routine if they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without medication, the same pattern that applies to influenza and respiratory syncytial viruses.The proposal would align the CDC’s advice with the revised isolation recommendations in Oregon and California.…

Israeli special operations forces stormed a building in the southern Gaza city of Rafah early Monday to free two hostages held by Hamas, the military said, as Israel launched a wave of attacks overnight that killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah, according to with the Gaza Ministry of Health. .The operations were greeted with excitement in Israel and sadness and foreboding in the Gaza Strip, where more than a million Palestinians have flocked to Rafah, fleeing their homes and seeking refuge from Israeli military action further north. Palestinians feared the raid – and the accompanying death toll – foreshadowed a…

The resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay on Tuesday followed a long list of plagiarism allegations that appeared to steadily erode her support among the university’s faculty, students and alumni. But for many of Dr. Gay, her departure was also a proxy victory in the escalating ideological battle over American higher education.The downing of Dr. Gay was a “a huge scalpin the “struggle for cultural sanity,” wrote Josh Hammer, a conservative talk show host and writer, on the social media platform X.”A crushing loss for PPCrevivalism, anti-Semitism & university elitism,” wrote conservative commentator Liz Wheeler. “This is the beginning of…

Bob Edwards, NPR’s “Morning Edition” host for nearly a quarter century, whose rich baritone and cool demeanor infused his radio broadcasts with authority reaching millions of listeners, died Saturday in Arlington, Virginia. At the age of 76.His death, in a rehabilitation facility, resulted from heart failure and complications from bladder cancer, said his wife, Windsor Johnston.Mr. Edwards, a Kentucky native who knew from a young age that he wanted to be in radio, joined NPR in 1974, during the Watergate hearings. That year, he became co-anchor of “All Things Considered,” the public broadcaster’s popular evening newsmagazine of interviews, analysis and…

Google, whose work in artificial intelligence has helped make it much easier to create and distribute AI-generated content, now wants to ensure that such content is also discoverable.The tech giant said Thursday it was joining an effort to develop credentials for digital content, a kind of “food label” that identifies when and how a photo, video, audio clip or other file was created or modified — among other AI The company will work with companies such as Adobe, BBC, Microsoft and Sony to improve technical standards.The announcement follows a similar promise announced Tuesday by Meta, which, like Google, has made…

Women who develop high blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to children who develop conditions that can compromise their heart health at a young age, scientists said Monday.By age 12, these children are more likely to be overweight or to be diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood sugar, compared to children whose mothers had uncomplicated pregnancies.Research highlights the strong link between healthy pregnancies and child health, although the study does not prove cause and effect. The findings also support the “fetal origins of adult disease” hypothesis, which suggests that many…