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Wimbledon Champion Novak Djokovic, Still ‘Not Planning to Get Vaccinated,’ Set to Skip U.S. Open
Just hours after winning his fourth straight title at Wimbledon with a four-set victory over Nick Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic confirmed he has no plans to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and will not be playing the U.S. Open unless the restrictions to enter the country are eased or he is given a medical exemption.
“I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter United States or exemption,” Djokovic said Sunday. “I don’t know. I don’t think exemption is realistically possible. If that is a possibility, I don’t know what exemption would be about.”
Having won all three of the first majors in 2021, Djokovic’s bid for the elusive Calendar Grand Slam was spoiled by Daniil Medvedev in last year’s U.S. Open final. He was then unable to play at the Australian Open to begin this year after being deported from the country.
Elon Musk Walks Away From $44 Billion Twitter Deal; Twitter to Sue
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has filed to exit a multibillion-dollar deal with Twitter over concerns about its spam bots, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing shows.
Musk’s lawyers argued that, despite multiple requests from the tech billionaire, Twitter failed to provide information on the pervasiveness of the social media platform’s bot accounts that is “fundamental to Twitter’s business and financial performance” and is “necessary to consummate the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement.”
Musk’s July 8 announcement ended a tumultuous couple of months in which his $44 billion deal with Twitter hit snags over concerns of fake accounts on the platform.
China to Place Electronic Tags on COVID Patients to Stop Them Leaving Home
From July 17, Hong Kong will require all COVID-19 patients under home quarantine to wear an electronic bracelet to stop them from leaving their homes, the city’s new health minister Lo Chung-Mau announced Monday.
Lo, approved by Beijing last month as part of new Chief Executive John Lee’s Cabinet, also said Monday that the Hong Kong government “recommends” rolling out in part the health code adopted in mainland China, that prevents COVID patients from visiting public venues, and requires mandatory quarantine for overseas visitors, AFP reported.
The measure will turn the QR codes of COVID-positive patients red on their LeaveHomeSafe app, and travelers will have yellow QR codes, Lo said, noting that it would make it easier to identify those who are infected and those who have come from overseas.
Hong Kong’s government used electronic wristbands earlier this year to monitor COVID patients undergoing home isolation, as part of measures that were implemented to battle rising infections amid a fifth wave.
New COVID Strain Could Push Cities Back to Mask Mandates
Cities across the United States might be urged to bring back mask mandates as the new Omicron subvariants continue to spread.
Concerns around another surge in COVID cases prompted some cities to discuss reintroducing indoor mask mandates as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated its risk category for some counties.
An indoor mask mandate might be reinstated in Los Angeles County as soon as late July if a high COVID risk is reached and remains there for two consecutive weeks, The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.
Could TikTok Charge Users to View Your Videos? The Law Says Yes
“At LinkedIn, we’re committed to respecting what’s yours,” says the narrator of a video titled “Who owns your content? You do.” They continue: “So we’ll always ask your permission before using your content in the ads, publications or websites of other companies.”
This should go without saying. Our content should not be used in third-party ads without our knowledge or consent. Social media sites should not use content we post for business reasons we didn’t intend.
Yet from a legal perspective, social media sites do have broad rights to use any information you provide. “You own your Content,” promises the Twitter Terms of Service, followed by a long paragraph granting Twitter the rights to use, adapt, share and distribute your content worldwide.
TikTok, likewise, claims “an unconditional irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully transferable, perpetual worldwide license” to your content. Instagram claims not only a broad license to your content, but also permission to show your username, photo, likes, and relationships in connection with third-party ads.
Exclusive: Myanmar’s Junta Rolls out Chinese Camera Surveillance Systems in More Cities
Myanmar’s junta government is installing Chinese-built cameras with facial recognition capabilities in more cities across the country, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Since the February 2021 coup, local authorities have started new camera surveillance projects for at least five cities including Mawlamyine — the country’s fourth-largest city, according to information from the three people who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals by the junta.
The junta is planning camera surveillance systems for cities in each of Myanmar’s seven states and seven regions, said one of the sources who was briefed on the junta’s plans on two occasions by different people.
8 Richest Tech Leaders Lost More Than $250 Billion in 2022: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos Take a Hit
It’s no secret tech leaders wield a large influence when ranking the world’s richest people.
Eight of the top 20 billionaires in the world earned their wealth through the tech sector, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index. Of those tech billionaires, seven are among the top 10 richest overall.
According to Bloomberg, the combined net worth of the eight tech billionaires in the top 20 plunged by $256 billion, roughly equal to the gross domestic product of New Zealand, based on World Bank data.
Here’s a breakdown of the tech leaders on Bloomberg’s list as of Friday.
U.S. Defense Firm Ends Talks to Buy NSO Group’s Surveillance Technology
The American defense contractor L3 Harris has abandoned talks to acquire NSO Group’s surveillance technology after the White House said any potential deal raised “serious counterintelligence and security concerns for the U.S. government.”
The White House opposition, which was first reported by the Guardian and its media partners last month, was seen as an insurmountable obstacle to any transaction, according to a person familiar with the talks who said the potential acquisition was now “certainly” off the table.
The news, which is being reported by the Guardian, Washington Post and Haaretz, follows a tumultuous period for the Israeli surveillance company, which was placed on a U.S. blacklist by president Joe Biden’s administration last November after the commerce department’s bureau of industry and security determined that the firm had acted “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the U.S.”
Researchers in China Claim They Have Developed ‘Mind-Reading’ Artificial Intelligence That Can Measure Loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, Reports Say
Researchers at China’s Comprehensive National Science Center in Hefei claimed to have developed “mind-reading” artificial intelligence capable of measuring citizens’ loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), The Sunday Times U.K. first reported.
In a now-deleted video and article, the institute said the software could measure party members’ reactions to “thought and political education” by analyzing facial expressions and brain waves, according to The Times.
The results can then be used to “further solidify their confidence and determination to be grateful to the party, listen to the party and follow the party,” the researchers said, per the report. The post was taken down following a public outcry from Chinese citizens, according to a VOA article published Saturday.
Late last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce sanctioned several Chinese institutes for helping develop biotechnology including “purported brain-control weaponry,” as Insider previously reported.
Scientists Are Combining AI and Brainwaves to Create Ghost Imaging
The future is here, and it is every bit as cool and creepy as you might have hoped.
X-ray vision has always been pretty far down on my list of superpowers I’d like to possess, far behind time travel and reading minds. But x-ray vision might be closer to reality than the other options, and I’ll take what I can get. Researchers at the University of Glasgow are working to combine artificial intelligence and human brainwaves to identify objects around the corner — objects that humans can’t normally see because it’s around a corner. It’s called a “ghost imaging” system and will be presented at the Optica Imaging and Applied Optics Congress this month.
“We believe that this work provides ideas that one day might be used to bring together human and artificial intelligence,” Daniele Faccio, a professor of quantum technologies at the school of physics and astronomy at the University of Glasgow told Optica. “
The research is part of non-line-of-sight imaging, according to New Atlas, which is a branch of technology that allows people to see objects that are covered up. Sometimes it requires a laser light being beamed onto a surface, which sounds a lot like a power Superman might have.
