Following two weeks of negotiations, the United Nations International Seabed Authority has decided that it will start taking permit applications in July from companies that want to mine the ocean’s floor. The undersea mining will be conducted to extract key battery materials — cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese — from potato-sized rocks called “poly-metallic nodules” found…
Greetings from Tyler, This week will go down in history, for more than one reason. Well-known and respected commentators are saying that there’s no going back. If the ruling party decides to use the levers of state power to bring down an opponent, then the primary difference between America and the third world no longer…
China and Brazil have reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the United States dollar as an intermediary, the Brazilian government said on Wednesday. The deal, Beijing’s latest salvo against the almighty greenback, will enable China, the top rival to US economic hegemony, and Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America, to…
At least 11 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning transgender medical procedures for minors, including Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia Kentucky and neighboring West Virginia on Wednesday became the latest states to enact laws restricting individuals under the age of 18 from accessing transgender medical…
Now that a grand jury has voted to charge the former president, here’s what comes next. NEW YORK — Former president Donald Trump has been indicted in New York on charges related to payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital affair, according to his lawyer. Joe Tacopina, a lawyer…
Evan Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison as FSB says he was ‘collecting classified information’ Russian authorities have arrested a US journalist working in the country and accused him of espionage, a charge that carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Russia’s FSB security service said Evan Gershkovich, a well respected…
Decision seen to tighten ties to Beijing and strengthen Riyadh’s pivot east Saudi Arabia has agreed to join the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) as a “dialogue partner,” the kingdom’s state media announced. This decision is seen as strengthening Riyadh’s pivot east and tightening ties to Beijing. Regarded as a neutral actor in Middle East disputes,…
Finland and Sweden will become “targets” for Moscow if they join NATO, warned the Russian ambassador in Stockholm. After their accession, “the total length of the borders between Russia and NATO will almost double”, Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev said on Tuesday. “If it still seems to anyone that this will somehow improve Europe’s security, rest assured…
Elon Musk and 1,125 people, including AI experts, have signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on advanced AI development. The letter, issued by the non-profit Future of Life Institute, called for AI labs to pause training any tech more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4, which launched earlier this month. The letter also called…
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said the Pope recently “complained of some respiratory difficulties” before visiting a hospital in Rome Pope Francis has been hospitalized with a respiratory infection, according to the Vatican. The 86-year-old pontiff will spend “a few days” at a hospital in Rome, according to the BBC and CNN. In a statement, Vatican…