gtag('config', 'UA-140520347-1');
Technology Trending War

Ukraine hit by Russian missiles day after West’s offer of tanks

By 52 0

A day after the US and Germany promised to provide tanks to support Kyiv in its fight against the invasion, Russia unleashed a barrage of missiles at Ukraine on Thursday.

According to the state’s emergency agency, 35 structures were hit across multiple locations, resulting in 11 fatalities and 11 injuries. It was noted that the Kyiv region had sustained the worst damage to residential buildings.

Additionally, two energy facilities in the Odesa region were struck, according to officials. Following the UK’s promise to send Challenger 2 battle tanks, the barrage occurred as Russia claimed it perceived the new military support as “direct” Western involvement in the conflict.

According to the commander of the Ukrainian army, Moscow launched 55 air and sea-based missiles in what was a protracted and extensive attack.

Following weeks of international pressure, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz committed to give Ukraine 14 Leopard 2 tanks the day before. They are frequently regarded as some of the best battle tanks on the market.

It’s anticipated that the heavy weapons will show up in late March or early April. Following this announcement, President Joe Biden overturned long-standing Pentagon claims that the US would not send 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks to the Ukrainian battlefield.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, welcomed the action but urged for the tanks to arrive quickly. He also urged the West to send fighter jets and long-range missiles.

But for tanks to be “game-changer”, 300 to 400 of them would be needed, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Picture Courtesy: Google/images are subject to copyright

Entertainment News Technology

Ed Sheeran releases tribute to friend Jamal Edwards on SBTV

By 49 0

Nearly a year after Jamal Edwards’ passing, Ed Sheeran released a song called F64 in his honour. It was made available on Edwards’ music service SBTV, where Sheeran first found success more than a decade ago.

The video for the song was shot at Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge stadium because Edwards had been a lifetime supporter of the team. Brenda Edwards, the mother of the DJ and businesswoman, has also been advocating for greater CPR training in order to bring attention to her son’s passing.

In February 2022, Jamal Edwards, age 31, passed away from a heart arrhythmia after using recreational drugs.

Brenda Edwards said she was proud to continue on her son’s legacy and that he always helped people when speaking on BBC Radio 5Live on Thursday.

“It’s spurred me on to continue to do the same that he used to do – he had such a big heart and he was so giving to so many.

“I was honoured to have the time with Jamal, he inspired me on a daily basis and his legacy continues to inspire me and so many people,” she said.

On his YouTube music station SBTV, Jamal Edwards is credited for helping to start the careers of Dave, Jessie J, and Sheeran.

He offered guidance and funding for the creation of music and videos for up-and-coming musicians.

Early in Sheeran’s career, Edwards supported his music, and in 2010, he uploaded a performance video to YouTube.

Stuart Camp, who is now his manager, noticed it and gave him a record deal with Atlantic.

Sheeran raps about spending more than a week with Brenda Edwards after Jamal died in his freestyle song, which has a language advisory.

With Jamal’s name written out on stadium seats visible in the background, the 31-year-old Grammy Award winner is illuminated in the stadium by a circle of candles.

Picture Courtesy: Google/images are subject to copyright

News Technology Trending

Ukraine Invasion: Facebook Access Restricted by Russia

By 267 0

During the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has restricted access to Facebook due to the platform’s stance on the accounts of several Moscow-backed news outlets. Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator, accused the network of “censorship” and violating “Russian citizens’ rights and freedoms.”

Facebook stated that it would not stop fact-checking and labelling content from state-owned news outlets. The announcement came just one day after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. It’s unclear what the regulator restrictions mean or how much Facebook parent company Meta’s other platforms – WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram – are affected. The regulator had demanded that Facebook remove the restrictions it imposed on state news agency RIA, state TV channel Zvezda, and pro-Kremlin news sites Lenta.Ru and Gazeta.Ru on 24th February.

Many state-owned Russian media outlets have painted a largely positive picture of Russia’s military advances in Ukraine, describing the invasion as a “special military operation” forced on Moscow. On 24th February, Meta announced the establishment of a “special operations centre” to monitor content related to the Ukrainian conflict.

Pic Courtesy: google/ images are subject to copyright

europe times
News Technology

Facebook comes with new rules ahead of 2020 US election fears

By 621 0

The social media giant, Facebook tightens the rules ahead of the next US presidential election, reports BBC.

The company has introduced new political advertising rules, in a bid to halt exploitation in the US elections.

Now, for the political advertisers, to obtain a “confirmed organisation” label, they have to verify their identity.

This is marked as an attempt, to stop creating misleading or inaccurate ads to influence voters.

These new rules of Facebook will also be applicable to Instagram, which is a property of Facebook.

The political parties are using the ‘paid-for’ Facebook ads, as a tool for their campaigns to target voters.

A recent survey revealed that, over $70m (£57.3m) had been spent on Facebook ads by the 2016 Trump campaign, during the election period.

Political advertisers has been required in the US by the social media giant put a “paid for” disclaimer on their ads since 2018, but the changes have not completely stamped out improper use.

Image courtesy: vox .com / images are subject to copyright

europe times
News Technology

Job-search tool of Google being investigated by EU

By 632 0

The job search tool of Google is being investigated by the European Union as they got several claims, saying the competitors has been driven out of the market.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner has raised a question whether it was fair the Google had “such control over the success or failure” of its rivals.

At the top of searches, the tech giant places a widget, circumventing the need to click through to job sites.

Brussels has been asked by Twenty-three job-search sites, to take necessary action last month.

Google is not charging any fee for this facility now. The competitors fears that this is a plan to gain market share before monetising its business model.

Image courtesy: searchengineland .com / images are subject to copyright

europe times
News Technology

Flouting of privacy law using facial recognition – School fined in Sweden

By 763 0

A school in Sweden, which used facial recognition for tracking student’s attendance has been fined 200,000 Swedish Krona (£16,800, $20,700) by the Swedish Data Protection Authority (DPA).

The fine has been issued on the school for for flouting a privacy law.

The school used a trial session which included 22 high school students being detected when each of them entered the classroom.

It is for the first time that a GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) fine has been issued in Sweden.

The GDPR came into force last year and it has issued some restrictions in using facial images and other bio-metric information.

If the school had carried out a longer period trial, the fine would have been bigger, said the DPA.

To a Swedish state broadcaster, the local authorities said that when calculated the time spent by teachers for taking attendance, they got an average of 17,000 hours a year. The authorities explained that they were just trying find out a way to speed up the attendance reporting.

Image courtesy: technewsworld .com / images are subject to copyright

europe times
News Technology

Facebook asked to close down the groups that seeks fake Amazon reviews

By 624 0

The tech giant Facebook is facing a problem in closing down the groups on its site where fake Amazon reviews are sold, claims ‘Which?’ the consumer group.

Facebook, in June was urged by CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) to tackle sale of fake reviews.

Certain uncovered active groups are recruiting people to write fake testimonies, claims Which?.

The social media giant claimed that the reported groups are being removed. They said that investigations are still going on regarding this issue.

CMA, previously had found some evidence that there is a thriving marketplace for fake and misleading online reviews. CMA reportedly said that during the period of November 2018 to June 2019, they had found about 26 Facebook groups in total, where people offered to write fake reviews or businesses recruited people to write fake and misleading reviews on popular shopping and review sites.

Which? said that for the investigations regarding this issue, it joined 10 separate Facebook groups looking for recruits.

In a short period of 30 days, the recruiters added more than 55,000 posts to the groups that offered free products to people who wrote highly-rated reviews on Amazon, said Which?.

Natalie Hitchins, the head of products at Which? said, “It is deeply concerning that [Facebook] continues to leave customers exposed to poor quality or unsafe products boosted by misleading and disingenuous reviews”.

Image courtesy: variety .com / images are subject to copyright

europe times
Entertainment News Technology

Franky Zapata successfully crosses English Channel in fly-board

By 1120 0

Franky Zapata (40), French inventor and creator of Flyboard and Flyboard Air has succesfully completed his attempt to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered fly-board.

Zapata, who started his flying from Sangatte, near Calais, at 06:17 GMT on Sunday had landed in St Margaret’s Bay in Dover.

A kerosene-filled backpack has been used in the fly-board journey. Zapata crossed a distance of 22-mile (35.4-km) in 22 minutes.

Zapata was a former jet-ski champion. A previous attempt had been made by him on 25th of July this year, which was not successful. Several complications were faced by him regarding the refueling of the flying system.

Filled with emotions, he told the media, “We made a machine three years ago… and now we’ve crossed the Channel, it’s crazy. Whether this is a historic event or not, I’m not the one to decide that, time will tell”.

“The last five, six kilometres were pure pleasure, to see the [British] coast approaching like this”, he said to the French media while talking with his family, after the flying.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE !!!

Image / Video courtesy: Evening Standard, Press TV / images and videos are subject to copyright

europe times
Games News Sports

Cristiano Ronaldo will not face rape charges in US

By 751 0

The US prosecutors said that he Football star Cristiano Ronaldo will not face charges after being accused of sexual assault. It is reported that they do not have enough evidence to proceed with the case.

Kathryn Mayorga (34), a former model claims that she had been raped by Cristiano Ronaldo in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

Mayorga claimed that the Ronaldo initially used “fixers” to stop her pursuing criminal charges, including paying her $375,000 to keep quiet.

Reports said that she had made an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo in 2010, but finds to reopen the case in 2018. Ronaldo had denied all the allegations.

Las Vegas prosecutors on Monday said that the claims could not “be proven beyond reasonable doubt”.

The Clark County District Attorney’s Office said that Mayorga had submitted a report to them on 13th of June 2009, saying that she had been the victim of a sexual assault. She refused to state where the incident happened or who the attacker was.

Police said that they were unable “to conduct any meaningful investigation”, due to this reason. The criminal investigation is now reportedly closed.

Image courtesy: independent.ie / images are subject to copyright

europe times
News Technology

Instagram to hide the number of likes to ‘remove pressure’

By 718 0

Instagram is hiding the Instagram likes’ numbers in some countries to “remove pressure” of the app users, considering their mental health. The countries includes Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Brazil.

A similar test move had been occurred in Canada in the month of May. The younger people are being severely affected by the social media ‘likes’, and hence may be lead to some mental stress.

Facebook, the Instagram owner is now on a try to reduce this situation by hiding the total number of likes obtained for a particular post on Instagram. Instagram is testing the new approach with users in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Brazil.

In the current situation, the Instagram post shows a total number of likes gained. But when the trial is on, the users will see a user name “and others” below posts.

The new system allows the users to see the number of likes of their own post, but the followers will not be able to see the like numbers. In the same way, you won’t be able to see other’s post likes.

Image courtesy: cnet .com, giphy / images are subject to copyright