Category: Technology

TikTok on Friday said it was enabling Android users in the United States to download and access the popular short video app via package kits available on its website. This move aims to help users circumvent the ongoing restrictions imposed on the popular platform in the country. Since January 19, a US law has prevented Apple and Google from reinstating the ByteDance-owned app in their stores, demanding that its Chinese parent company either divest the app on national security grounds or face a ban. President Donald Trump, who took office…

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Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek disrupted the global industry and sent billions in US tech stocks tumbling with the launch of its R1 programme, which it claims was developed using cost-effective, less advanced Nvidia semiconductors. Now, governments from Washington to Seoul are racing to ban the Chinese app from official devices, citing concerns over potential leaks of sensitive information through generative AI services. AFP takes a look at what’s going on: Who has banned DeepSeek? First to act was Rome, which launched an investigation into DeepSeek and said it was blocking the…

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WASHINGTON: Bennu, a rocky object that is categorised as a near-Earth asteroid, is currently around 186,000 miles (299,000 km) distance from Earth, its closest. With a one in 2,700 possibility of colliding with Earth in September 2182, astronomers predicted that it may get even closer in the future. What if Bennu were to hit our planet, then? According to recent studies based on computer simulations of an impact by an asteroid like Bennu, which has a diameter of about three-tenths of a mile (500 metres), it would not be pretty.…

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US lawmakers Thursday brought forth a bill to ban Chinese artificial intelligence program DeepSeek from being used on government devices over concerns about user data security. Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, introduced the bill along with Darin LaHood, an Illinois Republican, citing an “alarming threat to US national security” and warning of “direct ties” between DeepSeek and the Chinese government. The bill comes after a Wednesday report by Feroot Security, a US cybersecurity firm, found that the AI model contains hidden code capable of transmitting user data to…

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WhatsApp is introducing a new feature for forming new communities from the chats tab and it is available to some beta testers who downloaded the newest update through the Play Store. It adds a new shortcut to the overflow menu allowing users to quickly access the community creation option without clicking the floating action button. The feature is easily visible and accessible to users of the chatting app. The feature adds a new shortcut to the overflow menu which allows users to quickly access the community creation option without needing…

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to leave a mark in deep space exploration with the profound signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA), as per an official statement released on Thursday. The agreement between the involved was signed on February 5, 2025 in the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari and President Xi Jinping. The MoU opens doors for Pakistan’s first indigenous lunar rover to be part of China’s Chang’e-8 mission, set for launch in 2028.…

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WASHINGTON: Italy’s government on Wednesday said that seven mobile phone users in the country had been targeted by spyware on Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp messaging service, and it called the incident “particularly serious”. After reports that a journalist and a well-known migrant rescue activist had been targeted, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said it asked the National Cybersecurity Agency to look into the affair, while denying any involvement. Luca Casarini, co-founder of the Mediterranea Saving Humans charity, showed Reuters the spyware alert he had received from WhatsApp on Friday. It was…

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SAN FRANCISCO: Google parent company Alphabet has stopped making diversity and inclusion a workplace priority, according to a filing on Wednesday with US regulators. The internet giant’s annual 10-K report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), no longer contained a commitment to workplace inclusion and diversity that had been there the prior year. “At Alphabet, we are committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve,” the removed line read. Internally, Alphabet…

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SEOUL: South Korean ministries and police on Thursday said they were blocking DeepSeek’s access to work computers, after the Chinese AI startup did not respond to a data watchdog request about how it manages user information. Claiming it matches the capacity of artificial intelligence pace-setters in the United States for a fraction of the investment, upending the global industry, DeepSeek launched its R1 chatbot last month. South Korea, along with countries such as France and Italy, have asked questions about DeepSeek’s data practices, submitting a written request for information about…

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India’s finance ministry has instructed its employees to refrain from using AI tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek for official work, citing concerns over the confidentiality and security of government data, according to an internal advisory. Similar restrictions have been imposed by countries like Australia and Italy, which have flagged data security risks associated with DeepSeek. Reports of the advisory emerged on social media on Tuesday, just ahead of OpenAI chief Sam Altman’s scheduled visit to India on Wednesday, during which he is set to meet the IT minister. “It…

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