Opinion: Seeing is not believing: Protecting your company from deepfakesBy MICHAEL R. SISAK NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs tried for a third time Friday to persuade a judge to let him leave jail while he awaits his sex trafficking trial, but a decision won’t come until next week. Judge Arun Subramanian said at a hearing that he will release his decision on Combs’ latest request for bail after Combs’ lawyers and federal prosecutors file letters addressing outstanding issues. Those letters are due at noon on Monday, Subramanian said. Combs’ lawyers pitched having him await trial under around-the-clock surveillance either his mansion on an island near Miami Beach or — after the judge scoffed at that location — an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Their plan essentially amounts to putting Combs on house arrest, with strict limits on who he has contact with. But prosecutors argue that Combs has routinely flouted jail rules and can’t be trusted not to interfere with witnesses or the judicial process. “The argument that he’s a lawless person who doesn’t follow instructions isn’t factually accurate,” Combs lawyer Anthony Ricco argued. “The idea that he’s an out-of-control individual who has to be detained isn’t factually accurate.” Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings. His trial is slated to begin May 5. The Bad Boy Records founder remains locked up at a Brooklyn federal jail, where he spent his Nov. 4 birthday. Two other judges previously concluded that Combs would be a danger to the community if he is released and an appeals court judge last month denied Combs’ immediate release while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals weighs his bail request. Friday’s hearing was the second time Combs was in court this week. On Tuesday, a judge blocked prosecutors from using as evidence papers that were seized from his cell during jail-wide sweep for contraband and weapons at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Related Articles As he entered through a side door, Combs waved to relatives including his mother and several of his children in the courtroom gallery, tapping his hand to his heart and blowing kisses at them. He then hugged his lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo, before taking a seat at the defense table. He was not handcuffed or shackled and wore a beige jail uniform, occasionally pulling a pair of reading glasses from his pocket as he peered at papers in front of him. Prosecutors maintain that no bail conditions will mitigate the “risk of obstruction and dangerousness to others” of releasing Combs from jail. Prosecutors contend that while locked up the “I’ll Be Missing You” artist has orchestrated social media campaigns aimed at tainting the jury pool. They allege that he has also attempted to publicly leak materials he thinks would be helpful to his case and is contacting potential witnesses via third parties. “Simply put, the defendant cannot be trusted,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik argued. Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos countered that, given the strict release conditions proposed, “it would be impossible for him not to follow rules.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a law that allows those who sign up to fight in Ukraine to write off unpaid debts worth almost $100,000, the government announced. The new legislation will be a strong motivation for some to join up, experts said, as Russia seeks new ways to recruit fighters for the nearly three-year conflict grinding through troops. The new legislation will allow those who sign a one-year contract to fight in Ukraine after December 1 to free themselves of existing bad debts. It also covers their spouses. The law concerns debts where a court order for collection was issued and enforcement proceedings began before December 1, 2024. The total amount of unpaid debt that can be covered is 10 million rubles, around $96,000 at current rates. Parliament approved the bill earlier this month. The legislation will largely concern younger Russians of fighting age, since those in their 30s and younger are most likely to have loans. Russia has extremely high interest rates for loans and many Russians have almost no cash savings, although the proportion of home owners is relatively high. "Previously (for those fighting) there was only provision for taking repayment holidays on loans," Sergei Krivenko of advocacy group Citizen Army Law told Vazhniye Istorii Telegram channel. The new legislation applies to those who are conscripted for national service and those mobilised for the so-called "special military operation", Krivenko said. Conscripts cannot be sent to the front line but can choose to sign a contract to join the professional army and be sent to fight in Ukraine. Russian authorities "are strengthening the motivation to sign a contract," political analyst Georgy Bovt wrote on Telegram. The legislation provides "another way to get rid of an unbearable burden of credit, at least for several hundred thousand people," Bovt wrote. Over 13 million Russians have three or more loans, according to a central bank report released last month covering the first two quarters. This was up 20 percent on the same period last year. The average amount owed by those with three or more loans is 1.4 million rubles ($13,400 at current rates). Many start with a bank loan and then apply for further loans from microfinance organisations. Russians serving on the front line are already paid far more than the national average. Ukraine also has legislation allowing those fighting to get preferential terms for loans and in some cases to write off debts. bur/twTwo Celtics superstars will play tonight: star bench player scratched | Sporting NewsAmerican has rolled out boarding technology that alerts gate agents with an audible sound if a passenger tries to scan a ticket ahead of their assigned group. Subscribe to continue reading this article. Already subscribed? To login in, click here.
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Delaware judge reaffirms ruling that invalidated massive Tesla pay package for Elon MuskNovember 23, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlightedthe following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source written by researcher(s) proofread by Anna Nisi, The Conversation Imagine you are a blue whale swimming up the California coast, as you do every spring. You are searching for krill in the Santa Barbara Channel , a zone that teems with fish, kelp forests, seagrass beds and other undersea life, but also vibrates with noise from ship traffic . Suddenly, the noise gets louder. You start to make a slow, shallow dive, but without much urgency —after all, your species evolved over millions of years without this mysterious noise, so why would you know what to do when you hear it? A minute later, you are fatally struck by a container ship . Your body slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean, where it will nourish deep-sea creatures for decades but will never be seen by humans again. Indeed, your death goes unnoticed ; the vessel barely registers the impact of hitting a member of the largest animal species on Earth. Collisions with ships are a critical threat to many large whale species. While these events are difficult to study, scientists estimate that thousands of whales are killed by ships yearly . In some regions, whales die from vessel strikes at rates that exceed what is considered sustainable after decades of whaling. Collisions with vessels threaten some critically endangered species . Research and experience show that simple measures can reduce these collisions —for example, rerouting shipping lanes to avoid important areas for whales, or reducing vessel speeds. But to implement these interventions, scientists and policymakers need to know where whales are most at risk. Mapping risk to whales In a newly published study in Science , colleagues and I mapped global ship-strike risk for four species of Earth's largest whales: blue, fin, humpback and sperm. Within each species' range, we found that vessels traveled the equivalent of thousands of times the distance to the moon and back every year. Our maps reveal widespread risk of vessel collisions in areas including the U.S. West Coast, the Mediterranean Sea and the northern Indian Ocean. These zones already have documented high levels of ship strikes . We also found many other regions with similar levels of risk that are less studied and recognized. They include several stretches along the coastlines of South America and southern Africa, and the area around the Azores off the coast of Portugal. Most high-risk areas are unprotected Whales are largely unprotected from vessel collisions around the world. We identified collision-risk hot spots—areas in the top 1% of predicted risk globally that represent the riskiest places for each species. We found that fewer than 7% of collision-risk hot spots had put measures in place to reduce collisions, such as limiting vessel speeds or requiring ships to avoid certain areas. Exceptions include the west and east coasts of North America, as well as the Mediterranean, which have higher levels of ship-strike management. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter— daily or weekly . Where such measures exist, they are often voluntary. Mandatory restrictions on speed cover just 0.54% of collision-risk hot spots for blue whales, 0.27% for humpback whales and none of the hot spots for fin or sperm whales. For each species, we found that ship-strike risk was higher within exclusive economic zones —areas up to 200 nautical miles from coastlines, in which each country has exclusive jurisdiction over marine resources —than on the high seas. This can make it easier to implement conservation and management measures in these areas. Within exclusive economic zones, individual countries can either adopt voluntary vessel measures or propose mandatory changes through the International Maritime Organization , which regulates international shipping. There is a lot of opportunity for countries to protect whales in their national waters. However, since political boundaries mean nothing to whales, the most effective approach would be for neighboring countries to coordinate efforts to reduce ship-strike risk across whale migratory routes . We also found high levels of ship-strike risk within existing marine protected areas —zones where countries have adopted various measures to conserve and manage sea life. Most of these marine protected areas were created to protect sea life from fishing, but very few place any restrictions or regulations on shipping. When marine protected areas contain high levels of ship-strike risk, governments could add such measures to the protected areas' missions. Benefits of protecting whales Protecting whales from ships would benefit other species too. Vessels can strike many marine species , including seals, sea turtles, sharks, fish, penguins and dolphins. Marine shipping is the top source of underwater noise , which is a major threat to marine life . Underwater noise can disrupt feeding, interfere with communication and cause stress for many species. Vessels run more quietly at slower speeds , so speed-reduction measures can reduce noise pollution as well as collision risk. Humans can also benefit from slowing down and rerouting ships. When vessels travel more slowly, their fuel efficiency increases, reducing their greenhouse gas emissions . The marine shipping industry currently produces carbon emissions comparable to those from aviation . Slowing vessels down also reduces emissions of harmful air pollutants that threaten human health in coastal areas and are estimated to contribute to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths annually. In 2023, for example, vessels cooperating with a voluntary slowdown in California cut 45,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and 1,250 metric tons of nitrogen oxides, and they reduced the risk to whales by more than half. Changing vessel routes can make waters safer for local fishermen. In Sri Lanka, for example, heavy ship traffic hugs the coast, overlapping with local fishermen as well as with foraging blue whales. Collisions with cargo ships have killed several fishermen there in recent years. In response, some shipping companies are voluntarily shifting their lanes farther offshore to reduce the risk of colliding with humans and whales. In our interconnected world, 90% of consumer goods travel by ship before they get to market. Most items that consumers in wealthy nations purchase in their daily lives have traveled across the ocean at some point. Our study shows that ship-strike risk is widespread—but in our view, protecting whales from these collisions is a solvable issue. And by protecting whales, humans can also protect themselves. Journal information: Science Provided by The Conversation This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article .