Category Archives: Transhuman News

"She was abusive. Emotionally, physically, I will say physically because sometimes she locked me in the room and slapped me. She didn't feed me. She didn't pay me."

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana In 2004, Tebogo 'Tebby' Kaisara was a 19-year-old living in her home country of Botswana, when she was promised a better life in America.

Her cousin, someone she trusted, promised her a scholarship for university and a job in St. Louis. Tebby was thrilled. She wanted to better herself and she thought coming to America would be a step in the right direction.

"I was excited, you know free scholarship, accommodations and a job. Those are the things I always wanted to better my life and to help my family," she said.

So she agreed. Her cousin got her documents ready for travel, and Tebby was sent to the airport. It was her first time traveling, but her cousin had provided her travel documents so she felt prepared.

But her hopefulness for a better education and life in America, was quickly diminished when she realized mid-flight, that the documents had been faked by her cousin.

"It was at this moment that I realized, that everything I had been told was a lie."

Upon arriving in Indianapolis, she realized she had no money, and no way to contact her family. So she followed the instructions her cousin had given her.

She took a taxi to an unknown woman's home.

"I was trying to figure out where I am, I was scared. I didn't know who is this lady," she said.

And this is where Tebby's life changed.

Upon arrival, at this woman's house, Tebby's documents were taken. She told Tebby they would be needed to enroll her in school. But Monday came and went, with no school.

And immediately, Tebby was put to work.

"She was abusive. Emotionally, physically, I will say physically because sometimes she locked me in the room and slapped me. She didn't feed me. She didn't pay me," she said.

Tebby was forced to work as a nanny for her trafficker. Her trafficker was an IU Student, also from Botswana. Tebby soon learned that her cousin was receiving payments for Tebby's work.

Tebby saw none of the money.

"It was hard for me to go out and ask for help because I did not know anyone. I am in a country, where I do not know anyone," she said.

Tebby fell into a depression during those 18 months. Her already small frame diminished to 80 pounds.

At one point Tebby was so ill, she needed to go to the hospital. So she called a friend she had met at Kroger to take her to the hospital.

And this is where Tebby's story begins to change.

Once her trafficker found Tebby had gone to the hospital she kicked her out.

"I was just in the street. I slept in the laundry room. But the next day, I met someone who helped me."

And now over the past 16 years, she has slowly been rebuilding herself. She put herself through college and graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education . She works four jobs, and is using her voice to advocate and speak on behalf of human trafficking victims.

"Seeing myself being able to work so hard and off for my school fees, by myself. Those are some of the things that help me look back and say I can do this and it motivates me to want to do more.

(If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733 to get help)

Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.

Visit link:
'Everything I had been told was a lie.' Human trafficking survivor rebuilds her life, advocates for other Kentuckiana victims - WHAS11.com

British illustrator and visual-effects director Gavin Rothery makes his feature debut with this artificial intelligence thriller: a tale of love, death and robotics that has some nicely creepy moments. Set in 2038, it centres on lonely computer scientist George Almore (Divergents Theo James), who is holed up in a remote research facility in Japan secretly working on an android version of his wife Jules (Stacy Martin); she has died in a car crash. His prototype, J3 (also played by Martin), is his closest yet to the real thing: a highly advanced humanoid with spookily pale skin who looks like she might be the ghost of his dead wife. Poor old J1 and J2, his earlier, clunkier prototypes: they look on bitterly as the newer, sleeker model gets all Georges attention.

The movie opens with sweeping helicopter shots over a snowy forest. Inside the concrete bunker-like facility, Rothery works wonders with a modest budget (he was behind the look of Duncan Joness Moon), creating an ungimmicky nearish future that looks a lot like today. When Georges corporate bosses threaten to pull the plug on his research, he hurries to put the finishing touches to J3 a task involving the contents of a fridge-like archive unit containing his dead wifes consciousness. George is surrounded by the robot versions of Jules. J1 is boxy, non-verbal and baby-like. J2 is a little more advanced: she can speak, and behaves like a teenager, huffing jealously when George removes her legs to give to J3.

In the end, George is playing God creating a woman not from a rib but electrical components and computer programming. The scripts take on this is romantic: here is a man wholl do whatever it takes to be reunited with his wife. I couldnt help finding it a bit more sinister; when J2 misbehaves, George orders her back to her docking station. He is in control. (Anyone for a posthuman wife? She comes with an off switch.) And the final ta-da revelation felt a bit contrived. Still, Archive is refreshingly non-cerebral and thats a compliment. Its a sci-fi movie that wants to entertain, not deliver a lecture on AI.

On digital formats from 18 January.

Read more:
Archive review anyone for a posthuman wife? She comes with an off switch - The Guardian

GitHubs human resources boss has resigned over the companys firing of a Jewish employee who warned his colleagues in Washington to watch out for Nazis.

The Microsoft-owned platform which software developers use to share and collaborate on code said its HR boss took personal accountability for the flap and stepped down Saturday after an outside investigation found failures in how the termination was carried out.

The unidentified employee was axed on Jan. 8, two days after he reportedly sent a Slack message urging DC-area co-workers to be careful as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

stay safe homies, Nazis are about, the staffer wrote, according to TechCrunch.

Photos from the Capitol riots showed the insurrectionists sporting a variety of Nazi and white supremacist symbols. For instance, authorities last week arrested Robert Keith Packer, a Virginia man seen wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the words Camp Auschwitz, an apparent reference to the notorious Nazi death camp.

Despite that fact, one of the staffers colleagues complained about his message and an HR representative claimed in firing him that he had shown a pattern of behavior that is not conducive to company policy, he told TechCrunch.

The employees ouster sparked a backlash among many of his GitHub colleagues, who circulated a letter demanding the company denounce Nazis and white supremacy, according to Business Insider.

GitHub commissioned an independent investigation on Jan. 11 that unearthed significant errors of judgment and procedure in the case, chief operating officer Erica Brescia said in a Sunday blog post.

In light of these findings, we immediately reversed the decision to separate with the employee and are in communication with his representative, she wrote. To the employee we wish to say publicly: we sincerely apologize.

GitHub did not immediately respond to an email Monday asking whether the staffer has returned to work there.

Brescia did not identify the HR executive who stepped down as a result of the probe, but Carrie Olesen was listed as the chief human resources officer on GitHubs website earlier this month, according to an archived version of the webpage. Olesens name no longer appeared on the site Monday morning.

Brescia also acknowledged that Nazis and white supremacists were part of the mob that carried out the appalling Capitol attack that left five people dead and forced lawmakers into hiding.

Employees are free to express concerns about Nazis, antisemitism, white supremacy or any other form of discrimination or harassment in internal discussions, Bresicas blog post said.

We expect all employees to be respectful, professional, and follow GitHub policies on discrimination and harassment.

Read more from the original source:
GitHub HR boss resigns over firing of Jewish staffer who warned of Nazis in DC - New York Post

Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity by Scott Galloway

Published in November of 2020.

Just one of the five chapters of Galloway's Post Corona is devoted to higher education. As that will be the chapter of most interest to IHE readers, this review will mostly focus on those pages.

This does not mean that the other four chapters should be skipped, as Galloway's thoughts on the post-pandemic world are consistently provocative, informative, and entertaining.

The question for us is if what we should make of Galloway's pronouncements, recommendations, and predictions about higher education?

First, the good news. Too few books about the future include chapters on higher education. Our ecosystem (Galloway insists we are a business) is usually absent from discussions in which other industries (media, transportation, retail, etc.) figure prominently. This is too bad, as we can better think of new ideas about the future of higher education if we understand our industry through non-academic lenses.

The other good news about Post Corona when it comes to higher education is that Galloway is a terrific writer. Post Corona was clearly written quickly (to Galloway's credit with relevancy), but the book reads even faster. The energy that Galloway brings to discussing the future of colleges and universities is as infections as a new COVID strain. (Sorry).

Galloway is having fun thinking and writing about where higher education is going, which makes the book (and the higher ed chapter) a pleasure to read. (And a quick plug for the audiobook version, which Galloway narrates, adding to the effect of getting inside the author's head).

Now the complaints. (None of which should stop you from reading the book and finding a way to discuss the higher education chapter on your campus).

Galloway teaches a Brand Strategy course every year at NYU's Stern School of Business. I bet the course is terrific, given Galloway's energy and ideas and rich and varied business background.

Like every other professor, Galloway was forced to convert his course to remote in 2020. He bases much of his thinking and recommendations about the future of higher education on his teaching experience during the pandemic.

Galloway is not alone among academics in having a new experience with remote teaching during COVID and then taking this experience to claim universal expertise in the field of online learning. Our campuses are full like never before with "online learning" experts, professors who feel no hesitation in directing their institution's online education strategy based on what they learned moving their courses from residential to remote.

I've been a student of higher education, and online learning, for twenty years. Like every other discipline and human endeavor, I realize that the more I learn about higher education, the less I know for sure.

Expertise is mostly about asking the right questions. Galloway has too many answers. When it comes to the post-COVID future of higher education, Galloway would do well with more inquiry, less certainty. (That would be truly "gangster" - Galloway's favorite term for anything really good).

If Galloway had been less certain or maybe taken more time to do some more research before launching Post Corona, he may not have missed some massive trends and developments about the future of higher education.

First, Galloway entirely skips over the recent industry-wide shifts in the organizational structures of most colleges and universities that set the context for higher ed's response to the pandemic. There is nothing in Post Corona about the growth of campus learning organizations such as centers for teaching and learning (CTLs), academic computing units, or online learning divisions.

Galloway misses that the main story of institutional resilience during COVID was the capacities and expertise that non-faculty educators (instructional designers, educational developers) brought to the task of collaborating with professors to pivot every course to remote learning.

Galloway is enamored or critical of learning technologies but fails to see that technologies are only tools. His post-COVID predictions are technology-centric, rather than organizational and educator-centric, and therefore not very helpful in developing a post-pandemic institutional strategy.

Second, Galloway thinks that the big change after COVID will be brand name schools partnering with brand name companies (Google, Microsoft, maybe Amazon, not Facebook - The Four) to offer credentials, learning, and experiences. (The higher education bundle).

Leaving aside that the role of community colleges and non-flagship public institutions (where the vast majority of our students attend) to not figure in this narrative, Galloway's company-centric predictions are wrong on their own terms.

The real story, which Galloway does not even mention, is the increasing importance of non-profit (university) and for-profit partnerships. The work of colleges and universities with platforms such as Coursera and edX and online program management (OPM) companies such as 2U and Noodle will accelerate dramatically in the years to come.

It is the platform providers and the OPM companies that will bring big tech companies into the equation (as partners and customers). Still, the real story (and it is a complicated and controversial story) is with education-specific for-profits working with colleges and universities.

Finally, I was surprised that Galloway did not talk about the transition of residential programs (particularly master's programs) to online - and the trend towards low-cost online programs delivered at scale. Any serious book - or chapter - on the future of higher education needs to grapple with Georgia Tech's and Boston University's and Illinois and other low-cost online masters degrees.

Nor does Galloway give any space to the growth of non-credit online programs and how these alternative certificates will challenge the established master's degree programs of regionally branded schools.

Would I recommend reading and discussing Post Corona on campus, with maybe a reading group around the Higher Education chapter? Again, yes.

Galloway gets enough right - such as sharing data on the rising costs and the failure of higher education to maintain its role as an engine of opportunity creation - that his call for non-incremental change is persuasive.

Post Corona may get the specifics of post-pandemic higher education wrong, but Galloway is entirely correct in that there will be no going back

What are you reading?

Read more:
Scott Galloway's 'Post Corona' Vision for Higher Ed | Learning Innovation - Inside Higher Ed

LONDON In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, Facebook kept up posts that it had been warned contributed to violence. In India, activists have urged the company to combat posts by political figures targeting Muslims. And in Ethiopia, groups pleaded for the social network to block hate speech after hundreds were killed in ethnic violence inflamed by social media.

The offline troubles that rocked the country are fully visible on the online space, activists, civil society groups and journalists in Ethiopia wrote in an open letter last year.

For years, Facebook and Twitter have largely rebuffed calls to remove hate speech or other comments made by public figures and government officials that civil society groups and activists said risked inciting violence. The companies stuck to policies, driven by American ideals of free speech, that give such figures more leeway to use their platforms to communicate.

But last week, Facebook and Twitter cut off President Trump from their platforms for inciting a crowd that attacked the U.S. Capitol. Those decisions have angered human rights groups and activists, who are now urging the companies to apply their policies evenly, particularly in smaller countries where the platforms dominate communications.

When I saw what the platforms did with Trump, I thought, You should have done this before, and you should do this consistently in other countries around the world, said Javier Pallero, policy director at Access Now, a human rights group involved in the Ethiopia letter. Around the world, we are at the mercy of when they decide to act.

Sometimes they act very late, he added, and sometimes they act not at all.

David Kaye, a law professor and former United Nations monitor for freedom of expression, said political figures in India, the Philippines, Brazil and elsewhere deserved scrutiny for their behavior online. But he said the actions against Mr. Trump raised difficult questions about how the power of American internet companies was applied, and if their actions set a new precedent to more aggressively police speech around the world.

The question going forward is whether this is a new kind of standard they intend to apply for leaders worldwide, and do they have the resources to do it? Mr. Kaye said. There is going to be a real increase in demand to do this elsewhere in the world.

Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, is the worlds largest social network, with more than 2.7 billion monthly users; more than 90 percent of them live outside the United States. The company declined to comment, but has said the actions against Mr. Trump stem from his violation of existing rules and do not represent a new global policy.

Our policies are applied to everyone, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, said in a recent interview with Reuters. The policy is that you cant incite violence, you cant be part of inciting violence.

Twitter, which has about 190 million daily users globally, said its rules for world leaders were not new. When it reviews posts that could incite violence, Twitter said, the context of the events is crucial.

Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all, Jack Dorsey, Twitters chief executive, said in a post on Wednesday. Yet, he said, the decision sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.

There are signs that Facebook and Twitter have begun acting more assertively. After the Capitol attack, Twitter updated its policies to say it would permanently suspend the accounts of repeat offenders of its rules on political content. Facebook took action against a number of accounts outside the United States, including deleting the account of a state-run media outlet in Iran and shutting down government-run accounts in Uganda, where there has been violence ahead of elections. Facebook said the takedowns were unrelated to the Trump decision.

Many activists singled out Facebook for its global influence and not applying rules uniformly. They said that in many countries it lacked the cultural understanding to identify when posts might incite violence. Too often, they said, Facebook and other social media companies do not act even when they receive warnings.

In 2019 in Slovakia, Facebook did not take down posts by a member of Parliament who was convicted by a court and stripped of his seat in government for incitement and racist comments. In Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said the company was slow to act to the involvement of government officials in a social media campaign to smear a prominent Buddhist monk championing human rights. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has used Facebook to target journalists and other critics.

After a wave of violence, Ethiopian activists said Facebook was being used to incite violence and encourage discrimination.

The truth is, despite good intentions, these companies do not guarantee uniform application or enforcement of their rules, said Agustina Del Campo, director of the center for studies on freedom of expression at University of Palermo in Buenos Aires. And oftentimes, when they attempt it, they lack the context and understanding needed.

In many countries, theres a perception that Facebook bases its actions on its business interests more than on human rights. In India, home to Facebooks most users, the company has been accused of not policing anti-Muslim content from political figures for fear of upsetting the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling party.

Developments in our countries arent addressed seriously, said Mishi Choudhary, a technology lawyer and founder of the Software Freedom Law Center, a digital rights group in India. Any takedown of content raises the questions of free expression, but incitement of violence or using a platform for dangerous speech is not a free speech matter but a matter of democracy, law and order.

But even as many activists urged Facebook and Twitter to be more proactive to protect human rights, they expressed anger about the power the companies have to control speech and sway public opinion.

Some also warned that the actions against Mr. Trump would cause a backlash, with political leaders in some countries taking steps to prevent social media companies from censoring speech.

Government officials in France and Germany raised alarms over banning Mr. Trumps accounts, questioning whether private companies should be able to unilaterally silence a democratically elected leader. A draft law under consideration for the 27-nation European Union would put new rules around the content moderation policies of the biggest social networks.

Barbora Bukovsk, the senior director for law and policy at Article 19, a digital rights group, said the risk was particularly pronounced in countries whose leaders have a history of using social media to stoke division. She said the events in Washington provided momentum in Poland for a draft law from the ruling right-wing nationalist party that would fine social media companies for taking down content that is not explicitly illegal, which could allow more targeting of L.G.B.T.Q. people.

These decisions on Trump were the right decisions, but there are broader issues beyond Trump, Ms. Bukovsk said.

View original post here:
Facebook and Twitter Face International Scrutiny After Trump Ban - The New York Times

The organization Doctors for Human Rights (MEDU) denounced the alarming living and working conditions of foreign farm workers on the Gioia Tauro plain in Calabria, southern Italy.

"Living and working conditions for foreign farm laborers, working on the citrus harvest on the Gioia Tauro plain in Calabria, appear more dramatic than ever," says the human rights organization Doctors for Human Rights (MEDU), which assists migrans in the area.

MEDU's statement is released eleven years after violent clashes, known as the Rosarno revolt (after the town in Calabria where they started) took place between January 7 and 9. The unrest began after two African migrants were injured by unknown attackers using a compressed air rifle. MEDU says that nothing much has changed since then.

MEDU points out that there is still the "the persistent phenomenon of serious work exploitation, and also the growing precariousness of the socio-economic housing conditions and health conditions," to take into account.

The NGO highlighted that "the coronavirus pandemic found fertile ground in precarious settlements where crowded housing and terrible health and hygiene conditions favored a rapid spread of infections."

The team from the MEDU mobile clinic went back to working in the plain for the seventh consecutive year in the month of October 2020; providing health assistance and legal support to farm workers who live in the official tent camp of San Ferdinando, the container camp of Rosarno, and the abandoned farmhouses dotted around the fields in the area.

The organization estimates that there are more than 1,500 people present in the various structures, with numbers increasing in the last month.

There are more than 700 people staying in the tent camp of San Ferdinando alone, both in official tents and new shacks built every day by new arrivals.

The NGO said the population is also made up this year of young men, mainly asylum seekers and refugees from countries in western sub-Saharan Africa, with a median age of about 30 years.

Of the 100 patients seen by MEDU in the first months of its work there (October to December), 88% had a legal stay permit, but just over half of the people who provided information on their working condition (54) said they had a work contract (55%), short-term in the majority of cases.

Only a small percentage (13%) said they regularly received a pay packet. Informal work is, in fact, still the norm among workers with a contract. The employer often pays part of the salary under the table and officially declares on the pay stub fewer days than those actually worked.

Between October and November 2020, local authorities created two red zones in the area due to the elevated number of people living in the precarious settlements who tested positive for COVID-19.

The first red zone deliniated the container camp in Rosarno, where screening was conducted and tents were set up to isolate positive cases. Subsequently the San Ferdinando tent camp was also isolated, but with completely ineffective measures.

The organization also reports frequent road accidents that often involve farm workers riding on bicycles to their work sites. In the month of December alone, three road accidents, one of which took the life of a 34-year-old man, involved Gioia Tauro plain workers.

The lack of public transport and street lights are in fact an additional daily risk factor. MEDU wants to underline the urgency of the need for inter-institutional action that restores dignity and legality to the area, to the farm workers, and to the entire population.

MEDU called on the government to make sure that effective and extraordinary measures be taken to protect individual and collective health.

See more here:
Migrants in southern Italy living in 'alarming conditions' says human rights organization - InfoMigrants

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) In a dig at the outgoing Trump administration, President-elect Joe Biden introduced his slate of scientific advisers Saturday with the promise that they would summon science and truth to combat the coronavirus pandemic, climate crisis and other challenges.

This is the most exciting announcement Ive gotten to make, Biden said after weeks of Cabinet and other nominations and appointments. This is a team that is going to help restore your faith in Americas place in the frontier of science and discovery.

Biden is elevating the position of science adviser to Cabinet level, a White House first, and said that Eric Lander, a pioneer in mapping the human genome who is in line to be director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, is one of the most brilliant guys I know.

The president-elect, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Lander and other top science advisers never mentioned Trumps name, but they framed the inauguration Wednesday as a clean break from a president who downplayed the threat of COVID-19 and declared the science behind climate change to be a hoax.

The science behind climate change is not a hoax. The science behind the virus is not partisan, Harris said. The same laws apply, the same evidence holds true regardless of whether or not you accept them.

Biden emphasized how scientific research leads to practical progress and better quality of life, from the COVID-19 vaccines and new cancer treatments to clean energy expansion that reduces carbon emissions.

Science is discovery. Its not fiction, Biden said. Its also about hope.

And, again without naming Trump, the president-elect said one of his teams tasks will be to gird public faith in science and its usefulness.

Lander added that Biden has tasked his advisers and the whole scientific community and the American public to rise to this moment.

Biden and Harris also veered from their prepared texts to hold up the scientists as examples to children across the country.

Superheroes arent just about our imagination, Harris said. They are walking among us. They are teachers and doctors and scientists, they are vaccine researchers ... and you can grow up to be like them, too.

Lander is the founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and was the lead author of the first paper announcing the details of the human genome. He would be the first life scientist to have that White House job. His predecessor is a meteorologist.

The president-elect is retaining the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, who worked with Lander on the human genome project. Biden also named two prominent female scientists to co-chair the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Frances Arnold, a California Institute of Technology chemical engineer who won the 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry, and MIT vice president for research and geophysics professor Maria Zuber will lead the outside science advisory council. Lander held that position during Obama administration.

Biden picked Alondra Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, a social scientist who studies science, technology and social inequality, as deputy science policy chief.

The president-elect noted the teams diversity and repeated his promise that his administrations science policy and investments would target historically disadvantaged and underserved communities.

Nelson celebrated that commitment.

As a Black woman researcher, I am keenly aware of those who are missing from these rooms, she said. I believe we have a responsibility to work together to make sure that our science and technology reflects us ... who we truly are together.

Science organizations were quick to praise Lander and the promotion of the science post to Cabinet level. The job as director of science and technology policy requires Senate confirmation.

Elevating the position clearly signals the administrations intent to involve scientific expertise in every policy discussion, said Sudip Parikh, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the worlds largest general scientific society.

Lander, also a mathematician, is a professor of biology at both Harvard and MIT and his work has been cited nearly half a million times in scientific literature, one of the most among scientists. He has won numerous science prizes, including a MacArthur genius fellowship and a Breakthrough Prize, and is one of Pope Francis scientific advisers.

As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I saw America go to the moon, Lander said, adding that no nation is better equipped than America to lead the search for solutions that advance our health, our economic welfare and our national security.

___

Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland.

See original here:
Biden says his advisers will lead with 'science and truth' - The Associated Press

RIYADH/LONDON (Reuters) - After months out of the global spotlight, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has swept back to centre stage with eye-catching diplomatic and economic moves aimed at showing the new U.S. president he is a valuable partner who can get things done.

FILE PHOTO: A worker carries a U.S. flag into a meeting room ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 21, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/

Within the span of a few weeks, the kingdom announced an Arab deal to reconcile with Qatar, voluntary cuts to Saudi crude output to help stabilise markets and new momentum on an economic diversification plan that stumbled due to political controversy, low oil prices and COVID-19.

Whether behind the scenes or front and centre chairing a Gulf summit for the first time, the brazen young prince, known as MbS, is moving to present an image as a reliable statesman and set a pragmatic tone with a less accommodating Biden administration, especially on foe Iran, three foreign diplomats said.

Prince Mohammeds initial image as a bold reformer was battered by the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents seen as close to MbS, and moves to crush dissent and sideline royal rivals. He denies ordering Khashoggis killing while saying he ultimately bore responsibility as it happened under his watch.

The kingdoms de facto ruler knows a new era has started without the buffer granted by President Donald Trump and that Riyadh needs to make some concessions on contentious issues like human rights in order to push for regional priorities like the Iran nuclear accord, a Western diplomat in the region said.

They dont want the 2015 deal back on the table, the diplomat said, adding that recent positive gestures by Riyadh were in some way all related to the change in Washington.

He said that included recent sentences handed by Saudi courts for a prominent womens rights activist and a U.S.-Saudi physician, with the convictions signalling Riyadh would brook no dissent while reduced jail terms served as a nod to Washington.

President-elect Joe Biden, who is expected to re-engage with Iran, has said he would take a firmer stand on Saudis human rights record and the devastating Yemen war.

For the Saudis, the calculus is clear. They have to adapt to a new world ... and present themselves in a more positive light ahead of Biden taking office, said Shadi Hamid from Washington-based Brookings Institution.

Another foreign diplomat said Riyadhs nervousness over Bidens Iran policy was one reason it lobbied the Trump administration to blacklist Yemens Iran-aligned Houthi group, which has launched cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Prince Mohammed was keen to impose some rules for the game regarding Iran and Yemen while also presenting Saudi Arabia as a high profile member of the international community and economy that should be defended, the diplomat said.

Warning the Houthi designation as a foreign terrorist group may push Yemen into a large-scale famine, U.N. officials have urged Biden to revoke the decision that takes effect on Jan. 19.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies including the United Arab Emirates, concerned about Irans ballistic missiles and regional network of proxies, supported Trumps maximum pressure campaign on Tehran and basked in his decision in 2018 to quit a flawed international nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Iran.

They have stressed that this time around they should be included in any potential negotiations between the Biden administration and Iran on a new nuclear deal to ensure it addresses Irans missile capabilities and malign activity.

The Sunni Muslim kingdom has been locked in a decades long rivalry with Shiite Iran for regional influence that has shaped conflicts in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

In 2019, Saudi Arabia was shaken by missile and drone attacks on its energy installations. Trump boosted defence support for the kingdom, a major U.S. arms buyer, after the strike, which Riyadh and Washington blame on Iran, something Tehran denies.

Security, vital for regional economic prospects, is also a key consideration for other Gulf leaders who have also been preparing for a Biden presidency by positioning themselves as a moderating force in a turbulent region and hedging their bets.

The United Arab Emirates, wary of Iran and the perceived threat posed by Islamist movements, struck a U.S.-brokered deal to establish ties with Israel that created a new anti-Iran dynamic and opened the door for Abu Dhabi to new U.S. arms and bipartisan goodwill. Bahrain followed suit.

Although the UAEs divisions with Qatar run deep, it fell in line with a U.S. and Saudi push to end a more than three-year row and restore ties severed over issues including Qatars ties with Iran and Turkey and its support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Qatar deal is a way to have the Gulf states aligned with Israel to oppose the nuclear deal in particular and Iran in general, the Western diplomat said.

Qatars foreign minister recently said it was the right time for talks with Iran and that Doha, home to the regions largest U.S. military base, could facilitate discussions.

Saudi Arabia also wants to make up for lost time, and money, a fourth diplomat said, as coronavirus frustrated plans in 2020 to refocus attention on MbS ambitious diversification drive after some foreign investors were spooked by the Khashoggi murder and a secretive anti-corruption purge.

MbS made a rare TV appearance on Jan 13. to unveil a zero-carbon city as the first major construction project for NEOM, the $500 billion flagship business zone that has seen little progress since it was announced to fanfare in 2017.

A few days later he was shown alone in his private desert camp announcing investment opportunities worth $6 trillion in a virtual speech at the World Economic Forum.

Saudi Arabia faces an enormous challenge in transforming its domestic economy and after Covid-19 the path is much more perilous. They need money and partners and they need global engagement, said Kristin Smith Diwan, senior resident scholar at the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute.

Additional reporting by Lisa Barrington in Dubai; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous, Editing by William Maclean

View post:
Analysis: Saudi overtures to wary Biden team driven by worries over Iran, economy - Reuters

As thePlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|Shead into 2021, it's time to start looking forward to what will define these consoles: exclusive games. The launch window for the new Xbox took a serious blow afterHalo Infiniteand a few other games were delayed, butMicrosoft is already gearing up for the proverbial console war with a list of 2021 Xbox console-exclusive games coming to the One and Series X|S.

Exclusive games are a large part of the identity associated with particular consoles. Nintendo has built its entire gaming legacy on the back of exclusive IPs, such asMarioandThe Legend of Zelda. Xbox was commonly criticized in the previous generation for being outshined by the robustexclusive lineup of the PlayStation 4, but various Xbox development studio acquisitions could change that, going forward.

Related: Most Anticipated RPGs of 2021 (So Far)

The list of 2021 Xbox exclusives is long - and quite promising.It includes everything from blockbusters to indie titles, so everyone on Xbox will have something to look forward to. None have an exact price or release date (and few have even a release window), according to the Xbox website, but as of now, all of the following games are slated for 2021.

Adios (TBA 2021):A first-person game promising to have consequence to in-game choices. The player character attempts to get out of an impossible situation with the mafia, and the decisions made will have ramifications for the rest of the protagonist's life.

The Artful Escape(TBA 2021):A personal, multi-dimensional journey in which the main character, Francis Vendetti, attempts to find his stage persona on the eve of his inaugural performance. Colorfully described by Xbox as "an action-adventure, narrative driven, musical-laser-light-battle kind of game."

The Ascent(TBA 2021):This title is sure to be full of commentary on wealth disparity, as players tackle its cyberpunk action-RPG gameplay alone or together with a friend. Players may have been hoping to experience the game alongside the new Xbox consoles, but The Ascent was delayed.

Related:Xbox One's Best Hidden Gems & Overlooked Games

The Big Con(TBA 2021):Stocked to the brim with '90s nostalgia,The Big Con sees players controlling Ali, a high schooler escaped from band camp and on a mission to save her mother's video store from the loan sharks taking advantage of her. The Xbox description hints at Beanie Babies making an appearance; maybe they'll be a worthy investment this time around.

Crossfire X (TBA 2021):The originalCrossfireis a decade-old PC first-person shooter. This Xbox-exclusive console follow-up, Crossfire X,promises a single-player campaign and multiplayer modes centered around the conflict between private military groups known as Black List and Global Risk.

Dead Static Drive (TBA 2021):A t0p-down adventure of violence and theft down Route 666,Dead Static Drive features a "nightmare road trip"full ofintense interpersonal conflicts.

Echo Generation (TBA 2021):Another game evoking memories from the '90s,Echo Generation takes place in 1993 and follows the story of a group of kids set loose during summer vacation, investigating the supernatural mysteries of whatever just crashed in a nearby cornfield.

Related:5 Xbox 360 Launch Titles That Still Hold Up Today (& 5 That Just Don't)

ExoMecha (TBA 2021): Players will fight for the planet of Omecha in this competitive, free-t0-play FPS, which promises"high-quality visuals, flexible gameplay, giant mechs, special gadgets and abilities, [and] massive boss battles."

Exo One (TBA 2021):Utilizing a unique traversal system involving "colossal speeds and exhilarating heights," players will explore alien worlds to unravel a mysterious story. Xbox saysExo One's highlights include its diffused visuals, otherworldly sound effects, and electric guitar soundtrack.

The Gunk (TBA 2021): Fans of theSteamWorld series may want to keep an eye out for this new title from Image & Form Games.The Gunk is a sci-fi adventure following two scavenger friends as they come across a desolate planet covered in a mysterious, slimy parasite. Even though it has a strangely disgusting name,The Gunkis shaping up to be quite adorable.

Halo Infinite (TBA 2021):Master Chief returns in the highly anticipated follow-up toHalo 5. Developer343 Industries toutsHalo Infiniteas the most ambitiousHalo title yet. Early gameplay last year received a less than stellar response from fans, andHalo Infinite's rocky development has left some nervous about whether or not 343 can deliver a satisfactory open-worldHalogame. Regardless, Xbox's flagship series returns this year, and it could be the breath of fresh air the series needs to get back on track.

Related:Every Halo Game, Ranked Worst To Best

The Last Stop (TBA 2021):Taking place in modern-day London,The Last Stop tells the interconnected story of three protagonists: Donna, a high schooler stifled in her home environment; John, a single dad burdened by his job; and Meena, a woman whose professional ambition is getting in the way of her family relationships. Though the three are seemingly normal, the supernatural events inThe Last Stop appear to be anything but.

Lake (TBA 2021):In what looks to be a narrative-heavy experience, players will take control of middle-aged Meredith, who has returned to her home town to fill in for her father, the local mail carrier. People and places both familiar and new will shape this story as Meredith tries to determine whether her life will continue here in her hometown or back in the city she came from.

Little Witch in the Woods (TBA 2021):Players will master the mysteries of witchery as Ellie, a witch-in-training who has arrived in a new town to find it nearly deserted.Little Witch in the Woods claims to bring players into "a magical and mystical place full of unique experiences."

The Medium(January 28, 2021):Players will have to grapple with multiple realities in The Medium, a psychological horror game. They'll travel to an abandoned communist resort and utilize psychic powers to solve puzzles and survive encounters with spirits.

Related:The Medium Preview: Horror Across Two Worlds

Microsoft Flight Simulator(Summer 2021):The long-running simulation series comes to consoles for the first time this year. Claimed to be the most realistic flight simulator Microsoft has ever made, players can take to the skies and explore planet Earth in a range of different airplanes. The game features day/night cycles and dynamic weather systems in order to challenge pilots on their flights.

RPG Time (TBA 2021):Although details are scarce, this seems to be a game about games. Players will travel through the game of a young, aspiring game developer, featuring hand-drawn creations.

Sable (TBA 2021):Journey across an alien desert as eponymous main character Sable, as she discovers the history of the planet and learns some life lessons along the way.Sablewants to deliver a deeply personal story as it shepherds the player through the desert, crumbling alien ruins, and crashed ships fallen from space.

Scorn (TBA 2021):Encouraging non-linear exploration of itssetting,Scorn is a first-person horror game rife with puzzles and hellish scenery. The game is aiming for a maze-like structure, wanting the player to feel as though they've been dropped unceremoniously into an environment that feels alive. Developers have already revealed14 minutes of Scorngameplay,for anyone looking to see it in action.

Related:The Best Video Games For Horror Movie Fans

She Dreams Elsewhere (TBA 2021):Attempt to wake up from a coma - and figure out what caused it - inthis surreal, dreamy RPG. Protagonist Thalia must confront her nightmares on this journey about emotions, mental health, and self-identity.

Shredders (TBA 2021):This snowboarding video game wants to "deliver high-end graphics, next-gen physics, and a perfect blend of fun and realism, all in a social context." The game is inspired by snowboarding classicAmped and will allow players to experience it on their own, if they wish to opt out of the multiplayer portions.

Song of Iron (TBA 2021):This Nordic myth-inspired game utilizes an side-scrolling viewpointto showcaseplayers fighting through monsters, natural obstacles, and other humans.Song of Irontakes players across mythic lands as they search for the homes of gods.

Tunic (TBA 2021):Players will take on the role of a small fox inTunic, a gameinspired by classic action-adventure titles like Zelda. The fox-player will utilize "unique items, skillful combat techniques, and arcane mysteries" on their adventure.

Related:Xbox Tried To Buy Nintendo 20 Years Ago (& Failed Miserably)

Twelve Minutes (TBA 2021):A character-driven experience set in a time loop.Twelve Minutes gained wider attention when it was announced that actors James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe will take on roles as the game's three characters. Players will have to find a way out of a repeating situation, where a man breaks into their home, accuses their wife of murder, and beats the player to death- only for it to happen all over again.

Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy (TBA 2021):Attempting to emulate tabletop RPGs,Unexplored 2 features procedural generation, a unique "legacy" system, and "generative storytelling." The game seeks to deliver beautiful landscapes filled with untold marvels.

Warhammer 40K: Darktide (TBA 2021):This four-player co-op experience comes from the developers of previousWarhammer titles, such asEnd Times- VermintideandVermintide 2.Darktidelooks to buildonthe melee combat ofVermintide 2,adding ranged combat to the mix as players fight off hordes of enemies in the hive city known as Tertium.

Way to the Woods (TBA 2021):A deer and a fawn take center stage in what appears to be a post-human setting. This journey to discover the mysteries of Cat Town was developed by a single person, Anthony Tan, and features music fromSteven Universecomposers Aivi & Surasshu.

Related:Best Video Games Of 2020 With Crossplay & Multiplayer

The Wild at Heart (TBA 2021):In what will surely be a novel experience, players take control of a swarm of strange creatures. As the swarm, players discover secrets and solve puzzles throughout The Deep Woods in The Wild at Heart, a game about childhood escapism.

The Xbox Series X and S may have had a lackluster launch window, thanks to a few delays, but the delayed games seem to still be coming in 2021. From RPGs to shooters and side scrollers to co-op adventures, there's plenty of Xbox-exclusive games in 2021 for everyfan to look forward to this year.

Next: Why PS5 & Xbox Series X Still Can't Compete with Nintendo Switch

Source: Xbox

Super Mario 3D World: Bowser Form Named 'God Slayer Bowser' By Fans (UPDATED)

More here:
Xbox Exclusives 2021: Every Game Coming This Year - Screen Rant

getty

When medical historians write about the coronavirus pandemic, theyll likely focus on the slow U.S. response and failures of leadership that led to a tragically high death toll. But that will be only part of the story. From the wreckage and devastation will emerge something few contemporary observers would expect: a brighter future for American healthcare.

Five technologies, all previously underappreciated and underutilized, will help our nation move past the coronavirus crisis into a new, golden era of medicine. Like the seedlings of the eucalyptus tree, which sprout only after a forest fire, these technological solutions will blossom in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemicturning U.S. healthcares outdated and broken system into one that is more convenient, effective and affordable.

1. Telemedicine

Until the 1920s, the overwhelming majority of doctor-patient meetings took place in the home. But as medicine became too sophisticated and complicated for house calls, doctors offices began sprouting up in cities and towns across the country. Soon, little brown buildings, filled with doctors, all practicing independently of one another, became the epicenter of care delivery. This fragmented approach to healthcare has stood in place, largely unchallenged and unquestioned, for nearly a century.

Telemedicine (virtual care) has been around for decades. Yet, until physicians faced a viral pandemic that forced them to close their offices, less than 1% of doctor-patient meetings took place virtually. As the pandemic spiked in summer 2020, that number ballooned to 69% and turned companies like Docs on Demand and Teledoc into major players in American healthcare.As the deadly virus spread, video allowed physicians to deliver effective healthcare without the risk of being in the same room (and potentially infecting) patients. This experience opened the eyes of doctors and patients alike, helping them recognize that telemedicine is more convenient, more affordable and more capable of high-quality outcomes than a single physician seeing patients in an office.

Video-based telehealth allows physicians in one location to provide medical care to patients at a distance. It thereby grants people access to care 24/7, without delay and without overwhelming individual doctors. As a result, patients dont unnecessarily wind up at the emergency department, waiting hours for routine care that costs multiples more than it should. And with the ability to call on specialists across the country, virtual care can connect patients with the most knowledgeable physician, not just the nearest one. After the pandemic is over, telemedicine will continue to serve as an essential part of a value-based system of healthcarea major improvement upon the fragmented, fee-for-service approach of today.

2. Drug development

No industry felt a greater sense of urgency during the coronavirus pandemic than drug makers. As a result of kickstart efforts like Operation Warp Speed, vaccine-development technologies accelerated at an unprecedented pace. In the past, the traditional biologic approaches for creating vaccines required at least five years of development and testing prior to receiving FDA approval.

Pfizer and Modernas Covid-19 vaccines were created in a matter of weeks, after researchers in China published the exact genetic code for the virus. Scientists quickly figured out a shortcut of sorts, using a lab-created messenger RNA to deliver a unique set of instructions to the human body. Those instructions led to the production and replication of specific virus-associated proteinssimilar to the way a computer virus instructs an operating system to make copies of itself. In response to these foreign proteins, the patients immune system createsantibodies, which lead to immunity.

Though Moderna had been working on mRNA drugs for a decade, it hadnt produced an approved or effective product until now. Having achieved success, it wont take 11 months for leading drug developers to produce and manufacture the next life-saving vaccine. As it happens, we may not even have to wait for the next pandemic to apply this technology. Recently, epidemiologists identified a major mutation in the coronavirus, one that could have a sizable impact on both the effectiveness of current Covid-19 vaccines and the number of people who will need to be immunized to achieve herd immunity. Should this mutant strain be even partially resistant to current vaccines, drug makers like Moderna expect to be able to alter the composition of the vaccine and modify the injected mRNA, accordingly. Based on its previous approval, the FDA could grant emergency use authorization sooner, saving thousands of lives in the process.

3. Data analytics

The coronavirus shined a bright and uncomplimentary light on chronic disease in the United States. According to mortality reports, 94% of people whove died from Covid-19 had a chronic disease and 88% had two or more. Health experts have long understood the consequences of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. In the United States, they account for 7 in 10 deaths and nearly 75 percent of aggregate healthcare spending.

And yet, prior to the pandemic, these types of illnesses were seen as something Americans just had to live with, like gravity or traffic. That misperception is started to change as a result of the current pandemic. The United States is on pace to reach its grimmest milestone yet500,000 Covid-19 deathsby this summer. The mounting death toll is helping Americans see chronic illnesses not as a common nuisance, but rather as a coconspirator, as guilty of death and destruction as the virus itself.

Fortunately, technology provides a solution. To explain, consider the threat of hypertension, the No. 1 cause of stroke and kidney failure. Doctors are capable of helping 90% or more of patients control the problem and reduce the chances of life-threatening complications. In fact, the nations leading medical groups are 35% more effective than the national average at helping patients control this deadly disease.

How do they do it? Technology and science play key roles. Most physicians, particularly specialists, focus on treating the strokes, kidney failures and heart attacks that result from high blood pressure (through surgery or expensive drug-treatment programs). But the most effective approaches involve prevention and optimal disease management, both of which are facilitated by comprehensive electronic health records (EHRs) and powered by evidence-based treatment algorithms. In these settings, EHR data is rigorously analyzed, giving doctors clear and effective guidelines for treating patients with chronic conditions.

In the past, pandemic planning and preparedness focused primarily on how to treat the virus itself. In the future, should another pandemic threaten the health of millions, data analytics will allow more doctors to maximize the health of patients with chronic illnesses, thereby reducing mortality before a vaccine is available.

4. Patient decision tools

In 2020, our nation applied a one-size-fits-all approach to managing the coronavirus. As a result, we over restricted some groups, like elementary school children, and under protected others, particularly people in nursing homes.The consequences were lethal.

This kind of assumptive error happens in healthcare settings, too, where doctors fail to personalize their clinical approaches and treatments for patients. As a result, they overtreat some and undertreat others. Whether patients have high blood pressure or atrial fibrillation, their physicians are likely to see all of them on a routine basis, usually every three or four months. That model makes no sense.

What patients with a chronic disease need to know is whether they should continue taking the same medications at the same doses or alter them. If nothing needs to change, they may not need to see their doctors more than once a year. In contrast, if something is askew, they should be seen in a matter of days, not months. Technology offers a better and more precise approach.

Todays health-monitoring devices can reliably measure blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen, blood sugar and other physiological signs. But without interpreting the data for the wearer (and without dispensing medical advice), the information is of little value.

The next generation of home-monitoring apps will solve this problem by comparing the patients data with the most up-to-date treatment recommendations, thus informing patients whether everything is fine (and theres no need to see a doctor) or whether their problem needs immediate medical attention. Why doesnt this already exist today? Its not that Silicon Valleys largest companies lack the technology or knowhow to manufacture such a device. They simply dont want to accept the medical liability should a deadly error occur. In the future, the opportunity to drive quality up and costs down will be too great for companies to resist. What remains is to be seen is who will have the courage to be the first.

5. Artificial intelligence

Like the other technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has been talked about for years as a game changer in medicine. And yet, AI has not improved American healthcare so far.

It wont stay this way for much longer. The Covid-19 crisis highlighted a problem for which AI offers a unique and powerful solution. There is a false perception among doctors that they treat all patients the same. The pandemic has proven otherwise. Throughout 2020, Black patients chances of dying were three times higher than that of white patients.

Part of the problem began in the diagnosis stage. When two patients came to the emergency room with symptoms equally likely to be Covid-19, the white patient was tested far more often than the Black patient, according to national studies. Biased treatment is not a new phenomenon in medicine. For decades, studies have shown that white physicians regularly undertreat Black patients for pain, prescribing less medication than they do for their white patients.

Research has shown that part of systemic racism in healthcare results from implicit bias, a set of prejudices and stereotypes doctors carry around without even knowing theyre there. But even when theyre subconscious, biases have a direct affect on a persons thoughts, actions, and decisions.

AI can help identify and address this problem by assessing each doctors patterns of diagnosis and treatment. When AI determines the care provided to any group is discriminatory, doctors can be alerted in real time and, consequently, learn from their mistakes. With the shift in presidential and Congressional leadership, healthcare equity is likely to be high on the national agenda.

In the era before Covid-19, technology was used as a tool to attract patients, generate income, and maximize billing opportunities. In the post-coronavirus world, the United States will be reeling from the economic consequences of the pandemic. Healthcare technology can and will provide cost-effective solutions that improve our nations overall quality of care.

Original post:
Five Technologies That Will Transform Medicine In Post-Pandemic America - Forbes