January, 2020

The government is arranging a charter flight Sunday to get citizens and diplomats out of the epidemic-stricken city, the Wall Street Journal reported. The number of people in China infected with the coronavirus now tops 1,300, according to the Global Times, an English-language Chinese news outlet. At least 41 people have died in Wuhan, which has a population of 11 million

“The Post-ABC poll finds 44 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s overall job performance and 51 percent disapprove. While views of Trump remain negative, Trump’s approval rating is significantly improved from his 38 percent mark in late October,” But there were a few interesting findings in the data. Among registered voters, those considered more likely to vote, that 44/51 split rises to 47/50. And among independents, which helped push Trump to victory in 2016, the numbers are even better at 47/48.

In some discussions, Bayer's lawyers have said the chemical maker will set aside $8 billion to resolve current cases and reserve $2 billion for future claims, the five people said. Roundup has been blamed for ailments including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which can take years to be diagnosed. Bayer declined to comment on the numbers or any terms under negotiation...

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters that 17 service members diagnosed had already returned to duty in Iraq. Eight service members who had been previously transported to Germany had been moved to the United States and would receive treatment at either Walter Reed military hospital or their home bases.

Forty-one percent of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., a level not seen in nearly 15 years... The higher level of satisfaction measured in the Jan. 2-15 Gallup poll comes at a time when Americans' evaluations of the U.S. economy are the best they have been in nearly two decades, perhaps because of continued low unemployment and record stock values.

The Met said in a statement Friday the technology will be deployed to places where data indicates people responsible for serious and violent crimes, such as gun and knife attacks and child sexual exploitation, are most likely to be located. Clearly marked cameras will be focused on small, targeted areas to scan people's faces as they walk by, it added.

🚨WHAT THE F*CK?
"EPSTEIN was hiding in plain sight. We all knew about him, we all knew what he was doing." -Cindy McCain at a Human Trafficking Conference#QAnon #PANIC pic.twitter.com/md969g4Uh6

— 🇺🇸🇺🇸 Miguelifornia 🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@michaelbeatty3) January 24, 2020

Across half a dozen network and cable channels, the second day of the Senate impeachment trial's viewership fell by nearly one-fifth. It drew 8.9 million viewers in total over the course of four prime hours, according to Nielsen. That's a hair more than the number of people who watched Chicago Fire on NBC that night. It's nearly a million fewer than the average number of viewers that Jeopardy! scored from October through December of last year. (The recent tournament, Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, accrued an audience nearly 6 million viewers larger than the second day of the Senate trial.)

According to experts to who ZDNet spoke this week, and a statement from the leaker himself, the list was compiled by scanning the entire internet for devices that were exposing their Telnet port. The hacker then tried using (1) factory-set default usernames and passwords, or (2) custom, but easy-to-guess password combinations...

The evidence gathered by federal prosecutors includes a May 10, 2018, text message sent from the phone of Lauren Sanchez, Mr. Bezos’ girlfriend, to her brother Michael Sanchez containing a flirtatious message from the Amazon chief, the people said. The Enquirer quoted the text in its January 2019 article about Mr. Bezos’ extramarital affair with Ms. Sanchez. A July 3, 2018, text message sent from Ms. Sanchez’s phone to her brother’s includes a photo of a shirtless Mr. Bezos.

Apple recently acquired Xnor.ai, a Seattle-based start-up that develops low-power, edge-based artificial intelligence tools. Apple didn't disclose the terms of the deal, but GeekWire claimed that the deal was worth about $200 million.

Apple reportedly paid a similar amount for Turi, another Seattle-based company that specializes in machine learning and AI, in 2016. Apple also recently acquired British AI start-up Spectral Edge for an undisclosed sum.

But those acquisitions are just the tip of Apple's AI iceberg. Apple has acquired over 20 AI companies since 2010, according to CB Insights, surpassing the number of AI acquisitions by Alphabet's Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon...

After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military! pic.twitter.com/TC8pT4yHFT

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2020

Joseph Farrell, of WikiLeaks, said on Friday: 'In a dramatic climbdown, authorities at Belmarsh prison have moved Julian Assange from solitary confinement in the medical wing and relocated him to area with other inmates. 'The move is a huge victory for Assange's legal team and for campaigners, who have been insisting for weeks that the prison authorities end the punitive treatment of Assange.'

Houston was rocked by a large explosion in the early dark hours of Friday morning, which could be felt for miles across the city, when a manufacturing facility in the northwest erupted in a massive fireball. Houston police have confirmed that at least two people died in the blast, with one plant employee still missing, and a criminal investigation is underway as to the cause — though there's no evidence thus far to suggest an intentional act or terrorism was involved.

Damage to homes was reported up to a half-mile away after it occurred at about 4:14am, some 18-miles away from the downtown area, though people reported being jolted from their sleep for miles across the city. Later in the morning Friday multiple people were reported hospitalized, and others may still be missing.