Biden administration tightens restrictions on imports of African elephants

WHAT ABOUT ASIAN ELEPHANTS?!


Illegal ivory trinkets and creations are on display along with a tun of ivory before being destroyed as an ode to end the illegal trafficking and brutal mistreatment of elephants in Central Park, New York City in Aug. 2017. On Friday, the federal government took steps to protect the African elephant in dwindling decline. 

Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


March 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday finalized a rule to improve conservation and other protections of African elephants imported to the United States.

Friday's rule change "will strengthen protections of internationally traded live African elephants, increase transparency of the Service's permit decision-making, and more closely align U.S. requirements with guidance from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Fauna and Flora," the agency said in a news release.

"The Service values collaborative conservation of wildlife all around the world and is committed to improving implementation of international conservation law," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said.

The changes require that countries that import elephants to the United States implement laws to increase conservation and protection including barring illegal trade and that authorized imports of both live elephants and "trophies" will contribute to conservation efforts and not cause the species to decline.

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It also requires that elephants only be sent to facilities that are equipped to house and care for them when they arrive in the United States.

Lastly, the rule clarifies import regulations on sport hunting and permit requirements.

In 2017, the Trump administration lifted an Obama-era ban on the import of endangered elephant remains from Africa. This comes as the Biden administration has been taking steps to strengthen many animal conservation policy reversals under Trump.

"Our actions today will help support range countries' efforts to manage and conserve African elephant populations and will further protect African elephants that are imported to the United States," Williams added. "We are optimistic that with this final rule and by continuing to work in partnership with range countries, wild African elephant populations will be sustainable into the future."

The agency says the African elephant in the wild has been reduced down to an estimated 415,000 from roughly 26 million at the end of the 18th century.

Cesar Chavez family members endorse Biden for president


Images of Cesar Chavez are seen as thousands of supporters turn out at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene, California on October 8, 2012. 

File Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI | License Photo

March 29 (UPI) -- The family of iconic civil rights and labor leader Cesar Chavez on Friday endorsed President Joe Biden in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The iconic Hispanic labor leader's sons, Fernando and Paul Chavez, told CBS News they would endorse Biden, who already employs Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of the late labor leader, as his campaign manager.

"The bonds of affection and respect for a president who by his character and actions consistently reflects the genuine legacy of my father, Cesar Chavez," Paul Chavez said.

The announcement comes ahead of Kennedy's event at Union Station on Saturday, where the independent candidate highlights historical ties between his late father, late President John F. Kennedy, and Chavez.

Robert F. Kennedy, Sr., in one well-known gathering in 1967 with Chavez called the labor leader "one of the heroic figures of our times."

An announcement about the Kennedy event invites those who are interested to "celebrate the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez, a good friend of RFK and RFK, Jr.

"Cesar was a legendary organizer of farmworkers and voters, who exercised their citizen power. Today, we have an opportunity to take back our government with people power."

Courting Latino voters will be a key for Biden winning re-election. The president opened a national program last week in Arizona to specifically target Hispanic voters.

First Lady Jill Biden speaks on LBGTQ+ rights at Human Rights Campaign dinner in California

“They want to take our victories away but we won’t let them,” said Jill Biden, referencing Republican attacks on LGBTQ+ rights

First Lady Jill Biden (AP file photo)

By CLARA HARTER | charter@scng.com
PUBLISHED: March 24, 2024

First Lady Jill Biden and her daughter Ashley Biden highlighted the Biden administration’s efforts to fight on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community at the Human Rights Campaign’s 2024 Los Angeles dinner on Saturday evening, March 23.

“Thanks to our president, marriage equality is now a law, he ended the ban on bisexual and gay men donating blood, he made it possible for trans Americans to serve openly and honorably in the military and he’s standing firmly against conversion therapy,” said Jill Biden.

HRC is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization and selected the first lady as their keynote speaker due to her record of advocating on behalf of the queer community. The private event was hosted at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel in Century City and attended by approximately 650 people.

Biden used her speech to underscore the importance of reelecting her husband in November noting that “MAGA extremists” are trying to “unwind all the progress we’ve made” on LGBTQ+ rights and equality.

“Just last night we had to fend off more than 50 anti-gay amendments that Republicans tried to force into the government funding bill,” she said. “These were extreme measures aimed directly at this community, measures that would have limited health care, eroded protection for same sex couples and more.”

“And they serve only one purpose: to spread fear.”

According to the Human Rights Campaign, more than 50 proposed anti-LGBTQ+ provisions were stripped from the final version of the $1.2 trillion funding package that was approved by the Senate on Saturday morning.

“They want to take our victories away but we won’t let them,” she said. “We will win tomorrow and on the days after, until all the people in all of the places can live freely surrounded by love. I love you. Your President loves you.”

Ashley Biden also referenced ongoing attacks on the LGBTQ+ community during her speech, including the recent death of transgender teen Next Benedict who was fatally attacked in a school bathroom in Oklahoma.

“We know it’s not just Next, LGBTQ students deserve to feel safe at school and no one should have to endure violence just because of who they are,” she said. “My parents know that.”

Last October, President Biden and the First Lady, spoke at HRC’s national dinner in Washington, D.C, which marked the president’s fourth time keynoting the event.

The first lady is in town for a four-day fundraising and speaking swing through Los Angeles and Palm Springs. On Friday, she attended a campaign reception in Hancock Park and on Monday she is scheduled to deliver a speech on the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research at the Getty Center.

Earlier on Saturday, Biden delivered a speech to around 125 people at a private fundraiser in the Rancho Mirage home of James Costos and Michael Smith.

Will Rollins, the Democratic nominee for California’s 41st Congressional District, introduced the first lady and thanked her for her advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community.

“Thanks to the work that the first lady and the president have put in throughout their careers, America is now a place where you can serve the country you love, regardless of who you love,” said Rollins, “So thank you, Dr. Biden.”

During the ten minute address Biden hit upon many of the same points she shared at Friday evening’s L.A. campaign reception. This includes the strength of her relationship with Joe Biden, his major accomplishments as President and the urgency of reelecting him in November.

“These are tumultuous times for the world — Russia’s brutal campaign in Ukraine, war in the Middle East — and they require the steadiness and the expertise of a tested, proven leader like my husband,” she said.

“With his judgment and his experience and his relationship with leaders across the globe, Joe isn’t just the right person for the job,” she continued. “He’s the only person for the job.”

USNS Harvey Milk completes maiden voyage to San Francisco

Vessel first one for U.S. Navy to be named after openly gay person

By Ehren Wynder

UPI

MARCH 29, 2024 

The USNS Harvey Milk is the first Navy ship to be named after a gay person. Milk served in the navy during the Korean War and was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in the United States. 

Photo courtesy U.S. Navy

March 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy ship named after gay rights icon Harvey Milk made its first voyage through the Golden Gate Bridge and docked in San Francisco Thursday.

The USNS Harvey Milk is the first Navy ship to be named after an openly gay person. It is an oiler ship that resupplies Navy ships at sea with diesel fuel, lubricating oil and jet fuel, as well as some provisions

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus in 2016 told Congress of his plan to name the John Lewis-class oilers after prominent civil rights leaders, with this particular ship to be named after Milk, who was a gay rights activist.

Milk served as a lieutenant in the Navy during the Korean War aboard USS Kittiwake. His career ended with an other-than-honorable discharge, and he was forced to resign rather than face a court martial because of his homosexuality.

Milk became the first openly gay person elected to public office in the country when he won a San Francisco supervisor seat in 1977. He and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed in 1978 by a disgruntled former supervisor who was upset that Moscone did not reappoint him after he resigned.

"To have that ship visit San Francisco on its very first port visit -- not only its first port visit to San Francisco, but its first port visit ever to be San Francisco, is so significant," said U.S. Navy Media Officer Brian O'Rourke. "This was Harvey's chosen city; very important to him. To have this ship come to San Francisco is a testament to his legacy."

San Francisco supervisor Bevan Dufty, who served in what was Milk's former board seat, toured the ship Thursday. He said, "It's beautiful that it is here ... This being the first Navy ship being named after someone who wasn't honorably discharged, it's poetic."

An LGBTQ San Diego advisory group first called for a Navy ship to be named after Milk in 2012. The ship was officially named at a ceremony in San Francisco in 2016 prior to its construction.

It was christened and launched from San Diego Bay in November 2021.

Officials will hold a ceremony to honor the ship and its namesake on Friday. There also will be a National Vietnam War Veterans Day awards presentation for Bay Area veterans that afternoon.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Court sentences 2 to prison for $9 million hospice fraud scheme

Two California men, Gayk Akhsharumov and Karen "Kevin" Sarkisyan, were sentenced in a $9 million hospice fraud case.

 File Photo by Simaah/Pixabay


March 29 (UPI) -- A California hospice owner and his biller were sentenced to jail time for bilking Medicare out of more than $9 million in false and fraudulent claims for hospice services.

Gayk Akhsharumov, 40, who owned two hospice companies, and Karen Sarkisyan, 45, both of Glendale, both were sentenced to one year and one day in prison for the scheme. Sarkisyan, also known as Kevin Sarkisyan, also served as Akhsharumov's consultant.

Prosecutors said Akhsharumov was the manager and beneficial owner of San Gabriel Hospice and Palliative Care Inc., and Broadway Hospice Care. Investigators said he hid his ownership of the facilities from Medicare, put in false owners and paid kickbacks to patient recruiters. Sarkisyan submitted the false applications.

On March 23, 2023, Akhsharumov entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and Sarkisyan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States on April 3, 2023.

Authorities said even after closing one of his facilities, he filled out an application for COVID-19 relief funds from the Paycheck Protection Program and received funds. Prosecutors said Akhsharumov received $50,000 from the relief plan even though the hospice was not in operation

Akhsharumov was ordered to pay $9.18 million in restitution while Sarkisyan was ordered to pay back $3.68 million in restitution.

French high school principals rally in Paris over death threats targeting colleague

Principal asked student to remove headscarf because of ban on religious signs in schools; student said she was hit, subjected to violence

Nur Asena Ertürk |30.03.2024 

ANKARA

French high school principals rallied Friday in Paris following death threats targeting one of their colleagues, according to the Franceinfo broadcaster.

A group of principals and MPs gathered in front of the Maurice Ravel High School, whose principal resigned last week for security reasons and death threats via the internet, after he asked a student to take her headscarf off in February, due to the ban on religious signs at school, it said.

The student told reporters earlier the month that she was subjected to violence and the principal hit her arm when she refused to remove her scarf.

The Paris prosecutor’s office dismissed her complaint for “insufficiently grounded offense.”

The principal filed a complaint against the threats and a 26-year-old suspect was arrested.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal backed the principal Wednesday in an interview and criticized the student for defamatory allegations.

Then-Education Minister Attal announced the ban on the abaya -- a loose full-length robe worn by Muslim women -- as of Sept. 4, 2023, the start of the new school term.

The controversial move sparked a backlash against the government, which has been criticized in recent years for targeting Muslims with statements and policies, including raids on mosques and charitable foundations, and an "anti-separatism" law that imposes broad restrictions on the community.

ANALYSIS:

 Russian Orthodox Church Hails Moscow’s Imperialist Expansionism as a ‘Holy War’

Moscow Patriarchate calls for the conquest and absorption of the Ukrainian and Belarusian nations into an ultranationalist ‘Russian world'.

By ISW
March 30, 2024

President Vladimir Putin and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. AFP

The Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (ROC MP), a Kremlin-controlled organization and a known tool within the Russian hybrid warfare toolkit, held the World Russian People’s Council in Moscow on March 27 and 28 and approved an ideological and policy document tying several Kremlin ideological narratives together in an apparent effort to form a wider nationalist ideology around the war in Ukraine and Russia’s expansionist future.

ROC MP Head Patriarch Kirill, reportedly himself a former Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) officer and a known staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, chaired the congress of the World Russian People's Council that approved the document, and Kirill likely coordinated the document’s ideological narrative and policy recommendations with the Kremlin.

The document, "The Present and Future of the Russian World,” addresses Russian legislative and executive authorities with specific calls to amend Russian policy documents and laws. These calls are likely either attempts to socialize desired Kremlin policies among Russians before their implementation or to test public reactions to policies that Kremlin officials are currently considering.

Putin and Kremlin officials have gradually attempted to elaborate on amorphous ideological narratives about the war in Ukraine and their envisioned geopolitical confrontation with the West since the start of the full-scale invasion, and the ROC MP appears to be offering a more coherent ideological framework for Russians.

The ROC MP released the document a week after the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack and roughly a month before the start of the Orthodox Easter Holy Week, and likely aims to seize on heightened anxieties following the terrorist attack and increased Russian Orthodoxy observance to garner support for its desired ultranationalist policies and ideological vision.


The ROC MP intensified Kremlin rhetoric about Russia’s war in Ukraine and cast it as an existential and civilizational “holy war,” a significant inflection for Russian authorities who have so far carefully avoided officially framing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as any kind of “war.” The ROC MP called Putin’s “special military operation” a holy war (Svyashennaya Voyna) and a new stage in the Russian people’s struggle for “national liberation...in southwestern Russia,” referencing eastern and southeastern Ukraine.

The ROC MP claimed that the Russian people are defending their lives, freedom, and statehood; their civilizational, religious, national, and cultural identity; and their right to live within the borders of a single Russian state by waging Putin’s war of conquest in Ukraine.

The ROC MP argued that the war in Ukraine is a holy war because Russia is defending “Holy Russia” and the world from the onslaught of globalism and the victory of the West, which has fallen into Satanism.

The ROC MP asserted that the war in Ukraine will conclude with Russia seizing exclusive influence over the entire territory of modern Ukraine and the exclusion of any Ukrainian government that the Kremlin determines to be hostile to Russia.

The ROC MP’s description of Russian goals is in line with repeated Kremlin statements indicating that Putin retains his objective to destroy Ukrainian sovereignty and statehood. The ROC MP’s use and description of the holy war in Ukraine is also consistent with Kremlin efforts to frame the war as an existential national struggle against Ukraine and the collective West but notably expands the alleged threats that defeat in Ukraine poses for Russians.

The term “holy war” may also conjure allusions to the Great Patriotic War (the Second World War), as the Soviet Union’s unofficial war anthem shared the same name, and the Kremlin has routinely invoked the mythos of the Great Patriotic War to generate domestic support for the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has continued to stress that the war in Ukraine is a “special military operation,” however, and the ROC MP’s direct acknowledgment of the conflict as a holy war may elicit support from Russians who have found the Kremlin’s comparatively restrained rhetoric uninspiring. The ROC MP did not define the holy war as a purely Orthodox concept and instead tied it to the Kremlin’s purposefully broad conception of who is a part of the Russian nation and Russkiy Mir (Russian World).

Ukrainian victory does not pose these existential threats, however, as Ukraine’s struggle to restore its territorial integrity, return its people, and defend its national identity does not infringe on Russian identity, statehood, or territorial integrity.

The ROC MP called for the codification of elements of the Russkiy Mir and may be gauging public support for the formal inclusion of ethnic Ukrainians and Belarusians in the Kremlin’s concept of the Russian nation. The ROC MP stated that Russia is the “creator, support, and defender” of the Russkiy Mir and that the Russkiy Mir is a “spiritual, cultural, and civilizational phenomenon” that transcends the borders of the Russian Federation and historical Russian lands and encompasses everyone that values Russian traditions and culture.

The ROC MP claimed the Russkiy Mir’s mission is to destroy and prevent efforts to establish “universal hegemony in the world” and that the reunification of the “Russian nation” should be one of the priorities of Russian foreign policy.

The ROC MP stated that Russia should return to the “trinity doctrine” of the Russian nation, which falsely asserts that the “Russian nation” is comprised of sub-groups of ethnic Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians whom Russia should reunify.

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The ROC MP called on Russia to codify the “trinity doctrine” in law, make it an “integral part” of the Russian legal system, include it in the “normative list” of Russian spiritual and moral values, and give the concept legal protection.

Putin and other Kremlin officials have consistently invoked similar claims about the “Russian people” and Russkiy Mir since before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine as a means to justify Russian aggression against Ukraine while undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and denying the existence of a Ukrainian ethnic identity. The ROC MP may be gauging the response to the idea of codifying the “trinity doctrine” on the Kremlin’s orders. The Kremlin may codify this doctrine as official Russian policy.

The ROC MP heavily emphasized Russia’s need for traditional family values and an updated migration policy to counter Russia’s ongoing demographic crisis. The ROC MP labeled Russia’s demographic crisis as Russia’s main existential threat and characterized steady demographic growth as a critical national security priority. The ROC MP asserted that Russia should aim to grow its population to 600 million people (a roughly 450 million increase) in the next 100 years and laid out a series of measures that it envisions would allow Russia to achieve this monumental task.

The ROC MP called for the revival of the “traditional large family” and traditional family values in Russia – echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s emphasis on 2024 as the “Year of the Family” in recent major national addresses. The ROC MP claimed that the Russian government should recognize the family and its well-being as Russia’s “main national development goal” and a “strategic national priority” and should amend Russia’s main strategic planning documents to reflect this. The ROC MP called on Russian popular culture to create a “cult of the family” in society and suggested various economic benefits the state should enact to encourage larger families.

The ROC MP claimed that a new state migration policy is also key to an “effective” demographic policy. The ROC MP complained that migrants who do not speak Russian, do not understand Russian history and culture, and cannot integrate into Russian society are “deforming” Russia’s unified legal, cultural, and linguistic space. The ROC MP alleged that the “uncontrolled” influx of migrant labor decreases the “indigenous” population’s wages and access to jobs and that “closed ethnic enclaves” are “breeding grounds” for corruption, organized crime, extremism, and terrorism.

The ROC MP offered a series of policy recommendations that Russia should prioritize in a new migration policy, including “significant” restrictions on low-skilled foreign laborers, guarantees of employment and high incomes for Russian citizens, protections of the rights and interests of ethnic Russians, and other indigenous peoples of Russia, the mass repatriation of "compatriots” to Russia, and the relocation of highly-skilled foreign specialists who are loyal to Russia and ready to integrate into Russian society.

The ROC MP’s demographic and migration policy suggestions continue to highlight how the Kremlin struggles with inconsistent and contradictory policies concerning migrants and the interests of its ultranationalist population. Select Russian officials and ultranationalist voices have recently called for Russia to enact anti-migrant policies following the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, but ISW continues to assess that Russia is unlikely to introduce any restrictions that would reduce the number of migrants in Russia given that Russia continues to heavily rely on migrants to offset domestic labor shortages and for force generation efforts.

Putin asserted in December 2023 that Russia’s “compatriots abroad” are those who have historical, cultural, or linguistic ties to Russia, and the ROC MP appears to suggest that the repatriation of such “compatriots” to Russia could be a large resource Russia could tap into to solve its demographic crisis. Some of the ROC MP’s other policy recommendations, however, contradictorily seek to restrict some of the very migrants that would fall under Putin’s definition of “compatriots abroad.” The ROC MP’s approach to the Russkiy Mir appears to be at odds with Putin’s previous definition of Russkiy Mir which posits a diverse and inclusive Russian civic nationalism.

The ROC MP appears to be combining previously parallel Kremlin narrative efforts into a relatively cohesive ideology focusing on national identity and demographic resurgence that promises Russians a period of national rejuvenation in exchange for social and civic duties.

The ROC MP highlighted that “the restoration of the unity of the Russian people” through the war in Ukraine is a key condition for Russia’s survival and successful development throughout the 21st century. This call for restoration amounts to the full-scale destruction of the Ukrainian nation and its envelopment into Russia.

The ROC MP aims to also envelop ethnic Belarusians into the Russian nation through its conception of the “trinity doctrine” while also massively repatriating other “compatriots” abroad. The ROC MP’s calls for Russians to assume the responsibility for steadily increasing birth rates and averting demographic catastrophe similarly promises Russians that Russian sovereignty and identity will persist in the 21st century.

These efforts to expand Russia’s control over those it considers to be a part of the Russkiy Mir, whether through mass repatriation or forceful means like Russia’s war of conquest in Ukraine, serve the same purpose as the calls for Russians to increase birth rates — increasing Russia’s overall population with people that ultranationalists consider to be “Russian.”

The ROC MP argued that the establishment of a stable and sovereign Russkiy Mir under the Russian state will lead to economic opportunity and Russia’s role as one of the leading centers of a multipolar world order. The ROC MP stated that the typical embodiment of the Russkiy Mir after the promised national rejuvenation would be a Russian family with three or more children and their own single-family home, offering ordinary Russians future socioeconomic benefits in exchange for sacrifices made now in backing the ROC MP’s suggested ultranationalist ideology and achieving Russia’s “unification” with Ukraine and Belarus.

The ROC MP’s suggested ideology explicitly ties Russian national security to the preservation of an imagined and disputed Russian nation and Russian demographic growth, offering the Kremlin expanded justifications for acts of aggression against neighboring countries and the West in the name of protecting the overall size and growth of the imagined Russkiy Mir.

The Kremlin may choose not to fully align itself publicly with the ultranationalist ideology that the ROC MP has proposed at this time but will highly likely borrow from and leverage it to generate support for the war effort in Ukraine and any future acts of aggression against Russia’s neighbors and the West.

See the original here.

The world's rarest animals

SPIRIT ANIMAL

ALBINO KOOKABURRA 


1 of 17

By Raffaella Ciccarelli, 9News Staff

March 30, 2024 - 

A lucky local has photographed a rare, white kookaburra in Wynnum, Queensland this week.

The birds with the leucistic genetic trait, which affects colour and skin pigmentation, are most commonly found near Wollongong.

It's believed the white coloured animals struggle to survive in the wild.

GOING OVERBOARD

Canada’s Niagara region declares state of emergency ahead of eclipse tourists

SAT, 30 MAR, 2024 - 

ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER

Ontario’s Niagara Region has declared a state of emergency as it prepares to welcome up to a million visitors for the solar eclipse in early April.

The total solar eclipse on April 8 will be the first to touch the province since 1979, and Niagara Falls was declared by National Geographic to be one of the best places to see it.

The city is in the path of totality, where the moon will entirely block the sun’s rays for a few minutes.

The regional municipality of Niagara is proactively invoking a state of emergency to prepare for the event 

(Carlos Osorio/The Canadian Press via AP)

Niagara Falls mayor Jim Diodati said earlier in March that he expects the most visitors his city has ever seen in a single day.

The regional municipality of Niagara is proactively invoking a state of emergency to prepare for the event.

The declaration announced on Thursday sets in motion some additional planning tools to prepare for the day, which could involve major traffic jams, heavier demands on emergency services and cell phone network overloads.

Towns, cities in path of total solar eclipse

 gear up for a few exciting moments

The spectacle will move millions of people around to view the event and inject money into local economies.


1 of 7 |

 A composite image shows the moon covering the sun during an annular "Ring of Fire" solar eclipse near Bluff, Utah, in October. 

File Photo by Bob Strong/UPI | License Photo



March 29 (UPI) -- Cities and towns in the path of a total solar eclipse April 8 expect throngs of visitors who will view a short-lived event, inject a great deal of money into the local economy and hopefully won't create chaos during their stay.

This first total eclipse across parts of the United States in nearly seven years will start at sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, pass through Mexico and cross a swath of the United States from Texas to Maine.

Major cities that will experience the total eclipse are Texas cities San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, followed by Little Rock, Ark., Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo before, being seen in Montreal and the Newfoundland coast near Gander, Canada.

Scores of small towns are in the path, as well, some equipped better than others to handle anticipated crowds and their need to buy gas, eat food and go to the restroom. Medical personnel will be standing by, and police agencies will be out in force,

Why are so many people intrigued by this eclipse that will be seen in at least 15 states? One key reason is that next solar eclipse in the United States is 20 years away, though several others can be observed before that in other parts of the world.

Depending on weather and location, the eclipse could be viewed -- with a safety recommendation to wear protective eyewear -- for 2 to 4 minutes. Many parts of Texas -- such as Dallas, Austin, Waco -- will be in the path of totality, with the moon expected to begin covering the sun at 12:23 p.m. CDT.

Bell County -- north of Austin -- has declared a state of emergency ahead of the eclipse in anticipation of a large visitor influx in a state that has not seen a total solar eclipse for 146 years.

State officials said they expect a heavy traffic increase as spectators make their way to locations along 480 miles of roadway that will be in the path of totality.

"Many Texans will be able to see a total solar eclipse from their back yards," said Matthew Heinze, a Texas Department of Transportation official, who added that projections indicate nearly 1 million people will travel to or within the state that day.

Arkansas expects a lot of attention, too. The state has not been in the path of a total solar eclipse since 1918, and state officials expect more than 1 one million visitors to areas where the eclipse can best be seen. That includes Little Rock, which expects more than 100,000 visitors.

In New England, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine expect to provide a boost to local economies, and say the region will potentially see "hundreds of thousands of visitors" for the eclipse, NBC Boston reported.

School officials in Maine either adjusted class schedules for the day or canceled classes, citing traffic and other safety-related concerns. The University of Maine will send 10 students 90,000 feet up in a hot air balloon to obtain data and livestream the eclipse.

But skepticism exists in Canada about the chances of having a good view of the eclipse, with some saying the best way to view it would be to livestream it.

"The path of the shadow passes through very little of Canada," Leigh Hunt Palmer, a professor emeritus of astronomy at Simon Fraser University, told the Vancouver Sun. "It just grazes Canada, actually."

In Ohio, Fox 8 News in Cleveland reported an assortment of events being planned, including viewing parties, festivals, museum shows and restaurants opening that usually are closed on a Monday.

Four western Pennsylvania counties adjacent to Ohio will be in the path of totality with the remainder of the "Keystone State" expected to be in the 99% to 88.65% magnitude of the eclipse. The last time that state was in the path of a total solar eclipse was 218 years ago, the state Department of Education said.

Back in Texas, Travis Houston, director of Dallas' Office of Emergency Management, told KDFW he started to plan for the eclipse a year ago. His biggest concern is to keep traffic moving.

"Making sure we understand how to keep ingress and egress active for first responders. How do we take care of stranded motorists, if that is an issue, and then how do we communicate to the public don't stop on the road to look at the eclipse?" Houston said.

He has encouraged employers to treat April 8 like a snow day, with only essential workers going to the office.

While officials throughout the country expect to be prepared for vehicular control, one town has a unique issue.

After the Great Northern Paper Co. closed its mill 10 years ago, East Millinocket, Maine, reset a tri-color signal to a yellow blinker for through traffic on State Route 157 and a red blinker on the intersecting roadway.

Now, said Gail Fanjoy, president of the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce, the town is exploring how to restore the full traffic light ahead of eclipse weekend.

AI company reveals new technology which can clone a person’s voice

OpenAI has revealed new technology which can clone a person’s voice

 (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

By Associated Press Reporters

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is getting into the voice assistant business and showing off new technology that can clone a person’s voice, but says it will not yet release it publicly due to safety concerns.

The artificial intelligence company unveiled its new Voice Engine technology on Friday, just over a week after filing a trademark application for the name.

The company claims that it can recreate a person’s voice with just 15 seconds of recording of that person talking.

We recognise that generating speech that resembles people's voices has serious risks, which are especially top of mind in an election year

OpenAI statement

OpenAI says it plans tpreviewo  it with early testers “but not widely release this technology at this time” because of the dangers of misuse.

“We recognise that generating speech that resembles people’s voices has serious risks, which are especially top of mind in an election year,” the San Francisco company said in a statement.

In New Hampshire, authorities are investigating robocalls sent to thousands of voters just before the presidential primary that featured an AI-generated voice mimicking President Joe Biden.

A number of start-up companies already sell voice-cloning technology, some of which is accessible to the public or for select business customers such as entertainment studios.

OpenAI says early Voice Engine testers have agreed to not impersonate a person without their consent and to disclose that the voices are AI-generated.

The company, best known for its chatbot and the image-generator DALL-E, took a similar approach in announcing but not widely releasing its video-generator Sora.

However, a trademark application filed on March 19 shows that OpenAI likely aims to get into the business of speech recognition and digital voice assistant.

Eventually, improving such technology could help OpenAI compete with the likes of other voice products such as Amazon’s Alexa.

OpenAI knows you're worried about its new AI model that can copy your voice

Grace Eliza Goodwin
Mar 29, 2024

Jonathan Raa/Getty Images


OpenAI says it's aware of the dangers of using AI-generated voice tools.

The AI firm revealed details about its "Voice Engine" tool, which hasn't fully launched.

The company listed its security steps — and wouldn't confirm if the model will even be widely released.

OpenAI knows that AI-generated voice tools can be a sketchy business.

In a blog post sharing the early test phase results of its new synthetic voice tool, the artificial intelligence company addressed concerns about the use of AI to replicate human voices, especially in an election year.

OpenAI's "Voice Engine" tool, which the company says it first developed in late 2022, uses a 15-second audio clip of a real person's voice to create an eerily realistic, human-sounding replica of that voice.

And users can make that voice say anything — even in other languages.

The tool is not yet available to the public, and OpenAI says it is still considering "whether and how to deploy this technology at scale."

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Sam Altman may have Siri and Alexa in his sights after OpenAI filed a 'digital voice assistant' trademark application


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"We recognize that generating speech that resembles people's voices has serious risks, which are especially top of mind in an election year," OpenAI wrote in its blog post. "We are engaging with U.S. and international partners from across government, media, entertainment, education, civil society, and beyond to ensure we are incorporating their feedback as we build."

OpenAI currently uses the tool to power ChatGPT's "read aloud" features, as well as the company's text-to-speech API.

At the end of last year, OpenAI started expanding the tool externally, working with what it described as a "small group of trusted partners" to test out Voice Engine for things like children's educational materials, language translation, and medical voice recovery, the company said in its post

OpenAI stressed that its partner organizations must obey strict policies to use Voice Engine, like getting consent from every individual being impersonated and informing listeners that the voice is AI-generated.

"We are taking a cautious and informed approach to a broader release due to the potential for synthetic voice misuse," the company wrote. "We hope to start a dialogue on the responsible deployment of synthetic voices, and how society can adapt to these new capabilities."

Though the company said it's not yet sure whether it will ever release the tool to the general public, it pushed policymakers and developers to take steps to prevent dangerous misuse of the tech it was developing.

For example, OpenAI suggested establishing a "no-go voice list" to prevent the nonconsensual replication of prominent voices, like politicians or celebrities.

The company also recommended that banks stop using voice-based security authentication and that researchers develop techniques to track whether a voice is real or fake.

Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal to allow OpenAI to train its models on its media brands' reporting.