An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a distinct cryptographic token that cannot be replicated and acts as a certificate of ownership for virtual items.

At one point the account name was changed to Bapesclan and the profile picture to an ape-like cartoon figure in clownish make-up, Sky News reported.

The Twitter account was restored to normal by Sunday evening.

A tweet posted afterwards read: “Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed. We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us and normal service will now resume.”

The YouTube account also appeared to have its usual videos restored.

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The initiative, in the form of an innovative mobile phone application, Mano Kodakam, is aimed at increasing awareness around the importance of a child’s early years, and empowering Afghan parents and caregivers to give their children the best start in life.

The initiative was warmly welcomed by not only doctors and psychologists in the country but also by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) Ministry of Public Health.

Mohammad Hassan Ghiasi, Deputy Minister of Policy and Planning at the Ministry of Public Health, attended the launch and stated the app was in line with Afghan culture and values.

He pointed out the benefits of the app for children including the positive psychological impact it will have on them.

He said the new application comes at a critical time in the country’s history, as there is a need for “repairs” to the country’s “cultural infrastructure”.

“Afghanistan is a country that has gone through four decades of problems and war and our cultural infrastructure has been kind of destroyed and needs to be repaired, and we need to be careful during our repairs,” he said adding that “during our repairs we must be cautious that we minimize the psychological damage to our next generation as much as possible, and I think this app (Mano Kodakam) is the beginning of that start.”

Zakaria Barakzai, a psychologist who was also present at the launch, said: “In the past, many parents thought their children had autism and did not know why their child did not talk until the age of four … fortunately, all these problems have been considered in this app.”

Barakzai also pointed out how important it was to stimulate a young child.

“If a child acquires courage, wisdom, awareness, and in some cases patience, this can only be found through playing, so that is why we recommend playing with children in their first, second and third years; but in the area of play, if they need help, or a partner, fortunately the app that was created can cover all of these issues.”

According to Aisha Stanikzai, a journalist who has familiarized herself with the new application, parents are often too busy to spend much quality time with their children.

“Most of the time, parents are busy and can’t take good care of their children, and by giving toys to their children, they think they have taken care of their children, but they do not realize what their child really needs,” she said.

“Parents should communicate with their kids to really know what their child needs, and the creation of such an application can be important in the part of communicating with their children and in the part of guiding parents on how to communicate with their children.”

Mano Kodakam – an innovative approach to early childhood development

Named ‘Mano Kodakam’, this innovative application aims to inspire parents and caregivers to have more frequent, quality interactions with children and improve their behavior by highlighting do-able and desirable actions such as simple activities like “peek-a-boo” that are scientifically proven to have a significant impact on a child’s development.

Bayat Foundation Executive Director, Mrs. Fatema Laya Bayat, stated: “Children need nurturing care and playful parenting right from the start in order to support their brain development and future potential. Mano Kodakam aims to give Afghan parents and caregivers the knowledge they need during their precious early years. The science shows that it’s the little moments of connection and interaction, repeated often and especially during the toughest of times, that can make all the difference.”

The app has both Dari and Pashto versions available for free on both IOS and Android operating systems, and is accessible even on lower tech, older mobile devices. Much of the core information will also be made available via a range of channels including social media, SMS, radio, television, as well as, in print and digital media.

“Every Afghan child, no matter where they live, has a right to the best possible start to life,” stated Bayat Foundation co-founder, Dr. Ehsan Bayat.

‘Mano Kodakam’ content is based on in-depth anthropological analyses of global parenting and community norms, gender roles and parenting roles, as well as the specific religious, cultural and environmental factors of Afghanistan.

The Bayat Foundation worked in partnership with Australia’s Minderoo Foundation, in collaboration with the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre to ensure the most advanced neuroscience and the practices of child-rearing were merged with Afghan traditions to create an environment that will help each Afghan child to reach their maximum cognitive and emotional potential.

To download the app visit: www.thrivebyfive.com/fa-AF

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Analysts for the US National Security Agency, French government cybersecurity organization ANSSI, and Ukrainian intelligence are assessing whether the remote sabotage of a satellite internet provider’s service was the work of Russian-state backed hackers preparing the battlefield by attempting to sever communications, Reuters reported citing sources.

The digital blitz on the satellite service began on Feb. 24 between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., just as Russian forces started going in and firing missiles, striking major Ukrainian cities including the capital, Kyiv.

The consequences are still being investigated but satellite modems belonging to tens of thousands of customers in Europe were knocked offline, according to an official of US telecommunications firm Viasat, which owns the affected network.

The hackers disabled modems that communicate with Viasat Inc’s KA-SAT satellite, which supplies internet access to some customers in Europe, including Ukraine. More than two weeks later some remain offline, resellers told Reuters.

Pablo Breuer, a former technologist for US special operations command, or SOCOM, said knocking out satellite internet connectivity could handicap Ukraine’s ability to combat Russian forces.

“Traditional land-based radios only reach so far. If you’re using modern smart systems, smart weapons, trying to do combined arms maneuvers, then you must rely on these satellites,” said Breuer.

Russian soldiers have besieged Ukrainian cities. The invasion has been denounced by the West as an unprovoked assault and it has led to severe sanctions against Moscow as punishment.

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According to Pakistan media reports Nahid Mubarak, a 45-year-old health worker, was found dead along with her 22-year-old son Taimur and two daughters aged 17 and 11 in Lahore last week.

Her 14-year-old son, who remained unhurt and is the lone survivor of the family, turned out to be the murderer, police said in a statement.

“The PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) addict boy confessed to have killed her mother and siblings under the influence of the game. He has developed some psychological issues because of spending long hours of the day playing the online game,” the statement said.

Police said Nahid used his mother’s pistol to shoot his family while they were asleep.

According to Dawn News, this is the fourth such crime related to the online game in Lahore.

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The downpour was likely made heavier by climate change as well. A day of rainfall can now be up to 19% more intense in the region than it would have been had global atmospheric temperatures not risen by 1.2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures, according to research published by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) scientific consortium.

“We will definitely get more of this in a warming climate,” said the group’s co-leader Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford told Reuters.

“Extreme weather is deadly,” said Otto, recalling that she urgently contacted family members who live in the affected areas to make sure they were safe when the floods hit. “For me it was very close to home.”

With extreme weather events dominating news headlines in recent years, scientists have been under increasing pressure to determine exactly how much climate change is to blame.

During the last year alone, scientists found that U.S. drought, a deadly Canadian heat wave and wildfires across the Siberian Arctic have been worsened by a warming atmosphere.

The July 12-15 rainfall over Europe triggered flooding that swept away houses and power lines, and left more than 200 people dead, mostly in Germany. Dozens died in Belgium and thousands were also forced to flee their homes in the Netherlands.

“The fact that people are losing their lives in one of the richest countries in the world — that is truly shocking,” said climate scientist Ralf Toumi at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, who was not involved in the study. “Nowhere is safe.”

Although the deluge was unprecedented, the 39 WWA scientists found that local rainfall patterns are highly variable.

So they conducted their analysis over a wider area spanning parts of France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland. They used local weather records and computer simulations to compare the July flooding event with what might have been expected in a world unaffected by climate change, Reuters reported.

Because warmer air holds more moisture, summer downpours in this region are now 3-19% heavier than they would be without global warming, the scientists found.

And the event itself was anywhere from 1.2 to 9 times — or 20% to 800% — more likely to have occurred.

That broad range of uncertainty was partly explained by a lack of historical records, WWA explained, and worsened by the floods destroying equipment that monitored river conditions.

Still, the “study confirms that global heating has played a big part in the flooding disaster,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist and oceanographer at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who was not involved in the study.

“This is in line with the finding of the recent IPCC report, which found that extreme rainfall events have increased worldwide,” he added, referring to a U.N. climate panel’s findings.

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The new rules – which were announced in February and which became effective at the end of last month – are aimed at regulating content on social media and making firms such as Facebook (FB.O), its WhatsApp messenger and Twitter more accountable to legal requests, Reuters reported.

They also require big social media companies to set up grievance redressal mechanisms and appoint new executives to coordinate with law enforcement.

India’s technology ministry wrote to Twitter on May 26 and May 28 on the new rules, but the company’s responses “neither address the clarifications sought by this ministry nor indicate full compliance with the Rules,” said the June 5 letter from the technology ministry to Twitter deputy general counsel Jim Baker, Reuters reported.

The letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said that among other things, Twitter had yet to inform the ministry about its chief compliance officer, and its grievance officer and nodal contact person were not employees as mandated by rules.

It said such non-compliance would lead to “unintended consequences” including the possibility that Twitter could be held accountable for content posted on it, an exemption it currently largely enjoys, Reuters reported.

It added, “However, as gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the Rules.”

The technology ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Twitter declined to comment.

The new IT rules have spurred legal battles, including a lawsuit filed by Facebook-owned WhatsApp that accuses the government of exceeding its legal powers by enacting rules that will force the messaging app to break end-to-end encryption.

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Zhurong’s first successful drive made China the second country after the United States to land and operate a rover on Mars.

The six-wheeled solar-powered rover slowly trundled off a ramp on the lander to hit the red and sandy soil of Mars, starting its journey to explore the fourth planet from the sun.

China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. The lander carrying the rover touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain on the northern hemisphere of Mars, on May 15, eight days before the rover left the lander.

“The reason why we need eight days is that the rover needs to capture the clear images of the area where it will touch down. If the assessment came out to be no difficulties, risk-free and safe, we will decide which way to go for the guide rail on the lander, which can stretch to this direction or this direction,” said Zhang Yuhua, deputy chief commander of Tianwen-1 mission, with the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

As planned, Zhurong will stay on Mars for 92 Earth days for explorations, during which the orbiter of Tianwen-1, with a design life of one Martian year (about 687 days on Earth), will relay communications from the rover to Earth. And after it completes the relay communications, the orbiter will continue its own scientific detection operations of Mars.

While on Mars, Zhurong will record the Martian landscape with high-resolution three-dimensional images, analyze the material composition of the planet’s surface, detect its sub-surface structure and magnetic field, search for traces of water ice and observe the surrounding meteorological environment.

“The real Mars-orbiting exploration starts only after the three-month relay communications completes. We hope we could have a comprehensive covering of Martian topography, landform and environment, and the exploratory data of the radar detecting the Martian subsurface during one Martian year. By doing so, our country will have our own abundant and first-hand data about Martian resources,” said Zhang.

Zhurong is named after the god of fire in ancient Chinese mythology. The name echoes with the Chinese name for the red planet, Huoxing (the planet of fire), while the name of the mission, Tianwen, means Questions to Heaven, the title of a poem by the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan (circa 340-278 BC).

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According to Telegram, they recorded an increase of 25 million users in the past 72 hours.

Signal’s Brian Acton said on Tuesday their new user base “exploded” this week.

Acton, who originally co-founded WhatsApp before selling it to Facebook, said Signal won’t sell its users’ data and that it won’t show its users ads.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has now responded to the mass exodus of users and published an FAQ clarifying the terms of its updated privacy policy and responding to concerns that the firm behind the text-messaging app shares personal information with parent company Facebook.

WhatsApp noted the update doesn’t affect the privacy of messages with friends and family, and instead relates to messaging businesses through the platform.

The company also said the update “provides further transparency about how we collect and use data.”

WhatsApp emphasized that neither it nor Facebook can see users’ private messages or hear their calls and that WhatsApp also doesn’t keep logs of who people message or call, can’t see your shared location (neither can Facebook), doesn’t share users’ contacts with Facebook and keeps WhatsApp groups private.

The publication of the FAQ follows calls from privacy advocates, concerned users and, notably, Elon Musk, to ditch the Facebook-owned messaging app and instead opt for encrypted messaging apps like Signal.

WhatsApp says personal messages are also protected by end-to-end encryption, but it has for years openly collected certain user data to share with Facebook.

However as experts explained, even WhatsApp has no means of accessing content in transit, while the messages on your phone are protected by the security of your device.

The issue is metadata – the who, when and where around your messages, as well as your contacts and information about your device.

WhatsApp does collect too much data, much more than the likes of Signal, Telegram and iMessage. But when compared to apps like Facebook, Messenger, Google, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, it collects very little.

So, unless you avoid those others, WhatsApp isn’t your biggest problem.

That being said, WhatsApp basically says the changes will mostly affect business accounts and people who chat with businesses, where the data will be used to apparently improve on the experience as well as help create more personalized ads.

The post Millions of WhatsApp users migrate to Signal and Telegram first appeared on Ariana News | Afghanistan News.

It is worth-mentioning that Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken piloted the first manned flight of the Falcon 9 on May 30.

These astronauts had previously been on two space shuttle missions, and they spoke of their surprise at how comparatively smooth the SpaceX launch was.

Hurley has told Spaceflight Now, “What I thought was really neat was how sensitive we were to the throttling of the Merlin engines. That was really neat.”

He added: “We didn’t even need to look at the speed. You could tell just by how the rocket felt, so it’s a very pure flying machine.”

According to him, the shuttle had solid rocket boosters that burned very rough for the first two-and-a-half minutes. But the first stage with Falcon 9 was the nine Merlin engines, he said, “It was a much smoother ride, obviously, because it was a liquid engine ascent.”

The second stage felt a bit rougher, after the smooth launch, said the astronauts.

Behnken said, “The biggest difference is just the dynamics that are involved, the vibration, the experiences that we felt actually riding a real rocket.”

According to the report, NASA is working with Boeing on its manned Starliner capsule, which is expected to launch early next year.

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The organization said in a tweet that the launch was scrubbed due to weather. “There were no issues with the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft.”

In case you’re just tuning in, today’s launch was scrubbed due to weather. There were no issues with the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft. https://t.co/U1COQzFy4v pic.twitter.com/tMjvUBX2FR

— NASA (@NASA) May 27, 2020

The mission was called off just 17 minutes before the launch.

“Today’s Launch America attempt was an instantaneous launch window. Due to orbital mechanics, we need to make sure that at the time we launch, we are able to reach the Space Station on time and accurately. Because of this, we could not wait for clear weather today,” NASA said.

NASA said that it would resume an attempt to launch the Demo-2 mission at around 3:22 local time on Saturday, May 30. NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

“We are not going to launch today.”

Due to the weather conditions, the launch is scrubbing. Our next opportunity will be Saturday, May 30 at 3:22pm ET. Live #LaunchAmerica coverage will begin at 11am ET. pic.twitter.com/c7R1AmLLYh

— NASA (@NASA) May 27, 2020

“A new era of human spaceflight is set to begin as American astronauts once again launch on an American rocket from American soil to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program,” NASA said in a statement.

NASA added that the mission will be SpaceX’s – a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company – final test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and will provide critical data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, Crew Dragon spacecraft, and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, and landing operations.

“The test flight also will provide valuable data toward certification of SpaceX’s crew transportation system for regular flights carrying astronauts to and from the space station,” the statement said. 

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A research paper published on Nature Communications’ journal, indicates that a team of researchers from Monash, Swinburne, and RMIT universities has successfully has tested and recorded Australia’s fastest internet data speed.

According to the research, this data speed is capable of downloading 1000 high definition movies in a second.

The researchers used a new device that replaces 80 lasers with one single piece of equipment known as a micro-comb, which is smaller and lighter than existing telecommunications hardware.

“These findings have the potential to not only fast-track the next 25 years of Australia’s telecommunications capacity but also the possibility for this home-grown technology to be rolled out across the world,” the paper writes.

According to the findings, this technology has the capacity to support the high-speed internet connections of 1.8 million households in Melbourne, Australia, at the same time, and billions across the world during peak periods.

It is the first time any micro-comb has been used in a field trial and possesses the highest amount of data produced from a single optical chip.

Dr. Bill Corcoran, one of the researchers, says, “We’re currently getting a sneak-peak of how the infrastructure for the internet will hold up in two to three years’ time, due to the unprecedented number of people using the internet for remote work, socializing and streaming. It’s really showing us that we need to be able to scale the capacity of our internet connections.”

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According to EasyJet, in this cyber-attack, email addresses and travel details had been stolen adding that 2,208 customers had also had their credit card details “accessed”.

BBC reported, the firm has informed the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office and is continuing to investigate the breach.

EasyJet said it first became aware of the attack in January.

In a statement, it said: “We take issues of security extremely seriously and continue to invest to further enhance our security environment.

“There is no evidence that any personal information of any nature has been misused, however, on the recommendation of the ICO, we are communicating with the approximately nine million customers whose travel details were accessed to advise them of protective steps to minimize any risk of potential phishing.”

This comes as personal details can be used to access bank accounts, open accounts, and take out loans in the innocent victims’ names, make fraudulent purchases, or sell on to other criminals.

Millions of people whose email addresses and travel details have been accessed will need to change passwords, and be wary of any unexpected transactions.

The same data breach happened at British Airways in 2018.

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Due to the lockdown and restrictions to help prevent the Coronavirus outbreak, the entire educational institutions of Afghanistan have been shut. In the meantime, the Ministry of Education has been working on the remote or online education system to be delivered via media.

As a result, the science subjects will be taught via television networks and social subjects will be taught via radio stations in a properly scheduled manner.

The ministry of education says that through the system in hand, students across the country will be able to solve 60% to 70% of their problems by watching TV and listening to the radio on schedule.

Noria Nazhat, the spokeswoman of the ministry of education, says “Official broadcasts haven’t been started nor we have had any trial broadcasts in the media. Some of the private media networks have pledged to support. Both, our official and trial broadcasts, will start next week right after the president’s call for schools.”

However some of the private universities have already started teaching online, the ministry of higher education’s plans seems to be more comprehensive.

The ministry of higher education says that they are working on a single system that includes all the lists of the private and the service universities as well as teachers and students across the country, and specific materials will be attached for teaching and learning.

Aziz Ahmad Oriakhill, head of the information, publication and public relations of the ministry of higher education, says that the MHE has been working on a single online system (an application) and it will be configured in a week’s time, noting that the application will contain certain options and registries including the list of the tutors and learners.

Students have found the private university’s online lessons very expensive because of the kind of applications that the universities are using, but the ministry of higher education aims to provide students and teachers with free/low-cost services.

Also, it is very likely that the ongoing situation will escalate and the lockdown will be taken more seriously, therefore, the ministry of higher education aims to keep students busy with their lessons at home and, the students should also take this as an opportunity.

The post School lessons to officially start through media next week first appeared on Ariana News | Afghanistan News.

Authorities of the Afghan Wireless Communication Company notify that from Monday on, new internet packages with lower prices will be presented to the customers.

The need for the internet in Afghanistan increases from day to day; therefore, the AWCC has decided to offer discounts on the charges of the packages.

Officials at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology say that on the president’s verdict and according to the decision of the high council of economy, they have reached to an agreement with the AWCC to lower the internet prices.

The acting minister of the MCIT Fahim Hashemi says that on the president’s verdict and as per the decision of the high council of economy, the discount has been agreed with the AWCC.

The AWCC representative, Aliullah Sarwari, says that the new internet packages with low charges will be effective from Monday 1200gmt.

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused restrictions on movements in some big cities; people, therefore, need to keep themselves updated on what’s happening around through the internet.

People appreciate the step taken by the Afghan Wireless Communication Company.

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