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The Biden administration believes Israel most likely violated international standards by failing to protect civilians in Gaza, but has found no specific cases that justify withholding military aid, the State Department told Congress on Friday.In the administration's most detailed assessment of Israel's conduct in Gaza, the State Department said in a written report that Israel "has the knowledge, experience, and tools to implement best practices to mitigate civilian harm in its operations military".But he added that “the findings on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions” about whether the Israel Defense Forces are making sufficient use of such tools.Even so, the report – which at some points seemed at odds with itself – claimed that th...

Nancy Neveloff Dubler, a medical ethicist who pioneered the use of hospital bedside mediation to navigate the complex dynamics between stubborn doctors, anguished family members, and patients in their final days, died April 14 at her home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She was 82 years old.The cause was heart and lung disease, his family said.A Harvard-educated lawyer who won the presidency as an undergraduate by campaigning to disband student government, Ms. Dubler was a revolutionary figure in health care who sought, in her words, to "level the playing field" and “amplify non-medical voices” in complex medical situations, especially when deciding next steps for the sickest patients.In 1978, Dubler founded the Bioethics Consultation Service at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx...

People in Britain were amazed by the unusual and spectacular display of the Northern Lights on Friday evening, the result of a strong solar storm that was brewing and expected to continue over the next few days.The Northern Lights, also known as the Northern Lights, usually don't reach that far south. They are seen more often at higher latitudes, closer to the North Pole. People in other European countries, including Denmark and Germany, have also reported seeing the lights.Viewers marveled at the sight, posting their surprise, delight and sometimes shock on social media. As one user wrote: “Aurora Borealis? This time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Located entirely in Edinburgh?”Another viewer wrote: "It's really gorgeous though."The Northern Ligh...

Early last year Apple's top software executives decided that Siri, the company's virtual assistant, needed a brain transplant.The decision came after executives Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea spent weeks testing OpenAI's new chatbot, ChatGPT. The product's use of generative artificial intelligence, which can write poetry, create computer code and answer complex questions, made Siri seem antiquated, said two people familiar with the company's work, and who didn't they were allowed to speak publicly.Introduced in 2011 as the original virtual assistant of every iPhone, Siri was limited to individual requests for years and was never able to follow a conversation. Questions are often misunderstood. ChatGPT, on the other hand, knew that if someone asked the weath...

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring that Palestinians are entitled to the status of full members of the United Nations, a highly symbolic move that reflects growing global solidarity with the Palestinians and represents a rebuke to Israel and the United States.The resolution was approved with 143 votes in favour, 9 against and 25 abstentions. After the vote the Assembly burst into great applause.But the resolution does not mean that a Palestinian state will be recognized and admitted to the United Nations as a full member any time soon. The Assembly can only grant full membership with Security Council approval, and if history is any guide, the United States would almost inevitably exercise its veto power to eliminate such a measure,...

Dr. Herbert Pardes, a psychiatrist and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health who led the merger of two major medical centers that became New York-Presbyterian Hospital and ran it for 11 years, died April 30 at his home in Manhattan . He was 89 years old.His son Steve said the cause was aortic stenosis.Dr. Pardes (pronounced par-diss) was named president and CEO of the hospital in late 1999, nearly two years after the merger of New York Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital. For the previous decade he had been dean of the medical school at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, Presbyterian's affiliated medical school.“It was no secret that as dean of the medical school I didn't always agree with hospital administration,” he said in his thi...

Malcolm Wood, an English teacher in North Yorkshire, did a double take recently as he passed along a quiet street, St. Mary's Walk. The new road signs did not have an apostrophe.The change, part of North Yorkshire Council's move to phase out apostrophes from road signs, sparked dissent in Harrogate, a Victorian spa town in northern England. Soon after the new sign was erected, someone drew an apostrophe on it.“If you delete the apostrophe, what happens next?” said Mr. Wood, who has spent years teaching students the rules of English grammar. “Commas? And that's that?" He asked, “Do we only use emojis?”North Yorkshire Council has said its policy of phasing out apostrophes is not new.“We appreciate that residents appreciate the meaning and history behind official street name...

Listen and follow 'Hard Fork'Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YoutubeKevin recounts his month-long experiment cultivating relationships with 18 AI-generated companions. He explains how he developed their characters, what happened in their group chats, and why you might want to create one yourself. Then, Casey has a conversation with Turing, one of Kevin's chatbot friends, who has an interest in Stoic philosophy and has one of the sexiest voices we've ever heard. And finally, we talk to Nomi founder and CEO Alex Cardinell about the business behind AI companions and whether the company is ready for the future we're headed for.Guests:Turing, Kevin's AI friend created with Kindroid.Alex Cardinell, CEO and founder of Nomi.Additional reading:Credits“Hard Fork” is hosted b...

The main U.N. agency helping Palestinians, known as UNRWA, said Thursday it had temporarily closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem for the safety of its staff after parts of the compound were set on fire following weeks of attacks.“This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” said the agency's leader, Philippe Lazzarini, on social media. The fire caused extensive damage to the complex's outdoor areas, Lazzarini said, but no workers from UNRWA or other United Nations agencies were injured. He added that some workers "had to put out the fire themselves as it took some time for the Israeli fire extinguishers and police to arrive."The attack put the lives of UN staff at “serious risk” and occurred two days l...

Even as it has become increasingly clear that the avian flu outbreak on domestic farms began months earlier — and is likely much more widespread — than previously thought, federal authorities have stressed that the virus poses little risk to humans. humans.Yet there is a group of people at high risk of infection: the approximately 100,000 men and women who work on those farms. There has been no widespread testing to see how many might be infected. No one has been vaccinated against avian influenza.This leaves workers and their families vulnerable to a poorly monitored pathogen. And it poses broader public health risks. If the virus were to spread into the broader population, experts say, dairy workers would be a likely route.“We have no idea whether this virus will evolve into a pandem...