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WASHINGTON — The White House announced on Tuesday it is directing NASA to create a unified time standard for the Moon and other celestial bodies, as governments and private companies increasingly compete in space.

With the United States keen to set international norms beyond Earth’s orbit, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) instructed the US space agency to formulate a plan by the end of 2026 for a standard it is calling Coordinated Lunar Time.

“As NASA, private companies, and space agencies around the world launch missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, it’s important that we establish celestial time standards for safety and accuracy,” OSTP Deputy Director for National Security Steve Welby said in a statement.

He noted how “time passes differently” depending on positions in space, offering the example of how time appears to pass more slowly where gravity is stronger, such as near celestial bodies.

“A consistent definition of time among operators in space is critical to successful space situational awareness capabilities, navigation, and communications,” Welby said.

The aim, the White House says, is for Coordinate Lunar Time, or LTC, to be tied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), currently the primary time standard used throughout the world to regulate time on Earth.

The White House directed NASA to work with the Departments of Commerce, Defence, State and Transportation to deliver a time standard strategy that will improve navigation and other operations for missions in particular in cislunar space, the region between Earth and the Moon.

The new standard will focus on four features: traceability to UTC, accuracy sufficient to support precision navigation and science, resilience to loss of contact with Earth, and scalability to environments beyond cislunar space.

There were few technical specifics for establishing a lunar time standard laid out in the memorandum, but OSTP suggested it could adopt elements of the existing standard on Earth. “Just as Terrestrial Time is set through an ensemble of atomic clocks on Earth, an ensemble of clocks on the Moon might set Lunar Time,” it said.

The United States is planning a return to the Moon in 2026, humanity’s first lunar landing since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

WASHINGTON — A digital tool considered vital in tracking viral falsehoods, CrowdTangle will be decommissioned by Facebook owner Meta in a major election year, a move researchers fear will disrupt efforts to detect an expected firehose of political misinformation.

The tech giant says CrowdTangle will be unavailable after August 14, less than three months before the US election. The Palo Alto company plans to replace it with a new tool that researchers say lacks the same functionality, and which news organisations will largely not have access to.

CrowdTangle has been a game-changer for years, offering researchers and journalists crucial real-time transparency into the spread of conspiracy theories and hate speech on influential Meta-owned platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

Killing off the monitoring tool, a move experts say is in line with a tech industry trend of rolling back transparency and security measures, is a major blow as dozens of countries hold elections this year — a period when bad actors typically spread false narratives more than ever.

In a year where elections are taking place in dozens of countries that are home to almost half the global population, “cutting off access to CrowdTangle will severely limit independent oversight of harms”, Melanie Smith, director of research at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told AFP.

“It represents a grave step backwards for social media platform transparency.”

Meta is set to replace CrowdTangle with a new Content Library, a technology still under development.

It’s a tool that some in the tech industry, including former CrowdTangle chief executive Brandon Silverman, said is currently not an effective replacement, especially in elections likely to see a proliferation of AI-enabled falsehoods.

“It’s an entire new muscle” that Meta is yet to build to protect the integrity of elections, Silverman told AFP, calling for “openness and transparency.”

‘Direct threat’ 

In recent election cycles, researchers say CrowdTangle alerted them to harmful activities including foreign interference, online harassment and incitements to violence.

By its own admission, Meta — which bought CrowdTangle in 2016 — said that in 2019 elections in Louisiana, the tool helped state officials identify misinformation, such as inaccurate poll hours that had been posted online.

In the 2020 presidential vote, the company offered the tool to US election officials across all states to help them “quickly identify misinformation, voter interference and suppression”.

The tool also made dashboards available to the public to track what major candidates were posting on their official and campaign pages.

Lamenting the risk of losing these functions forever, global nonprofit Mozilla Foundation demanded in an open letter to Meta that CrowdTangle be retained at least until January 2025.

“Abandoning CrowdTangle while the Content Library lacks so much of CrowdTangle’s core functionality undermines the fundamental principle of transparency,” said the letter signed by dozens of tech watchdogs and researchers.

The new tool lacks CrowdTangle features including robust search flexibility and decommissioning it would be a “direct threat” to the integrity of elections, it added.

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the letter’s claims are “just wrong”, insisting the Content Library will contain “more comprehensive data than CrowdTangle” and be made available to academics and non-profit election integrity experts.

‘Lot of concerns’ 

Meta, which has been moving away from news across its platforms, will not make the new tool accessible to for-profit media.

Journalists have used CrowdTangle in the past to investigate public health crises as well as human rights abuses and natural disasters.

Meta’s decision to cut off journalists comes after many used CrowdTangle to report unflattering stories, including its flailing moderation efforts and how its gaming app was overrun with pirated content.

CrowdTangle has been a crucial source of data that helped “hold Meta accountable for enforcing its policies”, Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Technology, told AFP.

Organisations that debunk misinformation as part of Meta’s third-party fact-checking programme, including AFP, will have access to the Content Library.

But other researchers and non-profits will have to apply for access or look for expensive alternatives. Two researchers told AFP under condition of anonymity that in one-on-one meetings with Meta officials, they demanded firm commitments from company officials.

“While most fact-checkers already working with Meta will have access to the new tool, it’s not super clear if many independent researchers — already worried about losing CrowdTangle’s functionality — will,” Carlos Hernandez-Echevarria, head of the Spanish non-profit Maldita, told AFP.

PARIS — A new three-part documentary, “Superpowered”, charts the 90-year history of DC Comics, which brought the world “Superman”, “Batman”, “Wonder Woman” and countless other superheroes.

Korean-born US comic-book artist Jim Lee has been one of the genre’s great stars since his early days at Marvel in the 1980s, working on “X-Men”.

When he switched to DC, he helped revive its iconic characters, eventually rising to be president and chief creative officer.

He sat down with AFP to talk about his inspirations, the risk of “superhero fatigue” and why he might have been a sort of “AI engine” in his early days.

Does the simplistic black-and-white morality of superhero stories still have a place in today’s world?

The black-and-white division between good and evil was more characteristic of the early decades at DC Comics.

From the 70s and 80s on, the rise of the anti-hero and establishing origin stories for the villains, where maybe they have a valid point of view... that’s helped keep the stories interesting... and there’s a greater degree of sophistication in the storytelling.

The value of comics... is to remind people that we’re all going to go through hardship and trauma, and it’s the choices you make that will define your future, as glib as that might sound.

Are you worried about “superhero fatigue” as fans turn away from the deluge of content?

There’s always a danger when you have too much content that people don’t have enough time to consume what’s going on. I definitely feel that way and I’m in the middle of it.

There might be fatigue for stories that don’t feel as special and unique... This year will be very interesting given the more divergent takes on superheroes in “Deadpool” and “Joker” (ed: both have sequels coming out).

You have to continually revitalise yourself... but as a fan I’d say we’ve been spoiled for many years in getting not just movies about the most iconic characters, but much deeper in the catalogue... These are things I would have killed for as a kid.

Is AI a threat to the comics industry?

We have to figure out a way to live in a world where it exists, and the source material from which it derives its content is properly credited and compensated.

But even if it were accepted and someone were going to pay me to use an AI engine to create work, I just wouldn’t do it.

I don’t create art just so I can have something to get paid for.

I love sitting down with a piece of paper and a pencil... I enter this fugue state, hours go by and it feels like 15 minutes, and at the end, I have this incredible sense of satisfaction because I went on this journey and I’ve created something.

Typing something into a prompt and getting something two minutes later?

I’m robbing myself of the whole point of why I got into this business.

What inspired you in the early years?

Different things from different artists. From Frank Miller (“Batman: The Dark Knight Returns”) it was the storytelling and how he composed the panels on the page almost like musical notes... John Byrne (“The Man of Steel”) and the way he depicted the human form... Mike Mignola (“Hellboy”), the way he placed shadows...

I was picking different elements from lots of different artists and trying to synthesise it into something I could call my own that didn’t feel derivative.

So maybe I was an AI engine back in the day, Lee said laughing. That’s an awful thought.

Is there too much violence in comics?

There’s some truth to that.

It can be a shortcut to have them physically duke it out to resolve a crisis and I’m not sure that’s the proper lesson you want readers to walk away with.

But I think in a lot of stories when it gets to that point, that’s the only way to resolve it and perhaps that’s a sad reflection on the state of the world today.

(But) there has to be deeper emotion and deeper concepts at work and those are the stories that make the most impact and are the bestsellers at the end of the day.

“Superpowered”, narrated by actor Rosario Dawson, is released on April 4.

By Hind Yousef,
Clinical Health Psychologist
Grappling with emotions

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, parents are plunged into a world of medical complexity and uncertainty. This sudden shift can trigger a spectrum of psychological responses, from denial and shock to intense anxiety and fear, as they grapple with the reality of their child’s illness. And thus, parents experience a rollercoaster of emotions.

Constant worry about treatment outcomes, the wellbeing of their child and the disruption of family life can lead to chronic stress and anxiety. Many parents struggle with feelings of guilt, anger and helplessness, impacting their overall mental health.

Coping mechanisms

Coping mechanisms vary, with some finding solace in support groups, therapy, or immersing themselves in their child’s care.

The strength of support systems is crucial; emotional support from healthcare professionals, fellow parents in similar situations and close family and friends becomes a lifeline. Mental health professionals play a critical role, offering counselling and strategies to manage the psychological toll.

Managing daily life while caring for a child with cancer

is a daunting task. The stress of frequent hospital visits, treating side-effects and maintaining normalcy for other family members can be overwhelming. This has parents often neglecting their own health and well-being, leading to burn-out and depression.

Another layer of stress

Additionally, the financial burden of childhood cancer treatment adds an extra layer of stress if not covered by insurance or if they have to take their child to a private treatment facility. The costs of care, potential loss of income and the need to focus on the child’s health, can create significant financial strain, exacerbating mental health challenges.

Hope and resilience 

However, there is hope and resilience amidst struggle.

Despite these hardships, many parents find resilience in hope. They draw strength from their child’s courage, their belief in God’s guidance, the support of their family and friends and small moments of joy.

Did you know?

International Childhood Cancer Day is a global collaborative campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families (World Health Organisation - WHO).

Focusing on hope and positive outcomes helps in maintaining mental and emotional balance.

Engaging in advocacy and awareness can be therapeutic for some parents. Thus, it’s important for health facilities to provide awareness sessions to parents. This provides a sense of purpose and helps in channelling their experiences into positive action, thus contributing to their emotional healing and the broader childhood cancer journey.

Navigating a spectrum of emotions The mental health journey of parents with a child fighting cancer is complex and multifaceted. It involves navigating a spectrum of emotions, from deep despair to resilient hope. This journey highlights the importance of acknowledging and addressing the mental health needs of parents, ensuring they receive the support and care needed to be the pillars of strength for their child.

Their story is one of love, resilience and the enduring human spirit in the face of adversity.

The global aspect

According to the Pan American Health Organisation / (WHO)

worldwide, about 300,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer each year. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death among children and adolescents worldwide; approximately 280,000 children aged 0 - 19 are diagnosed with cancer each year

In high-income countries, more than 80 per cent of children with cancer are cured, but in many low and middle-income countries, the recovery rate is about 20 per cent. 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

NEW YORK — Fans and critics alike are lavishing praise on “Cowboy Carter,” Beyonce’s rhinestone-studded, history-rich honky tonk of an album that’s rising in the charts after Friday’s hotly anticipated release.

A rowdy, wide-ranging homage to her southern heritage, the 27-track second act to her “Renaissance” trilogy is a genre-bending triumph that vaunts Black country culture.

“No one will mistake this sprawling set for ever following a straight path, or having a remotely dull moment,” wrote the critic at entertainment trade publication Variety.

“It’s almost as if Beyonce was watching some of the evolutionary leaps and hiccups country has been experiencing as it redefines its boundaries — as the music always has — and said, ‘Hold my Armand de Brignac. I’ve got this.’”

“But it’s not just a matter of what Beyonce can do for country music; it’s what her concept of country can do for her, in expanding her musical empire and even her already well-honed sense of self. It’s a lot.”

It’s too early to say where “Cowboy Carter” and its voluminous tracklist will land on the charts, but streaming service Spotify said that as of Friday evening it was the platform’s “most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far”.

The Houston-born 42-year-old pioneered and mastered the surprise online album drop, but for the first two “Renaissance” acts, she turned to a more traditional marketing strategy, with calculated promos and deluxe physical editions for purchase.

Her ode to dance “Renaissance” soared to Billboard’s number one spot when it was released in 2022, and “Cowboy Carter” appears primed for a repeat.

Add in another blockbuster tour like she did for Act I — the “Beyonce bump” literally was blamed for raising Sweden’s inflation rate, and bolstered local economies wherever it rolled into town — and Queen Bey will do-si-do straight to the bank.

Hoedown throwdown 

“Cowboy Carter” is a full-colour display of just how rich music can grow outside dusty strictures of genre.

Beyonce deftly skewers the critics — Nashville’s gatekeepers have long tried to promote a rigid view of country music that’s overwhelmingly white and male — lyrically and sonically.

She ushers listeners through country’s evolution from African American spirituals and fiddle tunes to its pioneering women, like collaborator Linda Martell, and a vision of its future.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is Black and South Asian, lauded Beyonce for “reminding us to never feel confined to other people’s perspective of what our lane is. You have redefined a genre and reclaimed country music’s Black roots”.

But while it delivers a history lesson, “Cowboy Carter” is at its core a party.

Amid the hoopla, Beyonce offers touching portraits of motherhood, celebrations of sex and love, and even a murder revenge fantasy.

She also drafted a mix of youthful stars — Miley Cyrus, Post Malone and Tanner Adell included — and old guard icons for her revue, including none other than Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.

“My admiration runs so much deeper now that I’ve created along side of her,” Cyrus said on social media.

The elders appear on the album in the form of radio hosts of a fictional broadcast, with Nelson telling listeners: “Now for this next tune, I want y’all to sit back, inhale and go to the good place your mind likes to wander off to.”

And Parton introduces the album’s take on “Jolene”, drawing parallels between her own original tale of a lover fearing betrayal with Beyonce’s personalised version that calls back to her 2016 track “Sorry” about her husband Jay-Z’s infidelity.

“Hey, Miss Honey B, it’s Dolly P,” croons Parton in her interlude. “You know, that hussy with the good hair you sang about reminded me of someone I knew back when. Except she has flaming locks of auburn hair. Bless her heart.”

“Just a hair of a different colour, but it hurts just the same.”

Then there’s “Ya Ya,” a boisterous, psychedelic soul dance mash-up that manages to sample both Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” and The Beach Boys.

And “Sweet Honey Buckiin’” — which incorporates hip-hop and house with strums on loop — is among the songs that hat-tip to the first act of “Renaissance”, which celebrated electronica’s Black origins and evolution.

In a nutshell, the album is epic, fresh and, potentially, door-opening.

“With this endlessly entertaining project, she gets to be a warrior of female and Black pride and a sweetheart of the radio,” wrote Variety.

“Because being Beyonce means never having to pretend to be just one thing.”

NEW YORK — He was the face of cryptocurrency, and a young one at that — a media darling seemingly destined to unite the sector.

But the stunning rise of Sam Bankman-Fried and his FTX platform would be matched by an equally spectacular fall when it was revealed that billions of dollars of clients’ funds had been moved and spent without their consent.

After a jury in 2023 found him guilty of seven counts, a federal judge in New York sentenced Bankman-Fried on Thursday to 25 years for leading the fraudulent scheme.

Before it all came crashing down, the native Californian had amassed a fortune at one point estimated to be worth $26 billion. “Save for Mark Zuckerberg, no one in history has ever gotten so rich so young,” read a headline in Forbes, which put Bankman-Fried on its cover in October 2021.

In the span of a few months, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate with a degree in physics had taken the startup he co-founded in 2019 and built it up into the world’s second largest crypto exchange platform.

He quickly became more than just a young entrepreneur, fashioning himself as an ambassador of crypto and making his first appearance in Congress in December 2021, testifying before lawmakers on the then-novel form of currency.

The public would come to know a seemingly oddball whiz kid with a mop of curly dark hair who, when not suited up for appearances on Capitol Hill, wore shorts and a T-shirt.

Centre of crypto world

The son of two Stanford University professors, Bankman-Fried ventured outside the world of cryptocurrencies, making donations to US politicians and persuading celebrities like American football star Tom Brady or basketball player Stephen Curry to pitch FTX — endorsements for which they were richly rewarded.

The young man known as SBF would charm US lawmakers with his straight talk and vision of crypto’s future, including recommendations for an extensive regulatory regime — a position at odds with many in the sector.

He devised project after project, from a platform for people to make donations in cryptocurrency to Ukraine to a market for financial derivative products that stepped on the toes of Wall Street.

A vegan, Bankman-Fried said he believed in the concept of effective altruism -- finding the best way to help other people, in particular by donating all or part of one’s wealth to charity rather than, say, volunteering at a soup kitchen.

When the cryptocurrency world lurched into crisis in the spring of 2022, Bankman-Fried billed himself as a savior, buying the troubled platform BlockFi, and shares in another company that was in trouble, Voyager.

“We take our duty seriously to protect the digital asset ecosystem and its customers,” he tweeted at the time, as some people were comparing him — barely 30 years old then — to the legendary investing guru Warren Buffett.

Financial high wire

But behind his reassurances, Bankman-Fried was walking a financial high wire, as revealed later in court documents and testimony.

Without their knowledge, Bankman-Fried’s team used the money of FTX customers to cover risky operations by an affiliated trading company called Alameda Research, as well as to buy posh real estate and to make political donations.

In November 2022, the crypto news outlet CoinDesk revealed that Alameda had converted a large part of its assets into FTT, a crypto token created by FTX. The news caused that currency to plummet.

Hours later Changpeng Zhao, the head of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange platform, announced it was selling all the FTT tokens it held, causing it to lose 90 percent of its value in a matter of days and taking the Bankman-Fried empire with it.

His fortune having vanished overnight, Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas, where FTX had its headquarters. In December 2022 he was indicted on charges of fraud and racketeering.

After five weeks of trial, the jury quickly reached a guilty verdict on all seven counts, which carry a potential maximum sentence of 110 years behind bars.

In closing arguments, the defence said their client had acted in “good faith” and was overtaken by circumstances and the financial ineptitude of close associates who testified against him to gain leniency from prosecutors.

Prosecutors portrayed the defendant as an extremely smart man consumed by greed who knew what he was doing when FTX funds were secretly funneled to his personal hedge fund.

According to prosecutors, at the time of the bankruptcy of FTX, just over $8 billion belonging to customers had vanished into bad investments at Alameda.

“Who had control? That’s the question. It was one person: the defendant,” the lead prosecutor concluded.

LOS ANGELES — Homes belonging to Sean “Diddy” Combs were raided by federal agents on Monday, with the US hip hop mogul at the centre of sex trafficking claims and sex assault lawsuits.

Armed agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered luxury properties on both East and West Coasts of the United States, with video footage showing helicopters circling overhead and a huge law enforcement presence on the ground.

“Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations [HIS] New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami and our local law enforcement partners,” the agency said.

A source confirmed to AFP that Combs was the target of the raids.

Media in Los Angeles carried aerial footage of a massive presence at a swanky Holmby Hills residence associated with Combs — an artist and producer also known as Puff Daddy.

Heavily armed agents could be seen all around the sprawling property, with footage showing unidentified individuals being detained at the scene.

Entertainment title TMZ said pictures appeared to show the rapper’s sons Justin and King Combs in handcuffs.

The outlet said it also had footage of a raid on a luxury waterside property in Miami connected to Combs.

There was no immediate official confirmation about what precipitated the raids, but the involvement of Homeland Security in large, coordinated raids in two locations suggests serious allegations.

The development comes with legal pressure increasing on the rapper, who has faced at least four lawsuits from people who say he sexually abused them, with allegations dating back decades.

 Last year Combs was sued by former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, who performed under the stage name Cassie and was signed to his Bad Boy label.

The suit alleged he had forced her to perform sexual acts with multiple men over a number of years in cities across the United States.

The suit said that as a result of stops in these different locations, which necessitated crossing state lines, Ventura was the victim of sex trafficking, a federal offence.

That suit was settled, but was followed by others, including one in December by a woman who accused Combs of sexual assault when he was 17.

Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer who represents two of the women who have accused Combs of abuse, told AFP on Monday: “We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law.

“Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.”

Combs has vehemently denied all accusations against him.

Combs, 54, founded the Bad Boy record label in 1993, and was a major figure in hip-hop’s commercialisation over the decades that followed. His proteges included the late Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige.

He is among the industry’s billionaires, not least due to his ventures in the liquor industry.

But contrary to a public image of suave businessman, lawsuits describe Combs as a violent man who used his celebrity to prey on and intimidate women.