📌 Islamophobia, Russia’s Military In Syria, More

A plan tackling Islamophobia to curb violence and discrimination against Muslims and Arab Americans has been launched.

The strategy is similar to the one combating antisemitism unveiled by President Biden in May 2023. The anti-Islamophobia plan was developed over several months and released five weeks before Biden will leave office, with implementation likely falling to President-elect Donald Trump.

The Biden administration emphasized the importance of the initiative due to a spike in threats against American Muslim and Arab communities, including the October 2023 murder of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi.

The strategy focuses on four priorities: increasing awareness of hatred against Muslims and Arabs, improving their safety and security, accommodating their religious practices, and encouraging cross-community solidarity.

The strategy aims to disseminate successful practices for engaging Muslim and Arab Americans in reporting hate crimes and clarifies that discrimination against them in federally funded activities is illegal.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized the strategy as 'too little, too late,' noting it fails to address federal programs and watchlists that perpetuate anti-Muslim discrimination.

Russia faces the prospect of losing key military bases in Syria following the ousting of President Bashar Assad.

The bases are critical to Russian influence in the Middle East and would be difficult to replace. Russia is attempting to maintain its presence by negotiating with the victorious Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist movement.

A deal was reportedly reached with interim authorities to guarantee the security of Russian bases, but long-term tolerance is uncertain. Russia has been moving military equipment to coastal regions and keeping warships anchored outside the Tartus base as a precaution.

The future of Russian bases in Syria may depend on new agreements with the incoming Syrian leadership, potentially involving lucrative deals.

Russia's 49-year lease agreement with Assad's regime, signed in 2017, may not be enforceable under the new Syrian authorities. A complete withdrawal of Russian forces would significantly impact Russia's power projection in the Middle East and Africa.

Tartus is Russia's only naval facility in the Mediterranean, making it vital for extended naval deployments.

Harvard University is releasing a high-quality dataset of nearly one million public-domain books for AI training.

The dataset, funded by Microsoft and OpenAI, includes books from the Google Books project no longer under copyright. The dataset is five times larger than Books3, used to train AI models like Meta’s Llama, and includes a range of genres, languages, and time periods.

Greg Leppert, executive director of the Institutional Data Initiative (IDI), aims to provide access to high-quality data for smaller AI players and researchers.

The release of the dataset comes amid ongoing legal battles over copyrighted data for AI training.

The IDI is also collaborating with the Boston Public Library to scan millions of public domain newspaper articles.

The exact method of releasing the dataset is still being determined, with Google involved in the distribution discussions. Other similar projects, like the French AI startup Pleias' Common Corpus, are also providing public-domain datasets for AI training.

A Pew Research Center survey reveals that US teens are highly connected to social media, with nearly half online frequently.

YouTube is the most used platform among teens, with 90% reporting usage, though this is a slight decline from 95% in 2022. TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are also widely used, with around 60% of teens using TikTok and Instagram and 55% using Snapchat.

Facebook and X have seen significant declines in teen usage over the past decade, with only 32% and 17% of teens using them. WhatsApp usage among teens has increased to 23%, while Reddit usage remains stable at 14%. Only 6% of teens report using Threads, a platform launched by Meta in 2023.

73% of teens visit YouTube daily, with 15% using it almost constantly. TikTok is visited daily by about 60% of teens, with 16% using it almost constantly. Around half of teens use Instagram and Snapchat daily, with around 10% using each almost constantly.

Teen girls are more likely than boys to use TikTok almost constantly, while boys are more likely to use YouTube almost constantly. Older teens (ages 15-17) are more likely than younger teens (ages 13-14) to use platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.

Most teens have access to a smartphone (95%), desktop or laptop computer (88%), gaming console (83%), or tablet (70%) at home.

DNA studies have revealed that modern humans went extinct many times before populating the world.

While these early European humans were long seen as a species we successfully dominated after leaving Africa, studies show that only humans who interbred with Neanderthals went on to thrive, while other bloodlines died out.

A separate DNA study published in the journal Science shows that modern humans held on to some key genetic traits from Neanderthals that may have given them an evolutionary advantage.

One relates to their immune system. When humans emerged from Africa, they were extremely susceptible to new diseases they had never encountered. Interbreeding with Neanderthals gave their offspring protection.

“Perhaps getting Neanderthal DNA was part of the success because it gave us better adaptive capabilities outside of Africa,” commented Prof. Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London. “We had evolved in Africa, whereas the Neanderthals had evolved outside of Africa.”

Growing demand for lithium, essential for batteries in electric vehicles and energy storage, has spurred illegal mining in Nigeria.

Many of these mines employ children, who work in hazardous conditions for minimal pay. The International Labour Organization estimates over one million children work in mines globally, with Africa being particularly affected due to poverty and weak regulations.

Chinese companies dominate Nigeria's extractive industry, often linked to illegal mining and labor exploitation. Nigeria has laws against child labor and mandates basic education, but enforcement is weak, especially in remote areas.

The government is attempting reforms, including tougher laws and a new corps of mining marshals, but effectiveness remains uncertain. Illegal mining in Nigeria is facilitated by informal networks and corruption, with significant economic and social costs.

Children working in mines often miss out on education, and organizations are calling for responsible mining practices and better protection of human rights. The Nigerian government is working on reforms to reduce child labor and improve mining regulations.

Over a million watched a video of a Utah garbage man pulling an American flag out of a trash can and folding it with respect.

In the three years since, Don Gardner's life has changed. “When you pull a flag out of the dang garbage can and save it, and don't think anybody's looking and get caught. It's been pretty gratifying,” he shared.

After millions viewed Gardner's story on YouTube, he received letters, including one from then-former President Donald Trump. Some of those letters included money in them, which he put towards buying himself a new flag and pole.

But Gardner said the greatest thing to come out of his fame is educating the public. During a flag ceremony, Gardner led his American Legion post in retiring over 300 flags they collected.

“It's helped me to be able to help the community a little easier because people know what we do,” Gardner said. He also started raising money for local children, veterans, and first responders in need.