United News of Bangladesh

A chartered spaceflight for India, Poland and Hungary’s first astronauts in decades has been delayed indefinitely because of leak concerns at the International Space Station. NASA said Thursday that it wants to monitor the cabin pressure on the Russian side of the orbiting lab before accepting visitors. Officials stressed that the seven astronauts currently at the space station are safe and that other operations up there aren't affected. SpaceX was supposed to launch four private astronauts this week on a 14-day space station mission, but bad weather and SpaceX rocket trouble delayed the flight. Then the station leak issue cropped up. The Russian Space Agency has been dealing with a cabin pressure leak at the station, and recent repairs resulted in what NASA calls “a new pressure signature.” Additional details were not immediately available. The three Russians aboard the space station recently inspected the inside walls of the aging Zvezda service module, which was launched in 2000. They sealed some areas and measured the current leak rate. “Following this effort, the segment now is holding pressure,” NASA said in an online update. Japan's private lunar lander crashes in second failed moon mission The private mission's delay provides extra time for NASA and the Russian Space Agency “to evaluate the situation” and determine whether more repairs are needed. The chartered flight was arranged by the Houston company Axiom Space, and was to be Axiom's fourth trip to the space station with paying customers since 2022. “This is the right thing to do,” Axiom Space's executive chairman Kam Ghaffarian said in a written statement. “We will continue to work with all of our partners to finalize a new launch date.”

Google is offering voluntary buyouts to additional employees across several major departments as part of its ongoing cost-cutting efforts. This move comes as the company braces for a potential court ruling that could lead to the breakup of parts of its sprawling internet business. The restructuring was confirmed by Google following reports from various media outlets. While the exact number of affected workers is not known, The Wall Street Journal reports that the buyouts have been extended to staff in Google’s search, advertising, research, and engineering teams. Most of Alphabet Inc.’s nearly 186,000 employees work at Google. “In support of our future priorities, some teams launched voluntary exit programs earlier this year, and more are now doing so,” said Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini. She also mentioned that certain remote employees living near Google offices are being asked to adopt hybrid work schedules to encourage more in-person collaboration. These workforce changes come as Google awaits a critical federal court decision regarding its dominance in search. A judge previously ruled that Google’s search engine constitutes an illegal monopoly in a U.S. Justice Department case dating back nearly five years. A second antitrust case is also underway involving Google’s digital advertising business. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is expected to rule by Labor Day on a government proposal that would bar Google from paying over $26 billion annually to Apple and other companies to maintain its search engine as the default option. The proposal also seeks to require data sharing with competitors and may mandate the sale of the Chrome browser. Google is preparing to appeal last year’s ruling should the court uphold the monopoly claim. These legal battles coincide with broader efforts by the Justice Department to break up Google's ad tech business, which a federal judge said misused its dominant position, harming online publishers and competition. Like other major tech companies, Google has been steadily reducing its workforce since 2023, reversing the aggressive hiring that took place during the pandemic’s surge in demand for digital services. The company began by laying off 12,000 employees early last year and has since continued downsizing certain departments. These cuts come as Google shifts more resources toward artificial intelligence, which is rapidly transforming its products, particularly its search engine, into more interactive, conversational tools.

Will artificial intelligence save humanity — or destroy it? Lift up the world’s poorest — or tighten the grip of a tech elite? Jensen Huang — the global chip tycoon widely predicted to become one of the world’s first trillionaires — offered his answer on Wednesday: neither dystopia nor domination. AI, he said, is a tool for liberation. Wearing his signature biker jacket and mobbed by fans for selfies, the Nvidia CEO cut the figure of a tech rockstar as he took the stage at VivaTech in Paris. “AI is the greatest equalizer of people the world has ever created,” Huang said, kicking off one of Europe’s biggest technology industry fairs. Huang’s core argument: AI can level the playing field, not tilt it. Critics argue Nvidia’s dominance risks concentrating power in the hands of a few. But Huang insists the opposite — that by slashing computing costs and expanding access, “we’re democratizing intelligence” for startups and nations alike. But beyond the sheeny optics, Nvidia used the Paris summit to unveil a wave of infrastructure announcements across Europe, signaling a dramatic expansion of the AI chipmaker’s physical and strategic footprint on the continent. In France, the company is deploying 18,000 of its new Blackwell chips with startup Mistral AI. In Germany, it’s building an industrial AI cloud to support manufacturers. Similar rollouts are underway in Italy, Spain, Finland and the U.K., including a new AI lab in Britain. Other announcements include a partnership with AI startup Perplexity to bring sovereign AI models to European publishers and telecoms, a new cloud platform with Mistral AI, and work with BMW and Mercedes-Benz to train AI-powered robots for use in auto plants. Disney, Universal sue AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement The announcements underscore how central AI infrastructure has become to global strategy — and how Nvidia, now the world’s most valuable chipmaker, is positioning itself as the engine behind it. As the company rolls out ever more powerful systems, critics warn the model risks creating a new kind of “technological priesthood” — one in which only the wealthiest companies or governments can afford the compute power, energy, and elite engineering talent required to participate. That, they argue, could choke the bottom-up innovation that built the tech industry in the first place. Huang pushed back. “Through the velocity of our innovation, we democratize,” he said, responding to a question by The Associated Press. “We lower the cost of access to technology.” As Huang put it, these factories “reason,” “plan,” and “spend a lot of time talking to” themselves, powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles and diagnostics. But some critics warn that without guardrails, such all-seeing, self-reinforcing systems could go the way of Skynet in “ The Terminator ” movie — vast intelligence engines that outpace human control. To that, Huang offers a counter-model: layered AI governance by design. “In the future,” he said, “the AI that is doing the task is going to be surrounded by 70 or 80 other AIs that are supervising it, observing it, guarding it, ensuring that it doesn’t go off the rails.” He likened the moment to a new industrial revolution. Just as electricity transformed the last one, Huang said, AI will power the next — and that means every country needs a national intelligence infrastructure. That’s why, he explained, he’s been crisscrossing the globe meeting heads of state. “They all want AI to be part of their infrastructure,” he said. “They want AI to be a growth manufacturing industry for them.” Europe, long praised for its leadership on digital rights, now finds itself at a crossroads. As Brussels pushes forward with world-first AI regulations, some warn that over-caution could cost the bloc its place in the global race. With the U.S. and China surging ahead and most major AI firms based elsewhere, the risk isn’t just falling behind — it’s becoming irrelevant. Huang has a different vision: sovereign AI. Not isolation, but autonomy — building national AI systems aligned with local values, independent of foreign tech giants. “The data belongs to you,” Huang said. “It belongs to your people, your country... your culture, your history, your common sense.” But fears over AI misuse remain potent — from surveillance and deepfake propaganda to job losses and algorithmic discrimination. Huang doesn’t deny the risks. But he insists the technology can be kept in check — by itself. Global outage disrupts ChatGPT services, users report widespread access issues The VivaTech event was part of Huang’s broader European tour. He had already appeared at London Tech Week and is scheduled to visit Germany. In Paris, he joined French President Emmanuel Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch to reinforce his message that AI is now a national priority.

Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against popular artificial intelligence image-generator Midjourney on Wednesday, marking the first time major Hollywood companies have enter the legal battle over generative AI. Filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, the complaint claims Midjourney pirated the libraries of the two Hollywood studios to generate and distribute “endless unauthorized copies” of their famed characters, such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and the Minions from Despicable Me. “Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism. Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing," the companies state in the complaint. According to AP, the studios also claimed the San Francisco-based AI company ignored their requests to stop infringing on their copyrighted works and to take technological measures to halt such image generation. Disney to pay $439m to take full control of streaming service Hulu Midjourney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Midjourney CEO David Holz described his image-making service as “kind of like a search engine” pulling in a wide swath of images from across the internet. He compared copyright concerns about the technology with how such laws have adapted to human creativity. “Can a person look at somebody else’s picture and learn from it and make a similar picture?” Holz said. “Obviously, it’s allowed for people and if it wasn’t, then it would destroy the whole professional art industry, probably the nonprofessional industry too. To the extent that AIs are learning like people, it’s sort of the same thing and if the images come out differently then it seems like it’s fine.” Major AI developers don’t typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the “fair use” doctrine of American copyright law. The studio’ case joins a growing number of lawsuits filed against developers of AI platforms — such as OpenAI, Anthropic — in San Francisco and New York. Meanwhile, the first major copyright trial of the generative AI industry is underway in London, pitting Getty Images against artificial intelligence company Stability AI.

Nintendo Co on Wednesday said that it sold over 3.5 million units of its Switch 2 console worldwide in just four days after its release last Thursday, the fastest pace for any hardware of the company. Sales of Switch 2 were about double that of the original Switch console, released in 2017 in the first four days, according to the Kyoto-based gaming giant. Microsoft Unveils Majorana 1: A Breakthrough in Quantum Computing Kyodo News reported that Nintendo plans to sell 15 million units of Switch 2, its first new gaming console in over eight years, in the current fiscal year through March 2026 worldwide. Strong pre-order demand has sparked optimism that the device would boost the company's fortunes. The new console includes new features such as screen sharing and voice chat via a built-in microphone. It also features a larger screen with roughly twice the pixel count of the original Switch and supports 4K output on televisions.

Remember 23andMe—the company that let you explore your ancestry through a saliva-based DNA test? Since its founding in 2006, it also ventured into health research and drug development. However, it struggled financially and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, sparking concerns about the security of customers’ sensitive genetic data. Now, 27 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit in bankruptcy court, seeking to prevent the sale of 23andMe’s genetic data archive without user consent. A biotech firm is currently looking to acquire the company, pending court approval. What Happened to 23andMe? The San Francisco-based firm filed for bankruptcy protection in March. Its co-founder and longtime CEO Anne Wojcicki stepped down to potentially bid for the company as it looks to sell off most of its assets through court-supervised restructuring. 23andMe also aims to cut costs by reducing its real estate footprint, including leases in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, while continuing operations during the sale process. Is Your DNA Data Still Safe? 23andMe has stated that customer privacy and data protection are central to any sale agreement, and any buyer must adhere to relevant privacy laws. However, experts caution that the U.S. lacks a federal privacy law, and only about 20 states have their own regulations. Security risks are also heightened during bankruptcy. In 2023, a breach at 23andMe exposed the genetic data of nearly 7 million users. The company settled a class-action lawsuit for $30 million over its failure to protect user data. Disney to pay $439m to take full control of streaming service Hulu Genetic data is particularly sensitive, as it’s uniquely tied to you. “You can change your email if it’s compromised, but your DNA is permanent,” said David Choffnes, a cybersecurity professor at Northeastern University. While 23andMe claims it doesn’t share information with insurers, employers, or law enforcement (without a legal order), experts warn that the company can still use data for targeted advertising. Even anonymized genetic data can potentially be re-identified by third parties. How to Delete Your Data from 23andMe California Attorney General Rob Bonta previously alerted consumers of their right to delete their data, especially in light of the company’s financial troubles. To delete your data: Log in to your 23andMe account.Go to Settings > scroll to “23andMe Data” > click “View”.Download your data if desired.Proceed to the “Delete Data” section and click “Permanently Delete Data.”Confirm the request via the email sent to you.If you’ve given consent to store your saliva sample, you can request its destruction under “Preferences.” You can also withdraw consent for your genetic data to be used in third-party research under “Research and Product Consents.”

Disney will pay Comcast's NBCUniversal nearly $439 million for its stake in Hulu, taking full control of the streaming service. The move closes out an appraisal process that's dragged on for a few years. Disney said in November 2023 that it was acquiring a 33 per cent stake in Hulu from Comcast for at least $8.6 billion. That amount reflected Hulu's guaranteed floor value of $27.5 billion, according to a regulatory filing. Disney has run Hulu since 2019, when Comcast ceded its authority to Disney and effectively became a silent partner, reports AP. Hulu began in 2007 and quickly evolved into as a service backed by entertainment conglomerates who hoped to stave off the internet with an online platform for their own TV shows. Disney joined in 2009, planning to offer shows from ABC, ESPN and the Disney Channel. A decade later, Disney gained majority control of the business when it acquired 21st Century Fox. Disney said in a regulatory filing on Monday that its appraiser arrived at a valuation below the guaranteed floor value during the initial phase of the appraisal process, while NBCUniversal’s appraiser arrived at a valuation substantially in excess of the guaranteed floor value. Global outage disrupts ChatGPT services, users report widespread access issues A third appraiser was brought in and concluded that The Walt Disney Co will pay $438.7 million for the Hulu stake. “We are pleased this is finally resolved. We have had a productive partnership with NBCUniversal, and we wish them the best of luck," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. "Completing the Hulu acquisition paves the way for a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu’s general entertainment content with Disney+ and, soon, with ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, providing an unrivaled value proposition for consumers.” The transaction is anticipated to close by July 24. It's not expected to impact Disney's fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings forecast. Shares of Disney rose slightly in morning trading on Tuesday.  

OpenAI’s AI chatbot ChatGPT experienced a global outage on Tuesday afternoon, leaving users across major regions—including India, US, and UK, unable to access the service. The disruption began around 3pm in Bangladesh time and peaked shortly after 3:30pm. According to Downdetector, India logged nearly 800 complaints, while the US and UK reported close to 1,100 and over 1,450 issues respectively. The majority of users, around 93 per cent, reported that ChatGPT simply stopped responding. Others faced issues such as login loops, blank chat windows, and unexpected logouts. Common error messages included: “Hmm…something seems to have gone wrong” and “A network error occurred. Please check your connection and try again.” In India, 88 per cent of complaints were about the chatbot not responding, with eight per cent related to the mobile app and three per cent tied to API failures. OpenAI acknowledged the outage on its official system status page, stating, “Some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services. We are continuing to investigate this issue.” New York Times signs first AI content licensing deal with Amazon The company later confirmed that the disruption also impacted its video creation tool, Sora, and GPT API services, resulting in degraded performance. However, OpenAI has yet to provide a specific timeline for full restoration of services. As the outage persisted, users turned to social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to share their frustration. Screenshots of glitches and error messages circulated widely, accompanied by memes and concerns over interrupted work. This marks one of the more significant service disruptions for ChatGPT in recent months.With inputs from Indian Media

Hong Kong police on Tuesday accused a mobile game application of advocating armed revolution and promoting secessionist agendas, saying that those who publish it or share it with others online may risk violating national security laws. The announcement — the first to publicly denounce a gaming app — indicates that authorities are widening the crackdown that has followed anti-government protests in 2019. Authorities have crushed or silenced many dissenting voices through prosecutions under the 2020 national security law imposed by Beijing and a similar, homegrown law enacted last year. In a statement, police warned residents against downloading the “Reversed Front: Bonfire" application, saying those with the app installed might be seen as possessing a publication with a seditious intention. They also warned people against providing financial assistance to the application developer, including making in-app purchases. “'Reversed Front: Bonfire' was released under the guise of a game with the aim of promoting secessionist agendas such as ‘Taiwan independence’ and ‘Hong Kong independence,’ advocating armed revolution and the overthrow of the fundamental system of the People’s Republic of China,” police said. The game application was developed by ESC Taiwan, which did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment. On the application's Facebook page, the developer posted about surging searches for the game name and a Hong Kong broadcaster’s news report about Tuesday’s development. Apple unveils software redesign while reeling from AI missteps According to the application’s introduction, players can assume the role of Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghur, Taiwan or Cathaysian Rebel factions, among others, to overthrow the communist regime. They may also choose to lead the communists to defeat all enemies. The game’s website says it “is a work of nonfiction. Any similarity to actual agencies, policies or ethnic groups of the PRC in this game is intentional.” On Tuesday night, the app was still available on Apple's App Store but not on the Google Play store. The game publisher last month said Google Play had taken the app down because it did not prohibit users from adopting hateful language in naming. Apple, Google and Meta have not immediately commented. After playing the game for about three months, Kuo Hao Fu in Taiwan said he found that its content uses a humorous approach to describe serious political issues. Fu disagreed with the police accusations, saying players can also choose to be part of the force representing China. “The Hong Kong police's actions demonstrate how Hong Kong's democratic freedoms have been controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. “When even this level cannot be tolerated, it completely destroys creative freedom in gaming.” China considers Taiwan its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Many Taiwanese in the self-ruled island showed concerns about Hong Kong's declining freedoms under Beijing's grip. The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the city's national security laws were necessary to return stability to the city following the protests.

After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech’s pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during an annual developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology. The presummer rite, which attracted thousands of developers from nearly 60 countries to Apple's Silicon Valley headquarters, was more subdued than the feverish anticipation that surrounded the event during the previous two years. Apple highlighted plans for more AI tools designed to simplify people's lives and make its products even more intuitive while also providing an early glimpse at the biggest redesign of its iPhone software in a decade. In doing so, Apple executives refrained from issuing bold promises of breakthroughs that punctuated recent conferences, prompting CFRA analyst Angelo Zino to deride the event as a “dud” in a research note. In 2023, Apple unveiled a mixed-reality headset that has been little more than a niche product, and last year WWDC trumpeted its first major foray into the AI craze with an array of new features highlighted by the promise of a smarter and more versatile version of its virtual assistant, Siri — a goal that has hasn't been achieved yet. “This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s top software executive, said Monday at the outset of the conference. The company didn't provide a precise timetable for the Siri's AI upgrade to be finished but indicated it won't happen until next year, at the earliest. Trump tariff threats on EU, Apple, send US futures and global markets skidding "The silence surrounding Siri was deafening," said Forrester Research analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said. “No amount of text corrections or cute emojis can fill the yawning void of an intuitive, interactive AI experience that we know Siri will be capable of when ready. We just don’t know when that will happen. The end of the Siri runway is coming up fast, and Apple needs to lift off.” The showcase unfolded amid nagging questions about whether Apple has lost some of the mystique and innovative drive that turned it into a tech trendsetter during its nearly 50-year history. Instead of making a big splash as it did with the Vision Pro headset and its AI suite, Apple took a mostly low-key approach that emphasized its effort to spruce up the look of its software with a new design called “Liquid Glass" while also unveiling a new hub for its video games and new features like a “Workout Buddy” to help manage physical fitness. Apple executives promised to make its software more compatible with the increasingly sophisticated computer chips that have been powering its products while also making it easier to toggle between the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. “Our product experience has become even more seamless and enjoyable,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told the crowd as the 90-minute showcase wrapped up. IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said Apple seemed to be largely using Monday's conference to demonstrate the company still has a blueprint for success in AI, even if it's going to take longer to realize the vision that was presented a year ago. “This year’s event was not about disruptive innovation, but rather careful calibration, platform refinement and developer enablement —positioning itself for future moves rather than unveiling game-changing technologies,” Jeronimo said. Besides redesigning its software. Apple will switch to a method that automakers have used to telegraph their latest car models by linking them to the year after they first arrive at dealerships. That means the next version of the iPhone operating system due out this autumn will be known as iOS 26 instead of iOS 19 — as it would be under the previous naming approach that has been used since the device's 2007 debut. The iOS 26 upgrade is expected to be released in September around the same time Apple traditionally rolls out the next iPhone models. Trump threatens 25% import tax on Apple unless iPhones made in US In an early sign that AI wasn't going to be a focal point of this year's conference, Apple opened the proceedings with a short video clip featuring Federighi speeding around a track in a Formula 1 race car. Although it was meant to promote the June 27 release of the Apple film, “F1” starring Brad Pitt, the segment could also be viewed as an unintentional analogy to the company's attempt to catch up to the rest of the pack in AI technology. While some of the new AI tricks compatible with the latest iPhones began rolling out late last year as part of free software updates, the delays in a souped-up Siri became so glaring that the chastened company stopped promoting it in its marketing campaigns earlier this year. While Apple has been struggling to make AI that meets its standards, the gap separating it from other tech powerhouses is widening. Google keeps packing more AI into its Pixel smartphone lineup while introducing more of the technology into its search engine to dramatically change the way it works. Samsung, Apple's biggest smartphone rival, is also leaning heavily into AI. Meanwhile, ChatGPT recently struck a deal that will bring former Apple design guru Jony Ive into the fold to work on a new device expected to compete against the iPhone. Besides grappling with innovation challenges, Apple also faces regulatory threats that could siphon away billions of dollars in revenue that help finance its research and development. A federal judge is currently weighing whether proposed countermeasures to Google's illegal monopoly in search should include a ban on long-running deals worth $20 billion annually to Apple while another federal judge recently banned the company from collecting commissions on in-app transactions processed outside its once-exclusive payment system. On top of all that, Apple has been caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump's trade war with China, a key manufacturing hub for the Cupertino, California, company. Cook successfully persuaded Trump to exempt the iPhone from tariffs during the president's first administration, but he has had less success during Trump's second term, which seems more determined to prod Apple to make its products in the U.S. EU fines Apple 500 million euros, Meta 200 million in digital cases The multidimensional gauntlet facing Apple is spooking investors, causing the company's stock price to plunge by 20% so far this year — a decline that has erased about $750 billion in shareholder wealth. After beginning the year as the most valuable company in the world, Apple now ranks third behind longtime rival Microsoft, another AI leader, and AI chipmaker Nvidia. Apple's shares closed down by more than 1% on Monday — an early indication the company's latest announcements didn't inspire investors.