Monthly Archives: August 2024

Naomi Osaka shares ‘dramatic’ reaction to US Open second-round heartbreak: ‘My heart dies’

[ad_1] By Jake Fenner Published: 23:09 EDT, 29 August 2024 | Updated: 23:09 EDT, 29 August 2024 Naomi Osaka reflected upon her shocking second-round loss at the US Open on Thursday night. The Japanese tennis star and two-time US Open champion fell to seeded Karolina Muchova on Arthur Ashe. It’s Osaka’s third-straight loss in the second round of a grand slam in the 2024 season after she missed the entirety of 2023 as she dealt with giving birth to her daughter.  Speaking after the defeat, Osaka opened up on how her heart ‘dies’ each time she loses – and how the defeat to Muchova was no exception. ‘I don’t know. Honestly I feel like I’m coming back from pregnancy, but also it wasn’t like in 2022 I was like the best version of myself,’ Osaka reflected. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka opened up following her second-round loss at the US Open The two-time US Open champion fell to Czechia star Karolina Muchova on Arthur Ashe ‘So in some way I had to catch up to that, and then also I’m trying to pass it at the same time. ‘I don’t know. It’s been a little difficult because obviously I can only gauge how I’m doing by results.  ‘Like, I feel faster. I feel better, but I lost in the second round. So it’s a little rough. ‘But, also, it’s been fun playing a lot of tournaments. It’s been a commitment for sure, but I’ve been able to go to different cities that I’ve never been to.  ‘I really enjoyed Doha. I haven’t been there, so — well, I have been there, but I don’t know, it’s been nice to go there. ‘Yeah, it’s a little rough because I do take these losses really personally. It’s like a dramatic word, but I feel like my heart dies every time I lose.  ‘It sucks a lot, but I’ve been trying to be more mature and learn and talk more about them.’ An unseeded Osaka began her US Open run on Tuesday with a victory over ten-seed Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets, before falling to Muchova. Naomi OsakaUS Open Tennis Share or comment on this article: Naomi Osaka shares ‘dramatic’ reaction to US Open second-round heartbreak: ‘My heart dies’ [ad_2] Source link

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Who is Pavel Durov and what is his app?

[ad_1] Getty Images Pavel Durov founded Telegram in 2013 Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, has been placed under formal investigation in France as part of a probe into organised crime on the messaging app. Prosecutors in Paris also said the 39-year-old billionaire has not been remanded in custody, but placed under judicial supervision, and has to pay a €5m (£4.2m; $5.6m) deposit. Mr Durov, who is also a French national, has to show up at a French police station twice a week and is not allowed to leave French territory. The actions from the prosecutors in France is the latest stage in this ongoing story, which has caused considerable shock in the world of technology. It is unprecedented for the owner of a social media or messaging platform to be arrested because of the way in which that platform is being used, and it has fuelled a debate about freedom of speech, accountability and the role of social media and messaging company bosses within all of that. Mr Durov’s lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminski, said Telegram complied in every respect with European digital regulations and was moderated to the same standards as other social networks. He said it was “absurd” to suggest his client could be involved “in criminal acts that don’t concern him either directly or indirectly”. Who is Pavel Durov? Mr Durov is a multi-billionaire who is originally from Russia. He founded the popular Russian social media company VKontakte. In 2014, Mr Durov left Russia after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on the platform. A year earlier, he had founded Telegram and now runs the firm from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he now lives. He holds citizenship of the UAE and France, but Russia has said it still regards him as a citizen. After he was arrested, Telegram said Mr Durov travelled in Europe frequently. In an interview with the conservative US media personality Tucker Carlson in April, Mr Durov said he would refuse certain requests from authorities to remove content from his platform. He said: “Where we thought it would be crossing the line – it wouldn’t be aligning with our values of freedom of speech and protecting people’s private correspondence – we would ignore.” What is Telegram? Getty Images Telegram is one of the world’s biggest social media and messaging platforms along with Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. In July, Mr Durov claimed that Telegram reached 950 million monthly active users. It is popular in Russia and Ukraine, while pro-democracy groups in Iran and Hong Kong also use it. Telegram does offer end to end encryption, which means the messages can only be read on the device that sends them and the device that receives them, but this is not the default setting for the user. The big difference between Telegram and similar services like WhatsApp is the size of groups you can be in on Telegram. WhatsApp limits group sizes to 1,000 users whereas up to 200,000 can be in a group on Telegram. The platform has faced criticism that disinformation can spread in these huge groups. Critics have argued the platform has seen the sharing of conspiracist, neo-Nazi, paedophilic, or terror-related content. In the UK, the app was scrutinised for hosting far-right channels that were instrumental in organising this month’s violent disorder in English cities and cybersecurity experts say its moderation of extremist and illegal content is significantly weaker than other social media companies and messenger apps. Following Mr Durov’s arrest, Telegram said its moderation “is within industry standards and constantly improving”. It said it abides by European Union laws, including the Digital Services Act, which aims to ensure a safe and accountable online environment. “Almost a billion users globally use Telegram as means of communication and as a source of vital information,” the app’s statement read. “We’re awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation. Telegram is with you all.” What has been said about Durov’s arrest? In Wednesday’s statement, the Paris prosecutors said Mr Durov was put under formal investigation over alleged offences that included: Complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable illicit transactions by an organised gang Refusal to communicate with authorities Complicity in organised criminal distribution of sexual images of children In France, being put under formal investigation does not imply guilt or necessarily result in a trial – but it indicates that judges consider there is enough of a case to proceed with an investigation. Elon Musk, the owner of X, has been defending Mr Durov for several days in a series of posts on his platform, formerly known as Twitter. He said moderation is a “propaganda word” for censorship, and called for Mr Durov’s release. Chris Pavlovski, the founder of a controversial video-sharing app called Rumble, said he had fled Europe following Mr Durov’s detention. Earlier this week Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who now lives in Russia after revealing extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence, said on X that Mr Durov’s arrest was “an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association”. He added: “I am surprised and deeply saddened that [French President Emmanuel] Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. It lowers not only France, but the world.” After some details of the arrest had emerged, Vyacheslav Volodin – a prominent Russian politician and ally of Vladimir Putin – accused the US of being behind the arrest of Mr Durov. “Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest internet platforms over which the United States has no influence,” he said in a post on the platform. President Macron posted on social media on Monday that he had seen “false information” regarding France following Mr Durov’s arrest, and added: “This is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to decide.” [ad_2] Source link

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Fetch Album Artwork for Apple Music Playlists

[ad_1] TL;DR: I often create playlists for entire albums within my Apple Music library. This means that if an artist releases an album, I’ll still add it to my library, but I like to have a playlist of just that album. Unfortunately, Apple Music doesn’t use the album’s artwork as the image for the playlist. So I wrote a Python script to fetch album artwork for Apple Music playlists when given an artist and an album. This makes it a little bit easier to make sure album playlists have better looking artwork. Fetch Album Artwork for Apple Music Whenever we create playlists within the current version of Apple Music, it gives us the ability to create playlist art that seems to be inspired by the Microsoft WordArt of decades past. It’s certainly a choice. And for whatever reason, Apple Music doesn’t default to the album artwork for the album in the playlist if it’s just a single album. Apple Music does allow us to add custom artwork, though. So if I want to add the album artwork for a given album in a playlist, then I can search the web for a high-resolution image and drop it into the editor for the playlist. Perhaps a better option, though, is to grab the image artwork from the iTunes API. So I wrote a Python script that makes it trivially easy. After it’s installed, all you need to do is issue the following in your terminal: $ python fetch-album-art.py –artist=”Pink Floyd” –album=”The Dark Side of the Moon” This will grab a high-resolution image of The Dark Side of the Moon and drop it into the script’s directory after which you can add it to Apple Music. Future State Assuming Apple doesn’t actually address this in a future version of Apple Music (which, if history is any indication, happens with each official macOS update), then this is something that’ll prove useful [at least for me] for the next little while. That said, I’d still like to find ways to enhance the functionality so: album artwork is added to its own directory, considering combing through an Apple Music playlist library to determine what albums don’t have artwork (this is subject to the limitation of the API, obviously), provide better visual feedback when the script is searching and downloading the album artwork, and small tweaks like that. Given that it’s a hobby project, though, it’s one of those that’s subject to the whims of when I want to work on it. For now, though, this is still one step better than having to find an image via a web browser, download it, then drag it into Apple Music. [ad_2] Source link

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Athlete who nearly DIED at Tokyo Games claims emotional first gold medal for Australia at Paris Paralympics

[ad_1] Suffered major medical episode at Tokyo Paralympics  Took years to overcome that setback and come back to full health  Has now claimed gold in the pool at Paris  By George Clarke For Australian Associated Press Published: 19:14 EDT, 29 August 2024 | Updated: 21:49 EDT, 29 August 2024 Swimmer Tom Gallagher has delivered Australia’s first gold medal of the 2024 Paris Paralympics to cap a remarkable comeback from a near-deadly bout of pancreatitis. Gallagher powered home through the final throes of the men’s S10 50m freestyle final at a packed La Defense Arena to snatch first place with a finishing time of 23.40secs. The 25-year-old’s surge down the home stretch ensured he held off a chasing pack that included Australian teammate Rowan Crothers, who finished the race with bronze. Gallagher’s gold and Crothers’ third-place finish took Australia’s medal tally in the pool to four on day one in Paris following an earlier silver for Lakeisha Patterson and bronze for Brenden Hall. Success was especially elating for Gallagher, who finished with a bronze in S10 400m freestyle in Tokyo but his pancreatitis caused him so much pain he couldn’t take his spot on the podium. ‘Being the first gold medal of the comp means so much for me,’ Gallagher said. ‘In Tokyo I was a different athlete, I had a lot of medical issues in my pancreas, so after the 400m, I ended up in hospital for about a month and nearly died. ‘I luckily had a surgery a few years ago now that’s fixed it all and I’ve managed to turn into a sprinter. Tom Gallagher claimed Australia’s first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics The win comes after a near-deadly bout of pancreatitis suffered at the Tokyo Paralympics ‘Pancreatitis is extremely painful, my heart rate went up to 240bpm and all my internal organs started shutting down. ‘I wasn’t able to go on the podium that night but tonight makes up for it. ‘ Crothers, whose bronze was his fourth Paralympic medal, couldn’t help but admire his teammate’s perseverance en route to his first gold medal. ‘I’ve won that race before but today Tommy did and a bronze medal is dang good,’ Crothers said. ‘What a story… I think Tom’s such an incredible athlete and he’s had to overcome so much.’ Gallagher and Crothers’s medal double haul helped put a shine on an afternoon that began with a bang but threatened to end in heartache for many of Australia’s medal hopefuls. Several Australians fell just short of the podium including Alexa Leary, who earlier on Thursday set a world record – which was surpassed 10 minutes later – and finished sixth in the women’s S10 50m freestyle. Australian teammate Rowan Crothers claimed bronze in the same race to get the Aussies off to a bright start Ben Hance had to settle for fourth in the men’s S14 100m butterfly, while Paige Leonhardt placed seventh in the women’s S14 100m butterfly. Hall got bronze in the opening race of the afternoon – the men’s S9 400m freestyle – while Patterson finished with silver after relinquishing her commanding lead to Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly on the final lap of women’s race. ‘I could see her closing in that last 200 and I like a chase and thought I’d be able to get there tonight,’ Patterson said. ‘I certainly can’t complain, it’s my third Paralympics now and I’ve podiumed at all three Games and that’s a special feeling.’ It felt like a fitting end for Hall’s seven-medal Paralympic career, who indicated this would be his last Games. The 31-year-old said the medal win took on extra significance given it was the first time his two-year-old son Bodhi had been able to see him compete. ‘Give him another year he’ll realise what dad did was pretty important stuff,’ Hall said. ‘At the moment he’s just enjoying watching dad swim and have a lot of fun and for me that’s the most important thing.’ Share or comment on this article: Athlete who nearly DIED at Tokyo Games claims emotional first gold medal for Australia at Paris Paralympics [ad_2] Source link

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Telegram boss Pavel Durov banned from leaving France in criminal probe

[ad_1] Telegram boss and founder Pavel Durov has been placed under formal investigation in France as part of a probe into organised crime on the messaging app, Paris prosecutors say. Mr Durov, 39, has not been remanded in custody, but placed under judicial supervision, and has to pay a €5m (£4.2m; $5.6m) deposit. The Russian-born billionaire, who is also a French national, also has to show up at a French police station twice a week and is not allowed to leave French territory. Mr Durov was first detained upon arrival at Le Bourget airport north of Paris last Saturday under a warrant for offences related to the app. In Wednesday’s statement, the Paris prosecutors said Mr Durov was put under formal investigation over alleged offences that included: Complicity in the administration of an online platform to enable illicit transactions by an organised gang Refusal to communicate with authorities Complicity in organised criminal distribution of sexual images of children In France, being put under formal investigation does not imply guilt or necessarily result in a trial – but it indicates that judges consider there is enough of a case to proceed with an investigation. Mr Durov has so far made no public comments on the latest developments. His lawyer, David-Olivier Kaminski, said Telegram complied in every respect with European digital regulations and was moderated to the same standards as other social networks. It was “absurd” to suggest his client could be involved “in criminal acts that don’t concern him either directly or indirectly”, he added. It is unprecedented for the owner of a social media platform to be arrested because of the way in which that platform is being used, and it has fuelled a fierce debate online about freedom of speech and accountability. We have previously seen tech bosses hauled in front of lawmakers for confrontational grillings about their practices and failings, but not met by law enforcement at airports. Elon Musk, the owner of X, has defended Mr Durov, arguing that moderation is a “propaganda word” for censorship. He has called for Mr Durov’s release. Chris Pavlovski, the founder of a controversial video-sharing app called Rumble, said he had fled Europe following Mr Durov’s detention. While most of the world’s largest social networks do engage with national and international bodies when it comes to serious criminal offences such as the sharing of child sexual abuse images, Telegram is accused of ignoring them. The firm, which is now headquartered in Dubai, insists that its moderation tools meet industry standards. French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this week that France was deeply committed to freedom of expression, and that the decision to hold Mr Durov was “in no way… political”. Huge groups of up to 200,000 people can share and comment on information and content on Telegram – WhatsApp on the other hand limits its maximum group size to just over 1,000. While Telegram messages can be encrypted, meaning that only the sender and recipient can view them, this is not activated by default and has to be manually switched on to private chats. On Monday evening, Paris prosecutors said Mr Durov was being held in custody as part of a cyber-criminality investigation. In response, Telegram said Mr Durov had “nothing to hide”. Russia has warned France against turning the case into what it described as a “political persecution”, having previously said that without serious evidence the charges could be construed as an act of “intimidation”. “We know that the president of France has denied any connection [to the case] with politics,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, according to Reuters. “But on the other hand, certain accusations are being made.” Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky said that the charges against Mr Durov sounded “wild” and that the Telegram CEO was a “hostage of the dictatorship of democracy of the collective West”. Telegram is ranked as one of the major social media platforms. It was founded in 2013 and is particularly popular in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet Union states, as well as Iran. Russian war correspondent Sasha Kots wondered whether users would ever “trust Telegram as before”. Kots, who regularly posts updates about the war in Ukraine to his large Telegram following, suggested that French and Western authorities might now have access to the network’s encryption keys. “The truth is that no matter how events around Durov develop now, one can never be sure of the security of the messenger,” he wrote on Telegram. The BBC revealed on Wednesday that Telegram – which has more than 950 million registered users – has repeatedly refused to join international programmes aimed at detecting and removing child abuse material online. The BBC has contacted Telegram for comment about its refusal to join the child protection schemes. Mr Durov, who also founded the popular Russian social media company VKontakte, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on the platform. He also holds passports of St Kitts and Nevis and the United Arab Emirates. [ad_2] Source link

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