Monthly Archives: August 2020

How AI Has Helped The Dark Web – AI Daily

Posted: August 31, 2020 at 8:08 pm

Law enforcement agencies working online benefit from machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) , which lead to leading solutions. ML and AI work together, and automated methods can search the dark web, detect illegal activity and bring malicious actors to justice.

The interface between AI and GIS has created enormous possibilities that were not possible before. The field of artificial intelligence (AI) is so advanced that it exceeds or exceeds human accuracy in many areas, such as speech recognition, reading and writing, and image recognition. Together, ML and AI are rapidly making their way into the world of law enforcement.

AI, machine learning, and deep learning help make the world a better place, for example, by helping to increase crop yields through precision farming, fighting crime through predictive policing, or predicting when the next big storm will arrive, whether in the US or elsewhere.

As fraud detection programs are driven by artificial intelligence (AI), many of these chains turn to AI to ensure that they use various techniques to stop bad actors in advance. Broadly speaking, AI is the ability to perform tasks that typically require a certain level of human intelligence.

Reward programs are particularly popular because they can store large amounts of valuable data, including payment information. Reward points are also valuable because bad actors can spend them or sell them on dark web marketplaces.

Coffee giant Dunkin 'Donuts was the victim of a hacker attack in October 2018, and the fraudsters who initiated the program were able to sell users' loyalty credits on dark web marketplaces for a fraction of their value. Sixgill is a cyber threat intelligence service that analyses dark web activity to detect and prevent cyber attacks and sensitive data leaks before they occur. Using advanced algorithms, its cyber intelligence platform provides organisations with real-time alerts and actionable intelligence that priorities major threats such as cyber attacks, data breaches and cyber attacks.

New York City-based Insight has developed a threat detection platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to scan deep and dark networks for specific keywords to alert potential targets. Sixgill investigates the Dark Web, the Internet of Things, and other areas of human activity to identify and predict cybercrime and terrorist activity. While the darker web requires someone to use the Tor browser, it can also be accessed by someone who knows where to look.

That's why AI and ML are used to bring light into the dark web, and they can sweep it away faster than a person could. The IntSights report primarily scans deep and dark nets for the latter, but it can also scan the darker net, though not as fast or as far as a person could do, the report said.

The problem with using AI and ML for this job is that there is not enough clarity: 40% of the websites on the dark-net are completely legal. The remaining 60% are not, and this includes anonymous transactions that are legal, according to the IntSights report.

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Wasteland 3 review-in-progress Colder, but more intimate – VentureBeat

Posted: at 8:06 pm

I think someone at InXile Entertainment has watched Honey, I Shrunk the Kids a few too many times.

Wasteland 3 has grenades that shrink your foes. Enemies have them, too. The studios previous role-playing game, The Bards Tale IV: Barrows Deep, has spells that turn the baddies into pipsqueaks. And in that one, they have tiny voices and look ridiculous in combat. I shrunk my foes in so many battles.

This time, the enemy shrunk me.

I was storming an apartment, where the landlord thought someone was brewing bombs. Turns out they were creating clones and these copies were insane. So when I blew up the door and stormed in, they responded with stark-raving mad shrieks and by lobbing shrink grenades.

This encounter is just one example of the wild, wooly West that awaits you in the postapocalyptic Colorado in Wasteland 3, InXiles latest entry in the series. Its on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and its the final RPG from the studios independent days of funding projects on Kickstarter, before Microsoft acquired it in 2018. Deep Silvers the publisher.

It picks up where Wasteland 2s story leaves off. The Arizona Rangers are in shambles after defeating the Cochise AI and setting off a nuke. But a powerful person reaches out to offer your succor the Patriarch, the leader of Colorado. He needs your help with his kids, all who want to take over his rulership over Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. And all of them, to paraphrase Hank Hill, just aint right. From there, you clean up the mess, build up your forces, and learn just whats happening in the Rockies these days.

Heres what I think after more than 10 hours with Wasteland 3.

My everlasting takeaway from Wasteland 2 is that despite it being a fantastic RPG, the turn-based combat is too challenging at lower levels. The foes come across as too powerful to me.

Wasteland 3 feels better-tuned at earlier levels. While I did lose some troops a few times, I didnt feel like I was a group of grunts storming no-mans land getting mowed down by machine guns. Cover plays into this. InXile has thrown cover in strategic points around battlefields in a manner that both makes sense and is exploitable Ive been able to find some fantastic killzones thanks to the layout of some encounters. You can also destroy a great deal of cover. Chewing away at a wall with your machine gun makes an enemy more vulnerable without forcing you to expose your adventurers.

I dig one encounter in the remains of a mall parking lot. Your party starts in a chokepoint, which widens as you make progress. The baddies are on a higher level, with two ramps on either side of the map leading to their perch. Thankfully, you have a great deal of cover (concrete barriers, empty oil drums, and more) to help you advance as the villains fire away. You also face some foes on the ground below, but a few well-placed rockets, blowing up an oil drum, or other strategies pay off. By the time I had chewed my way through the henchmen, I got to the main baddie with three characters still alive, and the dead one happened only because I left her exposed to melee attacks.

Whats nice about this set up is that I was able to take advantage of cover, lay down fire to protect for my close-in fighters, and take out the enemy on the top level, all while feeling like I had the tools to do so. I dont remember any of the battles in Wasteland 2 feeling this tactical.

Above: This feels like a Jonathan Coulton song come to life.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

InXile peppers Wasteland 3 with exploding pigs, bad accents, silly puns, and weird foes with bad outfits (along with the shrink grenades). This is the sort of humor I live for in RPGs (and in books, TV, and movies as well. Im a cheesy fella). Im long past the the world is ending, we have to save it stories that emphasize drama over laughs.

The Bizarre stands out as a bastion of this silliness. You end up clearing out the lower levels of a mall for this areas capo, Flab the Inhaler. Hes a grotesque, obese play on a vampire lord. He speaks in a horrible accent out of the worst bloodsucker flicks. It turns out this place is under siege by a gang that dresses up as clowns and turns pigs into bombs. As you go down into the tunnels underneath the mall, you find not just a silly band of baddies but also a good dungeon to crawl through. And thats what I love about the humor; its important, but it doesnt detract from the game, its mechanics, and its design.

My favorite laugh so far might be MacTavish. He affects a Scottish persona, with an accent cheesier than Scottys and an outfit to match. You end up finding a cassette that shows its all a fake the recording has him practicing the accent, and when he fails, you hear him complaining in an even worse Texan drawl. Whats more, after you figure this out and capture him, he sticks to it in jail, even after you both know the accent is a fake.

In Wasteland 2, you end up dealing with an evil AI and another nuke. So far, your adventures in Colorado feel more homey. Youre taking care of bad people and making it safer for those who just want to live in peace. Youre fighting The Patriarchs wild kids. Yes, some of it is a bit over-the-top and gross, and I do have a great deal more of the story to dig into. Yet rebuilding the Rangers and making Colorado safer just feels comforting.

This doesnt mean Wasteland 3 lacks moral choices. Ive already had to decide if I want to side with corrupt cops or gangsters that appear to have a good heart. Another choice involves killing a man and those who helped him after you learn he let a bloody gang into Colorado Springs. As a kicker, you also deal with whether you want to help one of your companions take vengeance on them for that gang slaughtering her family. Sure, were not dealing with nukes, but the stakes are still there. Theyre more personal this time around.

Above: This might be the first time in my decades of playing RPGs that Ive found cat litter loot.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

Now, I may find out that one of these power-mad kids is going to blow it all up with a nuke. That certainly would change the stakes. But so far, I like just how much of Wasteland 3 is about dealing with the locals and their problems.

Wasteland 3 feels different from both its predecessor and other RPGs coming out right now, such as Pathfinder: Kingmakers definite edition. It still has a big scope that weve come to expect from InXile, but it feels more intimate as well. Its more welcoming than other games.

And so far, it doesnt have that freight train momentum you sometimes feel from other RPGs, where the story gains so much steam you feel like you need to blitz through it, missing out the sidequests and other tidbits that gives games character. Wasteland 3 isnt asking me to hurry up; it wants me to stay awhile, crack open a beer, and take it on at my pace. And that might be its greatest strength so far.

And nothing can shrink that.

Score: Pending

Wasteland 3 is out now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Its also a part of Xbox Game Pass. Deep Silver sent GamesBeat a Steam code for the purposes of this review.

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Could Quantum Computing Progress Be Halted by Background Radiation? – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 8:06 pm

Doing calculations with a quantum computer is a race against time, thanks to the fragility of the quantum states at their heart. And new research suggests we may soon hit a wall in how long we can hold them together thanks to interference from natural background radiation.

While quantum computing could one day enable us to carry out calculations beyond even the most powerful supercomputer imaginable, were still a long way from that point. And a big reason for that is a phenomenon known as decoherence.

The superpowers of quantum computers rely on holding the qubitsquantum bitsthat make them up in exotic quantum states like superposition and entanglement. Decoherence is the process by which interference from the environment causes them to gradually lose their quantum behavior and any information that was encoded in them.

It can be caused by heat, vibrations, magnetic fluctuations, or any host of environmental factors that are hard to control. Currently we can keep superconducting qubits (the technology favored by the fields leaders like Google and IBM) stable for up to 200 microseconds in the best devices, which is still far too short to do any truly meaningful computations.

But new research from scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), published last week in Nature, suggests we may struggle to get much further. They found that background radiation from cosmic rays and more prosaic sources like trace elements in concrete walls is enough to put a hard four-millisecond limit on the coherence time of superconducting qubits.

These decoherence mechanisms are like an onion, and weve been peeling back the layers for the past 20 years, but theres another layer that left unabated is going to limit us in a couple years, which is environmental radiation, William Oliver from MIT said in a press release. This is an exciting result, because it motivates us to think of other ways to design qubits to get around this problem.

Superconducting qubits rely on pairs of electrons flowing through a resistance-free circuit. But radiation can knock these pairs out of alignment, causing them to split apart, which is what eventually results in the qubit decohering.

To determine how significant of an impact background levels of radiation could have on qubits, the researchers first tried to work out the relationship between coherence times and radiation levels. They exposed qubits to irradiated copper whose emissions dropped over time in a predictable way, which showed them that coherence times rose as radiation levels fell up to a maximum of four milliseconds, after which background effects kicked in.

To check if this coherence time was really caused by the natural radiation, they built a giant shield out of lead brick that could block background radiation to see what happened when the qubits were isolated. The experiments clearly showed that blocking the background emissions could boost coherence times further.

At the minute, a host of other problems like material impurities and electronic disturbances cause qubits to decohere before these effects kick in, but given the rate at which the technology has been improving, we may hit this new wall in just a few years.

Without mitigation, radiation will limit the coherence time of superconducting qubits to a few milliseconds, which is insufficient for practical quantum computing, Brent VanDevender from PNNL said in a press release.

Potential solutions to the problem include building radiation shielding around quantum computers or locating them underground, where cosmic rays arent able to penetrate so easily. But if you need a few tons of lead or a large cavern in order to install a quantum computer, thats going to make it considerably harder to roll them out widely.

Its important to remember, though, that this problem has only been observed in superconducting qubits so far. In July, researchers showed they could get a spin-orbit qubit implemented in silicon to last for about 10 milliseconds, while trapped ion qubits can stay stable for as long as 10 minutes. And MITs Oliver says theres still plenty of room for building more robust superconducting qubits.

We can think about designing qubits in a way that makes them rad-hard, he said. So its definitely not game-over, its just the next layer of the onion we need to address.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Five years of progress on new Medical Center – Loma Linda University Health

Posted: at 8:06 pm

With the installation of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging units, the Loma Linda University Medical Center and Childrens Hospital tower construction project has reached a significant milestone. Completion efforts now focus on completing the buildings interior, including furnishings, equipment, supplies and all the small touches necessary to make the buildings ready to receive patients.

Below is a look back on the status of this massive effort in the months of August over the five years of work. With just a few months to go until patients move into this new building, this retrospective shows just how much has been accomplished by construction workers, Loma Linda University Health leadership, and the generous support of thousands of donors to the project.

August 18, 2015: Early signs of change start appearing as work gets underway. Utilities need rerouting. Streets need to be redirected. And the entire parking lot east of the cloverleaf tower building needs to be broken up and removed it will serve as the site for the new facility.

August 9, 2016: The buildings foundation and space for two lower floors will be underground. To create the foundation pit, workers will remove 110,000 yards of soil, or 7,857 truckloads. Then the bottom of the pit was covered with 1,400 yards of concrete four inches thick. On that slab, workers put together 5.1 million pounds of steel rebar, which reinforced another 15,230 yards of concrete.

August 11, 2017: Anyone standing on the foundation floor on this date would still see the cloverleaf tower dominating the campus skyline. But having dug down, workers were ready to start building up. First task? Anchoring 126 base isolators into place to support the entire building and protect it in case of an earthquake.

August 10, 2018: The pit is just a memory, as the steel structure for the two towers begins to rise. The Childrens Hospital tower ultimately topped off at nine stories, while the Medical Center reached 16 floors, and has a new helipad on the buildings roof.

August 12, 2019: Work on the exterior is nearing completion. Two outside elevator hoists served the project delivering workers and supplies to the various floors. But the hoist on the side of the Childrens Hospital tower is no longer needed and is in the process of being removed. And on the other side of the building, the process of installing the glass walls for the 16th-floor conference center began at this same time.

August 12, 2020: Late afternoon sun appears to crown the new Medical Center, casting a long shadow on the east side of the building. The new hospital is the tallest hospital in the state of California and the tallest building in San Bernardino County. But while its size is impressive, whats truly exciting is the impact this facility will have in the region as it advances our ability to continue providing excellent healthcare. The new Medical Center tower is more than a building; it's a beacon of hope for brighter, better tomorrows in this community.

We're sharing photographic updates of the hospital construction work on a periodic basis. Watch for special emphasis on some of the behind-the-scenes-views and untold stories at the Vision 2020 website.

This vignette is adapted from a blog by Dennis E. Park, which appears on the website http://www.docuvision2020.com.

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California fire crews, aided by cooler weather, report ‘great progress’ against LNU, SCU lightning complex fires – USA TODAY

Posted: at 8:06 pm

Wildfires in California and other western states are getting worse every year, but is climate change all to blame? We explain. USA TODAY

Firefighters continued to gain ground Sunday against thenearly two dozen wildfires blazing inCalifornia including the two complex fires in the San Francisco Bay Area that have burned more than 750,000 acres and forced hundreds of thousands of evacuations.

"Overall, firefighters [are] making great progress. We'll continue to see containment efforts go up," Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said on Twitter.

Evacuation orders have been lifted or downgraded to warningsfor the LNU Lightning Complex Firein the state's wine country in the Napa Valley, north of San Francisco. But more than 60,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation throughout the state.

The LNU Lightning Complex Fire, which began Aug.17,hasburned 375,209 acres, destroyed over 1,200 homes and killed five people, according to Cal Fire. It was56% contained as of 2 p.m. PT Sunday.

California's air quality is worse than India's: That's not good in a pandemic

Meanwhile, theSCU Lightning Complex Fire, east of San Jose, has burned 377,471 acres across five counties since igniting on Aug. 18. It was 50% contained.

A third complex fire near Santa Cruz, the CZU, had burned nearly 85,000 acres and was 35% contained as of Sunday afternoon.

California fire officials are cautiously optimistic after cooler, foggy weather has rolled into fire zones, while they assess the damage from hundreds of wildfires that have scorched more than 2,000 square miles across the state. (Aug. 27) AP Domestic

Cooler weekend weather helped fire crews, Cal Fire said. But temperatures are forecast to reach nearly 100 degrees this week, with gusty winds that can lead to "critical fire weather conditions," the National Weather Service said.

The NWS issued a red flag warning with gusty winds and low relative humidity expected in interior Del Norte County and far northeast Humboldt County in Northern California from5 p.m. Sunday local time through 11 a.m. Monday.

Over the next week or two we will be at the climatological peak of fire weather season in northwest California, and fuel conditions are near or exceeding critical thresholds over much of our area, the weather service said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Making progress: The Dallas Stars need one win to eliminate Avalanche, but that victory could mean so much – The Dallas Morning News

Posted: at 8:06 pm

The next win determines progress.

As the Stars streaked past the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night bombarding them early and hanging on late during a 5-4 win in Game 4 they set themselves up for a shot at evolution.

On Sunday, the Stars grabbed a sizable 3-1 lead in the second-round series, and Dallas is now one win away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2008, which would mark the first time this core has won two playoff rounds. The Stars did it with another episode of their dominance in spurts.

The Stars controlled the first period, racing to a 3-0 lead as Colorado needed more than 18 minutes to test Anton Khudobin with a shot on goal. In a series defined by runs from each team, Dallas opened Game 4 with one and built enough cushion to withstand Colorados comeback attempts in the second and third periods.

The Stars power play scored twice in the first period. They allowed two Colorado goals in the second period, including one late in the period during an Avs 5 on 3 power play. But Dallas answered with two goals to push Colorado to the brink of elimination.

Nine Stars recorded points, led by Radek Faksas goal and two assists. Roope Hintz and John Klingberg each had a goal and an assist, while Jamie Benn and Denis Gurianov also scored. For the sixth time in the last nine games, the Stars scored at least five goals. They scored at least five goals in a game just five times throughout the entire regular season.

Khubodin started his eighth straight game in place of the injured Ben Bishop and stopped 33 of 37 shots on goal.

The continued offensive explosion gives the Stars three chances to close out the Avalanche, with the first coming in Game 5 at 8:45 p.m. Monday.

Were a confident group, and tomorrows going to be the hardest game, Klingberg said. It always is when you can close out a series. We expect Colorado to be even better tomorrow.

The Stars have matched where they got to last season: within one victory of the NHLs final four.

Last May, they had two chances to eliminate the St. Louis Blues and couldnt, leading to a summer of what-ifs as St. Louis won the Stanley Cup. They entered this season with regret and remorse, and maybe some fear that 2019 could have been their year. One more win this week would signal that the Stars are past that stage and moving forward with a core that has needed years to percolate.

The next win would put the Stars halfway to the required 16 wins needed to lift the Stanley Cup and would give more credence to Jim Nills roster, one that is still missing its starting goaltender and has won six of its last seven games.

Between the round robin and the first round, this postseason could have been viewed as a seminal moment for the Stars.

They had the big contracts of Benn and Tyler Seguin without the superstar results. They had aging scorers such as Joe Pavelski and Alexander Radulov on the books for multiple seasons. Defenseman Miro Heiskanen remained on a cheap entry-level contract for one more season. Khubodin was free to walk after this one. And then, of course, theres the situation behind the bench, where Rick Bowness still wears an interim tag.

An early exit (or maybe even just matching last years results) could have served as an inflection point for the franchise that hadnt qualified for two straight postseasons for a decade before the last two seasons. Would the Stars want to keep this core together? Could they break it up if they tried? How would the next coach fare with the personnel?

Instead, the Stars seem poised to bounce the favored Avalanche and sign up for another two weeks in the Edmonton bubble. One more win, and progress is tangible. One more win, and Dallas has evolved into a true, top-shelf, real-life, not-dreaming Stanley Cup contender.

The next win determines progress.

Were keeping our composure, Benn said. We know how hard that Game 6 was against Calgary. Obviously, we didnt get off to a good start at all. Well sit on this one for a couple hours and then move on and get right back at it tomorrow.

Find more Stars stories from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Cleveland Browns Bill Callahan Calls Jed Wills Progress Positive – 247Sports

Posted: at 8:06 pm

BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns are expecting big things from rookie Jedrick Wills. The Cleveland Browns used the 10th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft to select Jedrick Wills to anchor the Cleveland Browns left tackle position.

However, left tackle is a tough position to just step in at the NFL level and play well, let alone dominate, as Joe Thomas did. Couple that, with the fact that the rookie from Alabama is set to open the season in less than two weeks against one of the best defenses in the NFL in the Baltimore Ravens.

After Sunday's practice at FirstEnergy Stadium, Wills was asked how he thinks he's progressing.

Wills feels he's making the transition to left tackle pretty well.

It is going well," Wills said. "The transition is hard for anybody in any position no matter the position, whether you are a skill player or not. Really just coming in, improve the things I need to work on in practice, and just get ready for the next two weeks.

I think I have made a lot of progress, especially like you said since the past few weeks," he said. "Moving along very quickly and just trying to get better.

Offensive line coach Bill Callahan said all rookies are behind.

I think rookies across the league are behind the curve," Callahan said. "I think what our goal has been is to bring him up to speed as fast as we can. We have really inundated him with techniques and walkthroughs. We have gone through several measures in the classroom showing him different players doing the techniques that we are asking of him. I think the progress has been positive, but you just do not know until you go up against live competition."

Callahan said going up against the Browns pair of Pro Bowl defensive ends has helped speed up his growth.

"Having the looks that we are getting in practice from No. 54 (Olivier Vernon) and No. 95 (Myles Garrett) certainly helps that," Callahan said. "He has obviously lost a share and he has won a share of his reps, but that experience of getting out against quality and premier pass rushers is invaluable. Every day, it is a learning experience for him, and we are trying to bring him up to speed as fast as we can.

Wills said the work against those two has helped him significantly.

It has been a great competition between me and Myles and also Olivier Vernon on the other side, which is who I see mostly," he said. "It definitely would have helped to get these things moving along way back in OTAs, if we would have had those with this COVID thing going on. It would have definitely helped, but we have to adjust now and just keep moving forward.

Wills admitted he has been a bit discouraged when Vernon, Garrett, or another pass rusher gets the best of him.

Of course because you come from a place in college where I just dominated everybody I went against," he said. "It was easy and it was a walk in the park, and now you are going against these guys who are Pro Bowlers and some of the best pass rushers in the league. It gets frustrating at times, but you just have to learn from your losses.

Callahan said part of his coaching is helping Wills from not getting discouraged.

I think for all the rookies in our league and especially on our team, they need to learn the cycle of the snap, and they need to get the mindset prior to the play in the pre-snap," he said. "Then of course when the snap is over, good bad or indifferent, they need to process that quickly and find out or learn what they did good, what they did bad and what they could do better, and then move on to the next play.

"That ability to change the mindset of the next play and going to the next play is critically important for a young player," he said. "Sometimes, they have the tendency to dwell because they want to do so well that it kind of feeds into that cycle of overthinking, paralysis and things of that nature. We have worked really hard at trying to get a mindset for Jedrick and all of our players of getting on and getting forward with the next play.

Wills said the different looks have helped him the most.

Really just seeing different things every day from the guys on the other side of the ball," Wills said. "Really mastering your technique and being ready for all the kinds of moves.

"Really, just trying to do what I need to do day in and day out to get to that stage of comfort because there are always things you can improve on.

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COVID-19 can wipe out health care progress in short order: WHO – Reuters

Posted: at 8:06 pm

FILE PHOTO: Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) leave with a patient at Hialeah Hospital where coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients are treated, in Hialeah, Florida, U.S., July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 90% of countries have seen ordinary health services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with major gains in medical care attained over decades vulnerable to being wiped out in a short period, a World Health Organization survey showed.

The Geneva-based body has frequently warned about other life-saving programs being impacted by the pandemic and has sent countries mitigation advice, but the survey yielded the first WHO data so far on the scale of disruptions.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on essential health services is a source of great concern, said a report on the study released on Monday. Major health gains achieved over the past two decades can be wiped out in a short period of time...

The survey includes responses from between May and July from more than 100 countries. Among the most affected services were routine immunizations (70%), family planning (68%) and cancer diagnosis and treatment (55%), while emergency services were disturbed in almost a quarter of responding countries.

The Eastern Mediterranean Region, which includes Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, was most affected followed by the African and Southeast Asian regions, it showed. The Americas was not part of the survey.

Since COVID-19 cases were first identified in December last year, the virus is thought to have killed nearly 850,000 people, the latest Reuters tally showed.

Researchers think that non-COVID deaths have also increased in some places due partly to health service disruptions, although these may be harder to calculate.

The WHO survey said it was reasonable to anticipate that even a modest disruption in essential health services could lead to an increase in morbidity and mortality from causes other than COVID-19 in the short to medium and long-term. Further research was needed.

It also warned that the disruptions could be felt even after the pandemic ends. The impact may be felt beyond the immediate pandemic as, in trying to catch up on services, countries may find that resources are overwhelmed.

Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Mark Heinrich

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Small Caps Daily Features NanoViricides’ Progress on Developing a Therapy To Help Kids Return To School Safely – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 8:06 pm

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - August 31, 2020) - NanoViricides, Inc. (AMEX: NNVC) (the "Company") a global leader in the development of highly effective antiviral therapies based on a novel nanomedicines platform, has been the focus of recent coverage on leading financial news website and publisher, Small Caps Daily. NanoViricides' progress on developing a therapy to combat COVID-19 and also addressing the existing, global concern of how to get kids back to their classrooms, were two of the major topics covered in the Small Caps Daily article. Globally, nearly 850,000 lives have already been lost due to COVID-19, so it is very promising that NanoViricides' drug candidates showed strong effectiveness in the animal model as compared to remdesivir and have also outperformed favipiravir in its cell culture studies. NanoViricides has successfully carried out a safety and tolerability study on rats and the excellent results have now cleared the way for NanoViricides for moving forward to human clinical trials.

Key Takeaways from the SmallCapsDaily article featuring NanoViricides:

For more insight into NanoViricides, Inc., and to continue reading the Small Caps Daily featured article, please click here: https://smallcapsdaily.com/nanoviricides-working-to-get-kids-back-to-school-safely/.

About NanoViricides, Inc.

NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for antiviral therapy. The Company's novel nanoviricide class of drug candidates are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus particles and to dismantle them. Our lead drug candidate is NV-HHV-101 with its first indication as dermal topical cream for the treatment of shingles rash. The Company is in the process of completing an IND application to the US FDA for this drug candidate. The Company cannot project an exact date for filing an IND because of its dependence on a number of external collaborators and consultants, and the effects of recent COVID-19 restrictions.

The Company is also developing drugs against a number of viral diseases including oral and genital Herpes, viral diseases of the eye including EKC and herpes keratitis, H1N1 swine flu, H5N1 bird flu, seasonal Influenza, HIV, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and Ebola virus, among others. NanoViricides' platform technology and programs are based on the TheraCour nanomedicine technology of TheraCour, which TheraCour licenses from AllExcel. NanoViricides holds a worldwide exclusive perpetual license to this technology for several drugs with specific targeting mechanisms in perpetuity for the treatment of the following human viral diseases: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV/AIDS), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), Rabies, Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2), Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV), Influenza and Asian Bird Flu Virus, Dengue viruses, Japanese Encephalitis virus, West Nile Virus and Ebola/Marburg viruses. The Company has executed a Memorandum of Understanding with TheraCour that provides a limited license for research and development for drugs against human coronaviruses. The Company intends to obtain a full license and has begun the process for the same. The Company's technology is based on broad, exclusive, sub-licensable, field licenses to drugs developed in these areas from TheraCour Pharma, Inc. The Company's business model is based on licensing technology from TheraCour Pharma Inc. for specific application verticals of specific viruses, as established at its foundation in 2005.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. Actual events could differ materially and substantially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors. Certain statements in this release, and other written or oral statements made by NanoViricides, Inc. are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in documents filed by the company from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors, they may include the following: demonstration and proof of principle in preclinical trials that a nanoviricide is safe and effective; successful development of our product candidates; our ability to seek and obtain regulatory approvals, including with respect to the indications we are seeking; the successful commercialization of our product candidates; and market acceptance of our products. FDA refers to US Food and Drug Administration. IND application refers to "Investigational New Drug" application. CMC refers to "Chemistry, Manufacture, and Controls".

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Small Caps Daily Features NanoViricides' Progress on Developing a Therapy To Help Kids Return To School Safely - Yahoo Finance

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Progress continues on wildfires burning across Bay Area – KTVU San Francisco

Posted: at 8:06 pm

SCU Lighting Complex Fires may burn for weeks

The SCU Lightning Complex Fires are now the third largest in the state's history.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KTVU) - The Bay Area has been devastated by several major wildfires around the region, from the Santa Cruz mountains to Lake Berryessa.

Cal Fire said many of them were sparked by a "lightning siege" or dry lightning strikes that started on Aug. 15. The fires have become some of the largest in California history.

The wildfires have been blamed for multiple deaths, the destruction of hundreds of homes, and an extended period of unhealthy air in many parts of the Bay Area.

RELATED: See where wildfires are burning in the Bay Area

Thousands of residents who were evacuated from their homes have been allowed to return as fire crews continue to gain ground on the wildfires and containment grows.

MAP - August 20, 2020. The Meyers and Wallbridge fires are burning near the Sonoma County Coast. The LNU Lightning Complex fire is made up of 7 fires in Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Lake and Yolo Counties. The SCU Lightning Complex fire is the combination o

Here are the latest details about the size and damage from each blaze:

LNU Lightning ComplexWhere: Sonoma, Napa, Solano, and Lake countiesSize: 375,209 acresContainment: 63%Injuries: 4 civiliansFatalities: 3 in Napa County; 2 in Solano CountyStructures Destroyed: 1,209Structures Threatened: 5,378Structures Damaged: 193

RELATED: Evacuation orders and warnings for Bay Area's major wildfires

CZU Lightning ComplexWhere: Santa Cruz and San MateocountiesSize: 84,860 acresContainment: 39%Injuries: 1 civilianFatalities: 1 personStructures Destroyed: 1,361 in total (of that 861 were homes)Structures Threatened: 6,759Structures Damaged: 132

SCU Lightning ComplexWhere: Portions of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus countiesSize: 383,157 acresContainment: 60%Injuries: 2 civilians, 3 first respondersFatalities: 0 personStructures Destroyed: 40Minor structures destroyed: 64Structures Threatened: 20,065Structures Damaged: 18

The LNU, CZU, and SCU wildfires have burned a combined 843,226 acres.

Woodward FireWhere: Marin CountySize: 3,269 acresTotal Personnel on fire: 585Crews: 14Engines: 37Helicopters: 5

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Progress continues on wildfires burning across Bay Area - KTVU San Francisco

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