Alexa Fasold thought she was a surrogate for a couple having fertility issues and was all set to give birth to a baby boy this fall, after carrying a transferred embryo since January. Then she learned that the agency she was working with was under investigation. A couple behind the Arcadia, California, agency has been accused by surrogates of running a potential scam in which multiple women across the country were unknowingly carrying embryos for the same couple at the same time. Fasold first realized that something was amiss when the agency, Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC, suddenly stopped responding to…
Author: CYPRUS EYE
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Two top National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials who played a role in the high-profile “Sharpiegate” investigation at the agency were placed on administrative leave this week. Stephen Volz, the assistant administrator of NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, and Jeff Dillen, a deputy general counsel at NOAA, were placed on leave Thursday morning, Volz told NBC News. Volz and Dillen were figures in the controversy during the first Trump presidency that came to be known as “Sharpiegate,” in which forecasters were rebuked for contradicting the president over a crude alteration to a hurricane map. NOAA confirmed Friday that the two…
Update (25 July, 2025 at 3:00 PM UTC): This article has been updated to add commentary by Shantanu Sontakke, security engineer at web3 security firm Zokyo Smart-contract developers and auditors told Cointelegraph that artificial intelligence usage in programming will make crypto safer despite earlier reports suggesting that AI-generated code may introduce new security risks. A November 2024 report by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology warned that AI-assisted programming can be detrimental for cybersecurity. The paper suggests that AI generates insecure code, and models themselves are vulnerable to attacks and manipulation. The researchers also noted that generated code may…
Israeli airstrikes and gunshots have killed at least 25 people overnight in Gaza, health officials and ambulance service said Saturday, as cease-fire talks seem to stall and Palestinians face worsening famine. The majority of victims were killed by gunfire as they waited for aid trucks close to the Zikim crossing with Israel, said staff at Shifa hospital, where the bodies were brought. Israel’s army didn’t respond to request for comments about the latest shootings. Those killed in strikes include four people in an apartment building in Gaza City among others, hospital staff and the ambulance service said. The strikes come…
Fighting over Thailand and Cambodia border entered its third day and new flashpoints emerged Saturday, raising the death toll to 33, as both sides said they had acted in self-defense in the bloodiest border dispute in years, and Phnom Penh called for an “immediate ceasefire”. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense conflict involving jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, prompting the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis Friday. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists in the Cambodian town of Samraong, near the border that has seen the bulk of the fighting, heard the thump…
Efforts to end the relentless siege of Gaza have been set back by the abrupt end to peace talks in Qatar. Both the United States and Israel have withdrawn their negotiating teams, accusing Hamas of a “lack of desire to reach a ceasefire”. US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff says it would appear Hamas never wanted a deal: While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for…
The entertainment company Paramount Global is expected to close its $8bn merger agreement with Skydance Media on August 7, a date that marks two weeks after the administration of President Donald Trump gave its approval. On Friday, the two companies announced the final stage of the yearlong deal, which was first unveiled in July 2024. The merger is considered a massive shake-up in the media landscape of the United States, drawing to a close the reign of the powerful Redstone family over the Paramount entertainment empire. But the merger has garnered even more attention in recent weeks for its political…
International reproductive rights groups slam the Trump administration’s decision as ‘cruel and ideologically driven’. Washington, DC – The United States has confirmed reports that it will destroy reproductive health supplies previously designated as assistance, sparking fury from advocates and aid groups. The US Department of State said on Friday that the decision stems from US regulations that restrict aid to groups that perform or promote abortions. “Only a limited number of commodities have been approved for disposal. No HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed,” a State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera in a statement. Reproductive health advocates decried the…
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities is joining a legal fight over the fate of a federal program aimed at addressing educational disparities in higher education. This week, the association, better known as HACU, filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit that seeks to dismantle the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program — which provides federal grants to universities and colleges with a student body that is over 25% Latino. The program created by Congress provides grants to universities already educating the majority of the nation’s Hispanic college students to expand their ability to help “Hispanic students and other…
A plane that crashed and killed the husband of then-U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, two years ago was overloaded with moose meat and antlers, federal investigators said this week. Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr., 57, was piloting a Piper PA 18-150 Super Cub when it went down in the mountains northeast of St. Mary’s on Sept. 12, 2023. The veteran pilot was working with a group of hunters who had camped out in the remote wilderness and he was ferrying away parts of a moose they had killed, officials said. The pilot did not use scales to weigh the cargo and…