Old Video: Zookeeper Puts Head Inside Crocodile's Mouth, This Happens Next

A horrific old video has resurfaced online showing the moment a crocodile bit a zookeeper's head before viciously thrashing him side to side. The short clip was shared a few days back by an Instagram page called 'earth.reel'. According to the Express, the incident took place in 2017 at a free crocodile show on the island of Ko Samui, in Thailand.

In the video, a zookeeper is seen kneeling before a crocodile and placing his entire head inside its motionless mouth. The man holds his position for ten seconds before the reptile suddenly snaps down on his head and violently thrashes him around. 

"WARNING! Not for Weak Heart People," the Instagram user wrote in the caption of the post. 

Watch the video below: 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Earth Reels (@earth.reel)

Towards the end of the clip, as the crocodile continues to thrash the man around, shrieks are heard in the background. But fortunately, seconds later he is left on the ground reeling from his injuries while the crocodile slides back into the water. 

According to the Express, the horrifying incident took place around six years back at one of Thailand's famed crocodile shows for a small group of people on the tourist island of Ko Samui. At the time, it was reported that the zookeeper's condition remained unknown. The man was also said to have been "showing off" previous crocodile-related wounds, including a missing finger, to the crowd of six shortly before the performance.

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Meanwhile, on Instagram, the old video has accumulated more than 1,800 likes and over 44,000 views. In the comment section, one user wrote, "If you mess with a wild animals, you have to expect this will probably happen, and it is on you". Another said, "When you play with fire you get burned, when you play Russian roulette you get shot, when you play with alligators or crocodiles you get your a** ate up lol the lesson here has been learned by the idiot and taught by the wild a** professor."

"Some people have to learn the hard way," added third. "Human stupidity is unbelievable!! I can't believe what this guy does!! What the animal does is instinct, what the other animal does is stupidity," expressed fourth. 

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Meta Steps Up Chatbot Buzz, Announces Research Tool LLaMA as Rival to Microsoft's ChatGPT, Google's LaMDA

Meta Platforms introduced a research tool for building artificial intelligence-based chatbots and other products, seeking to create a buzz for its own technology in a field lately focused on internet rivals Google and Microsoft.

The tool, LLaMA, is Meta's latest entry in the realm of large language models, which “have shown a lot of promise in generating text, having conversations, summarizing written material and more complicated tasks like solving math theorems or predicting protein structures,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in an Facebook post on Friday.

For now LLaMA isn't in use in Meta's products, which include social networks Facebook and Instagram, according to a spokesperson. The company plans to make the technology available to AI researchers.

“Meta is committed to this open model of research,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Large language models are massive AI systems that suck up enormous volumes of digital text — from news articles, social media posts or other internet sources — and use that written material to train software that predicts and generates content on its own when given a prompt or query. The models can be used for tasks like writing essays, composing tweets, generating chatbot conversations and suggesting computer programming code. 

The technology has become popular, and controversial, in recent months as more companies have started to build them and introduce tests of products based on the models, spotlighting a new area of competition among tech giants. Microsoft is investing billions in OpenAI, the maker of GPT-3, the large language model that runs the ChatGPT chatbot. The software maker this month unveiled a test version of its Bing search engine running on OpenAI's chat technology, which raised immediate concerns over its sometimes-inappropriate responses.

Alphabet's Google has a model called LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications. The internet search and advertising leader is testing a chat-based, AI-powered search product called Bard, which also still has some glitches.

Meta previously launched a large language model called OPT-175B, but LLaMA is a newer and more advanced system. Another model Meta released late last year, Galactica, was quickly pulled back after researchers discovered it was routinely sharing biased or inaccurate information with people who used it.

Zuckerberg has made AI a top priority inside the company, often talking about its importance to improving Meta's products on earnings conference calls and in interviews. While LLaMA is not being used in Meta products now, it's possible that it will be in the future. Meta for now relies on AI for all kinds of functions, including content moderation and ranking material that appears in user feeds. 

Making the LLaMA model open-source allows outsiders to see more clearly how the system works, tweak it to their needs and collaborate on related projects. Last year, Big Science and Hugging Face released BLOOM, an open-source LLM that was intended to make this kind of technology more accessible.

© 2023 Bloomberg LP

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China Directs Tech Companies Not to Offer Access to ChatGPT on Their Platforms: Report

In yet another clampdown on big tech companies, China has instructed them not to offer access to ChatGPT services on their platforms, either directly or via third parties, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Nikkei Asia.

Beijing's clampdown on ChatGPT, the hugely popular AI-powered chatbot, comes as little surprise to many in China's tech industry.

Chinese state media outlet blasted the chatbot for spreading US government 'misinformation' amid growing alarm in Beijing over the AI-powered chatbot's uncensored replies to user queries, reported Nikkei Asia.

On Monday, state-owned media outlet China Daily said in a post on Weibo, China's heavily censored equivalent of Twitter, that the chatbot "could provide a helping hand to the US government in its spread of disinformation and its manipulation of global narratives for its own geopolitical interests."

Tencent Holdings and Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, have been instructed not to offer access to ChatGPT services on their platforms.

The sources added that tech companies will also need to report to regulators before they launch their own ChatGPT-like services.

ChatGPT, developed by Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI, is not officially available in China but some internet users have been able to access it using a virtual private network (VPN), reported Nikkei Asia.

There have also been dozens of "mini programs" released by third-party developers on Tencent's WeChat social media app that claim to offer services from ChatGPT.

Under regulatory pressure, Tencent has suspended several such third-party services regardless of whether they were connected to ChatGPT or were in fact copycats, people familiar with the matter told Nikkei.

This is not the first time that China has blocked foreign websites or applications. Beijing has banned dozens of prominent US websites and apps.

Between 2009 and 2010, it moved to block Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Between 2018 and 2019, it instituted bans on Reddit and Wikipedia.

The latest move by regulators comes amid an official backlash against ChatGPT. Sources in the tech industry say they are not surprised by such a clampdown, reported Nikkei Asia.

"Our understanding from the beginning is that ChatGPT can never enter China due to issues with censorship, and China will need its own versions of ChatGPT," said one executive from a leading tech company.

An executive from another leading Chinese tech player said that even without a direct warning his company would not use ChatGPT, reported Nikkei Asia.

"We have already been a target of the Chinese regulator [amid the tech industry crackdown in recent years], so even if there were no such ban, we would never take the initiative to add ChatGPT to our platforms because its responses are uncontrollable," the person said.

"There will inevitably be some users who ask the chatbot politically sensitive questions, but the platform would be held accountable for the results."

Since ChatGPT took the tech world by storm, Chinese tech giants, including Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu, have rushed to unveil their own plans for developing ChatGPT-like services.

These companies have been cautious about wording their announcements, however, with all of them stressing that their services are ChatGPT-like but do not integrate ChatGPT itself, reported Nikkei Asia.

China's clampdown on ChatGPT comes as tensions between the world's two largest economies continue to escalate.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this week that new information suggests Beijing could provide "lethal support" to Russia in the Ukraine war, triggering concerns over a new Cold War. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the claims were false and accused Washington of spreading lies.

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PV Sindhu Parts Ways With Badminton Coach Park Tae Sang

PV Sindhu's coach Park Tae Sang has parted ways with the Indian badminton star. Park joined hands with Sindhu in 2019. Under Park Tae-Sang, Sindhu won three BWF World Tour tiles – the Syed Modi International, Swiss Open and Singapore Open. She also won the women's singles gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham and the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and then a gold at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. 

Park took responsibility of Sindhu's recent poor form. 

"Hello, it's been a while since I said hello. I came back to Hyderabad a few days ago. And I want to say thank you to everyone who worried about my father. To be honest, my father's condition is not good yet. So I felt heavy walking back to India," Park Tae Sang wrote in an Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PARK TAESANG (@taesang2734)

"And I'd like to talk about my relationship with @pvsindhu1 , which many people have asked about. She has made disappointing moves in all recent matches, and as a coach, I feel responsible. So she wanted a change and said she would find a new coach. I decided to respect and follow her decision. I'm sorry that I can't be with her until the next Olympics, but now I'm going to support her from afar. I will remember every moment with her. I would like to thank everyone who has been supporting and encouraging me."

Two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu recounted her journey to becoming badminton world champion in 2019 and said that she was waiting for the moment for more than five years. Sindhu won the bronze medal in the 2013 and 2014 editions of the World Championships while in 2017 and 2018, the Indian shuttler was defeated in the final on both occasions. However, in 2019, she finally won the tournament after comprehensively defeating Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the summit clash.

"It's a really big thing. Being a world champion is...it's after Olympics are what I feel. I won it in 2019. For me it was a different memory altogether because I was waiting for it for five years. I had two bronze, two silver and I wanted that gold desperately. It is definitely one of the biggest tournaments out there after Olympics," Sindhu said in an exclusive interview with NDTV.

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TikTok Accuses EU of Not Consulting It Over Staff Phone Ban

TikTok accused the European Commission on Friday of failing to consult it over a decision to ban the Chinese short video sharing app from staff phones on cybersecurity grounds, a move subsequently followed by another top EU body.

The app, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, is facing growing scrutiny from Western authorities over concerns that China's government could use it to harvest people's data. Beijing has regularly denied having any such intentions.

The EU executive and the EU Council, which brings together representatives of the member states to set policy priorities, said on Thursday staff will also be required to remove TikTok from personal mobile devices that have access to corporate services.

TikTok, which has in the past said that data on its service can not be accessed by Beijing, said it had not been told or contacted by either institution ahead of their decisions.

"So we are really operating under a cloud. And the lack of transparency and the lack of due process. Quite frankly one would expect, you know, some sort of engagement on this matter," Caroline Greer, TikTok's director of public policy and government relations, told Reuters.

She said she cold not respond to the bodies' cybersecurity concerns because they had not spelled them out.

The European Commission pointed to EU industry chief Thierry Breton's comments at a news conference on Thursday where he said the EU executive does not have to give reasons for decisions taken to ensure its proper functions.

"To suspend the use of TikTok is a purely internal decision for cybersecurity reasons to protect the Council General Secretariat's (GSC) data and staff. As the GSC has no contractual relationship with TikTok, there is no obligation to consult or inform them," an EU official said.

Greer said TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who met Breton and other commissioners in Brussels in January, was "concerned and a little puzzled".

"He has always been very available, you know, responding to the Commission... We have reached out for a meeting in whatever shape or form they would like that to happen."

Other EU institutions should do their own research before making decisions on the app, Greer said.

TikTok is banned on US Senate employees' government-owned devices and also in India. The European Parliament has not taken such a step.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Ericsson Could Cut 8,500 Jobs Under Cost-Cutting Plans, Reveals Internal Memo

Telecom equipment maker Ericsson will lay off 8,500 employees globally as part of its plan to cut costs, a memo sent to employees and seen by Reuters said.

While technology companies such as Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet have laid off thousands of employees citing economic conditions, Ericsson's move would be the largest layoff to hit the industry.

"The way headcount reductions will be managed will differ depending on local country practice," Chief Executive Borje Ekholm wrote in the memo.

"In several countries the headcount reductions have already been communicated this week," he said.

On Monday, the company, which employs more than 1,05,000 worldwide, announced plans to cut about 1,400 jobs in Sweden.

While Ericsson did not disclose which geography would be most affected, analysts had predicted that North America would likely be most affected and growing markets such as India the least.

The company said in December it would cut costs by 9 billion crowns ($880 million or nearly 7,300 crore) by the end of 2023 as demand slows in some markets, including North America.

"It is our obligation to take this cost out to remain competitive," Ekholm said in the memo. "Our biggest enemy right now may be complacency."

Many telecom companies had beefed up their inventories during the height of the pandemic which is now leading to slowing orders for telecom equipment makers.

Verizon, one of the largest telecom companies, plans to spend between $18.25 billion (nearly Rs. 151,400 crore) and $19.25 billion (nearly Rs. 1,59,700 crore) this year, down from a capital expenditure budget of $23 billion last year.

Ericsson Chief Financial Officer Carl Mellander had earlier told Reuters that cost cuts would involve reducing consultants, real estate and employee headcount.

Nordic rival Nokia has not announced any plans to lay off employees.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Heartbreaking Video Shows Baby Langur Weeping After Mother's Tragic Death

Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda on Friday shared a heartbreaking video of a baby langur weeping while holding on to its dead mother. Sharing the short clip on Twitter, Mr Nanda wrote that the incident took place in Assam. The video showed a golden baby langur sobbing uncontrollably over the lifeless body of its mother after she was killed by a speeding vehicle. 

"This will haunt me for a long long time. A Golden langur was assassinated on the road in Assam. The baby is still in its arm not knowing what has befallen him. I am informed that all steps are being taken to save the baby," Mr Nanda wrote in the caption of the post. 

Watch the video below: 

This will hunt me for a long long time💔💔
A Golden langur assassinated on the road in Assam. The baby still in its arm not knowing what has befallen him.

I am informed that all steps are being taken to save the baby. pic.twitter.com/iMOcEHquZw

— Susanta Nanda (@susantananda3) February 24, 2023

In the clip, the baby langur is seen weeping, clutching its mother's face and trying to wake her up but to no avail. The two animals are also seen surrounded by several people. 

Internet users were quick to react to the video. While some expressed their condolence over the tragic accident, others expressed anger. 

"This is so sad! Why can't we care for the co-inhabitants of our planet? Poor Baby!" wrote one user. "Can't bear to watch..... hope the baby recovers from the trauma," said another. 

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A third user said, "O God! My heart is breaking when I see this accident and the plight of the baby langur. One has to drive carefully keeping other's safety also in mind," while a fourth commented, "Be it be a clear road,it doesn't give the right to anyone to overspeed. Moreover, while we drive, we should always be careful and speed should be moderate."

"Saddest thing!! Brutal! Can't bear to watch. Prayers for the baby to recover from this tragedy," wrote another user. "This is very tragic and heart-wrenching," expressed another. 

Mr Nanda's video has accumulated more than 37,000 views and over 1,500 likes. 

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