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☆ In AI rivalry with the U.S., China is behind on a key asset: Its own OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Rebecca Fannin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In China, which is angling to produce its own chips or get more from Nvidia, no dominant gen AI contender to OpenAI has emerged yet among dozens of Chinese tech titans and startups. Last year, funding of gen AI upstarts accounted for nearly half of $42.5 billion invested globally in artificial intelligence companies, according to CB Insights. "China is at a big disadvantage in building the foundation models for Gen AI," said Rui Ma, an AI investor and co-founder of investment syndicate and podcast TechBuzz China. China does have the tech talent to make a difference in the AI rivalry in the years ahead. Additionally, among top-tier AI researchers working at U.S. institutions, 38% have China as their country of origin, compared with 37% from the U.S.New Chinese gen AI market entries can also reach mass adoption quickly.

Persons: Ernie Bot, OpenAI, Paul Triolo, Jenny Xiao, Rui Ma, Triolo, Sora, Ma, Marco Polo, Baidu's, Ernie, Leong Organizations: Global, Trade, Hangzhou International, Nvidia, tech titans, titans Microsoft, Google, Amazon, U.S, Dentons Global Advisors, Leonis Capital, OpenAI, Paulson Institute, U.S ., Samsung, Apple, Baidu Locations: Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, Washington ,, Silicon, San Francisco, The U.S, U.S, OpenAI

☆ Montana rancher paid $4,200 to clone a dead sheep and launched a farm of super hybrids worth up to $550,000
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A Montana rancher was charged with illegally selling offspring from a cloned sheep across state lines. There's nothing illegal about selling sheep for exorbitant prices — unless those animals are Marco Polo argali sheep, or in Schubarth's case, hybrids of Marco Polo argali sheep. Marco Polo argali sheep are native to central Asia and are considered threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. Shortly thereafter, Schubarth allegedly got his hands on some of those sheep parts and, in 2015, paid a deposit of $4,200 to produce cloned sheep embryos from the dead argali's remains. AdvertisementIn May 2017, a pure argali sheep was born from one of those cloned embryos.

Persons: —, Arthur, Jack, Schubarth, Marco Polo, George Schaller, Joyce Tischler, Lacey, King, Matthew Polak, Dolly, it's, Alison Van Eenennaam, Davis, Van Eenennaam, Gregory Kaebnick, isn't, Rula Rouhana, Reuters It's, Kaebnick, didn't Organizations: Service, Department, Lewis & Clark Law School's Center for Animal Law, European Union, Getty, University of California, and Wildlife Service, The Hastings Center, Reproductive Biotechnology, Reuters Locations: Montana, Asia, Kyrgyzstan, Dubai

☆ A Montana man trying to illegally create a 'giant sheep hybrid' went on a hunt for sheep parts and testicles, the authorities say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

These huge sheep, sold for up to $10,000 each, fetched higher prices in the game market. AdvertisementA Montana rancher, who pleaded guilty to two wildlife-related felonies, tried to illegally breed a "giant hybrid sheep" species for higher returns in the hunting market, the Justice Department said. Schubarth bred his offshoot species from a single male argali sheep he kept at his ranch and called the "Montana Mountain King," prosecutors said. The rancher brought the "Montana Mountain King" to his property in Montana despite knowing he was breaking state animal trafficking laws, per court documents. He then extracted semen from the "Montana Mountain King," using it to inseminate dozens of ewes of different species, prosecutors said.

Persons: Arthur Schubarth, —, Arthur, Jack, Schubarth, Marco, It's, argali, Prosecutors, Lacey, Ron Howell Organizations: Service, Justice Department, Central Asia, DOJ, Rocky, Business, Wildlife, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Locations: Montana, Central, Kyrgyzstan

☆ An Incredible New Housing Map Could Help Bring Down Home Prices
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Which means there are more than 30,000 different sets of zoning rules in America. AdvertisementFor the first time, a team of researchers is compiling every city's zoning rules into a National Zoning Atlas. Cities and towns in both states, they could see, penalize or outright prohibit duplexes and other forms of housing that bring down prices and help prevent urban sprawl. Enacting a more permissive set of zoning rules gave everyone something they wanted. "The state of California has been passing zoning change after zoning change," Freemark says, "but it's still facing low housing construction statewide."

Persons: you've, nix, we'll, Sara Bronin, It's, Bronin, we'd, Kendall Cotton, Lefty, Cotton, Montana, Yonah Freemark, Freemark, Italo, Marco Polo, Kublai Khan, Polo Organizations: America, Zoning, Cornell University, Big Sky, California ., Urban Institute Locations: America, we're, Milford , Connecticut, Montana, California, California . Cities, Los Angeles, Missoula, LA

☆ Talking to my friends every day made me realize I don't need marriage or kids to be happy
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Jillian Anthony | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I'm single and child-free, and I'm closer than ever with four friends who are all married with kids — all thanks to an app. Meanwhile, my Marco Polo friends in California all got married and had kids by their mid-20s; they now have 10 children among them. Through Marco Polo, I got a long-distance yet close-up look at their lives. And, in some significant ways, my Marco Polo besties helped me get there. AdvertisementWe are closer than ever, and we still talk on Marco Polo every day.

Persons: Marco Polo, furrowed brows, it's, I've, They've, We've, Marco Polo besties, they've, Jillian Anthony Organizations: Service, University of San Locations: University of San Diego, New York City, California, Manhattan, Austin

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A ferry that had ran aground last month off southeastern Sweden and started leaking oil into the Baltic Sea was pulled free on Wednesday and anchored nearby, the Swedish Coast Guard said. The Marco Polo, operated by the TT-Line of Germany, was operating a route along Sweden’s coast between the cities of Trelleborg and Karlshamn when it ran aground on Oct. 22 and started leaking oil. The ferry wasn't at risk of sinking despite taking on water, the coast guard said. Earlier, the coast guard said the ferry had suffered “extensive damage” and would eventually be towed into the harbor of Karlshamn. The inspection would be made by a salvage company hired by the TT-Line's insurance firm, the coast guard said.

Persons: Marco Polo, Sweden’s, Ulf Kristersson Organizations: STOCKHOLM, Swedish Coast Guard, SVT, TT Locations: Sweden, Baltic, Germany, Trelleborg, Pukavik, Solvesborg, Malmo, Karlshamn, “, Swedish

☆ Storylines Residential Cruise Faces Backlash From Investors, Ex-Employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Kate Taylor | Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

Storylines' first cruise ship was initially scheduled to launch in 2019; it's now set for December 2026. Nine former employees, consultants, and investors told Insider that they'd come to doubt the MV Narrative would ever be built. The only existing residential cruise ship is The World. Many Storylines buyers remain optimistic about the residential cruise ship. "The ball is in your court," Punton told buyers in July in a video that's since been taken down.

Persons: Alister Punton, Punton, Shannon Lee, Mike Kasperzak, Jim Holt, Holt, Angela Nuran, Paul Cosentino, Cosentino, We're, Lee, it's, Alexandre Caillol, Condé, superyachts, Sean Fremder, Weeks, Caillol —, —, Marco Polo —, PitchBook, Alexandra Zodian —, Caillol, Michael Edwards, Edwards, he'd, Martin Buggy, Melissa Edyvean, Edyvean, Paul Read, Salvatore R, Mercogliano, Pat Helmers, Helmers, Michael Perisi, Andrew Lentz, didn't, Lentz, Wrocław . Lentz, Andrew, I'm, Lee ., Dick Rosman —, Lee —, Krzysztof Kontek, Kontek's, Michal Jackiewicz, Brodosplit, Brian Martin, Read, Nuran, We've, he's, New Zealand —, Kasperzak, " Lentz Organizations: Punton, Army, West —, Industry, CNN, Brodosplit, Regent Seven Seas, Wall Street Journal, Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries, Utopia, Beverly Hills, Rock City, The Raiders, Raiders, Holland America's, Mariners, New Zealand Locations: massages, Croatian, Beverly, Punton, Queensland, Australia, Broadbeach, California, Rock, Brisbane, Netherlands, Caillol, Polynesia, French Polynesia, France, London, Australian, British, Delaware, Sweden, Tahiti, Perth, Ecuador, Poland, Wrocław, Mexico, Florida, New

☆ Seagulls close Venice airport
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Julia Buckley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Venice may be know as La Serenissima, but for those who have encountered her resident seagulls, the experience can be anything but serene. Now, the winged criminals have gone one stop further, causing an hour-long shutdown and two hours of chaos at the city’s airport. Venice Marco Polo Airport, located north of the city, with a runway adjacent to the lagoon, is the fifth busiest airport in Italy, and the largest in the north of the country outside the Milan area. Twenty incoming flights were diverted to other airports in northern Italy: Treviso, Verona, Trieste and Milan. Venice airport employs a resident falcon, who was dispatched by a falconer to disperse the 200-odd birds.

Persons: we’ll, Stanley Tucci, Venice Marco, falconer, Marco Bertorello, LaGuardia, Chesley “ Sully ” Sullenberger Organizations: CNN, intel, Venice Marco Polo Airport, SAVE, Eastern Air Lines, Ethiopian Airlines, Addis Ababa, Ryanair, Boeing, Hudson Locations: Venice, Italy, Milan, Treviso, Verona, Trieste, AFP, Boston, Addis, Frankfurt, Rome, New, Charlotte, Canada, Hudson

☆ A Nation With Few Catholics Gives Pope a Welcome Fit for an Emperor
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Jason Horowitz | More About Jason Horowitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Perhaps the most famous of the merchant visitors to Mongolia, Marco Polo, wrote in his 13th-century “Travels” about how Kublai Khan, a Mongolian emperor and grandson of Genghis Khan, put down a revolt by “a baptized Christian.” After having the rebel rolled up in a carpet that “was dragged all over the place with such violence that he died,” the emperor made a peace offering to the Christians. He told them, Marco Polo wrote, that the “the cross of your God did the right thing by not helping” the rebel and later suggested that the pope send 100 wise Christians to his land with the potential of his own conversion, “so there will be more Christians here than there are in your part of the world.”It did not shake out that way. Buddhism took hold, and Catholicism struggled. Centuries later, in the 1920s, the Vatican sought to establish mission structures in the country, but Mongolia fell under the Soviet sphere and Communism prevailed for the next 70 years. As religion was suppressed, atheism grew.

Persons: Marco Polo, Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan, “, ” Locations: Mongolia, Mongolian

☆ The 'Land of Fire' has been burning for 4,000 years
▼ + stars: | 2018-10-31 | by ( Maureen O'Hare | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —“This fire has burned 4,000 years and never stopped,” says Aliyeva Rahila. This is Yanar Dag – meaning “burning mountainside” – on Azerbaijan’s Absheron Peninsula, where Rahila works as a tour guide. Yanar Dag is one of the few remaining examples, and perhaps the most impressive. Today, most visitors who arrive at the no-frills Yanar Dag visitors’ center come for the spectacle rather than religious fulfillment. Ateshgah Fire TempleFor a deeper insight into Azerbaijan’s history of fire worship, visitors should head east of Baku to Ateshgah Fire Temple.

Persons: ”, Aliyeva Rahila, Dag, Marco Polo, Yanar Dag, Mammon Organizations: CNN, Silk, UNESCO, Heritage Locations: Absheron, Azerbaijan, It’s, Iran, Baku

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