● [Tech] 'Dangerous' carbon monoxide alarms removed from Amazon and eBay. ︴ ︴ ▼ Dozens of carbon monoxide alarms sold via Amazon and eBay have been taken offline after failing safety tests. Consumer watchdog Which? said some of the alarms seemed identical to ones that had failed tests in 2016. Three of the unbranded devices, made in China, repeatedly failed to sound when carbon monoxide was present. Which? said there were flaws in the UK's current product testing system. It advised anyone owning one of the alarms to replace it immediately. Consumers should contact the company they had bought it from and request a refund, it said. Alex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: "It's extremely concerning that these unsafe alarms were being sold by major retailers, "When household names such as Amazon and eBay are selling products that could put consumers at risk, it is clear more must be done by businesses and the government to proactively identify potentially dangerous products and stop them from entering people's homes." Which? said that the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) needed to take a more "active role" in identifying products on sale that posed a safety risk. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] Intel chief Brian Krzanich resigns over relationship. ︴ ︴

▼ Chipmaker Intel has announced that its chief executive, Brian Krzanich, is stepping down with immediate effect because of "a violation of Intel's non-fraternisation policy". He had been in the post since May 2013. Intel said an inquiry had revealed that Mr Krzanich had had a consensual relationship with an Intel employee, which was against company rules. His successor has been named as Robert Swan, currently the company's chief financial officer. The company said the relevant policy applied to all managers. "Given the expectation that all employees will respect Intel's values and adhere to the company's code of conduct, the board has accepted Mr Krzanich's resignation." Mr Krzanich's departure is the latest high-profile exit amid pressure on companies to address issues around gender relations and office conduct. 'Robust search' (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Tech] The man who was fired by a machine. ︴ ︴

▼ "It wasn't the first time my key card failed, I assumed it was time to replace it." So began a sequence of events that saw Ibrahim Diallo fired from his job, not by his manager but by a machine. He has detailed his story in a blogpostwhich he hopes will serve as a warning to firms about relying too much on automation. "Automation can be an asset to a company, but there needs to be a way for humans to take over if the machine makes a mistake," he writes. The story of Mr Diallo's sacking by machine began when his entry pass to the Los Angeles skyscraper where his office was based failed to work, forcing him to rely on the security guard to allow him entry. "As soon as I got to my floor, I went to see my manager to let her know. She promised to order me a new one right away." Then he noticed that he was logged out of his work system and a colleague told Mr Diallo that the word "Inactive" was listed alongside his name. His day got worse. After lunch - and a 10-minute wait for a co-worker to let him back into his office - he was told by his recruiter that she had received an email saying his contract was terminated. She promised to sort out the problem. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Koko, the beloved gorilla who communicated through sign-language, dies at age 46 Remembering, as Koko once put it, a 'fine-gorilla-person.' ︴ ︴

▼ Koko and her caretaker, Penny Patterson, play with a kitten at The Gorilla Foundation. Ron Cohn/The Gorilla Foundation Koko, the gorilla famous for her ability to communicate using American Sign Language, died in her sleep Tuesday morning at age 46. Her passing leaves the world to mourn the loss of a most beloved primate, who gave humans an unprecedented window into the thoughts of another species. That Koko was incredible is indisputable. She clearly thought so, too—“queen” was one of the first signs she used to describe herself. And she got publicity that royalty would envy. Koko graced the cover of National Geographic twice; one cover captured a tender moment between Koko and her pet kitten “All Ball” (Koko was fond of rhymes), the other, Koko snapped herself using a camera in the mirror. Koko made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of primate cognition and the species’ capacity for communication. She could execute more than 1,000 signs (and some new ones, like barrette, she supposedly concocted herself), and respond to 2,000 words of spoken English. But critics questioned if Koko actually understood the words she was signing, arguing she could just be mimicking her handlers. When comedian Robin Williams—who Koko met in 2001—died, The Gorilla Foundation stated Koko appeared “somber” when she was given the bad news. Was Koko actually sad, or were her caregivers interpreting her behaviorto seem that way? Could she even remember Williams? (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Why Archaeologists Were Surprised to Find This Gibbon in a Royal Chinese Tomb. ︴ ︴

▼ Archaeologists discovered the skull ofJunzi imperialis, a previously unknown genus and species of extinct gibbon, in an ancient Chinese tomb. Credit: Camuel Turvey/Zoological Society of London About 2,300 years ago, the grandmother of China's first emperor received an elaborate burial outfitted with a macabre menagerie of buried animals — notably, the remains of an ancient, extinct gibbon that was previously unknown to science, a new study finds. The discovery is remarkable because the ape — a gibbon the scientists namedJunzi imperialis— is the first ape on record to go extinct since the last ice age, the researchers said. Human activity and environmental factors likely played a role inJ. imperialis'demise, said study co-researcher Helen Chatterjee, a professor of biology at University College London. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] Physicists Just Found the Last Missing Protons and Neutrons In the Universe. ︴ ︴

▼ An artist's illustration depicts a quasar, or supermassive, ultra-luminous black hole. Credit: NASA/ESA The universe's missing matter has been found, and it's floating between the stars. Researchers who study the ancient history of the universe know how much ordinary matter — matter that makes up baryons, a class of subatomic particles that includes protons and neutrons — the universe created during the Big Bang. And researchers who study the modern universe know how much ordinary, baryonic matter humans can see with telescopes. But until recently, those numbers didn't match up: A full third of the universe's original baryonic matter was missing. Now, thanks to a clever observation involving an incredibly bright black hole, an international team of researchers says they've found it. The missing baryons, the researchers wrote in a study publishedtoday (June 21) in the journal Nature, have been hiding out as thin, hot clouds of oxygen gas floating between the stars. The gas is highly ionized, meaning that most of its electrons are missing, and it has a strong positive charge. "We found the missing baryons," Michael Shull, an astronomer at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a co-author on the paper, said in a statement. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [Science] The 'Baby' that ushered in modern computer age. ︴ ︴

▼ Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester Seventy years ago was arguably the start of the modern computer age. A machine that took up an entire room at a laboratory in Manchester University ran its first program at 11am on 21 June 1948. The prototype completed the task in 52 minutes, having run through 3.5 million calculations. The Manchester Baby, known formally as the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, was the world's first stored-program computer. It paved the way for the first commercially-available computers in a city known for centuries of science and innovation. Dr "Tommy" Gordon Thomas was 19 and in the final year of a physics degree at Manchester when he met Sir Freddie Williams, who designed The Baby with colleagues Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill. Now aged 90, he talked to BBC News from his home in New South Wales, Australia, about his memories of the ground-breaking machine. "My job was to build a cradle for the baby," says Dr Thomas. "It was a group of people who had worked together during the war who introduced us youngsters into the same process of getting on with the job…It was really an adventure for us all." The physics graduate joined the project just after its first successful run, working on the computer for his MSc. Smoke and dust He recalls an old laboratory in a dirty, neglected building of the then Victoria University of Manchester. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Rats break into Indian ATM and chew up cash worth £13,300 Shredded bank notes discovered after cash machine stops working in Assam state. ︴ ︴

▼ Destroyed 500 and 2,000 rupee notes in the cash machine. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Rats have nibbled through more than 1m rupees of banknotes after entering a cash machine in north-east India, police said. The costly invasion in Assam state was only detected by bank officials after complained that the machine was faulty and had stopped dispensing cash, police in Tinsukia district said. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] The explosive film lifting the lid on sex trafficking between India and LA Love Sonia is the shocking tale of a young woman caught up in the global sex trade. Its director and stars, including Demi Moore and Freida Pinto, on the true stories that inspired it. ︴ ︴

▼ Mrunal Thakur in Love Sonia. Photograph: Handout In the decade it took Tabrez Noorani to get Love Soniamade, he was leading a double life. By day, he was line producer for international titles shooting in India, including Slumdog Millionaire, Zero Dark Thirty and Life of Pi; by night he conducted raids on Mumbai brothels, rescuing women forced into sex work alongside anti-trafficking organisations. “My first raid was when I was working on Slumdog,” says Noorani, who is usually based in Los Angeles. “I would go undercover with these NGOs and we would pretend we were location-scouting.” In fact, he was casing locations where trafficked women and underage girls were being held. Later the police and the NGOs would go in and rescue them, with Noorani as their guide. When he went back to India to make a Hollywood movie, he would work with the NGOs as well. Now, these two very different sides of his work have come together, in Noorani’s feature debut. Love Sonia is the story of a teenage girl (played by relative newcomer Mrunal Thakur) who travels to Mumbai to find her sister, whom their father, a farmer, has sold to a brothel to settle his debts. In the process, Sonia is herself forced into sex work. She is beaten, raped and smuggled to the other side of the world. It is a harrowing story, lifting the lid on urban poverty and grim exploitation. It is also based on real incidents which gives the drama an authentic, unforced power. And Thakur is a revelation; “Every agent in LA is interested to meet her now,” Noorani says. She is supported by household-name Indian actors including Freida Pinto, Richa Chadha, Anupam Kher and Manoj Bajpayee. Not to mention a brief, seal-of-approval cameo from Demi Moore. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Venezuela deploys soldiers to markets to check prices. ︴ ︴

▼ Venezuela has deployed soldiers to almost 100 food markets in efforts to counter an "economic war" it says is being waged against it. President Nicolás Maduro ordered the measure, arguing that sellers were charging over the odds for price-controlled items. Venezuela has the highest inflation in the world and there are severe shortages of basic food items. Many Venezuelans report going hungry as they struggle to feed themselves. President Maduro blames international sanctions and "greedy businesspeople" for the shortages. His critics say it is his government's policies and those of his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who ruined the oil-rich country's economy. President Maduro says that "the take-over of the municipal markets has been a huge success". Members of the army and of the National Guard patrolled food stalls across the country. "A great number of mafiosi, wholesalers, thieves and capitalists have been arrested," he said of the markets. "We found everything there, even prostitution." The minister for industry and production, Tarek El Aissami, said they had found "[price] speculation, hoarding and fraudulent price manipulation" at the markets. Mr Aissami was recently named to the newly created post, which is part of President Maduro's plan for a "rebirth" of the Venezuelan economy.(▪ ▪ ▪)

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● [International News] Indian official transferred for 'humiliating' Hindu-Muslim couple. ︴ ︴

▼ A passport official in the northern Indian city of Lucknow has been transferred after a couple complained that he harassed them because they were not from the same religion. The woman, Tanvi Seth, who is a Hindu, tweeted to the foreign minister, saying the officer asked her husband, who is Muslim, to convert to Hinduism. She added their passport application was also "put on hold" and they were "humiliated" by the experience. Her tweets had sparked outrage online. The story was picked up by many media outlets and online, prompting the passport office to take action, reports BBC Hindi's Samiratraj Mishra. "The couple's documents were complete and they have been issued their passports," Lucknow's regional passport officer Peeyush Verma told a news conference. "Religion of an applicant doesn't matter while we're processing passport applications." As promised, Regional Passport Officer met Mrs Tanvi and Mr Anas and redressed the concern today. Passports have been delivered. @CPVIndia pic.twitter.com/a9xHrsmqQr— RPO Lucknow (@rpolucknow) June 21, 2018 Report Marriages between Hindus and Muslims have long attracted censure in conservative Indian families, but recently there has been an attachment of a deeper, sinister motive to them. (▪ ▪ ▪)

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