March 17

2023 - 3 - 17

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Image courtesy of "Economic Times"

Evacuation Day on March 17: Know why is it observed? (Economic Times)

March 17 is marking the Evacuation Day in the US commemorating the major victory of military over British troops in 1776. The continuous efforts and the ...

The sharing of the dates between these two days is again a good sign for many Irish descendants who reside in Suffolk County. The area of [South Boston](/topic/south-boston)is highly important both strategically and from the attack's perspective too as British warships were severely attacked there. [Evacuation Day](/topic/evacuation-day)in the US.

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Image courtesy of "CNN"

5 things to know for March 17: Ukraine, Classified docs, Taxes ... (CNN)

China has both provided diplomatic support for Moscow and refused to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine – instead blaming NATO for provoking the conflict. 2.

[force a higher retirement age](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/europe/france-pension-reform-strikes-intl/index.html) from 62 to 64. [banning TikTok from official government devices](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/tech/uk-tiktok-government-device-ban/index.html) on Thursday. Separately, questions remain about how the pandemic [may have affected maternal mortality](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/health/maternal-deaths-increasing-nchs/index.html) in the US. The fast-growing bottle industry, however, is creating a gargantuan amount of [plastic waste](https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/us/plastic-recycling-climate-impact-lbg/index.html) – most of which is not recycled and ends up in landfills. [full approval of Paxlovid](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/health/fda-committee-paxlovid-approval/index.html), stating that the drug’s benefits outweigh any risks for treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in high-risk adults. [Irish pride](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/us/irish-history-ellis-island-annie-moore-cec/index.html) – but, interestingly, [St. [more refunds are being issued](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/success/tax-season-irs/index.html) than at the same point last year, new statistics from the IRS indicate. If you haven’t filed your taxes, you still have about a month: This year’s [official due date for returns](https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/12/success/day-tax-filing-season-starts/index.html) is Tuesday, April 18. Since then, Trump’s legal team has turned over [additional classified material](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/10/politics/trump-classified-records-laptop/index.html). This comes as the Justice Department has spent much of the past year investigating the [potential mishandling of national security records](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/politics/trump-classified-documents-maralago-eluded-fbi/index.html) and possible obstruction. [have been subpoenaed to testify](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/politics/mar-a-lago-trump-subpoenas/index.html) on the former president’s handling of classified documents. The trip will mark a new milestone in the countries’ growing partnership, as Western officials continue to express concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with [lethal military assistance](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/26/politics/jake-sullivan-ukraine-russia-china-cnntv/index.html).

This Week's Sky at a Glance, March 17 – 26 (SkyandTelescope.com)

Spring arrives this week (the equinox is on March 20th), so Orion stands upright high in the south-southwest as the stars come out. He's just starting his long ...

Look for it high in the southwest in early evening, lower in the west later. It's very similar to Mars-colored Aldebaran (+0.9) some 18° below it, and Mars-colored Betelgeuse (currently +0.4) about the same distance to Mars's lower left. The next up, once you know your way around, are the even larger [Interstellarum](http://www.deep-sky-atlas.com/dsa.asp%3Fcontent=start.html) atlas (stars to magnitude 9.5) or [Uranometria 2000.0](https://shopatsky.com/products/uranometria-2000-0-atlas-all-sky-edition-pole-to-pole-coverage?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=image&utm_campaign=wbupdate) (stars to magnitude 9.75). See the article and finder charts in the Look for it fairly low in the north-northwest. And see Fred Schaaf's "Sighting the Beehive" in the ■ The first-discovered asteroid, 1 Ceres, is at opposition in Coma Berenices. It's also when the Sun rises and sets due east and due west (very nearly). This adds slightly to the time shifts and north shifts. 1) Atmospheric refraction at the horizon bends the apparent position of the Sun up by about half a degree. ■ The "twin" heads of the Gemini figures are fraternal twins at best. ■ Spring arrives this week (the equinox is on March 20th), so Orion stands upright high in the south-southwest as the stars come out.

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Image courtesy of "Council on Foreign Relations"

Cyber Week in Review: March 17, 2023 (Council on Foreign Relations)

TikTok explores separating from ByteDance; OpenAI releases GPT-4; SEC proposes tighter rules on financial system cybersecurity; CISA establishes ransomware ...

[announced](https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-plans-mega-chip-making-base-to-stay-ahead-b2bec41f) a new $228 billion investment in a 20 year plan to develop five new factories as part of a massive manufacturing hub in Yongin, South Korea. Experts [said](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64960985) the plan appeared to be modeled around the large industrial parks created by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in Taiwan. CISA’s pilot program was created in response to last year’s Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act ( [CIRCIA](https://www.cisa.gov/topics/cyber-threats-and-advisories/information-sharing/cyber-incident-reporting-critical-infrastructure-act-2022-circia)), which required CISA to develop and implement reporting on cyber incidents and ransomware payments. The program will use CISA’s [Cyber Hygiene Vulnerability Scanning](https://www.cisa.gov/topics/cyber-threats-and-advisories/cyber-hygiene-services) service to identify organizations’ vulnerabilities. [package of policies](https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/wall-street-regulator-unveils-new-hacking-data-market-resiliency-rules-2023-03-15/) aimed at bolstering the financial system against hacking, data theft, and system failure. [announced](https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/cisa-establishes-ransomware-vulnerability-warning-pilot-program) a new program, the Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot ( [RVWP](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisa-now-warns-critical-infrastructure-of-ransomware-vulnerable-devices/)), which will help critical infrastructure entities protect their systems from ransomware attacks. Analyst Rishi Jaluria [said](https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-backed-openai-starts-release-powerful-ai-known-gpt-4-2023-03-14/) that Microsoft is slated to benefit from the adoption of GPT-4, and the company has already started integrating OpenAI's earlier creations into its products, including a [test version of Microsoft’s Bing](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-microsoft-chatgpt.html) search engine supplemented by ChatGPT. government [demanded](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-15/us-demands-tiktok-s-chinese-owners-sell-stakes-or-face-ban) ByteDance sell its stake in TikTok or risk being banned in the United States. The two Republican SEC commissioners, who voted in favor of the proposal, [expressed reservations](https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-to-consider-new-cybersecurity-rules-for-financial-firms-47b346f6) about how it could create confusion and redundancies with state regulations. OpenAI has [said](https://cdn.openai.com/papers/gpt-4.pdf) [PDF] the new version maintains similar fact and reasoning limitations to its predecessor, which can lead it to produce problematic outputs and spread false information. Last year, TikTok proposed a plan called [Project Texas](https://www.lawfareblog.com/project-texas-details-tiktoks-plan-remain-operational-united-states)—which would see TikTok’s data hosted on servers run by American company Oracle and the appointment of a government-approved oversight board—to wall off its operations from ByteDance’s influence in order to remain operational in the United States. [reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-14/tiktok-considers-divesting-from-bytedance-if-deal-with-us-fails) that TikTok’s leadership would consider a potential split from its Chinese parent company ByteDance in what would be a “last resort” effort to address U.S.

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