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Biden fast-tracks AI safeguards 

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed an ambitious executive order on artificial intelligence that seeks to balance the needs of cutting-edge technology companies with national security and consumer rights, creating an early set of guardrails that could be fortified by legislation and global agreements.Before signing the order Monday, Biden said AI is driving change at “warp speed” and carries tremendous potential as well as perils.“AI is all around us,” Biden said. “To realize the promise of AI and avoid the risk, we need to govern this technology.”The order is an initial step that is meant to ensure that AI is trustworthy and helpful, rather than deceptive and destructive. The order — which will likely need to be augmented by congressional action — seeks to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy.Using the Defense Production Act, the order requires leading AI developers to share safety t...

Bruins notebook: Danton Heinen finally in the fold

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

Danton Heinen was forced to wait a while, but the Bruins finally rewarded his patience with a one-year deal worth $775,000 on Monday.The deal was announced at 5 p.m., but there were some obvious signs a deal was in the works at the morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. Heinen took the first shift as the fourth line left wing in the morning skate with John Beecher and Oskar Steen and, at the end of the skate, he was awarded with the center stretch to stick taps all around.Heinen had been with the B’s on a tryout agreement since the start of training camp but, because of some salary cap constraints, the club had not been able to sign him. That appears to be changing, and a Heinen addition should give coach Jim Montgomery a player he could plug in throughout the lineup.“His versatility is really important, he can play both wings adeptly as well and he understands whatever line he’s put on, what the expectation is of the role he’s going to play,” said Montgomery, who coa...

Two killed in El Cajon shooting; suspect remains on the loose

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. -- Two teenagers were killed in an overnight shooting in El Cajon, authorities confirmed. According to the El Cajon Police Department, a series of calls came in around 11:57 p.m. Saturday reporting a loud house party and multiple gunshots in the 700 block of Mahogany Drive.Responding officers witnessed numerous people fleeing from the area. After further investigation, ECPD said a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old, both males, were found critically wounded. Three wounded in shooting at Chula Vista mall One of the victims was found in the street and the other was found in the front yard of a residence. Despite medical attention, police said both victims succumbed to their injuries after being transported to local hospitals.Detectives conducting the investigation discovered that the incident occurred during a large house party hosted at a short-term rental property on Mahogany Drive. According to ECPD, preliminary findings indicate that both victims were tar...

Spooky harvest: Droughts, heavy rain create challenge for Canada’s pumpkin season

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

Extreme weather caused by climate change — droughts followed by heavy rains — wreaked havoc with the pumpkin harvest across Canada this year.Nova Scotia pumpkin farmer Danny Dill said the spring planting season was extremely dry. A spell of hot weather and then nearly two weeks of historic wildfires in late May and early June left behind more than 235 square kilometres of scorched ground.“It was just like a dust bowl there,” said Dill, owner of Howard Dill Enterprises in Windsor, N.S.But starting in June heavy rains poured in, which made his farm resemble a waterbed and kept the bees away. When the pumpkin flowers bloomed across his patch, he said, there were fewer bees than usual to pollinate them. “It’s been a spooky, really spooky season for a lot of us.”This year’s pumpkin harvest in Canada and the United States is a stark reminder of the fact farmers are at the mercy of the weather gods. Climate change led to parts of the continent bakin...

The UAW says its strike ‘won things no one thought possible’ from automakers. Here’s how it fared

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

The United Auto Workers won at least partial victories on many of the key demands that led to the six-week strike against Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis.The union has given some details of the deals, including a detailed explanation of the agreement it reached with Ford. The agreement is expected to become the model for later settlements with GM and Stellantis. Rank-and-file UAW members must ratify each contract before it takes effect.“We won things no one thought possible,” UAW President Shawn Fain said when he announced the tentative agreement last week.The union represents 57,000 workers at the company, and about 16,600 of them were on strike. Here are the key terms of the agreements, as detailed by the union:PAY The tentative agreements call for 25% increases in pay by April 2028, raising top pay to about $42 an hour, according to the union. That starts with an 11% boost upon ratification, three annual raises of 3% each, and a final increase of 5%. The UAW ...

California’s Newsom plays hardball in China, collides with student during schoolyard basketball game

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Politicians have long sought to project vitality, youth and a common touch by staging photo shoots spotlighting their athletic prowess. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is the latest to find out that plans for a confident jump shot can turn into a torrent of online potshots. On a trip to China, the two-term Democrat took a detour from his official meetings on climate change to join a group of Beijing schoolkids for a game of basketball. Before long, he was on his backside after accidentally steamrolling a grade-school defender.No one was injured, but Newsom joins a long line of political figures whose attempts at a sporty glamour shot didn’t work out as planned. In a similar scene, British politician Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, knocked down a 10-year-old boy while playing a friendly game of rugby on a trip to Japan.Bill Clinton and Al Gore were needled for photos of them jogging in snug short-shorts while in office. In the 2004 presidential election, shots of...

An Alaska State Trooper fatally shoots a man seen brandishing a rifle outside motel, authorities say

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

TOK, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska State Trooper fatally shot a man who was brandishing a rifle outside a motel early Monday in the community of Tok, authorities said.The trooper was responding to a 911 call from the occupants of a motel room who said a man was trying to break in, according to a statement from the state Department of Public Safety. The trooper “observed an adult male brandishing an AK47 style rifle outside of the motel. Due to the adult male’s actions, the Trooper shot the adult male with their handgun,” the statement says.The agency identified the man who died as Timothy Thomas, 21, of Northway. The name of the trooper was not immediately released. The incident is being investigated by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation.The trooper who fired the gun has been placed on 72 hours of administrative leave in line with the Department of Public Safety policy.An email seeking additional details was sent to agency spokespersons.Tok is near the state’s eastern border with Canada a...

Spending passes $17M in Pennsylvania high court campaign as billionaires, unions and lawyers dig in

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Millions more dollars are flowing into Pennsylvania’s race for an open state Supreme Court seat, as labor unions, trial lawyers and billionaires are spending heavily in the campaign to influence a court that has been pivotal in major election-related cases.Total spending zipped past $17 million, according to the latest campaign finance reports due Friday, as Democrat Dan McCaffery, Republican Carolyn Carluccio and their allies claw for an advantage in the presidential battleground state.The election is Nov. 7.More than half of that spending — at least $12 million — came after Sept. 18, as cash from labor unions, lawyers’ groups, trade associations and wealthy donors underwrites ads on TV, the internet and fliers showing up in the mail across Pennsylvania.More than $5 million has come from groups that are conduits for two billionaires who are among the GOP’s top national donors.The contest will not change the fact that Democrats hold a majority on t...

Israel’s economy recovered from previous wars with Hamas, but this one might go longer, hit harder

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Just last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted a new era of peace and prosperity in the Middle East, based on growing acceptance of Israel within the region. Today, with the Israel-Hamas war in its fourth week, that vision is in tatters. The mobilization of 360,000 reservists and the evacuation of 250,000 Israelis from their homes, according to numbers provided by the Israeli military, has upended many businesses. Restaurants and stores have emptied. Airlines have canceled most flights to Israel, and tourists have called off trips. A main natural gas field has been shut down, farms have been destroyed for lack of workers and businesses have furloughed tens of thousands of workers.Israel has vowed to crush the Gaza Strip’s ruling Hamas group, which killed 1,400 people and took more than 240 others hostage in an Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel. Israeli airstrikes have flattened entire neighborhoods in Gaza and killed more than 8,000 peopl...

Hospitals, province preparing for triple-virus season

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:22 GMT

As the province rolls out the vaccination program for the respiratory season, hospitals are urging people to take advantage of the vaccines available to avoid the same volume of patients as last year.Farad Razak, an Internal Medicine physician with St. Michael’s Hospital, said they are currently tracking what happened in the southern hemisphere to predict what could happen here in Canada.“What we saw in Australia was a worse than average year of influenza infections, both in terms of the number of people who got infected and the number of people who’ve had serious illness ending up in hospital.”But Razak tells CityNews this year’s version of the flu vaccine is a good match for what is currently circulating. “And so the added benefit of vaccination becomes especially clear.”“Certainly increasing vaccination rates in general at any country will reduce the severity of the influenza impact on the health system.”He adds having a vacci...