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UK tech chief: I disagree with Elon Musk, but he should come to AI summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

LONDON — Britain’s technology secretary said she doesn’t agree with Elon Musk on everything — but insisted the X tycoon deserves a seat at the table for the U.K.’s artificial intelligence summit this week.Rishi Sunak announced Monday that the X and Tesla boss will attend his much-hyped AI gathering at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire to discuss risks and mitigations for the cutting-edge tech. Musk is expected to attend both days, as well as joining the British Prime Minister for a live interview after the summit on Thursday.Musk has previously urged caution over AI, signing a letter warning “AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity.”But he is a controversial figure who has attracted criticism for some of his public statements, including in 2021 throwing personal insults at senior U.S. Democrat Elizabeth Warren in a row over taxes. He also mocked Ukraine’s war-time leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, using a meme to sco...

4-year-old shot in Cranston, RI

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

A four-year-old boy was in critical condition Tuesday afternoon after being shot in Cranston, Rhode Island earlier in the day, police said. Police said the boy was shot in the head Tuesday morning. It was not immediately clear who pulled the trigger.Police were questioning the boy’s father and others who were inside the home as of around 12 p.m. as they try to piece together what happened.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Applying to college early decision? 6 tips for the FAFSA delay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

By Eliza Haverstock | NerdWalletThe delayed release of the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) could make it more difficult for “early decision” applicants to accurately gauge the cost of their college education.Early decision is a binding process, usually with a November application deadline and a December admissions decision. Students may apply to only one college via early decision, and if accepted, they typically must attend or risk having to sit out of school for a year. An early decision application can boost a student’s odds of getting into their dream school, but it also means they lose the chance to compare and negotiate financial aid offers from multiple schools.Because the 2024-25 FAFSA will be simplified — and the release delayed from Oct. 1, 2023, until sometime in December — many colleges won’t be able to provide accurate financial aid estimates or final packages alongside early decision admissions, says Connie Livingston, head of college counselor...

Police in Puerto Rico arrest at least 380 people in sweeping operation across US territory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico police arrested at least 380 people on Tuesday in the department’s biggest crackdown on crime in recent years.Police Commissioner Antonio López said 12 gangs dedicated to the sale of drugs and weapons were targeted after receiving tips from residents who had complained about violence in their communities.Police also seized 78 firearms, more than 50 vehicles and nearly $100,000 in cash, along with a variety of unspecified drugs.Among the arrested are couples, families and women who ran criminal organizations linked to various killings, said Police Col. Carlos Cruz.The FBI and other federal agencies were involved in the operation.The Associated Press

Halloween brings parts of GTA frightful first snowfall of the season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

Halloween is bringing the GTA a bone-chilling surprise with the region’s first snowfall of the season being reported on Tuesday.Traffic cameras picked up snowflakes sticking to the pavement on Highway 401 in Durham Region around 11:30 a.m. Several callers to the CityNews 680 traffic centre reported wet and slippery roads through Pickering and Ajax in the late morning and early afternoon.The snow that was temporarily sticking to the roadways had melted in most spots of the highway by the early afternoon. Though some social media users posted photos of their lawns and driveways dusted lightly with snow.CityNews meteorologist Jill Taylor said parts of the city could expect a few flurries on Tuesday, including into the evening hours when kids get ready to head out for candy. She says the trick-or-treat forecast will see temperatures hovering around 3 C, while the wind could make it feel as cold as -4.“Dress warm,” Taylor said. “It’s just a very light wind, but enough to give us t...

In Belarus, 3 protest musicians are sentenced to long prison terms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Members of a pop music group that became a symbol of protest in Belarus were sentenced Tuesday to prison terms of up to nine years in the country’s relentless crackdown on dissent.The Tor Band became widely known in Belarus during a wave of protests that arose in August 2020 following a disputed presidential election in which which Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner, giving him a sixth term in office. The protests lasted for months, the largest and most prolonged show of dissent since Lukashenko came to power in 1994 and began repressing independent news media and opposition.Lukashenko unleashed harsh measures against the protesters, with police detaining some 35,000 people and beating thousands. Many major opposition figures fled the country, including Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who ran against him in the election. Others have been jailed, such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the human rights group Viasna.The three me...

Investigation finds a threat assessment should have been done before the Oxford High School shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

OXFORD, Mich. (AP) — Officials with Michigan’s Oxford High School should have conducted a threat assessment into Ethan Crumbley’s behavior prior to a shooting that left four students dead and others wounded, an independent investigation concluded.Crumbley’s conduct included viewing bullets, watching violent video on his cellphone during class, and writing statements like “blood everywhere,” a more than 500-page report said. That suggested “not suicide, but homicide,” according to the report released Monday, , a month shy of the two-year anniversary of the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting.Crumbley, 17, pleaded guilty a year ago to first-degree murder and terrorism charges. He is expected to be sentenced Dec. 8 in Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac. The teen and his parents met with school staff the day of the shooting after a teacher noticed violent drawings. But no one checked his backpack and he was allowed to stay. The gun used in the shooting was in the backpack.The shoot...

Police seek suspect in hate-motivated mischief investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

Toronto police have released grainy images of a suspect in a hate-motivated mischief investigation.Police say the suspect vandalized a number of items on public and private property between Saturday, Oct. 21, and Sunday, Oct. 29, in the Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street East area.“After consultation with the Service’s specialized Hate Crime Unit, the investigation is being treated as a suspected hate-motivated offence,” police said in a release.No further information about the nature of the vandalism was provided.The suspect is described as male with a medium build wearing a black jacket, dark pants and black running shoes with soles.He was carrying a multi-coloured backpack.

Budget update: Newfoundland and Labrador projects $154-million deficit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador is projecting a deficit of $154 million for the current fiscal year.The figure is a slight improvement from the $160-million deficit forecast when the province tabled its budget in March.Finance Minister Siobhan Coady said in a budget update today the province is aiming to balance its books by the next fiscal year, which begins in April 2024.Coady says revenues are up by about $204 million, mostly due to Australian oil company Woodside Energy forfeiting deposits on exploration bids in the province’s offshore.However, she says the government will have to borrow up to $700 million more than anticipated in March, bringing its total net debt to $17.1 billion.In the province of about 535,000 people, that works out to nearly $32,000 per person.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.The Canadian Press

Sofia Coppola turns her lens on an American icon: Priscilla Presley

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:52:00 GMT

In her 25 years of making films, Sofia Coppola has always found the poetry behind the headlines, the banality in the glamour, the soul in the superficial. Her dreamy, lyrical portraits of girl culture and gilded cages have brought her to 18th century Versailles, 1970s suburban Michigan, the 1860s South, noughties Calabasas and modern-day Tokyo, West Hollywood and Manhattan.In Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” Coppola saw something that was glamourous and wild, something that would provide an opportunity for beautiful filmmaking in a setting she had yet to explore — the world of 1960s American rock royalty. But even she was a little surprised to find in this wholly unrelatable tale something, well, relatable: A young woman, isolated, figuring out who she is, in the shadow of a powerful man.“Priscilla,” now playing in New York and Los Angeles and expanding nationwide Friday, emerged from a disappointment: Coppola’s ambitious adaptation of Edith Wharton’s “Custom of the C...