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Elon Musk, tech leaders call for halt in ‘dangerous race’ to further AI research

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and other tech industry leaders called for a brief pause in artificial intelligence research in an open letter publicized Wednesday.“Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?” the letter reads. “Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?”The letter was issued in response to OpenAI’s GPT-4, the artificial intelligence engine behind ChatGPT. The signees want a six-month pause on “the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”In a recent statement, OpenAI leaders said, “At some point, it may be important to get independent review before starting to train future systems.” The letter’s authors responded: “We agree. That point is now.”Even though many artificial intelligence pioneers signed the letter, no one from OpenAI joined them, according to TechCrunch.“In some sense, this is preaching to the choir,” Ope...

Sweep underway to remove homeless encampments downtown

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A major cleanup is happening in downtown San Diego as city crews clear homeless encampments over safety concerns. The cleanup began Monday and will continue for the next few days, according to a spokesperson from the City of San Diego. They say with high level of traffic expected from major events, they are hoping to avoid altercations. It’s part of a major cleanup effort according to the city of San Diego over safety concerns. They say with major events like Padres Opening Day, the city wants to minimize altercations among those attending the events and those living on the streets. Fletcher admits affair but denies allegations in lawsuit "Special events should not be dictating homelessness policy," homeless advocate Michael McConnell told FOX 5. "It’s certainly not good to have people living on the sidewalk but it’s insane to be spending tons of money -- all those city workers, all those police officers that should be doing other things. It makes no sense to be spend...

VIDEO: Flag-waving Padres fan gears up for Opening Day in East Village

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A Padres super fan is gearing up for Opening Day from his high-rise balcony in East Village.Known as "the flag guy," Brett Stang can be seen rooting on the Padres during most home games while waving a giant Padres flag from his condo, which is located next to Petco Park. Read more: Padres 2023 Opening Day According to Stang, the flag waving fun started back in 2020 when spectators weren't allowed to watch games within the stadium due to pandemic restrictions. The local said in an attempt to get the attention of the Padres players, he and his wife came up with the idea.The super fan's team spirit caught the attention of local sports broadcasters like Mark Grant and Don Orsillo, who chat with the Stang often during home games in San Diego. They've even given him requests on flag movements and directions to hype up onlookers What is the forecast for Padres Opening Day? FOX 5's Heather Lake joined Stang on his balcony Wednesday to get a first-hand look at his flag wavi...

First Nations leaders demand meeting with premier over mining, removed from chamber

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

Two First Nation leaders were removed from Ontario’s legislative chamber on Wednesday for shouting at Premier Doug Ford to meet with them over mining concerns in the province’s north.Dozens of members of five First Nations descended upon Queen’s Park to voice their concerns over the Progressive Conservative government’s plans to expand mining operations on and around their lands in the so-called Ring of Fire region.Those plans include the province’s intention to build a road to the Ring of Fire and mine the large swath of land in northern Ontario that is said to rich in critical minerals, which the government wants to use in its push to build electric vehicles.“There will be no Ring of Fire!” incoming Neskantaga First Nation Chief Chris Moonias bellowed from one of the galleries in the legislative chamber.Outgoing Neskantaga Chief Wayne Moonias said there will be no development on First Nation land without consent.NDP Indigenous affairs crit...

UAE leader designates his eldest son as crown prince

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, appointed his eldest son Khaled as crown prince of Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, placing him as next in line to take over as the leader of the federation.The state-run WAM news agency announced the appointment of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as crown prince late Wednesday, without providing further details.After Sheikh Mohammed, 62, who is commonly known as MBZ, ascended to the presidency last year, rumors swirled about whether he would make one of his brothers his heir. In that case, the front-runners would have been Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, the powerful national security chief, Sheikh Mansour, the owner of the Manchester City football club, or the foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah.Instead, he appears to concentrating power within his immediate family, as Saudi Arabia’s King Salman did by delegating wide-ranging powers to his son and heir, Crown Princ...

‘A crisis’: Calgary charity seeks one-month homes for Ukrainian refugees after influx

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

CALGARY — After six months under Russian occupation, Dmytro Syrman and his family decided to flee Ukraine for a safer life abroad and are now in Calgary. The family lived in Dniprorudne, a mining city of 17,000 in southern Ukraine. Syrman worked as a human resources manager at an iron factory.In August, Syrman, his wife, Anastasiia, and four-year-old daughter Varvara embarked on a six-day, 3,000-kilometre drive to Poland.“On the 24 of February, when the Russian army attacked Ukraine and occupied our city in March 2022, we lost everything,” Syrman said Wednesday. He said they began planning their escape when they realized Russian soldiers weren’t leaving their city.  “We started all of this because we were scared for Varvara,” he said. “When Russian bombs were falling near our city it was really scary.”Their home is still under Russian occupation.For the past year the family stayed in Poland, sent in their paperwork to come to Canada, and two...

Stocks rally on Wall Street as bank fears ease further

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rallying Wednesday as Wall Street shakes off more of the fear that dominated it earlier this month.The S&P 500 was 1.3% higher in late trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 273 points, or 0.8%, at 32,667, as of 3:15 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.7% higher. They followed similar sized gains in other markets around the world, and the S&P 500 is on track to close what’s been a tumultuous month with a modest gain. That’s despite the month being dominated by worries about banks and whether the industry is cracking under the pressure of much higher interest rates.Forceful actions by regulators have helped to calm some of the worries about banks. By Wednesday, a measure of fear among stock investors fell back toward its lowest point since March 9. That’s the day Silicon Valley Bank’s customers suddenly yanked out $42 billion in a panicked dash. It became the second-largest U.S. bank failure in history and sparked har...

With no end to federal deficits in sight, budget spells dismay for some economists

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

OTTAWA — Even as the Liberals keep a tight focus on new clean-tech and health-care spending, the federal budget released Tuesday still projects deficits for the next five years.Many economists are expressing disappointment in those fiscal projections, noting the government could be in trouble if the economy slows more than it is expected to — and saying the Liberals could’ve saved themselves headaches with better planning in previous years. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promised that Tuesday’s budget would be fiscally restrained in light of a slowing economy that could weigh on government coffers.But the fiscal projections in the budget show the deficit has been revised upward since the fall, showing no end in sight for deficits despite the fall budget update in November projecting a balanced budget in 2027-28. “The idea that you’re not even getting to a balanced budget within this budget horizon, is, in my mind, not fiscally responsible,” said Jam...

Congress approves measure to toss Biden’s water protections

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress on Wednesday approved a resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s protections for the nation’s waterways that Republicans have criticized as a burden on business, advancing a measure that President Joe Biden has promised to veto.Republicans have targeted the Biden administration’s protections for thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, labeling it an environmental overreach that harms businesses, developers and farmers. They used the Congressional Review Act that allows Congress to block recently enacted executive branch regulations. The Senate voted in favor 53 to 43 Wednesday to give final legislative approval to the measure. Four Democrats and Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined Republicans to vote in favor of the resolution.“The overreach, basically, it’s unreal,” said Sen. Joe Manchin, D.-W. Va., a critic of some of the White House’s environmental policies.The Senate vote is the latest development in a lon...

GOP lawmakers override veto of transgender bill in Kentucky

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:19 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Kentucky on Wednesday swept aside the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill regulating some of the most personal aspects of life for transgender young people — from banning access to gender-affirming health care to restricting the bathrooms they can use.The votes to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto were lopsided in both legislative chambers — where the GOP wields supermajorities — and came on the next-to-last day of this year’s legislative session.The debate is likely to spill over into this year’s gubernatorial campaign in Kentucky and could reach the courts if opponents follow through on a threat to mount a legal challenge against the bill.Activists on both sides of the impassioned debate gathered at the statehouse to make competing appeals shortly before lawmakers took up the transgender bill.A few hours before the vote, as transgender-rights advocates rallied outside Kentucky’s Capitol, trans teenager Sun Pacyga held up a sign summin...