Amid its ongoing promotion of AI’s wonders, Microsoft has warned customers it has found many instances of a technique that manipulates the technology to produce biased advice.…
Model-maker and SaaS-y AI outfit Anthropic has committed to covering any increases in energy prices paid by consumers caused by its power-hungry datacenters.…
Republicans join Democrats in objecting to national emergency US president declared to impose tariffs
The US House on Wednesday voted to rescind tariffs that Donald Trump imposed on Canada last year, a rare bipartisan rebuke of the White House’s trade policy as the president threatened electoral retaliation against any Republican who defied him.
The largely symbolic resolution to disapprove of the national emergency Trump declared to impose tariffs on Canada passed 219 to 211, with six Republicans – Don Bacon of Nebraska, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Kevin Kiley of California, Dan Newhouse of Washington and Jeff Hurd of Colorado – voting with all Democrats except Jared Golden of Maine, who voted against it.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says security guarantees must first be in place as he pushes back at suggestions he plans to hold poll under US pressure. What we know on day 1,450
Ukraine will hold elections only once it has security guarantees in place and a ceasefire with Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, pushing back at suggestions he is planning to stage fresh ballots under US pressure. “We will move to elections when all the necessary security guarantees are in place,” the Ukrainian president told reporters on Wednesday in a voice note. “I have said it’s very simple to do: establish a ceasefire, and there will be elections.” He also said that if Russia agreed, it might be possible to “end hostilities by summer”. Elections in Ukraine have been effectively suspended since Russia invaded in 2022 due to martial law.
Senior Ukrainian officials agreed on Wednesday to boost air defence capabilities around the capital to counter possible further Russian air attacks on energy infrastructure, the energy minister said. “We also identified and prioritised other critical infrastructure facilities that require protection,” Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram on Wednesday after a meeting of the military staff. The fresh preparations follow attacks on Kyiv that have left officials scrambling to repair damage that has left thousands in the cold and darkness.
Russian strikes killed four civilians on Wednesday in different localities in Ukraine’s south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the regional governor said. The attacks occurred in three small localities near the town of Synelnykove, east of the regional centre of Dnipro, Oleksandr Ganzha said on Telegram. In one attack, a man was killed and his wife wounded. In a different locality, a couple and their 45-year-old son was killed and a man wounded. A woman was hurt in a third village.
Zelenskyy said the US needed to put more pressure on Russia if it wanted the war to end by summer, adding it is unclear whether Moscow would attend US-brokered peace talks next week. “It depends not only on Ukraine, but also on America, which must exert pressure – excuse me for saying so, but there is no other way: it must exert pressure on Russia,” he said on Wednesday, after previously saying Washington wants to end the war by June. Zelenskyy said Russia was still deliberating over whether to participate in the proposed next round of trilateral peace talks in Miami but that Ukraine was ready to attend.
The Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych says he is ready to be disqualified on Thursday because he does not want to betray his country’s dead athletes, reports Sean Ingle. Heraskevych has vowed to wear his “helmet of memory” in the skeleton, even though the International Olympic Committee has told him it will kick him out if he does. “I will not betray these athletes,” he said after finishing first on the final day of practice.
British defence minister John Healey says the UK has committed £150m ($205m) to the so-called prioritised Ukraine requirements list (Purl) initiative to supply Ukraine with US weapons. Purl was set up last summer to keep US weapons flowing to Ukraine at a time when new US military assistance had stalled. “Together we must provide Ukraine with the critical air defence it needs in response to Putin’s brutal onslaught,” Healey said in a statement on Wednesday. Allies have already put forward more than $4.5bn through the programme, the US ambassador to Nato, Matthew Whitaker, said on Tuesday.
A Russian crackdown on the Telegram social media app risks damaging its own army, pro-war bloggers have warned, as the platform’s founder refused to bend to pressure from Moscow, reports Pjotr Sauer. Russia’s communications watchdog said on Wednesday that the app – used by more than 60 million Russians each day – would begin slowing nationwide, accusing it of failing to address earlier regulatory violations.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant can be restarted safely only if it is returned to Ukrainian control, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear power operator said on Tuesday. The six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have been shut down since Russian forces captured the area, and Moscow announced last year it was aiming to restart at least one reactor. But Pavlo Kovtoniuk, boss of Ukrainian state nuclear firm Energoatom, said Russia lacked some equipment and spare parts to operate it, and risked a nuclear accident if it tries.
Continue reading...The Dawson’s Creek star, who died on Tuesday aged 48, had been open about struggling to meet the high expenses of his cancer treatment
A GoFundMe set up to support the widow and children of actor James Van Der Beek has passed its initial goal of $500,000 within hours of being created – and has now been updated to a goal of $1m.
Van Der Beek, best known for his role as sensitive teen Dawson Leery on the TV series Dawson’s Creek, died on Tuesday aged 48 after a battle with bowel cancer.
Continue reading...Bill that requires proof of citizenship and would limit mail-in voting passes 218-213 but faces uphill battle in Senate
The House on Wednesday passed the Save America Act, which would dramatically change voting regulations by requiring proof of citizenship at voter registration and significantly curtail mail-in voting.
The legislation, which passed 218 to 213, faces an uphill battle in the Senate, close observers say.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Calls for ‘urgent action’ as study also finds stark ethnic and socio-economic disparities in child mortality and consanguinity
One in 14 children who died in England in a four-year period had parents who were close relatives, according to “stark” figures revealed by the first study of its kind.
The figures, published by the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD), based at the University of Bristol, analysed all 13,045 child deaths in England between 2019 and 2023. Of these, 926 (7%) were found to be of children born to consanguineous parents, meaning the mother and father are close blood relatives, such as first cousins.
Continue reading...Courtauld Gallery, London
This quietly tremendous exhibition gathers more than half of the pointillist painter’s works, all depicting the Channel coast and sea, full of blizzards of light and a quivering sense of import
Georges Seurat died young. His two most famous paintings, both extremely large and innovative in their composition and technique, were completed while he was still in his mid-20s. As it was, Seurat painted approximately 45 paintings before his death, probably from diphtheria, in March 1891 when he was 31. More than half these works depict the Channel coast and sea and were completed on his summer trips between 1885 and 1890. Seurat and the Sea at the Courtauld is the first exhibition to be devoted entirely to these images. Twenty-three paintings and smaller oil studies, and three drawings hang in two rooms. It is a quietly tremendous exhibition.
Even if one takes on board the artist’s claims to science, objectivity and his adherence to theories about colour and perception which distance him from impressionism, Seurat’s paintings are peculiar and strange. Sometimes his line is very odd and stiff, yet his drawings themselves – tonal studies worked in conté crayon on textured, laid paper, are among the most marvellous I can think of. It is clear Seurat knew what he was doing; who knows what he might have gone on to achieve?
Continue reading...Rics surveyors report inquiries from new buyers, agreed sales and house prices were less negative in January
There are “tentative signs” that the housing market in England and Wales is recovering from a months-long slowdown after uncertainty around the autumn budget and economic pressures, estate agents and surveyors have reported.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said its members were feeling more optimistic about the year ahead than at any time since December 2024, as inquiries from new buyers, agreed sales and house prices became less negative in January.
Continue reading...Writer made international breakthrough with 1980 novel Rituals and won acclaim for his travel writing
The Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom, whose novels, travel writing and translations made him a prominent literary figure in postwar Europe, has died aged 92.
Publishing house De Bezige Bij said in a statement on Wednesday evening that Nooteboom had “passed away very peacefully on his beloved island Menorca”. The statement was made on behalf of the author’s wife, the photographer Simone Sassen.
Continue reading...
The "very poor," as well immigrant communities and the very young and old, the amendment read, "fall outside the non-cash financial system." [...]
Nationwide, those levels are decreasing, but remain significant. A survey conducted by the FDIC found that in 2023, Black and Latino households were overrepresented in the unbanked population, with 10.6 percent of Black and 9.5 percent of Latino households in the U.S. were unbanked, down from 17 and 14 percent in 2017.
Today, approximately 4 percent of San Francisco households are "unbanked," or do not have a checking or savings account, and nearly 14 percent are "underbanked" -- have bank accounts but primarily use cash or use check cashers or money orders. [...] "These residents are often the most financially vulnerable and can face higher costs and barriers in everyday transactions," Manke said.
The destruction of cash is part of the advertising panopticon agenda. Paper money doesn't have a utm_source on it so it is useless.
Let us also keep in mind that this "vocal contingent of local business owners" are the same business geniuses who are always, always certain that a bike lane will ruin them.
My vendetta against tape on the walls is endless. I just think it looks really tacky. Plus, one of the things about paper that it is famous for is always showing the same thing. Whereas these screens have all kinds of complications. (In watchmaking, anything that a timepiece does beyond showing hours, minutes and seconds is called a "complication", and I love that term.)
For example, they are sensitive to the room they are in and the genres of the show that is currently happening, so if it's a metal night, they're going to show flyers for other metal shows much more often. They are likewise skewed toward showing shows happening sooner than later.
And another recent complication is the dancing QR codes. I put a bunch of work into making the underlying URLs as short as possible so that the QR codes have big chunky pixels that you can scan from across the room.
We also use them in Pizza checkout to hype our appetizers.
In summary, digital signage is a land of complications. 
iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:
iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:
iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:
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Read more of this story at Slashdot.
