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US defense secretary makes unannounced visit to USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier defending Israel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

ABOARD THE USS GERALD R. FORD (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew out to the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier Wednesday to meet with the sailors he has ordered to remain at sea to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spilling over into a deadlier regional conflict. Austin was in the region to press Israel to shift its bombardment of Gaza to a more limited campaign and more quickly transition to address Palestinian civilians’ dire humanitarian needs. At the same time, the U.S. has been concerned that Israel will launch a similar military operation along its northern border with Lebanon to expel Hezbollah militants there, potentially opening a second front and widening the war. At a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Austin didn’t say whether U.S. troops might be further extended to defend Israel if its campaign expands into Lebanon, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seemed to tone down recent rhetoric that a northern front was imminent, deferring to dipl...

Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka confronted by a fan on the field at Chelsea

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was confronted by a fan who ran onto the field during the English League Cup quarterfinal match at Chelsea. The supporter appeared to collide with Dubravka after Mykhailo Mudryk scored a stoppage-time equalizer for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. He then evaded a steward as he ran back into the crowd. Police and Chelsea are reportedly investigating the incident.The match ended 1-1 and Chelsea advanced to the semifinals after winning a penalty shootout 4-2. Afterward both managers voiced their concerns about player safety. “We need to be careful. The fans need to be careful with this type of thing because it’s a thing that can put in danger the players,” Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said. “I’m disappointed. I don’t agree with this type of thing that happened here in Stamford Bridge and in other stadiums in England or around the world. It’s always disappointing with this type of thing because it’s dangerous.”...

Study shows AI image-generators being trained on explicit photos of children

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

Hidden inside the foundation of popular artificial intelligence image-generators are thousands of images of child sexual abuse, according to a new report that urges companies to take action to address a harmful flaw in the technology they built.Those same images have made it easier for AI systems to produce realistic and explicit imagery of fake children as well as transform social media photos of fully clothed real teens into nudes, much to the alarm of schools and law enforcement around the world.Until recently, anti-abuse researchers thought the only way that some unchecked AI tools produced abusive imagery of children was by essentially combining what they’ve learned from two separate buckets of online images — adult pornography and benign photos of kids. But the Stanford Internet Observatory found more than 3,200 images of suspected child sexual abuse in the giant AI database LAION, an index of online images and captions that’s been used to train leading AI image-ma...

Suspicious activity reporting drops in Texas for 2nd year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — In the wake of mass shootings in recent years, Texas’ highest leaders have touted iWatchTexas as a critical statewide tool for reporting suspicious activity, alerting law enforcement to potential violence. Despite promotional efforts, total annual reports have dwindled for the past two years, according to records obtained by KXAN.KXAN revisited the usage of iWatch following the Dec. 5 killing spree that left six dead in Austin and San Antonio. The suspected shooter, 34-year-old Shane James, was known to law enforcement in San Antonio. He had mental health crisis interactions with police, cut off an ankle monitor and had active warrants for family violence, court documents said. Yet, it remains unclear if James was on the radar of intelligence analysts that monitor suspicious activity reports.The Texas Suspicious Activity Reporting Network is a statewide hub for receiving, analyzing and responding to reports of terrorism, school safety and other crime issues, accordin...

5 things to know this Wednesday, December 20

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Happy humpday! According to Meteorologist Jill Szwed, we can expect temperatures in the 40s with sunshine before nightfall. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! On December 18 at around 4:39 a.m., a car flipped onto its roof and into several feet of water in a ditch off of I-690 eastbound. The driver, identified as 44-year-old ​Udayabhanu Anjanappilly of Cohoes, crashed between the Midler and Thompson Road exits in Syracuse. Also, Nelson Patino was sentenced Tuesday for killing his wife and son and injuring his other son. It happened two years ago in Duanesburg. In October, Patino was found guilty of six charges. The jury handed down the verdict following a day-long deliberation. These stories, and more, are covered in your five things to know this Wednesday morning. 1. Cohoes driver dies after car flip near SyracuseOn December 18 at around 4:39 a.m., a car flipped onto its roof and into several feet of water in a d...

Man hospitalized after house fire in Maryville, Illinois

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

MARYVILLE, Ill. - Another fire broke out Wednesday morning; this one was in Maryville, Illinois.It started at an apartment on Patty Drive around 3:00 a.m. Firefighters said that the flames started in the back of the building. An older man was taken to the hospital. Stolen car seen in Central West End belongs to long-time police officer There was no word on his condition on Wednesday morning. The state fire marshal is looking into the cause.FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

Missing 42-year-old woman returns home safely

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

FERGUSON, Mo. - Ferguson police have canceled an endangered person advisory for a missing 42-year-old woman. LGBTQ community rallies around south city bar following crash She left her home on Harrison Avenue in Ferguson on Monday without her cellphone or personal property. Sh has since returned home safely.

German-style Denver brewery opens huge new biergarten and production facility

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

As the craft beer industry in Colorado has matured and settled in the two years since the end of the pandemic, there has been a spate of small buyouts, closures and consolidations. For some, this has meant difficult times. For others, it has created opportunities to expand.On Dec. 20. Prost Brewing, which was founded in Denver’s Lower Highland neighborhood in 2012, will open the doors to one of the bigger expansions in recent memory – a Munich-sized taproom and biergarten, at 351 W. 104th Ave in Northglenn, that is connected to a 60,000-square-foot production space, which soon will begin making beer on two large brewing systems.Visitors to the new Prost Brewing in Northglenn will be able to look into the brewhouse through large windows. (Prost Brewing)In addition to its traditional German-style beers – such as pilsner, dunkel, marzen, Vienna lager and kolsch – Prost will offer a menu of regional specialties, like a sausage board with sauerkraut and mustard; giant pretzels served wit...

A Colorado freezer is out of space to store ice samples up to 4.5 million years old

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

A minus-40-degree vault concealed in a federal government warehouse west of Denver holds the climate science equivalent of gold: the United States’ growing collection of ice from around a warming planet, half a million cylindrical cores up to 4.5 million years old.The ice can reveal climate history and its safekeeping has become a global priority as scientists race to calculate what humanity faces.Climate scientists seeking clues in the ice head to the U.S. Geological Survey’s regional headquarters, where they bundle up and pass through massive swinging doors into the 8,000-square-foot walk-in freezer —  the largest ice repository in the world. Outside at a loading dock, trucks arrive delivering new ice extracted from Antarctica, Greenland and high mountain glaciers.But the freezer is outdated and full, and a long-planned replacement won’t be constructed for two years. This has forced Ice Core Facility curator Curtis La Bombard to begin a culling process to d...

Colorado legislators push to increase regulation of eating disorder clinics amid patient complaints, state probe

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:34:06 GMT

Colorado legislators will propose new regulations for providers of eating disorder treatment in the coming months, amid calls from advocates and patients to crack down on practices that one legislator labeled “barbaric.”The coming legislation, which will debut early next year when state lawmakers reconvene, would require providers to follow specific requirements around weigh-ins, the use of feeding tubes and isolation, and to offer gender-appropriate accommodations. Legislators considered similar requirements earlier this year but dropped them because the new regulations would cost $870,000 to implement.The resurrected proposal would task the Behavioral Health Administration with overseeing treatment facilities in the state. Colorado, and in particular Denver, has become a national hub for eating disorder care and has seen an increase in patients amid a national surge in disordered eating diagnoses. The state health department regulates eating disorder clinics as it does...