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UK spy agency tools up on AI to counter China, its chief says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

BRUSSELS — The United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6, is in a race to use artificial intelligence to outsmart adversaries and stop them from abusing the technology, the agency’s chief said Wednesday.MI6 boss Richard Moore told POLITICO in an interview that officers in his service “are combining their skills with AI and bulk data” for intelligence work, including to “identify and disrupt the flow of weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine.” The British agency is having to learn how to master new technologies like AI because adversaries are doing the same, in ways that threaten the U.K. and allies, Moore told POLITICO in a rare interview at the British ambassador’s residence in Prague.“There’s absolutely no doubt that some of our adversaries will be prepared to develop AI in ways which are reckless and dangerous … That worries us,” he warned.“China has added to its immense datasets at home by hoovering up others abroad and the Chinese aut...

IRS whistleblowers will testify to Congress as they claim ‘slow-walking’ of the Hunter Biden case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

By FARNOUSH AMIRI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Whistleblowers claiming the Justice Department improperly interfered with a yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden will testify before Congress on Wednesday as House Republicans accelerate their probes into the president and his family.Leaders of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees will lead a hearing with two Internal Revenue Service employees — Greg Shapley and an as-yet-unnamed “whistleblower x” — who claim there was a pattern of “slow-walking investigative steps” into Hunter Biden, including delayed enforcement actions in the months before the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.It will be the first public testimony from the two IRS agents assigned to the federal case into President Joe Biden’s youngest son, Hunter, which was focused on tax and gun charges. The second agent, whose name was withheld in interview transcripts released by Republicans, is expected to have his identity rev...

Medicare should come with these 4 warning labels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

By John Rossheim | NerdWalletYou can think of enrolling in Medicare as an enormous dinner out with very filling starters. But before you order, you must choose one of two menus: Do you prefer Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage?Original Medicare starts with two courses of alphabet soup: Medicare Parts A, B and D followed by your choice of Medigap supplemental insurance plan types: Plans A, B, D, G, K, L, M and N.Go for the other menu, Medicare Advantage, and you’ll get a blue-plate special bundling together the coverage of Parts A, B and D. But from there, the options can still overwhelm. Those from Ohio, for example, can choose among 216 Medicare Advantage plans offered by 20 insurers.Given all this complexity, many first-time enrollees feel uncomfortably full — at least their heads do — before they even address the big question: How can they ensure 5-star health care for the rest of their lives?The key is to avoid a handful of fundamentally bad choices that can only be reverse...

Kentucky Republican Daniel Cameron picks conservative senator as running mate in race for governor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican Daniel Cameron selected state legislator Robby Mills as his running mate Wednesday in Kentucky’s race for governor, turning to a steadfast conservative with a record of shepherding pro-coal and anti-transgender legislation that fits into his campaign themes.Cameron, the state’s attorney general, introduced Mills to the campaign at a news conference at state GOP headquarters.Choosing from a deep GOP bench, Cameron ended weeks of speculation about his lieutenant governor pick since emerging as his party’s gubernatorial nominee in May to challenge Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Cameron adds a state senator to the ticket whose resume includes running his family business, ousting Democratic incumbents and sponsoring bills popular with Republicans.Mills, 56, represents a district in western Kentucky — a region that has shifted heavily toward the GOP in recent years. The sprawling region is seen by Cameron’s campaign as crucial to its strat...

Zhang Shuai quits tennis match after opponent rubs out a ball mark with her foot in disputed call

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Chinese tennis player Zhang Shuai quit a match after her opponent rubbed out a ball mark with her foot following a disputed line call at the Budapest Grand Prix.The second-seeded Zhang retired from the match while trailing 6-5 in the first set against Hungarian opponent Amarissa Toth at the clay-court tournament on Tuesday.The dispute related to a forehand from Zhang that appeared to be in but was called out. Zhang argued the decision but it stood and the match continued briefly before the disagreement about the line call began again.As Zhang repeated her protests, Toth walked over to the ball mark and rubbed it out with her foot.“Wait, wait, wait! Keep the mark,” Zhang shouted in response. “What are you doing? Why would you do that?”Zhang sat crying and shaking her head on her chair for a few moments at the side of the court before quitting.She shook hands with the main umpire and Toth before appearing to point her fingers at the crowd, which had booed and ...

Russia slams critical port facilities in Odesa after Kremlin halts grain deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed intense drone and missile attacks overnight Wednesday, damaging critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine, including grain and oil terminals, and wounding at least 12 people, officials said.The bombardment crippled significant parts of grain export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.It came days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger. It also followed a vow by Putin to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack Monday on the crucial Kerch Bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.The Agriculture Ministry, citing experts, estimated it would take a year to restore the damaged facilities. The destroyed grain was supposed to have been loaded onto a v...

Microsoft and Activision extend deadline to close $69 billion deal under close regulatory scrutiny

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

The deadline for Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard has been extended as the companies seek to close a deal that has been challenged by regulators in the U.S., as well as by U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority. Microsoft believes that pushing back the deadline to Oct. 18 will provide enough time to work through the remaining regulatory issues, said Brad Smith, the company’s president. “We are confident about our prospects for getting this deal across the finish line,” Smith said. The extension comes with a bigger termination fee, should the deal be called off, and a number of other new agreements. Tuesday marked an important deadline for the deal announced 18 months earlier. Both Microsoft and Activision had agreed that either party could walk away from the planned merger if it hadn’t closed by then, triggering Microsoft to potentially have to pay a $3 billion breakup fee unless both sides decided to renegotiate.That ...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens higher, adding to recent gains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, adding to a run that has pulled the market to its highest level in more than 15 months. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% early Wednesday. The Dow added 168 points, or 0.5% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. Carvana soared 21% after the used-car dealer agreed with its lenders to reduce its debt by $1.2 billion. Elevance Health jumepd 7.5% after reporting stronger results than analysts expected. Stocks also got some help from easing pressure from the bond market, where yields fell after a report showed U.K. inflation slowed.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street shifted between small gains and losses Wednesday as earnings season kicks into high gear.Futures for the S&P 500 and for the Dow Jones Industrial Average each inched up less than 0.1% before the opening bell. Carvana shares jumped more than 24% in premarket trading after the online car dealer said it secured a deal to refinance its de...

Escalating violence in Congo displaces more people and demands urgent response, UN and aid group say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United Nations warned that violence in northeastern Congo has escalated significantly, with more than 40 civilians killed in three days.More than 600 people have been killed and 345,000 displaced in Ituri province so far this year, according to Stephane Dujarric, a United Nation’s spokesman. “We strongly condemn this violence and call on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law and human rights responsibilities,” Dujarric said Tuesday.Conflict has simmered in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for control of valuable mineral resources and some to protect their communities. Mass killings by rebel groups are frequent, and the violence has triggered an exodus of refugees.The statement comes on the heels of two attacks in the country’s northeast that left nearly two dozen people dead.Such attacks often uproot entire communities, and many residents flee to nearby displacement sites which are ill-equipped to r...

The upper house of Russian parliament approves a ban on gender changes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:26:30 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — The upper house of Russia’s parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill outlawing gender-affirming procedures, sending the measure to President Vladimir Putin to be signed into law.The move extends the Kremlin’s drive to protect what it views as the country’s traditional values. The bill, which already was approved in the lower house, bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records.The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.It also annuls marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.Lawmakers portray the measure as protecting Russia from “the Western anti-family ideology,” with some describing gender transitioning as “pure satanism.”Russia’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on “traditional famil...