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Senate passes sweeping defense policy bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

(CNN) — The Senate voted on Wednesday to pass a critical defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets the policy agenda and authorizes funding for the Department of Defense annually.The final negotiated version of the NDAA for fiscal year 2024 authorizes $886 billion in national defense funding, an increase of $28 billion over last year.It is expected to be approved by the Senate with bipartisan support and would next go to the House, with lawmakers hoping it will pass through both chambers before the end of the week. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 87 to 13.The sweeping legislation authorizes a 5.2% pay raise for members of the military as part of a wide range of provisions related to service member pay and benefits, housing and childcare. In a move that sparked anger from some lawmakers, the bill will include a short-term extension of a controversial law that permits warrantless...

Two transported to hospital after 3-alarm fire in Orange, house a total loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

Two people were rushed to the hospital after being rescued from a three-alarm fire in Orange Thursday morning.Fire crews arrived at the house on West River Street just after midnight, battling the blaze for over three hours.Two residents who were trapped inside the home were located and removed by firefighters before being transported to local hospitals. Three animals, also trapped inside, were removed safely.Orange Fire Chief James Young said the house was a “total loss” from the fire.

Police searching for 3 missing boys last seen in downtown Toronto

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

Toronto police are concerned for the safety of three boys who have been missing since Wednesday afternoon.Police say nine-year-old Sylas, 12-year-old Dallas, and 14-year-old River were last seen around 3:30 p.m. in the King Street and University Avenue area of downtown Toronto.The boys are being described as:Sylas, 9, is four feet six inches tall with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a red an black coat, grey sweater, grey pants, black shoes, black hat and a black packpackDallas, 12, is five feet six inches tall with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black coat, black pants, black shoes and a green backpackRiver, 14, is five feet five inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing black jacket, tan pants, black shoes and a black backpackMISSING: (CONTINUED)Sylas, 9Dallas, 12River, 14– Dallas is 5'6, short brown hair and brown eyes, wearing black coat, black pants, black shoes, green backpack– ...

WSJ reporter Gershkovich to remain in detention until end of January after court rejects his appeal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in Russia on espionage charges, lost an appeal on Thursday to be released from jail and will remain in custody at least until Jan. 30. Gershkovich, 32, was detained in March while on a reporting trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) east of Moscow. Russia’s Federal Security Service alleged that the reporter, “acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.” He has been behind bars ever since. The Lefortovo District Court in Moscow on Nov. 28 ruled to extend his detention until the end of January, and the appeal Gershkovich has filed against that ruling was rejected by the Moscow City Court at a hearing Thursday.Gershkovich and the Journal deny the allegations, and the U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained. Russia...

Pope, once a victim of AI-generated imagery, calls for treaty to regulate artificial intelligence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday called for an international treaty to ensure artificial intelligence is developed and used ethically, arguing that the risks of technology lacking human values of compassion, mercy, morality and forgiveness are too great.Francis added his voice to increasing calls for binding, global regulation of AI in his annual message for the World Day of Peace, which the Catholic Church celebrates each Jan. 1. The Vatican released the text of the message on Thursday.For Francis, the appeal is somewhat personal: Earlier this year, an AI-generated image of him wearing a luxury white puffer jacket went viral, showing just how quickly realistic deepfake imagery can spread online. The pope’s message was released just days after European Union negotiators secured provisional approval on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules that are expected to serve as a gold standard for governments considering their own regulation.Artificial intelligence has captured world a...

Turkish minister says Somalia president’s son will return to face trial over fatal highway crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The son of the president of Somalia will return to Turkey in the coming days to face trial over a fatal highway crash in Istanbul, Turkey’s justice minister said Thursday.Yunus Emre Gocer, a 38-year-old motorcycle courier, was hit by a car driven by the Somalia president’s son, Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, on a highway in Istanbul. The man died in a hospital six days later on Dec. 6. Turkish authorities ordered the president’s son arrested and barred him from traveling abroad, but reports said Mohamud had already left Turkey by the time the warrant was issued. Turkey also launched an investigation into officials who conducted an initial investigation into the crash and reportedly allowed Mohamud to go free. “We have held talks with Somali judicial authorities,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told reporters. “It will be possible for the defendant to come to Turkey and to participate in the trial process in the coming days.”“I have talked to the Somali justice m...

Barbie director Greta Gerwig heads jury of 2024 Cannes Festival, 1st American woman director in job

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Greta Gerwig, actor, writer and film director, notably for the blockbuster “Barbie,” will preside over the jury of the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May, the first American female director to be named jury president, the festival announced Thursday.At 40, Gerwig is also the youngest person to take on that role since Sofia Loren, who headed the Cannes jury in 1966 at age 31, the festival noted in a statement.“I’m overwhelmed, enthusiastic and touched with humility,” the statement quoted Gerwig as saying. “I can’t wait to discover what voyages await us!” She described Cannes as “the pinnacle of what the universal language of movies can be.”Festival officials, too, were excited, about their choice for jury president for the May 14-25 festival on the French Riviera, a premiere film extravaganza.“This is an obvious choice, since Greta Gerwig so audaciously embodies the renewal of world cinema, for which Cannes is each year both the forerunner and the sounding board,” said fes...

War crimes court upholds the conviction of a former Kosovo Liberation Army commander

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at a special Kosovo court upheld Thursday the convictions of a former commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army for arbitrarily detaining and torturing prisoners and murdering one of them during Kosovo’s war for independence, but reduced his sentence by four years.The commander, Salih Mustafa, was convicted a year ago and sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment for the crimes committed at a KLA compound in Zllash, Kosovo, in April 1999. He was acquitted of one charge of mistreating detainees who were perceived as supporters of Serbia.While dismissing all Mustafa’s appeals against his convictions, the appeals chamber at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers cut his sentence to 22 years of imprisonment, saying it was higher than international and domestic sentencing standards in comparable cases.Presiding Judge Michèle Picard called the ruling — the first appeals judgment in a war crimes case at the court — an important milestone and a “significan...

Janet Yellen says the Trump administration’s China policies left the US more vulnerable

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says former President Donald Trump ‘s policies toward China left America “more vulnerable and more isolated” in the global economy, a rare jab by her at the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Yellen, in prepared remarks to be delivered at a U.S.-China Business Council event Thursday night, says the Trump administration “failed to make investments at home in critical areas like infrastructure and advanced technology, while also neglecting relationships with our partners and allies that had been forged and strengthened over decades.”Her comments come as the U.S. rebuilds its relationship with the Asian superpower, including a November meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco. The two nations agreed to curb the production of illicit fentanyl, a deadly component of drugs sold in the United States, and agreed to resume military-to-military communications.Yellen,...

Gingerbread nirvana: Check out the winners of the Norway House contest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:35:15 GMT

Norway House Gingerbread Wonderland is back for the ninth year in a row, bringing whimsy and family fun to the Twin Cities.Last year, more than 14,000 visitors toured the exhibit, which is inspired by the world’s largest gingerbread city exhibit in Bergen, Norway. Entrants have constructed elaborate gingerbread structures that range from a rotating version of the Barbie Dream House to a cookie.A panel of judges — Nicole Hvidsten (food editor for the Star Tribune), Jess Fleming (food editor for the Pioneer Press), cookbook author (and former Star Tribune writer) Kim Ode and Lori Ann Reinhall (editor in chief of The Norwegian American) — determined the “Best in Show” awards, which are depicted here. There were so many great entries that didn’t make this short list that it’s absolutely worth a trip to see the rest. I like to take three or four laps, as I see different details every time I look!Visitors also get to participate by voting for a “People’s Choice” award. Entry is ticketed a...