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British political candidate uses artificial intelligence to draw up election manifesto

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British voters face a crowded field of 13 candidates in an upcoming special election for a Parliament seat. One, independent Andrew Gray, used artificial intelligence to come up with campaign promises that he says reflect what residents want. Gray, who says he has no policies of his own, crowdsourced constituents’ sentiments and used machine learning to come up with his political manifesto. He calls the technology a faster and fairer way for politicians to widely reflect views of the people they represent. “We can interact with our constituents in a whole new way,” Gray said. “It doesn’t change necessarily the role of the representative. It just means that we kind of know what’s going on much more quickly and we can represent them more fairly.” Conservative lawmaker Nigel Adams’ abrupt resignation triggered Thursday’s parliamentary by-election in Selby and Ainsty, a mixed urban-rural district in northern England. It’s expected to be a hotly cont...

You can now list your blood type on your Virginia driver’s license

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

A sample Virginia driver’s license, showing what the icon indicating blood type will look like. (Courtesy Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles)Virginians now have the option to list their blood types on their driver’s license as a way to help first responders in case of an emergency.Customers who want to renew, replace or apply for a new driver’s license or ID card will be asked whether they’d like to have their blood type appear on the document. The inclusion of blood type is optional and will not be required.“The law was intended to aid individuals and first responders when every second counts in an emergency,” said Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Gerald Lackey in a news release. “DMV is proud to provide Virginians with options. On your driver’s license or ID, you can indicate not only your blood type, but also your willingness to be an organ donor, your veteran status and can even list important medical indicators.”...

Judge upholds $5 million jury verdict against Trump, rejecting the ex-president’s vindication claim

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday upheld a $5 million jury verdict against Donald Trump, rejecting the former president’s claim that the award was excessive and that the jury vindicated him by failing to conclude in the civil case that he raped a columnist in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s.Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the jury’s May award of compensatory and punitive damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation was reasonable.Trump’s lawyers had asked Kaplan to reduce the jury award to less than $1 million or order a new trial on damages. In their arguments, the lawyers said the jury’s $2 million in compensatory damages granted for Carroll’s sexual assault claim was excessive because the jury concluded that Trump had not raped Carroll at Bergdorf Goodman’s Manhattan store in the spring of 1996.Kaplan wrote that the jury’s unanimous verdict was almost entirely in favor of Carroll, except that the jury conclud...

Wagner troops won’t go back to fight in Ukraine, Prigozhin says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

Troops from Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, which are relocating to Belarus following last month’s aborted mutiny, will not go back to fight in Ukraine nd will stay in Belarus to train local troops, their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Wednesday.“We did a lot for Russia. What is happening at the front now is a disgrace. We want no part of it,” Prigozhin said in his first appearance since his troops marched on Moscow in a failed uprising last month. In a shaky mobile phone video shot at dusk, Prigozhin can be seen in silhouette wearing a baseball cap. He speaks to a crowd of men who appear to be Wagner fighters and break repeatedly into applause and cheers.“Therefore we have taken the decision to be in Belarus for a while. In this time, we will turn the Belarusian army into the second most powerful in the world and, if needed, we will take its place,” Prigozhin pursued, in a jab at Russia, which currently has the second largest army in the world.He then hinted hi...

Why Britain’s most prestigious bank canceled Nigel Farage

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

LONDON — He always said the U.K. establishment was out to get him. Now Nigel Farage has the receipts.Britain’s most prominent Brexiteer has produced a 12,000-word document from the bank Coutts which, according to Farage, reveals the truth behind the forced closure of his account there.The former Brexit Party leader has been embroiled in a row with the institution — so esteemed it has served successive generations of the royal family — after Coutts canceled his account earlier this month. Farage said at the time that no reason was given — but subsequent media reports, including on the BBC, cited a minimum wealth threshold Farage no longer met.Now an internal document from Coutts, obtained by Farage through a subject access request he made to the bank and published in full by the Daily Mail newspaper, shows it wanted to drop him as a client long before — and used his controversial public profile as justification. A briefing presented to the bank’s “reputational risk committee” s...

Commission to reopen chief economist vacancy after Scott Morton withdraws

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

It’s back to the drawing board for the European Commission after its proposed candidate for chief competition economist withdrew under withering criticism.Fiona Scott Morton, an American citizen who recently consulted for several Big Tech companies, wrote to Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager this morning she wouldn’t take up the position, “given the political controversy that has arisen because of the selection of a non-European to fill this position.” The Commission was under mounting pressure, including from French President Emmanuel Macron, to reverse its decision.With its preferred horse out of the race, the Commission has reopened the procedure. “Given the withdrawal of Dr. Morton, the Commission will, in due course, publish a new vacancy notice for the position of Chief Economist at DG Competition and conduct a new selection procedure,” spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said.It has little other choice: Commission spokesperson Arianna Pode...

Teenager killed, 3 others hospitalized after crash in Randolph

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

A teenager from Brockton was killed while three others were hospitalized after a vehicle went off of a road and hit a tree in Randolph Tuesday night.The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said Terry Boston, Jr., 15, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash that happened off of North Main Street.Randolph police were first called to the scene just before 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, where officials found a Nissan Altima had been travelling southbound when it left the road and crashed into a tree near 701 North Main St.According to the DA’s office, three passengers were injured, including a male who was taken to Boston Medical Center via helicopter and admitted to an intensive care unit. The two other passengers, both females, were taken to nearby hospitals via ambulance.“I join the Randolph Police in extending my condolences to young Mr. Boston’s family on this tragic loss of life,” Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said in a statement.Officials added that as o...

US soldier who crossed into North Korea has history of assault and detention

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

Seoul (CNN) — New details have emerged about a US soldier who crossed into North Korea on Tuesday – but his exact whereabouts remain a mystery since the secretive country hasn’t said a word about the incident.Court documents showed that Private Travis King, believed to be the first US soldier to cross into North Korea since 1982, had a history of assault, was facing disciplinary action over his conduct and was meant to go back to the US the day before the incident. An army official told CNN the private was set to be administratively separated from the US Army.Details about how exactly King ended up on the North Korean side of the border remain unclear.King had been on a tour of a border area as a civilian when he crossed the demarcation line.His motive is also a mystery. King’s mother, Claudine Gates, told ABC she was “shocked” after being told by the US Army that her son had crossed into North Korea.“I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Gates told ...

For Chicago Cubs reliever Julian Merryweather, locked-in mechanics and health has been a consistency game changer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

Staying healthy has been a challenge at times for right-hander Julian Merryweather.The Chicago Cubs’ reliever always possessed electric stuff, but his inconsistencies often stemmed from unreliable mechanics and struggles to stay off the injured list. Both areas have come together as Merryweather and the Cubs hoped when the organization claimed him off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays in January.“Staying within my delivery, my mechanics have had ups and downs this year, but I feel like when my mechanics are right everything comes from there,” Merryweather told the Tribune on Tuesday before the Cubs took a 17-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. “My lower half — legs and hips — really drive the whole delivery for me, just timing, my rhythm, everything comes from there, like all the velocity.”Merryweather’s emergence as a go-to option in high-leverage spots will likely have teams inquiring about the 31-year-old if the Cubs sell at t...

High-water rescue crews save people flooded in Kentucky as death toll rises in northeast US

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:40 GMT

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — High-water rescue crews pulled people from flooded homes and vehicles in Kentucky Wednesday, where waves of thunderstorms prompted flash flood warnings and watches. A search continued for two children swept away after torrential rains in the northeast.The National Weather Service estimated that as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could fall in the area where Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri meet at the convergence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.Atmospheric scientists say the global warming responsible for unrelenting heat in the Southwest also is making this kind of extreme rainfall a more frequent reality, because clouds hold more moisture as the temperature rises, resulting in more destructive storms. There were several reports of people being rescued from high water surrounding homes and vehicles in the Mayfield and Wingo areas early Wednesday, according to Keith Cooley, a senior forecaster with the weather service in Paducah, Kentucky. He ...