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EU negotiators strike political deal on AI Act

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

BRUSSELS — Members of the European Parliament, EU member countries represented by the Council, and experts from the European Commission have clinched a political deal on the Artificial Intelligence Act, the EU’s pioneering attempt at regulating the emerging technology.Following over 36 hours of negotiations over three days, representatives of the bloc’s three institutions have managed to reach an agreement on divisive topics such as predictive policing, facial recognition and the use of AI by law enforcement. It is expected that more technical work on the law’s text will be needed to refine tonight’s political agreement.“The EU becomes the very first continent to set clear rules for the use of AI,” Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton posted on X. “The [AI Act] is much more than a rulebook — it’s a launchpad for EU startups and researchers to lead the global AI race.”Lawmaker Dragoș Tudorache, one of the AI Act’s co-...

Growing memorial as community continues to mourn officer, worker killed in Waltham crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

A moving memorial outside the Waltham Police Department continued to grow Friday as community members continue to mourn the police officer and National Grid worker who were killed in a worksite crash that led to criminal charges against the driver.Residents continued to stop and lay flowers on a growing memorial outside the station, one day after Peter Simon, 54, of Woodsville, New Hampshire, was arraigned on charges including two counts of manslaughter in connection with the fatal crash and pursuit after stealing a police cruiser.Residents who spoke with 7NEWS expressed grief and anger over the senseless situation.“It’s so sad and I feel so sad for his wife and his children,” one resident said of the death of officer Paul Tracey, 58.According to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Simon was driving a pickup truck eastbound on Totten Pond Road near 4 p.m. when he began to make a U-turn. District Attorney Marian Ryan said Simon struck a vehicle while tryi...

2 deaf people robbed outside South Boston Burger King

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

A man is charged with robbing two deaf people at knifepoint in a Southie Burger King parking lot last month, and scaring them so badly that one of them suffered a fear-induced stroke.Christopher Jimenez-Nunez, 19, of Framingham — who already has a pending robbery case from October — was charged Wednesday in municipal court in South Boston with armed robbery with a firearm, armed robbery with a knife, and two counts of assault and battery in relation to the Nov. 15 incident.Judge John McDonald Jr. released Jimenez-Nunez on personal recognizance but ordered that the defendant be monitored by GPS tracking and be confined to his home except for work. Jimenez-Nunez is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 9.The victims, a man and woman, told police through a sign language interpreter that they had been walking by the restaurant when two men walked out of the restaurant and came at them with a knife and a gun, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.They say the men violently r...

Harvard body parts trafficking case: Scandal plaintiffs disappointed with report

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

Harvard’s commissioned report on how to improve its Anatomical Gifts Program that is at the heart of an alleged national human body parts trafficking ring has drawn more flack from plaintiffs in the lawsuit over the grisly ordeal.The university on Thursday released a summary report with 19 pages of substantive content in which a panel of three experts made a series of recommendations from operating procedure, enhanced bookkeeping and more robust security protocols. As the introduction to the report noted, they were working under directions not to look into the specifics of the alleged criminal matter but just how to fix the program itself.The lead attorney, Kathryn Barnett, in the class-action suit lodged against the university in Suffolk Superior Court expressed dissatisfaction when she spoke with the Herald Thursday, summarizing that “this entire situation is absolutely devastating for the families involved and they want some answers,” which she said the report didn’t include.On F...

Red Sox trading for two-time Gold Glove outfielder Tyler O’Neill

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

Two days after trading away an outfielder, the Red Sox are acquiring a new one.On Friday night, the club announced that they acquired outfielder Tyler O’Neill in exchange for right-hander Nick Robertson and minor league righty Victor Santos.O’Neill, 28, has spent his entire Major League career with the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s a career .248 average, .776 OPS hitter who walks at an above-average clip most seasons, but aside from his 34-homer performance in ’21, doesn’t hit for too much power. He has, however, homered on each of the last four Opening Days.Though not typically an everyday player – he’s played 72 games or less in four of his six big-league seasons – the addition of O’Neill improves Boston’s defense. He won back-to-back Gold Glove and Fielding Bible awards in the ’20 and ’21 seasons, and finished eighth in National League MVP voting in the latter. He’s a career plus-12 Outs Above Average defender with abo...

Arkansas man sentenced to 5 1/2 years for firebombing police cars during 2020 protests

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The ringleader of a group who admitted to firebombing several police cars in Arkansas during the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd has been sentenced to five and a half years in federal prison, while three of his co-defendants were sentenced to 18 months each.A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Mujera Benjamin Lung’aho, a North Little Rock community organizer and activist who pleaded guilty in August to one count of malicious destruction of a vehicle by means of fire, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Friday. Emily Nowlin, Aline Espinosa-Villegas and Renea Goddard were also sentenced in the case on Thursday. A fourth defendant, Brittany Dawn Jeffrey, was sentenced last year to time served after 17 months in pre-trial detention for her involvement.The defendants were charged in the firebombing and attempted firebombing of police cars in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Shannon Hills and the Arkansas State Police headquarters, and with defac...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom advances water tunnel project amid opposition from environmental groups

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A long-sought and disputed project in drought-prone California aimed at capturing more water during heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration finished an environmental review for an underground tunnel.The tunnel would be about 45 miles (72 kilometers) long and 36 feet (10.9 meters) wide, or large enough to carry more than 161 million gallons of water per hour. The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state’s water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live.The Newsom administration says the tunnel is a necessary upgrade of the state’s aging infrastructure because it will protect the water supply from earthquakes and capture more water from rainstorms known as atmospheric rivers that scientists say have been increasing because of climate change. But environmental groups, Native American tribes and other opponents say the project ...

Unifor ratifies agreement establishing pattern for energy workers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

CALGARY — Unifor says representatives from its energy locals have ratified a tentative agreement that sets a pattern for more than 7,500 workers.The workers are part of the union’s National Energy Program.In a press release Friday, Unifor says it reached the three-year agreement with Suncor.To complete the process, local unions will supplement the national pattern by negotiating over specific local issues. These locals include multiple terminals and refineries across the country. Unifor national president Lana Payne says it was a difficult round of bargaining. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:SU)The Canadian Press

New Mexico’s delegation outraged at removal of expand nuclear radiation compensation from proposal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — All members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation expressed outrage with the U.S. House leadership’s move to block compensation for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing and the mining of uranium during the Cold War.Originally, the bill expanded eligibility for compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, offering up tens of thousands of dollars in compensation to residents of New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Guam and Missouri — as well as those in some parts of Arizona, Nevada and Utah — who suffered the effects of nuclear testing or uranium mines and who are not covered under the current program.The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the compensation was included in a massive defense spending bill that won Senate approval in July. But the GOP-controlled House removed those provisions from the act Wednesday, rendering New Mexicans — including those stricken with ailments from the radioactive fallout of the firs...

Kevin McCarthy endorses Trump for president and would consider serving in his Cabinet

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:45:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Retiring Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the ousted former House speaker, said he is endorsing Donald Trump for president and would consider serving in his Cabinet if the GOP front-runner were to win back the White House.McCarthy had a rocky relationship with the former president, notably when he declined to publicly support Trump’s bid for a second term, despite being one of his earliest and most loyal allies. But they always seem to patch things up, and as McCarthy prepares to leave Congress he gave his nod.“I will support the president. I will support President Trump,” McCarthy said in excerpts of an interview to air this weekend on “CBS News Sunday Morning.”McCarthy has not disclosed his post-Congress plans, but asked if he would willing to serve in a Trump cabinet, he said, “In the right position, look, if, if I’m the best person for the job, yes.”“Look, I worked with President Trump on a lot of policies. I, we, worked together to win the majority,” he t...