September 21, 2024 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Generative artificial intelligence is playing a major role in the presidential campaign, even if the greatest fears about how it could threaten the U.S. presidential election haven’t materialized yet. Fake AI-generated images regularly ricochet around the web. Many of them are so cartoonish and absurd that even the most naïve viewer couldn’t take them seriously. Still, even these memes can be problematic. Eye-catching AI-generated photos and videos, some striving to be funny, have become useful tools for spreading false, sometimes racist messages with a clear political bent — and candidates and their supporters are among those sharing them on social media.
November 23, 2023 4:11 am
The oil and gas sector, one of the major emitters of planet-warming gases, will need a rapid and substantial overhaul for the world to avoid even worse extremes fueled by human-caused climate change. That’s according to a report released Thursday. The International Energy Agency says the current investment of $800 billion a year for the oil and gas sector will need to be slashed in half and emissions need to fall by 60% to give the world a fighting chance to meet its climate goals. It also found that the sector’s investment into clean technologies like solar and wind only account for 1% of the global total.
January 2, 2023 3:22 am
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will hold a special mass commemorating the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who died Saturday at the age of 95. A mass with Bishop Larry J. Kulick was held at 11:45 Monday morning at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg. Bishop David Zubik of the Diocese of Pittsburgh says a mass will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Saint Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh, the same day that Pope Benedict will be laid to rest at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Zubik highlighted the former pope’s historic decision to resign when he could no longer fulfill his duties to the best of his ability. “The way that he has lived quietly, in a brotherly friendship with his successor, Pope Francis, is a model for all Catholics to follow as we continue to journey together in service to Jesus and His church,” he said. (Photo: WPXI)
February 19, 2022 12:32 pm
PARIS (AP) – French prosecutors say a modeling agent who was close to disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead Saturday in his French jail cell. Agent Jean-Luc Brunel was being held in an investigation into the rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation. The French investigation was prompted by sex-trafficking charges against Epstein in the U.S., and Brunel was considered central to the probe. Paris police opened an investigation into Brunel’s death. Victims of alleged abuse by Brunel described his death as a double blow, after Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial. áOne lawyer said there is “great disappointment, great frustration that (the victims) won’t get justice.”
March 27, 2021 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is including rivals Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China among the invitees to the first big climate talks of his administration. The U.S. hopes the event will help shape, speed up and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution. The president is trying to revive a U.S.-convened forum of the world’s major economies on climate that George W. Bush and Barack Obama both used and Donald Trump let languish. Leaders of some of the world’s top climate-change sufferers, do-gooders and backsliders round out the rest of the 40 invitations being delivered Friday. It will be held virtually April 22 and 23.
May 28, 2020 4:03 am
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – The U.S. has surpassed a jarring milestone in the coronavirus pandemic: 100,000 deaths. That number Wednesday is the best estimate and most assuredly an undercount. But it represents the stark reality that more Americans have died from the virus than from the Vietnam and Korea wars combined. According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, the virus has infected more than 5.6 million people worldwide and killed over 350,000. The U.S. has the most infections and deaths by far. Early on, President Donald Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and predicted the country wouldn’t reach this death toll.
August 8, 2019 3:49 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Jerry Sandusky will be taken from prison to a central Pennsylvania courtroom next month for resentencing on his 45-count child sexual abuse conviction, six months after a state appeals court ruled mandatory minimums had been improperly applied. Judge John Foradora filed an order Wednesday scheduling the proceeding for Sept. 23 in the Centre County Courthouse. Foradora also directed the county sheriff to arrange for the 75-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach to be transported to the hearing from his cell in the State Correctional Institution at Laurel Highlands. Sandusky had been sentenced to 30 to 60 years for child molestation. The state Supreme Court last month declined to grant him a chance to argue he deserves a new trial. Sandusky was convicted of the sexual abuse of 10 boys.
September 21, 2024 4:18 am
ATLANTA (AP) — For the first time since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris has given a speech focused squarely on abortion rights. She did so Friday in Georgia, where she highlighted the death of a woman who developed sepsis while waiting for a routine procedure. Her speech described Republican candidate Donald Trump as a threat to women’s freedom and their very lives, calling such deaths preventable and predictable. Harris’ campaign is hoping reproductive rights will be a strong motivator for Democrats in the November election. Trump, meanwhile, continues to take credit for appointing Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Harris held a rally later Friday in the swing state of Wisconsin.
November 23, 2023 4:08 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Qatar says a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war will begin at 7 a.m. Friday, with aid “going in as soon as possible.” A spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, made the announcement in a news conference in Doha, Qatar. The cease-fire had been anticipated after a deal was reached, though details were still being sorted out over the last day. Spokesman Majed al-Ansari said the first batch of captive civilians will be delivered around 4 p.m., including 13 women and children.
January 2, 2023 1:02 am
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A suspect arrested in connection with the slayings of four University of Idaho students plans to waive his extradition hearing so he can be quickly brought to Idaho to face murder charges. That is according to his defense attorney. Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania arrested Bryan Christopher Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student at Washington State University, on Friday. Kohberger defense attorney Jason LaBar said Saturday that Kohberger is eager to be exonerated, and said people should wait to pass judgment until after a fair trial. Moscow Police Captain Anthony Dahlinger said Saturday that investigators believe Kohberger is the person responsible for all four of the killings. Dahlinger says more information will be released once Kohberger is returned to Idaho.
