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US says intelligence shows Russia stirring unrest in Moldova

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that people with ties to Russian intelligence are planning to stage protests in hopes of toppling the Moldovan government, according to the White House.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the intelligence shows that actors, some connected with Russian intelligence, are seeking to stage and use protests in Moldova as a basis to foment an insurrection against Moldova’s new pro-Western government.Kirby said the intelligence shows that another set of Russian actors would provide training and help manufacture demonstrations in Moldova, which was granted European Union candidate status in June, on the same day as Ukraine, its war-torn neighbor. The publicizing of the alleged malign operation by Moscow in Moldova is just the latest example of the Biden administration loosening restrictions on and making public intelligence findings over the course of the grinding war in Ukraine. The administrati...

Connecticut rest stop workers due $2.7M in wages: lawsuit

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut is suing the operator of the state’s 23 highway rest stops, alleging the company is refusing to pay more than $2.7 million in back wages owed to food service workers for Subway, Dunkin’ and other restaurant chains, state Attorney General William Tong announced Friday.The state labor commissioner’s lawsuit was filed against New Haven-based Project Service, which runs the service plazas along interstates 95 and 395 and Route 15. The company is responsible for any failure of its subcontractors to follow wage laws and other legal requirements, according to the lawsuit filed in Hartford Superior Court.The lawsuit alleges that from 2017 to 2019, the plaza workers were not paid the state’s “standard wage,” an amount for certain state contractor employees that typically is a few dollars per hour higher than the state’s minimum wage. A state investigation found more than 2,000 workers were underpaid, Tong said.Project Ser...

Why would Russia use hypersonic missile in strike on Ukraine

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

The latest Russian missile barrage against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure has marked one of the largest such attacks in months.On Thursday, Russia fired over 80 missiles in a massive effort to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and cripple the country’s energy system.Russia has been regularly launching similar strikes since Octothe population and force the Ukrainian government ber in a bid to demoralize to bow to the Kremlin’s demands.Thursday’s strikes differed from earlier attacks, though, by including a larger number of sophisticated hypersonic missiles that are the most advanced weapons in the Russian arsenal. But just like previous such barrages it has failed to cause lasting damage to the country’s energy network, with repair crews quickly restoring power supplies to most regions.Here is a look at the latest Russian missile attack and the weapons involved.WHAT DID UKRAINIAN AND RUSSIAN OFFICIALS SAY?Ukraine’s military chief, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhny...

Brock grad student exploring diagnosing lower back pain with articifical intelligence

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

Lower back pain is a very common disorder and that’s why one Kinesiology graduate student from Brock University is trying to explore diagnosing it with artificial intelligence (AI).“With limited access in research equipment, medical imaging technology and my interest in artificial intelligence, I was inspired to create a diagnostic tool that is effective and accessible for those with lower back pain,” said student Carl Alano.Alano tore his ACL three years ago and that experience on top of other barriers that delayed the process of getting a correct diagnosis led him to his research.“That experience was pretty bad as there is very limited access to an MRI machine so with that limited access, I was misdiagnosed and re-injured 2 times after my injury and it wasn’t a year later that I was able to use the MRI machine,” explained Alano.The long wait times to get seen by doctors and overcrowded hospitals were just some problems made worse by the pandemic...

Floods, heavy snow hit California during atmospheric storms

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Evacuations were ordered Friday in Northern California after a new atmospheric river brought heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds, swelling rivers and creeks and flooding several major highways during the morning commute.In Santa Cruz County, a creek bloated by rain destroyed a portion of Main Street in Soquel, a town of 10,000 people, isolating several neighborhoods. Crews were working to remove trees and other debris and find a way for people to cross the creek, county officials said. County authorities asked the town’s residents to stay indoors. To the southeast in Watsonville, officials ordered people in low-lying areas to evacuate.Heather Wingfield, a teacher who runs a small urban farm with her husband in Soquel, said she and her neighbors were, for the time being, trapped in their homes as Bates Creek rushed through what was once Main Street.“It’s horrible,” she said. “Hopefully no one has a medical emergency.”Wingfield said her neighbors...

Cartel letter doesn’t dull pain for Americans’ families

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

LAKE CITY, S.C. (AP) — Relatives of Americans abducted in Mexico said that a purported apology from the Mexican cartel blamed for the attack has done little to dull the pain of their loved ones being killed or wounded. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement official, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros where the Americans were kidnapped, the Mexican woman who died in the cartel shootout, and the four Americans and their families.But later in the day, the father of Shaeed Woodard, one of the two Americans who died, said he was speechless upon hearing that the cartel had apologized for the violent abduction captured in video which quickly spread online. “I’ve just been trying to make sense out of it for a whole week. Just restless, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat. It’s just crazy to see your own child taken from you in such a way, in a violent way like that. He didn’t deserve it,” James Woodard...

When Hollywood needs a movie villain, the tech bro answers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — “A toast to the disruptors,” Edward Norton’s tech billionaire says in Rian Johnson’s Oscar-nominated “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” And why not a toast? Sunday’s Academy Awards won’t give a prize for best villain, but if they did, Miles Bron would win it in a walk. (With apologies to the cloud of “Nope.”) He is an immediately recognizable type we’ve grown well acquainted with: a visionary (or so everyone says), a social media narcissist, a self-styled disrupter who talks a lot about “breaking stuff.” Miles Bron is just the latest in a long line of Hollywood’s favorite villain: the tech bro. Looking north to Silicon Valley, the movie industry has found perhaps its richest resource of big-screen antagonists since Soviet-era Russia. Great movie villains don’t come along often. The best-picture nominated “Top Gun: Maverick,” like its predecessor, was content to battle with a faceless enemy of unspecified nationality. Why antagonize international ticket buyers...

Google says it will stop blocking Canadian news links next week

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

Google will stop blocking news links next week following a five-week test that limited access to news for some Canadian users, the company confirmed Friday.The test began in early February and affected users were prevented from seeing news links on Google’s search engine and Discover panel on Android phones.The company said the test was meant to assess the impacts of a potential response to Bill C-18, the Liberal government’s controversial Online News Act.“I want to underline that these are just tests. No decisions have been made about product changes. We’re simply doing our due diligence in the most responsible way possible,” said Jason Kee, public policy manager for Google.Kee attended the House of Commons heritage committee meeting on Friday virtually alongside the head of Google Canada. Company executives were summoned to the meeting by MPs who are studying Google’s activities in reaction to the Online News Act.Sabrina Geremia said the bill, w...

CPS students compete in Midwest robotics competition against Turkey, South Africa

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

CHICAGO — Students from seven different Chicago Public Schools are competing in the biggest robotic competition in the Midwest.Friday, the stadium at Credit Union 1 Arena was filled with judges, ref and many students from neighboring Canada and all the way from Turkey and South Africa.Each team built a 150-pound robot that measures close to seven feet tall.For two and a half minutes per round, the student-controlled robots will play ten knock out rounds of basketball scrimmage on a half-court. The top teams to make it through would face off in a championship round Saturday afternoon. Northwestern students help Parkinson’s patients put pen to paper Teams have been working on their robots for the last eight weeks and will compete in a series of games and challenges over the course of the two days.The competition goes until Saturday evening. The winner will go on to the 2023 first Robotics World Championship event in Houston next month.

Biden unveils budget proposal ahead of Republican-controlled House battle

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:55:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar) – President Biden traveled to Philadelphia Thursday to pitch his budget proposal directly to Americans at a union training center, while it’s Republican lawmakers he has to convince to pass it.As President Biden says his plan will benefit Americans in many ways, Republicans are outright rejecting it because of the plans for new spending and new taxes on the wealthy.“My dad would say ‘No, no, show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value,” President Biden said. “So, my budget reflects what we can do to lift the burden on hard-working Americans.”The president says while he intends to continue battling inflation, his budget proposal would help Americans in other ways too. For example, his budget would restore the expanded Child Tax Credit -- giving families up to $3,600 per child instead of $2,000.The plan would also cap insulin prices at $35 dollars a month for everyone, not just Medicare recipients.“It fits the need of American families to a 'T,'” Sen. Chu...