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Britain’s MI6 chief says his spies are using AI to disrupt flow of weapons to Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — British spies are already using artificial intelligence to hamper the supply of weapons to Russia, the head of Britain’s MI6 agency said Wednesday, predicting that Western spies will increasingly have to focus on tracking the malign use of AI by hostile states.In a speech that depicted machine learning as both a huge potential asset and a major threat, Richard Moore said his staff at Britain’s foreign intelligence agency “are combining their skills with AI and bulk data to identify and disrupt the flow of weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine.”Calling China the “single most important strategic focus” for his agency, Moore said, “we will increasingly be tasked with obtaining intelligence on how hostile states are using AI in damaging, reckless and unethical ways.”Moore, who has previously warned that the West was falling behind rivals in the AI race, said his service “together with our allies, intends to win the race to master the ethical and...

Chinese e-retailer Temu files lawsuit in US against rival Shein, alleging antitrust violations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese e-commerce retailer Temu has filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts accusing its rival Shein of violating U.S. antitrust law by preventing garment makers from working with it.Temu, which is owned by popular Chinese e-commerce site Pinduoduo Inc., is alleging that Shein has compelled clothing manufacturers to submit to unfair supply chain arrangements preventing them from working with Temu after it entered the U.S. market in 2022.Shein (SHE-in) and Temu (TEE-mu) are fast-rising online shopping platforms. Shein has grabbed the largest share of the fast fashion market in the U.S., at over 50%, according to Temu’s complaint. Temu is the most downloaded app in the U.S., according to the website data.ai, formerly App Annie, which tracks app rankings. It offers everything from apparel to household goods at similarly competitive prices.“Shein has engaged in a campaign of threats, intimidation, false assertions of infringement, and attempts to impose baseless punitiv...

Russia launches intense nighttime attacks across Ukraine, targeting the southern port city of Odesa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched an intense series of nighttime air attacks sending drones and missiles toward places across Ukraine, targeting the southern port city of Odesa for a second night in a row, wounding at least 12, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian emergency officials in Crimea said that more than 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages because of a fire at a military facility. The fire also caused the closure of an important highway, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed head of the peninsula, which was annexed in 2014. He didn’t specify a cause for the fire at the facility in Kirovsky district, which came two days after an attack on a bridge linking Russia to Crimea that the Kremlin has blamed on Ukraine. “A difficult night of air attacks for all of Ukraine,” Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said in a statement on Telegram. Ukrainian authorities reported more drones and missiles sent against...

Nuke plans getting updated and BC port workers back on strike: In The News for today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today.Nuclear threat prompts Feds review of fallout readinessCanada is dusting off and updating emergency protocols to deal with fallout from a possible tactical nuclear exchange in Europe or the spread of radiation across the ocean from a Ukrainian power plant explosion.Internal Public Safety Canada notes show the measures include updating a highly secret plan to ensure the federal government can continue to function in a severe crisis. Ottawa was also taking steps to finalize a protocol for advising the Canadian public of an incoming ballistic missile, say the notes obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year prompted a series of federal discussions and initiatives aimed at bolstering Canada’s preparedness for a catastrophic nuclear event. —Strike resumes, shutting down B.C. port...

German director of Florence’s Academy Gallery who defended David’s image fears for museum’s future

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

MILAN (AP) — The German director of Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia has succeeded in drawing visitors’ attention to masterpieces beyond Michelangelo’s towering David, while winning landmark court cases to protect the marble masterpiece’s familiar image against misuse.But even as Cecilie Hollberg highlights her achievements at Italy’s second-most-visited museum since arriving in 2015, rumors circulate that Italy’s far-right-led government intends to revoke the museum’s independence once more, potentially draining resources and energy after eight years of innovations. It would be deja vu all over again. In 2019, another right-wing government put the Accademia under the control of another Florence landmark, the Uffizi museum, and fired Hollberg on short notice. She was reinstated the following year and the Accademia’s autonomy restored after that government fell.Hollberg said she can’t explain why the Accademia’s role as an independent museum is again under s...

‘Freddie the Flyer’ chronicles exploits of the North’s first Indigenous pilot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

INUVIK, N.W.T. — Across the pages of a picture book, the northern lights dance over the Arctic landscape with brush strokes of bold colour, as caribou and muskox graze on the tundra and a bush pilot takes to the skies. As the pilot flies across the Mackenzie Delta, he rescues a stranded prospector from a blizzard, packs a team of smelly sled dogs on board and picks up a pregnant woman who gives birth as he lands. “Freddie the Flyer” chronicles the real exploits of Fred Carmichael, the first Indigenous commercial pilot in the Canadian Arctic. Now 88 and living in Inuvik, N.W.T., Carmichael, who co-authored the book with Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, said he hopes it will help kids pursue their dreams. “If they want to be a pilot or anything else you really want to do, you need to find the people to help you get started,” he wrote in an email.“There are always people out there like me willing to help. I was able to go from a dog-team to an airplane before I ...

Nuclear threat from Ukraine war prompts Ottawa to update plans for catastrophe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada is dusting off and updating emergency protocols to deal with fallout from a possible tactical nuclear exchange in Europe or the spread of radiation across the ocean from a Ukrainian power plant explosion.Internal Public Safety Canada notes show the measures include updating a highly secret plan to ensure the federal government can continue to function in a severe crisis. Ottawa was also taking steps to finalize a protocol for advising the Canadian public of an incoming ballistic missile, say the notes obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year prompted a series of federal discussions and initiatives aimed at bolstering Canada’s preparedness for a catastrophic nuclear event. Public Safety notes prepared in advance of an August 2022 meeting of senior bureaucrats involved in emergency management show much of the concern focused on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, whi...

More military expected to deploy to help B.C. wildfire fight, minister says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

VANCOUVER — More soldiers are expected to be deployed today to help firefighters battle the nearly 400 active wildfires in British Columbia. Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma says 75 military members are heading to Burns Lake, in central B.C., to join 75 others who were sent to nearby Vanderhoof yesterdayas part of federal assistance in the province’s wildfire fight.Ma says forecasters are expecting an increase in fire activity, as shifting winds lead to clearer skies, higher temperatures, and lower humidity.The province has already set a record for the total area burned in a year with about 14,000 square kilometres scorched across B.C.BC Wildfire Service officials say the season has not yet hit its peak and they are warning that the drought that has helped fuel the flames this season could roll into next year, potentially causing the 2024 fire season to start early.A provincial drought bulletin shows 18 of the province’s 34 water basins are at drought Level 4, mea...

RCMP or Surrey Police Service? The B.C. government to reveal its decision today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government is set to reveal its decision today on which force will police the City of Surrey, potentially ending a political tug of war over whether it will be the RCMP or an independent department.Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, who is also the province’s public safety minister, says whether he decides to allow Surrey to revert to the RCMP or continue its transition to the municipal Surrey Police Service, he’s confident officers with either force will continue to do excellent work.Uncertainty around policing in Surrey has swirled since October, after the election of Mayor Brenda Locke who campaigned on a promise to stop the city’s transition to the municipal force and go back to the RCMP.A government report recommended last spring against moving back to the Mounties, citing concerns over public safety and the high number of job vacancies within the RCMP, but Surrey council rejected the report and pledged to go back to the RCMP.The...

B.C. ports shut down again as union rejects tentative deal, resumes strike action

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:42 GMT

VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s ports are facing an uncertain future after the longshore workers union rejected a tentative mediated deal and resumed strike action that had been put to a temporary halt only last week.The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada says in Tuesday’s decision to go back to picket lines that “employers have not addressed the cost of living issues” faced by workers in the last few years.The union representing about 7,400 workers who were previously on strike from July 1 to 13 says its priority has always been to protect its jurisdiction, and that position “has not changed.”University of British Columbia professor emeritus Mark Thompson says the situation is now in “uncharted territory” because the strike is unusually long for Vancouver. Thompson says the federal government has been very reluctant to enact back-to-work legislation in labour disputes, but strikes disrupting the Port of Vancouver — Cana...