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The death toll rises to 80 in Maui wildfires as survivors begin returning to communities in ruins

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Survivors witnessed a surreal landscape of flattened homes, blackened hulks of burned-out cars and ashy lots where buildings once stood as they took stock of their shattered lives in the aftermath of a fast-paced wildfire on the Hawaii island of Maui that authorities say killed at least 80 people.Anthony Garcia assessed the devastation as he stood under Lahaina’s iconic banyan tree, now charred, and swept twisted branches into neat piles next to another heap filled with dead animals: cats, roosters and other birds killed by the smoke and flames. Somehow it made sense in a world turned upside-down.“If I don’t do something, I’ll go nuts,” said Garcia, who lost everything he owned. “I’m losing my faith in God.”Garcia and other residents were faced with catastrophic destruction resulting from the wildfires that tore through parts of Maui this week and were still not fully contained Friday night.Maui County raised the number of confirmed deaths to 80 in a 9 p.m. st...

King of Jordan approves a bill to criminalize online speech. Human rights groups call it draconian

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

AMMAN (AP) — The King of Jordan approved a bill Saturday to punish online speech deemed harmful to national unity, according to the Jordanian state news agency, legislation that has drawn accusations from human rights groups of a crackdown on free expression in a country where censorship is on the rise.The measure makes certain online posts punishable with months of prison time and fines. These include comments “promoting, instigating, aiding, or inciting immorality,” demonstrating ”contempt for religion” or “undermining national unity.”It also punishes those who publish names or pictures of police officers online and outlaws certain methods of maintaining online anonymity.With the approval of King Abdullah II, the bill now becomes law — set to take effect one month after it is published in the state newspaper, Al-Rai. The newspaper is expected to publish the law tomorrow.After amending the bill to allow judges to choose between imposing prison time and fines, rather than ordering c...

A first-time senator from Baluchistan named caretaker prime minister to oversee Pakistan’s elections

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A first-time senator from Pakistan’s southwest will head the national caretaker government as the country moves towards parliamentary elections, the prime minister’s office said Saturday.Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar, from the southwest province of Baluchistan, will lead the government that oversees the elections. He was chosen following a second round of meetings between incumbent Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif and opposition leader Raja Riaz. Riaz told reporters that he was the one who suggested the name. Kakar’s nomination was later signed into effect by Pakistani President Arif Alvi.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif dissolved the parliament last week as its five-year term came to an end. Usually, such a step is a formality and a general election would typically have to be held within 90 days.Kakar is comparatively new in the political field. He has represented the province in the senate since 2018 as an independent candidate and is currently a member of the Baluchistan Aw...

Pope condemns ‘unjustifiable’ assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday strongly condemned the “unjustifiable” assassination of an Ecuadorian presidential candidate and urged all Ecuadorians to work together for peace.History’s first Latin American pope sent a telegram of condolence following the brazen assassination of Fernando Villavicencio at a political rally Wednesday in the capital Quito. The killing of a figure whose life work was fighting crime and corruption has focused global attention on Ecuador’s wave of violent deaths and the country’s vulnerability to crime.The Argentine Jesuit pope, who visited Ecuador in 2015 in one of the first trips of his pontificate, said he was praying for Villavicencio’s family and all Ecuador’s people.“Likewise, in the face of the suffering caused by unjustifiable violence, which he condemns with all his forces, His Holiness calls on all citizens and political forces to join in a common effort in favor of peace,” said the telegram, which was signed by the Vatican secretar...

Inside Austin Public Library's vinyl record collection and the event series showcasing it

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

Editor's note: The above video is from the first installment of the event series on Sunday, August 6. There are three more installments that will be held each Sunday of the month. AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Did you know you can check out more than just books from the Austin Public Library? How Austin Public Library’s used bookstore diverts 47K pounds of items from landfills each month APL's Carver Branch location houses a vinyl record collection of a few hundred records, spanning from a pressing of the first album from The Jackson 5 to jazz collections from the 60s and 70s.The Carver Branch of the Austin Public Library houses a vinyl record collection (KXAN Photo/Abigail Jones)The Carver Branch of the Austin Public Library houses a vinyl record collection (KXAN Photo/Abigail Jones)The Carver Branch of the Austin Public Library houses a vinyl record collection (KXAN Photo/Abigail Jones)The Carver Branch is the only of Austin Public Library's system of 20 locations that has vinyl records avai...

The searing heat and very high fire danger continue this weekend

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- You might want to stay up late (or get up very early Sunday morning) to see this year's Perseid meteor shower. A clear sky will allow for an excellent view of the show where up to 100 meteors will be zipping across the sky. Venture away from the city lights. The record for consecutive days of a high reaching 100° and higher is up to 35. There have been 51 days this season of triple-digit heat. There will be at least seven more added to both counts during the current 7-Day Forecast period.The average high temperature in August is 106°. There has been only one day this month with a higher under 105° (104° August 3).Weekend heat alertsThe Excessive Heat Warning for 13 counties and the Heat Advisory for Blanco and Gillespie Counties continue today and Sunday from 12:00 to 9:00 p.m. Very high to extreme wildfire danger continues this weekendThe Red Flag Warning continues for every county from noon to 11 p.m. both days. As fire danger remains critically high, make sure yo...

Sheriff: Pine County boy, 3, dead after finding gun, shooting himself

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

HINCKLEY, Minn. — The Pine County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating how a 3-year-old boy shot and killed himself Tuesday night after finding a handgun in his father’s house.Pine County sheriff’s deputies responded at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday to a home on the 500 block of First Street Southwest in Hinckley.According to an application for a search warrant filed by law enforcement, a man called Pine County dispatch “screaming for help,” saying “his son had shot himself.”The father and his roommate said they were in the basement when they heard something fall upstairs. Soon after, they heard a gunshot.They ran upstairs and found the boy lying in the roommate’s room with a gunshot wound to his head. The man “stated he had a 9mm handgun in his room and that was what [the child] got ahold of.”When investigators arrived, they found the child lying on a mattress in an upstairs bedroom.“Lying near the child was a black cell phone and a gun in question was lying on top of th...

Belwin Conservancy’s ‘Music in the Trees’ will bring nature and art together

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

Belwin Conservancy will host its fourth annual “Music in the Trees” next weekend featuring musicians performing from treetop perches 16 feet above the ground.Program director Susan Haugh says Belwin’s grove of red pine trees, which are not native to Minnesota this far south, have become iconic to students from St. Paul Public Schools who use Belwin as an educational nature venue.When the red pines began suffering from an engraver beetle infestation, Haugh decided something had to be done to raise awareness of the problem and inspire conservers to save the pines.To do that, Haugh wanted more eyes on the trees, and a musical performance seemed to be a perfect way to do just that.The public is welcome to admire the pines and look up to see musicians of various genres perform from stands supported 16 feet off the ground. Picnic blankets, hammocks and camp chairs are encouraged.This year’s “Music in the Trees” will feature Ritika Ganguly and Shinjan S...

Storms weaken, leaving rain and lightning in their wake

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- The storms have weakened below severe limits, but they continue to push across the southern third of the viewing area, bringing heavy rain and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning.These storms will exit to the south later this morning. A cold front lags behind these storms and will drop south this afternoon. We could see some redevelopment ahead of it, especially south of I-70. If storms redevelop, they do have the potential to become strong, at least briefly, with wind and hail being the main concerns. It will be hot and humid today, with highs in the low 90s and heat index readings around 100.Some uncertainty really comes into the forecast for tonight and Sunday. A weakening complex of storms could move through some of the region into Sunday morning, but the question comes as to their strength.These morning storms will lead to cloudiness through at least the morning of Sunday. The morning rain could also limit the severe potential for Sunday evening into early Monday as...

We’re using AI chatbots wrong. Here’s how to direct them.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:54:18 GMT

By Brian X. Chen, The New York Times CompanyAnyone seduced by AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard — wow, they can write essays and recipes! — eventually runs into what are known as hallucinations, the tendency for artificial intelligence to fabricate information.The chatbots, which guess what to say based on information obtained from all over the internet, can’t help but get things wrong. And when they fail — by publishing a cake recipe with wildly inaccurate flour measurements, for instance — it can be a real buzzkill.Yet as mainstream tech tools continue to integrate AI, it’s crucial to get a handle on how to use it to serve us. After testing dozens of AI products over the last two months, I concluded that most of us are using the technology in a suboptimal way, largely because the tech companies gave us poor directions.The chatbots are the least beneficial when we ask them questions and then hope whatever answers they come up with on their own are true, which is...