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An American economist is getting a top EU job. And France’s Macron isn’t happy about it

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — With French President Emmanuel Macron insisting the European Union needs more strategic independence, he seemed decidedly piqued on Tuesday over the EU head office’s plans to hire an American expert as its chief competition economist. “Is there really no great European researcher with academic qualifications that could do this job?” Macron asked at a summit of EU leaders with their Latin American counterparts. In a bloc of some 450 million people, “is there no one in the 27 member states that has a researcher good enough to advise the Commission? That is a real question mark,” Macron said. The EU’s executive Commission announced last week that it had appointed Yale economics professor Fiona Scott Morton as chief competition economist in its department tasked with ensuring that “all companies compete equally and fairly on their merits within the single market, to the benefit of consumers, businesses and the European economy as a whole.”Macron i...

A ‘person of interest’ is being held in Oregon deaths of 4 women after governor revokes commutation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A man considered a person of interest in the deaths of four women whose bodies were found in northwestern Oregon is being held in a state prison after Gov. Tina Kotek reinstated a prison sentence that was commuted by her predecessor.Jesse Lee Calhoun, 38, is a person of interest in the deaths of 22-year-old Kristin Smith, 24-year-old Charity Lynn Perry, 31-year-old Bridget Leann Webster and 22-year-old Ashley Real, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. The official requested anonymity Tuesday because they are not authorized to comment publicly on the case.The women’s bodies were found in wooded areas around Portland, Oregon, between February and May. Officials have not released any information about how the women died or why Calhoun is considered a person of interest in the investigation. He has not been charged.Calhoun did not immediately respond to an email sent through the Snake River Correctional Institution’s inmate comm...

James Patterson, Margaret Atwood among thousands of writers urging AI companies to honor copyrights

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — James Patterson, Suzanne Collins and Margaret Atwood are among thousands of writers endorsing an open letter from the Authors Guild urging AI companies to obtain permission before incorporating copyrighted work into their technologies. “Millions of copyrighted books, articles, essays, and poetry provide the ‘food’ for AI systems, endless meals for which there has been no bill,” the letter reads in part. “You’re spending billions of dollars to develop AI technology. It is only fair that you compensate us for using our writings, without which AI would be banal and extremely limited.”The letter is addressed to OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and other AI producers. The Guild announced Tuesday that other signers include the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelists Jennifer Egan, Michael Chabon and Louise Erdrich, as well as authors Jonathan Franzen, Celeste Ng, Nora Roberts and Ron Chernow.“If creators aren’t compensated fairly, they can’t afford to create,” Roberts sa...

Las Vegas police serve search warrant in Tupac Shakur murder investigation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Authorities in Nevada confirmed Tuesday that they served a search warrant this week in connection with the long-unsolved killing of rapper Tupac Shakur.Shakur was fatally shot in September 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was 25.The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the search warrant was executed in the nearby city of Henderson. The department did not provide further details on the search, citing the open investigation.Associated Press, The Associated Press

Liberty and tacos for all: Taco Bell prevails as Taco John’s abandons trademark to ‘Taco Tuesday’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Taco Bell rang up a win Tuesday in its quest to make “Taco Tuesday” free of trademark restrictions, with Taco John’s formally abandoning its decades-old claim to own the phrase amid a challenge from its bigger rival.In a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Cheyenne-based Taco John’s gave up any further claim to “Taco Tuesday” in 49 states, ending a high-profile spat with Taco Bell. But the dispute looks to keep simmering on the Jersey Shore, where Gregory’s Restaurant & Bar in Somers Point promised to keep fighting Taco Bell over the exclusive right to hold “Taco Tuesday” promotions in New Jersey.“We’re hanging in there. We’re sticking by our guns,” Gregory’s Restaurant & Bar attorney Stephen Altamuro said.While “Taco Tuesday” has become a well-known phrase often used at restaurants and elsewhere, Taco John’s has worked hard to defend its more than 40-year-old trademark of the term in the 49 states besides New Jerse...

Two European spyware firms added to US export blacklist

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Commerce Department added two Europe-based spyware companies to its technology export blacklist on Tuesday for developing surveillance tools deemed to have threatened U.S. national security as well as the privacy and integrity of individuals and organizations worldwide.Such tools are regularly used for political repression and other human rights abuses, including for spying on journalists and intimidating political dissidents.The sanctioned companies are in Greece-based Intellexa S.A., Hungary-based Cytrox and related entities in Ireland and Macedonia. Intellexa and Cytrox have been linked to Predator spyware, whose reported use in Greece helped precipitate the resignation last year of two top government officials, including the national intelligence director.Commercial spyware firms already on the Commerce Department’s so-called Entity List — essentially making it illegal for U.S. companies to do business with them — include Israel’s NSO Group...

Israel’s Herzog tells Biden its democracy remains sound amid US concerns over judicial overhaul

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel’s figurehead president Isaac Herzog sought to assure President Joe Biden that Israel remains committed to democracy amid deepening U.S. concerns over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plans to overhaul his country’s judicial system and ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank.Sitting by Biden’s side at the start of their Oval Office meeting on Tuesday, Herzog told Biden that Israel’s democracy remains “sound, strong” and “resilient” while acknowledging the country is going through a fractious moment. Herzog’s visit comes a day after Biden spoke with Netanyahu by phone and invited him to meet in the U.S. this fall, although the president expressed reservations about several of the Netanyahu hard-right coalition’s policies. Netanyahu’s government is pushing forward with judicial changes that have sparked widespread protest in Israel and he has authorized the construction of thousands of new housing un...

Canadian arrested by U.K. police at on suspicion of membership in terrorism group

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

OTTAWA — British police have arrested a Canadian man on suspicion of being a member of a terrorism group.The Metropolitan Police in London, England say counterterrorism detectives arrested a 28-year-old Canadian national at Heathrow Airport shortly after noon.They say the man had just arrived on a flight from Canada, and that the investigation related to the arrest hours earlier of a man in east London.Both men stand accused of membership in a proscribed terrorism organization, which could carry a sentence of up to 14 years in prison if charges are laid.The men are currently being held without a warrant, which can be done for a maximum of 48 hours under the U.K. Terrorism Act.In an email, Metropolitan Police say they are not naming the terrorism group as the investigation is ongoing, and that they would only confirm the identity of the people they arrested if they are charged with an offence.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2023.The Canadian Press

In backlash over their expulsions, 2 Tennessee Democratic lawmakers raised $2M combined

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee state Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones have raised more than $2 million combined through about 70,400 campaign donations after Republican lawmakers abruptly expelled the Democrats this spring for their gun control protest on the House floor.The vast majority of those small donations came over just a few days when the two had been kicked out, but not yet reinstated. If Republicans kept the two young Black House members in office, they would not have been allowed to fundraise as sitting lawmakers while a legislative session was ongoing.Instead, each of the two lawmakers saw a flood of campaign cash beyond the norm for even Republican legislative leaders to raise, let alone two freshman Democrats who are in the superminority.Campaign finance reports that were due by the end of Monday show how much Democrats capitalized on the national attention. Jones and Pearson were expelled over a breach of decorum rules for their protest calling for the GOP to...

Prosecutor cites risky investments as ‘grave’ violations, in closing of Vatican financial case

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:42 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican prosecutor insisted Tuesday that his indictments of 10 people, including a cardinal, for alleged financial crimes held up under two years of testimony, criticism and defense motions, as he began closing arguments in a trial that exposed the unseemly financial underbelly of the Holy See.Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi opened two weeks of hearings to summarize his case by accusing officials in the Vatican secretariat of state of committing “grave violations” of internal norms and canon law when they decided in 2012 to start investing the pope’s money in “highly speculative” investments, including in a 350 million euro (US $390 million) London real estate venture.“There’s not a single faithful (Catholic) who has donated a euro thinking that this euro would be used in speculative operations,” Diddi said, alleging that such canonical violations amounted to criminal abuse of office and embezzlement.The sprawling Vatican trial originated in the London deal but g...