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Photo giant Getty took a leading AI image-maker to court. Now it’s also embracing the technology

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

Anyone looking for a beautiful photograph of a desert landscape can find many choices from Getty Images, the stock photography collection. But say you’re instead looking for a wide angle shot of a “hot pink plastic saguaro cactus with large arms that stick out, surrounded by sand, in landscape at dawn.” Getty Images says you can now ask its artificial intelligence image-generator to make one on the spot. The Seattle-based company is taking a two-pronged approach to the threat and opportunity that AI poses to its business. First, it sued a leading purveyor of AI-generated images earlier this year for what it alleged was “brazen infringement” of Getty’s image collection “on a staggering scale.”But on Monday, it also joined the small but growing market of AI image makers with a new service that enables its customers to create novel images trained on Getty’s own vast library of human-made photos.The difference, said Getty Images CEO Craig Peters, is this new service is “comm...

Fresh fighting reported in Ethiopia’s Amhara region between military and local militiamen

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Fresh fighting erupted in the second-biggest town of Ethiopia’s turbulent Amhara region as militiamen clashed with the military over government plans to disarm local forces. Fighters from a militia called Fano fought against military units Sunday in the town of Gondar, an important tourist and commercial hub, residents told The Associated Press. “It was very heavy,” said one person reached by telephone who declined to give their name because of safety concerns. Calm had mostly been restored by Monday morning, with the military back in control of the town, although sporadic gunfire could still be heard, residents said. Shops were shut and the streets were empty.Other areas of Amhara, including the regional capital Bahir Dar and Lalibela, another important tourist town, did not see fighting, residents said Monday. Violence gripped Amhara, Ethiopia’s second-most populous state, in early August, with Fano fighters seizing control of several major towns and protest...

FDA skeptical of experimental ALS treatment pushed by patient advocates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration meets this week to consider approval of an experimental treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease, the culmination of a yearslong lobbying effort by patients with the fatal neurodegenerative disease.Those advocates still face one giant hurdle: FDA regulators say the treatment hasn’t been shown to work.In documents posted Monday, the FDA reiterated its longstanding position that drugmaker Brainstorm’s lone study doesn’t provide convincing evidence that its stem cell-based therapy helps patients with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.It’s the same message the FDA delivered to company executives in early 2021 when they first shared data on the treatment, dubbed NurOwn. And again last November, when the FDA refused to accept the company’s application for review.But with the backing of thousands of ALS patients, Brainstorm took the rare step of “filing over protest,” essentially forcing the agency to render a decision.“FDA...

A deputy police chief in Thailand cries foul after his home is raided for a gambling investigation

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand on Monday raided the Bangkok residence of one of the country’s four deputy national police chiefs, an action the target complained was intended to discredit him due to “politics inside the Royal Thai Police.”Police Gen. Surachate Hakparn is a contender to become the next chief of Thailand’s national police. The position is expected to be filled soon. The Royal Thai Police force has a tradition of fierce internal politicking, as well as a longstanding reputation for corruption at all levels.Trairong Phiwpan, a commander in the force’s Office of Legal Affairs and Litigation, said the search at the house where Surachate is living was part of an investigation following a bust of a major network of illegal online gambling operations. Four people were arrested in June and July in connection with the case. Arrest warrants were issued for another 23 people, Trairong said. They include eight police officers who were arrested Monday and are subord...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens lower, adding to September’s losses

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — More losses for stocks have September on track to be the worst month of the year for Wall Street. The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower early Monday, coming off its worst week in six months. The Dow fell 85 points and the Nasdaq composite gave back 0.6%. Stocks have struggled recently as the realization sinks in that the Federal Reserve will likely keep interest rates high well into next year. The Fed wants to ensure inflation gets back down to its target, and it said last week it will likely cut rates in 2024 by less than traders expected.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street inched lower early Monday following last week’s rout, the market’s worst stretch in six months. Futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.3% and futures for the Dow Jones industrials ticked down 0.2% before the bell.Worries over China’s property sector, a U.S. government shutdown and the continued strike by American autoworkers were weighing on markets. ...

A Molotov cocktail is thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there’s no significant damage

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least one Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there was no significant damage and no one was injured. U.S. law enforcement officials were investigating.Secret Service officers were called around 8 p.m. Sunday to respond to the attack on a busy street in the Adams-Morgan section of the city. Embassy officials reported that someone had thrown a “possible incendiary device” at the building, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Monday. There was no fire or significant damage to the building, he said. No arrests had been made. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on the X social media site that the Cuban Embassy “was the target of a terrorist attack by an individual who threw 2 Molotov cocktails,” a type of crude grenade made from a bottle filled with flammable liquid and a wick that’s lit just before it’s thrown. He said no one was injured. A spokesman for the Cuban Embassy did not immediately respond ...

RCMP demolish last structure at Quebec’s Roxham Road migrant crossing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

LACOLLE, Que. — The last RCMP building is coming down at Roxham Road, which became an unofficial border crossing used by more than 100,000 migrants crossing into Canada from Upstate New York to apply for asylum since 2017.The sound of crumpling metal filled the air Monday morning as demolition started on the structure located at the end of a rural road about 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal, by the United States border.RCMP Sgt. Charles Poirier says the temporary building has reached the end of its useful life because the flow of asylum seekers across the border has slowed dramatically in recent months.The unofficial crossing was shut down in late March after the U.S. and Canada closed a long-standing loophole in the 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement to make the deal apply to the 8,900 kilometres of shared border.Poirier says about 113,000 people used Roxham Road since 2017 to enter Quebec from the U.S. Now, he says, the number of migrants crossing irregularly has slowed to about...

1 person dead after being struck on Hwy. 400 southbound

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

One person has died after being struck by a vehicle on Highway 400 southbound just south of Innisfil Beach Road.Provincial police were called to the scene in the southbound lanes on Monday at 8:30 a.m.Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says the incident happened as a person was exiting a vehicle that had broken down in a live traffic lane on the right side of the highway. When they exited the vehicle, they were struck by a passing car.The incident happened in a construction zone where there was no shoulder to pull off into.Only one southbound lane at Innisfil Beach Road is currently open and heavy delays are expected in the area.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Oct. 1-7

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Oct. 1-7:Oct. 1: Actor-singer Julie Andrews is 88. Saxophonist Jerry Martini of Sly and the Family Stone is 80. Jazz bassist Dave Holland is 77. Actor Yvette Freeman (“ER”) is 73. Actor Randy Quaid is 73. Singer Howard Hewett of Shalamar is 68. Drummer Tim O’Reagan of The Jayhawks is 65. Singer Youssou N’Dour is 64. Actor Esai Morales (“NYPD Blue”) is 61. Actor Christopher Titus (“Titus”) is 59. Model-actor Cindy Margolis is 58. Singer-guitarist Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra is 55. Actor Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover”) is 54. Actor Sherri Saum (“The Fosters”) is 49. Actor Katie Aselton (“Legion,” “The League”) is 45. Actor Sarah Drew (“Grey’s Anatomy” ″Everwood”) is 43. Actor Carly Hughes (“American Housewife”) is 41. Comedian Beck Bennett (“Saturday Night Live”) is 39. Actor Jurnee Smollett (“Underground,” ″Wanda At Large”) is 37. Actor Brie Larson (“Lessons in Chemistry,” “Captain Marvel”) is 34. Singer Jade Bird is 26. Actor Priah Fergus...

Missing woman with dementia last seen leaving senior living community

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:06 GMT

CHICAGO — A woman with dementia is missing after leaving her senior living residence on Sunday.Maria Colon, 83, was last seen leaving Montclare Supportive Living Community, located in the 4300 block of West 18th Street, at around 4:18 p.m.Colon was wearing a pink hat, a white, pink and purple short and blue jeans. She has dementia and is 5'2" and weighs around 110 pounds, CPD said.Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call police at 312-746-8251.