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B.C.’s chief coroner exits, frustrated and disappointed with government’s OD response

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says she’s a hopeful person, but she is leaving her office frustrated and disappointed.Angry, even.Lapointe has been at the forefront of the province’s battle against toxic drug overdoses for years, but she said the public health emergency that was declared in 2016 never received a “a co-ordinated response commensurate with the size of this crisis.”Instead, she lamented a “one-off, beds and projects” response to the emergency that the B.C. Coroners Service says has claimed more than more than 13,000 lives.“We see these ad hoc announcements but sadly what we haven’t seen is a thoughtful, evidence-based, data-driven plan for how we are going to reduce the number of deaths in our province,” said Lapointe in an interview Monday.Lapointe, who retires in February, said she was particularly worried about what she feared was the creep of politics into vital public health dec...

Don’t get lost in the ‘distant sci-fi’: Cohere prefers to focus on AI’s simpler side

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

TORONTO — In a world where artificial intelligence has helped professional soccer teams develop game strategies, created a fake viral tune reminiscent of Drake and The Weeknd and played brewmaster, Nick Frosst loves the simpler uses of the technology. The Cohere co-founder’s eyes light up as he sits in his AI company’s Toronto meeting and games room on a dreary day in late November discussing how AI has made it possible to extract information from resumés, cutting out the tedium of filling out job application questionnaires.“The mundane use cases are the ones that I’m like, ‘Hell yeah,'” said Frosst.“That’s real value. We’ve solved the problem for somebody.”Cohere develops AI for enterprise use, meaning it helps businesses build powerful applications by using large language models (LLMs) — algorithms that use massive data sets to recognize, translate, predict or generate text and other content.But these days, the buzz aroun...

Upcoming lunar mission highlights busy stretch for Canadian astronauts, space agency

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

MONTREAL — Less than a year away from a historic trip around the moon, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen says humankind’s upcoming missions to further explore deep space will inspire future generations, just as NASA’s Apollo expeditions sparked his passion.Hansen will be on board Artemis II, slated to launch in November 2024, the first crewed voyage to lunar space since the final Apollo mission more than half a century ago.Although Hansen, 47, was born a few years after NASA’s Apollo program ended, he still recalls the impact of seeing a photograph in an encyclopedia of U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon.“That picture is still burned in my brain. I went back to that page so many times as a kid to look at it, and the realization that humans had left Earth and walked on the moon was a big deal to me. I turned my tree house into a spaceship and started exploring space in my imagination and just never really gave up on that dream of one day flying out there,&#...

AI-generated hoaxes pose a ‘persistent threat’ to public safety: intel analysis

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

OTTAWA — Violent extremists who lack the means to carry out an attack in Canada could compensate by perpetrating hoaxes with the help of artificial intelligence, says a newly released analysis.The May report by the federal Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, obtained through the Access to Information Act, warns that such visual trickery, known as a deepfake, poses “a persistent threat to public safety.”The assessment centre’s report was prompted by an image of dark smoke rising near the U.S. Pentagon that appeared May 22 on social media, causing stocks to drop temporarily. Officials confirmed there was no emergency.Synthetic images, video and audio are becoming easier to generate through applications driven by artificial intelligence, allowing people to spread false information and sow confusion.The centre, which employs members of the security and intelligence community, predicted threat actors would “almost certainly” create deepfake images depict...

Ethiopia arrests former peace minister over alleged links to an outlawed rebel group

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s peace minister has been fired and arrested for having alleged links to an outlawed rebel group after he made a series of social media posts criticizing the government.Federal police released a statement Tuesday accusing Taye Dendea of “collaborating with anti-peace forces that are trying to destroy Ethiopia” and of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Army, which is banned as a terrorist organization.The statement was published alongside several photos showing firearms, identity documents, mobile phones and OLA flags that police said were seized from Taye’s home.The OLA is waging a long-running insurgency against the government. It claims to be fighting for greater representation for the Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, but has been accused of ethnic-based attacks on other groups.Human rights groups, meanwhile, have accused the government of targeting civilians in its military campaign against the OLA.Taye, an ethnic Oromo, is a senior mem...

Daily horoscope for December 13, 2023

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

Moon Alert: Avoid shopping or important decisions from 1:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. EST (12:01 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. PST). After that, the Moon moves from Sagittarius into Capricorn.Happy Birthday for Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023:You are confident, resourceful and tenacious. You are a perfectionist when it comes to details. This year brought a major change into your life. In 2024, focus on family responsibilities and service to others. To do this, it’s important to take care of yourself. Is it time for a makeover?ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★★People notice you today. In particular, they will notice your success in dealing with finances, as well as handling the things that you own. Talk to parents, bosses and VIPs to finish a project that relates to your job or financial matters that might concern you. Tonight: Impress others.TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★★★★This is the perfect time to finish papers, manuscripts and important writing projects. It’s also a good time to study the past and wr...

Commission approves €2.6 billion state aid to RWE for early closure of lignite-fired power plants in Germany

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

The European Commission has found a €2.6 billion German support measure in favour of RWE Power AG (‘RWE') to be in line with EU state aid rules. The aid will compensate RWE for the early phase-out of its lignite-fired power plants in the Rhenish mining area.According to the German coal phase-out law, the use of coal for the production of electricity will have to phase-out by 2038. Germany decided to enter into agreements with the main producers of lignite-fired electricity, RWE and Lausitz Energie Kraftwerke AG (‘LEAG'), to encourage the early closure of lignite-fired power plants. In 2021, it notified the Commission of its plan to compensate these operators with €4.35bn: €2.6bn was earmarked for the RWE lignite installations located in the Rheinland and €1.75bn for the LEAG installations in the Lausitz. In March 2021, the Commission opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether Germany's plans amounted to state aid. In December 2022, Germany notified to the Commission an amend...

EU agrees 2024 fishing opportunities with Norway and UK worth over €1 billion to EU fishers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

Late on Friday (8 December), the EU reached agreements with Norway and the United Kingdom on fishing opportunities for 2024.The agreement with the UK covers 85 total allowable catches in the Northeast Atlantic. It secures fishing opportunities of almost 388,000 tonnes for the EU fleet, estimated to be worth around €1 billion based on historic wholesale prices, adjusted for inflation.The agreement will contribute to the sustainable management of fish stocks jointly managed by the parties, as well as provide stability and predictability for the respective fleets and operators.The agreement was reached under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) after the fourth annual consultations on fishing opportunities between both parties. The EU based its positions on its legal framework, including sea-basin related multiannual plans. The negotiations were guided by the best available scientific advice on the status of fish stocks. Socioeconomic considerations were ...

Is the secrecy of arbitration enabling behaviour which perverts the course of justice?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

Given the broad and sustained trend toward transparency in the corporate sector, what to make of the privacy and secrecy attached to the increased use of arbitration as a means to settle knotty disputes?The relative merits of arbitration vs. litigation are, of course, by now well-known. As any lawyer could tell you, arbitration offers more flexibility than litigation (at less cost) and can be written into commercial agreements. It also affords a measure of privacy that is impossible to deliver via an open court process. The arbitration process can, for example, help a smaller business keep their secret sauce away from the open market as they settle a dispute. But are some companies now abusing the privacy of arbitration - and the secrecy it promotes - in the search for large awards?Whatever the particulars of pursuing arbitration in any single case, the stakes in aggregate are immense, secret or otherwise. They might not be $50bn immense, as in the famous 2014 Yukos arbitration vs. ...

Harriette Cole: He hasn’t told his therapist about this big problem

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:02 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: I have a friend who drinks a bit too much. He does not get drunk every day, but he does have wine or beer frequently and does not eat as much as he should.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: My mom’s rule kept me stuck at home for the holiday break Advice | Harriette Cole: I can see myself skipping class a lot this winter Advice | Harriette Cole: I can’t get my home organized. What am I doing wrong? Advice | Harriette Cole: This person’s remarks are affecting my confidence on the court Advice | Harriette Cole: I’d rather not get a new boyfriend if I can improve my current one I do not want to get into his business too much because he is going through something right now, but his coping mechanisms are not the healthiest. He said that he was seeking therapy, but he has not brought up drinking as one of his concerns.It is not to the point of staging an interventi...