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36 bodies found inside well after collapse at Indian temple

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

By ASHOK SHARMA (Associated Press)NEW DELHI (AP) — Thirty-six bodies have been found inside a well at a Hindu temple in central India after dozens of people attending a festival fell into the muddy water when its cover collapsed, officials said Friday.Video of Thursday’s collapse at the temple complex in Indore in Madhya Pradesh state showed chaos afterward, with people rushing away. An excavator pulled down a wall of the decades-old temple to help people flee. Nearly 140 rescuers, including army personnel, used ropes and ladders to pull the bodies from the well after pumping out the water. A narrow path and debris in the well made the task difficult.“We have recovered 36 bodies and everybody is accounted for now,” Pawan Kumar Sharma, commissioner of the local municipal corporation, told The Associated Press.The secretary of the temple board was among the dead and the president is recovering from injuries, Sharma said.Police brought a case of culpable homicid...

Italy temporarily blocks ChatGPT over privacy concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italy is temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT in the wake of a data breach as it investigates a possible violation of stringent European Union data protection rules, the government’s privacy watchdog said Friday.The Italian Data Protection Authority said it was taking provisional action “until ChatGPT respects privacy,” including temporarily limiting the company from processing Italian users’ data. U.S.-based OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, didn’t immediately return a request for comment Friday.While some public schools and universities around the world have blocked the ChatGPT website from their local networks over student plagiarism concerns, it’s not clear how Italy would block it at a nationwide level. The move also is unlikely to affect applications from companies that already have licenses with OpenAI to use the same technology driving the chatbot, such as Microsoft’s Bing search engine.The AI systems that power such chatbo...

Online-streaming bill closer to passing after House OKs most Senate amendments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

OTTAWA — A Liberal government bill that would require online streaming services to contribute to Canadian content is one step closer to passing after the House of Commons approved most of the Senate’s amendments to the proposed legislation. If passed, Bill C-11 would update broadcasting rules to include online streaming and require tech giants such as YouTube, Netflix and Spotify to make Canadian content available to users in Canada — or face steep penalties.On Thursday evening, the House agreed to adopt Senate amendments that reinforce the promotion of Indigenous languages and Black content creators, and seek to ensure that funds collected from tech giants go toward promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The move received quick praise from those who advocate for the arts and media industry. “Canadians deserve the ability to see their own stories, culture and points of view included in their content options. That is what C-11 is ultimately about,” said Neal McD...

Stocks rise as Wall Street heads for winning March, quarter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rising Friday, and Wall Street is on track to close out a winning March and first quarter of the year despite a long list of worries being thrown at it. The S&P 500 was 0.9% higher in afternoon trading. It’s on pace for a 3% gain for the month and a second winning quarter in a row after tumbling through most of last year on worries about high interest rates meant to get inflation under control. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 283 points, or 0.9%, at 33,142, as of 12:36 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% higher. Friday’s gains came after a report showed inflation across the United States slowed in February, though it was still high relative to history. A continued slowdown could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to take it easier on interest rates after jacking them higher at a furious pace over the last year. The threat of higher rates has been behind the stock market’s struggles since it peaked in early 2022. High rates ...

Harris visits site of grandfather’s old home in Zambia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris paused Friday during a whirlwind diplomatic swing through Africa for something much more personal: A visit to the site of her maternal grandfather’s home in Lusaka, where he lived as an Indian public servant in the 1960s.P.V. Gopalan was working with the newly independent Zambia government six decades ago on refugee resettlement and lived at 16 Independence Ave., where Harris visited as a little girl.The home no longer exists; rather, an office building now stands on the plot of land. The location was identified using plot numbers in public records and land surveys, according to a White House official.Harris on Friday said it was “very special” to go back, and she described her grandfather as “one of my favorite people” with a lasting influence on her life.“He believed in the nobility of public service, he believed in fighting corruption,” she said. “These are things he would talk about a lot, and I don’t think until I was older I r...

Review: Boygenius is cohesive and powerful in ‘The Record’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

“The Record” by Boygenius (Interscope)The internet’s favorite indie girls welcome you into the brilliant, colorful world of Boygenius, again.The supergroup, consisting of best friends Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, formed and released their critically well-received self-titled EP in 2018. Five years later, the powerhouse women of Boygenius masterfully recapture the same magic in their first full-length album, “The Record.” Cohesion within the group sneaks up on you like a shadow in the night. The album is soft, brutal and a reflection of a cruel, unrelenting world full of fatalistic imagery, but the love they’ve discovered in each other and in the music they craft together saves and reignites them.Album single “Emily I’m Sorry,” dives into Bridgers’ perspective on a past relationship, apologizing for all the wrongdoing she inflicted on Emily. Dacus and Baker seamlessly harmonize with Bridgers as she sings anxiously, “I’m 27 and I don’t know who...

Moscow prison for US reporter was used in Stalin’s purges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

Lefortovo prison, where American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been jailed on espionage charges, dates from the czarist era and has been a terrifying symbol of repression since Soviet times.The inconspicuous, pale yellow complex in eastern Moscow was built as a military penitentiary in 1881 and was used for low-ranking convicts sentenced to relatively short terms. But it gained its notoriety after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, when it became a top detention facility for the Soviet secret police.Under Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s Great Terror of mass arrests in the 1930s, Lefortovo was one of the main pre-trial detention facilities for “enemies of the people,” equipped with torture chambers to extract confessions. Stalin’s sadistic secret police chief, Lavrentiy Beria, personally took part in some prisoner interrogations and executions in its basement.Vasily Blyukher, one of the highest-ranking Red Army officers, was among those who died in 1938 after being tortured in Lefortovo.A...

Missouri Planned Parenthood sues over transgender inquiry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

Associated Press (AP) — Missouri’s state attorney general is investigating gender-affirming care provided by Planned Parenthood, according to a lawsuit filed by the St. Louis health provider.Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri sued Attorney General Andrew Bailey Friday in St. Louis Circuit Court, according to court documents. Bailey’s office demanded records from Planned Parenthood on March 14 as part of an investigation into treatments provided to transgender youths at an unrelated St. Louis clinic run by Washington University, the lawsuit claims.Planned Parenthood argues in its lawsuit that its clinic has nothing to do with the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which came under multiple investigations following allegations of mistreatment by a former employee. Planned Parenthood is trying to block access to its records and asked Judge Elizabeth Hogan to tell Bailey he has no authority to investigate the c...

Chicago officer charged with sexually abusing child

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

CHICAGO —A Chicago police officer has been charged with sexually abusing a child.Norridge Police issued a statement Friday that said officers arrested David Deleon after the child reported that he abused him in vehicle on March 25 in Norridge. Norridge police say Deleon was known to the child.Detectives interviewed Deleon in the days following the report and arrested and charged him with aggravated criminal sexual abuse and aggravated battery.Norridge Police contacted and worked with Chicago Police Internal Affairs, the Cook County States Attorney’s Office and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA).Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesChicago Police Department said Deleon was relieved of his police powers Wednesday.COPA is investigating.Deleon is due in court Friday.

White Sox make history, end streaks in Opening Night win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:26:50 GMT

HOUSTON — The effort featured a strong starting pitching performance, a young player with some late heroics, and a triumph for a new manager in Major League Baseball.There was a lot to like about the White Sox first of 162 games in the 2023 season as they made some history while also ending a few streaks as well against the Astros in Houston. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)Opening Day victory drought endsAndrew Vaughn's two-run double in the ninth inning broke a 1-1 tie and helped the White Sox to a 3-2 victory at Minute Maid Park.It snapped the team's four-game losing streak on Opening Day as the club won their first game for the first time since 2018 when they beat the Royals in Kansas City 14-8.For their opponents, it denied some history, as the Astros' ten-game winning streak on Opening Day was snapped. They had a chance to hold the major league record in that category, but now they remain tied with the Boston Beaneaters for the MLB record, which they set from 1887-1896.Grifol...