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One of America’s first elected lesbian governors addresses Irish Senate on LBGTQ rights anniversary

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey — one of the country’s first two openly lesbian elected governors and a descendant of Irish immigrants — addressed the Irish Senate on Tuesday to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland.“It was not so long ago, when the story of Irish-American unity, and the story of gay liberation would never have been told together,” Healey said in her speech to the Senate. “I’m here to say they are stories of the same people, threads in the same fabric that binds us across time and strengthens us to face the future.”Ireland passed a law decriminalizing homosexual acts in 1993. Nearly two decades later, the predominantly Catholic nation legalized same-sex marriage, by popular vote, in 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide the same year. “It’s been 19 years since we secured marriage equality in Massachusetts — eight years since both the citizens of Ireland and the Supreme Court of ...

Artificial intelligence takes centre stage at Collision tech conference in Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

TORONTO — When the Collision tech conference got underway in Toronto on Tuesday, there were two words that dominated discussions across the Enercare Centre: artificial intelligence.From the speakers that took to the annual event’s stages to the swath of startups seeking investments and exposure, seemingly everyone had something to say about the technology that is poised to upend industries and transform everyday tasks.“We are three steps into a 10-kilometre race,” said Adam Selipsky, chief executive of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant’s cloud computing and database storage subsidiary, on stage Tuesday morning.“So the question is where are the runners going? What’s the course like, who’s watching the race?”He was questioned about whether AWS is already behind in the race because Microsoft has partnered with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, a hit generative AI chatbot capable of humanlike conversations and tasks that debuted last y...

Eni chief executive says plan for pipeline to move gas to Cyprus ‘part of our discussion’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The chief executive of energy company Eni said Tuesday that Cyprus-Israeli plans for a pipeline to move offshore natural gas from the two countries to Cyprus is “part of our discussion” with the Cypriot government. The gas would be processed for electricity generation and possible exportation.Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said after talks with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides that any plan to develop gas deposits discovered off Cyprus’ southern coast “must have economic value.”Descalzi said talks focused primarily on Eni’s plans to drill by the end of the year an additional well in Block 6 — one of seven areas inside Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone where the Italian company along with partner Total of France hold licenses for hydrocarbon exploration. “We always support the government because they asked us, we work with them and clearly everything must have an economic value, but clearly we are working together. So it’s part of our discussion,” Descalzi said i...

Quebec movie theatre mogul Vincenzo Guzzo charged with criminal harassment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec movie theatre mogul Vincenzo Guzzo has been charged with criminal harassment.The Quebec prosecutor’s office says Guzzo is accused of criminally harassing someone between November 2022 and June 2023.He was also charged for allegedly failing to comply with a condition not to communicate, directly or indirectly, with that person.A spokesperson for police in the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne, Que., says Guzzo was arrested over the weekend and appeared in court on Sunday.Guzzo is CEO of movie theatre chain Cinémas Guzzo and was one of the investors on the latest season of the CBC Television show Dragon’s Den.Requests for comment from Guzzo’s public relations representative were not immediately returned.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2023. —This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.The Canadian Press

US push to lower wildfire risk across the West stumbles in places

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

DOWNIEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Using chainsaws, heavy machinery and controlled burns, the Biden administration is trying to turn the tide on worsening wildfires in the U.S. West through a multi-billion dollar cleanup of forests choked with dead trees and undergrowth.Yet one year into what’s envisioned as a decade-long effort, federal land managers are scrambling to catch up after falling behind on several of their priority forests for thinning even as they exceeded goals elsewhere. And they’ve skipped over some highly at-risk communities to work in less threatened areas, according to data obtained by The Associated Press, public records and Congressional testimony.With climate change making the situation increasingly dire, mixed early results from the administration’s initiative underscore the challenge of reversing decades of lax forest management and aggressive fire suppression that allowed many woodlands to become tinderboxes. The ambitious effort comes amid pushback from...

In China, a muted reaction to the revolt in Russia belies anxiety over war, global balance of power

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s muted reaction to the Wagner mercenary group uprising against Russia’s military belies Beijing’s growing anxieties over the war in Ukraine and how this affects the global balance of power. China’s ruling Communist Party called the swift end of the 22-hour revolt Moscow’s “internal affair,” with state media affirming China’s support for Russia. Chinese observers said the incident showed how overblown Western rhetoric was regarding the “Russian internal conflict” and that President Vladimir Putin’s hold on power remains secure. But the uprising also threatens to deepen growing anxieties in Beijing over Russia’s war in Ukraine, given China’s limited ability to influence the situation. China has maintained a consistent position on the war: neutral on paper, but favoring Russia in practice, with frequent state visits and joint military drills between the two nations. It’s a delicate balance, calibrated carefully to avoid damaging relations with Russia o...

Father arrested after 3-week-old baby is killed by crossbow in upstate New York

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

COLESVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York man shot his companion with a crossbow while she was holding the couple’s 3-week-old daughter, killing the child and injuring the woman, authorities said.Sheriff’s deputies and emergency medical workers responded to a 911 call and found the injured woman and baby at a home in the town of Colesville shortly after 5 a.m. Monday, the Broome County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.The woman told deputies that Patrick Proefriedt, 26, had fired a crossbow at her while she was holding their infant daughter. The broadhead crossbow bolt hit the child in the torso and then struck the woman in the chest, the sheriff’s office said.Proefriedt removed the bolt and tried to stop the woman from calling 911 then drove away in a pickup truck, sheriff’s office spokesperson Emmanuel Priest said.Deputies and paramedics attempted lifesaving measures on the baby but she was pronounced dead at the scene, Priest said. The woman...

Chicago mother sues city after murder charges were dropped against her and her son

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago mother who was accused of telling her teen son to shoot a man at a fast food restaurant is suing the city and arresting officers, a day after murder charges against her and her son were dropped. Carlishia Hood, 35, was held on $3 million bail after she was charged last week with first-degree murder and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was released Monday from the Cook County Jail.The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said it was unable to “meet our burden of proof in the prosecution of these cases.”“I’ve experienced pain in many ways that I would never have thought,” she said about her arrest. ”What happened to me was totally unnecessary. Never in a million years would I have imagined being brutally attacked, beaten and being arrested.”Hood alleges malicious prosecution, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress in her lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.A cellphone video posted on social media over t...

Affidavit: PfISD officer accused of 'inappropriate interactions,' messaged students on Snapchat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

Editor's Note: The above video shows KXAN's previous coverage of the PfISD officer's arrest.PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — A terminated Pflugerville Independent School District officer reportedly contacted three middle school students through Snapchat and messaged them inappropriate things, according to affidavits obtained by KXAN. Pflugerville ISD police officer arrested after ‘inappropriate interactions’ with students Court records reveal Estavan "Steve" Soliz, 49, is the former Pflugerville ISD police officer being accused of having “inappropriate interactions with students.” According to affidavits, he was an officer for about 26 years, 14 of those spent with the Pflugerville Police Department. Soliz was the sole officer stationed at Kelly Lane Middle School, according to the affidavits. He is charged with online solicitation of a minor and tampering with physical evidence, affidavits stated.KXAN reached out to an attorney representing Soliz. This story will be updated if we rec...

Ascension Seton Medical Center nurses on strike Tuesday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:32:08 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin began a one-day strike Tuesday morning "to protest management's resistance to bargain in good faith."The group of unionized registered nurses said this will be the largest nurse strike in Texas history. This effort is part of contract negotiations the union said will improve the health of their patients and communities. A group of Ascension Seton nurses voted to unionize in September, joining the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United. The union said it represents about 900 nurses, and 98% of those nurses voted to authorize the Tuesday strike. The strike started at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday and will last 24 hours excluding a three-hour heat break in the afternoon. Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin began a one-day strike the morning of June 27, 2023, “to protest management’s resistance to bargain in good faith.” (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez)Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Aust...