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Today in History: August 31, U.S. mission in Iraq ends

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

Today in History Today is Thursday, Aug. 31, the 243rd day of 2023. There are 122 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Aug. 31, 2010, President Barack Obama ended the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed and telling those divided over the war in his country and around the world: “It is time to turn the page.”On this date: In 1881, the first U.S. tennis championships (for men only) began in Newport, Rhode Island.In 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1962, the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent of British colonial rule.In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk (guh-DANSK’) that ended a 17-day-old strike.In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Naples, Idaho, ending an 11-day siege by federal agents...

Caroline Wozniacki beats Petra Kvitova at the US Open shortly after coming out of retirement

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Caroline Wozniacki clearly made the right choice to come out of retirement and try her hand at this tennis thing again, making it to the third round at the U.S. Open by beating two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 7-5, 7-6 (5) on Wednesday night.Wozniacki, a 33-year-old from Denmark, won the 2018 Australian Open and reached No. 1 in the rankings during her first stint on tour. She walked away from the sport in early 2020 to start a family and now she and her husband, former NBA player David Lee, are the parents of two children.After a hiatus of 3 1/2 years, Wozniacki returned to competition this month and now is back at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2019. She was the runner-up at the U.S. Open in 2009 and 2014.She looked quite capable of strong play against the 11th-seeded Kvitova on Wednesday night. There were some wobbles, including when Wozniacki held her first two match points at 5-4 in the second set and failed to convert either.But her game was...

Rookies propel St Louis City to 2-1 victory over Dallas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Defender Anthony Markanich and Nökkvi Thórisson both scored their first goals in league play three minutes apart late in the second half and St. Louis City held off FC Dallas 2-1 on Wednesday night.Markanich, who subbed in to begin the second half in his second appearance of the season for St. Louis City (15-9-2) after coming over from Colorado, broke up a scoreless match when he scored unassisted in the 82nd minute. Markanich made six starts in 13 appearances over the past two seasons for the Rapids.Thórisson used assists from Eduard Löwen and Njabulo Blom to find the net in his third career appearance. Blom had a hand in a goal for the first time in his rookie season. Blom has made 13 starts and 18 appearances.Thórisson’s goal became necessary when rookie Eugene Ansah scored unassisted in the fifth minute of stoppage time. It was Ansah’s first career goal in just his third appearance for Dallas (9-10-6).Roman Bürki tallied three saves for St. Louis Cit...

North Korea and Russia meet over arms deal, US intel reveals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

New U.S. intelligence shows North Korea and Russia are “actively advancing” high-level talks for additional weapons and other materials to assist Moscow’s brutal war in Ukraine, the Biden administration disclosed on Wednesday.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently traveled to North Korea to try to secure additional artillery ammunition, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. Since that visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their cooperation.Also after Shoigu’s visit, another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang for follow-up discussions about potential arms deals between the two nations, Kirby said. Under the potential agreements, North Korea would ship Russia “significant quantities and multiple types” of weapons for use in Ukraine, he said.The potential deals also include the provision of raw materials that could help boost Russia’s military manufacturi...

Rare blue supermoon captures eyes of San Diegans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Locals were in for a treat Wednesday evening as the San Diego County skies revealed a rare blue supermoon.A blue moon is when the full moon is seen twice in a single month while a supermoon is when the moon is at or near its closes point to earth at the same time as it is full, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).With Wednesday's full moon just 222,043 miles or so away, it became the closest full moon of the year. It was 100 miles closer than the Aug. 1 supermoon.Also visible alongside the moon, Saturn could be seen as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky, per NASA. Bridge to Oceanside Pier will be demolished, replaced FOX 5 captured a mesmerizing timelapse of the blue supermoon and an image of the celestial spectacle over the San Diego city skyline. Viewers from Oceanside to Escondido to Coronado sent in photos to FOX 5 of the rare sight, which can be found in the slideshow below:...

Travelers hoping to enjoy one last summer fling over Labor Day weekend should expect lots of company

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — By some measures, air travelers have enjoyed a less stressful summer than last year, but canceled flights remain elevated as airlines face their last big test of the prime vacation season: Labor Day weekend.The Federal Aviation Administration predicts that this will be the third busiest holiday weekend of the year so far, behind only the Juneteenth weekend, which included Father’s Day, and the Presidents Day break. Hurricane Idalia should be heading away from the Atlantic Coast as most holiday revelers hop in cars or head to the airport. Airlines canceled several dozen flights in Florida and Georgia scheduled for Thursday but very few for Friday, according to tracking service FlightAware. Tampa International Airport said it would resume normal operations including departing flights early Thursday. Travelers can check conditions where they are going on the FAA website.Thursday figures to be the busiest day in U.S. airspace, with 52,203 flights scheduled, followed ...

Visual artists fight back against AI companies for repurposing their work

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Kelly McKernan’s acrylic and watercolor paintings are bold and vibrant, often featuring feminine figures rendered in bright greens, blues, pinks and purples. The style, in the artist’s words, is “surreal, ethereal … dealing with discomfort in the human journey.”The word “human” has a special resonance for McKernan these days. Although it’s always been a challenge to eke out a living as a visual artist — and the pandemic made it worse — McKernan now sees an existential threat from a medium that’s decidedly not human: artificial intelligence.It’s been about a year since McKernan, who uses the pronoun they, began noticing online images eerily similar to their own distinctive style that were apparently generated by entering their name into an AI engine.The Nashville-based McKernan, 37, who creates both fine art and digital illustrations, soon learned that companies were feeding artwork into AI systems used to “train” image-generators — something that once sounded l...

Trains suspended, people warned away from the coastline as Typhoon Saola churns toward south China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media report at least 121 passenger trains are suspending service in anticipation of the arrival of Typhoon Saola, while people in coastal areas of southern China were being warned to stay away from the coastline. The suspensions on key lines running from north to south as well as on regional networks will begin Thursday and continue through Sept. 6, state broadcaster CCTV reported. China’s National Meteorological Center said Saola was moving toward the coast at a speed of about 15 kph (9 mph) and is due to make landfall Friday afternoon in the southern province of Guangzhou with sustained winds of 119 kph (74 mph) and gusts of up to 220 kph (137 mph). The storm will then travel west down the coast into the Guangxi region before curving south out to sea between Saturday night and Sunday morning, gradually weakening as it goes. The weather center has already issued a red alert for potentially destructive winds and possible flooding, with some areas expect...

At least 38 people have died in a fire in a building in South Africa’s biggest city, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Emergency services say at least 38 people died in a fire in a multi-story building in Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city. Emergency Management Services said another 43 people were injured in the blaze, which that broke out in the predawn hours Thursday. Spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said a search and recovery operation was underway, and it was likely the death toll would rise. Authorities said the fire had been largely extinguished, but smoke still seeped out of windows of the blackened building in downtown Johannesburg.___AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africaThe Associated Press

China’s Baidu makes AI chatbot Ernie Bot publicly available

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:36 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence firm Baidu made its ChatGPT-equivalent language model fully available to the public Thursday, raising the company’s stock price by over 3% following the announcement.Beijing sees artificial intelligence as a key industry to rival the United States and aims to become a global leader by 2030. Chinese technology firms have also raced to unveil their generative AI models — in which algorithms allow the technology to produce and create new content — after U.S. firm OpenAI launched the widely popular ChatGPT.Baidu said Thursday that Ernie Bot would be fully open to the general public via an app or an official website.By releasing the model publicly, Baidu will be able to collect massive real-world human feedback, according to Baidu CEO Robin Li, who said this would in turn help improve Ernie and Baidu’s foundation models.Like Europe, China has made efforts in recent months to regulate the generative AI industry. China issu...