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AI sci-fi ‘The Creator’ tackles tech nightmare world

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

When Gareth Edwards began developing his AI sci-fi epic “The Creator,” he had no clue his film would arrive as a trending topic.“When I started writing this in 2018,” Edwards, 48, said from a London virtual press conference, “AI was up there with flying on the moon. Something you would see in your lifetime? Probably not.”“The Creator” stars John David Washington as Joshua, an ex-special forces agent, mourning the disappearance and presumed death of his wife (Gemma Chan). He’s on the front lines of a global war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence who occupy what is called New Asia.His mission: Hunt and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end not just the war but humanity.He is shocked to discover that the world-ending weapon he must destroy is AI in the form of a young girl called Alfie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).“We were using AI as a kind of metaphor for people who are differe...

Dear Abby: After 15 years, pilot light of love’s gone out

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been married to a man I’ll call “Ed” for 15 years. We are seniors, but he is 17 years older than I am. I have three children from a previous marriage who are grown and on their own. I think my husband is gay but never came out of the closet. He watches gay porn and once confessed to me he had a fantasy about another man. For the last 10 years, he has refused to have sex and is always making excuses (“I’m old,” “I’m tired,” “Tomorrow”).Abby, I crave love and intimacy. Ed is cold, distant and a loner. He refuses to travel or do anything for fun. He’s well-off financially, never had kids and is a good provider. However, that is all he does. I want to leave him, but I feel guilty because of his age and because he has been a responsible provider over the years. I love him as a person, but not as a husband. Please advise. — Depressed and Stuck in PennsylvaniaDear D&S: There is more to marri...

Reward offered in 2018 Logan Heights cold case murder

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County Crime Stoppers and the San Diego Police Department are offering $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in a 2018 deadly drive-by shooting cold case.The gunfire occurred during the early morning hours on July 19, 2018 at 3000 Martin Avenue in Logan Heights, the two agencies said in a news release Tuesday.A 28-year-old, identified as Arthur Jordan, was a passenger sitting inside a vehicle when an unknown dark sedan-style vehicle drove by and the shooter(s) fired numerous rounds into the victim's car, according to authorities. 2 teens, 1 adult arrested after armed shoes robbery in North County Jordan's friends were able to drive away from the scene and call 9-1-1, officials said. Officers found Jordan and his vehicle at Park Boulevard and El Cajon Boulevard, where he was then taken to a hospital.Jordan later died at the hospital due to his injuries. "Despite an exhaustive follow-up investigation, including numerous witness interviews and forensic...

Climate change and the shift to cleaner energy push Southeast Asia to finally start sharing power

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

Hanoi, VIETNAM (AP) — The urgency for Southeast Asian nations to switch to clean energy to combat climate change is reinvigorating a 20-year-old plan for the region to share power.Malaysia and Indonesia inked a deal in Bali, Indonesia last month to study 18 potential locations where cross-border transmission lines can be set up. Those links could eventually generate power roughly equivalent to what 33 nuclear power plants would produce in a year. They are economically and technically feasible, and now are supported by regional governments, said Beni Suryadi a power expert at the ASEAN Centre for Energy in Jakarta, Indonesia.The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is a political and economic gathering of 10 countries across a vast region, from tiny Brunei and Singapore to military-controlled Myanmar and fast-rising economic power Vietnam.Experts describe imports by Singapore of hydroelectric-generated power from Laos via transmissions through Thailand and Malaysia as a “p...

Judge considers accusations that New Mexico Democrats tried to dilute votes with redistricting map

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — FROM MOVEMENT AT 12:30 AM ET WEDNESDAY. EDITED BY CBLAKEAccusations that New Mexico’s Democratic-led Legislature unfairly diluted the vote of a politically conservative oil-producing region with its redistricting map are heading to trial on Wednesday, despite a last-minute flurry of motions that included an effort by the governor’s attorneys to delay the proceedings.The outcome is likely to have a big influence on which party represents a congressional swing district along the U.S. border with Mexico where partisan control has flipped back and forth three times in three elections. New Mexico’s 2nd District is one of about a dozen that are in the spotlight nationally as Republicans campaign to hold onto their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024.Democrats got a potential boost for the 2024 congressional elections as courts in Alabama and Florida ruled recently that Republican-led legislatures had unfairly diluted the voting powe...

Expert ruling that Colorado supermarket shooting suspect is competent for trial set to be debated

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A hearing begins Wednesday to determine if the man accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 is mentally competent to stand trial. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 24, was found mentally competent by experts at the state mental hospital in August, but his defense attorney Kathryn Herold asked for the determination to be debated in court. Judge Ingrid Bakke was required to schedule the two-day hearing that will include testimony, but denied Herold’s requested for another evaluation from the mental hospital. Bakke’s ruling could come as soon as Thursday.Herold argued at the time that Alissa, who has schizophrenia, is not competent and cited the psychiatric evaluations describing him as “profoundly mentally ill.” Schizophrenia can shake someone’s grasp on reality, potentially interfering in a legal defense in court. Mental competency to move toward trial entails Alissa being able to understand court proceedings and help Herold with his...

Race to replace Mitt Romney heats up as Republican Utah House speaker readies to enter

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

Republican Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson is poised to formally announce at a Wednesday night rally that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mitt Romney, who recently announced he won’t run for reelection.Romney announced earlier this month that he won’t seek a second term, saying younger people needed to step forward. In so doing, he threw open a wider door for those seeking to enter the race and led to speculation about whether Utah voters will choose a politically moderate successor similar to him or a farther-right figure such as Utah’s other U.S. senator, Mike Lee, a Donald Trump supporter. Wilson would likely fall somewhere between Romney and Lee in that regard, said Damon Cann, head of Utah State University’s political science department.“I think most people are expecting Brad Wilson would govern somewhat more conservatively. I think he would be toward the political center from where Mike Lee’s at but I think he would be more conservative...

In a win for Black voters in redistricting case, Alabama to get new congressional lines

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is headed to the first significant revamp of its congressional map in three decades after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state’s bid to keep using a plan with a single majority-Black district.The decision on Tuesday sets the stage for a new map with greater representation for Black voters to be put in place for the 2024 elections. The ruling marks a victory for Black voters in the state who had challenged the existing districts as racially discriminatory. Advocates said they hope it will bolster similar redistricting challenges elsewhere around the country. WHAT HAPPENEDJustices denied Alabama’s emergency request to keep Republican-drawn congressional lines in place and stop a three-judge panel from drawing new lines as the state appeals. The three-judge panel had ruled the state plan — with one majority-Black district out of seven in a state that is 27% Black — likely violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. The three-judge panel said th...

A hard-right party gathers strength in Poland, pushing a new, less friendly course on Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — Poland’s hard-right Confederation party opened its electoral campaign convention as if it were a rock concert, with a singer riding up on a motorcycle, its engine revving, and a pyrotechnic show of flames and sparklers.The party has been growing in popularity, especially among young men fed up with the political parties that have dominated Poland for most of the post-Communist era. Its convention in Katowice on Saturday, billed as its largest ahead of parliamentary elections on Oct. 15, was aimed at energizing more voters and at playing down antisemitism and other extreme views among some of its members.Through smoke and fire, Confederation’s leaders made their case for lower taxes, less regulation and an anti-European Union and anti-Ukraine foreign policy.Confederation has turned up the heat on the Polish political establishment, riding a wave of support for nationalist conservative parties across Europe. Similar political forces have surged on opposit...

Sen. Bob Menendez will appear in court in his bribery case as he rejects calls to resign

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is due in court Wednesday to answer to charges that he used his powerful post to secretly advance Egyptian interests and do favors for New Jersey businessmen in exchange for bribes of cash and gold bars.The New Jersey Democrat will make his first appearance in a federal court in Manhattan amid growing calls from colleagues that he resign from Congress.A defiant Menendez — who was forced to step down as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee after the indictment was brought last week — says allegations that he abused his power to line his own pockets are baseless. He has said he’s confident he will be exonerated and has no intention of leaving the Senate.It’s the second corruption case in a decade against Menendez, whose last trial involving different allegations ended with jurors failing to reach a verdict in 2017.Fellow New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday joined the calls for Menendez to resign, saying in a state...