Associated Press The 14-year old student killed at a Wisconsin Christian school this week is remembered as a talented teenager who shared her gifts of music and art with many. Funeral services were held Saturday morning for Rubi Patricia Vergara. She was shot and killed along with teacher Erin West Monday by a fellow student
Continue ReadingAP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the most turbulent sessions of Congress in the modern era is about to make way for the next one. Midnight passage of the government shutdown package put in sharp focus the political fault lines emerging in Washington, as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, House
Continue ReadingAP Technology Writer Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August.
Continue ReadingAP Technology Writer Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August.
Continue ReadingTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — State media in Iran reports that an intercity bus has plunged into a ravine in the country’s west after the driver lost control of the vehicle, killing nine passengers. State TV said six of the nine victims were killed immediately at the site of the accident in the Pa-alam area on
Continue ReadingBy Steve Contorno, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump has yet to arrive in Washington, but he is already confronting the limitations of his electoral mandate. Trump’s eleventh-hour attempt to blow up a carefully negotiated bill to keep the government funded into March did not achieve the outcome he had sought: clearing a debt ceiling battle
Continue ReadingAssociated Press GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana’s government has formally protested to Venezuela following the completion by Venezuela’s armed forces of a bridge built on a remote river island shared by both countries. Work on the bridge, which links Venezuela’s mainland to a military base, has caused a decades-old row over border lines in the
Continue ReadingMAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Four women and a 9-year-old boy were killed and 200 people were injured when a man drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg — an attack that has left Germans mourning the victims and with a shaken sense of security. How did the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister said Saturday the government will shut down the video service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing death of a teenager in mid-November by another teen after
Continue ReadingBy Alaa Elassar, CNN (CNN) — Searing guitar riffs, primal drums, and electronic textures collide with impassioned vocals to create a chaotic yet precise sonic storm that blurs the lines between human aggression and mechanical force. That’s industrial rock, and for fans of German band KMFDM, it is the sweet spot between the freedom to
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Blake Lively has accused her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to “destroy” her reputation in a legal complaint. The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which The New York Times reported was filed Friday with the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press Blake Lively has accused her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the movie and a subsequent effort to “destroy” her reputation in a legal complaint. The complaint obtained by The Associated Press, which The New York Times reported was filed Friday with the
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed a bill into law Saturday that averts a government shutdown, bringing a final close to days of upheaval after Congress approved a temporary funding plan just past the deadline and refused President-elect Donald Trump’s core debt demands in the package. The deal funds the government at
Continue ReadingAssociated Press BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is drawing a direct link between immigration and an attack in Germany where a man drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people and injuring 200 others. Orbán on Saturday also implied that the 27-nation bloc’s migration policies
Continue Reading
CNN By Andrew Torgan and Daniel Wine, CNN (CNN) — Do you hear that sound? No, it’s not jingling bells or reindeer hooves. It’s the sound of nearly 120 million people in the US taking to the roads, rails and skies this holiday season. If you plan to drive to your destination, here are the
Continue Reading
CNN By Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — The Senate approved a slimmed-down, temporary government spending plan early Saturday morning, averting a shutdown of the federal government. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law later Saturday morning. The passage of the package came after President-elect Donald Trump torpedoed a bipartisan agreement struck
Continue ReadingAssociated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The top uniformed police officer in the New York Police Department has resigned amid allegations he demanded sex from a subordinate. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Saturday she accepted the resignation of Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey on Friday night, effective immediately. John Chell, the department’s chief of patrol,
Continue ReadingPESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban says it carried out a deadly attack on a military checkpoint in the country’s northwest. It’s the militant group’s latest assault on troops in the restive province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan. The group said it killed 35 soldiers and injured 15 others in an early Saturday
Continue ReadingAssociated Press ROME (AP) — The Vatican has taken the first main step to implement Pope Francis’ wish that Belgium’s late king be beatified for having abdicated for a day rather than approve legislation to legalize abortion. The Holy See’s saint-making office on Dec. 17 established a historical commission, made up of experts in Belgian
Continue ReadingAssociated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is allocating more than $100 billion in emergency aid to address extensive damage caused by hurricane and other disasters. The money is in a bill passed early Saturday by Congress after this week’s scramble to find consensus on a government spending bill. The money is being provided after back-to-back
Continue Reading