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Nvidia has reportedly been put on a "positive catalyst watch" for the next 90 days by analyst firm Citi. Citi analysts predict a potential 27% stock price increase to $175 by early 2025. This optimistic view hinges on CEO Jensen Huang's keynote address at the 2025 edition of the annual Consumer Electronics (CES) tradeshow in Las Vegas, US. "We... open a positive catalyst watch into CES Jan where we expect Blackwell sales expectations to move higher and management to talk about the inference led enterprise and robotics industrial demand inflection," Citi analyst Atif Malik told Bloomberg. Huang's CES keynote scheduled for 6.30 pm on January 6 is expected to ignite investor excitement. Citi analysts believe that Nvidia will raise sales expectations for their next-generation AI chip, "Blackwell," and discuss advancements in AI for robotics and industrial applications. Analysts anticipate Nvidia to announce a bottoming out of profit margins in the April quarter, followed by growth. Additionally, management is expected to address the "inference led inflection" in AI robotics for warehouses, manufacturing, and potentially, humanoid robots. With companies like Tesla pushing humanoid robot development, Nvidia's GPU chips are already playing a central role. Notably, nine humanoid robots powered by Nvidia chips were showcased at the company's GTC conference in March 2024. Fueled by the AI revolution , Nvidia's stock price has skyrocketed 176% year-to-date, highlighting the market's confidence in their technology. The upcoming CES 2025 event and positive analyst predictions set the stage for potential significant growth for Nvidia in the coming months.
'I'm at a loss for words': Doctor baffled by bizarre RFK Jr. vetting questionnaire
Apple’s new AI could broach sensitive data, experts warn — take these steps to protect your privacyFRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Looking for hard-to-find bottles of Kentucky bourbon to toast the holidays or add to a collection? Get your bids ready as the Bluegrass State launches its first online auction of confiscated alcohol. Whiskeys up for sale include two bottles of Old Rip Van Winkle, a Blanton’s Single Barrel Gold in box with Japanese markings and a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch Barrel Strength 2011. The sale is the result of a new Kentucky law, which allows alcohol confiscated from closed criminal investigations by the state's alcoholic beverage control agency to be auctioned. Online bidding opens Wednesday and closes at midnight on Dec. 11. Proceeds will support programs promoting responsible alcohol use by adults and awareness programs for youths. “This is a really good auction,” Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, said by phone Tuesday. “There are some hard-to-find and rare bottles on there.” No estimate has been given on how much the auction might raise. “We look forward to seeing the response to this auction and have started planning additional auctions for 2025,” said Allyson Taylor, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The auction features 32 bottles of alcohol and includes a “stock the bar” bundle with bottles of wine, vodka, rum and whiskey, the agency said. But the stars are the hard-to-find and rare bourbons up for sale. “It’s not every day you go to a liquor store and find a bottle of Blanton’s Gold," Gregory said. “You never go to a liquor store and find a bottle of Four Roses 2011.” The lineup includes bottles of E.H. Taylor bourbon, Blanton’s Single Barrel, Eagle Rare 10 yr., Weller Antique 107, Willett Family Estate Single Barrel Rye, Michter’s, an Old Forester gift set and more. A link to the online auction is available at ABC.ky.gov . Auction items cannot be shipped, so winning bidders must pick up items in Frankfort, the state said. The auctions will become a “can't miss opportunity” for bourbon connoisseurs, Gregory said. Previously, confiscated bourbon or other spirits could end up being destroyed, he said. “We don't like to see good bourbon poured down the drain,” Gregory said. Kentucky distillers produce 95% of the global bourbon supply, the Kentucky distillers’ group says.Former presidential candidate John Kerry claims that the U.S. was on the brink of declaring a climate emergency. Kerry made the shocking announcement during a forum hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics last week. “I think, personally, we're on the brink of needing to declare a climate emergency, which is what we really have,” Kerry said to a captivated audience after recapping the most recent U.N. climate gathering. “And we need to get people to behave as if this really is a major transitional challenge to the whole planet, to everybody.” Exclusive: Delaware man has dire warning for parents after pregnant wife's rare symptom led to 'vegetative' state Georgia cult mom who thought she breastfed 'evil' into baby stabbed 13-month-old daughter to death During his chat, the former Secretary of State emphasized the global importance of the conferences which are reportedly held all over the world and which were recently held in in Baku, Azerbaijan. “Nobody lives as an island in this process, on this planet,” he said. “And no one country has enough money to deal with the climate crisis.” According to Kerry, he hopes that, despite all the political shifts happening all over the globe, ultimately, science will prevail. “Everything I've ever done and advocated for in this is based on science. No politics. There's no liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican electrons or molecules," he said. When asked by Setti Warren, director of the Institute of Politics, and adjunct lecturer in public policy, the room — which was filled with future policymakers — what could be done to make climate the top issue. “Needs people feel translate into votes on election day,” Kerry said. “We have the challenge of getting people to understand that the economics of climate work favors people who are feeling the pinch of inflation.” DAILY NEWSLETTER: Sign up here to get the latest news and updates from the Mirror US straight to your inbox with our FREE newsletter. According to Kerry, he encouraged voters to remember that climate efforts are important. “In Donald Trump’s first term when he pulled out of the Paris Agreement, a thousand mayors in the United States stood up and said, we're not pulling out,” added Kerry. "Thirty-seven governors in our country, Republican and Democrat alike, enforced the law with respect to the deployment of energy because they operate under what's called renewable portfolio laws.” Kerry stated that at the end of Trump's first term, 75% of the new electricity in the United States of America was reportedly renewable even after Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement. “The marketplace has made its decision,” he said. “I assure you that when Donald Trump takes the oath of office on January 20th, no CEO, in this country, of an automobile company, after spending billions of dollars retooling their plants, is going to suddenly go back to internal combustion engine cars.” In a brief ray of hope, the man noted that the President-elect was in favor of being the first in the delivery of energy. "I would assume, because the extraction principles of geothermal are very similar to the extraction of oil and gas, that the oil and gas companies—and I know this from talking to them—want to move into geothermal, " he said. "And that’s great. 80% of the workers today in geothermal have come from the oil and gas industry. So that's the future, the conversion.”
The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jaylon Johnson had 20 points in Tennessee Tech’s 90-75 victory against Presbyterian on Wednesday. Johnson also contributed 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Golden Eagles (4-3). Daniel Egbuniwe added 16 points while going 5 of 13 from the floor, including 2 for 7 from 3-point range, and 4 for 4 from the line and also had six rebounds. Kyle Layton shot 5 for 10, including 5 for 8 from beyond the arc to finish with 15 points. Kaleb Scott finished with 14 points and seven rebounds for the Blue Hose (5-4). Jaylen Peterson added 11 points and 11 rebounds for Presbyterian. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Losses for big technology stocks pulled major indexes lower on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3% from its record high a day earlier, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.6%. Losses for Nvidia, Microsoft and Broadcom were the biggest weights on the market. Dell sank 12.2% after reporting revenue that fell shy of forecasts, and HP dropped 11.4% after giving a weaker-than-expected outlook. Treasury yields fell in the bond market. U.S. financial markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. Stocks wavered in afternoon trading on Wednesday, as losses for several Big Tech companies offset gains elsewhere in the market. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% in afternoon trading, even though more stocks were rising than falling in the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135 points, or 0.3%, as of 3:05 p.m. Eastern time. Both indexes set records on Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.5%. Losses for tech heavyweights helped pull the broader market lower. Semiconductor giant Nvidia slipped 1.6%. Its huge value gives it outsized influence on market indexes. Microsoft fell 0.9% Several personal computer makers added to Big Tech's heavy weight on the market following their latest earnings reports. HP sank 11.8% after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast for its current quarter. Dell slumped 11.9% after its latest quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Gains for financial and health care companies helped counter Big Tech's downward pull. Visa rose 0.9% and Thermo Fisher Scientific added 2.3%. The U.S. economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September, according to the Commerce Department, leaving its original estimate of third-quarter growth unchanged. The growth was driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports. The update follows a report on Tuesday from the Conference Board that said confidence among U.S. consumers improved in November, but not by as much as economists expected. Consumers have been driving economic growth, but the latest round of earnings reports from retailers shows a mixed and more cautious picture. Department store operator Nordstrom fell 8.5% after warning investors about a trend toward weakening sales that started in late October. Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters jumped 19.1% after beating analysts’ third-quarter financial forecasts. Weeks earlier, retail giant Target gave investors a discouraging forecast for the holiday season, while Walmart provided a more encouraging forecast. Consumers, though resilient, are still facing pressure from inflation. The latest update from the U.S. government shows that inflation accelerated last month. The personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose to 2.3% in October from 2.1% in September. Overall, the rate of inflation has been falling broadly since it peaked more than two years ago. The PCE, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, was just below 7.3% in June of 2022. Another measure of inflation, the consumer price index, peaked at 9.1% at the same time. The latest inflation data, though, is a sign that the rate of inflation seems to be stalling as it falls to within range of the Fed's target of 2%. The central bank started raising its benchmark interest rate from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023 and held it there in order to tame inflation. The Fed started cutting its benchmark interest rate in September, followed by a second cut in November. Wall Street expects a similar quarter-point cut at the central bank's upcoming meeting in December. “Today’s data shouldn’t change views of the likely path for disinflation, however bumpy," said David Alcaly, lead macroeconomic strategist at Lazard Asset Management. "But a lot of observers, probably including some at the Fed, are looking for reasons to get more hawkish on the outlook given the potential for inflationary policy change like new tariffs.” President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China when he takes office in January. That could shock the economy by raising prices on a wide range of goods and accelerating the rate of inflation. Such a shift could prompt the Fed to rethink future cuts to interest rates. Treasury yields slipped in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.25% from 4.30% late Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely follows expected actions by the Fed, fell to 4.22% from 4.25% late Tuesday. U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will reopen for a half day on Friday. Damian J. Troise And Alex Veiga, The Associated Press
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Notation Labs Secures $2 Million Credit Facility to Accelerate Production of QwelTM, a Cutting-Edge Lead Detection and Prevention SystemS&P/TSX composite down more than 100 points Tuesday, U.S. stock markets also lowerFinal Jeopardy Today December 13, 2024 – Question, Answer, Wages & Winner
Worried about politics ruining Thanksgiving dinner? In a guest column, Virginia Beach counselor Rachel Stewart offers some strategies to help get you through the holiday.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Trae Young might be the NBA's biggest enigma. Young's fans can point to numbers and say he's an elite player. His detractors can point to numbers and say he's overrated. Both arguments have validity. To some, his cocky ways are endearing. To others, they're infuriating. This can't be argued: He's helping Atlanta author one of the season's surprise stories. The Hawks are in the NBA Cup semifinals, set to play Milwaukee on Saturday before the other semifinal between Oklahoma City and Houston. The title game is Tuesday night. “When we talk about Trae, the word I like to use is evolution,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “And every player evolves. They just evolve in different ways. He's been an important part of our young guys' growth and being able to elevate them.” The Hawks haven't had a ton of big moments in Young's seven seasons. But he has shown a propensity for rising to the occasion: ousting New York in the 2021 playoffs, ousting the Knicks from the quarterfinals of this tournament to get to Las Vegas — and now comes another chance on national TV on Saturday, facing the Bucks with a chance to play for a trophy. “I feel like this team has been embracing the challenge each and every night from the beginning of the season,” Young said. “We haven’t looked too far ahead in any moment. We’re just taking it day by day. Even though early on in the season we may have had some struggles and some bumps in the road and some guys out, we stuck with the process and focus on each day." Here's part of the pro-Young argument: He's averaging 21 points and 12 assists something that only Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas have done over a full season, and he's on pace to lead the league in assist average for the first time. Here's part of the anti-Young argument: Among the 220 players with at least 50 3-point attempts this season he ranks 189th at 30.8%, and of the 248 players with at least 100 field goal attempts this season he ranks 231st at 38.4%. Choose your side. They're both valid. But it's clear that Young — who made no secret that he was upset over not being picked for the team that won gold for USA Basketball at the Paris Olympics this past summer — is growing and maturing. “He’s doing a better job on both ends of the floor,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “Defensively he’s figured out a way of keeping himself out of actions. I know that sounds easy. That’s hard to do, and he’s brilliant at it, he really is. ... He must be really studying the game on both ends of the floor, and you can see that in his play. And he’s earned the trust of his players. This team likes playing with him, that’s obvious. I couldn’t say that in the past, but now they love playing with him.” Hawks forward Jalen Johnson doesn't deny that point. “He’s so good, man,” Johnson said. "It’s crazy, like just seeing it in person and on TV prior to me playing with the Hawks and getting drafted by the Hawks, it was crazy just watching it. A guy that’s undersized, being able to score at will, being able to make any pass at will. And then next thing you know you’re his teammate and you’re on the receiving end of those passes. “Watching those clutch late game buckets, it’s a joy to watch. It’s a gift that he has that’s very special and not many people have had it at that elite of a level. It’s been great being his teammate. It’s been a blessing.” Saturday is an opportunity. The semifinals are the only games on the NBA calendar for that day; the title game Tuesday — which doesn't count in the standings — is the only game on the NBA slate that night as well. Young will have tons of eyeballs on him Saturday and would have tons more on him Tuesday if the Hawks find a way to win another big game against the Bucks. They're 3-1 against Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland and Boston already this season, 1-0 against Milwaukee. The potential is clear for the Hawks. The potential for Young has always been clear as well. Only now, it's starting to be realized. “The narrative about me not being able to do certain things or being too mad or frustrated about certain things is — I mean, just aren’t true,” Young said. "I think you’re just now being able to see like with the young team we have, just some of the different things we’ve been doing this year, I think just now you’re starting to kind of see it because the results are showing and we’re winning now. We’re here in this final four of the Cup, and it’s a big deal.” AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Plante defends Montreal police after Legault offers to send SQ to 're-establish order'Stillwater’s starting center inherited more than just the name Enrique Sanchez from his father and grandfather. A family from Chihuahua, Mexico, planted roots in Stillwater, Oklahoma, 44 years ago and has watched them grow into a prosperous family based on hard work, love and football. Nearly 400 days ago, Sanchez had his season cut short after tearing his ACL in the district title game against Muskogee a week before the playoffs began. Sanchez still remembers every detail from that moment – especially how it made him feel. “I’ll never forget getting helped up and walking myself to the sideline,” Sanchez said. “I felt that something was wrong but I was confused because I was able to walk.” It was quickly diagnosed as the notorious ACL tear, and Sanchez had surgery a little over a month later. Now, things are coming full circle in his senior season. Sanchez played his first career playoff game last Friday in Stillwater’s 49-14 win over Putnam City North. Now, he’s getting another shot at Muskogee – this time with a spot in the state championship game on the line. Stillwater High center Enrique Sanchez (52) is playing in his first postseason after suffering a torn ACL just before the playoffs last year. Stillwater will look to advance to the state championship with a win over Muskogee on Friday. “I’m really excited,” Sanchez said. “More than scared or nervous or not really revenge. Just excited, to be honest. Missing out on the playoff experience last year makes me more motivated.” The excitement undoubtedly comes from the months and months of rehab that it took for Sanchez to be ready to play again. The typical recovery time from ACL surgery is six to nine months. During that time, Sanchez leaned on one of the many valuable lessons that he’s been taught from his dad, Enrique Sanchez Sr. “Just keep pushing forward, one play at a time,” Sanchez Sr said to his son. “That’s life.” So, Sanchez treated each day as its own play, not looking past it until each one was completed. “Focus on your workout right now, focus on what’s ahead of you, right ahead of you,” Sanchez said. “Then the next day, focus on your next workout, or focus on trying to do something better, trying to get stronger.” Sanchez Sr. has used that same philosophy for most of his life. As a young child, he came from Chihuahua (about 160 miles southwest from the Texas border) to Stillwater in 1980 when his dad, also Enrique Sanchez, attended Oklahoma State University for a Ph.D. in Animal Science. He remembers living in married student housing at just 6 years old before then going back to Mexico. Turns out the Sanchez family was destined to be in Stillwater again. Sanchez Sr. found his way back to Oklahoma State in 2006 after being presented with the opportunity to earn his own degree. A year later, he was offered an opportunity to get a masters’ degree in International Studies. At this same time, his wife, Belinda, was pregnant with Enrique. The Sanchez family has been in Stillwater ever since, and Sanchez Sr is now the assistant director of operations for OSU Housing and Residential Life and Belinda is the assignments coordinator there. The Sanchez family poses for a photo after Stillwater’s playoff win vs PC North. Sanchez (No. 52) is joined by his father, Enrique (right), his mother, Belinda (left) and his sisters Ana and Sabrina (far left). “It’s crazy how that all works out,” Sanchez Jr said. “It just makes you appreciate the small things.” The entire Sanchez family has looked on as Enrique Jr. goes through his senior year at Stillwater. His dad, mom and two sisters – Ana and Sabrina – were all there for his first game back against Union. “The adrenaline and everything that I experienced and that I loved from the game just came back in that moment,” Sanchez said. “I wanted to run out with the American flag. I ran super fast with that flag, and then I actually remember I ran up to the student section and I started waving the flag in front of them.” Sanchez left his mark on the thrilling overtime victory in that game. The Pioneers decided to go for the win on a two-point conversion, and it was a QB power up the middle – right behind the guidance of Sanchez. Sanchez gave the final push to get Mason Schubert across the goal line. The fans stormed the field, and Sanchez Sr. had a proud dad moment. Somebody next to him said, “Did you see that push from No. 52?” “That’s my son,” Sanchez Sr. replied. “This kid is someone special, not just to me, but the people around him,” Sanchez Sr. said. “He has a special angel behind him that influences people around him.” And Sanchez is proud of the influences of his family. Both his father and grandfather played football themselves in Mexico, and that was passed down to Sanchez when he was eight years old. “Football is so engraved on my heart,” Sanchez Sr said. “My son playing in football games will end, but we will share that love forever.” The mutual respect between father and son has created a truly special bond between Enrique Sr and Jr. “The most important thing in my life is having that relationship with someone that I love and someone that loves me, that’s something that you can’t buy or get anywhere else,” Sanchez said. Also passed down is the importance of their hispanic heritage. Sanchez wears that badge with honor, and hopes that he can inspire people like him. Enrique Sanchez (52) prepares to snap the ball against Putnam City North in Stillwater’s second-round playoff game. “I’m glad that I made it to this point so that I can hopefully show other people that are in my position – that are maybe not the not the biggest or not the fastest – that it is possible and that there’s times when you have to put your head down and work,” Sanchez said. “I just hope that I can inspire some people that share my heritage to step out and try really hard.” Sanchez and the Pioneers will put the season on the line on Friday against Muskogee in the state semifinal game. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. at Catoosa High School. The Sanchez family will be there to support their son in his final weeks of football before he goes on to attend Oklahoma State University just like his namesakes before him did. “There’s nothing he cannot do when he puts his mind to it,” Sanchez Sr said. “I’m really proud of this whole season,” Sanchez said. “I’m glad I’m here where I am, and that I have the name that I have.”
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Placards at a rally calling for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the headquarters of the ruling People Power Party on Dec 10. SEOUL - North Korean state media KCNA on Dec 11 reported South Korea’s ongoing political turmoil since President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law attempt for the first time. Last week’s shocking martial law order triggered concerns about a power vacuum and plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a key US ally into a constitutional crisis, sending shockwaves through diplomatic and economic fronts. After a week-long silence, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published an article on what it described as growing “social unrest” in the South due to the martial law crisis. The dispatch did not offer much commentary but largely carried South Korean and international media reports, focusing on a series of protests joined by more than a million people calling for Mr Yoon’s impeachment. “The puppet Yoon Suk Yeol, who had already faced a serious crisis of governance and impeachment, declared martial law unexpectedly and unleashed the guns of the fascist dictatorship on the people,” KCNA said. “His insane act, reminiscent of the coup during the military dictatorship decades ago, has drawn strong condemnation from all walks of life, including the opposition party, and further exploded the public’s fervour for impeachment.” REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel now
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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — TCU leading scorer Frankie Collins will miss the rest of the season because of a broken bone in his left foot, the school said Friday. The 6-foot-2 senior guard, in his first season at TCU after spending the past two at Arizona State, is scheduled to have surgery Tuesday in Dallas. Collins leads the Horned Frogs (5-4) with 11.2 points and 4.4 assists per game. He also averages 4.4 rebounds per game. TCU said Collins broke his foot in the first half of its 83-74 loss to Vanderbilt last Sunday. He still played 35 minutes, finishing with six points and seven assists. Collins played 31 games as a freshman for Michigan's NCAA Sweet 16 team in 2021-22 before transferring to Arizona State. He started all 32 games last season for the Sun Devils, averaging 13.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. He could potentially get another college season through a medical redshirt. Arizona State is in its first Big 12 season. It will host TCU on Feb. 15. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollBJP backs Devendra Fadnavis as Eknath Shinde raises CM pitch
Trump’s latest tariff plan aims at multiple countries. What does it mean for the US?Modern technologies like social media are making it easier than ever for enemies of the United States to emotionally manipulate U.S. citizens. U.S. officials warn that foreign adversaries are trying to produce tremendous amounts of false, misleading information online to sway public opinion in the U.S. Just this July, the Department of Justice announced it had disrupted a Kremlin-backed campaign that used nearly one thousand fake social media accounts in an attempt to spread disinformation. While AI is commonly used on offense in disinformation wars to generate large amounts of content, AI is now playing an important role in defense, too. Mark Finlayson, a professor at FIU's College of Engineering and Computing, is an expert in training AI to understand stories. He has spent more than two decades studying the subject. Persuasive—but false—stories Storytelling is important to spreading disinformation. "A heartfelt narrative or a personal anecdote is often more compelling to an audience than the facts," says Finlayson. "Stories are particularly effective in overcoming resistance to an idea." For example, a climate activist may be more successful in convincing an audience about plastic pollution by sharing a personal story of a rescued sea turtle with a straw lodged in its nose, rather than only citing statistics, Finlayson says. The story makes the problem relatable. "We are exploring the different ways stories are used to drive an argument," he explains. "It's a challenging problem, as stories in social media posts can be as brief as a single sentence, and sometimes, these posts may only allude to well-known stories without explicitly retelling them." Suspicious handles Finlayson's team is also exploring how AI can analyze usernames or handles in a profile. Azwad Islam, a Ph.D. student and co-author on a recent paper published with Finlayson, explains that usernames often contain significant clues about a user's identity and intentions. The paper was in the , a conference in artificial intelligence. "Handles reveal much about users and how they want to be perceived," Islam explains. "For example, a person claiming to be a New York journalist might choose the handle, '@AlexBurnsNYT' rather than '@NewYorkBoy," because it sounds more credible. Both handles, however, suggest the user is a male with an affiliation to New York." The FIU team demonstrated a tool that can analyze a user handle, reliably revealing a person's claimed name, gender, location and even personality (if that information is hinted at in the handle). Although a user handle alone can't confirm whether an account is fake, it can be crucial in analyzing an account's overall authenticity—especially as AI's ability to understand stories evolves. "By interpreting handles as part of the larger narrative an account presents, we believe usernames could become a critical tool in identifying sources of disinformation," Islam says. Questionable cultural cache Objects and symbols can carry different meanings across cultures. If an AI model is unaware of the differences, it can make a grave mistake in how it interprets a story. Foreign adversaries can also use these symbols to make their messages more persuasive to a target audience. Anurag Acharya is a former Ph.D. student of Finlayson's who worked on this problem. He found that training AI with diverse cultural perspectives improves AI's story comprehension. "A story may say, 'The woman was overjoyed in her white dress.' An AI model trained exclusively on weddings from Western stories might read that and say, 'That's great!' But if my mother saw this sentence, she would take great offense, because we only wear white to funerals," says Acharya, who comes from a family of Hindu heritage. It is critical that AI understands these nuances so it can detect when foreign adversaries are using cultural messages and symbols to have a greater malicious impact. Acharya and Finlayson have a recent paper on this topic, presented at a workshop at the Meeting of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL), an AI conference. Helping AI find order in chaos Another difficulty of understanding stories is that the sequence of events that a narrative tells is rarely laid out neatly and precisely in order. Rather, events are often found in pieces, intertwined with other storylines. For human readers, this adds dramatic effect; but for AI models, such complex interrelations can create confusion. Finlayson's research on timeline extraction has significantly advanced AI's understanding of event sequences within narratives. "In a story, you can have inversions and rearrangements of events in many different, complex ways. This is one of the key things that we have worked on with AI. We have helped AI understand how to map out different events that happen in the real world, and how they might affect each other," Finlayson says. "This is a good example of something that people find easy to understand but is challenging for machines. An AI model must be able to order the events in a story accurately. This is important not only to identify disinformation, but also to support many other applications." The FIU team's advancements in helping AI understand stories are positioned to help intelligence analysts fight disinformation with new levels of efficiency and accuracy.
FRO stock touches 52-week low at $18.26 amid market shiftsSuspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggles, shouts while entering courthouse ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggled with deputies and shouted while arriving for a court appearance in Pennsylvania a day after he was arrested at a McDonald’s and charged with murder. Luigi Nicholas Mangione emerged from a patrol car, spun toward reporters and shouted something partly unintelligible while deputies pushed him inside Tuesday. At the brief hearing, the defense lawyer informed the court that Mangione would not waive extradition to New York but instead wants a hearing on the issue. Mangione was denied bail. Brian Thompson, who led the United States’ largest medical insurance company, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. From wealth and success to murder suspect, the life of Luigi Mangione took a hard turn Luigi Nicholas Mangione was apparently living a charmed one: the grandson of a wealthy real estate developer, valedictorian of his elite Baltimore prep school and with degrees from one of the nation’s top private universities. Friends at an exclusive co-living space at the edge of touristy Waikiki in Hawaii where the 26-year-od Mangione once lived widely considered him a “great guy.” Pictures on his social media accounts show a fit, smiling, handsome young man on beaches and at parties. Now, investigators are working to piece together why Mangione diverged from a path of seeming success to make the violent and radical decision to gun down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen attack on a Manhattan street. Key details about the man accused of killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO The 26-year-old man charged in last week’s killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in New York City has appeared in a Pennsylvania courtroom. Luigi Nicholas Mangione was arrested Monday after a worker at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, notified police that he resembled the suspect in last Wednesday's killing of Brian Thompson. While being led into court to be arraigned Tuesday, Mangione shouted something that was partly unintelligible but referred to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people.” During the hearing in Hollidaysburg, Mangione was denied bail and his attorney said Mangione would not waive extradition. DA suggests unusual idea for halting Trump’s hush money case while upholding his conviction NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are trying to preserve President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money conviction as he returns to office, and they're suggesting various ways forward. One novel notion is based on how some courts handle criminal cases when defendants die. In court papers made public on Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office proposed an array of options for keeping the historic conviction on the books. The proposals included freezing the case until he’s out of office, or agreeing that any future sentence wouldn’t include jail time. Another idea: closing the case with a notation that acknowledges his conviction but says that he was never sentenced and that his appeal wasn’t resolved because of presidential immunity. There's no immediate response from Trump's lawyers. Middle East latest: Israel bombs hundreds of sites across Syria as army pushes into border zone Israel says it bombed more than 350 military sites in Syria during the previous 48 hours, targeting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the wave of strikes was necessary to keep the weapons from being used against Israel following the Syrian government’s stunning collapse. Israel also acknowledged its troops were pushing into a border buffer zone inside Syria, which was established after the 1973 Mideast war. However, Israel denied its forces were advancing Tuesday toward the Syrian capital of Damascus. Life in the capital was slowly returning to normal. People celebrated for a third day in a main square, and shops and banks reopened. Donald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trolling NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s recent dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his visit to Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral were not just exercises in policy and diplomacy. For Trump, they were also prime trolling opportunities. Throughout his first term in the White House and his recent campaign to return there, the Republican has dished out provocative, antagonizing and mocking statements. Now that’s he’s preparing to return to the Oval Office, Trump is back at it, and his trolling is attracting more attention — and eyerolls. Report on attempts to kill Trump urges Secret Service to limit protection of foreign leaders WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional task force looking into the assassination attempts against Donald Trump during his presidential campaign is recommending changes to the Secret Service. These include protecting fewer foreign leaders during the height of the election season and considering moving the agency out of the Department of Homeland Security. The 180-page report was released Tuesday. It constitutes one of the most detailed looks so far into the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and a second one in Florida two months later. South Korea's ex-defense minister is formally arrested over brief imposition of martial law SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's previous defense minister has been formally arrested over his alleged collusion with President Yoon Suk Yeol and others in imposing martial law last week. Kim Yong Hyun resigned last week and has been detained since Sunday. He is the first person arrested in the case. Prosecutors have up to 20 days to determine whether to indict him. A conviction on the charge of playing a key role in rebellion carries the maximum death sentence. Kim is accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Homes burn as wind-driven wildfire prompts evacuations in Malibu, California MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of Southern California residents are under evacuation orders and warnings as firefighters battle a wind-driven wildfire in Malibu. The flames burned near seaside mansions and Pepperdine University, where students sheltering at the school’s library on Monday night watched as the blaze intensified. Officials on Tuesday said a “minimal number” of homes burned, but the exact amount wasn’t immediately known. More than 8,100 homes and other structures are under threat, including more than 2,000 where residents have been ordered to evacuate. Pepperdine University on Tuesday morning said the worst of the fire has pushed past campus. It was not immediately known how the blaze started. More beans and less red meat: Nutritionists weigh in on US dietary guidelines Americans should eat more beans, peas and lentils and cut back on red and processed meats and starchy vegetables. That's advice from a panel of expert nutritionists charged with counseling the U.S. government about the next edition of the dietary guidelines. The panel did not weigh in on the growing role of ultraprocessed foods that have been linked to health problems or alcohol use. But they did say people should continue to limit added sugars, sodium and saturated fat in pursuit of a healthy diet. Tuesday’s recommendations now go to federal officials, who will draft the final guidance set for release next year.