The Vancouver Canucks will be missing a top-pairing defenceman for the next two months. On Tuesday, the Canucks announced that Filip Hronek will be out for "approximately eight weeks." That timeline makes sense for a significant shoulder separation, which is the leading theory for the injury suffered by Hronek at the end of the Canucks' game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 27. Hronek was shoved into the boards by Penguins defenceman Jack St. Ivany with less than a minute remaining in the game. Hronek fell awkwardly into the boards and immediately went to the bench and down the tunnel to the Canucks' room. Thankfully, Hronek's assumed shoulder injury won't require surgery. But Hronek evidently had more going on than just that upper-body injury. The Canucks' statement from general manager Patrik Allvin said that Hronek "underwent a successful lower-body procedure." That suggests Hronek was already dealing with a lower-body injury when he suffered his upper-body injury. Since the latter injury was already going to keep Hronek out of the Canucks' lineup for a significant amount of time, Hronek and the Canucks decided to deal with the lower-body injury at the same time because the surgery had a shorter recovery time. The upside of this is that Hronek can mend both injuries simultaneously and should be fully healthy when he returns. The downside is that recuperating from a procedure on his lower body means that Hronek might not be able to keep exercising in the same way if he was only dealing with an upper-body injury. Frequently, players who are dealing with an upper-body injury will be able to keep skating and exercising to keep up their conditioning as they recover. Dealing with a lower-body injury at the same time means that Hronek will have to ramp up his conditioning later on in his recovery period. Knowing the timeline for Hronek gives the Canucks some clarity moving forward. The big question is whether they will look to make a trade for a defenceman in the near future or if they will try to work with the defence corps they already have in place. Quinn Hughes' ice time has spiked in recent games to a level that might not be sustainable, while the team has struggled to find second and third defence pairs that can help keep Hughes' ice time at a more reasonable level.MrBeast says full YouTube video with Cristiano Ronaldo is his “biggest ever”
Insight Health System Appoints Dr. Maliha Hashmi as Global Ambassador
:Mikaela Shiffrin's bid for a record-extending 100th career World Cup came undone when the American crashed late in her second run of the giant slalom event at Killington, Vermont, on Saturday and was taken off the slope on a sled. Shiffrin posted the fastest first run and looked well on course to reach the milestone after a blazing start to her second run before a sudden crash sent her slamming into the safety netting and left onlookers stunned. The two-time Olympic gold medallist remained down for several minutes before being transported off the hill on a rescue sled. As they saw the American come into view on the sled, the home crowd who had shown up eager to witness a milestone win offered polite applause. "The course and conditions are really spectacular," Shiffrin had said after finishing the first run with a 0.32-second advantage over Sweden's Sara Hector. "It's pretty straightforward and I think there may be some spots on the hill with a few stones that are kind of surfacing as people ski. "Some of the skiers coming down they look fine, and then their ski just slips out. And the surface is actually really great so I don't think it's an issue of not enough grip so much as you hit a stone and you lose your edge." Hector went on to win with a combined time of one minute 53.08 seconds to beat Croatia's Zrinka Ljutic by 0.54 seconds. Switzerland's Camille Rast was third. "It's so sad of course for Mikaela, a crash like that after she was skiing so well. It breaks my heart," said Hector. Shiffrin missed six weeks after injuring her knee in a high-speed crash in January while competing in the World Cup downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo. In October she said she would drop the discipline from her schedule for this season. Since returning from injury in March, Shiffrin has shown no signs of rust. She closed last season with a pair of slalom wins before adding another two to her haul this month. If Shiffrin avoids injury, she will have another chance at her 100th win on Sunday in the slalom event. She has won the slalom at Killington in six of the seven years it has been held there. The 29-year-old Shiffrin began the season needing three wins to reach the century mark on the World Cup circuit and set herself up to accomplish the feat on home snow with back-to-back slalom victories in Finland and Austria over the last two weeks. She established herself as the most successful Alpine skier in World Cup history, male or female, when she topped retired Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark's decades-old record of 86 World Cup victories in March 2023. The closest woman on the all-time list is Lindsey Vonn with 82.This week, authorities from the U.K., E.U., U.S., and seven other nations gathered in San Francisco to launch the “International Network of AI Safety Institutes.” The meeting, which took place at the Presidio Golden Gate Club, addressed managing the risks of AI-generated content, testing foundation models, and conducting risk assessments for advanced AI systems. AI safety institutes from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore also officially joined the Network. In addition to signing a mission statement , more than $11 million in funding was allocated to research into AI-generated content, and the results of the Network’s first joint safety testing exercise were reviewed. Attendees included regulatory officials, AI developers, academics, and civil society leaders to aid the discussion on emerging AI challenges and potential safeguards. The convening built on the progress made at the previous AI Safety Summit in May, which took place in Seoul. The 10 nations agreed to foster “international cooperation and dialogue on artificial intelligence in the face of its unprecedented advancements and the impact on our economies and societies.” “The International Network of AI Safety Institutes will serve as a forum for collaboration, bringing together technical expertise to address AI safety risks and best practices,” according to the European Commission . “Recognising the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity, the Network will work towards a unified understanding of AI safety risks and mitigation strategies.” Member AI Safety Institutes will have to demonstrate their progress in AI safety testing and evaluation by the Paris AI Impact Summit in February 2025 so they can move forward with discussions around regulation. Key outcomes of the conference Mission statement signed The mission statement commits the Network members to collaborate in four areas: Research: Collaborating with the AI safety research community and sharing findings. Testing: Developing and sharing best practices for testing advanced AI systems. Guidance: Facilitating shared approaches to interpreting AI safety test results. Inclusion: Sharing information and technical tools to broaden participation in AI safety science. Over $11 million allocated to AI safety research In total, Network members and several nonprofits announced over $11 million of funding for research into mitigating the risk of AI-generated content. Child sexual abuse material, non-consensual sexual imagery, and the use of AI for fraud and impersonation were highlighted as key areas of concern. Funding will be allocated as a priority to researchers investigating digital content transparency techniques and model safeguards to prevent the generation and distribution of harmful content. Grants will be considered for scientists developing technical mitigations and social scientific and humanistic assessments. The U.S. institute also released a series of voluntary approaches to address the risks of AI-generated content. The results of a joint testing exercise discussed The network has completed its first-ever joint testing exercise on Meta’s Llama 3.1 405B, looking into its general knowledge, multi-lingual capabilities, and closed-domain hallucinations, where a model provides information from outside the realm of what it was instructed to refer to. The exercise raised several considerations for how AI safety testing across languages, cultures, and contexts could be improved. For example, the impact minor methodological differences and model optimisation techniques can have on evaluation results. Broader joint testing exercises will take place before the Paris AI Action Summit. Shared basis for risk assessments agreed The network has agreed upon a shared scientific basis for AI risk assessments , including that they must be actionable, transparent, comprehensive, multistakeholder, iterative, and reproducible. Members discussed how it could be operationalised. U.S.’s ‘Testing Risks of AI for National Security’ task force established Finally, the new TRAINS task force was established, led by the U.S. AI Safety Institute, and included experts from other U.S. agencies, including Commerce, Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security. All members will test AI models to manage national security risks in domains such as radiological and nuclear security, chemical and biological security, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and military capabilities. SEE: Apple Joins Voluntary U.S. Government Commitment to AI Safety This reinforces how top-of-mind the intersection of AI and the military is in the U.S. Last month, the White House published the first-ever National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence , which ordered the Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies to accelerate their adoption of AI in national security missions. Speakers addressed balancing AI innovation with safety U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo delivered the keynote speech on Wednesday. She told attendees that “advancing AI is the right thing to do, but advancing as quickly as possible, just because we can, without thinking of the consequences, isn’t the smart thing to do,” according to TIME . The battle between progress and safety in AI has been a point of contention between governments and tech companies in recent months. While the intention is to keep consumers safe, regulators risk limiting their access to the latest technologies, which could bring tangible benefits . Google and Meta have both openly criticised European AI regulation , referring to the region’s AI Act , suggesting it will quash its innovation potential. Raimondo said that the U.S. AI Safety Institute is “not in the business of stifling innovation,” according to AP . “But here’s the thing. Safety is good for innovation. Safety breeds trust. Trust speeds adoption. Adoption leads to more innovation.” She also stressed that nations have an “obligation” to manage risks that could negatively impact society, such as through causing unemployment and security breaches. “Let’s not let our ambition blind us and allow us to sleepwalk into our own undoing,” she said via AP. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, also delivered a talk stressing the need for safety testing. He said that while “people laugh today when chatbots say something a little unpredictable,” it indicates how essential it is to get control of AI before it gains more nefarious capabilities, according to Fortune . Global AI safety institutes have been popping up through the last year The first meeting of AI authorities took place in Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, U.K. about a year ago. It saw the launch of the U.K.’s AI Safety Institute, which has the three primary goals of: Evaluating existing AI systems. Performing foundational AI safety research. Sharing information with other national and international actors. The U.S. has its own AI Safety Institute, formally established by NIST in February 2024, that has been designated the network’s chair. It was created to work on the priority actions outlined in the AI Executive Order issued in October 2023. These actions include developing standards for the safety and security of AI systems. SEE: OpenAI and Anthropic Sign Deals With U.S. AI Safety Institute In April, the U.K. government formally agreed to collaborate with the U.S. in developing tests for advanced AI models, largely by sharing developments made by their respective AI Safety Institutes. An agreement made in Seoul saw similar institutes created in other nations that joined the collaboration. Clarifying the U.S.’s position toward AI safety with the San Francisco conference was especially important, as the wider nation does not currently present an overwhelmingly supportive attitude. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal the Executive Order when he returns to the White House. California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was in attendance, also vetoed the controversial AI regulation bill SB 1047 at the end of September.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Tamar Bates had 29 points and five steals to help Missouri beat Hunter Dickinson and No. 1 Kansas 76-67 on Sunday. Mark Mitchell scored 17 points in Missouri’s first win over Kansas since a 74-71 victory on Feb. 4, 2012. Anthony Robinson II had 11 points and five steals for the Tigers (8-1), and Josh Gray grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds. Dickinson had 19 points and 14 rebounds, but he also committed seven turnovers. The Jayhawks (7-2) have lost two straight on the road after falling 76-63 against Creighton on Wednesday night. Missouri opened a 57-33 lead with 14:15 remaining on a jump shot from Tony Perkins. But the Jayhawks outscored the Tigers 30-8 over the next 11:55. Bates scored 18 to help Missouri to a 39-25 lead at the break. The Tigers then opened the second half with a 16-6 run. NO. 2 AUBURN 98, RICHMOND 54 AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Miles Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford each scored 15 points as No. 2 Auburn beats Richmond. Bouncing back nicely after a loss , Auburn (8-1) had six players score in double figures. Chad Baker-Mazara had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Denver Jones made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. Johni Broome had 11 points, six assists and two blocks for the Tigers. Jahki Howard scored a career-high 13 points. Richmond (4-5) was led by Mikkel Tyne’s 16 points. Dusan Neskovic scored 12, and DeLonnie Hunt added 10 points. NO. 8 PURDUE 83, MARYLAND 78 WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Braden Smith had 24 points and 10 assists, and No. 8 Purdue held off Maryland for a win. Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 21 points for the Boilermakers (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten), who bounced back after a loss to Penn State on Thursday. Camden Heide added 15 points and Fletcher Loyer finished with 12. Derik Queen led the Terrapins (8-2, 1-1) with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds. Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 18 points and Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice each had 13. Julian Reese fouled out with five points and seven rebounds. Purdue used an 8-0 run to take a 77-67 lead with 2:00 left. Smith sparked the run with a 3-pointer. Heide made three late foul shots to help close it out. The Terrapins led 36-31 at halftime. Both teams made 13 of 35 shots in the first half, but the Terrapins had three more 3-pointers NO. 14 CINCINNATI 84, HOWARD 67 CINCINNATI (AP) — Simas Lukosius scored 18 points, Aziz Bandaogo added 17 and Dillon Mitchell 14 to lead No. 14 Cincinnati to a victory over Howard. Cincinnati (7-1) led by four points after one half and came out firing in the second, hitting three straight baskets to extend its lead to 10 points. The Bearcats outscored Howard Bison (3-6) 48-35 in the second half to seal the win and rebound from Tuesday’s eight-point loss to Villanova. Blake Harper had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Marcus Dockery added 14 points for Howard. NO. 22 TEXAS A&M 72, TEXAS TECH 67 FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Wade Taylor IV scored 19 points, Zhuric Phelps hit a go-ahead 3-pointer during an 11-0 run and finished with 12 points, and 22nd-ranked Texas A&M beat Texas Tech in the first meeting of the former conference rivals since 2012. Phelps’ 3 with 7 1/2 minutes left made it 54-52 and put the Aggies (8-2) ahead to stay. His step-back jumper after hard contact with Tech’s Kevin Overton capped the game-turning spurt. Jace Carter scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half as Texas A&M won its fourth straight game. Chance McMillian had 23 points with five 3s for Tech (7-2). Overton scored 14 of his 17 points before halftime, when he hit four 3s.Law targets 'weaponizing' of remote control GPS in vehicles against domestic violence survivors
New Jersey interim Sen. George Helmy stepping down for Andy Kim to be sworn in early