Friday, November 22

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ChatGPT rejected more than 250,000 image generations of presidential candidates prior to Election Day

OpenAI estimates that ChatGPT rejected more than 250,000 requests to generate images of the 2024 U.S. presidential candidates in the lead up to Election Day, the company said in a blog on Friday . The rejections included image-generation requests involving President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Vice President-elect JD Vance, OpenAI said. The rise of generative artificial intelligence has led to concerns about how misinformation created using the technology could affect the numerous elections taking place around the world in 2024. The number of deepfakes has increased 900% year over year, according to data from Clarity, a machine learning firm. Some included videos that were created or paid for by Russians...
Wildfires rage across the Northeast as 27 million people remain under fire alerts
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Wildfires rage across the Northeast as 27 million people remain under fire alerts

Wind gusts and humidity are helping to fuel wildfires burning across the Northeast. A whopping 27 million people from New York to Massachusetts are under fire alerts Saturday afternoon. Cities under fire alerts include New York City and Boston, where wind gusts up to 35 mph and relative humidity of around 25% to 30% is expected. Vegetation in the area also remains very dry, with this region of the country about 6 to 8 inches behind on rainfall since Sept. 1. A cold front is expected to pass through the region Sunday, bringing up to 1 inch of rain. A brush fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park burned overnight Friday into Saturday after about 2 acres of dry vegetation ignited during heavy wind gusts, the New York City Fire Department said on X . Firefighters worked overnight to e...
Pentagon to challenge military court’s ruling on 9/11 plea deals
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Pentagon to challenge military court’s ruling on 9/11 plea deals

The Pentagon intends to challenge a recent ruling by a military court that deemed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to invalidate plea deals for several accused 9/11 co-conspirators improper, a defense official tells NBC News. “We intend to seek postponement of any hearing on the pleas or pretrial agreements during that time,” the official said. In July, prosecutors announced they had entered into pretrial plea agreements with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. The deal would have allowed them to plead guilty to lesser charges that would prevent them from receiving the death penalty. But in a shocking move days later, Austin withdrew the controversial plea deals and removed Susan Escallier, the ...
Qatar ends mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas, citing lack of good-faith negotiations
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Qatar ends mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas, citing lack of good-faith negotiations

Qatar has halted its mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas, citing a lack of willingness from both sides to engage constructively, according to a diplomatic source briefed on the matter. Qatar’s participation hinged on both parties demonstrating real interest in resolving the conflict, according to the diplomat. Qatari officials, however, concluded that recent negotiation efforts have been more focused on optics than peace efforts. The diplomat noted that Qatar may resume its role if both sides reach an impasse and show genuine intent to negotiate. Under U.S. pressure, Qatari officials had warned Hamas ’ political bureau earlier that it was no longer welcome in the country amid frustration over stalled hostage and cease-fire negotiations with Israel , according ...
Trump has shaped the Supreme Court, but it could still hinder his agenda
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Trump has shaped the Supreme Court, but it could still hinder his agenda

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s ambitious agenda could face pushback from an institution he has done much to shape: the Supreme Court. With a 6-3 conservative majority including three Trump appointees, the court has spent the last few years buffeted by criticism from the left. But if the justices stick true to their stated jurisprudential principles, the new administration could end up on the losing side at least some of the time, legal experts say. “I think if President Trump’s executive agencies tried to stretch the law beyond the breaking point in the same kind of way that the Biden administration has done then, yes, the courts will be a check on that power,” said John Malcolm, a lawyer at the Trump-allied Heritage Foundation. Brianne Gorod, a lawyer with the left-l...
Trump has shaped the Supreme Court, but it could still hinder his agenda
News

Trump has shaped the Supreme Court, but it could still hinder his agenda

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s ambitious agenda could face pushback from an institution he has done much to shape: the Supreme Court. With a 6-3 conservative majority including three Trump appointees, the court has spent the last few years buffeted by criticism from the left. But if the justices stick true to their stated jurisprudential principles, the new administration could end up on the losing side at least some of the time, legal experts say. “I think if President Trump’s executive agencies tried to stretch the law beyond the breaking point in the same kind of way that the Biden administration has done then, yes, the courts will be a check on that power,” said John Malcolm, a lawyer at the Trump-allied Heritage Foundation. Brianne Gorod, a lawyer with the left-l...
Wildfires rage across the Northeast as 27 million people remain under fire alerts
News

Wildfires rage across the Northeast as 27 million people remain under fire alerts

Wind gusts and humidity are helping to fuel wildfires burning across the Northeast. A whopping 27 million people from New York to Massachusetts are under fire alerts Saturday afternoon. Cities under fire alerts include New York City and Boston, where wind gusts up to 35 mph and relative humidity of around 25% to 30% is expected. Vegetation in the area also remains very dry, with this region of the country about 6 to 8 inches behind on rainfall since Sept. 1. A cold front is expected to pass through the region Sunday, bringing up to 1 inch of rain. A brush fire in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park burned overnight Friday into Saturday after about 2 acres of dry vegetation ignited during heavy wind gusts, the New York City Fire Department said on X . Firefighters worked overnight to e...
Trump has promised lower interest rates. That will be largely out of his control.
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Trump has promised lower interest rates. That will be largely out of his control.

WASHINGTON — As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to relieve consumers of high interest rates. As president, doing so will likely be a slow process largely outside of his control. Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that he would bring down interest rates without elaborating on how. He has suggested the president should have a say in determining rates set by the Federal Reserve and publicly berated the central bank and its chairman, Jerome Powell, for not lowering rates sooner. But while Trump has put a lot of emphasis on the Federal Reserve as a way to reduce the interest paid by consumers or businesses, the rates on mortgages and other longer-term loans are outside of any one person’s or institution’s control. Instead, those rates are largely determined by the bond market, w...
Biden to host Trump at White House on Wednesday
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Biden to host Trump at White House on Wednesday

President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump will meet at the White House on Wednesday morning, officials announced on Saturday. The two will meet in the Oval Office at 11 a.m. that day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The announcement comes four days after Trump was projected to win the presidential election, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the days following her loss, both Biden and Harris committed to a peaceful transfer of power. At her concession speech at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, the vice president told supporters, “Earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his victory....
Biden to host Trump at White House on Wednesday
News

Biden to host Trump at White House on Wednesday

President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump will meet at the White House on Wednesday morning, the White House announced on Saturday. The two will meet in the Oval Office at 11 a.m. that day, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The announcement comes four days since Trump was projected to win the presidential election, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the days following her loss, both Biden and Harris committed to a peaceful transfer of power. At her concession speech at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, the vice president told supporters, "earlier today, I spoke with President-elect Trump and congratulated him on his vic...