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Crews put out fire that ignited in church attic near Fort Lauderdale; no injuries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

NEAR FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) — Flames ripped through a church near Fort Lauderdale after, officials said, a fire broke out in the attic.Broward Sheriff’s Office units, with assistance from Lauderhill Fire Rescue, responded to the scene of the blaze at the National Church of God, located along the 3000 block of Northwest 12th Street, Wednesday night.Officials said members of the congregation called 911 after they smelled smoke during choir practice, just after 7 p.m.“As we got closer to the door, we started smelling it even worse, so that’s when we opened the door and went inside the church,” said church minister Vincent Cartwright. “We went straight to the dining room, because we have a kitchen, so we checked to see if there were any appliances on fire. We didn’t see anything on fire, but we saw a whole bunch of smoke in the dining room.”When firefighters arrived, they found smoke coming from the roof of the church. They were able...

At least 16 dead in Maine shooting and dozens injured, law enforcement officials tell AP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — A man opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night, killing at least 16 people and engulfing the state’s second-largest city in chaos. The suspect remained at large as authorities ordered residents and business owners to stay inside and off the streets.Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press dozens of people also had been wounded. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.Lewiston Police said in an earlier Facebook post that they were dealing with an active shooter incident at Schemengees Bar and Grille and Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of the suspect on its Facebook page that showed a shooter walking into an establishment with a weapon raised to their shoulder.“Please stay off the roads to allow emergency resp...

UK summit scales back global AI research ambitions, leaked document shows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

LONDON — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s hopes of securing international agreement for a new scientific body focused on risks from the most powerful AI systems have been dealt a setback, according to a final summit communiqué obtained by POLITICO.While nations participating in the United Kingdom’s AI safety summit will agree that frontier AI could cause “serious, even catastrophic, harm,” they will be expected to signal that further scientific study of the issue could be carried out by existing collaboration efforts, including the United Nations and Global Partnership on AI.The document, dated October 25, was presented by the General Secretariat of the European Council to EU member states. It is described as the “final version of the communiqué.” A schedule seen by POLITICO stated that Wednesday October 25 was the final deadline for agreeing the communiqué. The reference to a network that “encompasses and complements” existing efforts is a change from an earlier draft of the statement,...

Israel is acting proportionately against a terrorist enemy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

Arsen Ostrovsky is a human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum.Before the bodies of the 40 Jewish babies massacred by Hamas were even buried, many self-proclaimed experts were already charging Israel with acting disproportionately in response to the attacks on October 7.But what is a “proportionate” response to dozens of infants being shot, burnt and decapitated? Would those preaching “proportionality” expect Israel to go into Gaza and massacre 40 Palestinian babies in return? Of course not.The death toll in Israel of at least 1,400 from this massacre is the single largest number of Jews killed in one day since the Holocaust. And I saw this carnage with my own eyes, standing in Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, where homes were scorched, bullets were strewn and the stench of death was unmistakable.Yet, the pesky Jewish state, which faces such a heinous and savage enemy, remains the only democracy in the world that’s condemned for acting “disproportionately” eac...

Two wars threaten to overload Europe’s leaders

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

BRUSSELS — As EU leaders meet at a summit on Thursday, they will insist they can handle both the wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East at the same time — while also keeping an eye on the tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, to say nothing of Armenia and Azerbaijan.  That all has to be taken with a grain of salt. Increasingly, the conflict between Israel and Hamas is shunting Ukraine out of the political limelight, with a whirl of European leaders spinning through the Middle East and the battle for Gaza set to dominate the meeting. “It’s clear that the conflict in the Middle East is casting a bit of a shadow over what’s going on in Ukraine,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Wednesday.Despite the ambitions of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to mold the EU into a “geopolitical” powerhouse, the two conflicts are testing the limits of the EU’s foreign policy reach, especially as European leaders are having trouble aligning their positions...

Don’t let Gaza be another example of ICC double standards

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

James A. Goldston is executive director of the Open Society Justice InitiativeIn the days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), issued several official statements expressing his “concern” over the events unfolding in the region. He invited ICC member countries to refer the situation to his office to “further expedite matters,” and in short order, over three dozen governments spoke up to demand court action.No similar wave of state support has emerged in response to the appalling violence and destruction unleashed in Israel and Gaza since October 7. It should.The ICC is already engaged in this conflict. Though Israel — like the United States, China and Russia — declined to join the court, since 2014, it has had jurisdiction over all perpetrators of crimes committed in what it terms “the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in June 1967: namely the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, an...

Keir Starmer sees fragile Labour Party unity collapse over Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

LONDON — Keir Starmer must have breathed a sigh of relief when the annual Labour Party conference passed off without internal strife this month, given that it came immediately after Hamas’ murderous assault on Israel. The show of party unity did not last long.Since the moment Hamas launched its attacks on October 7, the Labour leader has maintained a position of near-total unity with his Conservative rival, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Both Starmer and Sunak have been consistent in condemning Hamas as terrorists and insisting on Israel’s right to defend itself, while requesting humanitarian aid for the stricken residents of Gaza. But as Israel’s assault on the strip intensifies, the Labour leader is facing growing calls from party members and MPs to take a stronger line and demand a ceasefire. Starmer’s refusal to do so is causing ructions within the party rarely seen in his three-and-a-half years as leader.“It won’t last,” predicted one angry left-w...

British spy agencies warn of AI threat to democracy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

LONDON — Generative artificial intelligence systems will pose a stark threat to political systems within the next two years, British intelligence agencies have warned.As Rishi Sunak prepares for a major speech on AI ahead of next week’s London-hosted global safety summit on the tech, the U.K. government on Wednesday night unveiled a series of papers laying out the risks and opportunities posed by AI. The paper focusing on risks was largely informed by British intelligence assessments and examined near-term threats in the run-up to 2025.It warns that the rise of generative AI systems — such as ChatGPT or other input-based content creating AI models — will “significantly increase risks to safety and security,” with those risks increasing in likelihood as the tech develops. It points to “Digital Risks,” such as cybercrime and hacking, as an area where generative AI models are likely to have the largest negative impact. But it also flags potential threats t...

At least 22 dead, police searching for gunman in Lewiston, Maine mass shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

(CNN) — At least 22 people are dead and dozens are injured following two mass shootings Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine, officials say. An intensive manhunt is underway for a suspect in the shootings, according to officials and law enforcement sources.A city administrator said 22 people had been killed, Lewiston City Councilor Robert McCarthy told CNN.A suspect remains at large, the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on Facebook.“We are encouraging all businesses to lock down and or close while we investigate,” the sheriff’s office said earlier Wednesday evening.—WATCH: 7NEWS law enforcement expert discusses situation in Lewiston, Maine —The sheriff’s office released images of a “suspect for identification.” The person was seen holding a high-powered assault-style rifle.In a Facebook post, Lewiston police shared an image of a vehicle they are looking for, which appears to be...

Chicago Bears CB Jaylon Johnson gets 2 interceptions to break 28-game streak without one: ‘I deserve to be paid’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:36 GMT

Jaylon Johnson jumped in front of Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams to grab the interception, raced 39 yards for a touchdown and then made a beeline for the FOX broadcast camera.As Johnson’s teammates gathered around to celebrate his second career interception — and his first of two picks Sunday — Johnson smirked at the camera and swiped one hand up over the other, raining imaginary money over the Soldier Field end zone.Was he sending a message with that celebration in the Bears’ joy-filled 30-12 victory over the Raiders, you ask?“You damn right,” Johnson said. “100%.”Johnson’s two interceptions — one off veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer and one off rookie Aidan O’Connell — were part of a banner day for the Bears defense against a Raiders team missing starter Jimmy Garoppolo. Tremaine Edmunds also intercepted Hoyer. The Bears let the Raiders in the end zone just once, held them to 39 yards rushing and...