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First image of a black hole gets a makeover with AI

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The first image of a black hole captured four years ago revealed a fuzzy, fiery doughnut-shaped object. Now, researchers have used artificial intelligence to give that cosmic beauty shot a touch-up.The updated picture, published Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, keeps the original shape, but with a skinnier ring and a sharper resolution.The image released in 2019 gave a peek at the enormous black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, 53 million light-years from Earth. A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. It was made using data gathered by a network of radio telescopes around the world, showing swirling light and gas. But even with many telescopes working together, gaps remained in the data. In the latest study, scientists relied on the same data and used machine learning to fill in the missing pieces. The resulting picture looks similar to the original, but with a thinner “doughnut” and a darker center, researchers said. “For me, it feels like we’re reall...

Un meteorito aterrizó en EE.UU. la semana pasada, y ahora hay una recompensa por encontrarlo

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

(CNN) — Cazadores de meteoritos, prepárense para adentrarse en el bosque.Un museo de Maine ofrece US$ 25.000 por los restos de una roca espacial que surcó el cielo la semana pasada antes de aterrizar cerca de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y Canadá.La bola de fuego, visible a plena luz del día y que provocó un estampido sónico, fue detectada por radar, lo que permitió al Laboratorio de Investigación de Astromateriales y Ciencia de la Exploración (ARES, por sus siglas en inglés) de la NASA calcular el “campo esparcido” -donde podrían encontrarse fragmentos del meteoro- cerca de Calais, Maine.Darryl Pitt, jefe de la división de meteoritos del Museo de Minerales y Gemas de Maine, dijo que estaba deseoso de estudiar cualquier fragmento del meteorito, que podría contener información valiosa sobre el sistema solar. La recompensa de US$ 25.000 es para la primera pieza de meteorito encontrada que pese 2,2 libras (1 kilogramo) o más. Sin embargo, dijo que el museo estaría...

Wes Anderson, Ken Loach in Cannes festival competition

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

PARIS (AP) — New films by Wes Anderson, Wim Wenders and Ken Loach are in the lineup announced Thursday for the 76th Cannes Film Festival.Anderson’s sci-fi homage “Asteroid City,” Wenders’ “Perfect Days” and Loach’s “The Old Oak” are among 19 movies competing for the coveted Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize.The schedule for next month’s festival includes Cannes-favorite directors such as Italy’s Nanni Moretti (“Il Sol Dell’Avvenire”), Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Monster”) and Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan (“About Dry Grasses”).There are a record six female directors in the competition, including France’s Catherine Breillat with “L’été Dernier,” Austria’s Jessica Hausner with “Club Zero” and Italy’s Alice Rohrwacher with “La Chimera.”The seaside cinema extravaganza in the south of France opens May 16 with French director Maïwenn’s historical drama, “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp as King Louis XV.“Jeanne du Barry” has been billed as Depp’s comeback film ...

Ejecutivos de JPMorgan sabían sobre las denuncias de abuso sexual contra su entonces cliente Jeffery Epstein, según un documento judicial

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

(CNN) — Un nuevo documento judicial sostiene que los ejecutivos de JPMorgan Chase estaban al tanto de acusaciones de abuso sexual y tráfico de menores contra su entonces cliente Jeffrey Epstein, varios años antes de que la institución financiera cortara los lazos con él.La última denuncia, parte de una demanda contra el banco presentada por el fiscal general de las Islas Vírgenes de EE.UU. (USVI), agrega un cargo adicional que alega que JPMorgan obstruyó a las agencias federales de cumplimiento de la ley y fiscales que perseguían a Epstein.“La relación de JP Morgan con Epstein al permitir que su empresa de tráfico sexual tuviera acceso a grandes sumas de dinero en efectivo cada año fue mucho más allá de una relación bancaria normal (y legal)”, dice el documento, y agrega que los ejecutivos del banco también estaban al tanto de posibles operaciones sospechosas de retiros de efectivo.Epstein, de 66 años, fue cliente de la institución financiera hasta 2013. Fue encontrado muerto ...

Ukraine stands firm on Crimea, wants Russia out of all areas

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s foreign minister said Thursday his country wouldn’t budge from its demand that Russia withdraw its forces from Crimea, as well as from other parts of Ukraine that Moscow illegally annexed more recently.Calling the war in Ukraine “a bleeding wound in the middle of Europe,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said all his country’s territory must be treated equally in dealing with the Kremlin after its full-scale invasion more than 13 months ago.“We are united by U.N. charter principles and the shared conviction that Crimea is Ukraine and it will return under Ukraine’s control,” said Kuleba, speaking by video link to a gathering in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. “Every time you hear anyone from any corner of the world saying that Crimea is somehow special and should not be returned to Ukraine, as any other part of our territory, you have to know one thing: Ukraine categorically disagrees with these statements,” he said at the Black Sea Security Conference.T...

Boulder Police warning of possible tainted drugs after multiple overdoses

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

BOULDER, Colo. (KDVR) — Boulder Police are warning about the possibility of tainted drugs being distributed in the community.The warning comes after an unusually high number of overdoses.Police said they responded to five overdoses since noon on Tuesday. A very high number of cases in a short amount of time. Police administered Narcan to the victims, the overdose reversal drug, and saved lives.   Teen suffers brain injury after mountain bike crash on popular Colorado trail Police suspect there may be a new type of drug circulating on the streets or the overdoses are being caused by a tainted strain of fentanyl. It's also possible people are using fentanyl tainted with a horse tranquilizer, xylazine. It has a street name of "tranq."Since the beginning of the year, Boulder Police have documented 25 overdoses from all kinds of drugs. They believe there are probably many more that have gone unreported.If you have any information on who may be supplying these drugs, you are asked to ca...

1 airlifted after guardrail collision on I-75 near Turnpike

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

The northbound lanes of Interstate 75 were shut down for a little more than an hour due to a crash near the Turnpike, which caused one person to be airlifted to the hospital. One lane remained closed as crews worked to remove the car from the highway. Emergency vehicles closed all lanes around 5:30 a.m. on Thursday as they cleaned up the crash site. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a gray Audi SUV lost control and collided with the guardrail. The male driver was airlifted to Kendall Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.Around 6 a.m., live video footage showed traffic at a complete stop near Miami Gardens Drive. The highway was reopened about half an hour later.Drivers may want to leave their homes with some extra time as the lane closure has caused delays in the area. Commuters may use the express lanes as an alternate route.

Norway expels 15 Russian diplomats for intelligence activities

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

Norway expelled 15 Russian embassy officials from the country for engaging in activities that are “not compatible with their diplomatic status.”Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anniken Huitfeldt said that the expulsion of the “intelligence officers” is an “important step” in countering Russian intelligence activity in Norway, which has increased as a result of the Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the ministry. Norway is a member of the NATO military alliance and shares a border with Russia in the Arctic.“We want Russia to continue to have a functioning diplomatic mission in Norway, but we will not accept that diplomatic missions are misused for the purposes of carrying out covert intelligence activities,” Huitfeldt said.The officers concerned must leave Norway “shortly,” according to a ministry statement published on Thursday. The ministry has monitored the activities of these intelligence officers...

European data regulators set up ChatGPT taskforce

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

European data protection authorities today set up a task force to cooperate and exchange information on enforcing EU laws on ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) made the announcement after several European regulators asked for more coordination on the AI chatbot, which is facing growing scrutiny. The Italian privacy regulator in late March started investigating the U.S. company and ordered a temporary ban on ChatGPT’s processing of Italian users’ personal data over alleged violations of laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).OpenAI has not set up a local headquarters in one of the European Union’s 27 countries, which means any member country’s data protection authority can launch new investigations and enforce bans.

Pentagon leak leads to limits on who gets access to military’s top secrets

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:51 GMT

(CNN) — The Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs following a major leak of classified information discovered last week.Some US officials who used to receive the briefing materials daily have stopped receiving it in recent days, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as the Pentagon’s Joint Staff continues to whittle down its distribution lists.The Joint Staff, which comprises the Defense Department’s most senior uniformed leadership that advises the president, began examining its distribution lists immediately after learning of the trove of leaked classified documents — many of which had markings indicating that they had been produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as the J2.All the email lists have been reviewed, a senior defense official said, and some restrictions may only be temporary. Everyone on the lists had proper clearance, but not everyone nee...