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France’s AI hopes collide with French love of regulating tech

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

French companies keen to be at the forefront of artificial intelligence — and to rein in European Union regulatory ambitions — have a surprising opponent: the European Commission’s self-styled digital enforcer and über-Frenchman Thierry Breton. Speaking before an audience of startups and tech investors in Marseille in late November, the EU’s internal market chief called out the French AI hopefuls who are lobbying to erode the EU’s landmark Artificial Intelligence Act. Breton singled out Mistral — a French AI startup backed by prestigious Silicon Valley investors — putting it in the same category as the U.S. Big Tech firms EU officials usually love to lambast.“Mistral is lobbying —that’s normal,” Breton said at the event, organized by French newspaper La Tribune. “But we are not fooled: it is defending its business, not the general interest.”Breton qualified his remarks. He said that Kyutai, a newly launched AI laboratory backed by two French tycoons, Xavier Niel and ...

Doughnuts delightful addition to Hanukkah table

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

Hanukkah is a Jewish celebration also known as the Festival of Lights. It commemorates the miracle of the Temple menorah, during which a minimal supply of oil somehow lasted for eight days. As a result, oil features prominently in Hanukkah traditions, and many faithful Jewish people include foods fried in oil as part of their holiday dinners or desserts.This recipe for “Raspberry Jam Doughnuts” from BBC GoodFood produces a delicious treat for Hanukkah celebrations.TAG GOES HERERaspberry Jam DoughnutsDIRECTIONS1/2 cup whole milk1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise4 cups flour1/2 cup sugar1 teaspoon fine sea salt2 1/2 teaspoons fast-action yeast3 medium eggs, lightly beaten1 and 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softenedVegetable oil, for proving and deep-frying1 1/4 cups  raspberry jamFor the icing2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar, sievedPink food coloringFreeze-dried raspberries, to decorate (optional)DIRECTIONSPour the milk into a saucepan and add the split vanilla pod. Slowly bring ...

Carter: Sandra Day O’Connor’s legacy – she listened

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

I’d never heard of Sandra Day O’Connor when the news broke that she was President Ronald Reagan’s likely nominee for the new vacancy on the Supreme Court. This was in 1981, toward the end of my term as a law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall, and a bunch of us crowded around the one Lexis terminal in the court library — yes, one, and yes, a terminal — in hope of tracking down some of her opinions.We didn’t find much. Certainly we found nothing to indicate that she would become one of the most honored and beloved justices in the court’s history.O’Connor, who died on Friday at the age of 93, has been lauded as a role model (true), a writer of crisp and clear opinions (also true), and a warm and decent human being (true a third time).She’s also been applauded as the swing vote of Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s court — and there, I think, the praise misses a larger point about both O’Connor herself and the nature of the institution she once graced.Yes, O’Connor did join a lot of 5-...

Mary Ann Esposito’s Chocolate & Walnut Biscotti

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

Have some fun in the kitchen and make a holiday cookie tree with some of your favorite cookies; Icing holds the cookies in place as they are “glued” together in  layers. This makes for not only fun eating but great conversation as well and can become a holiday tradition. Ready make cookies can be used too if you have no time to bake several different kinds.TAG GOES HERE Chocolate and Walnut BiscottiINGREDIENTS1/2 cup olive oil3/4 cup sugar2 large eggs1 tablespoon vanilla extract2 cups all-purpose flour1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup coarsely chopped dark or milk chocolate1 cup chopped walnutsPreheat the oven to 325F.Parchment paper lined baking sheetDIRECTIONSWhisk the olive oil or butter in a large bowl with the eggs until light and fluffy. Whisk in the vanilla.  Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate and walnuts.Divide the dough in half and on a lightly floured board, roll each half under the palm of your hands into a log abou...

Lamb tagine with dates and shallots easy & exquisite

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

Most would agree one of the best parts of being on vacation is getting to try unfamiliar foods and cuisines and realizing, with the right recipes, you can re-create those tastes at home.While my husband and I weren’t too crazy about the skewered sardines and fried cuttlefish found in seafood restaurants and in the beach bars on a recent trip to southern Spain, we couldn’t get enough of tagine, the traditional Moroccan dish we ate several times after taking the ferry from Tarifa in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia, to Tangier, Morocco, to celebrate a pretty big anniversary this fall.Tagine refers to two things in this city famous for its mosques and medinas: a slow-cooked North African stew of spiced meat and vegetables that’s communally eaten with bread to soak up the fragrant sauce, and the namesake earthenware vessel with a conical lid it’s cooked in.The perfect balance of sweet and savory, tagine is typically made on the stovetop with warm and aromatic spi...

Woodward: Florida’s tomato fight could hike grocery bills

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

A food fight is brewing between Florida and other states over what may seem the unlikeliest of reasons.Tomatoes.Americans love the red, vine-ripened fruit, eating 600 million each year.Some of those tomatoes are grown in Florida, where the Florida Tomato Exchange (FTE) is asking the Department of Commerce to step in and reduce the flow of tomatoes grown in Mexico. Florida farmers don’t like the competition.They want the Biden administration to terminate the Tomato Suspension Agreement (TSA), a 2019 deal that ensures producers sell Mexican tomatoes at or above the TSA reference price to “eliminate the injurious effects of exports of fresh tomatoes to the United States.” According to the Florida Tomato Exchange, the TSA does not work and instead keeps Mexico from facing any retribution for dumping tomatoes onto the U.S.Michael Schadler, executive vice president of the FTE, wrote, “All five suspension agreements over the last 27 years have failed. They haven’t stopped Mexican tomatoes ...

Dear Abby: BF’s adult son scuttles cruise fun

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

Dear Abby: My boyfriend and I were excited to go on an $11,000 Caribbean cruise. His 22-year-old son was not that enthusiastic. We invited him to join us for dinner, shows or to play games, but the majority of the time he refused. The only time he’d join us was for events that were paid for in advance.He called his mom, grandmother and girlfriend every night, but not once did he call his father’s mother. To me, it seems like he’s not interested in his father, grandma or me. The moment we arrived home from vacation, he bolted out the door to meet his girlfriend and slept at his mom’s house. What can I do to bring this family together? — Social DisasterDear Social Disaster: Although at 22 your boyfriend’s son is legally an adult, he didn’t act like one on that trip. In fact, he demonstrated that he was uninterested and didn’t want to interact with his father or with you. It is nice of you to want to bring him and his dad closer, but it&#...

Pair of earthquakes rattle rural East County

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A pair of earthquakes shook the rural East County area Tuesday night, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.Around 8:11 p.m., the first quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 3.5, occurred east of Ocotillo at a depth of about 4.3 miles, according to USGS. Man arrested after San Diego school mass shooting threat Another quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 3.7, also struck east of Ocotillo around 8:30 p.m. at a depth of 5.3 miles, per USGS.No injuries or damage were immediately reported.The two earthquakes come after a series of earthquakes that occurred last week in rural East County.Check back for updates on this developing story.

Generation after generation, Israeli prison marks a rite of passage for Palestinian boys

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

NABI SALEH, West Bank (AP) — For all Palestinian parents, Marwan Tamimi said, there comes a moment they realize they’re powerless to protect their children.For the 48-year-old father of three, it came in June, when Israeli forces fired a large rubber bullet that struck the head of his eldest son, Wisam. A week later, Marwan said, soldiers came for the 17-year-old, dragging him out of bed with a fractured skull.Wisam was charged with a range of offenses he denied — throwing stones, possessing weapons, placing an explosive device and causing bodily harm — and sent to prison. Last Saturday, after six months behind bars, he returned home with 38 other Palestinians in exchange for Israeli hostages — part of a temporary cease-fire in the war that started after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. His parents said they hadn’t seen or heard from him in two months, since the war started. Wisam said he stayed in an overcrowded cell, was beaten and interrogated, and lacked food and medicati...

UN climate talks near end of first week with progress on some fronts, but fossil fuels lurk

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:18:51 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Negotiators at a critical United Nations climate conference prepared Wednesday to wrap up their first week of work with moderate progress on some issues, with little time to make a bit more headway before government ministers return for a final week that will shape the planet’s path forward in the face of crisis.Wednesday’s sessions were to focus on transport, the second-leading sector for the carbon dioxide emissions warming the planet, with panels like building out EV charging infrastructure and decarbonizing urban freight transportation.Despite rapid growth of electric vehicles in some countries, oil still accounts for nearly 91% of the energy used in the transport sector, according to the International Energy Agency. And it’s a sector that includes hard-to-decarbonize industries like aviation and shipping, where cutting emissions will require big ramp-ups in production of sustainable aviation fuel, for airplanes, and alternati...