Author: Homer Clarke

House Democrats have introduced a bill that would strip Secret Service protection from convicted felons sentenced to prison, a move directly targeting former President Trump who is currently on criminal trial in New York City for alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 election campaign and faces several other cases which could land him behind bars. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the former chair of the now disbanded Jan. 6 congressional committee, introduced legislation that would automatically nix Secret Service protection for those who have been convicted of a federal or state felony that carries a minimum one-year prison term. The proposed bill is…

Europe’s new “Iron Lady”, Estonia’s Kaja Kallas, is one of the strongest voices for an uncompromising stand against belligerent Russia. Brussels (30 June – 28). Having grown up under the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Kaja Kallas was urging EU leaders to take the Russian threat seriously long before the invasion of Ukraine On Saturday, the Reform Party chose climate minister Kristen Michal to replace outgoing Kaja Kallas, who is the EU’s new High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The unanimous decision to nominate Michal was made following a closed-door meeting by the party’s governing board only two days after…

Toby Keith, a major country music star who sold tens of millions of records, has died at the age of 62 “[He] passed peacefully last night… surrounded by his family,” a statement on his social media channels said. Keith rose to fame in the 1990s with songs such as Should’ve Been a Cowboy which topped the country music chart. He announced in June 2022 that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, an illness the star said was “debilitating”. The statement said he “fought his fight with grace and dignity”. Over a more than 30-year career, hits including Who’s Your…

The United States and Sweden on Tuesday signed a first-ever defense cooperation agreement that will strengthen military ties and permit bilateral exercises as the Scandinavian nation awaits accession to NATO, authorities said. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed the agreement with Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson, the Pentagon said. The defense pact paves the way for “US forces to operate in Sweden, including the legal status of US military personnel, access to deployment areas (and) prepositioning of military materiel,” a Pentagon statement said. The two “agreed on the importance of continued robust support to Ukraine in the face of Russia’s…

WASHINGTON — Pentagon leaders who consider China a growing threat say 2024 will be a key year for the Army to bolster defenses around Guam, one of the most critically strategic islands in the Indo-Pacific region. During that year, the service plans to have in place a foundational capability to help stave off a potential attack. The Missile Defense Agency and the Army are seeking a combined $1.5 billion in the fiscal 2024 budget to begin preparing the island by moving assets into place and integrating capabilities. The effort is a test for the Army, which decision-makers have at times overlooked…

Oprah Winfrey is touching on the work that has gone into her recent weight loss. The media mogul — who dazzled in a tight, long-sleeved purple gown while posing on the red carpet at The Color Purple world premiere on Wednesday — discussed her slimmed-down transformation. “It’s not one thing, it’s everything,” Winfrey, 69, told Entertainment Tonight at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Per the outlet, Winfrey also stressed just how much she’s had to do to achieve her new look. “I intend to keep it that way,” she said, adding, “I was on that treadmill today.” The television personality accessorized…

Meta, OpenAI, and Microsoft said at an AMD investor event Wednesday they will use AMD’s newest AI chip, the Instinct MI300X. It’s the biggest sign so far that technology companies are searching for alternatives to the expensive Nvidia graphics processors that have been essential for creating and deploying artificial intelligence programs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. If AMD’s latest high-end chip is good enough for the technology companies and cloud service providers building and serving AI models when it starts shipping early next year, it could lower costs for developing AI models and put competitive pressure on Nvidia’s surging AI chip sales growth. “All of the…

There is much still unknown surrounding the whiplash dismissal and swift reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI. However, one aspect of the high-stakes drama is clear: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is too powerful and influential a tool, and its associated risks are too significant for self-regulation. OpenAI is arguably the world’s most potent, most indispensable company working on AGI. The internal conflicts and whims of a small group of engineers and executives introduce too much liability for a technology capable of harming humanity. Traditional government regulation is necessary to moderate this groundbreaking technology. OpenAI’s unique structure, a hybrid of nonprofit and for-profit entities, seems to have contributed to the firing-rehiring…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government hammered away at its main arguments against Alphabet’s Google on Thursday, wrapping up the evidentiary phase of a court battle in which it has accused the online search leader of breaking antitrust law to stay on top. In the trial, which started on Sept. 12, the Justice Department sought to prove that Google is a monopolist and illegally abused its power to favor its bottom line. Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said he was undecided on which way to rule. “I have no idea what I’m going to…

It’s no guarantee of a fairy-tale life, but living in a residential community dreamed up by Disney will soon be an option for those looking for a new home, even outside of Florida. More than a quarter of a century after Disney developed a planned community near Walt Disney World in central Florida, the theme-park operator and entertainment giant says residential housing developments are in the works in Rancho Mirage, California, and Pittsboro, North Carolina. The company is also looking at additional locations for future developments. The community, dubbed Asteria, will be built on 1,500 acres in North Carolina’s Chatham…