Author: admin@primenews

In the pottery classroom at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Josie Adler shapes lumps of clay into works of art. Carving knives, awls, paintbrushes and molds are scattered across the long tables where she and about 10 other students craft their wares, pausing occasionally to push up eyeglasses from the tips of their noses. In a yoga class upstairs, a few people stretch and work on their balance. Of the dozen or so older adults present at a recent visit, none has written a living will or mapped out a plan for how they want to age. “I’m avoiding plans,”…

American Airlines is facing the largest-ever fine for keeping passengers waiting on board airplanes during hours-long delays. The Department of Transportation is levying the $4.1 million fine, “the largest civil penalty that the Department has ever assessed” it said in a statement, for lengthy tarmac delays of 43 flights that impacted more than 5,800 passengers. The flights occurred between 2018 and 2021. In the longest of the delays, passengers sat aboard a plane in Texas in August 2020 for six hours and three minutes. The 105-passenger flight had landed after being diverted from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport due to…

News organizations are in a cold war with OpenAI. While a shot has yet to be fired, some of the nation’s largest newsrooms are actively taking defensive measures to safeguard their content from ChatGPT, the groundbreaking artificial intelligence chatbot that is seen as a potential aggressor to an already struggling news industry. A multitude of leading newsrooms have recently injected code into their websites that blocks OpenAI’s web crawler, GPTBot, from scanning their platforms for content. The Guardian’s Ariel Bogle reported last week that CNN, The New York Times, and Reuters had blocked GPTBot. But a Reliable Sources review has found several…

It has been a tumultuous week for women’s football, as it deals with the aftermath of Luis Rubiales kissing Spanish national star Jenni Hermoso on the lips at the Women’s World Cup final. The row over the Spanish football president’s actions, broadcast and seen by millions, has spilled over well beyond Spain and the sport, and struck a chord with women around the world. Spain’s top criminal court on Monday launched a preliminary investigation into whether his actions amounted to a crime of sexual assault. Rubiales has strenuously denied any wrongdoing. He has repeatedly stated that the kiss was consensual and that…

TV drama The Idol – which had some of the worst reviews of the year – has reportedly been cancelled. The music industry satire, starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, was blasted by critics when it was released. Rumours of the show’s cancellation began before its finale had even aired, but were challenged by studio HBO. However, the company’s since told US magazine Variety The Idol won’t be getting a second season. It quoted an HBO spokesperson, who said the show was one of its “most provocative original programmes” and it had been “pleased by the strong audience response”. They…

An Adele fan has thanked the star for “standing up for me” after she paused a concert on Saturday when she saw a security guard telling him to sit down. The singer was playing as part of her Las Vegas residency but stopped while performing Water Under the Bridge. The male audience member was singing along enthusiastically when another fan sitting behind him and a security guard told him he was blocking the view. Adele spotted that and paused the song, telling the guard to “leave him alone”. The fan used a selfie stick to record the interaction, which he…

The United States is not seeking to decouple from China’s economy or hold it back, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told senior Chinese economic officials Tuesday in Beijing. “The US-China commercial relationship is one of the most globally consequential, and managing that relationship responsibly is critical to both our nations and indeed to the whole world,” Raimondo told a group of officials, including Vice Premier He Lifeng, during her second day of meetings in the country. “And while we will, never of course compromise in protecting our national security, I want to be clear that we do not seek to decouple or to…

Amazon is raising its free shipping threshold for some customers. To qualify for free shipping, non-Prime members typically have to purchase an order totaling at least $25. On Monday, the e-commerce giant said it has raised that minimum to $35. “We continually evaluate our offerings and make adjustments based on those assessments,” Amazon spokesperson Kristina Pressentin told CNN. “We’re currently testing a $35 minimum for non-Prime customers to qualify for free shipping. Prime members continue to enjoy free delivery on over 300 million items, with tens of millions of items available for free Same or One-Day Delivery.” Amazon says it…

France will ban schoolchildren from wearing abayas ahead of the upcoming academic year, the government has said, the latest in a series of contentious restrictions in the country on clothing associated with Muslims. French Education Minister Gabriel Attal said the long, robe-like garments often worn by Muslim women wouldn’t be permitted in the nation’s schools from the new term, which starts in September. “Schools of the Republic are built on very strong values and principles, especially laïcité,” he told TV network TF1 on Sunday, using a French term referring to the separation of state institutions and religions, but which some argue has been…

After months of intense lobbying, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is ebullient about the upcoming transfer of Dutch, Norwegian and Danish F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian air force. In many ways, the US-made F-16 is the ideal platform for the Ukrainians. It’s multi-role: it can provide air cover for troops, attack ground targets, take on enemy planes and intercept missiles. And it’s available: European air forces have plenty of F-16s and are phasing them out. There is a ready supply of spare parts; and the F-16 can operate with a variety of weapons systems. The need is critical: Russian air superiority, especially on…