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Say hello to Turkey’s election kingmaker

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s presidential candidates suddenly want to talk to Sinan Oğan, a little-known nationalist politician who came third in Sunday’s election and has turned into a potential kingmaker overnight.Ahead of a second round on May 28, Oğan wants to secure a ministry, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu want the backing of his 2.8 million voters, who made up about 5.2 percent of Sunday’s vote. Kılıçdaroğlu’s team said Monday their early talks with Oğan suggested there was room to cooperate. Islamist populist Erdoğan won the first round of Turkey’s election on Sunday with 49.5 percent (27.1 million votes) but the race will now head into a runoff because he failed to secure the 50 percent needed for outright victory. His main rival Kılıçdaroğlu, who will face him in two weeks, won 44.9 percent (24.6 million).   This impending showdown has given a strong hand to Oğan and his “Ancestral Alliance,” as both Erdoğan and Kı...

ChatGPT’s chief to testify before Congress as concerns grow about artificial intelligence’s risks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

The head of the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT is set to testify before Congress as lawmakers call for new rules to guide the rapid development of AI technology.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is scheduled to speak at a Senate hearing Tuesday.His San Francisco-based startup rocketed to public attention after its release late last year of ChatGPT, a free chatbot tool that answers questions with convincingly human-like responses.What started out as a panic among educators about ChatGPT’s use to cheat on homework assignments has expanded to broader concerns about the ability of the latest crop of “generative AI” tools to mislead people, spread falsehoods, violate copyright protections and upend some jobs.And while there’s no immediate sign that Congress will craft sweeping new AI rules, as European lawmakers are doing, the societal concerns brought Altman and other tech CEOs to the White House earlier this month and have led U.S....

Column: Has the Chicago Bulls core maxed out, or is there still time for a course correction?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

After losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked what went wrong.Instead of talking around the subject or making excuses, Kerr conceded the Warriors were not a championship team this season and probably went as far as they deserved to go.“I’m more focused on what went right, to be honest with you,” Kerr said. “The way the season started, we were disjointed and had that 0-5 road trip and it felt like we were swimming upstream from the beginning.“I think we found ourselves down the stretch and in the first round of the playoffs. To be fair, I think this team probably, ultimately, maxed out.”It was refreshing to hear a coach give an honest, unvarnished opinion of his players — and it’s a cautionary tale for Chicago Bulls executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas as he goes about fixing his team for the 2023-24 season.Has this Bulls core maxed out afte...

Get to know Roschon Johnson: Q&A with the new Chicago Bears running back’s college coach

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles said he was “shocked” running back Roschon Johnson was still on the board when the Bears drafted him in the fourth round last month. The Bears believe they are bringing in a player who can help them in many ways on and off the field.Texas running backs coach Tashard Choice saw all of the ways Johnson can affect a team as the senior totaled 93 carries for 554 yards and five touchdowns in 2022 as the backup to Bijan Robinson — the No. 8 pick in the draft.Choice spoke recently to the Tribune about what type of player and leader Johnson can be for the Bears. Here’s that interview, edited for clarity.Note: This is part of a series of conversations with the college position coaches of this year’s Bears draft picks.How would you describe Roschon as a player?Roschon is an old-school, old-fashioned, rough-and-tough football player. Just a pro in all the aspects of the game.We have heard a lot from the Bears about his lead...

Skeletons found in Pompeii ruins reveal deaths by eathquake, not just Vesuvius’ ancient eruption

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

MILAN (AP) — The discovery of two skeletons buried beneath a collapsed wall in the Pompeii archaeological site point to deaths by powerful earthquakes that accompanied the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the first century, experts said Tuesday, in addition to the victims of volcanic ash and gas.The two skeletons believed to be men at least 55 years old found in the insula of the Casti Amanti, beneath a wall that collapsed before the area was covered in volcanic material. The area was undergoing reconstruction work at the time of the eruption in A.D. 79, following an earthquake a few days earlier.“In recent years, we have realized there were violent, powerful seismic events that were happening at the time of the eruption,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park. New archaeological techniques and methodology “allow us to understand better the inferno that in two days completely destroyed the city of Pompeii, killing many inhabitants...

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau arrives in South Korea to discuss trade, North Korean challenge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in South Korea on Tuesday for a meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at which they are expected to discuss expansion of trade and challenges posed by North Korea.Trudeau, the first Canadian leader to visit South Korea in nine years, will meet with Yoon on Wednesday, hours after he delivers a speech at the National Assembly in Seoul.Yoon’s office said they will discuss North Korea’s dismal human rights record and cooperation over security and “critical minerals.” It was apparently referring to Canadian materials used by South Korean companies to manufacture electric car batteries or semiconductors, which are major products in South Korea’s export-driven economy.On Tuesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Minister for Trade Ahn Duk-geun met with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Minster of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne to discuss economic security, P...

Vodafone axing 11,000 jobs as UK wireless carrier aims to cut costs, boost growth

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Wireless carrier Vodafone said Tuesday that it’s laying off 11,000 workers as part of a major revamp aimed at cutting costs and boosting flagging financial performance.Vodafone, one of the world’s biggest mobile phone companies by subscribers, made the announcement as it reported that its annual earnings dropped 1.3% and forecast little or no earnings growth over the financial year.“The circumstances of our industry and the position of Vodafone within it require us to change,” CEO Margherita Della Valle said. “We need to take out complexity and simplify how we operate.” Vodafone said the reductions would be carried out over the next three years, with cuts already announced in Italy, Germany and at its U.K. headquarters. Della Valle, who took over the top job in January, aims to cut costs by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) by 2026.The job losses come amid sweeping cuts in the wider technology industry amid flagging economic growth and surging inflation. Vodaf...

UN reports extensive flooding damage in central Somalia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Floods caused by the annual rains have left “a trail of destruction” across Somalia, a United Nations spokesman said, citing inundated homes and farmland as well as the shutdown of health facilities.“According to early estimates by our partners, more than 460,000 people have been impacted, including nearly 219,000 men, women and children who have been displaced due to this (flooding),” Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. At least five people, including three children, have been killed in the flooding, Mohamed Moalim of the Somalia National Disaster Management Agency told The Associated Press.The destruction is greatest in the Hiiraan region of the central Somali state of Hirshabelle. Thousands of families have been displaced in Beledweyne, the regional city with the highest population density. The Shabelle river running through the town burst its banks amid heavy rainfall. If the rains persist in Somalia and in the Ethiopian highlands, “we es...

Top Toronto mayoral candidates target frontrunner Chow in first major debate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

Five of the main candidates answered questions about how they would address the soaring cost of living and food insecurity in the first major debate of Toronto’s mayoral campaign.Monday night’s event was hosted by the Daily Bread Food Bank in Etobicoke and featured five of the six top polling candidates. Ana Bailão, Brad Bradford, Olivia Chow, Mitzie Hunter and Josh Matlow appeared on stage while former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders declined an invitation.Donation bins in front of the candidate podiums were full of food, serving as a reminder of the affordability crisis currently plaguing the city.Chow, widely considered the frontrunner according to most polls, was grilled by the other candidates about where the funding for her proposed plans will come from.“How much are you going to jack everybody’s taxes here in Toronto?” questioned Bradford.Chow maintained she knows the city budget well, and says she didn’t mind being the target of the oth...

Millennial Money: What’s concierge medicine? Is it worth it?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:50 GMT

My primary care doctor recently left her practice and invited me to join her at her new gig — a concierge medicine group. There, for a membership fee, I’d have better and more personal access to her services: same-day appointments and long conversations!Concierge medicine — a model in which patients pay a membership fee for a more direct relationship with a primary care doctor — used to feel like a perk for the superwealthy. But as fees have come down and people have gotten more frustrated with the state of traditional primary care, concierge services may not seem like such a pie-in-the-sky option. There’s less waiting, more access, longer visits and greater coordination of care. However, the fees can be high, and if you don’t have complex medical needs, it may not feel worth the expense.WHAT IS CONCIERGE MEDICINE?Concierge medicine is an arrangement in which a patient pays a membership fee to gain access to a doctor’s practice. Your fee may cover a wide range of services, with insu...