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In the sunlight of Normandy, in front of the surviving American veterans who helped turn the tide of the war against Hitler eighty years ago, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke last week of the "bond of blood shed for freedom" that binds the his country in the United States.It's a connection that dates back to the founding of the United States in 1776 and decisive French support for American independence against the British. Stormy, often strained as France clashes with postwar American leadership in Europe, ties between Paris and Washington are nevertheless resilient.President Biden's five-day stay in France, an exceptionally long visit for an American president, especially in an election year, is a powerful testament to this friendship. But it illustrates its double-edged n...

Last month, Meta announced that it would expand its AI services around the world, and the company let users in Europe know that it would use their public information to train its AI services starting June 26 .Notifications sent to Facebook and Instagram users in Europe informing them that their public posts could be used to train artificial intelligence services, including Meta's chatbot, raised privacy concerns and backlash as users wondered where it would be the policy change came into effect.But for those who live in the United States, where online privacy laws aren't as strict, Meta AI has already used public posts to train its AI. It's unclear where else Meta might expand the program.Privacy watchdogs have raised concerns about the use of data and the lack of details abou...

The Israeli army continued its offensive in central Gaza on Friday, saying it had killed dozens of militants, including some who had holed up on the premises of a former United Nations school that had been turned into a shelter in the area.The army said it targeted Hamas fighters at a school compound in Shati, a coastal neighborhood northwest of central Gaza City. The number of victims was unclear.“Hamas systematically, intentionally and strategically positions its infrastructure and operates from within civilian areas in full violation of international law and putting the lives of civilians in Gaza at risk,” the Israeli military said in a statement after the attack .Friday's attack came a day after a strike at a similar school complex near Nuseirat, where displaced civilians had take...

One of the nation's leading medical advisory organizations has weighed in on long-term Covid with a 265-page report that recognizes the severity and persistence of the condition for millions of Americans.More than four years into the coronavirus pandemic, long Covid continues to harm many people's ability to function, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a nongovernmental institution that advises federal agencies on subject of science and medicine.“Long Covid can impact people across the lifespan, from children to older adults, as well as across sex, gender, racial, ethnic and other demographic groups,” he said, concluding that “the Long Covid is associated with a wide range of new or worsening health conditions and includes more than 200 sympt...

Jeannette Charles, who turned a rejected portrait from a royal art exhibition into a career as a Queen Elizabeth II lookalike in film and television, died Tuesday in Great Baddow, England. She was 96, the same age as the monarch when she died two years ago.“Mother was a real character and a force of nature,” said her daughter, Carol Christophi, announcing Mrs. Charles' death in a hospice. "She had a great life."Ms. Charles first acted in small repertory roles in regional theater. But her uncanny resemblance to the queen distracted the audience, who giggled and sneered when she appeared on stage.This led to her playing the Queen professionally – and for laughs – launching her into a career that lasted decades (until she retired in 2014 due to arthritis), if not as long as Elizabeth&#...

Installed on vintage hardware at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, arranged in chronological order, the first survey of the career of innovative net artist Auriea Harvey tells a story about mortality and survival.In Harvey's treasure chest worlds, there are no heroes or villains, only people, forgiving and loving, caught in the wake of technology.Harvey, born in 1971 in Indianapolis, helped expand the perspectives of digital art: utopias, games, accidents and everything in between. In the 1990s, he created revolutionary images with GIFs, Shockwave animations, and the HTML and Java programming languages. His lavish personal website, Entropy8.com, restored for the show, won Webby Awards in 1997 and '98.In recent years, Harvey has turned to sculpting fictional yet ...

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire along the Lebanese border since the war in Gaza began, with more than 150,000 people on both sides of the border forced to flee their homes. But the intensity of the attacks has increased in recent days, raising fears of full-scale war on another front.This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened further military action to ensure the return of civilians to communities in northern Israel. Here are some key questions about the conflict and where it might head:Why are the two sides fighting?Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese militia and political movement, launched attacks in Israel on October 8, responding to calls from Hamas to open a second front a day after the Palestinian armed group that rules Gaza launched a deadly attack on Isr...

The American Cancer Society has launched an ambitious, far-reaching study focusing on a population that has long been overlooked, despite high rates of cancer and cancer-related deaths: Black women.The initiative, called VOICES of Black Women, is believed to be the first long-term, zero-target population study specifically on the factors that drive cancer prevalence and death among Black women.The researchers plan to enroll 100,000 cancer-free black women, ages 25 to 55, in Washington, D.C. and 20 states where the majority of black American women reside. Subjects will be interviewed twice a year about their behaviors, environmental exposures and life experiences, and followed for 30 years; any tumors they may develop will be monitored.Similar studies conducted in the past by the American...

It is tempting to dismiss the European Parliament elections as the most important elections that don't actually matter.Hundreds of millions of voters in 27 nations will turn out this weekend to vote, but the European Parliament is the least powerful of the European Union's institutions. It is often derided as a talking shop. Its 720 members have limited powers, and while some are rising stars, others are retired politicians or even criminals.But the European Union has never been more important in providing tangible benefits to its citizens, or to the world in being a force for stability and prosperity, since its birth as an economic alliance almost seventy years ago. The Parliament that emerges from these elections, however weak it may be, will serve as a brake or accelerator fo...

Federal regulators have reached a deal allowing them to proceed with antitrust investigations into the dominant roles that Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia play in the artificial intelligence industry, in the strongest sign of how regulatory scrutiny of the powerful technology has increased.The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission reached the deal last week, which is expected to be completed in the next few days, according to two people familiar with the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the confidential discussions.Under the agreement, the Justice Department will take the lead in investigating whether the behavior of Nvidia, the largest maker of AI chips, violated antitrust laws, the sources said. The FTC will play the lead role in examining the conduct o...