The scammers are winning. Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, a crime wave projected to get worse as the U.S. population ages and technology like AI makes it easier than ever to perpetrate fraud and get away with it. Internet and telephone scams have grown “exponentially,” overwhelming […]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Supporters of proposals to expand Arkansas’ medical marijuana program and repeal a casino license turned in thousands of signatures on Friday to try and get their measures before voters in the November election. Organizers of the initiative campaigns, along with an effort to scale back the state’s abortion ban, said […]

The president of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) says his organization is facing major cuts that risk setting the industry back a decade. This week, at the peak of tourism season, Keith Henry informed staff at ITAC that around half the organization’s staff will be laid off in November. He also said smaller […]

“In the context of ever-increasing police budgets and weak oversight agencies, the public should be very alarmed about the further erosion of our civil liberties and human rights through the passage of C-70,” warns Meghan McDermott, policy director of the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). “The rapid enactment of these new laws without any kind […]

In 2018, Joe Bailey was running a successful tourism business showing guests the colourful Aurora Borealis. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic locked down the Northwest Territories. The territory was shut off from the rest of the world for two years, which meant no revenue for Bailey’s business, NorthStar Adventures, except government funding. His business received some […]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two of five people charged with conspiring to bribe a Minnesota juror with a bag of $120,000 in cash in exchange for the acquittal of defendants in one of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud cases pleaded not guilty Wednesday.  Said Shafii Farah and Abdulkarim Shafii Farah were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge […]

Ontario is the only province where inmates are regularly locked down due to staff shortages, according to expert evidence in a pair of class-action lawsuits. Former inmates of provincial correctional facilities and immigration detainees who were held there are suing the Ontario and federal governments, alleging that inmates are commonly held in their cells for […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly adopted a Chinese-sponsored resolution with U.S. support urging wealthy developed nations to close the widening gap with developing countries and ensure they have equal opportunities to use and benefit from artificial intelligence. The resolution approved Monday follows the March 21 adoption of the first U.N. resolution on […]

“Policing has become a complex process,” and with resources stretched to meet the community’s needs, “it is a very difficult balance to control costs and provide the services the community expects,” according to Kingston’s Chief of Police. On Thursday, Jun. 20, 2024, Chief Scott Fraser released his first annual report to the Kingston Police Services […]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Post a comment on Reddit, answer coding questions on Stack Overflow, edit a Wikipedia entry or share a baby photo on your public Facebook or Instagram feed and you are also helping to train the next generation of artificial intelligence.  Not everyone is OK with that — especially as the same […]

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s national data protection authority determined on Tuesday that Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, cannot use data originating in the country to train its artificial intelligence.  Meta’s updated privacy policy enables the company to feed people’s public posts into its AI systems. That practice will not be […]

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators accused social media company Meta Platforms on Monday of breaching the bloc’s new digital competition rulebook by forcing Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.  Meta began giving European users the option in November of paying for ad-free versions of Facebook and […]