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Microsoft adds AI tools to Office apps like Outlook, Word

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

NEW YORK — Microsoft is infusing artificial intelligence tools into its Office software, including Word, Excel and Outlook emails.The company said Thursday the new feature, named Copilot, is a processing engine that will allow users to do things like summarize long emails, draft stories in Word and animate slides in PowerPoint.Microsoft is marketing the feature as a tool that will allow workers to be more productive by freeing up time they usually spend in their inbox, or allowing them to more easily analyze trends in Excel.The tech giant based in Redmond, Washington, will also add a chat function called Business Chat, which resembles the popular ChatGPT. It takes commands and carries out actions — like summarizing an email about a particular project to co-workers — using user data.“Today marks the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing, which will fundamentally change the way we work and unlock a new wave of productivity growth,” Microsoft CE...

Top seed BU takes on Providence in Hockey East semifinal

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

The Boston University Terriers are back in an old familiar place under a new head coach.BU will make its 25th appearance in the Hockey East Tournament semifinals when the No. 5 ranked Terriers (25-10-0, 18-6-0) encounter the Providence College Friars (16-13-7, 9-9-6) in the opener (4) on Friday night at the TD Garden.Coach Jay Pandolfo guided the Terriers to the conference regular season title. Pandolfo was recently named the Hockey East Coach of the Year in his first season behind the bench of his alma mater. BU closed out the regular season with a home and home series sweep against the Friars.BU drew the No. 1 seed and advanced with a 7-3 win over Vermont in a quarterfinal match at Agganis Arena on March 11. Providence entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed and advanced with a 2-1 overtime upset win at No. 15 ranked Northeastern on March 11. No. 2 seed Merrimack and No. 5 seed UMass Lowell will face off in the nightcap scheduled for 7:30.“We are looking forward to this weekend,”...

What drove these people to clown school? A need for joy in face of layoffs, cancer and anger.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

In First Presbyterian Church of Englewood’s basement Sunday afternoon, five Coloradans dressed in wacky regalia and big, honkin’ shoes marched before their loved ones — and past a painting of the Last Supper — belting “Pomp and Circumstance” on kazoos.An audience of family, friends and plainclothes clowns squinting to recognize each other without white-painted faces cheered on as the five men, women and teens each leveled up from layperson to professional goofball.It was graduation day for the 2023 cohort of Colorado Clown Alley’s 10-week clown school. The newly-inducted jesters are now not only card-carrying members of a different variety of postsecondary institution, but rising masters of belly laughs, balloon animals and spreading joy in uncertain times.The clown class of 2023 tickled Clown Alley president Isabel Nuanez as there were multiple young members, she said, inspiring hope for a rebound in the clown industry.Whether people were compensating for the bleakness of the pande...

‘A special type of validation’: grassroots grant supports South Asian women creatives

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

Three local grassroots organizations have come together to support South Asian women and gender-diverse artists in their creative endeavours, with an eye toward creating a nurturing and encouraging ecosystem for them to thrive in.The Didihood Creative Fund was launched last year in collaboration with Tamil Women Rising and the South Asian and Tamil Women’s Collective.“We felt this fund was necessary because there aren’t too many funds available specifically for South Asian women in creative industries. So we really wanted to focus in on that niche,” says Didihood co-founder Nikki Gill.Manjula Selvarajah, co-founder of Tamil Women Rising, says they wanted to fill what they feel is a gap in support that needs to be addressed in the South Asian community.“If I can just even speak to the Tamil community as an example — most of the people in the community have been here, I would say about maybe three to four decades, fleeing war. We have a generation that cr...

14-year-old boy arrested in Mexico for murder of 8

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Chapito” for the drug-related killing of eight people near Mexico City, the federal Public Safety Department said Thursday.The boy allegedly rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire on a family in the low-income Mexico City suburb of Chimalhuacan. Another man was also arrested in the Jan. 22 killings, and seven other members of the gang were arrested on drug charges. The victims were holding a party at their house at the time of the attack, which also left five adults and two children wounded. It was reportedly a birthday party.The boy’s name was not released, but his nickname — “Little Chapo” — is an apparent reference to imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The motive in the killings has not been made public, but drug gangs in Mexico frequently dabble in kidnapping and contract killing. They also kill rivals selling drugs on their territory, or people who who them money.Mexico is no stra...

NFL wants judge to send discrimination claims to arbitrator

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL lawyers are urging a New York judge to change her mind and agree to let racial discrimination claims against the league and its teams go to arbitration rather than trial.In written arguments late Wednesday, the lawyers said Judge Valerie E. Caproni in Manhattan should reverse her recent decision finding that some claims by NFL Coach Brian Flores can go to trial.Flores, the new defense coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, sued the league and three teams last year, saying the NFL was “rife with racism,” particularly in its hiring and promotion of Black coaches.Caproni ruled on March 1 that discrimination claims by two other Black coaches, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, must go to arbitration. She let claims Flores made against the Miami Dolphins go to arbitration. Flores made some of his most sensational claims against the team that fired him early last year after he led the Dolphins to a 24-25 record over three years.Earlier this week, lawyers for the coaches asked...

Government finds discrimination at Canadian Human Rights Commission, union says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

OTTAWA — A union representing public service lawyers says the government has found there was discrimination and systemic racism in an institution specifically designed to root it out.The Association of Justice Counsel said Thursday that the Canadian Human Rights Commission, whose mandate is to protect the core principle of equal opportunity, discriminated against Black and racialized employees.It said the Treasury Board Secretariat found the commission breached the “no discrimination” clause in its collective agreement, and has invited parties to engage in a mediation process to seek a meaningful resolution. The union is calling the March 6 decision an important win, and one that will have consequences across the federal public service.“Racism has absolutely no place in our institutions,” Justice Minister David Lametti said in a statement, adding that the information arising out of the grievance is “both concerning and disappointing, not least because o...

Report scrutinizes US efforts to rebuild post-quake Haiti

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Agency for International Development built only half of eight major projects meant to help Haiti recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake, a federal audit report said Thursday.The U.S. Government Accountability Office also found that most of the agency’s projects were delayed, had to be scaled back or turned out to be more expensive than planned. The report is the newest one to scrutinize how billions of dollars were spent to help Haiti in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that the Haitian government estimates killed some 300,000 people.USAID projects to rehabilitate rural roads, expand a power plant at an industrial park and build a $4.2 million port in northern Haiti were canceled. In addition, only about 900 out of 4,000 planned homes were built, given unanticipated high costs, the audit found.“Pursuing overly ambitious plans resulted in delays, cost increases, reduced scopes, canceled activities and a costly redesign,” the 93-p...

FACT FOCUS: Claims blame ‘woke’ policies on bank’s demise

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

As Wall Street reels from the swift demise of Silicon Valley Bank — the biggest American bank failure since the 2008 financial meltdown — some social media users are honing in on a single culprit: its socially aware, or “woke,” agenda. But the Santa Clara-based institution’s professed commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, wasn’t a driver of the bank’s collapse, say banking and financial experts. Its poor investment strategies and a customer base prone to make devastating bank runs were.Here’s a closer look at the facts.CLAIM: Silicon Valley Bank failed because it focused on “woke” policies such as diversity, equity and inclusion.THE FACTS: The nation’s 16th largest bank collapsed because of poor investment and risk strategies that left the bank with insufficient cash to weather a mass withdrawal of assets from its largely tech sector customers, who have been particularly hard hit in the current economy, financial and banking experts explain. There’s also no ev...

Hexo reports net loss of $11.1 million in second quarter, lower revenues

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:59 GMT

GATINEAU, Que. — Hexo Corp. reported a net loss of $11.1 million in its latest quarter, up from a year earlier, when it reported a loss of $690.3 million, which included $616 million in one-time impairment charges.The Gatineau, Que.-based cannabis company’s net revenues for the second quarter of the company’s financial year were $24.2 million, down 54 per cent from a year earlier and down 32 per cent from the previous quarter. Hexo attributed the year-over-year lower net revenues to decreased market share and performance in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec. It attributed the decline in net revenues from the previous quarter to a variety of factors including Quebec competitors cutting prices and some products being placed on hold because of pricing reductions in Ontario.President and CEO Charlie Bowman said while cannabis prices have dropped sharply across the market, it’s Hexo’s view that slashing prices isn’t a sustainable strategy. Chief financial officer ...