Author: KnowledgeHippo
The mission was clear: Test how well the AI could plan a trip to Norway, a place I had never been. So I didn’t do any of my usual obsessive internet research and instead asked three AI designers to create a four-day trail. None of them, unfortunately, mentioned saunas or salmon.Two assistants, however, were eager to learn more about me in order to adjust their initially general recommendations, which they had thrown out in seconds. Vacay, a personalized travel planning tool, presented me with a list of questions, while Mindtrip, a new AI travel assistant, invited me to take a…
Federal health officials have warned that the risk of contracting dengue in the United States has increased this year, a worrying sign as global cases of the mosquito-borne disease hit record numbers.In the first half of this year, the Americas reported twice as many cases as in all of 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday in a warning to health care providers.The region has seen nearly 10 million cases of the virus so far in 2024, most of which stemmed from outbreaks in South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina.While local transmission of the virus…
Israel’s prime minister says the war in the Gaza Strip will soon enter a new phase.”The intense stage of the war with Hamas is about to end,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised interview on Sunday. “This does not mean that the war is going to end, but the war in its intense phase is going to end.”But whatever relief those comments bring after more than half a year of horrific bloodshed, Mr. Netanyahu quickly made two things clear: There is no ceasefire in Gaza. And the next battle may be in Lebanon, with the forces of a…
Elected officials who prefer not to discuss the fact that New York City has one of the most segregated school systems in the United States will soon have no choice. A state appeals court said a discrimination lawsuit can go forward.The lawsuit accuses New York of maintaining a “racial line” through which gifted and talented programs and screening practices condemn many students of color to “neglected schools that deliver inferior and unacceptable outcomes.” If successful, this landmark legal challenge could set back the admissions practices of selective public schools.At the same time, in Brooklyn, a public school district that covers…
In an effort to land a key supplier, Boeing has changed how it plans to pay for the deal, according to two people familiar with the negotiations, a move that could help the planemaker preserve cash as it faces safety and quality issues.Boeing would use stock instead of cash to buy Spirit AeroSystems, said the two people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal. One added that Boeing would pay more than $4 billion for Spirit, which makes aircraft parts including the fuselage of the Boeing 737 Max, the company’s most popular plane.One of the people familiar…
Cruise, the self-driving car subsidiary of General Motors, said Tuesday that a veteran of the video game industry will become its new chief executive, eight months after its previous chief executive resigned following a series of safety issues with its vehicles. .The appointment of Marc Whitten, who was most recently an executive at video game technology company Unity, follows a tumultuous year for Cruise, which was ordered by California regulators in October to take its fleet of vehicles off the road after a series of traffic accidents. . The worst incident was on October 2, when a pedestrian was swept…
Volkswagen, the German carmaker, said on Tuesday it would invest up to $5 billion in Rivian, an electric truck maker that has struggled to turn a profit, and that the companies would collaborate on software for electric vehicles.The deal creates an unusual alliance between the world’s second-largest automaker and an electric vehicle startup that is meeting investors’ expectations that it will achieve the kind of success that has made Tesla the world’s most valuable automaker.If successful, the partnership will address weaknesses in both companies. It would give Volkswagen the software expertise that auto analysts say it sorely lacks. And Rivian,…
Health officials in the Biden administration pushed an international panel of medical experts to remove age limits for teenage procedures from guidelines for care of transgender minors, according to newly unsealed court documents.Minimum ages, officials fear, could fuel growing political opposition to such treatments.Email excerpts from members of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health recount how staff at Adm. Rachel Levine, an assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services and herself a transgender woman, urged them to remove the recommended limits from the group’s guidelines, and apparently succeeded.Whether and when teenagers should be allowed…
For the 33 million Americans who manage any of the nine most common food allergies—including milk, egg, tree nut, wheat, soy, sesame, and different types of fish—traveling safely can be difficult, but it is possible. easier.In the air, where carriers say they can’t guarantee nut-free flights, the newly enacted Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization law will, within the next two years, add epinephrine injectors to planes and provide additional medical training to crew members.On the ground, hotels and restaurants are also adapting meals, providing menus with allergen symbols, enhancing staff training and implementing better food handling procedures.However, it is important to…
Foreign law enforcement officers began arriving in Haiti on Tuesday, more than a year and a half after the prime minister there appealed to other countries for help to end the rampant gang violence that has roiled the Caribbean nation.Since that appeal was made in October 2022, more than 7,500 people have been killed by violence — more than 2,500 people so far this year alone, the United Nations said.With the presidency vacant and a weakened national government, dozens of gangs have taken over much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, setting up roadblocks, kidnapping and killing civilians and attacking entire neighborhoods.…