Dealers’ paradise? How social media became a storefront for deadly fake pills as families struggle

Coco loved being the life of the party — cracking jokes, doing pranks and making people laugh, her mom, Julianna Arnold, recalled recently.

“Her favorite pastime was fashion,” Arnold said. “She didn’t like looking at magazines or going to fancy stores, but preferred to make her own creations from used clothing she would find at thrift stores.... And they always looked fabulous on her.”

In 2022, two weeks after she turned 17, Coco left home just outside New York City to meet with a dealer she'd messaged through Instagram who promised to sell her Percocet. She never made it home. She was found dead the next day, two blocks from the address that the guy had provided her.

Whatever the dealer gave Coco, her mother said, was not Percocet. It was a fake pill laced with fentanyl, which can be lethal in a dose as small as the tip of a pencil.

A plan to extract gold from mining waste splits a Colorado town with a legacy of pollution

LEADVILLE, Colo. (AP) — Rust-colored piles of mine waste and sun-bleached wooden derricks loom above the historic Colorado mountain town of Leadville — a legacy of gold and silver mines polluting the Arkansas River basin more than a century after the city's boom days.

Enter a fledgling company called CJK Milling that wants to “remine” some of the waste piles to squeeze more gold from ore discarded decades ago when it was less valuable. The waste would be trucked to a nearby mill, crushed to powder and bathed in cyanide to extract trace amounts of precious metals.

The proposal comes amid surging global interest in re-processing waste containing discarded minerals that have grown more valuable over time and can now be more readily removed. These include precious metals and minerals used for renewable energy that many countries including the U.S. are scrambling to secure.

Backers say the Leadville proposal would speed cleanup work that’s languished for decades under federal oversight with no foreseeable end. They speak in aspirational tones of a “circular economy” for mining where leftovers get repurposed.

One Tech Tip: Ever wanted to quit Elon Musk’s X platform? Here’s how you can do it

LONDON (AP) — Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, renamed it X, fired much of its staff and made other big changes, a steady stream of celebrities, public figures, organizations and ordinary people have quit the social media platform.

Some blame Musk for turning a place that used to be fun into one that's chaotic and toxic, pointing to moves like allowing polarizing figures such as Donald Trump back in. Others are turned off by Musk's juvenile humor or by how he's increasingly barging into their feeds with his posts, often to amplify far-right tropes.

They're defecting to rival sites like BlueSky, Mastodon, Meta's Threads, and Reddit. Some even are — gasp — quitting social media altogether.

So if you've decided it's time to exit X, here's what you need to do:

Pair of rare Amur tiger cubs debuting at Minnesota Zoo are raising hopes for the endangered species

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (AP) — A pair of rare Amur tiger cubs are making their public debut at the Minnesota Zoo, raising hopes for preserving an endangered species that's native to far eastern Russia and northern China.

Andrei and Amaliya got to venture outside and feel the grass of their new home under their paws Wednesday for the first time since their 12-year-old mother, Dari, gave birth on May 23.

“They’ve done quite well since then," zoologist Trista Fischer said. "We’ve monitored them very closely. Dari’s been fantastic. She’s provided outstanding maternal care. And so today we’ve reached the point where they’re fully vaccinated and they’re now about 40 to 45 pounds (18-20 kilograms).”

Scientists estimate the Amur tiger population is just around 400 to 500 in the wild. They were near the brink of extinction in the 1930s and 1940s but have recovered somewhat since then. It's tricky to breed them, and around one in four Amur cubs don't make it to adulthood, whether it's in the wild or in captivity, she said. Poachers are another major threat.

Most Americans don’t trust AI-powered election information: AP-NORC/USAFacts survey

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jim Duggan uses ChatGPT almost daily to draft marketing emails for his carbon removal credit business in Huntsville, Alabama. But he’d never trust an artificial intelligence chatbot with any questions about the upcoming presidential election.

“I just don’t think AI produces truth,” the 68-year-old political conservative said in an interview. “Grammar and words, that’s something that’s concrete. Political thought, judgment, opinions aren’t.”

Duggan is part of the majority of Americans who do not trust artificial intelligence-powered chatbots or search results to give them accurate answers, according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts. About two-thirds of U.S. adults say they are not very or not at all confident that these tools provide reliable and factual information, the poll shows.

The findings reveal that even as Americans have started using generative AI-fueled chatbots and search engines in their personal and work lives, most have remained skeptical of these rapidly advancing technologies. That's particularly true when it comes to information about high-stakes events such as elections.

Google’s AI model faces European Union scrutiny from privacy watchdog

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators said Thursday they're investigating one of Google's artificial intelligence models over concerns about its compliance with the bloc's strict data privacy rules.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into Google's Pathways Language Model 2, also known as PaLM2. It's part of wider efforts, including by other national watchdogs across the 27-nation bloc, to scrutinize how AI systems handle personal data.

Google's European headquarters are based in Dublin, so the Irish watchdog acts as the company's lead regulator for the bloc's privacy rulebook, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

The commission said it wants to know if Google has assessed whether PaLM2's data processing would likely result in a “high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals" in the EU.

Federal judge temporarily blocks Utah social media laws aimed to protect children

A federal judge in Utah has temporarily blocked social media access laws that leaders said were meant to protect the mental health and personal privacy of children, saying they are unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby on Tuesday issued the preliminary injunction against laws that would have required social media companies to verify the ages of their users, disable certain features and limit the use of accounts owned by Utah children.

The laws were set to take effect on Oct. 1, but will be blocked pending the outcome of the case filed by NetChoice, a nonprofit trade association for internet companies such as Google, Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — Snap and X.

The Utah legislature passed the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act to replace laws that were passed in 2023 and were challenged as unconstitutional. State officials believed the 2024 act would hold up in court.

Canada working on military AI; Blair says as he endorses international agreement

OTTAWA – Defence Minister Bill Blair says Canada is working on incorporating artificial intelligence in its military, but the technology won’t replace humans. Blair made the remarks at a summit in Seoul, South Korea where Canada was among 61 countries that endorsed a new document on responsible military use of AI. Canada is working on making the Canadian Armed Forces an “AI-enabled” organization by 2030 under a strategy launched earlier this year, Blair said. Defence Minister Bill Blair participates in a media availability at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Blair says Canada is working […]

Billionaire steps out of SpaceX capsule for first private spacewalk hundreds of miles above Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A billionaire stepped out for the first private spacewalk Thursday, teaming up with SpaceX on the daring endeavor hundreds of miles above Earth.

Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and his crew waited until their capsule was depressurized before popping open the hatch. Isaacman emerged first, joining a small elite group of spacewalkers who until now had included only professional astronauts from a dozen countries.

“Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do. But from here, it sure looks like a perfect world," said Isaacman.

The commercial spacewalk was the main focus of the five-day flight financed by Isaacman and Elon Musk’s company, and the culmination of years of development geared toward settling Mars and other planets.

Spacewalking is the new domain of the rich as billionaire attempts first private spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — First came space tourism. Now comes an even bigger thrill for the monied masses: spacewalking.

The stage is set for the first private spacewalk Thursday. Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman will pop out of the hatch of his orbiting SpaceX capsule, two days after blasting off from Florida on a chartered flight that lifted him and his crew higher than anyone since NASA's moonwalkers. He partnered with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to buy a series of rocket rides and help develop brand new spacesuits.

SpaceX is the first private company to attempt a spacewalk, until now the domain of just 12 countries. There’s a reason why it’s such a niche and elite group: Spacewalking is considered the most dangerous part of any flight after launch and reentry, and demands extensive training.

“Spacewalks are a whole different entire ballgame than just strapping into a rocket and riding it, getting some zero-g time and coming back,” said retired NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy.

One jellyfish arrived in B.C. decades ago. Thousands of clones spread to 34 waterways

VANCOUVER - Some time more than 30 years ago, a single Chinese peach blossom jellyfish made its way into a lake in British Columbia.

Exactly how it arrived is not clear, researchers say — perhaps it was in aquarium water — but decades later, thousands of genetic clones of the same organism have been spotted in 34 waterways around the province.

Scientists are now trying to understand the impact of the gelatinous invaders, that are about the size of a quarter.

Evgeny Pakhomov, a University of British Columbia biological oceanographer studying the phenomenon, said in an interview that the actual numbers of the jellyfish were unknown, but sightings could increase rapidly in coming years due to a warming climate.

No neigh-sayers: Live horses join first-day veterinary students for anatomy lecture in Hungary

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A lecture hall full of first-year veterinary students in Hungary eagerly took their places for the first animal anatomy lesson of their academic careers, when two full-grown horses clopped inside and joined the class.

The rector at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Budapest, Dr. Péter Sótonyi, coaxed one of the animals onto a riser at the front of the hall and used a stick of chalk to draw onto the horse — from head to hooves — where its bones, organs and muscles could be found inside.

“This is their very first lesson, and the first time should be with a living animal,” Sótonyi said of his students. ”They shouldn’t first meet with a carcass, because they want to heal animals. They want to make animals better."

Sótonyi has used this unique method for introducing students to animal anatomy for around 25 years, and is convinced it helps them engage more directly with the subject matter than studying solely through books, charts and models.

James Earl Jones’ Darth Vader voice lives on through AI. Voice actors see promise and peril in that

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Over the course of an acting career that spanned more than six decades, James Earl Jones' voice became an indelible piece of his work as a performer.

On screen, Jones, who died Monday at 93, brought to life a reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in “Field of Dreams" and a haughty king of a fictional land in “Coming To America.” On stage, he won two Tony Awards for “The Great White Hope” and “Fences.” His work as a voice actor — the regal dignity of his portrayal of Mufasa in “The Lion King” and the menacing and deep timbre he lent to Darth Vader in “Star Wars” — helped cement his place as a legendary actor among generations of fans.

But in the wake of his death, an aspect of Jones' career has come to the fore: consenting to the use of artificial intelligence to replicate his performance as Darth Vader after he stepped away from the role. Skywalker Sound and the Ukrainian company Respeecher used AI to recreate Jones' villain for the 2022 show “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+. Mark Hamill's voice was also “de-aged” using Respeecher for his appearance as Luke Skywalker in “The Mandalorian.”

Voice actors say they fear AI could reduce or eliminate job opportunities because the technology could be used to replicate one performance into a number of other movements without their consent — a concern that led video game performers with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to go on strike in late July.

Personal assistant convicted of dismembering his boss is sentenced to 40 years to life

NEW YORK (AP) — A personal assistant convicted of killing and dismembering his former tech entrepreneur boss after stealing about $400,000 from him was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison, Manhattan's district attorney said.

Tyrese Haspil, 25, was found guilty in June of murder, grand larceny and other charges in the 2020 death of his former boss, Fahim Saleh.

Prosecutors said Haspil had been hired as an assistant for Saleh, whose ventures included a ride-hailing motorcycle startup in Nigeria, but quickly began to siphon money from Saleh's businesses. Haspil resigned a year later but continued to steal money, even after Saleh discovered the theft and let Haspil repay him over two years to avoid criminal prosecution.

Haspil decided to kill Saleh over concerns that his former boss would discover he was continuing to steal from his companies, prosecutors said.