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Japanese drone school develops AI system to track bears amid rise in encounters

AdvertisementJapanAsiaEast AsiaJapanese drone school develops AI system to track bears amid rise in encountersThe new system being developed in Akita prefecture can detect bears and share their locations via smartphones
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPKyodoPublished: 11:41am, 20 Dec 2025A drone school in northeastern Japan is developing a new system that uses drones and artificial intelligence to identify and automatically track bears amid a surge in bear-related incidents.The new system being developed by D-Academy Tohoku in Gojome, Akita prefecture, will be able to detect bears hidden from view in mountainous or urban areas and share their locations via smartphones.
It is expected to be available next year, and local authorities are already showing a keen interest.
AdvertisementThe aircraft, measuring 98cm (38 inches) in length, 76cm (30 inches) in width and 48cm (19 inches) in height, will be equipped with a night-vision camera and an infrared camera for measuring temper..

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Death toll in Hong Kong fire rises to 161 after new DNA match

AdvertisementHong Kong’s Tai Po fire tragedyHong KongSocietyDeath toll in Hong Kong fire rises to 161 after new DNA match‘DNA tests are still being carried out, and we do not rule out the possibility that more victims may be found,’ police commissioner says
Reading Time:1 minuteWhy you can trust SCMPFiona SunPublished: 11:38am, 20 Dec 2025Updated: 11:44am, 20 Dec 2025One more person has been confirmed dead in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire, bringing the death toll to 161, the police chief has said, citing results of further forensic analysis.
“Further forensic tests found the DNA of another person in one of the bodies, later identified as belonging to a couple,” Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday after a passing-out parade at the Hong Kong Police College.
“DNA tests are still being carried out, and we do not rule out the possibility that more victims may be found and the death toll could rise.”
AdvertisementChow also said that the six missing cases earlier reported had ..

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Trump touts his economic agenda in rambling North Carolina rally speech after partial release of Epstein files

With his approval ratings at the lowest levels of his presidency and polls showing Americans believing that he has taken his expansive view of presidential power too far, President Donald Trump is headed to his Palm Beach, Florida social club to close out his year with a two-week vacation.
But before he could get away from the continued furor over the Epstein files and head off for leisure time, golf and parties on the Mar-a-Lago patio, the president had to convince voters at a Rocky Mount, North Carolina rally that whatever economic pain they are feeling nearly a year into his second term in office has absolutely nothing to do with him.
For the first 20 or so minutes after he took the stage, it wasn’t clear whether he would stick to that plan.
Trump, sounding hoarse and tired with his speech slurring at times, launched into a meandering, somnolent soliloquy that seemed more focused on recounting what he’d already told reporters several hours earlier, when he hosted pharmaceutical com..

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Epstein files live updates: Photos of Bill Clinton in hot tub and Michael Jackson in library of documents dumped by Trump’s DOJ

CloseTodd Blanche says DoJ will release Epstein files Friday to meet Congressionally-imposed deadlinePresident Donald Trump did not acknowledge the release of the long-awaited Jeffrey Epstein files in a rally speech Friday night, as his administration was blasted for failing to publish the complete documents, despite the deadline being set by law.
Thousands of documents from the late convicted pedophile’s case were released by the Justice Department Friday afternoonbut officials acknowledged that the release was incomplete, prompting accusations of a cover-up.
The president ignored questions from reporters about the Epstein files on his way to the rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, that lasted more than an hour.
Pam Bondi’s DOJ earlier dumped a library of legal documents, paperwork and photos, which included multiple images of former President Bill Clinton lounging in a hot tub; and Epstein with a host of celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Richard Branson, Andrew M..

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Steve Rosenberg: Was Putin’s response to my question about war in Europe an olive branch?

Steve Rosenberg: Was Putin's response to my question about war in Europe an olive branch?4 hours agoShareSaveSteve RosenbergBBC Russia Editor, MoscowShareSaveWatch: Putin tells BBC Western leaders deceived RussiaReporters ask world leaders questions all the time.
No big deal. Right?
But what's it like putting a question to Vladimir Putin – the president who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the leader whose country was accused this week by the head of MI6 of “the export of chaos”?
And imagine asking that question live on TV while millions of Russians are watching.
It's a big responsibility. You don't want to mess up.
“My question is about Russia's future. What kind of future are you planning for your country and your people?” I ask President Putin.
“Will the future be like the present, with any public objection to the official line punishable by law? Will the hunt for enemies at home and abroad be accelerated? Will mobile internet outages become even ..

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Putin vows no more wars if West treats Russia with respect

Putin vows no more wars if West treats Russia with respect6 hours agoShareSavePaul KirbyandLaura GozziShareSaveWatch: Putin tells BBC Western leaders deceived RussiaRussian President Vladimir Putin has said there will be no more wars after Ukraine, if Russia is treated with respect – and dismissed claims that Moscow is planning to attack European countries as “nonsense”.
In a televised event lasting almost four and a half hours, he was asked by the BBC's Steve Rosenberg whether there would be new “special military operations” – Putin's term for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“There won't be any operations if you treat us with respect, if you respect our interests just as we've always tried to respect yours,” he asserted.
Earlier this month, Putin said Russia was not planning to go to war with Europe, but was ready “right now” if Europeans wanted to.
Answering a question from the BBC Russia editor on Friday, Putin also added the condition that there would be no ..

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Brown University shooting: Who is Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente? Suspected gunman from Portugal found dead

The suspected shooter in the Brown University shooting was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Fox News. According to the officers, the suspect was identified as Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, a 48-year-old Brown University student and Portuguese national from Miami, Florida.The authorities have released the photo of the suspect. On Thursday, authorities told CBS sources they were probing connections between the Brown University shooting and the death of Nuno F Gomes Loureiro, 47, from Portugal, who was shot “multiple times” on Monday at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, about 80 km from Providence. Police have obtained an arrest warrant for a suspect, sources said. They added that a rental car matching the same description was seen at both crime scenes.It is notable to notice that Portugal is the same country where the MIT professor was from, allegedly committed by Valente.On Wednesday, investigators released a photo of an individual believed to have been i..

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Bondi Beach attack: Australia to take ‘moment to pause and reflect’

File photo: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Picture credit: AP) Australia will observe a national day of reflection on Sunday (December 21), one week after the deadly Bondi Beach mass shooting that killed 15 people, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Friday, as he urged the country to reject “hatred and violence”.Albanese called on Australians to light candles at 6:47 pm local time, marking the exact moment the attack unfolded. “It is a moment to pause, reflect, and affirm that hatred and violence will never define who we are as Australians,” he said.Flags on New South Wales and Australian government buildings will be flown at half-staff, reported CNN.The attack, described as Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades, took place on Sunday evening during a beachside Hanukkah celebration. Authorities have said the assault was antisemitic in nature. Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, are accused of carrying out the shooting. Sajid was killed in a ..

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Coast Guard abruptly removes policy references to swastikas and nooses being ‘potentially divisive’

The U.S. Coast Guard has scrapped references in its new workplace harassment policy that characterized hate symbols such as swastikas and nooses as “potentially divisive” following uproar from Congress.
Last month, The Washington Post first reported that the military branch planned to quietly downgrade hate symbols to “potentially divisive,” which meant the Coast Guard may not be required to remove hateful signage even if it was reported by a service member.
The Coast Guard “wanted to strike the ‘potentially divisive’ wording from the document but was unable to do so,” according to the Post, citing two people familiar with the policy.
Following weeks of turmoil over the matter, Homeland Security Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, announced Thursday that the wording will be “completely removed from the record so no press outlet, entity or elected official may misrepresent the Coast Guard to politicize their policies and lie about their position on divisive and hate sy..

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Brown University shooting suspect found dead in New Hampshire storage facility after massive manhunt

Leer en EspañolThe suspect in the shooting at Brown University last weekend has been found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire after a five-day manhunt, officials said.
“I will tell you that he took his own life tonight,” Colonel Oscar Perez, the chief of the Providence Police Department said Thursday night.
Two students were killed and nine were injured Saturday in a shooting on Brown University’s campus. Perez identified the suspect in the shooting as Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national.
Brown President Christina Paxson said Valente was a physics PhD student at the university from the Fall 2000 to Spring 2001 before taking a leave of absence and formally withdrawing in the summer of 2003.
open image in galleryThe suspect in the shooting at Brown University last weekend has been found dead in a storage facility in New Hampshire after a five-day manhunt (AP/Reba Saldanha)A satchel, two firearms and evidence “tha..