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Russia investigates whether 141 dead seals starved to death

Russian authorities were investigating whether 141 Baikal earless seals starved to death after their carcasses washed up in Siberia on the shores of the world's deepest lake, officials said Friday.

The dead seals — most of them pregnant females — started appearing along Lake Baikal last weekend, the Irkutsk region's government said.

The population of the Baikal earless seals, also known as nerpa, is estimated to be around 130,000. The lake in southeastern Russia near the Mongolian border, 2,600 miles (4,185 kilometers) east of Moscow, contains 20 percent of the world's freshwater and is home to 1,500 species of plants and animals that exist nowhere else in the world.

Alexei Kalinin, a prosecutor for West Baikal who monitors the environment, told the Interfax news agency that one of the likeliest causes for the deaths could be the scarcity of food because of the growing nerpa population.

"The dead animals were all hungry. There was no food in their stomachs," Kalinin said.

Authorities have ruled out a disease outbreak, and say lab samples haven't shown what could have killed the animals.

The population of the nerpas, Baikal's only mammal, shot up after hunting them was outlawed in 2009. A number of scientists and local leaders, however, have called for allowing limited hunting to control the lake's growing seal population.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Actor Jason Biggs posts emotional message to NYC terror suspect

WATCH ISIS claims responsibility for NYC truck attack

"American Pie" actor Jason Biggs posted an emotional message to his Instagram account Thursday aimed at New York City terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov.

Saipov, 29, is accused of ramming a truck into people on a New York City bike path Tuesday afternoon, killing eight and injuring a dozen more.

Read: NYC truck attack: 'All in a day's work' for NYPD officer who shot suspected terrorist Related: NYC terror suspect called a friend just before attack, official says

After cement barricades were installed at the crash site on the path along Manhattan's West Side Highway, Biggs posted a video of New Yorkers going about their day and again riding their bikes where the attack occurred.

A post shared by Jason Biggs (@biggsjason) on Nov 2, 2017 at 12:30pm PDT

"Hey Sayfullo just a quick update from the bike path- we’re on it, we ain’t afraid, you didn’t disrupt our way of life," he wrote. "Hope that hole in your gut hurts like f—— hell. Thinking of the 20 families who hurt so hard right now."

Biggs added a curse aimed at Saipov.

The "hole in your gut" Biggs referred to is where the suspect was shot in the abdomen by police officer Ryan Nash, who was one of the first officers to respond to the scene Tuesday.

Saipov was transported to a hospital for treatment and is expected to survive. He was charged Wednesday with providing support to ISIS and violence and destruction of motor vehicles, making him eligible for the death penalty. A plea was not entered.

Bebeto Matthews/AP

Saipov has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. ET.

ABC News' Morgan Winsor and Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

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Paz de la Huerta: Actress accuses Harvey Weinstein of rape

Another actress has come forward with an allegation that US producer Harvey Weinstein raped her.

Boardwalk Empire star Paz de la Huerta told Vanity Fair that Weinstein raped her twice in New York in 2010.

The magazine says the alleged assaults could see charges brought against the film mogul because they fall within New York's statute of limitations for rape in the first degree.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex made against him.

De La Huerta, 33, is one of more than a dozen women who have accused the 65-year-old of rape.

Many more have accused the Shakespeare in Love producer of sexual harassment and performing indecent acts.

De La Huerta, who played Lucy Danziger in Boardwalk Empire, claims Weinstein raped her in November 2010 after offering her a ride home.

"It wasn't consensual," she is quoted as saying about the alleged incident.

The actress goes on to claim that Weinstein raped her again the following month after turning up uninvited at her apartment building.

"I did say no, and when he was on top of me I said, 'I don't want to do this,'" she is reported as saying.

De La Huerta claims Weinstein left after promising to give her a stage role.

"I never heard from him again," she told Vanity Fair.

UK police investigating Harvey Weinstein are now looking at sexual assault allegations from seven women.

Police in New York are also investigating claims against the producer, including rape and sexual assault.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].

Source – bbc.com

Harvey Weinstein: Another actress accuses producer of rape

Another actress has come forward with an allegation that US producer Harvey Weinstein raped her.

Boardwalk Empire star Paz de la Huerta told Vanity Fair that Weinstein raped her twice in New York in 2010.

The magazine says the alleged assaults could see charges brought against the film mogul because they fall within New York's statute of limitations for rape in the first degree.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex made against him.

De La Huerta, 33, is one of more than a dozen women who have accused the 65-year-old of rape.

Many more have accused the Shakespeare in Love producer of sexual harassment and performing indecent acts.

De La Huerta, who played Lucy Danziger in Boardwalk Empire, claims Weinstein raped her in November 2010 after offering her a ride home.

"It wasn't consensual," she is quoted as saying about the alleged incident.

The actress goes on to claim that Weinstein raped her again the following month after turning up uninvited at her apartment building.

"I did say no, and when he was on top of me I said, 'I don't want to do this,'" she is reported as saying.

De La Huerta claims Weinstein left after promising to give her a stage role.

"I never heard from him again," she told Vanity Fair.

UK police investigating Harvey Weinstein are now looking at sexual assault allegations from seven women.

Police in New York are also investigating claims against the producer, including rape and sexual assault.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].

Source – bbc.com

AI image recognition fooled by single pixel change

Computers can be fooled into thinking a picture of a taxi is a dog just by changing one pixel, suggests research.

The limitations emerged from Japanese work on ways to fool widely used AI-based image recognition systems.

Many other scientists are now creating "adversarial" example images to expose the fragility of certain types of recognition software.

There is no quick and easy way to fix image recognition systems to stop them being fooled in this way, warn experts.

Bomber or bulldog?

In their research, Su Jiawei and colleagues at Kyushu University made tiny changes to lots of pictures that were then analysed by widely used AI-based image recognition systems.

All the systems they tested were based around a type of AI known as deep neural networks. Typically these systems learn by being trained with lots of different examples to give them a sense of how objects, like dogs and taxis, differ.

The researchers found that changing one pixel in about 74% of the test images made the neural nets wrongly label what they saw. Some errors were near misses, such as a cat being mistaken for a dog, but others, including labelling a stealth bomber a dog, were far wider of the mark.

The Japanese researchers developed a variety of pixel-based attacks that caught out all the state-of-the-art image recognition systems they tested.

"As far as we know, there is no data-set or network that is much more robust than others," said Mr Su, from Kyushu, who led the research.

Deep issues

Many other research groups around the world were now developing "adversarial examples" that expose the weaknesses of these systems, said Anish Athalye from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who is also looking into the problem.

One example made by Mr Athalye and his colleagues is a 3D printed turtle that one image classification system insists on labelling a rifle.

"More and more real-world systems are starting to incorporate neural networks, and it's a big concern that these systems may be possible to subvert or attack using adversarial examples," he told the BBC.

While there had been no examples of malicious attacks in real life, he said, the fact that these supposedly smart systems can be fooled so easily was worrying. Web giants including Facebook, Amazon and Google are all known to be investigating ways to resist adversarial exploitation.

"It's not some weird 'corner case' either," he said. "We've shown in our work that you can have a single object that consistently fools a network over viewpoints, even in the physical world.

"The machine learning community doesn't fully understand what's going on with adversarial examples or why they exist," he added.

Mr Su speculated that adversarial examples exploit a problem with the way neural networks form as they learn.

A learning system based on a neural network typically involves making connections between huge numbers of nodes – like nerve cells in a brain. Analysis involves the network making lots of decisions about what it sees. Each decision should lead the network closer to the right answer.

However, he said, adversarial images sat on "boundaries" between these decisions which meant it did not take much to force the network to make the wrong choice.

"Adversaries can make them go to the other side of a boundary by adding small perturbation and eventually be misclassified," he said.

Fixing deep neural networks so they were no longer vulnerable to these issues could be tricky, said Mr Athalye.

"This is an open problem," he said. "There have been many proposed techniques, and almost all of them are broken."

One promising approach was to use the adversarial examples during training, said Mr Athalye, so the networks are taught to recognise them. But, he said, even this does not solve all the issues exposed by this research.

"There is certainly something strange and interesting going on here, we just don't know exactly what it is yet," he said.

Source – bbc.com

Doctor fights to regain license lost to lax computer skills

Holding manila folders filled with pages of her handwritten reports, Dr. Anna Konopka insists her system for keeping track of her patients' medical conditions and various prescriptions works just fine.

But the New Hampshire Board of Medicine disagrees. It is challenging the 84-year-old New London physician's record keeping, prescribing practices and medical decision making. Konopka surrendered her license last month — something she said she was forced to do — and is going to court on Friday in a bid to regain it.

According to the state, the allegations against Konopka are related to her treatment of a 7-year-old patient with asthma, including leaving dosing levels of one medication up to the parents and failing to treat the patient with daily inhaled steroids. Konopka said she never harmed the patient and the issue was that the boy's mother disregarded her instructions.

But part of the problem also appears to be Konopka's refusal to register with the state's mandatory drug-monitoring program. The program, which the state signed onto in 2014, requires prescribers of opioids to register in a bid to help cut down on overdoses.

Konopka doesn't have a computer nor does she know how to use one, making it impossible for her to access the state system. There isn't a computer in her tiny office — only a landline phone— and she admits even using email is a challenge.

"The problem now is that I am not doing certain things on computer," said Konopka, who emigrated from Poland in 1961 and has treated patients in this small town since 1989. "I have to learn that. It is time consuming. I have no time."

Konopka said she would be willing to learn to use a computer, but she refuses to spend the money to create an electronic record system for her office.

"I can't afford that," said Konopka, who runs her office alone and has no money for staff. "Everything is expensive. I would have to raise the fee and many people don't have insurance."

Konopka has built a loyal following in New London, population 4,400, and surrounding towns because of her hands-on style, personal touch and willingness to treat almost any condition. She also shuns insurance — partly because of the hassle of electronic filing — and takes anyone willing to pay her $50 in cash.

Her ongoing fight with the state has prompted scores of patients to write letters on her behalf and call her repeatedly to check on her case. Many, she said, are anxious that they won't be able to see her again and are struggling to find an affordable option or anyone else willing to treat their ailments. Several of her patients are expected to attend Friday's hearing.

"I feel Dr. Konopka is being unfairly singled out because she is not 'online' and she does all her office administration herself," Lynn Boudreau, who says Konopka successfully treated her chronic fatigue, wrote in a letter to the state Department of Justice. "I know for a fact that her patients adore her, both for her knowledge of the healing arts as well as her bedside manner and her genuine concern for her patients."

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Kevin Spacey is dropped from Dutch event over abuse claims

WATCH Kevin Spacey faces new allegations from 'House of Cards' crew

A Dutch business forum has canceled a headline appearance by actor Kevin Spacey over allegations of sexual abuse.

BusinessBoost Live said in a statement Friday that "it is not desirable" to let Spacey speak at their conference Nov. 29 in Rotterdam. The networking forum, aimed at CEOs and entrepreneurs, said it terminated cooperation with the actor in consultation with Spacey's management.

Spacey has given appearances at other business conferences including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Spacey has faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment or abuse in recent days, after accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein prompted others to speak publicly about behavior by powerful men in Hollywood and other industries.

Representatives for Spacey have said he's "taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment."

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Ohio waitress says model Chrissy Teigen left $1,000 tip

An Ohio waitress says model Chrissy Teigen left her the largest tip of her life.

Mikayla Scott says she was working at a Centerville Outback Steakhouse on Oct. 27 when Teigen, her daughter and several others came in.

The 21-year-old says she was nervous serving the model, but at the end she found Teigen left a $1,000 tip. Scott says, "I was like, 'Oh my god, praise the Lord."

Teigen's husband, singer John Legend, is from Springfield. He had returned to his hometown that night to see the football game between local high schools Kettering Fairmont and Springfield.

Scott says she used the extra money to fix her family's car, and she shared some of it with her co-workers.

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Daphne Caruana Galizia: Crowds gather for funeral of Malta blogger

Dozens of people in Malta have gathered for the funeral of an investigative journalist killed by a car bomb attack that shocked the country last month.

The crowd applauded when the coffin with Daphne Caruana Galizia arrived at the church in Mosta for the service.

The 53-year-old was known for her blog accusing top politicians of corruption.

Her family barred Malta's leaders from attending the ceremony. The EU executive has urged the authorities to find the "barbarous" assassins.

Friday has been declared a day of mourning and flags are flying at half-mast to mark the day.

Outside the church, they were calls for "justice" and the crowd held their hands up in a "V" gesture symbolizing peace, the Times of Malta reports.

International experts, including from the FBI, are helping in the investigations but no arrests have been made so far. The government has offered a €1m (£890,000; $1.2m) reward for information about her murder on 16 October.

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President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca's office said she was told via a third party that her presence in the ceremony "was not desired" by the journalist's family.

And a spokesman for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said: "The family has made it widely known that it does not wish the state authorities to attend."

• Malta's anti-corruption warrior

Ms Galizia was a harsh critic of the government and effectively triggered an early election this year by publishing allegations linking Mr Muscat to the Panama Papers scandal.

Mr Muscat and his wife denied claims they used secret offshore bank accounts to hide payments from Azerbaijan's ruling family – and he was returned to power in the election, despite the controversy.

The journalist's sons have called for him to step down over her killing.

The editors of eight of the world's largest news organisations, including the BBC, called for the European Commission – the EU executive – to investigate the murder.

In response, Frans Timmermans, vice president of the Commission, urged authorities to leave "no stone unturned" in the case.

"The eyes of Europe are on the Maltese authorities," he said in a statement.

"We want the investigations to run their full course, so that any other related wrong-doings that may emerge can also be prosecuted and potential structural problems be resolved."

The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, is expected to attend the funeral.

Source – bbc.com

France plans New Caledonia self-rule referendum in 2018

The French Pacific territory of New Caledonia will hold a referendum on self-rule next year, under a deal reached with the French government.

New Caledonian leaders held nine hours of talks with French ministers in Paris on Thursday. The political agreement could pave the way for independence.

November 2018 is the deadline for the vote. New Caledonia, east of Australia, has about 275,000 inhabitants.

In the 1980s there were clashes between French forces and indigenous Kanaks.

The climax of that conflict was when Kanak separatists held a group of French gendarmes hostage in a cave. The French assault cost the lives of 19 Kanaks and two soldiers.

The 1998 Nouméa Accord envisaged a phased French decolonisation, with a referendum in 2018 at the latest. Kanaks form about 45% of the population.

If a majority opts for independence it will be the first French territory to break away since Djibouti (1977) and Vanuatu (1980).

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Thursday's talks "resulted in a political agreement and, perhaps even beyond that, we have trust, which is just as important". He will visit New Caledonia later this month.

• New Caledonia profile

He said the government and New Caledonian politicians agreed on the size of the electorate, locations for polling stations and the presence of UN election observers.

But the wording of the referendum question has not yet been decided.

French nationalism is strong among the territory's ethnic Europeans – and that was reflected in the votes cast in the French presidential election in May.

In the first round, in New Caledonia, far-right National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen got more than double the votes cast for Emmanuel Macron, who won in the second round. The voting was nearly 30% for Ms Le Pen, 12.76% for Mr Macron.

In May Mr Macron said he hoped the territory would remain part of France, as "the French presence is necessary to guarantee peace and development" there.

He said New Caledonia was struggling with high rates of unemployment, educational failure, alcoholism and youth crime.

New Caledonia is represented in the French parliament by two deputies and two senators.

It has a congress which elects an executive with powers over some policy areas – notably policing, education and local laws.

Source – bbc.com