Life & Style

Arts & Entertainment

Munich’s Oktoberfest roars to life as the mayor taps the first keg

The Associated Press 2 minute read 5:48 AM CDT

MUNICH (AP) — Munich's Oktoberfest kicked off Saturday with the city's mayor tapping the first keg of beer and opening the 191st edition of the world's largest folk festival.

Mayor Dominik Krause put the first keg on tap with only two strokes and the traditional cry of “O’zapft is” — or “It's been tapped.”

Thousands of revelers — the women dressed in Bavarian dirndls, the men in lederhosen — stormed the beer tents on Munich's Theresienwiese fairground in the morning to get a good spot on the benches. To the sounds of brass music and the taste of freshly tapped beer, they soon started singing, dancing and swaying.

Besides beer, pretzels, pork roast and sausages were also sought-after delicacies.

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Science & Technology

FILE - Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic, attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Will AI models achieve the ability to improve autonomously? Leading labs say the scenario is near

Kaitlyn Huamani And Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Will AI models achieve the ability to improve autonomously? Leading labs say the scenario is near

Kaitlyn Huamani And Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 6 minute read 5:00 AM CDT

Once a distant ambition for technology researchers, the prospect of artificial intelligence models teaching themselves autonomously to be more efficient and capable appears ever closer to reality.

As the technology advances, developers say it is approaching “recursive self-improvement,” or RSI, in which AI models find ways to improve themselves and build their successor. It could bring the promise of advances in science and medicine, tech company executives say, but also risks.

The uncertainty over where it all could lead is at the heart of growing fears about AI evading human control, and possible threats to humanity, which led several AI moguls to join last weekend in a call to slow down the technology’s pace of growth.

Anthropic this week detailed how its model Claude is helping the company to develop the next, more intelligent version of itself. Claude is now leading 26% of Anthropic’s model research and development, which the company said means it can complete most of a given task “end-to-end from a high-level prompt” while still being under human supervision. The models are not working completely autonomously — at least not yet.

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5:00 AM CDT

Health

Lucia, played by Justin Vivian Bond, faces a future with Alzheimer's disease in the film

‘I’d rather not moonwalk back into the closet’: ‘Neverman’ spotlights transgender people’s dementia fears

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

‘I’d rather not moonwalk back into the closet’: ‘Neverman’ spotlights transgender people’s dementia fears

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press 7 minute read 5:00 AM CDT

TORONTO - Cuban-Canadian director Rodrigo Barriuso says he decided years ago he needed to draw attention to the difficulties some LGBTQ+ residents face as they enter long-term care homes, including examples he found "devastating and enraging." 

He was seeing a number of media reports abroad about cases of long-term care homes that weren't equipped to provide identity-affirming care to residents.   

"As a result, they were returning to the proverbial closet because the discrimination that they were facing in these place(s) was so rampant that they would rather live in the closet than subject themselves to it," said Rodrigo, whose film "Neverman" played at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

The generation of the LGBTQ+ community that fought for gay and transgender rights is now aging, with some developing dementia and ending up "sharing a living facility with the bullies who — news flash — also age," said the Toronto-based director. 

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5:00 AM CDT

Life & Style

SUPPLIED Mike Maunder in Tibet — his niece recalls him as an adventurer, a traveller.

A life’s story: activist, educator, organizer knew the true meaning of community

Janine LeGal 7 minute read Preview

A life’s story: activist, educator, organizer knew the true meaning of community

Janine LeGal 7 minute read 3:00 AM CDT

Somewhere between a love for sharing stories and a love of community connections, Michael (Mike) Maunder lived his life. Giving voice to people and neighbourhoods was a passion for the natural-born community organizer.

An author, teacher and principal, Maunder lived in a one-bedroom apartment in West Broadway and devoted himself to community development, education and neighbourhood renewal.

He maintained a connection with Augustine United Church, whose commitment to social justice he appreciated, volunteered at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, and found comfort in a Buddhist prayer community.

Maunder died on July 15 at the age of 80.

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3:00 AM CDT

Movies

Hudson Williams arrives on the red carpet to promote

Hits and misses from this year’s TIFF as the festival draws to a close

Tara Deschamps and Kaitlyn McGrath, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Preview

Hits and misses from this year’s TIFF as the festival draws to a close

Tara Deschamps and Kaitlyn McGrath, The Canadian Press 6 minute read 3:00 AM CDT

TORONTO - The 51st Toronto International Film Festival arrived with tensions flaring between Canada and the United States, concerns about artificial intelligence in filmmaking and a massive evolution in how the arts organization courts industry members.

With the festival set to wind up Sunday, here's a look at how some aspects of it fared.

HITS 

The race for People's Choice 

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3:00 AM CDT

Faith

A soldier from Yemen's Houthi rebels stands in front of a giant banner of the Kaaba, during a rally to protest Saudi Arabia's accusation that the Houthis targeted Islam's holiest site in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Saudi Arabia issues air raid alerts across the country, and other Mideast developments

The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Saudi Arabia issues air raid alerts across the country, and other Mideast developments

The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 5:02 AM CDT

Saudi Arabia warned of a “hostile aerial threat” and issued a string of emergency alerts across the kingdom, including in its capital, late Friday and early Saturday.

Also Saturday, Iran’s state TV reported that a man was executed after being convicted on charges of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage is available here.

Alerts sound across Saudi Arabia for aerial threat

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Updated: 5:02 AM CDT

Opinion

Not falling back means time loop remains unclosed

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

I demand restitution. Where’s my hour?

In the traditional fall-back, spring-forward time change set up — you know, ol’ trusty that’s been effect for lo these 63 years — we lost an hour in the spring that we got back in the fall.

That was the social contract: you commit to feeling like you’re on cold medication for a week in March because you know a glorious extra hour of sleep will be returned to you in November. (Unless, of course, you have little kids, but look: we all make our choices.)

Well, that transaction, flawed as it was, isn’t happening this year. That hour you sacrificed to the sun gods in the spring? Gone. Not coming back. We’ve sprung forward and we shan’t be falling back — not in November, and (possibly) not ever. The scale shall remain unbalanced and the loop shall remain unclosed as Manitoba has adopted permanent daylight time.

Faith

John Longhurst photo Father Darrin Gurr (left), shown with his assistant, Aris Magundayao, says the Archdiocese of Winnipeg ‘has experienced malaise at every level.’

City priest takes charge of Together in Mission with aim to ‘awaken and engage’ Catholic laity, clergy

John Longhurst 5 minute read Preview

City priest takes charge of Together in Mission with aim to ‘awaken and engage’ Catholic laity, clergy

John Longhurst 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

Revitalizing and energizing the Archdiocese of Winnipeg is a big job. But Father Darrin Gurr says he’s up to it.

Gurr, who was parish priest at St. Gianna Beretta Molla Parish in southwest Winnipeg for 22 years, started a new job this summer to lead a new initiative of the archdiocese called Together in Mission.

The goal of the initiative is to “awaken and engage both the laity and clergy of the archdiocese and to build a better and more promising future,” says Gurr, whose title is Episcopal Vicar for Stewardship and Mission. “I want to foster a spirit of renewal in all aspects of our church.”

That spirit of renewal is needed because the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, with its 155,000 members in 88 parishes, “has experienced malaise at every level,” he says.

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2:00 AM CDT

Faith

Oded Balilty / The Associated Press files Israeli youths sit at a junction on a car-free road in 2023 during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Ramat Gan, Israel. Israel comes to an almost complete standstill on Yom Kippur.

Soul candles ritual connects women to the past

Sharon Chisvin 5 minute read Preview

Soul candles ritual connects women to the past

Sharon Chisvin 5 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

On one evening every fall during the 10 Days of Awe — the solemn period of reflection and repentance between the Jewish holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — Jane Enkin sits down with a group of women in her Winnipeg home to make candles. The making of the candles is not simply for fun or creative expression — although it serves those purposes as well—but is, rather, an intentional re-enactment of an ancient and little-known High Holiday spiritual ritual.

That ritual is neshome likht, the crafting of ceremonial soul candles.

The making of soul candles during the High Holiday season was common practice among Ashkenazie or Eastern European Jewish women beginning in the 12th century. The candles were made for the souls of both the living and the dead, and often were customized with special wicks made from threads that were used, in another ancient custom, to measure Jewish cemeteries. The measuring of the cemeteries was seen as a way to connect to the deceased in the weeks leading up to Yom Kippur so that those who had already passed might prevail upon God to include their loved ones’ names in the Book of Life.

While the practice of measuring cemeteries has largely fallen by the wayside, the making of soul candles, or the laying of wicks, has managed to survive over the centuries and has enjoyed a significant resurgence in modern times.

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2:00 AM CDT

Environment

Antonino Bella, a senior researcher at the Infectious Diseases Department of the Italian National Institute of Health, looks at a map of Italy showing provinces with confirmed circulation of West Nile virus in vectors, animals, and humans during the 2026 season, in Rome, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italy sees mosquitos spread the West Nile virus farther and longer as Europe warms

Giada Zampano And Andrea Rosa, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Italy sees mosquitos spread the West Nile virus farther and longer as Europe warms

Giada Zampano And Andrea Rosa, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 4:53 AM CDT

ROME (AP) — Italian health authorities see evidence that rising temperatures and longer warm seasons are helping mosquitoes spread West Nile virus across a wider area, during more months of the year.

More than 650 infections have been reported in Italy so far this year, accounting for roughly half of all cases recorded in Europe, according to local health authorities.

“Higher temperatures linked to climate change help mosquitoes reproduce and extend the transmission season, increasing the chances that infected mosquitoes will spread the virus to people,” said Antonino Bella, researcher at Italy’s National Institute of Health, or ISS.

West Nile has been considered endemic in Italy since 2020, when cases started to surge, and is now reported every summer and early fall. About 80% of infected people develop no symptoms, while most others experience a mild flu-like illness. Severe neurological complications occur in a small minority of cases, mainly among older adults and people with underlying health conditions.

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Updated: 4:53 AM CDT

Faith

This photo provided by Jasjit Singh shows the Sikh victim of a stabbing attack at a Wyoming rest area is pictured in a Casper, Wy., hospital on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (Jasjit Singh via AP)

Knife attack on Sikh trucker in Wyoming stirs fresh fears in community

Mead Gruver, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Knife attack on Sikh trucker in Wyoming stirs fresh fears in community

Mead Gruver, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 2:11 AM CDT

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The stabbing of a truck driver at a remote Wyoming rest stop had U.S. Sikhs on edge Friday amid rising anti-immigrant vitriol against the community and its truck drivers in particular.

The Sikh victim was attacked from behind early Sunday while in a restroom at the Bitter Creek rest stop on Interstate 80 midway between Cheyenne and Salt Lake City, according to court documents. He suffered stabs to the neck and chest and over a dozen other cuts but survived.

While police say the motive is unknown, the attack came after deadly crashes involving Sikh truck drivers led to debate about commercial driver's licensing requirements — sparking hatred toward Sikhs as a group, community leaders said.

Anti-Sikh sentiment has been especially severe on truck-driving forums, said one Sikh in the trucking industry, Harsimran Singh, CEO of Gillson Trucking in Stockton, California.

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Updated: 2:11 AM CDT

Science & Technology

This image from video shows a photo of Emily Normandin-Parker on her memorial program at her parents' home in Seattle, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Parents awarded $40 million after Uber found liable for passenger who was fatally struck on highway

Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Parents awarded $40 million after Uber found liable for passenger who was fatally struck on highway

Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press 4 minute read Yesterday at 5:59 PM CDT

The parents of a 23-year-old woman who was fatally struck after her Uber driver pulled over along a southern California highway were awarded $40 million after an arbitrator found both Uber and the driver liable for her death.

Carol Normandin and Ken Parker said Friday that they hope the amount will put a spotlight on the 2023 death of their daughter, Emily Normandin-Parker and to use the money to advocate for strengthening safety standards and transparency in the ride-hailing industry.

“I want to do good with it,” Parker said of the money, but “I never wanted it. No parent would ever want it. The best thing about it is that it's bringing attention to the issue that sorely needs attention.”

On the night she was killed, Normandin-Parker had ordered the Uber for her and her friend to get home after spending a night out drinking alcohol. When the friend got sick and vomited, driver Vu Tran pulled over on the side of Route 73 in Orange County and all three got out of the car before Normandin-Parker was hit by traffic.

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Yesterday at 5:59 PM CDT

Health

A specialist handles blood bags inside a laboratory at a hospital during a regional congress focused on strengthening laboratory capacity and preparedness following lessons from Ebola and COVID-19, in Lome, Togo, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Erick Kaglan)

West African scientists warn of weakening health systems and urge stronger outbreak detection

Erick Kaglan, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

West African scientists warn of weakening health systems and urge stronger outbreak detection

Erick Kaglan, The Associated Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 5:40 PM CDT

LOME, Togo (AP) — West African laboratory scientists called on governments Friday to strengthen capacity to detect disease outbreaks to avoid another major outbreak, saying health systems across the region are becoming weaker.

The scientists issued their warning in Togo's capital, Lome, where they have gathered this week to discuss the region's level of preparation for disease outbreaks and dependence on vaccines from Western countries.

They said governments in the region have to cooperate to strengthen disease detection and invest in diagnostic capacities, citing lessons from Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks that the region has grappled with in the past decade.

Between 2014 and 2016, an Ebola outbreak killed at least 11,000 people across West Africa, overwhelmingly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

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Yesterday at 5:40 PM CDT

Faith

FILE - A woman shares Jehovah's Witnesses' literature with a passerby in downtown Pittsburgh on Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Smith, File)

Jehovah’s Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on whole-blood transfusions

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Jehovah’s Witnesses allow blood-derived products but keep ban on whole-blood transfusions

Peter Smith, The Associated Press 3 minute read Yesterday at 5:12 PM CDT

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have partly eased their longstanding prohibition on the medical use of donated blood, allowing members to receive products derived from blood but maintaining a ban on transfusions of whole blood.

The policy, announced Friday, is the second revision this year in what has long been one of the most controversial and distinctive teachings of the religious organization.

The new policy says that individuals can receive products derived from blood donated by other people. It says they can receive medical treatments that involve the use of the four main components of whole blood: plasma, platelets and red and white blood cells.

“Each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care,” said Geoffrey W. Jackson, a member of the Governing Body of the organization, based in New York State.

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Yesterday at 5:12 PM CDT

Environment

This image taken from video shows a humpback whale swimming in the Sacramento River on Sept. 16, 2026, near Rio Vista, Calif. (Denny Glover via AP)

A humpback whale was spotted in a California river, 60 miles from its Pacific Ocean home

Terry Chea And Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

A humpback whale was spotted in a California river, 60 miles from its Pacific Ocean home

Terry Chea And Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:36 PM CDT

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) — Denny Glover was hoping for a big catch when he went fishing with buddies on the Sacramento River, but he wasn't expecting a fully grown humpback whale.

Glover saw the whale surfacing on Wednesday while he was fishing for salmon and striped bass from a 21-foot (6.4-meter) boat, less than half the length of the animal. He shot a few videos as the whale broke the surface of the water in California's largest river, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from its more typical home of the Pacific Ocean.

“One of the guys on the boat, he said, ‘I see a whale.’ He saw the spout,” Glover said. “At first we didn't believe it. We thought he had mistaken a dolphin or a porpoise. Then we saw the spout again, and there's no mistaking a whale spout.”

The rare inland visit from a whale has attracted the attention of scientists who want to know what kind of condition it's in and how it wound up so far from the sea. The whale entered San Francisco Bay earlier in the week and has been traveling east in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California's largest river delta, The Marine Mammal Center said in a statement.

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Updated: Yesterday at 6:36 PM CDT

Environment

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a rally for democratic candidates Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Monroe, N.C. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

Potential Democratic candidates race to respond to AI threat amid Trump’s dismissals

Jill Colvin, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Potential Democratic candidates race to respond to AI threat amid Trump’s dismissals

Jill Colvin, The Associated Press 6 minute read Yesterday at 4:54 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Amid growing anxiety over the risks posed by rapidly developing artificial intelligence technology, potential Democratic candidates for president are rushing to show that they're taking the warnings seriously — while Donald Trump brushes off concerns — and acknowledging they need a reluctant Washington to step up.

On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to accelerate implementation of a California law that calls for independent oversight of AI companies and the use of “kill switches” so developers have the ability to shut down their systems.

“California will do what it can. But this nation needs to get in the game. Washington, D.C. needs to do its job,” Newsom said on his podcast Friday.

The order came a day after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, also expected to be a leading Democratic presidential prospect, delivered a speech outlining the steps he’s taking locally to confront AI risk. Like Newson, he conceded that states have obvious limitations in regulating a global technology.

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Yesterday at 4:54 PM CDT

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