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INDIAN WELLS: Briton Jack Draper upset the overwhelming favourite Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 to reach the Indian Wells final on Saturday, denying the Span­iard in his bid for a rare “three-peat” in the California desert. Draper beat the world number three at Queen’s Club last year and had the winning formula again this time around, as the lefty relied on his lethal forehand to reach his first Masters 1000-level final, where he will face Denmark’s Holger Rune. “It was a strange match. You know, honestly Carlos came out, he was a bit flat, I sensed that,” Draper said in…

NEW YORK (AP) — St. Patrick’s Day, the annual celebration of all things Irish, is being marked in cities across the country on Monday with boisterous parades and celebrations. New York City hosts one of the largest and oldest parades in the United States. The rolling celebration, now in its 264th year, takes place along Manhattan’s famed Fifth Avenue. Some 150,000 take part in the march and 2 million spectators attend each year, according to organizers.Major celebrations are also planned on Monday in Savannah, Georgia, and other American communities, though some of the cities most transformed by Irish immigration held…

The United States has flown more than 200 immigrants, alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, to be imprisoned in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele has said, after his US counterpart Donald Trump controversially invoked wartime legislation to expel them. The deportations on Sunday took place despite a US federal judge granting a temporary suspension of the expulsions order, apparently as planes were already headed to El Salvador. In a sharp rebuke Sunday, Venezuela’s government said Trump had “criminalized” Venezuelan migrants, whom it said were “in their immense majority… dignified and honest” workers, not terrorists. It added that the action violated…

Users on social media have discovered a controversial use case for Google’s new Gemini AI model: removing watermarks from images, including from images published by Getty Images and other well-known stock media outfits. Last week, Google expanded access to its Gemini 2.0 Flash model’s image generation feature, which lets the model natively generate and edit image content. It’s a powerful capability, by all accounts. But it also appears to have few guardrails. Gemini 2.0 Flash will uncomplainingly create images depicting celebrities and copyrighted characters, and — as alluded to earlier — remove watermarks from existing photos. New skill unlocked: Gemini…

No company has capitalized on the AI revolution more dramatically than Nvidia. Its revenue, profitability, and cash reserves have skyrocketed since the introduction of ChatGPT over two years ago — and the many competitive generative AI services that have launched since. And its stock price soared.  During that period, the world’s leading high-performance GPU maker has used its ballooning fortunes to significantly increase investments in all sorts of startups but particularly in AI startups. The chip giant ramped up its venture capital activity in 2024, participating in 49 funding rounds for AI companies, a sharp increase from 34 in 2023,…

Reporters Without Borders slammed the decision, saying it “threatens press freedom worldwide”.Nearly all Voice of America (VOA) staff members have been placed on leave after United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order gutting the government-run news agency. On Friday night, Trump ordered his administration to reduce several agencies to the minimum required by law under an order titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy”. The decision affected the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), housing Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia, and Radio Marti, which broadcasts Spanish-language news in Cuba. The press advocacy group Reporters…

Lando Norris kept his cool in a rain-hit and incident-packed season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday to edge world champion Max Verstappen with Lewis Hamilton 10th on his Ferrari debut. The pole-sitting Briton took the chequered flag by less than a second from the Dutchman, with Mercedes’ George Russell third after a chaotic race in Melbourne that saw three drivers crash before the end of the first lap. With the safety car repeatedly forced into action after a slew of accidents on the wet Albert Park circuit, Norris held on to clock a fifth grand prix win and second in…

Pakistan won the bronze medal at the International Tennis Federation Masters 45+ World Championship after defeating Germany 2-1 on Sunday, according to a statement by the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF). A total of 21 nations participated in the men’s team event that was held in Manavgat, Turkiye in the 45+ age category known as the Dubler Cup. Pakistan had dominated the group stage with emphatic 3-0 victories over Romania and the host nation, according to the PTF. “Pakistan’s tennis team made history by securing a bronze medal at the ITF Masters 45+ World Championship in Manavgat, Turkey. “Competing for the…

Indian batter Virat Kohli said he may not have another tour of Australia left in him after his team’s humbling 3-1 test series defeat Down Under but the 36-year-old has ruled out retiring anytime soon as he still enjoys playing the game too much. Kohli arrested a long run of poor form with an unbeaten ton in the series opening test in Perth in November, but frequently chased balls moving away from his stumps and managed a total of 190 runs at an average of 23.75. Speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit on Saturday, Kohli said the…

Pakistan slumped to a nine-wicket loss to in the first Twenty20 against New Zealand in Christchurch on Sunday after failing to defend a meagre score of 91. The tourists began the five-match series in disastrous fashion, reduced to 11-4 at the end of the fifth over after towering paceman Kyle Jamieson ran amok with the new ball. They were eventually dismissed for their lowest score in a T20 on New Zealand soil and the home side had few problems in responding with 92-1 off just 10.1 overs. Jamieson claimed three of the first four wickets to finish with 3-8 off…