Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat has emerged as the choice to become the next coach of the U.S. men’s basketball team for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, two people with knowledge of the situation said Thursday.Spoelstra and USA Basketball have yet to completely finalize any agreement, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no public announcement has been scheduled. Such moves typically follow USA Basketball board of director meetings, and one of those is set for later this month.Spoelstra would be replacing Steve Kerr, who coached the Americans in the…

By Rishika SadamCHHINDHWARA, India (Reuters) -Indian police have arrested the owner of Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, the cough syrup company linked to the deaths of at least 19 children in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, a senior police officer told Reuters on Thursday.The children, all under five years of age, died in the past month in the state’s Chhindwara city, after consuming cough medicine containing toxic diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit.The deaths were all linked to Sresan Pharma’s Coldrif syrup, which has been banned in several parts of India after a test confirmed the presence…

Romi Gubes knew her idea sounded outlandish: a small audio-only device that could sit in a senior’s home and detect everything from falls to early signs of cognitive decline.”It was like science fiction,” she told Business Insider. “When we came up with this idea, everyone thought we were crazy.”But what seemed far-fetched in 2019 is now a multimillion-dollar reality. Gubes’s startup Sensi.AI just raised $45 million in Series C funding, BI learned exclusively.Qumra Capital led the round, joined by existing investors including Insight Partners. The raise brings Sensi.AI’s total funding to $98 million.Gubes, a former software engineer, cofounded Sensi.AI following…

Google on Thursday launched a comprehensive AI platform for businesses called Gemini Enterprise, the latest effort by the Alphabet-owned company to compete with Anthropic and OpenAI in the fast-growing market for workplace AI tools. As part of the launch, Google announced several new Gemini Enterprise customers, including the software design firm Figma; the buy-now-pay-later company Klarna; the foodservice distributor Gordon Foods; Australian retail bank Macquarie Bank; and Virgin Voyages, a cruise line that has deployed more than 50 specialized AI agents that can autonomously perform tasks on Gemini Enterprise. Gemini Enterprise builds on previous iterations of the company’s efforts to…

SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — After two major crashes the last two seasons, one that led to a battle with PTSD and a worrisome drop in her rankings points, American skiing standout Mikaela Shiffrin is entering the upcoming Olympic season on a more positive note.“My confidence is getting better, generally I feel more comfortable,” Shiffrin told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday.She’s still not ready to race in downhills again, however, and might drop super-G as well in a reduced World Cup schedule ahead of the Milan-Cortina Olympics.Shiffrin is content to compete in slalom and giant slalom — her…

Losing a pet is the first time many children encounter death. The experience can become an opportunity for profound emotional learning and influence how young people understand and process grief when they are adults, according to psychologists and pet bereavement specialists.Parents and guardians therefore have important roles to play when a family pet dies. Along with helping children accept the painful permanence of death, caregivers can guide kids through a healthy and healing mourning process that provides a foundation for coping with an inevitable part of life. “People are so adverse to talking about death and grief, but it is…

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia will block Israeli athletes from competing at the upcoming gymnastics world championships in Jakarta, a government official said Thursday.The decision to deny visas to the Israeli athletes comes after their planned participation had sparked intense opposition in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, which has long been a staunch supporter of Palestinians.Israel is among 86 countries registered to compete at the worlds that start in Jakarta on Oct. 19, with a team highlighted by 2020 Olympic gold medalist and defending world champion Artem Dolgopyat in the men’s floor exercise. Now its participation is in doubt,…

AI is rapidly reshaping the business game, creating a few clear winners — and a stadium full of spectators.According to a new report from Boston Consulting Group, only 5% of companies in its 2025 study of more than 1,250 global firms are seeing real returns on AI.Meanwhile, 60% of companies have seen little to no benefit, reporting only minimal increases in revenue and cost savings despite making substantial investments.BCG said that industries like software, telecommunications, and fintech have the highest levels of “AI maturity,” which the firm defines as “the ability to create value at scale.” Meanwhile, fashion and luxury,…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Leigh Coney, a 34-year-old AI consultant based in France. It’s been edited for length and clarity.AI models can tend to be “yes-men.”They are sycophantic by design, meaning they agree with us, support our ideas, and want to help. Part of the reason I think so many AI projects fail is because the human factor is overlooked. The same biases that apply to us also apply to AI, so it’s important to factor in psychological principles when building experiments, agents, and automation.I decided to pivot from teaching psychology at a university to…

It was a quiet summer for bird flu: Egg prices fell a bit, fewer sick poultry flocks were culled on farms, and officials took a breath.“It was lovely,” said Shauna Voss, the assistant director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.But it didn’t last.Bird flu is spreading again, now that wild water fowl — geese, ducks and cranes — have begun their seasonal migrations. As the birds travel, they mingle at lakes and ponds and share viruses.In poultry, bird flu cases are spiking earlier than expected. More than 4 million poultry birds have been culled in the last month, in…