Latest news with #Hastings
RNZ News
2 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
'Mixed emotions': Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst not seeking re-election
Photo: SUPPLIED Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst has announced she will not seek re-election this year. The three-term mayor has led the council since 2017 and was a councillor before that, notching up 15 years of service. Hazlehurst said it was with "mixed emotions" that she decided it was time to hand over the chains. "I am honoured and privileged to have served our Heretaunga Hastings community as a councillor and mayor for the past 15 years," she said. "While my time as Hastings' mayor will end in October, I am excited to continue to serve our community in other ways." She said achievements during her term included investment in water infrastructure following the 2016 Havelock North campylobacter outbreak, tackling the housing crisis, revitalising the city centre, and building close relationships with mana whenua. "The introducing of our Takitimu Māori Ward was a highlight for me. Māori representation at the council table has made a huge impact on the well-being and cohesiveness of our community." But she said it had not always been easy. "Cyclone Gabrielle has had a devastating impact on our people's lives, their livelihoods and their property. "I am deeply grateful to everyone who has played a part in our ongoing recovery - rebuilding lives, reconnecting communities, and restoring vital infrastructure. Her term will end after local body elections in October. So far, current councillor Marcus Buddo has put his hat in the ring for the mayoralty, and fellow councillor Damon Harvey was strongly considering it.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings appointed to Anthropic's board of directors
Reed Hastings , the former CEO and current chairman of streaming giant Netflix , has been appointed to the board of directors of AI startup Anthropic , the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. Hastings has been part of the boards of Facebook (now Meta), Microsoft, and Bloomberg. He had served as CEO of Netflix since its inception and stepped down in 2023. Anthropic's large language model (LLM) Claude competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. The company last received $4 billion in funding from Amazon. Hastings recently gave $50 million to Bowdoin College to create a research initiative on AI and humanity. The programme explores how AI will change work, relationships, and education while developing ethical guidelines for its use. This objective aligns with Anthropic's focus. Hastings was appointed to the board by Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust. "The Long Term Benefit Trust appointed Reed because his impressive leadership experience, deep philanthropic work, and commitment to addressing AI's societal challenges make him uniquely qualified to guide Anthropic at this critical juncture in AI development ," said Buddy Shah, chair of Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories 'Anthropic is very optimistic about the AI benefits for humanity, but is also very aware of the economic, social, and safety challenges,' Hastings said in a statement. 'I'm joining Anthropic's board because I believe in their approach to AI development, and to help humanity progress,' he added. Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned that AI could eliminate nearly half of entry-level white-collar jobs within five years. He urged consumers and US lawmakers to prepare for significant job cuts , according to Axios. Amodei also criticised the government and other AI companies for downplaying the risk of widespread job losses across sectors such as technology, finance, law, and consulting.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Ahere Gillies and Isaiah Buchanan guilty of manslaughter of Javon Aranui in Hastings
By Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter of Isaiah Buchanan, (left), and Ahere Gillies have been on trial in the High Court at Napier, charged with the murder of Javon Aranui, inset. Photo: Supplied / Ric Stevens / NZME Homicide victim Javon Aranui suffered 16 different head injuries when he was beaten up on a Hastings street early one morning in December 2023. A jury has now decided that the assault - described by a 111 caller as a "bloody beating" - was not a case of murder. Instead, Ahere Gillies and Isaiah Buchanan, the two men who faced a murder charge in the case, have each been found guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter. Today, the jury returned the verdicts after almost three days of deliberation. The assault in Jellicoe Street at around 3am on December 20, 2023, went on for some time. Exactly how long was a point of contention at the trial, which has occupied the High Court at Napier before Justice Peter Churchman for almost two weeks. Prosecutor Megan Mitchell, when she opened for the Crown, said the assault could have lasted as long as 15 minutes. But as evidence piled up during the trial, it became clear that the assault was probably a lot shorter. "This is a trial about how many times and how hard you can kick or punch someone in the head before you know you are risking their life," Mitchell told the jury. If the violence inflicted was difficult to visualise, Mitchell invited the jury to stare at a clock for just 10 seconds in silence. Imagine someone getting kicked in the head for 10 seconds, she said, and then imagine it going on for longer. Minutes longer. There was never any question that both Gillies and Buchanan had been involved in the altercation. Gillies, 20, accepted that he was responsible for the manslaughter of the 24-year-old Hastings man, who was sometimes known by his tag-name of Snake, but he denied murdering him. Buchanan also pleaded not guilty to murder, and did not accept that he could be found guilty of manslaughter either. He said that the two accused never intended to seriously hurt Aranui, and that he had left the altercation at one point to secure his two dogs, which had got involved. Buchanan said Aranui - who was 30kg heavier than him - threw the first punch, and that he responded with kicks to the torso, but not a punch, in self-defence. He said he tended to Aranui when he was knocked unconscious at the end of the fight, had placed his head on his duffle-bag "like a pillow", and had helped the beaten man get up when he came to again. He said the altercation ended in a handshake when Gillies returned to the scene, and the two men gave Aranui a bottle of water. Pathologist Dr Katherine White had earlier described carrying out the post-mortem on Aranui and the multiple injuries on both sides of his head, including a "dangerous volume" of bleeding inside the skull. There were also injuries - although mainly not visible on the surface - to Aranui's torso, and his legs. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Despite the extent of his injuries, Aranui was able to get up after the altercation, which happened outside a known gang house. Buchanan said he had a lifelong association with the Mongrel Mob. Aranui even climbed back on the bicycle and rode a short distance. He was seen riding the bike by the police officers responding to the 111 call, and who arrived in Jellicoe St at about 3.20am. Aranui fell off the bike in Collinge Road, just around the corner, but was still talking and walking unaided, although stumbling, when ambulance officers arrived to help him. He also spoke to the police and ambulance staff, who noted his visible head injuries and his split lip. They did not know at that time that Aranui was already beginning to succumb to his fatal injuries when he had the conversation. He said he felt hot. He got out of the ambulance to urinate on the side of the road. He vomited. He told the first responders things that were not true about where he had been and how he got his injuries. He appeared to be intoxicated, although the pathologist would later find he had no alcohol in his system at all. Aranui was reluctant to be taken in the ambulance. He was worried about what might happen to his bike if it were left on the side of the street. Obligingly, the police officers put the bicycle in the back of their car and said they would take it to Aranui's home if the injured man agreed to go to hospital. He went, but then things went downhill. The ambulance stopped twice on the way to Hastings Hospital, 5.5km away, as the crew tried to stabilise Aranui's rapidly deteriorating condition. By the time they got to the hospital Emergency Department, about an hour after the beating, Aranui was on a breathing tube. He was transferred to Wellington Hospital, where he died the following day. Such was Aranui's condition when he arrived at ED that hospital staff got back in touch with police, who quickly returned to Jellicoe St and the house where blood spots had been found on the pavement. As the morning progressed, they cordoned off the property and asked the occupants - 17 people who lived in the house and associated sleepouts and a housebus - to come outside. They knocked at the door of a cabin on the front of the property. When they got no response, they threatened to break the door down. Inside were Buchanan, who was 18 at the time, and Gillies. Although a year or so older than Buchanan, Gillies is his nephew. Police noticed Gillies was nervous and shaking slightly. Both young men were questioned and DNA samples were taken, but they were not arrested immediately. Both were to leave Hastings in the days after Aranui died, and police later found a social media post of Gillies in a rural location with his face covered and accompanied by the clip of a rap song entitled Murder Was the Case . They also intercepted phone calls between the two in which they discussed a relative talking to officers, the DNA evidence, and the possibility of going to police to present Aranui's death as manslaughter. Gillies' lawyer, Eric Forster, did not call his client to the witness stand or call evidence in his defence. His position was that Gillies accepted that in the altercation with Aranui, he was involved in unlawful actions that caused death and so, he committed manslaughter. But he said what separated manslaughter from murder in this case, was what was in Gillies' mind at the time. "It never crossed Ahere Gillies' mind that his actions would cause Javon Aranui's death," Forster said. Buchanan was called to the stand by his counsel, Adam Holland, and said that the fight started after he and Gillies laughed at Aranui when they saw him cycling down the road being chased by a neighbourhood dog named Honey. They had been chased by the same dog before, he said. He said Aranui came up to them and asked what they were laughing at before hitting Buchanan without warning. From there, it was all on. "We never intended for him to die - it was an accident," Buchanan said. "We never intended to hurt him or seriously injure him. All we wanted was for him not to attack us." The jury deliberated over their verdicts for almost three days after being sent out on Monday afternoon, and returning on Thursday afternoon. By that time, they had been reduced to 11 members - eight women and three men. Gillies and Buchanan will be sentenced in August. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings joins Anthropic board
FILE PHOTO: Reed Hastings, founder and Co-C.E.O. of Netflix, arrives at the DealBook Summit in New York City, U.S., November 30, 2022. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/File Photo (Reuters) -Anthropic has appointed Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings to the board of directors, the artificial intelligence startup said on Wednesday. Hastings, 64, is also a board member at Bloomberg. He has previously held director positions at Microsoft and Facebook, and served as the CEO of Netflix for 25 years. "Anthropic is very optimistic about the AI benefits for humanity, but is also very aware of the economic, social, and safety challenges. I'm joining Anthropic's board because I believe in their approach to AI development, and to help humanity progress," Hastings said. At Anthropic, Hastings will help the company navigate its rapid growth while maintaining its commitment to safety and minimizing AI's potential negative impacts on society. Hastings co-founded Netflix in 1997 and transformed from a fledgling DVD mail-order service into a global streaming platform. He recently contributed $50 million to Bowdoin College to establish an AI and Humanity research initiative, focusing on AI's impact on work, relationships and education. In addition to Hastings, the board includes Daniela Amodei, her brother and Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei, investor Yasmin Razavi, and Confluent CEO Jay Kreps. (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Netflix chairman Reed Hastings joins board of AI giant Anthropic
Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings is joining the board of San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company Anthropic. Anthropic, valued at $61.5 billion after its most recent funding round in March, is known for its AI chatbot model Claude. "Anthropic is very optimistic about the AI benefits for humanity, but is also very aware of the economic, social, and safety challenges," Hastings said. "I'm joining Anthropic's board because I believe in their approach to AI development, and to help humanity progress." Netflix is one of the world's most prolific producers of movies and TV shows, known for its content recommendation algorithm. Hollywood is grappling with the implications of generative artificial intelligence, which studios believe could save money and time, but also comes with downsides. Labor groups fear job displacement, and there are also concerns about the use of copyrighted material when training AI models. Hastings was selected by Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust, which the company describes as "five financially disinterested members" that can select and remove a portion of the board. The group selected Hastings because of his leadership experience, philanthropic work and "commitment to addressing AI's societal challenges makes him uniquely qualified to guide Anthropic at this critical juncture in AI development," said Buddy Shah, chair of Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust, in a statement. Hastings will join the company's five-member board, which includes Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei, President Daniela Amodei, investor Yasmin Razavi and Jay Kreps, CEO of Mountain View-based data streaming firm Confluent. Hastings served as CEO or co-CEO of Netflix for 25 years until 2023. He currently serves on the boards of other organizations including Bloomberg, the financial data and media company. He has donated money to charter school networks serving low-income U.S. communities and recently gave $50 million to Bowdoin College to establish the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity that aims to help the school provide ethical frameworks for AI and examine AI's impact on work and education. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
