Author: CNN Newsource

By Spencer Van Dyk

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    OTTAWA (CTV Network) — The federal government plans to roll out an artificial intelligence tool at all its land borders to help determine which travellers might need a secondary examination before entering the country, CTV News has confirmed.

According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the traveller compliance indicator (TCI) was developed in-house to “process travellers more efficiently.”

The tool compiles predictive data that is “already available in multiple systems” in real time and flags travellers who are at a higher risk of violating border requirements. It’s meant to help border agents decide whether certain travellers should be referred to a secondary inspection.

“The goal of the Traveller Compliance Indicator is to give officers a real-time summary of available data to help them identify and process compliant travellers faster and focus on unknown and higher-risk travellers,” wrote CBSA spokesperson Luke Reimer in an email to CTV News.

The TCI is part of a broader modernization plan by the agency, which has been ongoing since last August.

“The Traveller Compliance Indicator is just that, an indicator, and does not replace officer judgement or automatically determine outcomes,” Reimer wrote.

“The actual decision on whether to refer a traveller for a secondary examination rests with the border services officer, whose specialized training, expertise, and knowledge allow them to always be on the lookout for potential threats,” Reimer added.

The expansion of CBSA’s use of the TCI was first reported by the Toronto Star.

The TCI has been in place as a pilot project at six land ports of entry since 2023, with full roll-out planned by late 2027. Reimer did not lay out a timeline for the technology to be implemented at air or marine ports of entry.

“We expect that the Traveller Compliance Indicator will help to reduce referrals for secondary examination that do not result in the discovery of traveller non-compliance,” Reimer wrote.

Statistics provided by Reimer on the number of travellers who received secondary examinations has been largely steady or on the decline in the last year.

According to University of Toronto professor Ebrahim Bagheri, however, any use of AI that impacts human behaviour and decisions is likely to result in inherent biases.

Bagheri — who specializes in the responsible development of AI — pointed to instances of artificial intelligence designed to assess risk resulting in minority groups being negatively profiled.

“The risk here is that similar types of biases get picked up,” Bagheri said of the TCI tool, in an interview with CTV News.

He said AI, because of the way it’s developed and trained, has the potential to “pick up on biases in historical data, exacerbate them, and put them into action.”

Another potential cause for concern, Bagheri said, is automation bias — the phenomenon that leads most people to favour suggestions by automated systems, instead of relying on their own knowledge.

Bagheri said that in the case of the TCI, while the CBSA’s intention appears to be leaving any final decision about which travellers need secondary examination to human border agents, automation bias means those agents are likely to defer decision-making to the algorithm.

The U of T professor said anyone using this type of system would need extensive training to understand the reliability of it, but also that inherent biases and automation bias are “bound to happen.”

He said artificial intelligence technology could be deployed to help border agents in other ways, instead of specifically being designed to build risk scores for travellers.

Reimer said the CBSA is “actively” working to minimize the impact of potential biases of the TCI, adding the agency “has already taken several important steps” to that end.

Those include plans to monitor the tool’s performance across different equity groups and “continuously” work to mitigate biases.

“The main issue with this is that typically the people or groups who build a system, they’ve already done their best to avoid any biases,” Bagheri said. “The only way you can make a system better is if you allow independent scrutiny of the system.”

“It becomes really hard to see how the CBSA can effectively ensure that their system is gradually looking at and monitoring biases and making it better,” he added.

The TCI came in slightly under budget, Reimer said, costing the government about $15.3 million, who added that once the technology is fully implemented, the operational costs for ongoing development and maintenance are expected to be about $700,000 annually.

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By Charlie Buckley

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    TORONTO (CTV Network) — New preliminary data shows that trips between Canada and the United States are down once again in August, in what Statistics Canada notes is the seventh straight month of declining international travel.

Last month, 1.8 million U.S. residents entered Canada by automobile and just shy of 590,000 did so by air, down 4.5 and 3.6 per cent, respectively, from August 2024.

Canadian travellers, meanwhile, showed a “steep decline” in trips to the United States, with U.S. automobile travel down roughly 34 per cent and air travel down more than 25 per cent from 12 months prior.

In the StatCan data, trips by Canadian residents are counted upon their return to Canada.

August’s year-over-year decline is only the latest in months of decreases for Canada-U.S. travel, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war continues to strain relationships between the two countries.

Traffic began to falter earlier this year in the wake of Trump imposing sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports and ramping up immigration enforcement and detentions, all amid frequent suggestions that Canada become the 51st U.S. state.

In the time since, each passing month has brought new data showing the gap left by Canadians choosing not to cross into the United States, and in the month of July, U.S. border-crossers outnumbered Canadians — a rare reversal from the norm.

Meanwhile, non-U.S. travel to and from Canada saw modest increases last month, with overseas visitors up 4.6 per cent and Canadian return trips from abroad up 6.6 per cent, compared to August 2024.

StatCan notes that, of the airports impacted by flight cancellations amid last month’s Air Canada flight-attendant strike, Toronto’s Pearson and Montreal’s Trudeau airports saw “the largest declines” in traffic.

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By Lillian Donahue

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    NAVAJO COUNTY, Arizona (KNXV) — Rescue crews found an Arizona man alive after being stuck in the wilderness for three days.

The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office said Michael Johnson went missing after going out to ride in his off-road vehicle around the Heber-Overgaard area on August 27.

The sheriff’s office partnered with law enforcement agencies, dozens of family, friends, community members, and even complete strangers to search for Johnson.

“He’s 74 years old, had Parkinson’s disease for 20 years, had been off his medication for three days, and lost his glasses,” close family friend Christy Day said. “It’s by the grace of God that he survived.”

Saturday afternoon, Day said hunters spotted his vehicle, prompting AZDPS rangers to find him a mile north in the Walnut Canyon area in critical condition.

“Lying in a field, and he was unresponsive,” Day said. “He would not have survived one more night out there… There were tons of prayers that were said, and he is definitely a miracle, a modern-day miracle.”

Day said Johnson survived by taking shelter in his car during storms and by starting fires at night. He was flown to a hospital in Flagstaff, where he is currently recovering.

“He’s doing good, but he still has a long road ahead of him,” Day said.

Day passed along a message from Johnson’s wife for all the people who helped save his life.

“She wants everyone to know how great the community was in Heber-Overgaard and how everyone pulled together, and she wants to give thanks to all those search and rescue teams and the Sheriff’s Department that came together, and she wants to thank God,” Day said.

The family is raising money for medical costs, as Day said he needs specialized rehabilitation in conjunction with his Parkinson’s disease that insurance has denied.

“All funds raised will help offset the cost of the medical bills- including flight, hospital treatment, and rehab,” according to the GoFundMe. “Any leftover funds will be donated directly to the search and rescue teams who work effortlessly to find lost loved ones.”

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By Ginger Allen, Lexi Salazar, Mike Lozano

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    Texas (KTVT) — Lithium-ion batteries power phones, scooters and electric cars — but the increasingly common energy source can spark fires so intense that they challenge veteran firefighters.

The fires burn hotter, require more water to put out and spew more toxins than a normal fire, according to experts.

In an effort to learn more about this growing danger, the CBS News Texas I-Team partnered with several North Texas fire departments and the Fire Prevention Association of North Texas, or F.P.A.N.T. While local departments are banding together to establish best practices, there are still many unknowns and challenges when it comes to facing these fires.

Lithium-ion battery fires, a growing threat Leander resident Shaun Noll, a father of two, said it feels like yesterday when he received a chilling call his son made from his neighbor’s home. His 10-year-old and 13-year-old sons were alone at home when a fire sparked. The boys made it out safely, but their two cats died and the entire interior of their home was destroyed.

Fire investigators traced the fire to a lithium-ion battery inside a vacuum. Even as an electrician, Noll said the device was a threat he didn’t know to be aware of.

“People have more devices plugged into their house than I ever did,” Noll said. “People just need to be diligent and take this problem seriously, because it’s a real threat.”

As more products contain lithium-ion batteries, the threat grows.

Safety group UL Solutions has been tracking lithium-ion battery cases globally, dating back to 1995. Since the group started tracking, it’s documented 17,400 incidents, 4,562 injuries and 679 deaths — with a significant increase in incidents over the past five years.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has logged hundreds more, with incidents from products ranging from radios, power tools, massage guns and even shoes.

So far this year, from phones and vapes alone, Parkland Hospital has reported 13 battery-related burns.

“We’re not trying to scare everybody, we’re just trying to make sure you’re aware,” said Craig Trojacek, public information officer with the Fort Worth Fire Department.

Mike Rockne, arson investigator with the Celina Fire Department, said he thinks one of the main problems stems from the fact that not everyone is aware of how common the threat is. He walked the I-Team through a typical North Texas home to show just how many lithium-ion batteries are in many homes.

“Good news is, there’s a lot of ways to mitigate those hazards and keep your home as safe as possible,” Rockne said.

Lithium-ion batteries: Fire threat and toxic gases Locally, fire departments across North Texas have collaborated on the best ways to respond to these incidents.

University Park Fire Marshal Marty Corn said the e-bikes and scooters used by students at Southern Methodist University haven’t caused a fire on campus yet, but she worries it’s a matter of time.

“We already know, because we’ve already had an incident here,” Corn said.

The incident, Corn said, started inside a lab at Highland Park High School when a science project with a lithium-ion battery overheated. Video recorded by students of the incident showed the device offloading gas.

“This gas is the stuff that’s inside the battery, it’s toxic,” Corn said. “And it has all kinds of things you should not be inhaling in it.”

Corn said the device was left on the charger too long, a common culprit in lithium-ion battery fires. A damaged battery can also be dangerous, and that damage can happen just from dropping a laptop or phone.

F.P.A.N.T. and local fire departments told CBS News Texas the toxins these devices emit are one challenge for crews responding to these fires. The intensity of the flames is another. To complicate matters further, there’s not a lot of data on how best to put out these fires.

North Texas firefighters test new tactics against battery blazes At Tarrant County College, Euless Fire teamed up with F.P.A.N.T., setting a car on fire, to show the I-Team two battle tactics they’re testing.

One is what’s called a turtle nozzle. In the event of an electric car fire, the steel nozzle slides under the vehicle to blast powerful streams of water into battery compartments.

“It’s very low profile and it has capabilities of delivering up to 500 gallons per minute of water,” said Euless Fire Captain Chris Sutterfield.

The other tactic is a fire blanket. But this one comes with a challenge. In May, UL Solutions issued a warning about the blankets, stating they may pose an explosion risk by trapping the dangerous gases that lithium-ion battery fires emit.

“The standard for the fire service is not spelled out to what we actually need to do to put out these electric vehicle fires,” Sutterfield said.

So, for now, many local fire departments have them as an option. The Fort Worth Fire Department has these blankets on all 71 trucks, but they are also arming themselves with other options. One is what they call an EV plug.

“It disables the vehicle to the point to where it puts itself in park and it won’t drive off on us,” said Trojacek.

The department has also put tow kits inside all the fire chief cars. In the event that an electric car ignites in a garage, firefighters can drag it out onto the street to decrease the risk that the fire spreads to the home. This tactic has also been used in fires in both Lewisville and Plano.

“It was quick thinking,” said Plano Fire Battalion Chief of Special Operations Ryan Clark. “Those guys on the scene recognized a potential lithium-ion battery fire and what it was going to take to put that put, so removing it from that situation made the situation better.”

The fire departments are also communicating on how best to tackle another challenge: the risk these fires will reignite hours, or even days later. That risk is why departments quarantine cars for 14 days after a fire. It’s also why when the lithium-ion battery-powered device caught fire at Highland Park High School, firefighters brought it back to the station, submerged it in a bucket of water, and watched it for several hours.

F.P.A.N.T. and the firefighters we spoke with emphasized that these complications only emphasize the importance of cross-department sharing.

“Every day we learn something different,” said Clark. “So, we just try to stay up to speed.”

Protecting North Texas families Pretty much any device that is rechargeable contains a lithium-ion battery. The technology is common, but there are best safety practices to protect yourself:

Before you buy anything with a lithium-ion battery, take the time to see if it has a stamp from a nationally recognized testing lab. Only use the charging cable that comes with the product. If you have to replace a charger, only buy from the manufacturer. Avoid off-brand chargers. Do not overcharge your device. Unplug it once it’s at 100%. Only charge your device on a hard surface — not under your pillow or on a soft surface like a bed or couch. Charge big devices like bikes, scooters and power tools outside.

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By John Ramos, Amanda Hari

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    SAN JOSE, California (KPIX) — On Monday, a shocking video was released showing a gang of thieves crashing a car into a San Jose jewelry store and assaulting the 88-year-old owner. On Tuesday, the Vietnamese community gathered to call out State and local leaders to invest in public safety in a way that will make them feel safe.

Michael Le attended as a San Jose Business owner, a member of the Vietnamese community, and an acquaintance of one of the most recent victims.

“I am boiling because of the incident that happened in my community,” Le stated. “Every time I leave the business in the evening, my concern is if I have a place to work tomorrow.”

Le said the break-ins are constant, and people in the Asian, and specifically Vietnamese, community are anxious about going about their daily lives.

Mayor Matt Mahan was at the gathering and acknowledged that the Asian community is being hit disproportionately hard, referencing a recent case of 50 residential burglaries.

“They were explicitly targeting Asian American homeowners, so there’s a lot of fear in this community,” Mahan explained. “There’s a belief that maybe Asian Americans’ public safety isn’t valued as much as in other areas of town.”

Le has a theory about that.

“I feel that the criminals target our community for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is because we keep silent,” said Le. “We don’t report incidents to law enforcement.”

Tuan Ngo agrees. He founded a group called Asians Unite during the pandemic when the news was full of reports of Asians, many of them elderly, being randomly attacked.

“I think Asians are, in many ways, ‘easy targets,'” said Ngo. “We’re smaller framed, we tend not to speak out or fight back. And we’re easy to be victimized. As immigrants, we don’t tend to speak up.”

But they’re speaking up now because of a video of a brazen robbery by a mob of masked thieves. It happened at the Kim Hung Jewelry store in San Jose, with the 88-year-old owner being shoved to the floor. He was later discovered to have suffered a stroke in the robbery.

“They have cameras, and so when these incidents happen it’s quickly shared with other merchants in the area. And so, there’s a lot of fear,” Ngo said.

So, Little Saigon merchants called the press conference and meeting with their Councilmember, Bien Doan, and the police chief. But their demands go beyond the city limits. They are calling on Governor Newsom to fund the enforcement of Prop 36, the measure passed last year to combat drug and retail theft crimes. They also want more automated license plate cameras to identify and retrieve stolen cars before they can be used as battering rams in robberies.

“We’ve been working hard with the city for two and a half years now to make it the safest city in the nation. But it doesn’t mean we don’t have crimes,” said Councilmember Doan. “Little Saigon has gotten safer, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

The Grand Century mall has a lot of Vietnamese jewelry stores, and while some people admit the number of crimes may be down, one worker named Kim said the video of the latest robbery is preventing them from feeling safe.

“We need some people to help us, so we feel more safe when we do business,” she said. “That’s why we moved from Oakland to here.”

The Little Saigon leaders say they believe the crime numbers are low because many merchants are reluctant to even report robberies. They either don’t want to scare their customers or alert their insurance companies for fear that their rates will be increased. After what they’ve been through, the Asian community isn’t relying on crime stats. They want to see more police officers, and some are even welcoming the idea of deploying the National Guard.

“It’s a mixed bag,” said Ngo. “The community’s been asking for public safety for years and years, and nothing has happened. Something drastic needs to happen and at this point people are so frustrated that they’re like, OK, bring in the National Guard, bring in CHP, bring in the Sheriff. We need action now! We need immediate help, and we need this to be taken with the seriousness that is deserves.”

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