DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m a shy woman and have rarely had a serious romantic relationship — just one in my lifetime. But I never really feel lonely, compared to a lot of single adults I know, because I am rich in fur babies.

Friends and relations know I just can’t say “Go away” to homeless pets, although I don’t go looking for them. I have ended up with a house and small barn full of animals that people bring me on my acreage just outside the city.

This winter I met a sweetheart of a man at a conference and we started seeing each other. He is also an animal lover and we immediately clicked.

The problem is we might like to live together now, and that would mean amalgamating our households.

PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) — Three cruise ship passengers with suspected hantavirus infections being flown to the Netherlands for treatment Wednesday. Three people have died, and the World Health Organization says there are eight cases.

About 150 passengers are isolating aboard the Dutch ship at the center of the outbreak. The MV Hondius is near the Cape Verde islands off West Africa, waiting to sail to Spain’s Canary Islands. Officials say those on board show no symptoms.

Hantavirus is a rare, rodent-borne illness that usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. The Argentine government’s leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching outing at a garbage dump before boarding, according to two officials.

The WHO says the risk to the global population from this outbreak is low, with the organization’s top epidemic expert telling AP, “This is not the next COVID.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Ted Turner, a brash television pioneer who raced yachts, owned huge chunks of the American West and transformed the news business by launching CNN and introducing the 24-hour cable news cycle, died Wednesday. He was 87.

Turner died surrounded by his family, according to Turner Enterprises, the company that oversees his vast business interests.

Turner owned professional sports teams in Atlanta, defended the America’s Cup in yachting in 1977 and donated a stunning $1 billion to United Nations charities. He married three women — most famously actor Jane Fonda — and earned the nicknames “Captain Outrageous” and “The Mouth of the South.”

He once bragged: “If only I had a little humility, I’d be perfect.”

PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) — Two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of being infected were being evacuated from a cruise ship to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said. The vessel at the center of a deadly outbreak remained off Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board waiting to head to Spain’s Canary Islands.

Associated Press footage showed health workers in protective gear heading to the ship for the evacuation that included the ship's British doctor, who Spain's health ministry said had been in “serious condition” but has improved. An air ambulance later departed.

Three people have died, and one body remained on the ship, the World Health Organization said. Of the eight cases recorded, five were confirmed by laboratory testing.

Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and can spread person-to-person, though that is rare, according to the WHO, whose top epidemic expert said the risk to the public is low.

OTTAWA - Federal and provincial watchdogs say OpenAI failed to respect Canadian privacy laws when training its artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT chatbot.

The conclusion came in a report released Wednesday following a joint investigation by federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne and his counterparts from British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.

ChatGPT, released in November 2022, is a popular conversation-style tool that responds to online users' prompts with a wide range of information almost instantly — responses that may or may not be accurate.

They found OpenAI's collection of information to train its models was overly broad, resulting in the compilation and use of sensitive personal details.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My maxi-sized boyfriend eats in bed, as well as everywhere else. Every night he makes a heaping plate of fattening, super-salty foods and brings it to our bedroom, as he’s done ever since he was a teenager living at home. He never kicked the habit.

He’s a very chubby guy now, to put it mildly, but he’s also the most fun human being I’ve ever been with. When I first met him, I didn’t criticize anything because he was my amazing guy. Now I’m after him all the time to eat less because I’m afraid he’ll die young from the garbage he’s shovelling into his mouth.

This week he told me if I don’t get off his back about his eating, he’ll have to end things with me, as he’s losing his desire for me. What? I am a runner, and my body is in perfect shape. Who would have thought it would come to him threatening to dump me because he’s turned off?

What should I do? I love him very much and just want him to live to a normal age and be healthy. Now he’s turning this into a weird kind of battle. Help me, please.