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Climate activists target jets, yachts and golf in a string of global protests against luxury

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Climate activists have spraypainted a superyacht, blocked private jets from taking off and plugged holes in golf courses this summer as part of an intensifying campaign against the emissions-spewing lifestyles of the ultrawealthy.Climate activism has intensified in the past few years as the planet warms to dangerous levels, igniting more extreme heat, floods, storms and wildfires around the world. Tactics have been getting more radical, with some protesters gluing themselves to roads, disrupting high-profile sporting events like golf and tennis and even splashing famous pieces of artwork with paint or soup. They’re now turning their attention to the wealthy, after long targeting some of the world’s most profitable companies – oil and gas conglomerates, banks and insurance firms that continue to invest in fossil fuels.“We do not point the finger at the people but at their lifestyle, the injustice it represents,” said Karen Killeen, an Extinction Rebellion acti...

Son stolen at birth hugs Chilean mother for first time in 42 years

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — “Hola, Mama.” What seems like an unremarkable greeting between mother and son was in this case anything but.Forty-two years ago, hospital workers took Maria Angelica Gonzalez’ son from her arms right after birth and later told her he had died. Now, she was meeting him face-to-face at her home in Valdivia, Chile.“I love you very much,” Jimmy Lippert Thyden told his mother in Spanish as they embraced amid tears.“It knocked the wind out of me. … I was suffocated by the gravity of this moment,” Thyden told The Associated Press in a video call after the reunion. “How do you hug someone in a way that makes up for 42 years of hugs?”His journey to find the birth family he never knew began in April after he read news stories about Chilean-born adoptees who had been reunited with their birth relatives with the help of a Chilean nonprofit Nos Buscamos.The organization found that Thyden had been born prematurely at a hospital in Santiago, Chile’s capital, and...

Many big US cities now answer mental health crisis calls with civilian teams — not police

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Christian Glass was a geology geek, a painter and a young man beset by a mental health crisis when he called 911 for help getting his car unstuck in a Colorado mountain town last year.Convinced that supernatural beings were after him, he balked when sheriff’s deputies told him to get out of his car. The officers shouted, threatened and coaxed, body camera video shows. Glass prayed: “Dear Lord, please, don’t let them break the window.”They did, and the 22-year-old grabbed a small knife. Then he was hit with bean bag rounds, stun gun charges and, ultimately, bullets that killed him and led to a murder charge against one deputy and a criminally negligent homicide charge against another. As part of a $19 million settlement this spring with Glass’ parents, Colorado’s Clear Creek County this month joined a growing roster of U.S. communities that respond to nonviolent mental health crises with clinicians and EMTs or paramedics, instead of police. The initiatives have sp...

Judge to hear arguments on Mark Meadows’ request to move Georgia election case to federal court

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Atlanta is set to hear arguments Monday on whether Mark Meadows should be allowed to fight the Georgia indictment accusing him of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the 2020 election in federal court rather than in a state court.The former White House chief of staff was charged earlier this month along with former President Donald Trump and 17 other people. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who used Georgia’s racketeering law to bring the case, alleges that they participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally try to keep the Republican incumbent president in power even after his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.Lawyers for Meadows argue that his actions that gave rise to the charges in the indictment “all occurred during his tenure and as part of his service as Chief of Staff.” They argue he did nothing criminal and that the charges against him should be dismissed. In the meantime, they want U.S. District Judge...

Trump lawyers back in DC court as two sides differ over trial date in election subversion case

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump are due back in court Monday as a federal judge considers radically conflicting proposals for a trial date in the case accusing him of working to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has proposed a Jan. 2, 2024 trial in federal court in Washington, one of four cities where Trump could face trial as soon as next year. Trump’s lawyers, citing the time they say is needed to review 11.5 million pages of documents they’ve received from prosecutors, have asked for a trial in April 2026 — about a year and a half after the presidential election. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is expected to set at least a tentative trial date during Monday’s status conference.Another potential agenda item could be additional discussion on any constraints on Trump in publicly discussing evidence in the case. Chutkan said at a hear...

Foxconn billionaire Terry Gou says he will seek Taiwan’s presidency as independent candidate

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of the electronics giant Foxconn, declared Monday that he will run as an independent candidate for president in Taiwan’s 2024 election, ending months of speculation.At a news conference, Gou criticized the governing Democratic Progressive Party, saying its policies have “brought Taiwan into the risk of war” with China, which claims the self-ruled island democracy as part of its territory.He said Taiwan also needs new approaches on the economy and other matters at home. “Domestically, the national policy direction is filled with all sorts of mistakes. There’s no way to solve the difficulties of Taiwanese industry and people’s livelihoods,” he said.Gou’s Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is a major supplier to Apple and has factories in China.He has long had presidential aspirations. He ran in the 2019 election but lost as Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party easily won re-electio...

Political reforms continue in Kazakhstan

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

Kazakhstan celebrates its Constitution Day on 30 August. It’s a public holiday when festivities, concerts and exhibitions across the country mark the adoption of the Kazakh Constitution in 1995. The decision in a referendum 28 years ago to establish the country as a democratic secular state remains a momentous one, when the ideals of freedom, equality and concord were proclaimed. However, the Republic’s highest legal text has been amended on five occasions, most recently and comprehensively in 2022, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.The events of January 2022, when initially legitimate protests about fuel prices turned to lawlessness and violence, are rightly remembered in Kazakhstan as a tragedy. But the response of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was to accelerate democratic reforms, not reverse them as the ringleaders behind the violence seem to have hoped.Nearly two years on, Kazakhstan continues to progress the political reforms that the President and his government initiated...

The US Open starts Monday. Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Novak Djokovic and Frances Tiafoe are in action

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The season’s last Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open, gets started on Monday with some of the biggest names in tennis — about a year after two even bigger names walked away from the sport. The Day 1 schedule includes Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff on the women’s side, and Novak Djokovic and Frances Tiafoe on the men’s. And many more, of course. No one carries quite the star power of Serena Williams, whose last event was the 2022 U.S. Open, or Roger Federer, who announced his retirement shortly afterward.The No. 1-ranked Swiatek, a 22-year-old from Poland, won the championship in Arthur Ashe Stadium a year ago and she will be back in that arena to begin the 2023 edition of the event against Rebecca Peterson of Sweden on Monday.That will be followed by Tiafoe, a 25-year-old from Maryland, against Learner Tien, a 17-year-old from California. Tiafoe reached his first major semifinal at last year’s U.S. Open.The night session in Ashe will be led off ...

Emiten alerta de huracán para la provincia cubana de Pinar del Río

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

(CNN) — La tormenta tropical Idalia se está fortaleciendo rápidamente, según la actualización de las 11 p.m. hora del este de EE.UU. del Centro Nacional de Huracanes (NHC). Idalia tiene vientos de 97 km/h con ráfagas más fuertes y actualmente está estacionaria.El gobierno de Cuba elevó el aviso de tormenta tropical para Pinar del Río a aviso de huracán. Se esperan condiciones de huracán dentro del área bajo aviso de huracán en el oeste de Cuba para este lunes por la noche. Se espera que los vientos alcancen la fuerza de tormenta tropical este lunes por la mañana.Trayectoria de Idalia en vivo: dónde está en tiempo real y a dónde se dirigeLa alerta de tormenta tropical para la Isla de la Juventud se actualizó a advertencia de tormenta tropical. La alerta de tormenta tropical para Dry Tortugas, Florida, se actualizó a advertencia de tormenta tropical. Se emitió una alerta de tormenta tropical para los cayos de Baja Florida al oeste del extremo oeste del puente Seven Mile.Condicio...

Ogunbowale scores 29 as the Wings knock the Mercury out of playoff contention with 77-74 win

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:50:35 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale scored 29 points to rally the Dallas Wings to a 77-74 victory over Phoenix on Sunday, eliminating the Mercury from playoff contention.Dallas (19-16), which currently sits in fourth place, will have to wait at least one more game before clinching a homecourt advantage in the first round after the Chicago Sky beat the Seattle Storm 90-85 on Sunday.Phoenix lost its fifth straight game and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons. That run was the longest active streak in the WNBA, according to ESPN.Ogunbowale made 8 of 22 shots from the floor for the Wings, including 4 of 9 from 3-point range. She was 9 for 9 at the free-throw line. Kalani Brown added 12 points off the bench. Natasha Howard totaled 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists.Moriah Jefferson had 20 points, five assists and four rebounds to pace the last-place Mercury (9-25). Brittney Griner scored 19, while Megan Gustafson pitched in with 11 points, three rebounds and...