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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Russia before an expected meeting with Putin

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

By KIM TONG-HYUNG (Associated Press)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Joined by his top military officials handling his nuclear-capable weapons and munitions factories, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday, where he is expected to hold a rare meeting with President Vladimir Putin that has sparked Western concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.North Korea’s official news agency said Kim boarded his personal train from the capital, Pyongyang, on Sunday afternoon, and that he was accompanied by unspecified members of the country’s ruling party, government and military.Jeon Ha Gyu, spokesperson of South Korea’s Defense Ministry, said in a briefing that the South’s military assesses that Kim’s train crossed into Russia sometime early Tuesday. He didn’t elaborate how the military obtained the information.North Korean state media showed photographs of Kim walking past honor guards and crowds of civi...

18 kilos of fentanyl seized in task force bust; enough to kill 9M

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

State Police report they have seized 18 kilograms of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl.One kilo of fentanyl, the DEA states, “has the potential to kill 500,000 people.” This bust is a lot of lives saved. (9 million, using DEA math.)A task force zeroed in on a Lawrence-based drug trafficking organization that was supplying fentanyl throughout the Merrimack Valley, MSP said.“Operation Philly Special,” State Police added, was the result of a lengthy investigation conducted by the State Police Commonwealth Interstate Narcotics Reduction and Enforcement Team (CINRET), Troopers assigned to the Attorney General’s Office, federal Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Salem, New Hampshire Police, under the direction of Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s Office.The seized fentanyl, once cut up and sold on the street, would have an estimated value of nearly $1 million.The task force also seized two semi-automatic pistols, approximately $10,000 suspected to be drug traffick...

Flooding in Libya leaves 2,000 people feared dead and more missing after storm collapsed dams

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

By SAMY MAGDY (Associated Press)CAIRO (AP) — Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns in the east of the North African nation. As many as 2,000 people were feared dead, one of the country’s leaders said Monday.The destruction appeared greatest in Derna, a city formerly held by Islamic extremists in the chaos that has gripped Libya for more than a decade and left it with crumbling and inadequate infrastructure. Libya remains divided between two rival administrations, one in the east and one in the west, each backed by militias and foreign governments. The confirmed death toll from the weekend flooding stood at 61 as of late Monday, according to health authorities. But the tally did not include Derna, which had become inaccessible, and many of the thousands missing there were believed carried away by waters after two upstream dams burst. Video by residents of the city posted ...

Driver killed in I-805 crash near border

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A driver was killed in a two-vehicle crash Sunday on Interstate 805 northbound at State Route 905 near the U.S.-Mexico Border, authorities said.The collision occurred around 5:27 a.m. when a 21-year-old man driving in a Volkswagen coupe struck the back of a Honda sport utility vehicle at a high rate of speed, Jesse Matias with the California Highway Patrol said in a news release. The driver of the Honda, a 58-year-old of Tijuana, Mexico, died at the scene while the driver of the Volkswagen was taken to a hospital, according to authorities. Pursuit crash prompts I-805 traffic delays; suspect arrested Driving under the influence is suspected to be a factor in the crash, per CHP.Multiple lanes of I-805 northbound were closed for several hours.The identity of the deceased is being withheld pending notification from the family.Any witnesses to this crash are asked to contact the CHP San Diego Area at (858) 293-6000.

California lawmakers approve the nation’s most sweeping emissions disclosure rules for big business

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Major corporations from oil and gas companies to retail giants would have to disclose their direct greenhouse gas emissions as well as those that come from activities like employee business travel under legislation passed Monday by California lawmakers, the most sweeping mandate of its kind in the nation. The legislation would require thousands of public and private businesses that operate in California and make more than $1 billion annually report their direct and indirect emissions. The goal is to increase transparency and nudge companies to evaluate how they can cut their emissions. “We are out of time on addressing the climate crisis,” Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward said. “This will absolutely help us take a leap forward to be able to hold ourselves accountable.”The legislation was one of the highest profile climate bills in California this year, racking support from major companies that include Patagonia and Apple, as well as Christiana Figueres,...

TIFF’23: The Royal Hotel is pure, nail-biting tension

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

Traveling around the world can be a tremendously enjoyable experience. You can learn a lot about other cultures and yourself, experience new things, and have tons of fun with new people. But as this film shows, sometimes travelling can go wrong.The Royal Hotel was an anxious, tense watch. It was a great deal of scary fun with two fantastic lead performances from Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick. Another strong film from Kitty Green. #TIFF23— James Mackin @ TIFF 23 (@JamesMackin10) September 12, 2023The Royal Hotel is the latest film from Kitty Green (the director of Casting JonBenet and the Assistant), and it stars Julia Garner (also from the Assistant and Ozark) and Jessica Henwick (from Glass Onion and Iron Fist). They’re playing two young women travelling around Australia having fun, until they run out of money. They take a job at the Royal Hotel, a small pub in a mining town in the middle of nowhere. The town is mostly filled with men, and the testosterone rises anyt...

Effort to restrict public’s access to Arkansas records stumbles at start of legislative session

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ proposal to restrict the public’s access to records about her administration, travel and security stumbled at the outset of a special legislative session that convened Monday, with lawmakers trying to rework the legislation in the face of growing criticism that it erodes the state’s open records law.The House and Senate ended the day without any action on the legislation, one of several items Sanders placed on the agenda for the special session she announced Friday. The Senate scuttled plans to hold a committee hearing Monday night on the bill, with leaders saying they did not yet have a revised version of the proposed changes to the state’s Freedom of Information Act.“We’ve made amendment after amendment after amendment today. It’s just not ready,” Senate President Bart Hester told a committee room packed mostly with opponents of the legislation who had been waiting to to testify on t...

New highways carve into Cairo’s City of the Dead cemetery as Egypt’s government reshapes the city

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The cane chairs and umbrella still stand in the courtyard of Hussein Omar’s family mausoleum, where his grandmother came every morning for 19 years after her daughter — his mother — died. Near her grave, she would sit and pray under the date palm and among the flowering plants, a few hours of peace in Cairo ’s historic City of the Dead.Now the mausoleum, built in 1924 in a neo-Islamic style and housing the graves of a number of prominent Egyptians from a century ago, is threatened with demolition.Authorities have already razed hundreds of tombs and mausoleums as they carry out plans to build a network of multilane highways through the City of the Dead, a vast cemetery that has been in use for more than a millennium. Stunned preservationists say the construction is destroying a unique part of Egypt’s heritage where major Islamic figures, prominent Egyptian politicians, artists and scholars and the loved ones of many Egyptians are buried.“It’s always felt like a very sacr...

Tuesday’s Aerosmith concert in Toronto rescheduled after Steven Tyler hurts vocal chords

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

Aerosmith fans will have to wait to see the legendary rockers live in Toronto.Tuesday’s concert at Scotiabank Arena has been called off and rescheduled for February 21, 2024 after lead singer Steven Tyler suffered an injury to his vocal chords.“I’m heartbroken to say I have received strict doctor’s orders not to sing for the next thirty days,” Tyler said in a social media post.“I sustained vocal cord damage during Saturday’s show that led to subsequent bleeding. We’ll need to postpone a few dates so that we can come back and give you the performance you deserve.”All tickets will be honoured for the future show and refunds will be available for those who can’t attend the February concert.Aerosmith’s show at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on September 12, 2023 has been rescheduled to February 21, 2024. Hold onto tickets as they will be honored for the new date. https://t.co/ihiJOiklpj— Scotiabank Arena (@ScotiabankArena) September 12, 2023RESCHEDULED DATES:Monday ...

Outrage intensifies over New Mexico governor’s temporary gun ban as sheriff vows not to enforce it

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:17:18 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal lawsuits, cries for impeachment and outside protests.Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would welcome a fight after announcing an emergency order to suspend the right to carry firearms in most public places around Albuquerque. That’s exactly what she’s getting. Since she issued the 30-day public health order on Friday, a furor has rained down from gun owners, state Republican lawmakers and civil rights advocates. Even some in her own party questioned the move. The sheriff who oversees the county that includes New Mexico’s largest city, Albuquerque, vowed Monday not to enforce it, joining the county’s top prosecutor, and the Albuquerque mayor and city’s police chief. “It’s unconstitutional, so there’s no way we can enforce that order,” Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said during a news conference. “This ban does nothing to curb gun violence.”A gun rights group filed a federal lawsu...