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U.S. and UAE-backed initiative announces $9 billion more for agricultural innovation projects

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An additional $9 billion of funding to tackle agriculture’s role in the climate crisis was announced on the sidelines of the United Nations climate talks on Friday.The Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) for Climate, a joint initiative led by the United States and the United Arab Emirates that debuted at the climate talks in Glasgow two years ago, now has $17 billion to invest in agriculture and food systems innovation. Food systems — all the processes involved in making, shipping and disposing of food — account for about a third of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.Countries have been convening at the annual Conference of the Parties to discuss and negotiate what to do about climate change that has Earth bumping up against the Paris agreement target of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since industrial times. With difficult negotiations still underway on how aggressively countries might agree to cut foss...

Fox snatcher: Footage shows furry intruder swiped cameras from Arizona backyard

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona woman got a huge shock when surveillance footage showed the thief who stole her backyard cameras was four-legged and fluffy-tailed. Esmeralda Egurrola, of Tucson, noticed on Monday that her three motion-activated cameras appeared off-line. So, she checked the most recent recording in each camera from an app on her cellphone. Three videos had documented an entire heist carried out by a gray fox.“I saw him sniffing and messing with camera one. I went to the second video, which was camera two. It caught him with camera one in his mouth.,” Egurrola told The Associated Press on Friday. “That’s when I knew, ‘Omigosh I think he took all of them.’ ”Egurrola shared video and photos of the intruder fox-trotting away on Facebook. It didn’t take long for reactions to snowball. It was first reported by the Arizona Daily Star.She tried to search for the cameras, which were a gift and cost around $200, but saw no sign of them. She belie...

Prosecutors in Guatemala ask court to lift president-elect’s immunity before inauguration

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in Guatemala on Friday asked a court to strip President-elect Bernardo Arévalo of his immunity, the third time they have done so since he won the election in August.Arévalo is scheduled to take office on Jan. 14, and it was unclear whether the prosecutors’ continued targeting of him and his party could interfere with the inauguration.The most recent request from prosecutors cites alleged irregularities in the way Arévalo’s Seed Movement party gathered signatures to register years earlier.Authorities arrested a number of Seed Movement members in recent weeks. They also previously requested stripping Arévalo of immunity over alleged mishandling of party funds, and requested that he and his vice president-elect also lose their immunity for allegedly making supportive comments on social media about the takeover of a public university last year.Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government, has faced months of ...

In a reversal, Starbucks proposes restarting union talks and reaching contract agreements in 2024

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

Starbucks said Friday it’s committed to bargaining with its unionized workers and reaching labor agreements next year, a major reversal for the coffee chain after two years fighting the unionization of its U.S. stores.In a letter to Lynne Fox, the president of the Workers United union, Starbucks Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said the current bargaining impasse between the two sides “should not be acceptable to either of us.” Kelly asked to restart bargaining in January.“We will set as an ambition and hopeful goal the completion of bargaining and the ratification of contracts in 2024,” Kelly wrote in the letter.In a statement distributed by Workers United, Fox said she is reviewing the letter and will respond.“We’ve never said no to meeting with Starbucks. Anything that moves bargaining forward in a positive way is most welcome,” Fox said.Workers United said the last bargaining session between the two sides was May 23.Saturday marks the two-year anniversary of a Starbucks store in...

Jonathan Majors begged accuser to avoid hospital, warning of possible ‘investigation,’ messages show

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The actor Jonathan Majors begged his former girlfriend not to seek medical attention after an incident that left her with a head injury last year, warning she had “no perspective of what could happen” if the truth got out, according to previously undisclosed text messages read at the actor’s criminal trial on Friday.“They will ask you questions, and as I don’t think you actually protect us, it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something,” Majors wrote to his girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, on Sept. 22, 2022.Jabbari replied that she would tell doctors she bumped her head, assuring Majors: “Why would I tell them what really happened when it’s clear I want to be with you?” The messages were read on the fifth day of the Manhattan trial against Jonathan Majors, a rising Hollywood star who is fighting to salvage his reputation after his arrest for allegedly assaulting Jabbari in a separate incident, months later, in New York City. Addition...

Wisconsin university system reaches deal with Republicans that would scale back diversity positions

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Faced with a demand from Republican lawmakers to axe diversity initiatives or go without raises and other funding, Universities of Wisconsin officials announced Friday that they’ve agreed to freeze hiring for diversity positions, drop an affirmative action faculty hiring program at UW-Madison and create a position at the flagship campus focused on conservative thought. Conservatives have long criticized the UW system as a bastion of liberalism. Democrats have accused Republicans of holding employees hostage by blocking pay raises. They argue that diversity initiatives enhance the collegiate experience and play a crucial role in identifying promising students who grew up with fewer resources. The fight in Wisconsin reflects a broader cultural battle playing out across the nation over college diversity initiatives.“In recent years we’ve seen a growing emphasis on concepts that amplify ideas of division, exclusion and indoctrination on our campuses,” Assembly...

Ex Black Panther who maintained innocence in bombing that killed an officer died in Nebraska prison

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The second of two former Black Panthers who always maintained their innocence in the 1970 bombing death of a white Omaha police officer has died in prison.A spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said Friday that Ed Poindexter had died a day earlier at the age of 79. David Rice, the other man convicted in the death of Omaha Police Officer Larry Minard, died in prison in 2016.The pair argued that they were targeted because of their membership in the Black Panthers by an FBI program that undermined radical political groups, and they questioned the legitimacy of crucial testimony that helped convict them.Poindexter and Rice both doubted the key witness in the case who implicated them in the bombing plot, but they were unsuccessful in numerous appeals. A recording of the phone call that lured Minard to a vacant house before a homemade explosive detonated appeared to have been made by an adult man even though a teen testified he made the call. A...

Fossil from Alberta badlands finds prey inside the stomach of young tyrannosaur

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

A dinosaur fossil found in the Alberta badlands has revealed new details about the diet of young meat-eating tyrannosaurs.The research, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, is based on a well-preserved Gorgosaurus libratus specimen discovered in 2009 by a technician from the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.“We describe the first tyrannosaur skeleton found with prey items preserved inside the stomach,” Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor in the department of earth, energy and environment at the University of Calgary, said in an interview.“It’s a juvenile, or teenage, gorgosaurus … that had eaten two young and small birdlike dinosaurs called Citipes.”Gorgosaurus was a tyrannosaur that lived 75 to 77 million years ago, before the Tyrannosaurus rex, in what is now southern Alberta. The specimen was found in Dinosaur Provincial Park, about 220 kilometres east of Calgary.The four-metre long tyrannosaur had an estimated weight of 335...

US Sen. Kevin Cramer’s son to make court appearance after crash that killed North Dakota deputy

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer was expected to make his first court appearance Friday on manslaughter and other charges after he allegedly fled from authorities and crashed into a squad car, killing a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy who was taking cover behind the vehicle.Ian Cramer, of Bismarck, was charged Thursday with multiple counts, including manslaughter, fleeing a police officer and reckless endangerment in connection with Wednesday’s pursuit and crash that killed 53-year-old Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin.Sen. Kevin Cramer declined an interview after charges were filed, but released a statement earlier asking for prayers for Martin’s family. His statement also said his son was having a mental health issue Wednesday afternoon when he fled from a Bismarck hospital in the family’s vehicle.Bismarck police said Ian Cramer’s mother drove him to Sanford Health emergency room in Bismarck at around 4:...

Russia puts prominent Russian-US journalist Masha Gessen on wanted list for criminal charges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 13:43:06 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian police have put prominent Russian-American journalist and author Masha Gessen on a wanted list after opening a criminal case against them on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army. It is the latest step in an unrelenting crackdown against dissent in Russia that has intensified since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine more than 21 months ago, on Feb. 24, 2022. The independent Russian news outlet Mediazona was the first to report Friday that Gessen’s profile has appeared on the online wanted list of Russia’s Interior Ministry, and The Associated Press was able to confirm that. It wasn’t clear from the profile when exactly Gessen was added to the list. Russian media reported last month that a criminal case against Gessen, an award-winning author and an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was launched over an interview they did with the prominent Russian journalist Yury Dud. In the interview, which was released ...