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As 2023 draws to close, Biden’s promised visit to Africa shows no signs of happening yet

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden promised to visit Africa this year, but 2023 is drawing to a close with no trip in sight yet. Nor has Biden given any public indication he plans to attend the U.N. climate change conference that starts next week in Dubai.U.S. presidents tend to reveal their priorities through their calendars. Biden has pledged a closer relationship with African countries. He similarly has stressed the importance of global leadership on climate change. Presidential trips can come together very quickly if necessary. Biden has pulled off last-minute trips to Israel and Vietnam as well as a secretive journey to Ukraine. But the travel deadline is getting tight and there have been no obvious signs of preparation.Staring down what could be a tough 2024 reelection campaign, Biden is juggling a mix of other domestic and foreign concerns. Africa seems to have been pushed to the back burner despite effusive claims that Biden made last December at a Washington summit with ...

Lionel Messi draws Brazilian fans to what could be the Argentine great’s last match in Rio

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rafael Yen is just a boy, only 8 years old and mad for soccer like most kids in soccer-mad Brazil, but he has a conundrum that even his father is so far powerless to fix.Will Rafael wear an Argentina shirt at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday to watch Lionel Messi — his favorite player — when the World Cup champions play Brazil in a qualifying match?“I told him to take it easy, that would be like wearing a Vasco da Gama shirt at a Flamengo match,” said Miguel Yen, the boy’s father, referring to one of fiercest rivalries in Brazilian soccer. “Today he put aside a Brazil shirt, too, so I still don’t know what that is going to be like after he comes back from school.”Rafael has become such a fan of Messi, an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, that he often sleeps with an Argentina shirt. He also got an Inter Miami jersey soon after striker moved to the MLS, and begged his father to take him to the Maracana to watch what could be his favorite player’s l...

Man pleads guilty to firebombing Wisconsin anti-abortion group office in 2022

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man accused of firebombing an anti-abortion office in Wisconsin last year has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of damaging property with explosives.Online court records show Hridindu Roychowdhury, of Madison, entered the plea Monday in the Western District of Wisconsin. He will face up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced on Dec. 1, but prosecutors have agreed to recommend the judge reduce his sentence because he has accepted responsibility for the crime.According to court documents, someone broke a window at the Madison office of Wisconsin Family Action on May 8, 2022, six days after news outlets reported that the U.S. Supreme Court was set to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The reports sparked abortion rights supporters to mount protests across the country. Two Catholic churches in Colorado were vandalized in the days leading up to the Madison firebombing. And someone threw Molotov cocktails...

EPA offers $2B to clean up pollution, develop clean energy in poor and minority communities

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is making $2 billion available to community groups, states and tribes to clean up pollution and develop clean energy in disadvantaged communities in what officials called the largest-ever investment in environmental justice.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan called the grant program unprecedented and said it “has the promise to turn disadvantaged and overburdened areas into healthy, resilient and thriving communities for current and future generations.”“Folks, this is historic,” Regan told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. The program, funded by the sweeping climate law signed last year by President Joe Biden, is aimed at poor and minority communities “that have long been overlooked and forgotten” and struggle to gain access to federal funding, Regan said.The climate law authorized $3 billion for underserved communities burdened by pollution, including $1 billion that has already been allocated.Regan, th...

Maine island that was site of eviction of historic mixed-race community added to national register

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

An island along the coast of Maine that was home to a mixed-race fishing community later forcibly removed by the state has been added to the National Register of Historic Places after a years-long effort.Malaga Island, a 42-acre (17-hectare) island about a 40-mile (64.37-kilometer) drive up the coast from Portland, is these days a public preserve visited by hikers and nature lovers. More than a century ago, it was home to a small community that historians believe was settled by free Black Americans around the time of the Civil War.In late 1911, during the administration of Maine Gov. Frederick W. Plaisted, several islanders were committed to the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded. The state then bought Malaga Island from a local family and ordered the remaining residents to vacate the island by July 1912. Nearly a century later, then-Gov. John Baldacci would issue an apology on the island.The island, located in the tiny town of Phippsburg, was formally listed on the national registe...

Ali’s lawyers call no evidence in murder of B.C. girl, says Crown didn’t prove case

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

VANCOUVER — Ibrahim Ali’s lawyers have told the jury in his first-degree murder trial they will not be calling any evidence in defence of allegations he sexually assaulted and killed a 13-year-old girl in Burnaby, B.C. Defence lawyer Kevin McCullough told the jury that the Crown hasn’t met the burden of proof to find Ali guilty.Justice Lance Bernard told the jury that closing arguments from both Crown and defence are expected to begin in about a week.Ali has pleaded not guilty to murdering the teenager, whose name has been protected by a publication ban. The girl’s body was found in Burnaby’s Central Park in July 2017, just hours after her mother reported her missing.The jury heard from almost 50 Crown witnesses over the course of the trial, including police, civilians and experts. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2023. The Canadian Press<!– Photo: 2023112113110-655cf10a209d7f1211fc5f5fjpeg.jpg, Caption: Lawyers for Ibra...

Book Review: A dazzlingly fun historical fiction, ‘A True Account’ tests the borders of reality

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

Hannah Masury, for a brief time, was a pirate. At least, according to the mysterious manuscript that shows up on Professor Marian Beresford’s desk, brought by a bright-faced student excited at the possibility of finding the treasure that Hannah left behind.Novelist and historian Katherine Howe embarks on a dazzlingly fun historical fiction, “A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself: A Novel” — aptly named given the way it tests the boundaries between reality and imagination.When undergrad Kay Lonergan brings Hannah’s found manuscript to her professor, Marian’s years of cynicism have hardened her. She highly doubts its authenticity and even points out the more doubtful details, verging on breaking the fourth wall. But Kay convinces Marian to approach her famous explorer of a father and persuade him, and his expedition society club, to back their trip in search of long-lost pirate booty.And is that jealousy we detect in the professor? The further...

Fill your holiday stocking with Cher, Ella Fitzgerald, Brandy, Andrea Bocelli and more

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — What is a holiday season without festive music? The classics are great, but the classics performed by some of the best performers across pop, R&B, rock, opera, soul and beyond? That’s a real reason to celebrate.In honor of the most wonderful time of the year, The Associated Press’ Music Writer Maria Sherman has compiled some of the best new holiday releases for your listening pleasure. Because sometimes the best thing that can happen to an old classic is revitalizing it with a new performance.Ella Fitzgerald, “Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas”Don’t bore us, get to the chorus — or in the case of this collectible vinyl release of “Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas,” give us the hits! Ella Fitzgerald ‘s 1960 holiday record is largely considered by critics to be one of the greatest of all time — so why not celebrate the best of the best on a new piece of wax? It’s not a bad gift idea, either.Cher, “Christmas”Somehow, “Christmas...

‘Making life harder’: Uber trips soar following Scarborough RT closure

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

With the Scarborough Rapid Transit Line shutdown, many locals have been relying on alternatives, and commuters could face worsening conditions.A spokesperson for Uber Canada says since this past summer, rideshare trips have grown by more than 70 per cent in Scarborough compared to other regions in the City of Toronto.The timeline is consistent with the premature shutdown of the Scarborough RT after a derailment. Service was suspended last month after the rear car of a train separated from the rest of the train on July 24 – five people were sent to hospital with minor injuries.Uber says many customers have been using the rideshare platform to connect to Kennedy Station, and the number of destinations has increased by nearly 30 per cent.“Scarborough has consistently been underserved for years by all levels of government, and it was never clearer than when the Scarborough RT derailed and shut down early this summer,” said Shawn Allen, President of the Scarborough...

NBA, NHL and MLB unveil a 30-second ad promoting responsible sports betting

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:20:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have joined forces to produce a 30-second ad promoting responsible sports betting.The “Never Know What’s Next” commercial unveiled Tuesday is a coordination of the three leagues, sportsbook operators DraftKings, Fanatics, PENN Entertainment and the National Council on Problem Gambling.Scott Kaufman-Ross, the NBA’s senior VP and head of gaming and new business ventures, said it was important to educate especially young bettors on the inherent risk of sports gambling and correct the misperception that it’s a good way to make money.“With more fans than ever having the opportunity to legally bet in their home states, it is imperative that we work with our media and sportsbook partners, as well as with our friends at the NBA and MLB, to inform and emphasize the risks and encourage the importance of setting limits and betting responsibly, especially among our growing fanbase in the younger demographic,” NHL chief bus...