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Mother let son take her place on doomed Titanic trip because he ‘really wanted to go’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

(CNN) — Christine Dawood, whose husband Shahzada and son Suleman died aboard the Titan submersible, has revealed that the 19-year-old was a Rubik’s Cube obsessive who could solve the puzzle in 12 seconds.“Suleman did not go anywhere without his Rubik’s cube,” Dawood told the BBC in her first interview since the tragedy.“He said, ‘I’m going to solve the Rubik’s Cube 3,700 meters below sea at the Titanic,’” she added.“He was so excited about this,” Dawood said of her son, describing how he taught himself to solve the puzzle using YouTube videos.Dawood also revealed that she met husband Shahzada at university, and recalled how his great curiosity about the world meant he would make the family watch documentaries together.“He had this ability of childlike excitement,” she said.The family had been planning a trip on the Titan submersible for some time, Dawood said, but it was postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic.She had originally planned to make the trip with her husband because...

Suspect pleads guilty in attack that killed 5 at Colorado Springs sanctuary for LGBTQ+ community

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect in a mass shooting that killed five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub last year has pleaded guilty in the attack. Monday’s plea by Anderson Lee Aldrich comes just seven months after the shooting and spares victim’s families and survivors a long and potentially painful trial.The plea entered during a court hearing follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from Aldrich to The Associated Press expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences for the shooting.Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of murder. The defendant faces life in prison on the murder charges under the plea agreement. The agreement also calls for Aldrich to plead guilty to 46 counts of attempted murder and 2 counts of bias-motivated crime.Several survivors told the AP about a planned plea agreement after being approached about Aldrich’s comments. They said prosecutors had notified them that Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they and them pronouns, ...

UK ‘prepared’ for ‘range of scenarios’ in Russia, Rishi Sunak says

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

LONDON — The U.K. is “prepared” for a “range of scenarios” in Russia, the British prime minister said Monday after an aborted mutiny that saw Wagner Group mercenaries advance quickly toward Moscow.Speaking to reporters, Rishi Sunak said the attempted rebellion, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group, exposed “real cracks” in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership — echoing an assessment from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “It’s a situation that we’ve been monitoring for some time, in the instability that will be caused by Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine,” Sunak said during a visit to Nottingham.Prigozhin’s uprising ended Saturday after he agreed to go into exile in Belarus in exchange for the Kremlin dropping its criminal case against him and offering his troops amnesty. The warlord’s whereabouts and future plans, however, remain unknown. And Russian media reported Monday that the criminal case may still be active.Asked whether Prigozhin’s fail...

Belarus will let Wagner Group stay operational, Prigozhin says

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

Mutinous Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin resurfaced Monday to issue an impassioned defense of his mutiny against Russia’s army chiefs over the weekend and said Belarus was offering ways for his mercenary group’s “continued work.” The Wagner chief led an uprising against Vladimir Putin’s regular army from Friday night, declaring war on the military establishment, seizing the major southern city of Rostov and sending his mercenary forces on a “march” to Moscow during which their armored vehicles ended up 200 kilometers from the capital, before Prigozhin stood down Saturday evening. The abortive dash for Moscow fizzled out after an intervention by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who seemed to strike a deal in which the mutineers would be spared prosecution as long as Prigozhin went to Minsk and Wagner troops laid down their weapons or joined regular Russian forces. By Monday, however, the terms of the deal were hazy. Russian state media said Prigo...

Daily pill from Eli Lilly leads to 15% weight loss in midstage study, rivaling Wegovy results without the shot

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

(CNN) — Eli Lilly’s experimental pill for weight loss helped people lose an average of 15% of their body weight after 36 weeks on the highest dose in a midstage trial, rivaling what’s seen with currently approved injectable therapies like Wegovy over longer durations.The drug, orforglipron, had similar side effects as others in the class, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists: primarily gastrointestinal events like nausea, constipation and vomiting, researchers reported in a study published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Results from the Lilly-funded trial were also presented at the American Diabetes Association conference in San Diego.Currently approved medicines for weight loss like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy are given as once-weekly injections. Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, which contains the same key ingredient as Wegovy, called semaglutide, and Lilly’s Mounjaro are both approved for Type 2 diabetes but used off-label for weight loss. Orforglipron is part of a new...

Jordan Westburg’s time arrives as Orioles promote No. 4 prospect to majors

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias often speaks of his desire to see prospects “graduate Triple-A” in terms of performance before promoting them to the majors. Jordan Westburg’s cap and gown at last came Monday.After more than a year of strong performances with Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles called up Westburg, a 24-year-old infielder Baseball America ranks as the No. 4 prospect in the organization and No. 46 in the sport, before Monday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds. To create roster space for Westburg, the Orioles optioned infielder Joey Ortiz to Norfolk, while catcher José Godoy cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Norfolk, opening a 40-man roster spot.In 158 games with the Tides across the past two seasons, Westburg hit .283/.366/.533 with 36 home runs and 128 runs driven in. Promoted to Norfolk alongside eventual top overall prospect Gunnar Henderson early last June, Westburg had to wait much longer for...

Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ club shooting suspect pleads guilty to murder, no contest to hate crime charges

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS — A 23-year-old suspect pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub last year that killed five people and injured 22 others.Anderson Aldrich pleaded guilty in the Nov. 19 attack at Club Q during his arraignment in El Paso County District Court on Monday. Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted first-degree murder.Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crime, acknowledging that prosecutors likely could prove Aldrich acted at least in part because Club Q was an LGBTQ bar and was patronized by people who identify as LGBTQ.Aldrich will be sentenced to five consecutive life terms.The 23-year-old originally was charged with more than 300 counts in connection with the massacre, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and bias-motivated crimes.Video surveillance footage played in court showed that Aldrich donned body armor and attac...

Ensure Line 5 keeps running until reroute completed in 2026, Enbridge asks U.S. judge

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

WASHINGTON — The company that operates Line 5 is asking a U.S. judge for a measure of certainty that its controversial cross-border pipeline won’t be shut down before it can be rerouted around an Indigenous band’s territory in Wisconsin. Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. wants district court Judge William Conley to clarify his earlier order that the pipeline be removed within three years from land that belongs to the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa.New court documents filed Friday, described as “requests for clarification,” stop short of formally asking Conley to stay any shutdown orders until after Enbridge has completed efforts to detour Line 5 around band territory. But they do argue that the company has made a valid argument that the pipeline should be allowed to continue operating, with Bad River receiving a share of the profits, until the reroute is finished. “Enbridge respectfully maintains it has presented legal authority to delay any inj...

Spain announces new department to study effects of very hot weather on health

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain sweltered in its first official heat wave of the year on Monday as the government announced a new department to investigate and alleviate the effects of extreme temperatures on human health.The state weather agency, AEMET, said temperatures were predicted to hit 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in the country’s south during the hot spell, expected to last until Thursday, and noted that heat waves have become more common during the month of June over the last 12 years.Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said the country’s rising temperatures put vulnerable populations at risk, and more work is needed to understand how to prepare for longer, hotter summers. “We must investigate what happens to our bodies in response to the effects of climate change, in order to mitigate the consequences on our health,” Ribera said.The proposal to create the new department, called the Observatory for Health and Climate Change, will be presented to SpainR...

Police have questioned person of interest in shooting that killed 3 in Kansas City

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:30:36 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A person of interest has been questioned in a weekend shooting that killed three people and wounded several more in Kansas City, police said. Responding officers found two men and a woman dead from gunshot wounds at around 4:30 a.m. Sunday in a parking lot where a crowd had gathered, near an auto shop known to host informal after-hours get-togethers, police said. At least five others thought to be wounded there were taken by private vehicles and ambulances to various hospitals, police said. Police said Sunday that another person was wounded in a separate shooting blocks away at about 3 a.m. No additional information in that shooting has been released.Homicide detectives identified a person of interest in the shooting near the auto shop and took a man into custody in Grandview, Missouri, just after 5 p.m. Sunday, according to Officer Jacob Becchina, a police spokesperson. The man’s name was not released, and no charges were reported by Monday morning.Kan...