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Stormy weather across northern Europe idles ferries and delays flights

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Stormy weather across the Baltic Sea region Monday caused airport delays, suspended ferry service, minor power outages and lots of rain. Ferries linking Poland to Sweden, two German islands to mainland Germany and Norway to Denmark remained in harbor. Ferries and water taxis to the German islands of Hiddensee and Ruegen were canceled for Monday and Tuesday morning, and vacationers were asked to change their travels plans to Wednesday. Latvian television reported trees getting knocked over in wind gusts of up to 108 kilometers per hour (67 miles per hour). Meteorologists in Latvia also reported golf ball-sized hail in Apgulde, a village southwest of Riga, the capital.In Denmark, police in the northeastern part of the country said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that “the weather is still harsh.”The fire department for greater Copenhagen urged people to stay away from parks and forests, saying “the combination of rain-soaked ground and storms i...

Multinational force fights stubborn wildfire in Cyprus, including Lebanon, Greece and Jordan

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A multinational force is helping Cyprus fight stubborn wildfires in the summer heat, with Lebanon joining Greece and Jordan in sending aircraft to fight a blaze that has scorched miles of mountainous terrain, officials said Monday.Cyprus Foreign Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis told The Associated Press that neighboring Lebanon is expected to send a pair of choppers as the wildfire continues to reignite on several fronts. Two Greek Canadair aircraft have been dispatched to help douse the fire in the mountains about 11 miles (17 kilometers) north of the coastal town of Limassol. Jordan has sent three aircraft of its own, including two Super Puma helicopters and a Russian-made Mi26 helicopter. The multinational effort is battling a blaze that according to Agriculture and Environment Minister Petros Xenophontos scorched around 3.2 square miles (8.5 square kilometers) of land. Environment Ministry Secretary Andreas Gregoriou, who is coordinating firefighting ef...

Palestinian teenager dies after shot by Israeli troops in West Bank last week

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian teenager who was shot by Israeli troops last week after throwing a firebomb at soldiers in the occupied West Bank died Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The teen’s death was the latest in a long string of violent incidents involving Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank in the last year and a half. It came after a bloody weekend in which a settler killed a Palestinian man and a Palestinian gunman killed an Israeli security guard in Tel Aviv.The Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that Ramzi Hamed, 17, was shot near the West Bank settlement of Ofra, near his hometown of Silwad north of Ramallah.Fatehi Hamed, the boy’s father, told The Associated Press that his son was shot by Israeli troops early last Wednesday after throwing firebombs at soldiers operating near Silwad.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Violence has surged across the northern West Bank with the rise of shooting att...

Indictment ignored and Trump barely mentioned as GOP candidates pitch Iowa voters to challenge him

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Few even mentioned his name, and the new federal indictment he faces was completely ignored, as Republican candidates for president tried in Iowa Sunday to present themselves as Donald Trump alternatives.Over the course of two hours, seven GOP hopefuls took their turn on stage in front of about 800 party activists in the leadoff caucus state, all invited to speak at Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson’s fundraising barbecue at a Cedar Rapids racetrack. But in their pitches to challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination, it was as if his indictment Tuesday on federal charges accusing him of working to overturn the 2020 election results had never happened, even from the candidate who has suggested the former president quit the race. Instead, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has been a vocal Trump critic, touched only on the related Republican outrage with the Department of Justice, which many conservative activists allege has been politically biased in its inve...

Pope discusses health, his ditched peace prayer in Fatima and LGBTQ+ Catholics in airborne briefing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Sunday his recovery from his latest abdominal surgery is going well and stressed that he ditched speeches during his five-day trip to Portugal and spoke off-the-cuff not because he was tired or feeling unwell, but to better communicate with young people.Francis was asked about his health en route home from Lisbon, where he presided over World Youth Day festival. It was his first trip since he was hospitalized in June for nine days following last-minute surgery to repair an abdominal hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue.The trip, which came during a heat wave that sent temperatures to 40 degrees C (104F) in Lisbon, was notable because the 86-year-old pontiff deviated so often from his speeches, homilies and even prayers, which are usually drafted months in advance and crafted with specific events and audiences in mind.One of the most notable deviations was a prayer for peace that Francis was supposed to have delivered in the Portugu...

Liz Weston: When to repair or replace your appliances

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

When our 17-year-old refrigerator started wheezing, I fully expected we’d need a new one. I was shocked — and frankly a little disappointed — when a repair technician fixed it for less than $200. I had to postpone my dream of a shiny French-door replacement, but our no-frills Frigidaire is still working fine eight years later.Our experience illustrates that the decision about whether to repair or replace major appliances can be more complex than general guidelines may imply. Getting more useful years out of your existing appliances can save money and keep potentially dangerous components out of landfills, where they may harm the environment. But on the other hand, a replacement could be much more energy efficient, repairs sometimes can be expensive and prices for new appliances have been falling recently.All this makes the choice of repairing versus replacing a tricky one, says Dan Wroclawski, home and appliances writer for Consumer Reports, a nonprofit member organization that test...

B.C.’s low-income renters thought they’d get free AC units, but some face hurdles

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

VANCOUVER — Summer isn’t fun for Surrey, B.C., renter Inderjit Singh Ghuman.It means restless nights with his wife and son in an overheating ground-floor basement suite that lacks air conditioning. “It was really uncomfortable here in my unit. It was hot and my family couldn’t sleep in the nighttime,” Ghuman said, referring to July. “It’s tough here on hot days.”His 18-year-old son has been struggling to study in stifling conditions in recent weeks.Ghuman, 48, has been taking medication for anxiety and depression, and he worries that a lack of rest is making matters worse.When he heard the B.C. government was providing free air conditioners to vulnerable people, Ghuman thought his sleepless nights were over.Instead, he encountered a hurdle that is preventing some vulnerable people from accessing the program — the involvement of landlords.Advocates worry that requiring a landlord’s consent to obtain an air conditioner is putting up an unnecessary barrier.Health Mini...

Monday Forecast: Temps near 80 with lingering drizzle, showers

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

CHICAGO — Mainly cloudy Monday with lingering drizzle and showers. Winds: N 10-15 G20. High: 79. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Mostly cloudy tonight. Winds: WSW 5-10. Low: 63.Tuesday Forecast: Partly cloudy, 30 percent chance of afternoon storms. Winds: W 5-10. High: 84.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Back-to-school sales boom as teachers dig into their own pockets for classroom supplies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

(The Hill) -- Back-to-school shopping is expected to break sales records as educators face another year of paying for their own classroom supplies out of pocket.  From fundraisers to a “student supply fee,” teachers and schools are finding ways to try to cover the cost of classroom supplies as more than 90 percent of educators use their own money for it, according to a survey from the National Education Association.While back-to-school spending is expected to hit a record high of $41.5 billion, beating the previous high of $37.1 billion in 2021, according to a survey from National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, educators are often only given the bare necessities for their classrooms and students.“It's absurd that we are creating a situation where school teachers feel it's necessary to dip into their own pocket, year after year, to provide for the students in their classroom,” Colin Sharkey, executive director of the Association of American Educator...

America's white majority is aging out

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:42:08 GMT

(The Hill) -- Generation Z will be the last generation of Americans with a white majority, according to census data. The nation’s so-called majority minority arrived with Generation Alpha, those born since about 2010.  Barely two decades from now, around 2045, non-Hispanic white people will fall below half as a share of the overall U.S. population. Those conclusions, and the numbers behind them, seem simple enough. Yet, some scholars contend that the numbers are wrong, or at least misleading, and that the looming ascent of a majority-minority America is a myth.  America’s white majority, and its numbered days, is a lightning-rod topic, given the nation’s history of slavery and enduring patterns of discrimination against minorities and immigrants. Demographers and economists celebrate the nation’s growing diversity as vital to a prosperous future. Other voices vilify racial change as a threat to the nation’s white heritage.  “Race is the most complicated...