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Aid group shutters hospital in Haiti amid spike in violence

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Doctors Without Borders announced Wednesday that it was forced to temporarily close its hospital in Cite Soleil given a sharp rise in gang violence that has left dozens dead in recent weeks.The slum — one of the largest in the capital of Port-au-Prince — has been the site of repeated clashes between gangs.“We are looking at a war scene just meters from our hospital,” said Vincent Harris, the aid group’s adviser.Officials noted that large numbers of stray bullets have hit the hospital compound, and that it’s nearly impossible for the sick and injured to reach the institution for care.The organization added that in recent days, staff members at another nearby hospital have admitted up to 10 times the usual number of people with gunshot wounds.Human rights activists have said that from Feb. 24 to March 4, more than 60 people have been killed in one area of the capital alone, with dozens of others kidnapped.Gangs continue to fight over more territory and are...

‘Master thief’ convicted of Giants ring theft back in prison

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — The self-described “master thief” and New England Patriots fan convicted of stealing New York Giants Super Bowl rings in 2008 is back behind bars after a judge determined he had violated the terms of his probation, prosecutors said.Sean Murphy, 58, was sentenced last Thursday in Fall River Superior Court to 18 months in state prison for, among other things, allegedly posing as a homeless veteran and soliciting donations outside a supermarket for a fake veterans’ charity, according to a statement Wednesday from the office of Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn III.The judge also determined he had lied to his probation officer on multiple occasions about his whereabouts and place of residence, the DA’s office said.According to media reports, Murphy was charged in Essex County with violating the state’s stolen valor law by dressing in camouflage shorts and Marine Corps T-shirt and collecting donations outside a Whole Foods in Swampscott in ...

3D-printed rocket’s debut launch aborted at last minute

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A rocket made almost entirely of 3D-printed parts remained on the pad Wednesday after its debut launch attempt was aborted at the last minute.California-based Relativity Space was attempting to launch the rocket to orbit from a former missile site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. There was no immediate word on when the company might try again.On-board flight computers halted the countdown with just over a minute remaining because of a temperature issue with the rocket’s upper stage. Mission Control decided to fix the problem and try again before the launch window closed, but in the end called it quits for the day.It’s a relatively small rocket, just 110 feet (33 meters), and won’t be carrying anything for this test flight except for a memento: the first metal 3D print from the company’s printers.About 85% of the rocket, named Terran, is made of 3D parts printed at the company’s factory in Long Beach, California, including its engines. Re...

Chile: Attempted $32 million airport heist leaves two dead

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — An airport shootout in Chile’s capital killed a security officer and an alleged robber Wednesday in what authorities said was an attempted heist of more than $32 million in cash aboard a plane from Miami.Around 10 heavily armed robbers were able to skirt security measures to reach the runway at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, where a Latam airlines aircraft had $32.5 million in cash that was being transferred to an armored truck, Interior Subsecretary Manuel Monsalve said.There was a shootout between the would-be robbers and security officials that killed an employee of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGAC, as well as an alleged assailant. The other robbers fled. Two burned vehicles were later found nearby.“The brave action by the DGAC officials frustrated the robbery,” Monsalve said, noting that the would-be robbers were “highly organized” and “very armed.”Video posted on social media appeared to show bullet holes in a Del...

Barenboim cancels piano concert in Monaco, citing health

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Prominent pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has canceled a piano recital at the Opera de Monte-Carlo due to the effects of a serious neurological condition, the opera house announced on Wednesday.Barenboim expressed his regret in a message to the audience, saying that “despite my best efforts, I have not yet built up the muscular strength to perform piano recital programs.”Barenboim was diagnosed last year with the condition, which forced him step down in January as music director at the Berlin State Opera after three decades.The 80-year-old musician has returned to conducting, appearing in Milan, Berlin and Vienna since mid-February, and he noted that his health “has improved greatly over the past weeks.” During the Berlin concerts, he accompanied soprano Cecilia Bartoli on the piano, and in Vienna performed a piano duet with Martha Argerich, whom he has known since childhood.He said he was saddened to cancel the upcoming recital, but added that with his “health i...

Women in Turkey brave ban on Istanbul march, get tear-gassed

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Women in Turkey braved an official ban on an International Women’s Day march in Istanbul, demonstrating for about two hours before police used tear gas to disperse remaining protestors and detained several people.Thousands converged on a central neighborhood Wednesday for a protest that combined women’s rights with the staggering toll of the deadly quake that hit Turkey and Syria a month ago.Organizers had been forbidden — for the second straight year — from marching down the popular Istiklal pedestrian avenue in Turkey’s biggest city where Women’s Day marches were held since 2003. Police blocked demonstrators’ access to the avenue. An Associated Press journalist saw officers detain at least 30 people and use tear gas after the group ended their demonstration at 2100 local time (1800 GMT).Local authorities banned the march, saying the area was not an authorized demonstration site. They also claimed the march could “provoke” segments of Turkish...

Railroads propose safety reforms after fiery Ohio derailment

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The major freight railroads announced a number of steps Wednesday that they are taking to improve safety in the wake of last month’s fiery Ohio derailment, but it’s not clear if their actions will be enough to satisfy regulators and members of Congress who are pushing for changes.Many of the proposals from the Association of American Railroads trade group focus on strengthening the network of trackside detectors that railroads use to spot problems before they can cause derailments. The railroads plan to do this by installing 1,000 more of the detectors nationwide and tweaking the way railroads use the data from them.Norfolk Southern, the railroad responsible for the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border, proposed similar changes earlier this week, but the Federal Railroad Administration responded saying the company wasn’t doing nearly enough.And several members of Congress — led by Ohio’s two senators — have proposed a...

Ex-Navajo President Zah guided by love for people, family

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Peterson Zah, a monumental Navajo Nation leader who guided the tribe through a politically tumultuous era and worked tirelessly to correct wrongdoings against Native Americans, has died. Zah died late Tuesday at a hospital in Fort Defiance, Arizona, after a lengthy illness, Navajo President Buu Nygren’s office said. He was 85. Zah was the first president elected on the Navajo Nation — the largest tribal reservation in the U.S. — in 1990 after the government was restructured into three branches to prevent power from being concentrated in the chairman’s office. At the time, the tribe was reeling from a deadly riot incited by Zah’s political rival, former Chairman Peter MacDonald, a year earlier.Zah vowed to rebuild the tribe, and to support family and education, speaking with people in ways that imparted mutual respect, said his longtime friend Eric Eberhard. Zah was as comfortable putting on dress clothes to represent Navajos in Washington, D...

Grocer CEOs need to be transparent about why grocery prices are so high: Freeland

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the CEOs of Canada’s largest grocery store chains need to be transparent about the recent rise in grocery prices. The CEOs and presidents of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Metro Inc. and Empire Co. Ltd. — which operates chains including Sobeys, Safeway and FreshCo — are set to testify before the House of Commons agriculture committee Wednesday evening as part of its study on food inflation.Food inflation has been especially crushing for lower-income Canadians, with grocery prices in January up 11.4 per cent compared to a year ago.That’s nearly double the overall rate of inflation, which was 5.9 per cent that month. In a news conference on Wednesday afternoon in Mississauga, Ont., Freeland said she’s happy to see that the committee will be hearing from the CEOs. The deputy prime minister said they need to explain why grocery prices have risen dramatically.“(The CEOs) absolutely do have a responsibility to all of us to be tra...

14-count indictment against two former Cook County assistant state's attorneys unsealed

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:35:01 GMT

COOK COUNTY, Ill. — Two former Cook County prosecutors face a combined 14-count indictment following a year-and-a-half investigation by a special prosecutor.Lawrence Oliver II was appointed to the position in July 2021 after a county prosecutor admitted to having a relationship with a key witness in a case. That now former assistant state's attorney faces charges including perjury, obstruction of justice, violations of the local records act, and official misconduct, while another former assistant state's attorney faces charges of official misconduct.The judge who ordered the special prosecutor originally said in 2021 there’s sufficient evidence that attorney committed perjury and others in the state’s attorney’s office may have covered for him. Read more on what led to the special prosecutor appointment This was the second special prosecutor appointed to investigate Kim Foxx’s office in about two years. The last one found abuses of discretion in the Jussie Smollett case.This ...