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China calls US accusations of police stations ‘groundless’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China denied all accusations of an overseas police presence, saying Tuesday that the United States was making “groundless accusations” after U.S. law enforcement arrested two men in New York for establishing a secret police station.“The relevant claims have no factual basis, and there is no such thing as an overseas police station,” spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin said Tuesday.U.S. authorities arrested two men, identified as “Harry” Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both U.S. citizens, on Monday morning. Under the direction of an official in China, the two men allegedly set up a station where they offered some basic services, such as helping Chinese citizens renew their Chinese driver’s licenses.The station, however, also took on roles beyond ordinary bureaucracy, including locating Chinese dissidents living in the U.S., officials said.The U.S. Justice Department also charged 34 officers in the Ministry of Public Secu...

WATCH: Flying wheel smashes into windshield on GTA highway

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

Provincial police are reminding drivers to make sure their summer tires are installed correctly after a loose wheel smashed into the windshield of another car on a GTA highway last week.Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Sgt. Kerry Schmidt released dashcam video of the April 14 incident, which shows the wheel coming off of a white pick-up truck and hitting another vehicle.“The truck that lost that wheel said he had his tires changed by a buddy two weeks ago,” Schmidt says.Driver of the truck had his tires changed about two weeks before they came off on the highway. The two people in the other vehicle were not injured. If you are changing to your summer times make sure they are installed properly, and double check they are tight. pic.twitter.com/0wHYpf39f5— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) April 18, 2023The white pick-up was travelling eastbound on Highway 407 near Yonge Street in Richmond Hill when the loose wheel flew off. The footage released by police shows t...

Jailed US reporter in Russian court to appeal detention

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

MOSCOW — Jailed American journalist Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court on Tuesday to appeal his detention on spying charges, part of a sweeping Kremlin crackdown on dissent amid the war in Ukraine. He and the U.S. government strenuously deny the allegations.Dozens of journalists crowded together to catch a glimpse of the Wall Street Journal reporter, who is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying allegations. Gershkovich looked calm as he stood inside a glass cage. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy was in the room.Russia’s Federal Security Service detained the 31-year-old in Yekaterinburg in March and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory.Gershkovich, his employer and the U. S. government all deny he was involved in spying and have demanded his release. Last week, the U.S. government declared that he was “wrongfully detained” — a designation that means his case receives special attention from...

Biden signs executive order to improve access to child care

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed an executive order containing more than 50 directives to increase access to child care and improve the work life of caregivers, the White House said Tuesday.But the directives would be funded out of existing commitments, likely meaning their impact would carry more of a symbolic weight compared with the Democratic president’s call in 2021 to provide more than $425 billion to expand child care, improve its affordability and boost wages for caregivers, the White House said. Biden also has called for more money for the care economy in his 2024 budget plan, drawing a sharp line with Republicans, who are seeking limits on spending.Susan Rice, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, told reporters on a phone call that the order shows that Biden isn’t waiting on Congress to act.“The child care, long-term care systems in this country just don’t work well,” Rice said. “High-quality care is costly to deliver. It’s labor...

United Arab Emirates, Qatar edge toward reopening embassies

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday both acknowledged they are edging closer to reopening embassies in each others’ countries after a yearslong boycott of Doha over a political dispute. Qatar’s International Media Office said in a statement that “work is underway” to reopen embassies “as soon as possible.” The UAE said in a statement that “the activation of diplomatic ties, which will include the reopening of embassies, is under process between both countries.”Neither statement gave an immediate date for the reopening. Reuters first reported the effort. The UAE, as well as Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, launched a boycott of Qatar in 2017 and blocked the country’s airline from its airspace, and also imposed other restrictions. The four nations were angered over Qatar’s ties to Islamists and Iran, as well as other allegations during President Donald Trump’s administration. The move ignited the biggest ...

Vandalized snooker table reclothed, back in play at worlds

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

A snooker table vandalized by a climate activist during a match at the world championship was reclothed overnight and back in play at the Crucible Theatre on Tuesday.The green baize on Table 1 at the venue in Sheffield, England, turned orange at the start of the evening session on Monday when a protestor interrupted a match by jumping on the table and releasing a packet of powder.The match between English players Robert Milkins and Joe Perry was abandoned — it will restart on Tuesday — and the previously pristine cloth needed to be replaced.There was no visible sign of any orange powder when Jack Lisowski and Noppon Saengkham began their first-round match on the same table in Tuesday’s morning session.A man wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “Just Stop Oil” carried out the stunt in an attempt to draw attention to fossil fuel projects in Britain.The activist group Just Stop Oil posted a video of the incident — adding the caption “NEW OIL AND GAS WILL SNOOKER US” — and called f...

Irish climber dies, Indian missing on Nepal’s Annapurna

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An Irish climber has died and an Indian is missing after falling into a crevasse in two separate incidents on Mount Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest mountain, an expedition organizer said Tuesday.Irish climber Noel Richmond, 56, died Monday while returning from the 8,091-meter (26,540-foot) summit, Thaneswar Guragai of Kathmandu-based Seven Summit Treks said. The cause of death was not immediately known.His body was carried down the mountain and taken to Kathmandu, the capital, Guragai said.Indian climber Anurag Maloo has been missing since he fell into a crevasse on the same mountain on Monday, Guragai said. A search is continuing for him.The popular spring mountaineering season has just begun in the Himalayas in Nepal and hundreds of climbers have begun climbing the highest peaks. Three Sherpa guides have been missing since last week, when they fell into a crevasse on a treacherous section of Mount Everest just above base camp on the world’s ...

Why are volunteerism rates uneven? Florida, Wyoming explain

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

The share of Americans who volunteer their time to help charities build houses, serve food, do environmental cleanup, and much else has been on the decline nationwide but nowhere as sharply as in Florida, where only 16% of residents donate their free hours to local organizations, according to the latest available statistics.That’s a drop from the nearly 23% of residents who volunteered in 2017.Florida’s volunteer rate slumped in large part because of the pandemic, which made it especially risky for older Americans — who are among the most loyal and regular part of the volunteer population in Florida and elsewhere — to interact in public settings.The loss of those volunteers is painful for many nonprofits, which are stretched to provide needed services and programs because they face a tight job market for paid workers and increased demands for help. “What’s happening now is actually the staff is wearing multiple hats, as many nonprofit staff members do, to make up for the gap of volu...

Is this art, or an ad?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

CONWAY, N.H. (AP) — Bakery owner Sean Young was thrilled when high school art students covered the big blank wall over his doorway last spring with a painting of the sun shining over a mountain range made of sprinkle-covered chocolate and strawberry donuts, a blueberry muffin, a cinnamon roll and other pastries.The display got rave reviews, and Young looked forward to collaborating with the school on more mural projects at his roadside bakery in Conway, New Hampshire.Then the town zoning board got involved, deciding that the pastry painting was not so much art as advertising, and so could not remain as is because of its size. Faced with modifying or removing the mural, or possibly dealing with fines and criminal charges, Young sued, saying the town is violating his freedom of speech rights.A customer holds the door for a family arriving at Leavitt's Country Bakery, Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Conway, N.H. The large painting of pastries created by students and displayed over the bak...

Holocaust survivors and their descendants join forces on social media

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:28:56 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Assia Gorban was 7 years old when the Germans occupied her hometown of Mogilev-Podolsky in Ukraine. The Jewish girl and her family were first imprisoned in a ghetto on the outskirts of town and later forced onto a cattle car that took them to the Pechora concentration camp in 1941.After a few failed attempts, Gorban, her mother, and younger brother managed to escape in 1942, and spent the rest of World War II living under false identities until they were liberated in 1944.Sitting in her apartment in Berlin, where she still lives on her own at age 89, Gorban vividly remembers the horrendous details of her time in the camp and during hiding from the Nazis who wanted to kill her only because she was Jewish.Holocaust survivor Assia Gorban, left, and her granddaughter Ruth Gorban pose during an interview with The Associated Press in Berlin, Germany, Monday, April 3, 2023. Assia Gorman and her granddaughter, 19-year-old Ruth Gorban, are taking part in the new digital campaig...