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Talks held on the future of Nagorno-Karabakh as Azerbaijan claims full control of the region

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

Representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh and the Azerbaijan government met for talks Thursday to discuss the future of the breakaway region that Azerbaijan claims to fully control following a military offensive this week.Azerbaijan’s state news agency said the talks had ended but provided no details on whether an agreement was reached. Nagorno-Karabakh authorities and the news agency earlier said the talks between regional leaders and Azerbaijan’s government would focus on Nagorno-Karabakh’s “reintegration” into Azerbaijan.The talks in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh came after local Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed to lay down their weapons following an outbreak of fighting this week in the decades-long separatist conflict. Authorities in the ethnic Armenian region that has run its affairs without international recognition since fighting broke out in the early 1990s declared Wednesday that local self-defense forces will disarm and disband under a Russia-mediated cease-...

Governors, Biden administration push to quadruple efficient heating, AC units by 2030

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

A group of 25 state governors that make up the U.S. Climate Alliance and the Biden administration are expected to announce a pledge Thursday to quadruple the number of heat pumps in U.S. homes by 2030, from 4.7 million to 20 million.Heat pumps use little electricity, yet are able to heat and cool buildings. Since they often replace oil or gas furnaces that add greenhouse gases to the air, they can meaningfully address climate change. Buildings account for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.The pledge on heat pumps is a collection of state initiatives to work toward the goal of ramping down emissions to zero by 2050. Pennsylvania and seven other states, for example, will look into developing a standard for how non-polluting a heater needs to be. The governors in the alliance represent approximately 60% of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the country’s population. Washington Governor Jay Inslee called heat pumps “almost a miraculous solution” to three problems Am...

The US is allowing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the country to work legally

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says it’s granting temporary legal status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who are already in the country — quickly making them eligible to work — as it grapples with growing numbers of people fleeing the South American country and elsewhere to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border.The move — along with promises to accelerate work permits for many migrants — may appease Democratic leaders who have pressured the White House to do more to aid asylum seekers, while also providing grist for Republicans who say the President Joe Biden has been too lax on immigration.The Homeland Security Department plans to grant Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country as of July 31, making it easier for them to get authorization to work in the U.S. That’s been a key demand of Democratic mayors and governors who are struggling to care for an increased number of migrants in their care.That’s in...

Their husbands’ misdeeds leave Norway’s most powerful women facing the consequences

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — The political careers of two of Norway’s most powerful women are under threat after it was revealed that their husbands were trading in shares behind their backs.Anniken Huitfeldt, the current foreign minister of the center-left Labor Party, and Norway’s former conservative prime minister for eight years, Erna Solberg, are having to explain why they were making decisions in office that could potentially have enriched their spouses.The cases of the two women on opposite sides of the political divide are separate but the answer is more or less the same: they didn’t know what their husbands were up to. And rivals are calling for both women to resign.Rasmus Hansson, a lawmaker for the Green Party said the pair were damaging the reputation of Norwegian politics and urged them both to resign. “Walk now. Please,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that if they refused to go, their parties should remove them. Right now, the case against Solberg, 62, is graver. Durin...

OPP appeal for witnesses in sudden death investigation on QEW

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

Provincial police are asking witnesses to come forward in a sudden death investigation in Niagara Region.OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says a woman was struck by multiple vehicles after falling onto the QEW from an overpass at Glendale Avenue in St. Catharines around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.She was pronounced dead at the scene.Schmidt says none of the vehicles that struck the woman stayed at the scene or spoke with police. He says no foul play is suspected.Sudden Death investigation – Niagara bound #QEW/Glendale Ave. 10:30pm. Anyone with information/dashcam please call #BurlingtonOPP 905-681-2511 ^ks pic.twitter.com/g5fFvN69K3— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) September 21, 2023OPP are asking witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage of the area to contact them.“We’d love to speak to anyone who has information or dashcam that could assist us in this investigation,” Schmidt says.The Niagara-bound QEW is blocked at Glendale for the investigation. Schmidt says ...

Greek civil servants have stopped work in a 24-hour strike that is disrupting public transport

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s civil servants walked off the job Thursday on a 24-hour strike that disrupted public transport and left ferries tied up in ports.Public sector workers’ unions called the strike to demand the withdrawal of a labor law the government says will increase flexibility in the job market, but that unions decry as an assault on their rights.Athens’ subway was to be shut for the duration of the strike, while the capital’s tram and trolley system was to operate only for part of the day. Doctors and nurses in public hospitals, as well as some teachers, were also on strike.Flights, however, were running normally after participation by air traffic controllers was deemed illegal.Hundreds of striking workers were marching through central Athens in two separate demonstrations. Road closures caused by the protests, combined with the disruption to public transport, snarled traffic in the capital.The Associated Press

First Bob Ross TV painting goes on sale for nearly $10 million

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — What would Bob Ross think?The artist who brought painting to the people, with works completed for PBS viewers in less than a half-hour with little more than a large bristle brush, putty knife and plenty of encouragement, certainly wouldn’t have envisioned one of his works going up for sale for nearly $10 million.But that’s the price a Minneapolis gallery is asking for “A Walk in the Woods,” the first of more than 400 paintings that Ross produced on-air for his TV series “The Joy of Painting.”"A Walk in the Woods," the first painting Bob Ross produced for hic iconic show “The Joy of Painting,” sits on display at the home of Modern Artifact owner Ryan Nelson, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023, in Wayzata, Minn. Ross was known for his unpretentious approach to painting on his long-running show, “The Joy of Painting,” but now the painting he completed on his first show in 1983 is for sale for nearly $10 million. Minneapolis gallery owner Ryan Nelson calls it the "rookie card" f...

Austin City Council: Future of HealthSouth building, police oversight implementation

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin City Council has more than 100 items on its Sept. 21, 2023 meeting. Here's some of what KXAN is watching: Palm District planAustin City Council will vote on whether to move forward with its Palm District Plan -- which covers the Convention Center, Waterloo Greenway, APD's headquarters and the Palm School and Park. The proposed district is highlighted in yellow in the City map below: Palm District Planning (Courtesy City of Austin)"This has been a long time coming," Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said. "At the heart of it is our Palm Park and Palm School which is very important to the Latino community so I'm happy to see that included and to see that move forward." According to the Downtown Austin Alliance, the plan will amend the Downtown Austin Plan to more specifically guide future development in the areas highlighted, which focus on eastern downtown. "We're bringing forward a few amendments on Thursday," said Council Member Zo Qadri. "A lot of Mexican...

Oliver Miller: Teaching math to children the same old way won’t get us out of this mess

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

If ever we needed a wake-up call to improve math learning, especially for historically marginalized students, the latest scores from the Nation’s Report Card and Northwest Evaluation Association provide it.They show math scores hitting the lowest level in decades and pandemic recovery efforts stalling. The trend lines are particularly worrisome for low-income students like mine, whose existing opportunities and learning gaps worsened during the pandemic. The need for a major shift predates COVID-19, but the learning lost during this time more acutely highlights the need for change.I’m guilty of previously using failing instructional methods myself. My early approach to teaching math was a bit like teaching someone to shoot free throws. I thought repetition was everything. If students just practiced the same skills repeatedly and committed them to muscle memory, I figured they’d be ready come “game time.”I modeled how to solve a math problem using a sing...

Trudy Rubin: Biden should resolve the blockage of visas for Iraqis and Afghans who helped our troops

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:59:02 GMT

There’s a gaping hole in the endless argument over immigration — and it drives me up the wall. It involves a crisis that should have united both immigration hawks and doves in an effort to resolve it, yet you rarely hear it mentioned.Indeed, few Americans are aware that as many as 100,000 Iraqis have yet to receive the visas to which they were legally entitled by an act of Congress — under the so-called P-2 Direct Access Program — because their family members worked for the U.S. military or civilian officials in wartime. This has put their lives at risk up until the present day, from Iraqi Sunni and Shiite Islamists.Former President Donald Trump shut these families out entirely with his travel ban on Muslims. President Joe Biden has barely done better. And while there is lingering sympathy for Afghan military translators left behind by the chaotic U.S. withdrawal, you rarely hear these days about our betrayals of Iraqis.One endangered Iraqi family, whose stru...