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Intense fighting reported in Ukraine as last nuclear reactor is shut down amid flooding

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military reported intense fighting with Russian forces on Saturday, while the country’s nuclear energy agency said it put the last operating reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant into a “cold shutdown” for safety as Russia’s war on Ukraine drags on through its 16th month. After Russian forces pummeled Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight resulting in deaths and damage to a military airfield, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Kyiv Saturday for an previously unannounced visit, his second trip to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February last year. He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday that “heavy battles” were ongoing, with 34 clashes over the previous day in the country’s industrial east. It gave no details but said Russian forces were “defending themselves” and launching air and artillery strikes in Ukraine’s southern Kherson and Zaporizhzh...

Canada’s PM Trudeau meets Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy on surprise trip to Kyiv

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an unannounced visit to Kyiv to show Canada’s support for the fight against Russia.Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is with him on the trip, which began with a wreath-laying at a memorial wall to honour Ukrainians who have died while defending their homeland.This is the second time Trudeau has made an unannounced visit to the embattled country since Russia began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Trudeau last travelled to Ukraine just over a year ago, where he reopened the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv and met Zelenskyy in person for the first time since the war began.Trudeau and Zelenskyy also spent some time together just last month on the margins of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, where the Ukrainian president continued his campaign to shore up support among western allies for the defence of his country.Some media outlets, including The ...

Boris Johnson’s bombshell exit from Parliament leaves UK politics reeling

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson left chaos in his wake Saturday after quitting Parliament with a blast at fellow lawmakers he accused of ousting him in a “witch hunt.”As opponents jeered, the Conservative government absorbed the shock of yet another Johnson earthquake, while a band of loyal supporters insisted Britain’s divisive ex-leader could still make a comeback.Less than a year after he was forced out as prime minister by his own Conservative Party, Johnson unexpectedly stepped down as a lawmaker late Friday — “at least for now,” he said in a self-justifying resignation statement.Johnson quit after being told he will be sanctioned for misleading Parliament over “partygate,” a series of rule-breaking gatherings in the prime minister’s office during the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson was among scores of people fined by police over late-night soirees, boozy parties and “wine time Fridays” that broke restrictions the government had imposed on the country.Johns...

Police in Somalia say nine killed in extremist attack on beachside hotel in Mogadishu

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Police in Somalia say nine people, including three soldiers, were killed in Friday night’s extremist attack on a beachside hotel in the capital, Mogadishu.The police statement said 10 other people were wounded while 84 people were rescued from the hourslong assault that ended early Saturday morning.Al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Somalia-based extremist group is known for carrying out attacks on hotels and other high-profile locations in Mogadishu, usually starting with a suicide bombing.Witnesses had told The Associated Press that some people were trapped inside the Pearl Beach hotel, which is popular with government officials. The Lido Beach area is one of Mogadishu’s most popular.Abdulkadir Adan, the director of Amin Ambulance service, said that “what occurred last night was quite tragic as it occurred in an unexpected setting and at an unexpected time.”Mulki Osman told the AP she and her friends “i...

Indonesia set to deport Australian surfer who apologized for drunken rampage

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s authorities were set to deport on Saturday an Australian surfer who apologized for attacking several people while drunk and naked in the deeply conservative Muslim province of Aceh. Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, from Queensland, was detained in late April on Simeulue Island, a surf resort, after police accused him of going on a drunken rampage that left a fisherman with serious injuries.Risby-Jones was released from prison on Tuesday after he went through a restorative justice process, apologized for the attack and agreed to pay compensation to the fisherman. That allowed him to avoid going to court and facing a possible charge of assault that could have landed him up to five years in prison.His lawyer, Idris Marbawi, said the two sides agreed that Risby-Jones would pay the fisherman’s family for hospital fees and a traditional peace ceremony. The total payment was 300 million rupiah ($20,000). The fisherman underwent surgery in Banda Aceh, ...

Can a chatbot preach a good sermon? Hundreds attend experimental Lutheran church service to find out

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

FUERTH, Germany (AP) — The artificial intelligence chatbot asked the believers in the fully packed St. Paul’s church in the Bavarian town of Fuerth to rise from the pews and praise the Lord.The ChatGPT chatbot, personified by an avatar of a bearded Black man on a huge screen above the altar, then began preaching to the more than 300 people who had shown up on Friday morning for an experimental Lutheran church service almost entirely generated by AI.“Dear friends, it is an honor for me to stand here and preach to you as the first artificial intelligence at this year’s convention of Protestants in Germany,” the avatar said with an expressionless face and monotonous voice.The 40-minute service — including the sermon, prayers and music — was created by ChatGPT and Jonas Simmerlein, a theologian and philosopher from the University of Vienna.“I conceived this service — but actually I rather accompanied it, because I would say about 98% comes from the machine,” the 29-yea...

Beverly Hills-adjacent golf club opens doors to world with U.S. Open

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For much of the past century, the Los Angeles Country Club was quite literally a hidden gem.While Los Angeles grew from a warm-weather outpost into a global metropolis, this picturesque golf club sat in one of the city’s most dazzling settings — 325 acres of multibillion-dollar real estate adjoining Beverly Hills, a few miles from the Pacific. Yet its two courses were rarely seen by anyone except its wealthy members, who cherished privacy and exclusivity over anything the outside world could provide.This diamond in the (surprisingly playable) rough has gradually revealed itself to eager eyes in the 21st century, and its gleam will be fully on display when it hosts the 123rd U.S. Open that starts Thursday.It’s the first U.S. Open in 75 years in Los Angeles, a thriving golf town that finally gets an event worthy of its status. The world’s best players and a global audience will see what’s been hiding among Holmby Hills’ mansions to the north and th...

Wildfires are fuelling eco-anxiety but taking climate action can help, experts say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

When Jennifer Austin woke up on Tuesday morning, her Ottawa home smelled like smoke, even though all the windows were closed.  “I felt like a little bit under siege,” she said. “It was a bit of a battle every time the front door was opening, so I put one of the air filters there.”Outside, “it was like an orange glow and the streets looked smoky.” Worried about her own asthma and the health risks that her three teenage kids might face, Austin ran multiple air purifiers inside and tried to keep the amount of time spent outside to a minimum. “There was the immediate feeling of needing to take action to try to protect myself and my family’s health,” she said. “But there’s also the longer-term concern of the fact that this is real and it’s happening and this is not going to be the last time and just the mental exhaustion that creates.”Like many other Canadians who found their communities enveloped in smoke from...

St. Paul police employee is one of just two Minnesotans heading to Berlin for Special Olympics World Games

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

Matthew Krohn had a police escort when he headed to the airport early Saturday, his ultimate destination the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin.Krohn, a St. Paul police employee who cleans the department’s headquarters, is representing Team USA as a swimmer.At a send-off at the police department Friday, Police Chief Axel Henry said whether it’s people who solve major crimes or keep police facilities in great shape, “those all kind of pale by comparison to doing something … on an international level where we go represent our country. We’re really, really proud today to congratulate Matthew.”Krohn, of Inver Grove Heights, is one of two Minnesotans who are competing at the Special Olympics World Games.Tiffany Carey, of Brooklyn Park, will take part in artistic gymnastics.“Very excited, beyond excited,” Carey said of reaching her dream. When she got the news, “I actually screamed,” Carey said. There are only six gymnasts from the U.S. ...

Ask Amy: Readers respond to a perplexed suburbanite

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:08:41 GMT

Dear Readers: A recent query from “Perplexed in Suburbia” asked why people under the age of 50 don’t return friendly “hellos.”I posited that this might be a regional issue, but also asked readers if my generation has raised a generation of “rude-niks.”The responses flowed in, and I am sharing a representative sample.While every theory suggested is valid, I think it’s vital to understand that we never really know what others are going through, which is a great reason to be friendly, regardless of the reaction.Dear Amy: At our family’s rural retreat strangers wave VIGOROUSLY from their cars and trucks when encountered on the roads.In our closely spaced prosperous cul de sac in the DC suburbs, every encounter is a chilly non-event.I’d say the dynamic isn’t generational. People in urban neighborhoods don’t want to risk taking on new relationships too carelessly … they ain’t got the time! But out in rural-ville, loneliness is the threat.— Dave in Bethesda, MDDear Dave: I hear you.D...