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US will establish diplomatic ties with the Cook Islands and Niue as Biden hosts Pacific leaders

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to establish diplomatic relations Monday with two South Pacific nations, the Cook Islands and Niue, as his administration aims to show to Pacific Island leaders that it is committed to increasing American presence in the region.The announcement comes as Biden prepares to welcome leaders to Washington for a two-day U.S.-Pacific Island Forum Summit expected to focus heavily on the impact of climate change.Biden has put a premium on improving ties in the Pacific amid rising U.S. concern about China’s growing military and economic influence. Plans for the diplomatic move were confirmed by two senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity before the formal announcement.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would use the summit to strengthen “ties with the Pacific Islands and discuss how we address complex global challenges, like tackling the existential threat of climate change, advanci...

He spoke no English, had no lawyer. An Afghan man’s case offers a glimpse into US immigration court

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

The Afghan man speaks only Farsi, but he wasn’t worried about representing himself in U.S. immigration court. He believed the details of his asylum claim spoke for themselves.Mohammad was a university professor, teaching human rights courses in Afghanistan before he fled for the United States. Mohammad is also Hazara, an ethnic minority long persecuted in his country, and he said he was receiving death threats under the Taliban, who reimposed their harsh interpretation of Sunni Islam after taking power in 2021.He crossed the Texas border in April 2022, surrendered to Border Patrol agents and was detained. A year later, a hearing was held via video conference. His words were translated by a court interpreter in another location, and he said he struggled to express himself — including fear for his life since he was injured in a 2016 suicide bombing.At the conclusion of the nearly three-hour hearing, the judge denied him asylum. Mohammad said he was later shocked to learn that he...

One dead, two injured after building collapses in north-end Montreal

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

Montreal police say a man has died and two others were injured after the partial collapse of a building on Saturday afternoon.Firefighters discovered the body of the man about 10:15 p.m. in the rubble of the building in the Montréal-Nord borough.Authorities say the concrete slab of the ground floor of the building collapsed just before 4 p.m. in a section where work was possibly underway.Firefighters discovered the victims in the basement of the building and an ambulance crew declared the death at the scene.Marie-Ève Beausoleil, a section chief at the Montreal Fire Department, says the front of the building was uninhabited due to a fire a few years ago, but renovations may have been taking place as building materials were present.The occupants of 10 apartments and two businesses at the rear of the building were temporarily forced from their homes until a structural engineer deems it safe for them to return.As there was a death, Montreal police and the province’s workers health...

Hot rental market makes search ‘stressful’ for many – and it won’t get better soon

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

On the hunt for a rental home in Calgary over the last six weeks, Marissa Giesinger and her boyfriend trawled through listings morning, noon and night, only to find most come along with dozens of applications and a steep price tag. As an added difficulty, many landlords are unwelcoming to the couple’s brood — dogs Kado and Rosco and a cat named Jester.“We made the tough decision recently to house our dogs with someone else until we can find a place that’s affordable and we can take both of them,” said Giesinger, a 23-year-old Mount Royal University student.“It’s definitely been stressful.”The competitive rental market Giesinger has encountered in Calgary is being seen across the country as multiple factors combine: high interest rates deter buyers and add to rental demand, still-high inflation is squeezing renter budgets, there’s an undersupply of purpose-built rental units and population growth is fuelling demand.These conditions have...

Police: Group breaks window, steals car parked near Chicago City Hall

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police said a group broke a window and stole a car late Saturday night near Chicago City Hall.According to information from Chicago police, the group stole the car around 11:50 p.m. in the 100 block of North LaSalle. Chicago police investigate 8 armed robberies overnight The group, described as five unknown males, stole the car and left in an unknown direction.No injuries were reported.No arrests have been made yet in connection with the incident and Area Three detectives are still investigating.Anyone with information should call police.

2 adults, 9 kids injured in rollover crash in LaSalle County

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

LASALLE COUNTY, Ill. — Two adults and nine kids were injured Saturday evening in a single-vehicle crash on Route 39 in LaSalle County, according to Illinois State Police.The crash happened around 6:50 p.m. near Lostant. 15-year-old critical after driver crashes stolen Kia into John Deere tractor in Joliet According to information from ISP, the driver of a van drove off the road for an unknown reason and rolled the van on its side in a ditch.There were three adults and 10 kids, ages 5-12 years old, inside the van at the time of the crash, state police said. Two of the adults and nine of the kids were taken to hospitals with injuries.The extent of their injuries and their conditions weren't released.

Daylight saving time: Why are we still changing the clocks?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — While we’re just starting to enjoy the leaves changing, we’ll soon be going through a less desirable change: the bi-annual changing of our clocks. Maybe you won’t manually be changing the clocks in your home, but they will be falling back an hour as daylight saving time comes to an end. As you grimace at the thought of the extra darkness we’ll soon experience when the clocks change, you may be wondering, "Why do we even still observe daylight saving time?" It’s a fairly simple question with a slightly more complex answer. That’s not to say efforts haven’t been made to try to end our observance of daylight saving time altogether.  How soon until daylight saving time ends? We've had a back-and-forth relationship with daylight saving time since the early 1900s. At first, it was a wartime measure and was repealed in 1919, according to the University of Colorado Boulder. It was reinstated in 1942 during World War II before Congress passed the Unifor...

What is the difference between apple juice and apple cider?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

(WHTM) -- Do you prefer apple juice or apple cider? Before answering that question, let's dive into the differences between them.The most obvious difference is the color, as apple juice is lighter in color while apple cider is darker.But other than apple juice and cider tasting and looking different, it's how they are made that differentiates them. Pumpkin patches in Central Pennsylvania Apple juice and apple cider are both pressed fresh apples, but that is where the similarities stop.The Kitchn states that apple juice is filtered and has added preservatives such as sugar. This makes apple juice sweeter and allows for a longer shelf life.According to the food website Does It Go Bad, the shelf life of unopened, chilled apple juice should be between three to six months. The site also states that once opened, the juice will last up to three weeks. If you buy store-refrigerated apple juice, the website says, you should go by the labeled "use-by" date.Southern Living says that apple c...

Powerball jackpot now 4th-largest: When is your next chance to win?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Of the millions of Powerball tickets sold, none were able to match the winning numbers drawn Saturday, catapulting the jackpot to one of the largest ever in the game's history. The winning numbers drawn Saturday, September 23 were 1, 12, 20, 33, 66, and red Powerball 21. The Power Play multiplier was 2X.There were more than 1.5 million tickets that did win a prize, according to Powerball officials. That includes three tickets — one each in California, Florida, and New York — that matched all five white balls drawn for $1 million prizes each. A ticket in Michigan matched the same numbers, but with the Power Play, the prize grew to $2 million. Not sure how to play Powerball? Here’s what you need to know Ahead of the next drawing on Monday night, Powerball officials say the jackpot now stands at an estimated $785 million, with a cash value of $367 million.At that size, it ranks as the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot prize, coming in behind a $2.04 billion jackpot hit la...

Why do they look like that? The story behind how Texas counties got their shapes

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:39:04 GMT

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — With a unique shape crafted over five centuries, Texas spans more than 268,500 square miles, encompassing everything from briny, picturesque coastlands to vast expansive mesas. However, the curious qualities about the regions and areas of the Lone Star State don't stop with its biomes and general shape but go further into the look of its counties. They're kind of funny-looking, aren't they? Both born Texans and new visitors seem to think so. At a glance, many have noted that the shapes of Texas counties appear strikingly inconsistent. In the eastern and central portions of the state, they're stacked in a downward curve in all manner of different shapes. Moving westward the counties shift to be slightly more consistent, and create a straightforward grid pattern around the Panhandle-Plains region, only to spread out again into large and lopsided swathes of land around Big Bend. A map of counties, county seats and major rivers in Texas, published by the Te...