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Live updates | Blinken urges pause in fighting as Israeli troops tighten encirclement of Gaza City

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

By The Associated PressU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to press for a humanitarian pause in the fighting with Hamas, as Israeli troops tightened their encirclement of Gaza City.Tensions escalated along the northern border with Lebanon ahead of a speech planned later Friday by Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Hamas ally. It is his first public speech since Hamas attacked Israel last month, stoking fears the conflict could become a regional one.Roughly 800 people — including hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of injured — have been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing under an apparent agreement among the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.Israel has allowed more than 260 trucks carrying food and medicine through the crossing, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough. Israeli authorities have refused to allo...

Green Day to make tour stop at Petco Park with The Smashing Pumpkins

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A wave of American rock bands will be taking the stage at Petco Park on the same night next fall. San Francisco Bay-derived music group Green Day has officially added a San Diego stop to their 2024 tour across North America.Dubbed "The Saviors Tour," the popular musicians will take turns rocking out in front of a San Diego crowd with special guests The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas. John Lennon’s art collection unveiled in San Diego for first time in a decade “We’ve never been more excited to unleash new music than with Saviors, a record that’s meant to be rocked live, together. So let’s thrash. We’ve got some amazing friends who are coming along for the ride!” said Green Day.As a sneak peak of the new record, Green Day released a new track Thursday called "Look Ma, No Brains!." The full album will be released in January 2024, the band confirmed.America's Finest City will be the last North American show before the band packs up and hea...

SDSU uses AI to teach people with autism on how to drive

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in another groundbreaking invention -- this time to help people with autism learn to drive.The program will help students before going behind the wheel. The program is tailored to each individual needs in a controlled environment.“We don’t want any sector of our population to not have those opportunities to keep enhacing themselves,” said Dr. Mary Baker-Ericzen, a researcher at San Diego State University.She said for people with autism, “many are very capable of obtaining their driver's license and being safe drivers,” Baker-Ericzen said.The National Science Foundation gave a grant to San Diego State University and Vanderbilt University to create the AI driver-training program.Engineers at Vanderbilt created the AI-based driving simulator system, and Baker-Ericzen is the main author of the cognitive behavioral intervention for driving course curriculum.Baker-Ericzen said studies nationwide found less than 30% of people with aut...

Officials identify two workers – one killed, one still missing – after Kentucky coal plant collapse

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

Officials have released the names of two workers trapped when a coal mine preparation plant collapsed earlier this week in eastern Kentucky.Martin County Judge Executive Lon Lafferty identified the men as Billy Ray Daniels and Alvin Nees, news outlets report. Daniels died amid rescue efforts at the scene and Nees is believed to be trapped beneath the rubble. The men from neighboring Pike County were doing contracting work as part of the building’s demolition. Lafferty said Thursday that the search for Nees is still a rescue operation. Crews have begun removing layers of rubble and debris at the Martin Mine Prep Plant in Martin County where an 11-story abandoned building crashed down Tuesday night while undergoing work toward its demolition. Officials briefly made contact with Daniels, but announced Wednesday he died amid rescue efforts. Authorities said Thursday they have not had any communication with the second worker since the building collapsed at around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday ...

AP Election Brief | What to expect in Rhode Island’s special elections

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Gabe Amo and Republican Gerry Leonard face off in a special congressional election in Rhode Island on Tuesday to complete the term of former Democratic U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, who resigned in May after seven terms. Also on the ballot is a special election for state Senate.Amo, a former Obama and Biden White House aide, won a crowded Democratic primary in September, defeating a field that included state Sen. Sandra Cano, Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos and former state Rep. Aaron Regunberg. Leonard is a retired U.S. Marine colonel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the primary, he won the state party’s endorsement and defeated former Middletown Town Councilwoman Terri Flynn.The district has voted reliably for Democrats. Cicilline was first elected in 2010 and won his last five reelection bids with 60% of the vote or higher. Democrat Patrick Kennedy previously held the seat for 16 years.The election will fill one of two vacant seats in the U.S. House. The other...

Welcome to Mexican “muerteadas,” a traditional parade to portray how death can be as joyful as life

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

SAN AGUSTÍN ETLA, México (AP) — Daniel Dávila knew he would become a devil at age 12.He prepares his costume weeks ahead of Day of the Dead celebrations in San Agustín Etla, in southwest Mexico, where families take to the streets on Nov. 1 to remember how death can be as joyful as life.In the state of Oaxaca, where the 33-year-old lives, “muerteadas” are part of a festival that stretches for several nights and locals regard as part of their identity. Each celebration differs from one town to another, but most take off at the main church, where participants and musicians sing to honor their local saints. Afterward, volunteers like Dávila take part in a theatrical representation in which a spiritist, one special character with supernatural capabilities, brings a dead man back to life.Dávila’s role, the devil, is a playful character who tries to lure the resuscitated man into following him. Among other characters are a priest, a doctor and an old man whose daughter is married to the de...

The White House Historical Association is opening a technology-driven educational center in 2024

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House tour is practically a must-do when visiting Washington, but the experience can leave some guests wondering about spaces they didn’t get to see, like the Oval Office.The White House Historical Association hopes to provide answers to some of those questions when it opens The People’s House: A White House Experience, in the fall of 2024.Situated on three floors of a building a block from the White House at Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, the $30 million educational center will use cutting-edge technology to teach the public about the storied executive mansion and its history.“This will be a technology-rich, immersive experience where you will actually go into spaces and, due to the miracles of modern technology, those spaces will become White House rooms around you,” Stewart McLaurin, the association’s president, told The Associated Press before a public announcement planned for Friday.The center will feature a large cutaway model of the White...

AP Election Brief | What to expect when Ohio votes on abortion and marijuana

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the second time in three months, the national debate over reproductive rights focuses on Ohio as voters decide Tuesday whether to amend the state Constitution to protect access to abortion services.The measure has become one of the nation’s highest-profile contests on the ballot this year and is the latest state-level skirmish over the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.The proposed state constitutional amendment, labeled “Issue 1” on the ballot, would establish the right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” on matters including abortion, contraception and fertility treatment. It would also allow for abortions to be banned once it has been established that the fetus can survive outside of the womb, unless a physician determines that continuing with the pregnancy would endanger the patient’s “life or health.”Abortion rights supporters have had a sizable fundraising advantage throughout the campaign, accordi...

King Charles III meets with religious leaders to promote peace on the final day of his Kenya visit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — King Charles III met with religious leaders Friday to promote peace and security in Kenya during the last day of his four-day trip. The king spent a rainy Friday morning touring Mandhry Mosque, East Africa’s oldest mosque, before meeting with Christian, Hindu, Muslim and African traditional faith leaders in an Anglican cathedral in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa. The region has seen an increase in radicalization and militants kidnapping or killing Kenyans.Kenya celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence in December after decades of British rule. The two countries have had a close — though sometimes challenging — relationship since the Mau Mau revolution, the prolonged struggle against colonial rule in which thousands of Kenyans died.Although he didn’t explicitly apologize for Britain’s actions in its former colony, Charles expressed earlier in the visit his “greatest sorrow and the deepest regret” for the violence of the colonial era, citing the “abho...

How Toronto lost its war with raccoons. Badly.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:18 GMT

One hundred years ago, raccoons were so rare in Toronto, that a mysterious creature rummaging in a garbage bin warranted a newspaper report. Today, raccoons are basically the city’s mascot. The war Toronto waged on raccoons spanned decades, but it’s abundantly clear that it’s over. The raccoons won, the people lost, and now we just try to protect our garbage and hope the mess isn’t too bad.Amy Dempsey covered raccoons at length for The Toronto Star , she says that part of the problem for citizens dealing with raccoon infestations, is that the city has essentially abdicated all responsibility for dealing with the issue. “New York City has a rat czar and I kind of think that Toronto needs a raccoon czar,” says Dempsey.So how did Toronto become the raccoon capital of the world?You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify. You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.