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UK’s opposition Labour Party gets a boost from a special election victory in Scotland

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s main opposition Labour Party won an emphatic victory Friday in a special election for a Scottish district that was watched as an indicator of the party’s rebounding popularity ahead of a national election next year.Labour took the parliamentary seat of Rutherglen and Hamilton West near Glasgow from the Scottish National Party. The result doubles Labour’s total of Scottish seats from one to two.Labour candidate Michael Shanks won 17,845 votes, more than twice the number taken by SNP runner-up Katy Loudon. The Scottish Conservatives came a distant third.Labour leader Keir Starmer called it a “seismic result.”The election was called when the former lawmaker, Margaret Ferrier, was ousted by her constituents for breaking coronavirus restrictions in 2020 by taking a long train journey when she had COVID-19.Labour was long dominant in Scotland but in the past 15 years has been all but wiped out by the SNP, which wants Scotland to leave the U.K. and become an i...

The Nobel Peace Prize is to be announced in Oslo. The laureate is picked from more than 350 nominees

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

OSLO (AP) — The winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize is being announced Friday, chosen by a panel of experts in Norway from a list of just over 350 nominations.Last year’s prize was won by human rights activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, in what was seen as a strong rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart and ally.The prize can be awarded to individuals or organizations. Other previous winners include Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations. Unlike the other Nobel prizes that are selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decreed that the peace prize be decided and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.The independent panel is appointed by the Norwegian parliament.This year, the committee received 351 nominations — 259 for individuals and 92 for organizations. People who can make nominations include former Nobel Peace Prize winners, members of...

Funerals held in Syria for dozens of victims killed in deadliest attack in years

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

HOMS, Syria (AP) — Family members of some of the victims of a deadly drone attack on a crowded military graduation ceremony that killed scores gathered outside a military hospital in the central city of Homs on Friday to collect the bodies of their loved ones, who died in one of Syria’s deadliest single attacks in years.Thursday’s strike on the Homs Military Academy killed 89 people, including 31 women and five children, and wounded as many as 277, according to the health ministry. The death toll could rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition. Syria announced a three-day state of mourning starting Friday.Syria’s military said in a statement Thursday that drones laden with explosives targeted the ceremony packed with young officers and their families as it was wrapping up. Without naming any particular group, the military accused insurgents “backed by known international forces” for the attack and said “it will respond with full force and decisiveness to these terrorist ...

Glacial lake that sent deadly floods through Indian towns was identified as dangerous in 2019

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A glacial lake that overflowed in India’s Himalayan northeast, breaking through a major dam and sending deadly, ice cold floodwaters through towns, had been identified by state officials, researchers and environmental activists as dangerous years before the disaster.The flood killed at least 31 people, officials said Friday, and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.It began shortly after midnight Wednesday, when Lhonak Lake overflowed after a heavy rainfall. Waters from the high mountain lake crashed into the Teesta-3 dam, the largest in the state of Sikkim, cracking its concrete before cascading through towns in the Lachan Valley below and sweeping away people, houses, roads and bridges. It was the latest deadly flood to hit northeast India in a year of unusually heavy monsoon rains. Nearly 50 people died in flash floods and landslides in August in nearby Himachal Pradesh state, and record rains in Northern India killed more than 100 people over two...

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militia targets in north Syria after US downs Turkish armed drone

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish warplanes have carried out airstrikes on sites believed to be used by U.S.-backed Kurdish militant groups in northern Syria after the U.S. military shot down an armed Turkish drone that came within 500 meters (yards) of American troops.A Turkish defense ministry statement said the Turkish jets targeted some 30 sites in the Tal Rifat, Jazeera and Derik regions, destroying caves, bunkers, shelters and warehouses used by Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, or its affiliated Kurdish militia group in Syria, which is known as People’s Defense Units, or YPG.Turkey has been carrying out strikes on Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria following a suicide attack outside the Interior Ministry building in the Turkish capital earlier this week.The PKK claimed the attack in which one attacker blew himself up and another would-be bomber was killed in a shootout with police. Two police officers were wounded.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the two assailants ...

Morocco begins providing cash to families whose homes were destroyed by earthquake

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Moroccan authorities on Friday will begin providing money to families whose homes were destroyed in an earthquake last month that took nearly 3,000 lives and will require an estimated $11.7 billion in reconstruction funds over the next five years.After a commission tasked by King Mohammed VI to oversee recovery efforts met earlier this week, the government said an initial monthly payment of 2,500 Moroccan dirhams ($242) will be disbursed starting Oct. 6.The Sept. 8 earthquake wreaked havoc on rural regions south of Marrakech, where mountain roads remain unpaved and the economy relies on herding and small-scale agriculture. As autumn nights get cooler, many are sleeping outside in donated tents with the daunting task of rebuilding before them.The payments are among several forms of relief that Morocco plans to provide residents displaced by the earthquake. It will provide temporary rehousing assistance and up to 140,000 dirhams ($13,600) to rebuild destroyed...

A modest Buddhist ceremony marks the anniversary of a day care center massacre in Thailand

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand (AP) — About 200 people gathered in the small northeastern town of Uthai Sawan on Friday for a quiet ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of Thailand’s deadliest mass killing. On Oct. 6, 2022, a fired police sergeant killed 36 people, including two dozen toddlers at a day care center. The shocking gun and knife attack spurred calls for tighter gun controls in Thailand, which has one of the highest rates of gun ownership and gun-related deaths in Asia. The calls for change faded with time, but were dramatically revived this week when a teenager with a handgun roamed through an upscale mall in the capital, Bangkok, shooting dead two people and wounding five others before being apprehended.Officials and residents from Uthai Sawan and neighboring communities in Nong Bua Lamphu province, which sits in one of Thailand’s poorest regions, donned colorful traditional clothes Friday at a Buddhist ceremony. They offered food for a dozen monks and prayed together at t...

Cooler Air Comes In On Gusty Winds; Temps Drop Into The 50s This Weekend

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

While rainfall were modest in the city, totaling 0.21" at O'Hare and 0.42" at Midway, rainfalls were heavier farther south.2.40" fell at Valparaiso—while 1.95" came down at Kouts, 1.65" at Hebron, 1.63" at Chesterton, 1.59" at Roselawn and 1.60" at Dyer—all in Indiana. Other Indiana totals included 0.95" at Crown Point, 0.91" at Munster, 0.89" at Portage and 0.85" at Ogden Dunes---again ALL in Indiana. At the same time, Grant Park in Kankakee county recorded 1.67" while 0.80" was recorded at Chicago Heights, 0.79" at South Holland, 0.66" Elmhurst and 0.59" at Oak Brook. AMOUNTS TAPERED OFF dramatically farther north with only 0.07" recorded at Woodstock, 0.03" at Vernon Hills and just 0.02" at Libertyville.Here Come The Strong WindsWINDS gusted above 40 mph in the Plains and western Midwest Thursday afternoon where temps have dropped into the 50s and 40s. The 30+ mph gusts are to sweep into the Chicago area Friday and Saturday along with the COOLEST WEATHER HERE in the 5 months sinc...

Copernicus: September 2023 – unprecedented temperature anomalies, 2023 on track to be the warmest year on record

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

Globally averaged surface air temperature anomalies relative to 1991–2020 for each September from 1940 to 2023. Data: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts on behalf of the European Commission with funding from the EU, routinely publishes monthly climate bulletins reporting on the changes observed in global surface air temperature, sea ice cover and hydrological variables. All the reported findings are based on computer-generated analyses using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world. September 2023 – Surface air temperature and sea surface temperature highlights: September 2023 was the warmest September on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 16.38°C, 0.93°C above the 1991-2020 average for September and 0.5°C above the temperature of the previous warmest September, in 2020.  September 2023 glob...

Prince George’s Community College hosting Black food festival

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:24:02 GMT

A two-day festival celebrating Black food culture kicks off Friday morning at Prince George’s Community College. The Black Food, Black Futures Festival also hopes to raise awareness about food insecurity in the Maryland county.The free event will run Friday and Saturday at PGCC in Largo.“We have all kinds of experts, and not just even people who cook food, but people who practice herbalism and really digging deep into what Black Maryland culture has to offer for everyone,” Dr. Iyelli Ichile, a professor of history and African American studies at PGCC, told WTOP.“The legacy of food, whether we’re talking about crab recipes, or various approaches to soul food, all of that is so rich in this area. And it’s got its own Maryland flavor,” she added.The two-day event is, in part, a celebration of that Maryland flavor, and you can expect the vibe to be something like a big cookout.“Besides panel discussions on those issues, Black farmers and g...