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Iran says at least 103 people killed, 211 wounded in bombing at ceremony honoring slain general

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two bombs exploded minutes apart Wednesday at a commemoration for a prominent Iranian general slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020, officials in Iran said, killing at least 103 people and wounding at least 211 as the Middle East remains on edge over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.No one immediately claimed responsibility for what appeared to be the deadliest militant attack to target Iran since its 1979 Islamic Revolution. The blasts shook the city of Kerman, about 820 kilometers (510 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran, and sent shrapnel hurtling into a screaming crowd fleeing the first explosion.The gathering marked the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January 2020. The explosions occurred near his grave site as long lines of people gathered for the event.Iranian state television and officials described the attac...

After Harvard and Penn president resignations, focus of ire shifts to MIT’s Kornbluth

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

(CNN) — Last month, three university presidents drew intense backlash for their testimonies on antisemitism on campus during a congressional hearing. Today, only one has still kept that position.When asked by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in December whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” amounted to bullying and harassment on campus, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, Harvard University President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth responded with opaque, legalistic answers.Magill became a focus of activists determined to push her out; she resigned not long after the disastrous hearing. Harvard’s Gay also drew criticism, for the hearing and for a plagiarism scandal. With Gay’s Tuesday resignation, MIT’s Kornbluth became the last of the trio still helming a university – and some of the loudest voices pushing for Gay and Magill to go have signaled they may focus on her next.After Gay’s resignatio...

House committee to formally begin impeachment proceedings against Biden Homeland Security chief

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

(CNN) — House Republicans will forge ahead with steps to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, a GOP source tells CNN.In a statement provided to CNN, a committee spokesperson said “the House Committee on Homeland Security has conducted a comprehensive investigation into Secretary Mayorkas’ handling of, and role in, the unprecedented crisis at the Southwest border” for nearly a year.“Following the bipartisan vote in the House to refer articles of impeachment against the secretary to our Committee, we will be conducting hearings and taking up those articles in the coming weeks,” the statement said.The committee spokesperson told CNN the hearing will begin next week. “The Committee will ensure that the public is aware of the scope of Secretary Mayorkas’ egregious misconduct and refusal to enforce the law, but also that this process is completed promptly and accountability is achieved swiftly—as the American people have demanded,” the statement said.T...

Biden’s kicking off 2024 by delving into some of the country’s darkest moments

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

By WILL WEISSERT and ZEKE MILLER (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is starting the campaign year by evoking the Revolutionary War to mark the third anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and visiting the South Carolina church where a white gunman massacred Black parishioners — seeking to present in the starkest possible terms an election he argues could determine the fate of American democracy. On Saturday, Biden will travel to near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where George Washington and the Continental Army spent a bleak winter nearly 250 years ago. There, he’ll decry former President Donald Trump for the riot by a mob of his supporters who overran the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Two days later, the president will visit Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where nine people were shot and killed in a June 2015 white supremacist attack.Biden’s kicking off 2024 by delving into s...

3 to hospital after driver of stolen SUV crashes into vehicle in Burlington

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

Three people were injured after their vehicle was involved in a collision with the driver of a stolen SUV in Burlington, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the two-vehicle crash happened on Wednesday in the Highway 6 and Upper James Street area.Burlington OPP officers confirmed the driver of a stolen SUV was travelling southbound on Upper James when he collided with the vehicle, which was travelling northbound on Highway 6 and making a left turn. 3 people to hospital after a stolen vehicle was involved in a 2 car crash on #Hwy6/Upper James. #BurlingtonOPP investigating, charges laid on the driver and passenger of the stolen vehicle ^ks pic.twitter.com/XofjXKgKTZ— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) January 3, 2024Sgt. Schmidt said the driver of the northbound vehicle was treated for relatively minor injuries. Two other female passengers were also hurt, one with minor injuries and another with serious injuries.The driver of the stolen SUV was n...

Ethnic armed group battling Myanmar’s military claims to have shot down an army helicopter

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Fighters from an ethnic minority group battling Myanmar’s military government said they shot down a helicopter believed to be on a resupply mission in a combat zone in the northern state of Kachin on Wednesday.The helicopter was shot down soon after taking off from an army outpost to return to its base in Myitkyina township, the state’s capital, around 11:50 a.m., Col. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Army, told The Associated Press. Myanmar’s military, which came to power in February 2021 after seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, has been battling pro-democracy resistance forces loosely allied with armed ethnic minority groups seeking greater autonomy.There was no immediate comment from the military government about the helicopter claim and The Associated Press was unable to contact any witnesses in the remote area. A spokesperson for Kachin Human Rights Watch, who asked to be identified only by his first name Jacob ...

2 injured in Mississauga house fire

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

Two people are in hospital after a fire at a home in Mississauga.Fire crews were called to the residence on Bishop Strachan Court near Derry Road and Winston Churchill Boulevard just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday.Paramedics say one person is being treated for minor burns while another person suffered smoke inhalation.The area near the home was evacuated as firefighters worked to put out the blaze.It is not yet known what caused the fire.

After tumbling in polls, Netanyahu clings to power and aims to improve political standing during war

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In the wake of Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s days in office seemed numbered.Despite his reputation as the ultimate political survivor, the devastation of the attack and the security failures that allowed it to happen on his watch appeared to be too much for him to overcome.But nearly three months after war erupted following the attack, Netanyahu remains firmly in charge and is putting up a fight. He has increasingly used his perch as wartime leader to test campaign slogans, appease his coalition partners and shirk responsibility for the calamity — all, critics say, with an eye on buying time and notching up his shrinking poll numbers.“Every moment of his life, he is a politician,” said Mazal Mualem, a Netanyahu biographer. “Bibi always thinks he has a chance.” Netanyahu — who’s served longer than any other Israeli leader, after 17 years in power — has found a formula for success. He appeals to his nationalist base, cra...

Rayner Pike, beloved Associated Press journalist known for his wit and way with words, dies at 90

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

ARLINGTON, Mass. (AP) — Rayner Pike, a retired reporter for The Associated Press who contributed his encyclopedic knowledge of news and crafty writing skills to some of New York City’s biggest stories for over four decades, has died. He was 90.Surrounded by family at the end, his Dec. 26 death at home in Arlington, Massachusetts, set off a wave of tributes from former co-workers.For a 1986 story challenging city-provided crowd estimates, he paced out a parade route on foot — “literally shoe-leather journalism,” New York City bureau colleague Kiley Armstrong recalled.The memorable lead that followed: “Only a grinch cavils when, in a burst of hometown boosterism, the mayor of New York says with a straight face that 3.5 million people turned out for the Yankees’ ticker-tape parade.”Pike worked at the AP for 44 years, from 1954 to 1998, mostly in New York City — yet he was famously reluctant to take a byline, colleagues said. He also taught journalism at Rutgers University for yea...

Two large offshore wind sites are sending power to the US grid for the first time

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:56 GMT

For the first time in the United States, turbines are sending electricity to the grid from the sites of two large offshore wind farms.The joint owners of the Vineyard Wind project, Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, announced Wednesday the first electricity from one turbine at what will be a 62-turbine wind farm 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the coast of Massachusetts. Five turbines are installed there. One turbine delivered about 5 megawatts of power to the Massachusetts grid just before midnight Wednesday. The other four are undergoing testing and should be operating early this year. Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource announced last month that their first turbine was sending electricity from what will be a 12-turbine wind farm, South Fork Wind, 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York. Now, a total of five turbines have been installed there too. Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra said 2023 was a historic year for offshore wind with “...