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Mild December with 50s returning to Chicago; Meager U.S. Snow Cover in Lower 48, but Alaska is a different story. Chicago rain chances go up Saturday evening; Florida braces for flooding rains,

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

Remarkably mild start to December across the lower 48: only 0.7% running cooler than average. Source: Dr Bryan Brettschneider, Climatologist 

Supreme Court verdict, though disappointing, does not come as a surprise - WKAF

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

The supreme court of India upholds the decision of the Modi Government to strip the occupied Jammu & Kashmir of special status. The verdict though disappointing does not come as a surprise. This is the same court that confirmed the death sentence on Afzal Guru, notwithstanding the fact (own admission of the chief justice) that evidence for the alleged crime was not conclusive. The judgment came "to satisfy the collective conscience of the nation". The same court few years ago issued a judgment giving the Hindu majority a right to build a temple in place of Barbari Mosque. This decision came as a shock to legal luminaries who cast aspersion on the acumen of the judges of the highest court of the land. Any single or group of individuals expecting a fair judgment from Indian courts is exhibiting his/her naivety as rule of law has been buried under BJP Hindutva rubble by the Indian government, writes Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum.It is evident that the decision...

China, una nación bebedora de té, ahora tiene más cafeterías de marca que Estados Unidos.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

(CNN) —  China superó a Estados Unidos como el mercado de cafeterías de marca más grande del mundo por puntos de venta, según un informe de World Coffee Portal.El número de cafeterías de marca en la segunda economía más grande del mundo creció un 58% en los últimos 12 meses hasta llegar a 49.691 puntos de venta, dijo la firma de investigación esta semana.Starbucks abrió 785 establecimientos en el país durante el período y es su segundo mayor operador de café de marca por establecimientos, añadió World Coffee Portal. Luckin Coffee, la startup china que se vio envuelta en un escándalo de fraude y fue expulsada de Wall Street hace tres años, es la cadena de café más grande del país con más de 13.000 puntos de venta.“Más del 90% de los 4.000 consumidores de cafeterías chinos encuestados beben café caliente semanalmente, mientras que el 64% consume café helado al menos una vez a la semana”, dijo World Coffee Portal en un comunicado este martes.En ese mismo comunicado, s...

Análisis: Los aliados europeos de Ucrania están decepcionando

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

(CNN) —  Antes de que la guerra entre Israel y Hamas acaparara prácticamente toda la atención de la comunidad internacional, la invasión rusa de Ucrania era la crisis más apremiante que los diplomáticos buscaban resolver.En Bruselas, esta semana había sido prevista como un gran momento para la europeización de Ucrania, ya que los estados miembros de la UE se reúnen en su última cumbre del año para dar luz verde a una mayor financiación para Kiev y, finalmente, a la apertura de negociaciones para la membresía de Ucrania del bloque.Todo eso ha sido cuestionado por un Estado miembro: Hungría.El primer ministro populista húngaro, Viktor Orban, ha sido durante algún tiempo el niño problemático número uno de Europa occidental. Incluso antes de la guerra en Ucrania, Hungría tenía forma de pedir rescate al resto de la UE. La mayoría de las grandes decisiones tomadas por Bruselas requieren la aprobación unánime de los 27 estados miembros. Esto significa que cada estado miembro tiene ef...

South Korean Olympic chief defends move to send athletes to train at military camp

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Olympic chief has defended a decision to send hundreds of athletes to a military camp next week as part of preparations for the 2024 Games in Paris, citing a need to instill mental toughness in competitors.About 400 athletes, including women, will arrive at a marine boot camp in the southeastern port city of Pohang on Monday for a three-day training aimed at building resilience and teamwork, the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee said.The program, pushed by the committee’s president, Lee Kee-Heung, has faced criticism from politicians and media who described the training camp as outdated and showing an unhealthy obsession with medals.Officials at the committee have played down concerns about the potential for injuries, saying the athletes will not be forced into the harsher types of military training. Morning jogs, rubber-boat riding and events aimed at building camaraderie will be on the program. Sports officials are still finalizing details ...

Taliban sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, says UN report

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban officials are sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, according to a U.N. report published Thursday.Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centers in Afghanistan where survivors of gender-based violence could seek refuge. Now there are none, the U.N. report said.Officials from the Taliban-led administration told the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that there was no need for such shelters or that they were a Western concept. The Taliban sends women to prison if they have no male relatives to stay with or if the male relatives are considered unsafe, the report said. Authorities have also asked male relatives for commitments or sworn statements that they will not harm a female relative, inviting local elders to witness the guarantee, it added.Women are sent to prison for their protection “akin to how prisons have been used to accommodate drug addicts and homeless people i...

Israel vows to fight on in Gaza despite deadly ambush and rising international pressure

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has vowed to keep fighting in Gaza until it crushes Hamas after one of the deadliest single battles of the war for its soldiers, even as it faces mounting international calls for a cease-fire and unease on the part of its closest ally, the United States.The ambush a fresh reminder that Hamas is still able to fight after six weeks of devastating warfare aimed at crushing its military capabilities. Israel has imposed a total siege and flattened much of northern Gaza with a massive air and ground campaign, driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.Hamas’ resilience has called into question whether Israel can defeat Hamas without wiping out Gaza. Support for Hamas has surged among Palestinians, in part because of the militant group’s stiff resistance to a far more powerful foe, while Israel’s most important ally, the U.S., has expressed growing discomfort over civilian deaths in what is already one of the 21st century’s most devastati...

China’s economy is forecast to slow sharply in 2024, the World Bank says, calling recovery ‘fragile’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s economy will slow next year, with annual growth falling to 4.5% from 5.2% this year despite a recent recovery spurred by investments in factories and construction and in demand for services, the World Bank said in a report issued Thursday. The report said the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy from setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other shocks, remains “fragile,” dogged by weakness in the property sector and in global demand for China’s exports, high debt levels and wavering consumer confidence. The estimate that growth would be around 5% this year but then fall in coming months was in line with other forecasts. Growth is expected to slow further in 2025, to 4.3% from 4.5% next year, the World Bank said. The economy has yoyoed in the past few years, with growth ranging from 2.2% in 2020 to 8.4% in 2021 and 3% last year. Stringent limits on travel and other activities during the pandemic hit manufacturing and transport. Job losses due to tho...

The European Union is sorely tested to keep its promises to Ukraine intact

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders struggled at the start of a two-day summit Thursday to keep their two most elementary promises to Ukraine at war intact — to give it the money and wherewithal to stave off the Russian invasion and maintain its hope that one day it will be able to join the wealthy bloc.And stunningly, the threat to that commitment does not come from outside, but from within, from its increasingly recalcitrant member Hungary. The vision of its prime minister, Viktor Orban, heartily shaking hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin two months ago still hung heavy over the summit.Orban came into the summit vowing to both block the plans by his 26 fellow leaders to officially declare that membership negotiations with Ukraine can start, and more pressingly, deny Kyiv 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in financial aid that the country dearly needs to stay afloat.“The European Union is about to make a terrible mistake and they must be stopped — even if 26 of them want t...

A leader of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party visits China as the island’s presidential election looms

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:34:18 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A leader of Taiwan’s main opposition Nationalist Party is visiting rival China less than one month before the self-governing island republic holds elections for president and the legislature under intense pressure from Beijing. In a news release Thursday, the party — also known as the Kuomintang or KMT — said vice chair Andrew Hsia and his delegation departed for China on Wednesday at the invitation of Taiwanese businesspeople. It called the trip a mission to maintain contacts and contribute to “peace, stability and prosperity between the two sides.” Though the party said the invitation was accepted in October, the visit comes at a sensitive time as the Nationalists seek to regain the presidency and legislature from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which has been shunned by China for its insistence that Taiwan is an independent country. China claims Taiwan is part of its territory, to be brought under its control by military force if necessary. The Nati...