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Liberian President Weah faces tight runoff vote for a second term against challenger Boakai

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberian President George Weah, faces a tight runoff election Tuesday as he seeks to defeat a repeat challenger and earn a second term in the West African nation.The former international soccer star may have easily defeated Joseph Boakai in the 2017 runoff, but results from the first round of balloting last month show the two neck and neck: Weah took 43.83% while Boakai brought in 43.44% of the total.“We are going to an election where nobody has a competitive edge with a wide margin,” said Ibrahim Nyei, executive director at the Ducor Institute for Social and Economic Research.In the weeks since the Oct. 10 first round, both candidates have been actively seeking the endorsements of the other small opposition parties. So far, Boakai has managed to win the backing of the third, fourth and fifth-placed finishers. While that amounts to only 5.6% of the vote, it could tilt the runoff in Boakai’s favor. Weah, meanwhile, has received the support o...

China, Iran, Arab nations condemn Israeli minister’s statement about dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China, Iran and a multitude of Arab nations condemned an Israeli minister’s statement that a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was an option in the Israel-Hamas war, calling it a threat to the world.At Monday’s long-planned opening of a United Nations conference whose goal is to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, many ambassadors expressed condemnations and criticisms of comments by Israel’s Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu, who later called his remarks in a radio interview Sunday “metaphorical.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly disavowed the comments and suspended him from cabinet meetings.Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its nuclear capability. It is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, and a former employee at its nuclear reactor served 18 years in Israeli prison for leaking details and pictures of Israel’s alleged nuclear arsenal program to a British newspaper in 1986.China’s deputy U.N. ambassador Geng Shuang said...

As fighting empties north Gaza, humanitarian crisis worsens in south

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Another 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza since Nov. 5, the U.N. humanitarian office said Tuesday, as Israeli ground forces battle Palestinian militants around hospitals where patients, newborns and medics are stranded with no electricity and dwindling supplies.The humanitarian office, known as OCHA, says only one hospital in the north is capable of receiving patients. All the others are no longer able to function and mostly serve as shelters from the fighting, including Gaza’s largest, Shifa, which is surrounded by Israeli troops and where 36 babies are at risk of dying because there is no power for incubators.The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by Hamas’ surprise attack into Israel, in which militants massacred hundreds of civilians and dragged some 240 hostages back to Gaza. Israel launched heavy airstrikes for nearly three weeks before sending troops and tanks into the north. The war has killed thousands of Palestinian civili...

A rescue operation for 40 workers trapped under a collapsed tunnel in north India enters third day

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Rescuers are working around the clock Tuesday to remove debris to extract 40 workers who have been trapped for over two days after an under-construction tunnel collapsed in northern India. Officials hope to extricate them in the next 24 hours.A 2.5-foot (0.76 meter)-wide steel pipe will be pushed through an opening of excavated debris with the help of hydraulic jacks to safely pull out the stranded workers, authorities said.About 200 rescuers from federal and state disaster relief agencies are using drilling equipment and excavators to reach them.The tunnel collapsed Sunday in Uttarakhand, a mountainous state dotted with Hindu temples that attract many pilgrims and tourists. The tunnel is part of the busy Chardham all-weather road, a flagship federal government project connecting various Hindu pilgrimage sites.Senior government official Ranjit Sinha said falling debris has been hindering the rescue operation and added they expect to free the workers by Tuesday ...

Euro 7: MEPs support new rules to cut down pollutant emissions 

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

MEPs are ready to start talks with EU governments on new rules to reduce road transport emissions for passenger cars, vans, buses and trucks, Plenary session, ENVI.Last week, Parliament adopted its negotiating position on revamping EU rules for type-approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles (Euro 7) with 329 votes in favour, 230 against and 41 abstentions. The new regulation will update current limits for exhaust emissions (such as nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and ammonia), and will introduce new measures to reduce emissions from tyres and brakes, and increase battery durability.MEPs agree with the levels proposed by the Commission for pollutant emissions for passenger cars and propose an additional breakdown of emissions into three categories for light commercial vehicles based on their weight. They also propose stricter limits on exhaust emissions measured in laboratory and in real driving conditions for buses and heavy-duty vehicles. Parliament a...

Three-bedroom home in Palo Alto sells for $2.6 million

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

748 Kendall Avenue – Google Street ViewA house located in the 700 block of Kendall Avenue in Palo Alto has new owners. The 1,134-square-foot property, built in 1950, was sold on Nov. 3, 2023. The $2,560,000 purchase price works out to $2,257 per square foot. The layout of this single-story home consists of three bedrooms and one bath. Inside, a fireplace adds character to the home. In addition, the home features an attached one-car garage, ensuring secure parking and storage.These nearby houses have also recently been purchased:A 2,016-square-foot home on the 3500 block of Julie Court in Palo Alto sold in August 2022, for $3,650,000, a price per square foot of $1,811. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.In September 2022, a 1,738-square-foot home on Barron Avenue in Palo Alto sold for $2,860,000, a price per square foot of $1,646. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.On Barron Avenue, Palo Alto, in May 2023, a 979-square-foot home was sold for $2,260,000, a price per square f...

Indonesia doesn’t need Europe anymore, presidential frontrunner says

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

Indonesia’s leading candidate for president has said the country doesn’t “really need Europe anymore,” criticizing the bloc’s ban on some Indonesian imports and suggesting his country should align itself more closely with other nations in Asia.“We open our market to you, but you won’t allow us to sell palm oil, and now we have problems trying to sell coffee, tea, cocoa,” Prabowo Subianto, who currently serves as Indonesia’s defense minister, said Monday at a forum organized by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.In April, the EU banned imports of some Indonesian products, including soy, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber and beef over links to deforestation. Indonesia is home to a third of the world’s rainforests but has seen much of it vanish due to deforestation, of which palm oil plantations are a major driver. Indonesia’s chief economic minister previously accused the EU of “r...

Germany’s Pistorius says EU will fall short of million shell pledge to Ukraine

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

BRUSSELS — The EU will not reach its goal of supplying 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine by March, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at the start of Tuesday’s summit of EU defense ministers.“We have to assume that the 1 million will not be achieved,” he said.One way of doing a better job would be for defense firms to focus on sending more ammunition to Ukraine and exporting less to other countries, the EU’s foreign and security policy chief Josep Borrell said.Borrell questioned the claim that the EU’s defense production capacity has reached the upper limit.“Keep in mind European defense industry is exporting a lot — about 40 percent of the production is being exported to third countries,” Borrell told reporters before chairing the defense ministers’ meeting. “So it’s not a lack of production capacity; it is that they send their products to [other] markets. So maybe what we have to do is to try to shift this produc...

UK cybersecurity center says ‘deepfakes’ and other AI tools pose a threat to the next election

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s cybersecurity agency said Tuesday that artificial intelligence poses a threat to the country’s next national election, and cyberattacks by hostile countries and their proxies are proliferating and getting harder to track.The National Cyber Security Center said “this year has seen the emergence of state-aligned actors as a new cyber threat to critical national infrastructure” such as power, water and internet networks.The center — part of Britain’s cyberespionage agency, GCHQ — said in its annual review that the past year also has seen “the emergence of a new class of cyber adversary in the form of state-aligned actors, who are often sympathetic to Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine and are ideologically, rather than financially, motivated.” It said states and state-aligned groups pose “an enduring and significant threat,” from Russian-language criminals targeting British firms with ransomware attacks, to “China state-affiliated cyber actors” using their ski...

In the news today: More Canadians hoping to leave Gaza as peace activist mourned

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:05:15 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Dozens of Canadians remain in Gaza StripScores of Canadians are still hoping to leave the Gaza Strip, as Canadians and Israelis mourn the loss of peace activist Vivian Silver in last month’s attack by Hamas militants.Global Affairs Canada said Monday afternoon it is in touch with more than 250 Canadians, permanent residents and their eligible family members in the war-torn Palestinian territory.Ottawa says 356 Canadians and their relatives have made it out of the Gaza Strip so far, including 10 on Monday.Israeli officials said late Monday that Silver, a dual national previously believed to have been taken hostage, had died in the brutal attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7.Northwest Territories holds fire-delayed electionResidents of the Northwest Territories are heading to the polls today, more than a month after the ele...