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Rival Koreas conduct provocative drills along their tense sea boundary, escalating animosities

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas fired artillery rounds into the sea as part of provocative drills along their disputed sea boundary on Friday, in violation of the fragile 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.The firing exercises are expected to escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Experts say North Korea will likely intensify a run of weapons tests and its warlike rhetoric ahead of South Korea’s parliamentary elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired 200 rounds in the waters north of their western sea boundary on Friday morning. It was North Korea’s first front-line maritime firing exercise in about a year.Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon told a televised briefing that the North’s artillery firing was “an act of provocation that threatens peace and heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula.” Lee said South Korea suffered no damage.In a tit-for-tat step, South Ko...

Russia ‘will not stop’ at Ukraine, Latvia warns

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

Latvian Foreign Minister Krišjānis Kariņš said Russia “will not stop” after the war in Ukraine and that NATO needs a “long-term strategy” to contain Moscow.“Russia will not stop, Russia can only be stopped,” Kariņš told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday. “Stopping Russia in Ukraine does not mean that it is over. It simply means we will have to continue. That is what is important for NATO: that we will have to work on a long-term strategy of Russia containment.”Kariņš, a former prime minister, has expressed his interest in succeeding Jens Stoltenberg as NATO’s leader, arguing that the alliance’s next secretary-general should come from a country which has met the 2-percent-of-GDP defense spending target — such as Latvia.Because of Russia’s “imperialistic-fueled ideology,” Kariņš warned that the Kremlin’s threat is bound to continue after the Ukraine war. But NATO has to make sure that “the likelihood of any incidents is simply ruled ...

South Korea’s military says North Korea fired artillery into maritime buffer zone in ‘provocative act’

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) — South Korea’s military condemned its northern neighbor on Friday after Pyongyang fired artillery rounds that fell within a maritime buffer zone that has long been a flashpoint between the two.North Korea fired more than 200 rounds between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m off its west coast, near South Korea’s Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).The artillery fell north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed de facto border drawn up by the United Nations at the end of the Korean War in 1953.The incoming rounds did not harm any civilians or military, the JCS added, calling the incident a “provocative act that threatens peace and heightens tension on the Korean Peninsula.”In response South Korea’s military held its own maritime shooting exercise on Friday afternoon, with the defense ministry saying it was to “respond to North Korea’s provocation of shooting artilleries inside the no-hostile act zone this morn...

Poop-powered planes: could jet fuel made from sewage take off?

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

(CNN) — In the race for alternative, sustainable jet fuels, some companies are getting creative. We’ve heard about planes powered with cooking oil, but what about jet fuel made entirely from human poop? Firefly Green Fuels, an aviation company based in Gloucestershire, UK, has created just that – and, unsurprisingly, the prospect of poop-powered planes is attracting attention.While sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is not new, the idea of using sewage – an abundant and unavoidable waste – is a novelty. So, could it really be the future of air travel?Commercial aviation produces about 2.5% of global carbon emissions, contributing to climate change. Efforts to reduce the sector’s impact are underway, with the development of electric and hydrogen-powered planes. But the technology is still a long way off powering long-haul passenger flights. Instead, the industry is looking to use SAF – with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimating that it could contri...

Official suggests Polish president check social media security after odd tweet from private account

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s minister of digital affairs suggested Friday that President Andrzej Duda check the security of access to his social accounts after a bizarre tweet went out that was almost immediately removed.The tweet published Thursday on Duda’s private account said: “Tell him to ask his wife what ‘having balls’ means. She knows!” The tweet was quickly deleted, but internet users took screenshots that were shared, creating amusement but also criticism that the head of state wasn’t being cautious enough with his online behavior.Duda’s office has not explained what the message published on X, formerly Twitter, referred to, nor did it explain how it was published.The government, led by Duda’s political rival, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, suggested the president should exercise greater caution and said it could offer security assistance.“Due to the fact that an unusual entry appeared on President Andrzej Duda’s account on the X website, which...

Companies pull ads from TV station after comments on tattooing and sending migrants to Auschwitz

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prosecutors in Poland are investigating commentators who joked on a right-wing television station that migrants should be sent to Auschwitz or be tattooed or microchipped like dogs, and some companies have pulled advertising from the broadcaster. The remarks were made over the past week by guests on TV Republika, a private station whose role as a platform for conservative views grew after the national conservative party, Law and Justice, lost control of the Polish government and public media.During its eight years in power, Law and Justice turned taxpayer-funded state television into a platform for programming that cast largescale migration into Europe as an existential danger. The state media broadcast conspiracy theories, such as a claim that liberal elites wanted to force people to eat bugs, as well as antisemitic and homophobic content and attacks on the party’s opponents, including the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Spreading hate speech is a crime ...

Thousands of opposition activists languish in prison as Bangladesh gears up for national election

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

DHAKA (AP) — Fazlur Rahman died on a hospital floor with his hands and legs still cuffed, his son Mohammad said, his voice breaking while recalling his father’s final moments. Rahman, 63, was one of thousands of opposition activists who were arrested in the months leading to Sunday’s parliamentary election amid a sweeping polarized political culture.The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former premier Khaleda Zia, said Rahman was one of 10 members who died in police custody. According to his family, he was arrested on Oct. 25 outside the tea stall he ran and taken to jail. He fell sick and was later transferred to a hospital where he died over a week ago, they said. Rahman’s arrest came three days before a massive opposition rally turned violent, leaving at least 11 dead and nearly a hundred injured. His family believed he was targeted for being an outspoken BNP supporter for the last 35 years.“My father was with the BNP, which is why they took h...

Seeking superyachts. Signed, Sydney, Nova Scotia

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, Sydney — a town of 30,000 people on Cape Breton Island — is looking for a fresh economic start. Some think they can achieve that by encouraging the one per cent of the world’s one per cent to bring themselves, and especially their outrageously expansive, ridiculously extravagant and, yes, environmentally sketchy mega-yachts to its harbour. And, of course, their untold wealth to local businesses.Michael MacDonald wrote about the effort to attract superyachts to Sydney for The Canadian Press. He says that while the plan could be an economic boon to the area, there are concerns about allowing in these kinds of vessels.“[Superyachts] represent the extreme concentration of uber-wealth in a very small group of people, and I think it’s important for people who live in this region to ask the questions: do we really want to be part of that? Does this fit in with what we’re trying to do in terms of saving the planet?” says MacDonald.So will this plan work? ...

Attempted carjacking ends in crash on Northwest Side

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

CHICAGO — An attempted carjacking ended in a crash on the city's Northwest Side.Police said the incident happened just before midnight Friday when a 38-year-old man was driving his Ford SUV northbound on Central Avenue and two armed men attemped to stop him and take his vehicle.The man accelerated and crashed into a guardrail on the 5800 block of West Goodman Street in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. 7 weeks after train crash, CTA Yellow Line reopens early Friday morning He was transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in fair condition.No one is in custody. Area Five Detectives are investigating.

Taco Bell fans can now make two of the chain's most popular menu items at home

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:05:02 GMT

(KTLA) - Taco Bell fans can now recreate two of the chain's most popular menu items at home.The California-based fast food company and Kraft Heinz have teamed up on new home-cook versions of Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme and Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla after seeing social media users trying to create their own versions of the dishes.A look at Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme and Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla cooking kits. (Business Wire) Taco Bell described the Crunchwrap Supreme as “perhaps its most iconic menu item in history” and noted that copycat recipe videos garnered over 50 million views on TikTok. Doritos rolls out nacho cheese-flavored liquor The quesadilla was one of the company's best-selling menu items in 2023, a news release said.This is the first time Taco Bell is releasing cooking kits for both menu items. The “craving kits” include “proprietary Taco Bell restaurant ingredients, seasonings and sauces” essential to make the dishes at home, a news release said. Each cravi...