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UN hears Africa, its Sahel region, are new terrorism targets

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — African nations called on the world Tuesday to pay attention to how terrorism targeted their continent, particularly its Sahel region, telling the United Nations Security Council that Africans made up nearly half the world’s terror attack victims.Using his country’s bully pulpit as Security Council chair for March, Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi told the council that “though terrorism is a global threat, the situation in Africa remains more critical.”His words were echoed by a series of ambassadors from African countries who discussed terror groups’ threats to their nations. One global terrorism index shows that 48% of terror victims last year were African, Nyusi said, “and the Sahel region is the new epicenter of terrorist attacks.” Many speakers said they were deeply concerned by terror groups’ operations in the vast, semi-arid expanse below the Sahara Desert.“The situation in Africa is especially concerning,” Secretary-General Anto...

Energy company: Minnesota leak fixed, plant to reopen soon

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) — A faulty pipe that allowed water containing a radioactive isotope of hydrogen to leak at a Minnesota nuclear power plant has been repaired and the plant will return to service in the next week, a spokesman for the energy company said Tuesday.Meanwhile, a state agency said a fish kill that claimed at least 230 fish in the Mississippi River near Xcel Energy’s Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant was caused by a water temperature change resulting from the shutdown of the plant, not by any chemicals leaking into the river.The nuclear plant, about 38 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis, was fully powered down around 7 a.m. Saturday to fix the leaky pipe discovered last week, Xcel Energy spokesman Theo Keith said.“Crews have already repaired the leak, which did not pose any risks to public health, safety, or the environment,” Keith said in an email. “The pipe was confirmed as the only source of the leak.”The plant will return to service “in the next wee...

Pirates board oil tanker with 16 crew in Gulf of Guinea

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Pirates have boarded a Liberian-flagged oil tanker with 16 crew members in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, the Danish vessel owner said Tuesday.The attack took place southwest of Port Pointe-Noire, Congo. The Monjasa Reformer “experienced an emergency situation” late Saturday, Monjasa, the Denmark-based company that owns the ship, said in a statement. The crew sought refuge in a citadel — a safe area on the ship — in line with the on board anti-piracy emergency protocol, said company spokesman Thorstein Andreasen.The nationalities of the crew members and the pirates were not immediately known. Communication channels with the ship are down and international authorities have been alerted, said the statement. The exact location of the tanker is not known. The last position was transmitted Sunday without any updates since, said Martin Kelly, senior analyst with the London-based EOS Risk group, a security company operating in the area. The Gulf of Guinea is the ...

5 planets will be lined up in night sky this week. How and when to spot them

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

There will be a celestial treat tonight when five planets — Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, and Mars — will be lined up near the moon.NASA astronomer Bill Cooke says for a short window on Tuesday night, the five-planet spread will be able to be viewed from anywhere on earth, as long as there’s a clear sky and you have a west view.Mercury and Jupiter will dip below the horizon about 30 minutes after sunset at 7:39 p.m. in southwestern Ontario tonight. Mars will be very close to the first quarter moon on Tuesday, astronomers say, adding that Venus, Mars and Uranus are somewhat easier to find as Venus is bright in the evening skies.Binoculars are likely needed to spot Mercury and Uranus, as they’re dimmer planets. This kind of alignment happens when the planets’ orbits line them up on one side of the sun from earth’s perspective.“Find a nice view towards where the sun is setting. A nice low horizon. Obviously, it has to be clear out,” sa...

Ethiopia’s PM announces outreach to rebel group in Oromia

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s prime minister said Tuesday his administration is attempting talks with an outlawed rebel group operating mainly in the restive Oromia region.Abiy Ahmed’s comments to lawmakers on outreach to the Oromo Liberation Army came amid efforts to replicate a peace process conducted for the conflict based in the northern Tigray region that saw an agreement signed in November to end the fighting.“The government has a high level of interest to resolve this conflict (with OLA) in peaceful terms. Not only interest, but also a committee entrusted with the task of leading the peace process has been set up,” the prime minister said, adding he hopes Ethiopians will support the process.“More than 10 attempts and contacts were made with the (OLA). The problem so far is that there is no centralized group so every unit has different ideas and positions … the committee is leading the talks and we will see the result together.”A spokesman for the rebel group, Odaa Tarbii, ...

EU defends its Libya migrant work as UN points the finger

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Tuesday defended its work with migrants in Libya after U.N.-backed investigators accused the 27-nation bloc of abetting human rights abuses and other crimes in the largely lawless north African country.Libya is a major departure point for people from northern Africa and elsewhere desperate enough to make the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing in poorly maintained boats in search of better lives or sanctuary in Europe.At least 529 migrants were reported dead and 848 others missing off Libya last year, according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM). More than 24,680 people were intercepted by the Libyan coastguard as they tried to leave.Presenting a report on Monday by a U.N.-commissioned fact-finding mission to Libya, investigator Chaloka Beyani said that EU assistance to Libya’s migration department and the coastguard “has aided and abetted the commission of the crimes,” including crimes against huma...

Millennial Money: Manage the costs of a chronic condition

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

For millennials with chronic medical conditions — or those raising kids with chronic conditions — health care can be an enormous monthly expense. About 44% of older millennials born between 1981 and 1988 have at least one chronic health condition, including migraines, major depression and asthma, according to a 2021 survey of over 4,000 adults conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of CNBC Make It. And many millennials are also caring for children with complicated medical needs.Expenses can include doctor’s visits, tests and prescription drugs, plus indirect costs that may result from missing work.But there are ways to keep health care costs lower, including taking advantage of a flexible spending account or health savings account, comparing pharmacy prices on medications and using a care manager through your insurance. Here are some strategies to try.ASK QUESTIONSIf you have a chronic condition, be an active participant in your care. “Too many people go to the doctor and the doctor...

McCarthy calls on Biden to schedule meeting on debt ceiling

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Tuesday he’s growing increasingly concerned about President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to negotiate on lifting the nation’s borrowing authority, saying in a letter to the president that the White House position “could prevent America from meeting its obligations and hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.”Rather than open direct talks on the debt ceiling, which the Democrats agree must be raised, Biden and his party’s lawmakers are challenging Republicans to publicly present their own budget proposals — something McCarthy has declined to do.For now, the Treasury Department has resorted to “extraordinary measures” to avoid default on the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing authority. But those measures will run out — and put the U.S. at risk of being unable to pay all of its bills — possibly as early as June.The White House has emphasized that Biden is not willing to entertain proposed cuts in ...

French police brace for protest violence; trash strike ends

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Tens of thousands marched as protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms gripped France again Tuesday, with police ramping up security after the government warned that radical demonstrators intended “to destroy, to injure and to kill.” Concerns that violence could mar the demonstrations prompted what Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described as an unprecedented deployment of 13,000 officers, nearly half of them concentrated in the French capital, where police faced down ultra-leftist radicals.In a sign that protests may be losing a little steam, sanitation workers in Paris announced that they are suspending their more than three-week-long strike that has left piles of stinking garbage uncollected on the capital’s streets. The CGT union, which organized the strikes, said in a statement that workers will return to their jobs Wednesday because “we hardly have any strikers left.” It was unclear whether private companies responsible for keeping some ...

12-year-old accused of stabbing 13-year-old at NY middle school: police

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:34:32 GMT

LINDENHURST, N.Y. (WPIX) – A 13-year-old boy was stabbed in the hallway of a Long Island, New York, middle school and airlifted to a hospital, police and a district official said Monday.Suffolk County police were called to Lindenhurst Middle School around 12:30 p.m. The boy was stabbed in the leg near the upper groin area by a 12-year-old male student, according to police. The victim was airlifted to a local hospital in critical but stable condition, police said. The boy lost a lot of blood and underwent surgery at the hospital, authorities said.The stabbing happened in the second-floor hallway during a dispute between the two students, which is currently under investigation, according to Suffolk County Police Deputy Inspector Sean Beran.Eighth-grade student Lucas Leguizamon told WPIX he saw the stabbing."I was going to my class and there was a kid and they were fighting. And then he pulled out the knife and he stabbed him in the leg and there was blood everywhere ... Ever...