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Baku to the future: After stalemate, UN climate talks will be in Azerbaijan in 2024

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — For years, climate change has been a factor — not the only one — in wars and conflicts. Now for the first time, it’s part of a peace deal.A long-time stand-off that had turned the choice for next year’s United Nations climate talks into a melodrama and mystery resolved as part of a prisoner swap settlement between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It set the stage for the COP29 climate talks in 2024 to be in a city where one of the world’s first oil fields developed 1,200 years ago: Baku, Azerbaijan.It also means that for back-to-back years an oil powerhouse nation will be hosting climate talks — where the focus is often on eliminating fossil fuels. And it will become three straight years that the U.N. puts its showcase conference, where protests and civil engagement often take center stage, in a nation with restrictions on free speech.In 2021, the COP was in Glasgow, where the modern steam engine was built and the industrial revolution sta...

Blinken defends bypassing Congress to sell weapons to Israel and presses lawmakers to help Ukraine

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday defended the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition and also called for quick congressional approval of more than $100 billion in aid for Israel, Ukraine and other national security priorities.Blinken said the needs of Israel’s military operations in Gaza justify the rare decision to bypass Congress. “Israel is in combat right now with Hamas,” he said during television interviews. “And we want to make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Hamas.”The tank ammunition and related support constitute only a small portion of military sales to Israel, Blinken said, and that the rest remains subject to congressional review. “It’s very important that Congress‘s voice be heard in this,” he said.The decision to proceed with the sale of more than $106 million for tank shells came as the Biden administration’s larger aid package is caught up in a debate over U....

Driver dies after being hit head-on by alleged intoxicated driver in Wheeling

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

WHEELING, Ill. — A driver is dead after they were hit head-on by an alleged intoxicated driver early Sunday morning in Wheeling, police said.Wheeling Police Department officers responded to the crash around 2:15 a.m. near East Palatine Road and Wheeling Road. Massive fire at historic, abandoned Emerson High School in Gary Deputy Chief Al Steffen said the suspected intoxicated driver was in the wrong lane and hit another car head-on and killed the 53-year-old driver.Two people were in each car, Steffen said in a news release. One other person suffered a serious but non-life-threatening injury. The crash is under investigation by police and the Northwest Suburban Major Case Assistance Team's Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction unit. The identities of those involved and additional details haven't been released.

'Heart-wrenching': Grandmother's ashes taken from porch in Tennessee

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) -- A Tennessee woman is coming to terms with losing her grandmother for a second time after a porch pirate stole the package containing her ashes.Amy Rost lost her grandmother in October, which she says was hard enough. "She was definitely my rock when it came to grandparents. She was there for all the graduations, all the birthdays," Rost told Nexstar's WREG. Dealing with that loss twice, according to Rost, is heart-wrenching. "It’s definitely been difficult. It’s one of those things where we’re trying to weigh the pros of the situation," Rost said. How to tip your mail carrier and 8 other people this holiday season Amy’s father, Jeff, says his mother died in October, and his sister, who lives in Ohio, divided her ashes. According to Jeff, the tracking information on his package showed it was delivered on December 4. But when he went outside later on to get the package off of the porch of his Midtown home, there was nothing there. This isn't the first ...

Will holiday travel be chaotic again this year? What's changed since 2022

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

(NewsNation) — Travelers plagued by last year's mass flight cancellations may have better luck this holiday season as cancellation rates continue to fall, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).Nationally, 2023 saw the lowest cancellation rates in five years and less than 1% of flights were canceled over the Thanksgiving holiday, despite record travel, a DOT spokesperson said an in email to NewsNation. That could be good news for travelers whose plans were upended last year when thousands of Southwest Airlines travelers experienced canceled flights over the Christmas holiday. Many complained of short notice, days-long delays and lost luggage. Globally, Mariah Carey is still dominating Christmas The Office of Aviation Consumer Protection is currently investigating several domestic airlines for unrealistic scheduling of flights, according to the DOT.Since last year's meltdown, Southwest Airlines says it’s reinforced airport infrastructure, increased staff at airpor...

Austin opening overnight cold weather shelters Sunday

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — With temperatures forecasted at or below freezing heading into Monday morning, the City of Austin announced Sunday its overnight cold weather shelters had been activated.Cold weather shelters are implemented when overnight weather meets the following criteria:32 degrees or colder overnight35 degrees with rainy or wet precipitation35 degrees with a wind chill of 32 degrees or colderAustin Mayor Kirk Watson shared the news on social media Sunday morning. Registration for shelter services will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at One Texas Center, located at 505 Barton Springs Road.CapMetro will assist registered shelter attendees and transport them from One Texas Center to their shelter. They're available to anyone seeking a warm place to stay overnight, officials added.All Austin libraries and parks facilities are also available as warming centers during normal hours Sunday, officials added. Those with questions on shelter access can call the city's Cold Weather Shelter Hotli...

GoFundMe set up for father of 3 injured in crash that killed Mahtomedi hockey player

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help a father of three who was seriously injured when a 16-year-old driver struck his vehicle head on last month.Samson Walters 16, of Hugo, died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, three days after the Nov. 29 car accident that occurred doubt 7:50 a.m. on his way to school at Mahtomedi High School.Nicholas Meinen, 40, of Stillwater, was critically injured in the crash.Authorities say Walters, who was driving a 2008 Infiniti Cobra, was in the process of passing another vehicle at Jamaca Avenue North and Justen Trail in Grant when the accident occurred.Meinen’s 2017 Hyundai Sonata, which was driving northbound on Jamaca, was struck head on. Karen Cariveau, 47, St. Paul, who was driving a 2019 Toyota RAV4 northbound on Jamaca, was treated at the scene and released, police said.As of Sunday, nearly $11,000 had been raised out of a $15,000 goal for hospital and other expenses for Meinen and his family.The GoFundMe account organizer said Meinen ha...

Colorado weather: Strong winds and blowing snow through Front Range and foothills

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

Strong winds are blowing through Colorado’s Front Range and foothills Sunday, kicking up snow from Saturday.Gusts of up to 80 mph will continue through 5 p.m. Sunday, making travel difficult for high-profile vehicles, according to the National Weather Service.High winds may result in blowing snow and reduced visibility, especially over mountain passes and areas that saw the worst of the snowstorm that moved out Saturday morning, NWS forecasters said on social media.Sunday morning, 88 mph winds hit Coal Creek Canyon, 74 mph winds were measured Berthoud Pass, and 72 mph winds blew through Dakota Hill, topping the NWS’s peak winds tracking list.Highway 93 between Boulder and Golden, open areas in the foothills and higher mountain passes above the timberline will be most vulnerable to blowing snow, the NWS said in a hazardous weather outlook Sunday.With light snow falling throughout the day, mountains in northern Colorado with north-west facing slopes could see up to 4 inche...

Aurora VA’s suicide prevention center rife with “emotional, mental and psychological abuse”

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

In March 2018, the director of the Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center at the Aurora Veteran Affairs hospital walked into the office of one of her employees.Dr. Lisa Brenner, one the nation’s leading clinical research psychologists in suicidology, went over to a Black employee and grabbed a handful of the woman’s long “Poetic Justice”-style braids.“If I were you,” Brenner said according to the employee, yanking slightly on her hair, “I’d rather be bald like one of those warrior women in ‘Black Panther.'”The employee didn’t know what to say.“You feel completely invisible,” the woman said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she still works for the VA. “How do you respond when someone in a position of power says something like this?”Department staff say the incident represents just one of many troubling encounters with Brenner. The union of Aurora VA ...

Authorities searching for man who stole thousands in designer fragrances from Sephora 

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:27:52 GMT

The search is on for a man wanted for stealing thousands of dollars in luxury merchandise from a Sephora in Calabasas. According to a release from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the theft occurred on Nov. 13 at the Sephora store in the Calabasas Commons at 5:19 p.m.  Road rage suspect rams police cars, is shot by officers in Hacienda Heights The suspect entered the store and proceeded to the fragrance section where he took multiple Tom Ford and Yves Saint-Laurent items and concealed them in his sweatshirt, authorities said. The suspect fled the scene in a silver Nissan SUV. (LASD)He then exited the store with the unpaid items – worth $1,309 – before entering a silver Nissan SUV and fleeing the scene.  Fire breaks out at LAX terminal; cause under investigation Anyone with information is asked to contact the LASD’s Malibu-Lost Hills Station. Anonymous information can be submitted by calling L.A. Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or by visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org