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Arab League poised to vote on restoring Syria membership

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Foreign ministers from Arab League member states in Cairo were poised to vote Sunday on restoring Syria’s membership to the organization after it was suspended over a decade ago.The meeting in the Egyptian capital took place ahead of the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19, where many have expected to see a partial or full return of Syria following a rapid rapprochement with regional governments since February.It also took place days after regional top diplomats met in Jordan to discuss a roadmap to return Syria to the Arab fold as the conflict continues to deescalate.Syria’s membership in the Arab League was suspended 12 years ago early in the uprising-turned-conflict, which has killed nearly a half million people since March 2011 and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.The body usually attempts to make decisions by consensus, but decisions otherwise could pass with a simple majority vote.The Arab League has not issued a statement ...

David Brooks: What our toxic culture does to the young

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

In the early 1960s, typical Americans were eager to get on with adult life. As soon as they could, they married, launched careers and started popping out kids. In those days, half of all women married before their 20th birthday.Then the boomers came of age. Typical members of that generation wanted to enjoy their freedom, so many put off marriage and parenting until their late 20s or their 30s. They adopted what some researchers call the “slow life strategy,” postponing the common milestones of adulthood until later in life.As psychologist (and Minnesota native) Jean Twenge shows in her lavishly informative new book, “Generations,” the members of Gen Z are now practicing the slow life strategy with a vengeance.They have already transformed adolescence. Members of Gen Z are, for example, content to get their driver’s licenses later than earlier generations. As high school seniors, they are less likely to do the things associated with adulthood and independence, like drinking alcohol,...

Bridge: May 7, 2023

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

Today’s South stood accused of making an unsound overcall. He pled not guilty — and retained the best counsel available, the noted attorney Perry Mason.The court heard evidence. In a penny game, East opened one spade in second seat, and South overcalled two clubs. A double by West would have been “negative.” He could have tried 2NT or 3NT, but at the vulnerability, he passed and passed again when East reopened with a double.West led a spade. East won with the jack and led the jack of hearts, and the defense took three hearts. Next, East cashed the K-Q of diamonds and the ace of spades and led a third spade. South ruffed low, and West overruffed. West then led the 13th heart, and East ruffed with his ten of trumps. South had to overruff with an honor, and West got another trump trick. Down four!“My client was unlucky,” Mason argued. “His overcall was routine. Switch the West and North hands, and North-South make a game.”“To overca...

Schools Are Pouring Millions Into AI-Powered Weapons Detection Systems. Do They Work?

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

On Halloween day last year, a 17-year-old-student walked straight through an artificial intelligence weapons detection system at Proctor High School in Utica, New York. No alert went off.The 17-year-old then approached a fellow student, pulled a hunting-style knife out of his backpack, and repeatedly stabbed the other student in the hands and back.The Utica City School District had installed the $4 million weapons detection system across 13 of its schools earlier that summer, mostly with public funds. The scanners, from Massachusetts-based Evolv Technology, look like metal detectors but scan for “signatures” for “all the guns, all the bombs, and all the large tactical knives” in the world, Evolv’s CEO Peter George has repeatedly claimed.In Utica, the 17-year-old’s weapon wasn’t the first knife, or gun, to bypass the system. Earlier that month, at a parents’ night, a law enforcement officer had walked through the system twice with his service revolver and was puzzled to find it...

Maryland state trooper arrested, charged with assault, sex offense

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

A Maryland State Police trooper was arrested by Anne Arundel County police Saturday morning for multiple charges, including sexual offense and assault.Trooper 1st Class Ryan Bandy was charged with false imprisonment, second-degree assault and fourth-degree sex offense.In a statement, Maryland State Police said that the trooper “appeared before a district court commissioner and subsequently released on his own recognizance.”Bandy has been suspended with pay, state police said.Anne Arundel County police plan to lead the criminal investigation; Maryland State Police’s Internal Affairs Division handles the administrative investigation.Bandy has been working with Maryland State Police for nearly a decade and was recently assigned to the Westminster Barrack, police said.Source

Polls closed for College Park’s special election following former mayor’s arrest

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

Polls closed in the special election to replace Patrick Wojahn as mayor of College Park, Maryland, Saturday afternoon.According to the city’s charter, the special election had to take place within 65 days.Voting ended at 6 p.m. at city hall, 7401 Baltimore Ave.The candidates are Bryan Haddad, S.M. Fazlul Kabir, Catherine Hope Kennedy and Denise C. Mitchell. Three of the four have experience on the College Park City Council.The election came after Wojahn resigned as mayor in March. He was arrested and charged with dozens of counts of possession and distribution of child pornography. He had been the city’s mayor since 2015.Wojahn is married to an employee of Hubbard Radio Washington, D.C., which owns WTOP.Source

Officials: 8 killed in Texas mall shooting

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

(NewsNation) — At least nine people are dead, including the suspected shooter, after the gunman opened fire at a busy mall outside Dallas, officials announced Saturday.The Allen fire department said they found seven dead upon arrival at the scene, and transported nine victims to a medical facility, fire chief Jonathan Boyd announced at a press conference. Of the nine who were taken to the hospital, two have died, three are in critical condition and four are stable.An Allen Police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3:36 p.m., the police department wrote on Facebook.“The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel. Nine victims were transported to local hospitals by Allen Fire Department,” the agency wrote in a Facebook post. “There is no longer an active threat.”According to CNN, a manhunt is underway for a potential second suspect.The Collin County Sheriff said the shooter is dead, WFAA reported.A di...

Mild & Breezy Sunday

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

Following a warm and overall beautiful day Saturday with many locations dealing with above average temperatures, a push of milder temperatures will arrive this Sunday with highs actually below average across Miami-Dade and Broward.Actual high temperatures will reach the low to mid 80s along with moderate humidity levels and a gusty breeze out of the east, sustained at 10-25 mph and gusting up to 30 mph. This will make for a fairly nice-feeling day considering it’s May. There will be the chance for some isolated showers during the morning hours, then conditions should turn mostly dry for the second parts of the day. Expect partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies as a result, which should make for nice conditions for the Miami Grand Prix.High pressure will then regain control of our weather pattern for the early to mid portion of the week, keeping moisture levels low and therefore our rain chances at a 10-20% chance. South Florida can expect a blend of sun and clouds and mostly dry ...

US DOJ cites January 6 threats to democracy in push for steep Oath Keepers sentences

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

Prosecutors are seeking the most severe sentence yet in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — a 25-year prison term — for the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, characterizing it as a necessary punishment to deter future attacks against democracy.The Justice Department says Stewart Rhodes and his allies were among the most significant drivers of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol, amassing a stockpile of weapons nearby in Virginia and dressing in military-style gear in a way that exacerbated the sense among the Jan. 6 mob that a revolution was underway.In seeking the stiff sentence for Rhodes — on a rare seditious conspiracy conviction — prosecutors said that lengthy sentences are necessary for the survival of American democracy.“As this Court is well aware, the justice system’s reaction to January 6 bears the weighty responsibility of impacting whether January 6 becomes an outlier or a watershed moment,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nes...

Ravens sign cornerback Rock Ya-Sin to 1-year deal, filling biggest offseason need

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:53:44 GMT

Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said after last season that his team can never have enough good cornerbacks, a stance he reiterated throughout the offseason.Adding one before next season was a priority, and Baltimore did Wednesday by signing veteran free agent Rock Ya-Sin. The deal is for one year and worth up to $6 million, according to multiple reports.“It’s an important position,” DeCosta said Saturday during the NFL draft. “What we’ve seen is you can never have enough good corners to start the season and throughout the season. That’s a fast way to get beat, is to not have enough corners on the field.”Indeed.The Ravens have All-Pro Marlon Humphrey on one side but there was uncertainty at the other starting spot after they did not re-sign veteran Marcus Peters. Now they have bolstered the position with the addition of Ya-Sin, a second-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts in 2019 who spent last season with the Raiders after being ...