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Pakistan arrests activists to stop them from protesting in Islamabad against extrajudicial killings

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s police used water cannons, swung batons, and arrested dozens of activists in an overnight crackdown to stop protesters from entering the capital to denounce the forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the militancy-ravaged southwest, the organizers said Thursday.About 200 protesters, some of them families with children, began their nearly 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) convoy around Nov. 28, heading toward Islamabad from the town of Turbat. They planned to rally in the capital to draw attention to the death of Balaach Mola Bakhsh. The 24-year-old died in November while in police custody in Baluchistan province.Police say Bakhsh was carrying explosives when he was arrested in November, and two days later he died when militants ambushed a police van that was transporting him. Activists say police were holding him since they arrested him in October, and suspect he was killed intentionally in a staged counterterrorism operation. Such arrests b...

Fire destroys home in Brampton; no injuries reported

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

Crews worked through the early morning hours Thursday to control a fire that tore through a home in Brampton.Fire crews were called to a house in the area of Kennedy Road and Conservation Drive, north of Sandalwood Parkway, around 2:30 a.m.Photos from the scene show thick smoke and a mostly destroyed home with the roof collapsed in.In an update on social media, officials say the fire has been put out and no injuries were reported. There is no word if anyone was inside the home when the fire broke out. It’s not clear what caused the fire.Crews remain at the scene and the investigation is ongoing.UPDATE: The incident commander has declared the fire under control. We will be remaining on scene awaiting the arrival of our Fire Investigation Team. Thank you @PeelPolice and @Peel_Paramedics for your assistance. @ChiefBoyes @BPFFA1068 ^MW— Brampton Fire & Emergency Services (@BramptonFireES) December 21, 2023

Wisconsin leader pivots, says impeachment of state Supreme Court justice over redistricting unlikely

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican leader of Wisconsin’s Assembly who had threatened possible impeachment of a new liberal state Supreme Court justice over her views on redistricting now says such a move is “super unlikely.”Assembly Speaker Robin Vos originally threatened to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz if she did not recuse herself from the redistricting challenge, which is backed by Democrats seeking to throw out Republican-drawn electoral maps. After Protasiewicz refused to step down from the case, Vos raised the possibility of impeachment based on how she rules.Wisconsin’s Assembly districts rank among the most gerrymandered nationally, with Republicans routinely winning far more seats than would be expected based on their average share of the vote, according to an Associated Press analysis.When asked in an interview Wednesday if he would move to impeach Protasiewicz if she orders new maps to be drawn, Vos said, “I think it’s very unlikely.”“It’s one of the tools th...

Wisconsin Republican proposal to legalize medical marijuana coming in January

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans plan to unveil a proposal soon to legalize medical marijuana in the state and could vote on it sometime in 2024, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said.Republicans have been working behind closed doors for years on a medical marijuana bill. Along the way, they have rejected calls from Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats to legalize all uses of marijuana, including medical and recreational.Vos, in an interview Wednesday, said the proposal will be limited and modeled after the medical marijuana law that had been in place in neighboring Minnesota before it moved to full legalization.“It is not going to be widespread,” he said. “We are not going to have dispensaries on every corner in every city.”He said Assembly Republicans are on board in concept, but no one has seen the actual proposal yet. He expected to unveil it in January. Vos had said in April that he hoped to have the bill by the fall of 2023, but he said it took more time to find consensus.“...

Top Wisconsin Republican wants to put abortion laws on a future ballot

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s top Republican wants to let voters decide whether to shrink the window of time in which women can get abortions.Current state law bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, but Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday that he hopes to put a proposal on some future ballot that would lower the limit to somewhere between the 12th and 15th week.“It’s probably the only way for us to put this issue to rest,” he told The Associated Press. “It has the idea of saying we’re letting the people decide.”The state of abortion laws in Wisconsin was thrown into confusion in June 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion throughout the country. The 2022 ruling reactivated an 1849 state law that conservatives interpreted as banning abortion, and abortion providers halted their operations for fear of prosecution. Planned Parenthood clinics in Madison and Milwaukee only resumed offe...

More US auto buyers are turning to hybrids as sales of electric vehicles slow

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — America’s automakers have staked their futures on the notion that electric vehicles will dominate sales in the coming years, spurred by buyers determined to reduce carbon emissions and save on fuel.But so far, while EV sales are growing, their pace is falling well short of the industry’s ambitious timetable for transitioning away from combustion engines. Instead, buyers are increasingly embracing a quarter-century-old technology whose popularity has been surging: The gas-electric hybrid, which alternates from gas to battery power to maximize efficiency.So far in 2023, Americans have bought a record 1 million-plus hybrids — up 76% from the same period last year, according to Edmunds.com. As recently as last year, purchases had fallen below 2021’s total. This year’s figures don’t even include sales of 148,000 plug-in hybrids, which drive a short distance on battery power before a gas-electric system kicks in.Though electric vehicle sales are nearing an...

Shohei Ohtani is the AP Male Athlete of the Year for the 2nd time in 3 years

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Before Shohei Ohtani stepped into the bright lights of Hollywood and signed the most lucrative contract in professional sports history, baseball’s two-way superstar put together yet another season of unparalleled brilliance from Tokyo to Anaheim.What can this singular talent possibly do next? The Los Angeles Dodgers are eagerly paying $700 million to see for themselves.But what Ohtani already did in 2023 — both for the Los Angeles Angels and for Japan’s team in the World Baseball Classic — is the reason he was selected as The Associated Press’ Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years.“Shohei is arguably the most talented player who’s ever played this game,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, after signing Ohtani to a 10-year contract last week.Ohtani edged Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi and tennis great Novak Djokovic for the AP honor in voting by a panel of sports media professionals.O...

Over half of Americans approve of Colorado ruling to bar Trump from state's ballot: poll

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

(The Hill) - Over half of Americans approve of a Colorado Supreme Court ruling to bar former President Trump from the state’s primary ballot, citing the 14th Amendment, according to a YouGov poll released Wednesday.The online survey, published just a day after the ruling, found that 54 percent of respondents either strongly or somewhat approve of the decision, with 35 percent disapproving.The former president now has the opportunity to seek review of the case from the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices can ultimately decide whether Trump incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and whether arguments under the 14th Amendment can keep him off the ballot. Colorado GOP threatens to shift to caucus system over Trump ruling Nearly two thirds of Democrats, 63 percent, strongly approve of the ruling, according to the poll, with another 21 percent somewhat approving. Independents were split, but a larger proportion support the decision, 48 percent to 35. Additionally, about a quarter of R...

House committee to investigate allegations of plagiarism against Harvard president

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

(The Hill) - Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said Wednesday that the House Education Committee will expand its investigation into Harvard President Claudine Gay to include allegations that she committed plagiarism in academic work.The Education Committee previously held a hearing on campus antisemitism featuring Gay and the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT. At that hearing, the group controversially said that it would depend on context if calls for the genocide of Jewish people to be considered harassment. In a letter Wednesday acquired by Bloomberg, Foxx said the committee will expand its look into Gay, focusing on whether Harvard holds its faculty to the same academic standards as students.“Our concern is that standards are not being applied consistently, resulting in different rules for different members of the academic community,” she wrote. “If a university is willing to look the other way and not hold faculty accountable for engaging in academically dishonest...

Report: APD investigated less than 7% of external complaints in 2022

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:30:03 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The City of Austin's Office of Police Oversight (OPO) released its 2022 annual report Wednesday, a document highlighting work done by the office over the past year. OPO's divisions specialize in work related to complaints, policy and research, as well as communications and community engagement for public safety efforts in Austin.OPO's 2022 annual report found the Austin Police Department investigated 6.8% of external complaints submitted by OPO to the department. Of 689 external complaints submitted, 47 of them were investigated, the report stated.Back in 2019, OPO's release said APD investigated 62.2% of external complaints; that figure dropped to 50.8% in 2020 and declined to 40.9% in 2021.“The decrease in the number of external complaints investigated by APD reflects an opportunity for APD to build trust with the community,” OPO Director Gail McCant said in the release. “Complaints and compliments are the community’s way of starting an open and honest dialogue wi...