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Pushkin fan accused of aiding Russian strikes says maps were just about mushrooms

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

KYIV — It sounds like a story out of a surrealist Russian novel — but according to Ukrainian prosecutors, the danger was very real indeed. They allege that Oleksandr Kostornyy, the 72-year-old head of the “Aleksandr Pushkin’s Russian Society” NGO, provided Russia a map with the locations of Ukrainian servicemen ahead of a deadly missile strike last year. His defense: He was just showing a friend where to pick mushrooms. In videos from courtroom appearances, Kostornyy — who stands accused of treason — can be seen wearing a beige jacket over a black turtleneck, with a mustache and regal bearing right out of Tolstoy. Prosecutors claim that on March 4, 2022, Kostornyy sent a person in Russia-occupied Crimea a map showing the location of the International Peacekeeping and Security Center — a facility used to train and house Ukrainian forces and foreign volunteers near Lviv.  Nine days later, Russians shelled the site, also known as the Yavoriv training groun...

EU lawmakers back tougher rules on methane emissions

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Parliament on Tuesday voted for stricter measures to reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, dodging a last-minute rebellion. The legislation, proposed by the European Commission in December 2021, applies only to the energy sector, responsible for about a fifth of the bloc’s methane emissions. Lawmakers defeated an effort by a clutch of conservative MEPs to weaken the Parliament’s stance. A comfortable majority — 499 in favor, 79 against and 55 abstentions — backed a compromise text amending the Commission’s proposal with tighter rules for monitoring emissions, as well as more stringent leak detection and repair (LDAR) requirements to tackle leaky fossil fuel infrastructure. The Parliament also asked the Commission to come up with a framework to ensure exporting countries have to abide by similar rules. The regulation is a crucial part of Europe’s climate efforts: Swift action is key to reining in the warming effe...

Women should start screening for breast cancer at age 40 instead of 50, health task force says in draft recommendation

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

(CNN) — The US Preventive Services Task Force is proposing that all women at average risk of breast cancer start screening at age 40 to reduce their risk of dying from the disease, according to a new draft recommendation statement.It’s an update to the 2016 recommendation, in which the task force recommended that biennial mammograms, which are x-rays of the breasts, start at age 50 and that the decision for women to screen in their 40s “should be an individual one.”Some groups, such as the American Cancer Society, already have been recommending for women to start mammograms in their 40s.“Our new task force recommendation is recommending that women start screening with mammography for breast cancer at age 40 and screen every other year until age 74,” said USPSTF Vice Chair Dr. Wanda Nicholson, a senior associate dean and professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.The USPS...

Boston police issue ‘Missing Person Alert’ for 16-year-old girl last seen on May 5

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

The Boston Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a 16-year-old girl who was last seen in Roxbury on May 5.Authorities said Zariah Joseph was last sighted at about 4:30 p.m. on Friday in the area of 120 Humboldt Ave, and was believed to be wearing a pink crop top, grey spandex shorts and black crocs at the time.According to the police department, the teen might be in the area of either Stoneham or Melrose, and may also be trying to travel toward Lawrence.Anyone with information on Zariah’s location is asked to call either 911 or Boston PD’s B-2 Detectives at 617-343-4275.Those who wish to share info anonymously can do so via the department’s CrimeStoppers Tip Line AT 1-800 (494)-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).

Jury starts deliberations in suit accusing Trump of rape

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — A jury in New York City began deliberating Tuesday in the lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll, who alleges that Donald Trump raped her in a luxury Manhattan department store in 1996.U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan read instructions on the law to the nine-person jury for about an hour before the panel began discussing Carroll’s allegations of battery and defamation.If they believe Carroll, jurors can award compensatory and punitive damages. Trump, who did not attend the trial, has insisted he never sexually assaulted Carroll or even knew her.Kaplan told jurors that the first question on the verdict form will be to decide whether they think there is more than a 50% chance that Trump raped Carroll inside a store’s dressing room. If they answer yes, they will then decide whether compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded.Otherwise, the judge instructed, they will decide whether Carroll had prov...

Stefan Bondy: 4 things the Knicks must reverse to pull off a miracle against the Heat

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

MIAMI — Listen, stranger things have happened. It’s sports. Human error is heavily involved. Teams have risen from playoff ashes to recover from 3-1 deficits.Although the Knicks haven’t shown much in the way of chutzpah during this series, they’re still technically just one road victory away from recapturing home court advantage.But before ideas of miracles can be muttered, there are a few problems the Knicks need to figure out.“Every shot we take is contested,” Derrick Rose told the Daily News. “And it’s vice versa for them.”That’s the simplified version from a player, a veteran of 52 playoff games, who has witnessed this entire series from the Knicks bench.Left unsaid are the layered reasons why it’s been so difficult for the Knicks to score and defend.So here are four that best explain why the Knicks trail 3-1 to the Heat. It also can be read as four things Tom Thibodeau’s squad needs to reverse for an improb...

Nathaniel Hackett on taking Jets’ OC job: ‘It just looked like a great staff, a great group of men’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

After being fired last December, Nathaniel Hackett could have sat at home or on a sunny beach drinking Mai Tais and collecting checks from the Broncos.But Hackett was motivated to return to coaching as the Jets’ offensive coordinator a month later for several reasons.“Being with a guy like Robert [Saleh], somebody that I’ve known and other guys that I’ve known on this staff that I knew, [Aaron] Whitecotton, Ron Middleton, to be able to have [Zach] Azzanni join us, Todd Downing, so many different guys — it just looked like a great staff, a great group of men.“But Robert, he’s the guy that I respected for so long after working with him and now what he has done in his career. I have some great memories from when my dad [Paul Hackett] was here. Back then, with Chad Pennington, Curtis Martin, Kevin Mawae and that crew winning the division, those were some great times.“I think all those things added up and I think it made it right for me and...

Man who caught 2 Navy ships nearly colliding ordered to take cameras down

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

SAN DIEGO - The man whose livestream caught two Navy ships nearly colliding in the San Diego Bay has been ordered to take the cameras down. The Navy Criminal Investigative Service says the camera's livestream shows military activity in the area, but the camera owner says he has the right to film. “It might be the San Diego Web Cam today, but if you don't stand up and call foul, we don’t know what's it going to be tomorrow," said Barry Bahrami who runs a group called San Diego Web Cam which provides livestreams across the city. It was Bahrami's video that showed the near collision of two Navy ships at the San Diego Bay back in November. The incident is also commonly referred to as "Warship Chicken" which now stands at the center of a new controversy. "Now we have government censorship simply out of spite because we showed something they didn’t like," said Bahrami. He said the National Park Service has removed two of his cameras at Cabrillo National Monument per the Navy's request, ci...

No set timeline for when full Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service will resume

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. – Pacific Surfliner passengers hoping to travel between San Diego and counties to the north will have to do so with a bus detour between Oceanside and Irvine a while longer.“I was used to how smooth the train would run and I had to figure out how a bus worked, which was not very easy,” said Kylie Acuña.As of now, no one can say how long this latest detour will last.The Orange County Transportation Authority told FOX 5 in a statement Monday there is no timeline set for restarting service, writing:“We at OCTA, working with Metrolink and Pacific Surfliner, and with the city of San Clemente, are working to collect data on the hillside’s movement and reviewing options for being able to keep the debris from the hillside off the tracks. We of course want to reestablish passenger service as soon as possible but safety is always our guide. We will all work together to continue to update passengers as soon as we know more.” 4 castles within driving distance of San Diego Th...

US busts Russian cyber operation in dozens of countries

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:49:43 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had disrupted a long-running Russian cyberespionage campaign that stole sensitive information from computer networks in dozens of countries, including the U.S. and other NATO members.Prosecutors linked the spying operation to a unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, and accused the hackers of stealing documents from hundreds of computer systems belonging to governments of NATO members, an unidentified journalist for a U.S. news organization who reported on Russia, and other select targets of interest to the Kremlin.“For 20 years, the FSB has relied on the Snake malware to conduct cyberespionage against the United States and our allies — that ends today,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said in a statement.The specific targets were not named in court papers, but U.S. officials described the espionage campaign as “consequential,” ha...