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Quake damages hospital, sends Indonesians racing to highland

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong undersea earthquake early Tuesday sent streams of people fleeing to higher ground in western Indonesia before the tsunami danger passed.Footage released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed streams of people in a village on Mentawai Island fled to the highlands by foot and motorcycles under the rain in darkness, while some patients at the village’s hospital were evacuated to its yard as cracks showed in the facility’s floor.The shocks were felt in districts and cities of West Sumatra and North Sumatra provinces, and some places ordered evacuations to higher ground.Residents in parts of West Sumatra province, including the provincial capital of Padang, felt the earthquake strongly for about 30 seconds, agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.“Many residents in several villages on Mentawai island chose to stay displaced in higher ground although the tsunami alert was ended due to fears of aftershocks,” he said, adding that authorities were...

Biden to unveil new efforts to protect S. Korea from nukes

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will use this week’s celebratory state visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to underscore that the U.S. is ready to step up its efforts to deter a North Korean attack on South Korea, according to the White House.Biden will announce specific new nuclear deterrence efforts as well as a new cyber security initiative, economic investments and an educational partnership, part of an effort to highlight the breadth and depth of the two countries’ relationship as they mark the 70th anniversary of their alliance, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.White House officials say Biden hopes to put a particular emphasis on the United States’ “iron clad” commitment to deterring nuclear action by North Korea as Pyongyang has stepped up ballistic missile tests, including flight-testing a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time earlier this month. The recent test is seen as a possible breakth...

Mexico charges 2 men in activists’ disappearance

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in Mexico said Monday they have charged two men in the Jan. 15 disappearance of two environmental and community activists in a dangerous corner of western Mexico. Lawyer Ricardo Lagunes and schoolteacher Antonio Díaz have been missing for over three months. Their bullet-ridden truck was found a road near the iron-ore mining town of Aquila, in the western state of Michoacan. Federal prosecutors did not say whether the two were still alive, nor did they specify what evidence led them to charge the two suspects. A prosecution spokesman did not answer messages seeking clarification.Both suspects have been ordered to stand trial on charges of “disappearance,” defined as an abduction in which the victim isn’t heard from again. The TDT Network, a rights group, said one of the suspects was a leader of a faction of farmers in the Indigenous community of Aquila. It said the suspect — who was identified only by his first name, José, in keeping with Mexican legal ...

Australians and New Zealanders recall war dead on Anzac Day

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

Hundreds of thousands of Australians gathered at dawn services and veterans’ street marches across the nation on Tuesday to commemorate their war dead on Anzac Day as recent events focused minds on the cost of war and the new threat of China’s rapid military buildup.Australia and New Zealand commemorate Anzac Day every April 25 — the date in 1915 when the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, in northwest Turkey, in an ill-fated campaign that was the soldiers’ first combat of World War I.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke to more than 30,000 people who gathered at the Australian War Memorial in the national capital Canberra for the first Anzac Day since his government was elected almost a year ago.“Gallipoli is just one battle in our history, but in all its stories of valor and resilience, in its simple truth of Australians looking out for each other no matter how bad things got, it has come to stand for something so much bigger in our collectiv...

UN chief: Haiti’s gang violence nears conflict, help needed

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief urged the immediate deployment of an international armed force in Haiti to stem escalating gang violence and the country’s worst human rights crisis in decades, warning in a new report that insecurity in the capital “has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict.”Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued an urgent appeal for a specialized armed force to stop the crisis in Latin America’s poorest country last October at the request of Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the country’s Council of Ministers. But at a U.N. Security Council meeting in January neither the United States, which has been criticized for previous interventions in Haiti, nor Canada showed any interest in leading such a force, and there are no signs that opposition has changed. The international community has instead opted to impose sanctions and send military equipment and other resources.Guterres reiterated in a report to the Security Council circulated M...

As sand miners prosper in Uganda, a vital lake basin suffers

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

LWERA WETLAND, Uganda (AP) — The excavator grunts in the heart of the wetland, baring its teeth. There are trucks waiting to be loaded with sand, and more almost certainly on the way. This is how it is here daily in Lwera — a central Ugandan region on the fringes of Lake Victoria: a near-constant demand for sand that’s exerting pressure on a wetland that’s home to locals and animals and feeds into Africa’s largest freshwater lake.Lwera is a breeding ground for fish, serves as a stop for migratory birds and can store vast amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide underground. The wetland stretches more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) astride the highway from the Ugandan capital Kampala into the western interior. It has long been worked over by sand miners, both legal and illegal, motivated by demand from the construction industry. Now, all known corporate operations within the wetland have authorization to be there, giving them a measure of legitimacy that’s frustrating environmen...

LA’s big Armenian community marks genocide remembrance day

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The killing and deportation of Armenians by Ottoman Empire forces in the early 1900s was remembered Monday in Southern California, home to an enormous Armenian American community that only recently has been able to celebrate U.S. recognition that the systematic oppression was genocide.Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was marked in the Los Angeles region by big rallies and marches long before 2021, when President Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to use the word “genocide” to describe the campaign of violence.For decades, the White House had avoided using using the term for fear of alienating Turkey, the successor to the Ottoman Empire and a NATO ally. The government of Turkey vehemently rejected Biden’s use of the word. Biden on Monday issued a statement renewing a pledge to never forget.“On April 24, 1915, Ottoman authorities arrested Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople — the start of a systematic campaign of violence aga...

'A slap on the wrist': Community activists blast charges for teens involved in stolen vehicle crash that killed infant

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

CHICAGO — Eight days after a crash involving a stolen car claimed the life of a 6-month-old boy, community activists are demanding action and accountability after the two teens accused of being involved were only charged with misdemeanors. Andrew Holmes not only called on State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office for answers but questioned why the crash occurred. “You took that baby’s life. You took the breath out of that baby. For what? All because you wanted to joyride and steal somebody’s car," Holmes said. 6-month-old dies after crash involving stolen vehicle on West Side Also injured in the crash that claimed the life of 6-month-old Cristian Uvida were the infant's two older sisters and mother. "She has to close a casket. You all opened up a door, got in that door, and took off," Holmes said. Police said the crash happened around 5 p.m. Sunday, April 16, in the 4400 block of West Washington. A stolen Hyundai was traveling westbound on Washington when it struck a pickup truck."...

One dead after shooting at Oklahoma college; suspect in custody

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. (KFOR) - A man is dead and another is in custody after a shooting put an Oklahoma college on lockdown Monday.The shooting happened near Rose State College's humanities building, according to authorities. The two-year college has about 13,000 students and is just outside Oklahoma City. Midwest City Police Chief Sid Porter said the alleged shooter, 30-year-old Brandon Morrissette, and the victim, a 20-year-old man, knew each other "through a domestic situation."According to authorities, Morrissette’s wife and the unidentified victim, both students at Rose State College, appeared to have been walking out of the campus building together when they were confronted by Morrissette. ‘This is a lot of trauma:’ Rose State College community left shaken after shooting He then allegedly shot at the 20-year-old victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Midwest City Police officers on campus quickly found and confronted Morrissette, who they said complied with orders and ...

CPD: 14-year-old girl missing from East Side neighborhood found safe

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:21:13 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department was seeking the public's help in finding an at-risk missing 14-year-old girl who was last seen in the City's East Side neighborhood.Mackenzie Wychocki, 14.Police said Mackenzie Wychocki was last seen around 1 p.m. Monday in the 3500 block of East 114th Street. She is in possession of a Ventra fare card, which was last used on a 30 South Chicago CTA Bus. She was found safe around 9:17 p.m., according to police.