Today: September 23, 2024
Today: September 23, 2024

World

World

Group recommends reforms for scandal-plagued Los Angeles city council

Los Angeles should add 10 more city council members, create two independent redistricting commissions and establish a more powerful ethics commission, a panel of academics exploring reforms for the scandal-plagued city government said Thursday. The Los Angeles Governance Reform Project shared its recommendations just days after yet another councilman — the fourth in recent years — was charged with a felony, this time for embezzlement and perjury. The group, made up of academics backed by philanthropists, formed last year after leaked recordings revealed several council members making racist remarks as they discussed redistricting. “I don’t think

June 16, 2023
Group recommends reforms for scandal-plagued Los Angeles city council
World

McIlroy, Koepka shake hands and smile, then turn to chasing down leaders at US Open

They shared a bro handshake and a laugh or two on the first tee box. Then, the odd couple — Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka — started down the fairway in search of solutions for the biggest problem in golf. On Thursday at the U.S. Open, it had nothing to do with Saudi-backed LIV Golf (Koepka’s tour) or the future of the PGA Tour (McIlroy’s). Rather, it was the eight-shot deficit they shared before they’d even put a tee in the ground. McIlroy made some inroads. Koepka didn’t. McIlroy shot 5-under 65 to pull within three

June 16, 2023
McIlroy, Koepka shake hands and smile, then turn to chasing down leaders at US Open
World

Governor signs public funding bill for new A's stadium in Vegas, growing global sports destination

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed into law Thursday a $380 million public financing package to help build a Major League Baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics on the Las Vegas Strip as MLB’s commissioner outlined a months-long approval process for the A’s proposed move there. The first-term Republican governor and former sheriff in Las Vegas said he was excited to sign the measure the Democrat-controlled Legislature approved Wednesday night after a seven-day long special session. “This is an incredible opportunity to bring the A’s to Nevada,” Lombardo said in a statement from Carson City. The $1.5

June 16, 2023
Governor signs public funding bill for new A's stadium in Vegas, growing global sports destination
World

Students meet under trees as schools shelter villagers displaced by Philippine volcano

Nearly 20,000 people have fled from an erupting Philippine volcano and taken shelter in schools, disrupting education for thousands of students, many of whom are having classes in chapels and tents or under trees, officials said Friday. The Mayon volcano in northeastern Albay province, one of the deadliest of 24 active volcanoes across the Philippine archipelago, began expelling lava late Sunday in a gentle eruption that has not caused any injuries or death. But it could drag on for months and cause a prolonged humanitarian crisis, officials warned. Most of those forced to evacuate live in

June 16, 2023
Students meet under trees as schools shelter villagers displaced by Philippine volcano
World

Ohtani gets the win, ties for the MLB HR lead as the Angels beat the Rangers 5-3

Shohei Ohtani pitched six innings for his first victory in five starts and matched the MLB lead with his 22nd homer as the Los Angeles Angels beat the AL West-leading Texas Rangers 5-3 on Thursday night. Ohtani (6-2) had already thrown the last of his 99 pitches before Mickey Moniak’s tying homer leading off the top of the seventh against Nathan Eovaldi (9-3), who lost in his bid to become only the second 10-game winner in the majors this season. Still in the game as the designated hitter, Ohtani hit a two-run homer in the eighth.

June 16, 2023
Ohtani gets the win, ties for the MLB HR lead as the Angels beat the Rangers 5-3
World

US guided-missile submarine arrives in South Korea, a day after North Korea resumes missile tests

The United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea on Friday, a day after North Korea resumed missile tests in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills. The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the first of its kind in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to South Korean officials. With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies

June 16, 2023
US guided-missile submarine arrives in South Korea, a day after North Korea resumes missile tests
World

Heather Mack, convicted in Bali of killing mother, set to plead guilty in US

The daughter of an American woman whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase at an Indonesian resort island is scheduled to appear in Chicago federal court on Friday to change her plea to guilty on charges she helped kill her mother in Bali nine years ago. Heather Mack, 27, was convicted in Indonesia in 2015 of being an accessory to Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s murder with her then-boyfriend in a bid to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund. Mack, then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother’s mouth in a hotel room while Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned

June 16, 2023
Heather Mack, convicted in Bali of killing mother, set to plead guilty in US
World

Pulisic scores twice as US beats Mexico 3-0 in CONCACAF Nations League

Christian Pulisic scored late in the first half and early in the second, Ricardo Pepi added a late goal and the United States beat Mexico 3-0 on Thursday night to reach the CONCACAF Nations League final against Canada. Pulisic made his first start for club or country since April 15, put the U.S. ahead in the 37th minute and doubled the lead in the 46th. He has 25 goals in 59 international appearances, including four goals against Mexico. Pepi scored in the 79th, five minutes after entering. The U.S, and Mexico each finished with nine players

June 16, 2023
Pulisic scores twice as US beats Mexico 3-0 in CONCACAF Nations League
World

California artists, chefs find creative ways to confront destructive 'superbloom' of wild mustard

While ripping out yellow blooms blanketing hillsides in Los Angeles, Max Kingery has been questioned about his fervor for killing flowers. But the clothing designer who used the plants to dye his spring and summer lines said he takes no offense at being accused of pillaging this part of California’s “superbloom.” Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to raise awareness about a destructive flower that proliferated in the state following an unusually wet winter: wild black mustard. Mustard was among the most prominent of wild flowering plants that seemingly popped up everywhere in California this

June 16, 2023
California artists, chefs find creative ways to confront destructive 'superbloom' of wild mustard
World

Thousands of Sudanese fleeing fighting with no travel documents trapped on the border with Egypt

When fighting in Sudan erupted in mid-April, Abdel-Rahman Sayyed and his family tried to hold out hiding in their home in the capital, Khartoum, as the sounds of explosions, gunfights and the roar of warplanes echoed across the city of 6 million people. They lived right by one of the fiercest front lines, near the military’s headquarters in central Khartoum, where the army and a rival paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces, battled for control. Three days into the conflict, a shell hit their two-story home, reducing much of it to rubble. Luckily, Sayyed, his wife and

June 16, 2023
Thousands of Sudanese fleeing fighting with no travel documents trapped on the border with Egypt
World

Drought and rising heat bring unusual wildfire warnings in northern Europe

Summer is wildfire season in southern Europe, but this year the continent’s north is also at risk, with forest fire warnings in effect across the Nordic and Baltic countries. A lack of rain and rising temperatures have led to dangerously dry conditions in the region, leading to worries of a repeat of the summer of 2018 when major wildfires swept across Sweden in particular. Small wildfires are already burning in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland and experts worry it could get much worse unless there’s significant rainfall in coming weeks. Unlike the sun-soaked Mediterranean countries, which have

June 16, 2023
Drought and rising heat bring unusual wildfire warnings in northern Europe
World

A decade after outcry, SeaWorld launches orca-free park in UAE, its first venture outside the US

The U.S. theme park chain SeaWorld, mired in controversy in recent years over its treatment of killer whales and other marine mammals, has opened a massive new aquatic life park in the United Arab Emirates, its first outside the United States. The $1.2 billion venture with state-owned developer Miral features the world’s largest aquarium and a cylindrical LED screen. There are no orcas here, but the park houses animals like dolphins and seals, whose captivity and training for profit and entertainment purposes are also often criticized as unethical by animal rights advocacy groups.

June 16, 2023
A decade after outcry, SeaWorld launches orca-free park in UAE, its first venture outside the US
World

Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Street rally, Tokyo's benchmark at 33-year high

Asian shares logged moderate gains on Friday after Wall Street benchmarks swept higher, extending their longest rally in a year and a half. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index closed at a 33-year high, advancing 0.7% to 33,706.08 after the Bank of Japan wrapped up a policy meeting by keeping its ultra-lax monetary stance unchanged, as expected. It is a standout among central banks, most of which have sought to rein in inflation by raising interest rates. The key Japanese rate has stayed at minus 0.1% for a decade and policymakers have indicated they are not convinced that current

June 16, 2023
Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Street rally, Tokyo's benchmark at 33-year high
World

Pope Francis leaves Rome hospital 9 days after operation; surgeon says 'he's better than before'

Pope Francis on Friday was discharged from the Rome hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring, with his surgeon saying the pontiff is now “better than before” the hospitalization. Francis, 86, left through Gemelli Polyclinic’s main exit in a wheelchair, smiling and waving and saying “thanks” to a crowd of well-wishers, then stood up so he could get into the small Vatican car awaiting him. In the brief distance before he could reach the white Fiat 500, reporters thrust microphones practically at his face, and the pontiff

June 16, 2023
Pope Francis leaves Rome hospital 9 days after operation; surgeon says 'he's better than before'
World

Father admits to fatally shooting 3 young sons at Ohio home, prosecutors say

An Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his three young sons admitted to planning the killings and lined them up before executing them with a rifle, prosecutors said Friday. Chad Doerman, 32, who is also accused of wounding the boys’ mother at the family’s home, has been charged with aggravated murder, authorities said. Clermont County’s chief prosecutor of Municipal Court, David Gast, said during Doerman’s arraignment Friday that one of the boys tried to flee into a nearby field but Doerman “hunted” his son down and brought him back to their home before killing him.

June 16, 2023
Father admits to fatally shooting 3 young sons at Ohio home, prosecutors say
World

Cyclone Biparjoy kills 2, uproots power lines after landfall in India, churns toward Pakistan

Cyclone Biparjoy knocked out power and threw shipping containers into the sea Friday in western India before aiming its lashing winds and rain at part of Pakistan that suffered devastating floods last year. A man and his son died trying to save their livestock in Gujarat state, where the storm came ashore late Thursday after more than 180,000 people took shelter in the two countries. The storm made landfall a night earlier, packing windspeeds of 85 kph (53 mph), gusting up to 105 kph (86 mph) through the coastal regions of western India’s Gujarat state. Pakistani

June 16, 2023
Cyclone Biparjoy kills 2, uproots power lines after landfall in India, churns toward Pakistan
World

Russia accuses Australia of 'Russophobic hysteria' for blocking second embassy on security grounds

Russia accused Australia of “Russophobic hysteria” for canceling the lease on the land where Moscow wanted to build its new embassy, which the Australian government judged to be a security risk because it was too close to Parliament House. Parliament passed emergency legislation blocking the lease Thursday after Russia won a Federal Court appeal last month against local Canberra authorities’ decision to do the same. The Russian Embassy responded on Friday by posting on social media a Russian news agency TASS report of Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s condemnation of Australia’s actions. “Australia, having canceled the lease

June 16, 2023
Russia accuses Australia of 'Russophobic hysteria' for blocking second embassy on security grounds
World

Finland's center-right leader says program for new coalition, including far-right party, is ready

The head of new NATO member Finland’s center-right conservative National Coalition Party is poised Friday to present a four-party agreement to form a governing coalition that includes a far-right anti-immigration party. NCP leader Petteri Orpo, who is expected to become the Nordic nation’s next prime minister, said that four parties had agreed to form a government. Besides NCP, they are the Finns who came in second in the elections, the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People’s Party of Finland. The parties hold 108 seats out of 200 in the Finnish parliament, Eduskunta. After weeks of sounding

June 16, 2023
Finland's center-right leader says program for new coalition, including far-right party, is ready
World

African leaders set to meet with presidents of Ukraine, Russia in bid to end war

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Ukraine on Friday as part of a delegation of African leaders and senior officials seeking ways to end Kyiv’s 15-month war with Russia. Ramaphosa’s press service said that he was met by a Ukrainian special envoy and South Africa’s ambassador at a rail station near Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where bodies of civilians lay scattered in the streets following Russian forces’ withdrawal last spring. The Bucha visit was symbolically significant, as its name has come to stand for the barbarity of Moscow’s military since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine

June 16, 2023
African leaders set to meet with presidents of Ukraine, Russia in bid to end war
World

Final day of search for missing migrants in Greece; hundreds feared dead

Greece’s coast guard launched its third and final day of a search Friday in the area where a large fishing boat crammed with migrants sank, with hundreds of passengers missing and feared dead. The round-the-clock effort continued off the coast of southern Greece despite little hope of finding survivors or bodies after none have been found since Wednesday, when 78 bodies were recovered and 104 people were rescued. Most of the survivors were being moved Friday to migrant shelters near Athens from a storage hangar at the southern port of Kalamata, where relatives also gathered to

June 16, 2023
Final day of search for missing migrants in Greece; hundreds feared dead
World

Bill Gates meets Chinese president Xi Jinping on China visit

Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping just days after a visit to Beijing by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi saying he was happy to see Gates, who he called an “old friend,” after three years without meeting during the pandemic. “I believe that the foundation of Sino-U.S. relations lies in the people,” Xi said to Gates. “Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.” Gates told Xi he was

June 16, 2023
Bill Gates meets Chinese president Xi Jinping on China visit
World

German police appeal for witness footage of attack in which Americans were thrown into Alpine gorge

Police in southern Germany are appealing for further pictures and videos taken by witnesses of an attack near Neuschwanstein castle in which an American man allegedly pushed two women down a steep slope, killing one of them. A suspect was arrested following the attack. German news agency dpa quoted police Friday saying that they have so far only received about a dozen submissions on a specially created website, but assume much more footage was taken by tourists present at the site at the time on Wednesday. “We are looking for photographs which, by chance, show two young

June 16, 2023
German police appeal for witness footage of attack in which Americans were thrown into Alpine gorge
World

Menace to society: galore of illicit drugs available in the EU as powerful new substances emerge

New harmful illicit drugs are inundating a flourishing market for traffickers amid violence and corruption hurting local communities across Europe, the EU’s agency monitoring drugs and addiction said Friday. The grim finding was part of the agency’s annual report. It also said that drug users in Europe are now exposed to a wider range of substances of high purity as drug trafficking and use across the region have quickly returned to pre-COVID 19 pandemic levels. Cannabis remains the most-used illicit substance in Europe, the agency found, with some 22.6 million Europeans over the age of 15 having

June 16, 2023
Menace to society: galore of illicit drugs available in the EU as powerful new substances emerge
World

Mass of rock slides down mountainside above evacuated Swiss village, narrowly misses settlement

A large mass of rock slid down a mountainside above a Swiss village that was evacuated last month, stopping just short of the settlement, authorities said Friday. Brienz, in the southeastern Graubuenden region of Switzerland, was evacuated on May 12 after geology experts warned that the Alpine rock looming over the village could break loose. In recent days, local officials said rock movements on the slope were accelerating. Much of the rock mass tumbled toward Brienz between 11 p.m. and midnight on Thursday night, the local council said. It added that there was no evidence of damage

June 16, 2023
Mass of rock slides down mountainside above evacuated Swiss village, narrowly misses settlement
World

IMF head welcomes Europe's interest rate hikes in campaign against inflation

The head of the International Monetary Fund on Friday praised the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates for the eighth time in a row and its pledge to keep going as long as needed to bring down high inflation. Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the IMF welcomed both the ECB’s quarter-percentage point rate hike Thursday and President Christine Lagarde’s vow that the ECB is “not thinking about pausing.” The bank is trying to lower inflation from 6.1% to its goal of 2%. “Monetary policy should continue to tighten and then remain in restrictive territory

June 16, 2023
IMF head welcomes Europe's interest rate hikes in campaign against inflation

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