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Mexico’s president clarifies that 32 abducted migrants were freed, not rescued

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Migrants from several countries abducted from a bus and held by armed men for days near Mexico’s border with Texas were released by their captors, not rescued as initially reported by authorities, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday.“They decided to let them go,” López Obrador said during his morning press briefing. The 32 migrants — authorities corrected the initial number of 31 after discovering there was a baby among the group that had not been included because it hadn’t purchased a bus ticket — were from Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras and Mexico.The president said that the migrants had been left in the parking lot of a shopping center in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, and that no arrests had been made.Armed and masked men on Saturday stopped the bus on the highway that connects the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros, Federal Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez said Wednesday. They were taken away aboard five vehicles.Organized crime gro...

MetLife Stadium to remove 1,740 seats for 2026 World Cup, officials hoping to host final

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — MetLife Stadium officials plan to remove 1,740 seats to widen the field for World Cup matches as they hope to host the 2026 final but will retain a narrower surface for this year’s Copa América.The stadium in suburban East Rutherford, New Jersey, is among the contenders for the final of the expanded 48-nation, 104-game World Cup on July 19, 2026, along with AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.“I speak on behalf of New Jersey but also as our partner of New York City, do not underestimate how aggressive we’re prepared to be to get the best package of games possible,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said during a telephone interview last fall.FIFA has not set a date for announcing the sites of specific games and could not provide details on renovations at other stadiums, spokesman Lenny Santiago said. For the 1994 tournament, FIFA announced sites of specific games in June 1992, awarding the final to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.Heimo Schirgi, who replaced Colin Sm...

Kia EV9, Toyota Prius and Ford Super Duty pickup win 2024 North American SUV, car and truck awards

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The Kia EV9 large electric SUV won the 2024 North American Utility of the Year award, while the Toyota Prius hybrid took the top car honors, and Ford’s Super Duty pickup won the truck award.The honors, announced Thursday at a meeting of the Automotive Press Association in Detroit, are often used in advertising by automakers. About 50 automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada tested and rated the vehicles based on how much they set new benchmarks for their segment of the automobile market. All of the SUV finalists this year have electric versions including the electrified GV70 small SUV from Genesis, Hyundai’s luxury brand, and the Hyundai Kona and Kona EV. In addition to the Prius and its plug-in version called the Prius Prime, car finalists included Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 EV and the redesigned Honda Accord midsize sedan.Truck finalists included General Motors’ redesigned Chevrolet Colorado midsize pickup and the Chevy Silverado EV pickup.The...

Trump’s lawyers want special counsel Jack Smith held in contempt in 2020 election interference case

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Thursday pressed to have special counsel Jack Smith’s team held in contempt, saying the prosecutors had taken steps to advance the 2020 election interference case against him in violation of a judge’s order last month that temporarily put the case on hold.Citing “outrageous conduct,” the Republican presidential candidate’s attorneys told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., that she should consider holding Smith and two of his prosecutors in contempt for turning over to the defense thousands of pages of evidence and an exhibit list while the case was paused and for filing more than a week later a motion that they said “teems with partisan rhetoric” and “false claims.”“In this manner, the prosecutors seek to weaponize the Stay to spread political propaganda, knowing that President Trump would not fully respond because the Court relieved him of the burdens of litigation during the Stay,”...

Russia and Ukraine exchange long-range attacks as their front-line forces remain bogged down

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian air-launched missiles over Crimea, as both sides in the war pounded each other with long-range aerial strikes while fighting along the front line remained largely deadlocked.One person was wounded by the falling debris of a downed aerial target in Sevastopol, a major port and the largest city on the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula, regional Gov. Mikhail Razvozhayev said.Russian military bloggers posted video of air raid sirens wailing in Sevastopol during the day, and traffic was suspended on the bridge connecting the peninsula, which Moscow seized illegally a decade ago, with Russia’s Krasnodar region. The span is a key supply link for Russia.On Wednesday night, Russia fired two S-300 missiles at central Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which in the past week has come under almost daily aerial attack, according to regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov.One person was killed in Russia’s morning...

New Jersey police seek killer of a Muslim leader outside Newark mosque

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

Police in New Jersey hunted Thursday for the killer of a Muslim leader who was shot outside his mosque before morning prayers, offering cash to anyone who can help them make an arrest. Authorities said they had no evidence that religious hate motivated the imam’s slaying, but vowed to protect people of faith amid soaring reports of bias attacks across the U.S. The killing of Imam Hassan Sharif as he prepared to open the Masjid Muhammad-Newark mosque on Wednesday has generated an intense law enforcement dragnet. The state’s attorney general pledged to assist county and local officials, and the Essex County sheriff announced a $25,000 reward. Sharif’s shooting comes amid intensifying bias incidents against Muslims and Jews since Hamas committed terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, provoking a punishing war in the Gaza Strip. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, recorded more than 2,000 bias inci...

Britney Spears shoots down album rumors, vowing to ‘never return to the music industry’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears is shooting down rumors of a new album, vowing to “never return to the music industry.”At the same time, Spears noted in Wednesday’s Instagram post, she’s still writing music — just for other people.“When I write, I write for fun or I write for other people !!!” she wrote. “I’ve written over 20 songs for other people the past two years !!! I’m a ghostwriter and I honestly enjoy it that way !!!”The Instagram caption, in which she blasted those who “keep saying I’m turning to random people to do a new album,” was paired with a photo of a Guido Reni painting of Salome holding the head of John the Baptist.This isn’t the first time Spears has indicated she’s retiring from releasing her own music. In July 2021, while still under the infamous conservatorship that controlled her life, money and voice for nearly 14 years, her longtime manager Larry Rudolph resigned, saying she had no intention of resuming her career. Just after being ...

1984 murder convictions overturned: Two N.B. men in court today to learn fate

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Two New Brunswick men whose 1984 murder convictions were recently overturned are expected to learn today in court whether they will face trial again.Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie, who were convicted in the Nov. 30, 1983, killing of George Gilman Leeman, are to plead not guilty at the Court of King’s Bench in Saint John.That’s according to Ron Dalton, co-president of Innocence Canada, an organization that advocates for the wrongfully accused and that took up the men’s case.Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani quashed the two second-degree murder convictions last month, saying there was reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred.Dalton’s group has said Gillespie served 21 years of his life sentence in prison, and Mailman served 18 years.Gillespie is 80 years old while Mailman, who is 75, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2023.The Ca...

Uganda gay activist blames knife attack on a worsening climate of intolerance

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A well-known gay rights activist in Uganda who was stabbed by unknown assailants this week attributed the attack to what he described Thursday as a growing intolerance of the LGBTQ+ community fueled by politicians.The climate of intolerance is being exacerbated by “politicians who are using the LGBTQ+ community as a scapegoat to move people away from what is really happening in the country,” Steven Kabuye said in an interview from a hospital bed on the outskirts of Kampala.Two attackers on a motorcycle tried to stab Kabuye in the neck on Wednesday, and when he tried to shield himself the attackers stabbed him in the right arm and stomach, police said. A video posted on the social media platform X shows Kabuye on the ground writhing in pain with a deep wound to his right arm and a knife stuck in his belly.Kabuye said Thursday that he believes the attackers were trying not just to wound him, but to kill him, and that he fears his enemies might even target him in...

Teck Resources says Quebrada Blanca copper production below guidance for 2023

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 06:34:17 GMT

VANCOUVER — Teck Resources Ltd. says production for 2023 at its Quebrada Blanca mine fell short of its guidance due to reliability and consistency issues in the fourth quarter.The Vancouver-based miner says copper production from QB, excluding copper cathode, totalled 56,200 tonnes compared with the bottom end of its guidance range for 80,000 tonnes for 2023. Fourth quarter production was 35,000 tonnes.Teck says its focus in the fourth quarter was on achieving reliable and consistent operations at QB, but that it took longer than expected. It added that the operations were working near design capacity by the end of December.On the steelmaking coal side of its operations, Teck says sales in the fourth quarter totalled 6.1 million tonnes, near the top end of its guidance.Teck’s realized steelmaking coal price in the fourth quarter averaged US$270 per tonne. The company is expected to provide its full 2023 production results and 2024 guidance on Jan. 16 and report its fourth-quar...