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Thousands of athletes gather at Carson Beach to swim, bike and run the Boston Triathlon

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

Thousands of athletes are gathering on Carson Beach in South Boston to run, swim and back as a part of the Boston Triathlon.Racers took off Sunday morning, marking the 15th year of the race. More than 20,000 athletes are competing from all 50 states and 36 different countries.Among the competitors is 12-year-old Eshe Stockton of Rhode Island, who is competing in the adults race. Stockton, who placed third in the Under-19 sprint race last year, said she wants to be an Olympian one day.“I want to become professional and go to the Olympics,” Stockton said. “I want to inspire kids my age and maybe adults that aren’t too as active.”The Boston Triathlon kids race took place Saturday, which Race Director Michael O’Neil said is an important part of the organization.. “We are open to everyone, and we invite them in and we help them whether it’s teaching them to swim, whether it’s helping coaching them to bike, whether it’s learning how to run,” O’Neil said....

Pastor urges sadness, not rage, after white shooter kills 3 Black people in Florida

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The pastor of a church near the site of the racist fatal shooting of three Black people told congregants Sunday to follow Jesus Christ’s example and keep their sadness from turning to rage. The Saturday shooting came on the same day thousands visited Washington, D.C., to attend the Rev. Al Sharpton’s 60th anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” speech. The latest in a long history of American racist killings was at the forefront of Sunday services at St. Paul AME Church about 3 miles from the crime scene.“Our hearts are broken,” the Rev. Willie Barnes told about 100 congregants Sunday morning. “If any of you are like me, I’m fighting trying to not be angry.”The choir sang “Amazing Grace” before ministers said prayers for the victims’ families and the broader community. Congregants with heads bowed answered with amens from the pews.A ma...

Austrian police find 53 people apparently headed for Germany in a small truck

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities on Sunday found 53 people apparently headed for Germany crammed into a small truck that was stopped in the Austrian city of Linz.Four men were in the cabin of the vehicle when it was stopped on Sunday morning, one of whom fled on foot after getting out of the vehicle, police said. He was arrested, as were three others, on suspicion of smuggling.In the truck’s cargo compartment, officers found the 53 people, including small children. Most of them were from Turkey, police said.The smuggling suspects were three Turkish nationals aged between 18 and 28 and another man whose identity has yet to be established.Police didn’t give details of the migrants’ journey, but in recent years authorities have repeatedly found large numbers of people crammed into vehicles that brought them across the Balkans to Austria.The Associated Press

At Japanese nuclear plant, controversial treated water release just the beginning of decommissioning

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — At a small section of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s central control room in northeastern Japan, the treated water transfer switch is on. A graph on a computer monitor nearby shows a steady decrease of water levels as treated radioactive wastewater is diluted and released into the Pacific Ocean.In the coastal area of the plant, two seawater pumps are in action, gushing torrents of seawater through sky blue pipes into the big header where the treated water, which comes down through a much thinner black pipe from the hilltop tanks, gets diluted by hundreds of times before the release. The sound of the treated and diluted radioactive water flowing into an underground secondary pool was heard from beneath the ground during Sunday’s first plant tour for media, including The Associated Press, since the controversial release began.“The best way to eliminate the contaminated water is to remove the melted fuel debris,” said Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdin...

Man killed, several injured in overnight shooting in Louisville

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky (AP) — A shooting near a Louisville restaurant and bar early Sunday left one man dead and five others injured by gunshots, according to police.Police arrived at the scene in downtown Louisville around 3 a.m. and found a man dead, Louisville Police Maj. Shannon Lauder told media near the scene. Another man wounded by gunfire was transported to a hospital and was in critical condition Sunday morning. Four other people suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and another man was hurt in a fall, according to media reports. There have been no arrests in the shooting. Lauder urged anyone with information about the shooting to call police.The shooting occurred near the Southern Restaurant & Lounge on Third Street in the city’s downtown area. Police were continuing to investigate Sunday morning.The Associated Press

Students begin task of moving into university residences this weekend

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

A large number of students are beginning the process of moving into campus dorm rooms this weekend for the upcoming school year. Humber College students will be heading to the North and Lakeshore campuses today to claim their room keys with the college saying it expects 1,500 students throughout the coming week. Toronto Metropolitan University says it expects around 1,000 first-year students to claim their dorm keys starting today at one of the university’s three residences. This weekend begins orientation week for new post-secondary students at TMU with the university making its annual world record attempt for the loudest scream on Monday.Move in day for first-year students at York University began on Saturday with the school putting out an information sheet for students indicating that storage is limited in residence, and to bring only the essentials. York University packing list infographic. YORK UFor those students opting to forgo the campus experience, at least one Ontari...

Biden’s commerce secretary is the latest Cabinet member to visit China in a bid for improved ties

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is the latest member of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet to visit China as his administration tries to mend the deteriorating ties between the world’s two largest economies. She promises to be “practical” without compromising the U.S. push to “responsibly” manage that economic relationship.Raimondo plans meetings with Chinese officials and U.S. business leaders in Beijing and Shanghai in an effort to “promote a healthy competition, a competition on a level playing field, playing by the rules.”“I’m also very realistic and clear-eyed about the challenges. And the challenges are significant,” she told reporters before leaving Washington on Saturday on a trip that ends Wednesday.The secretary said she wants to find “actionable, concrete steps where we can move forward on the commercial relationship,” but she offered few details. One matter to be discussed is promoting Chinese travel and tourism to the United States, with Raimondo not...

‘It’s really hard’: Ukrainian grandmother lonely but happy family is in Canada

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

Galyna Danyliuk knew she would miss her daughter and grandsons when they fled to Canada shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, but she felt it was best she stay behind to protect their family home.The 68-year-old hairdresser lives in Rivne, with a population of 240,000,  about 330 kilometres west of the capital of Kyiv.“It’s been a little bit lonely but I’m in a safe place,” Danyliuk told The Canadian Press through an interpreter.“I really want to see them, but it’s hard, it’s really hard. I feel like I’m alone. I know they are safe, but right now they are on the other side of the world,” she added.Danyliuk’s daughter Kateryna Stepanchuk and her two sons, ages 12 and 16, left Ukraine last year, just months after the Russian invasion.She and her son-in-law Anatolly Stepanchuk remain behind.“I cannot leave my household and all of this here in Ukraine because my daughter’s husband is left here in Ukraine and he̵...

Wildland firefighters battle mental health, labour challenges atop deadly blazes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

Two-week work cycles. Shifts that can last up to 18 hours. Sleeping in tents or gymnasiums far from home. Dangerous and unpredictable work environments. Those are the working conditions for many wildland firefighters across the country as Canada contends with a record wildfire season. With climate change expected to worsen wildfires in the future, some firefighters say gruelling labour conditions and associated mental health challenges are taking a toll on the workforce. “There’s no question that we are seeing burnout,” said Steve Lemon, safety and well-being officer with the BC Wildfire Service. Officials have called this wildfire season unprecedented, with more than 137,000 square kilometres of land scorched to date — more than six times the 10-year average. Tens of thousands have had to flee their communities under evacuation orders, homes and businesses have been destroyed, and four wildland firefighters have been killed on the job this season. There’s li...

Canadian banks face squeeze between climate expectations, market pressures

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:08:16 GMT

TORONTO — In May, Canadian banks offered support to those affected by an early wave of wildfires in Alberta. In June, they extended the offer to those hit in Nova Scotia, and some expanded it further as fires also raged in Quebec and Ontario. This past week, banks said they would again offer support, through donations and potential payment deferrals, this time to help Canadians reeling from fires in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia.But while banks recognize that Canadians are living through a wildfire season like no other, activists say they aren’t delivering where they’re most needed: on efforts against the climate change trends making the infernos worse.“The Arctic is on fire at the same time as Hawaii, and a hurricane has hit Baja California for the first time in 90 years — what more will it take to get our banks to take the right actions?” said Stand.earth climate finance director Richard Brooks. The group has long been pushing for banks to direct money away ...