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Friend warned police Americans feared missing in Mexico

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

LAKE CITY, S.C. (AP) — The frantic effort to rescue four Americans taken captive in Mexico in a kidnapping that left two of them dead came after a fifth person traveling with the group contacted police when they did not return to the U.S. side as expected.Cheryl Orange, who did not cross into Mexico with the others, told The Associated Press in a text message that her three friends were supposed to return within 15 minutes after dropping off their companion, Latavia McGee, for cosmetic surgery in the Mexican border city of Matamoros on Friday.Orange stayed behind at a motel in Brownsville, Texas, and said she grew concerned as the hours passed and she did not hear from the others.The five friends had driven a rented minivan from South Carolina on Thursday to the southern tip of Texas, according to a police report based on Orange’s account. Four of them left Friday morning around 8 a.m. to go to Mexico.Orange’s statements and the report offers the most detailed account so...

Japan revises GDP to nearly flat, showing fragile recovery

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy grew at an annual pace of 0.1% in October-December, in a downgrade from an earlier 0.6% increase, showing how the world’s third-largest economy was barely eking out growth.The Cabinet Office’s revised figure for seasonally adjusted gross domestic product, or GDP, for the last three months of 2022 showed growth on quarter was flat, down from an earlier estimate given in February at 0.2% growth.The annual rate shows what the growth would have been if the on-quarter rate continues for a year.Domestic demand shrank 0.3%, worse than the earlier release, showing a 0.2% decline, according to the data released Thursday. Public demand stood unchanged from the initial figure at plus 0.3%.The latest numbers underline Japan’s fragile recovery, although the easing of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic has helped.Japan has struggled over a shortage of imported parts from China, and the rest of Asia, such as computer chips for the auto industry, as well a...

UN: Afghanistan is world’s most repressive country for women

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the country has become the most repressive in the world for women and girls, deprived of virtually all their basic rights, the United Nations said in grim assessments on International Women’s Day.The U.N. Mission said in a statement Thursday that Afghanistan’s new rulers have shown an almost “singular focus on imposing rules that leave most women and girls effectively trapped in their homes.”Despite initial promises of a more moderate stance, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since seizing power as U.S. and NATO forces were in the final weeks of their pullout from Afghanistan after two decades of war.Girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade and women are barred from working, studying, traveling without a male companion, and even going to parks or bath houses. Women must also cover themselves from head to toe and are barred from working at national and international non-governmental organizatio...

Officials to transfer animals, drop probe on Puerto Rico zoo

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal authorities said Wednesday they are dropping all investigations into Puerto Rico’s lone zoo where various species have died, saying the decision came after reaching an agreement with local officials to transfer the animals to sanctuaries on the U.S. mainland.The announcement angered many activists who have long fought to have the U.S. territory’s government held responsible for the deaths and ill health of animals reported for more than a decade at the Dr. Juan A. Rivero Zoo in the western town of Mayaguez.“We cannot change what happened in the past,” U.S. Attorney Stephen Muldrow said. “Animals died.” However, he stressed that going to court would only delay the transfer of the zoo’s remaining animals, which number some 300 and range from a tarantula to a lone elephant.“The wellbeing of the animals is the number one priority,” Muldrow said at a press conference.He added that violations at the zoo spanned “many years,” with “different administrat...

Al-Qaida suspect transferred from US prison to Saudi Arabia

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military officials said Wednesday they had returned a suspected al-Qaida operative long held at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to his home country, Saudi Arabia.Ghassan al Sharbi’s transfer was the latest aimed at emptying the Guantanamo military prison of those detainees who have either never been charged or have finished their sentences following the U.S. military’s global roundup of extremist suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.U.S. officials over the years depicted al Sharbi as a loyal al-Qaida supporter and collaborator. Al Sharbi featured in a now famous memo by a Phoenix FBI agent — little heeded at the time — who correctly warned months before the 9/11 attacks that Middle Eastern students appeared to be taking flying lessons for the purpose of attacks involving civil aviation.The U.S. says al Sharbi fled to Pakistan after the Sept. 11 attacks for training in bomb-making. He was arrested there the ne...

Don’t expect a biopic: ‘BlackBerry’ filmmakers on walking a line of fact and fiction

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

TORONTO — When the Canadian filmmakers behind “BlackBerry” set out to make a feature-length movie about the beloved smartphone’s meteoric rise and fall, they weren’t necessarily interested in getting all the facts right.Even though their project was named after the Waterloo, Ont., invention that forever changed how we communicate, both the director and co-writer say they were less interested in the device itself than the story of the three men who grew a pocket-sized idea into a gargantuan success.Director and co-writer Matt Johnson said, unlike other major technology companies that have dominated the conversation in recent years, BlackBerry’s history hasn’t been told in documentaries or TV miniseries.The absence of a familiar narrative gave him and his team a “blank slate” to draft their own versions of former co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie.“We got to get there first in terms of saying who they really were without there being a whole bunch of...

JPMorgan sues former exec over ties to Epstein sex abuse

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase sued its former executive Jes Staley on Wednesday, alleging that he aided in hiding Jeffrey Epstein’s yearslong sex abuse and trafficking in order to keep the financier as a client.The New York bank seeks to hold Staley personally liable for any financial penalties that JPMorgan may have to pay in two related cases. It is also seeking to force Staley to pay back any wages he earned during the time he allegedly was aware of the abuse.“In light of Staley’s intentional and outrageous conduct in failing to disclose pertinent information and abandoning (JPMorgan’s) interests in favor of his own and Epstein’s personal interests, (the bank) is entitled to punitive damages,” the bank said in its lawsuit.A lawyer for Staley had no comment on the JPMorgan’s lawsuit.JPMorgan’s lawsuit was filed after the bank was sued by the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as by a woman identified as Jane Doe, who was allegedly abused by Epstein. Those l...

Japan’s Nissan slashing EV costs, cuts rare materials use

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automaker Nissan is revving up its electrification shift and slashing costs by using the same components across models and reducing use of expensive rare materials. Nissan Motor Co. presented its “X-in-1” development strategy Thursday, in which the X stands for various powertrain parts such as an electric motor and inverter that can be used across models. The company said development and manufacturing costs will be reduced by 30% in 2026 compared to 2019 levels. The Yokohama-based automaker was a pioneer in electric vehicles but rivals like Tesla and BYD of China have overtaken it. As the move toward ecological models gains momentum around the world, driven by worries over climate change, Nissan has been eager to showcase its prowess. Its senior vice president, Toshihiro Hirai, acknowledged that prices of rare earths and other materials needed to make electric vehicle batteries and other parts are expected to rise in coming years. That means automakers must hav...

‘100% preventable,’ say families calling for change after deadly B.C. tug sinking

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

VANCOUVER — Family members of two men who died when a tugboat sank off British Columbia’s northern coast are pushing for federal government action after the Transportation Safety Board concluded the accident highlighted “major systemic issues in the transportation industry.”Troy Pearson, the 58-year-old pilot, and 25-year-old crew member Charley Cragg died in the water after the tug Ingenika sank in February 2021. A third crewman made it to the life raft and was rescued hours later.In a report released Wednesday, the safety board issued four recommendations, including that Transport Canada begin regular inspections of tugs of 15 gross tonnesor less and require risk assessments on the smaller boats.It also called for improvements to the waiver system required to pilot a tug.  The Pacific Pilot Authority, the Crown corporation that maintains safe pilot service in B.C.’s coastal waters, had implemented a process where some vessels, mostly tugs and barges, could obtain...

Chicago police: 15-year-old boy shot in the chest in Auburn Gresham

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:41:14 GMT

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was shot in the chest Wednesday evening in Auburn Gresham, according to Chicago police.Around 6:25 p.m., Chicago police said the boy was walking with someone else when shots were fired. Police haven't specified who fired shots or what may have led to the shooting. 3 children, woman critically injured in fire at home of Chicago firefighter: sources The boy was taken to Comer Children's Hospital in critical condition, according to the Chicago Police Department. Candlelight vigil honors victims killed in Bolingbrook home invasion No one has been arrested yet in connection with the incident. Area Two detectives are still investigating.