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Spain announces new department to study effects of very hot weather on health

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain sweltered in its first official heat wave of the year on Monday as the government announced a new department to investigate and alleviate the effects of extreme temperatures on human health.The state weather agency, AEMET, said temperatures were predicted to hit 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in the country’s south during the hot spell, expected to last until Thursday, and noted that heat waves have become more common during the month of June over the last 12 years.Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said the country’s rising temperatures put vulnerable populations at risk, and more work is needed to understand how to prepare for longer, hotter summers. “We must investigate what happens to our bodies in response to the effects of climate change, in order to mitigate the consequences on our health,” Ribera said.The proposal to create the new department, called the Observatory for Health and Climate Change, will be presented to SpainR...

Police have questioned person of interest in shooting that killed 3 in Kansas City

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A person of interest has been questioned in a weekend shooting that killed three people and wounded several more in Kansas City, police said. Responding officers found two men and a woman dead from gunshot wounds at around 4:30 a.m. Sunday in a parking lot where a crowd had gathered, near an auto shop known to host informal after-hours get-togethers, police said. At least five others thought to be wounded there were taken by private vehicles and ambulances to various hospitals, police said. Police said Sunday that another person was wounded in a separate shooting blocks away at about 3 a.m. No additional information in that shooting has been released.Homicide detectives identified a person of interest in the shooting near the auto shop and took a man into custody in Grandview, Missouri, just after 5 p.m. Sunday, according to Officer Jacob Becchina, a police spokesperson. The man’s name was not released, and no charges were reported by Monday morning.Kan...

DeSantis unveils an aggressive immigration and border security policy that largely mirrors Trump’s

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis promised to end birthright citizenship, finish building the southern border wall and send U.S. forces into Mexico to combat drug cartels as part of an aggressive — and familiar — immigration policy proposal he laid out Monday in a Texas border city.The sweeping immigration plan is the Florida governor’s first detailed policy release as a 2024 contender and represents a long-established wish list of Republican immigration proposals that largely mirrors former President Donald Trump’s policies. Much of DeSantis’ plan faces tall odds, requiring the reversal of legal precedents, approval from other countries or even an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Still, DeSantis projected confidence on Monday as he slapped at Democrats and Republicans in announcing his new plan, which he detailed further in Eagle Pass, Texas, a community of about 30,000 people set along the U.S.-Mexico border.“For decades, ...

Supreme Court dismisses case in which Democratic lawmakers sued over Trump hotel lease

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a case it had planned to hear about limits on lawsuits filed by members of Congress against the federal government, in a dispute that involved the former Trump International Hotel in Washington.The justices threw out a federal appeals court ruling that had allowed a lawsuit by Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee to continue. The court’s decision Monday had been sought by the Biden Justice Department, which had worried that the appeals court ruling, if let stand, could lead to a flood of lawsuits from individual members of Congress against the administration.The had lawmakers filed their complaint in 2017 over the Trump administration’s refusal to turn over information about the Trump Organization’s lease of the hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Capitol.The high court’s action was prompted by the decision of the Democratic lawmakers, earlier in June, to voluntar...

Conservative Mitsotakis sworn in as Greece’s prime minister while far-right sees election surge

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Center-right leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was formally sworn in as Greece’s prime minister Monday after easily winning a second term with a record-high margin over the left-wing opposition but also facing a Parliament that includes lawmakers from new far-right parties.With 99.7% of the vote counted, Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party had 40.55% — more than twice the main opposition Syriza party’s 17.84%. It was the largest margin of victory in a Greek election in a half-century and slightly expanded New Democracy’s 20-percentage-point lead in an election held five weeks earlier.Mitsotakis, 55, was sworn in after Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou formally gave him the mandate to govern.“My aim was to secure a stable government with a parliamentary majority. Unfortunately, two elections were needed for that,” he said in a televised meeting with Sakellaropoulou, who as head of state holds a mainly ceremonial role.“I have...

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets lower

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

TORONTO — Strength in energy stocks helped Canada’s main stock index gain more than 100 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were in the red.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 140.19 points at 19,558.42.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 52.42 points at 33,675.01. The S&P 500 index was down 7.22 points at 4,341.11, while the Nasdaq composite was down 44.37 points at 13,448.15.The Canadian dollar traded for 76.00 cents US compared with 75.76 cents US on Friday.The August crude contract was up 12 cents at US$69.28 per barrel and the August natural gas contract was up three cents at US$2.87 per mmBTU.The August gold contract was up US$5.50 at US$1,935.10 an ounce and the September copper contract was down two cents at US$3.80 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

El Salvador’s president registers for reelection despite constitutional objections

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele registered for reelection in next year’s contest, his party announced Monday, despite objections from legal experts and opposition figures who say the country’s constitution prohibits his candidacy.Bukele’s New Ideas party announced his registration and that of Vice President Felix Ulloa via Twitter Monday.“New Ideas are invincible,” the party wrote.Bukele is popular in El Salvador but considered controversial internationally. He announced in September that he planned to seek a second five-year term. That came after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, handpicked by his supporters in congress, ruled in 2021 that his candidacy for reelection was permitted and ordered the electoral court to allow it.Constitutional lawyers, however, have maintained that Bukele’s candidacy would violate at least four articles of the constitution, including article 154, which states: “The presidential term will be five ...

Where to pick Matvei Michkov and other Russian players is a top question at the NHL draft

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

Matvei Michkov is the NHL draft’s man of mystery.The gifted, playmaking winger is probably the best Russian hockey prospect in nearly a decade — and maybe longer, going back to Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin in 2005. His highlight reel is full of shifty stickwork, nifty moves and shots that leave goaltenders helpless to stop them.Still, he’s no lock to be chosen in the top five. The reasons range from the 18-year-old Michkov being under contract in the KHL for three more years to the war in Ukraine, which has led to Russia being banned from international tournaments, countries imposing travel restrictions and scouts getting fewer opportunities to see him in person. Some of the same questions apply to other Russian prospects including winger Danil But, defenseman Mikhail Gulyayev and goaltender Ruslan Khazheyev.Veteran executive Doug Armstrong likened the situation to the Cold War, when it was harder to evaluate talent from the Soviet Union.“This year’s dynamic is differ...

EU auditors fears reaching ambitious climate targets will run into financial problems

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s auditing agency warned Monday that there might not be sufficient financing available to meet the bloc’s ambitious climate targets. The warning from the Court of Auditors comes as the 27-nation bloc is already struggling to live up to image as the global leader in working toward climate neutrality because of a political fight in the EU legislature to push through environmental protection measures. In a 63-page report, the court also noted that the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, did not include all greenhouse gas emissions in its tallies, which might lead to overly optimistic statistics. The report’s authors also found some of the commission’s accounting too opaque. Regarding its finding on financing, the court said that 30% of the 2021-2027 budget was to be spent on climate action, or about 87 billion euros ($95 billion) a year. “This amount is less than 10% of the total investment needed to reach the 20...

Trudeau notes concern over effects of Russia’s ‘internal challenges’ while in Iceland

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:34:53 GMT

VESTMANNAEYJAR, ICELAND — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined the leaders of Nordic countries on Monday in expressing concern over the potential effects of this weekend’s short-lived uprising in Russia, while stressing that their support for Ukraine remains steadfast.“We had obviously very serious conversations about possible implications of the internal challenges that Russia is facing,” Trudeau said at a joint news conference with Nordic prime ministers in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, where he was a special guest at their annual meeting.“It is their internal challenges,” he said. “But our strength in continuing to stand for Ukraine … to defend the values of democracy and openness and territorial integrity and sovereignty that define not just our approaches, but the United Nations’ approach to the rules-based order, remains consistent.”A brief armed revolt in Russia over the weekend by Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the mercenary paramilit...