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Protesters arrested in Kenya as the opposition rallies against new taxes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — More than 20 anti-government protesters were arrested in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Friday as other parts of the country also witnessed demonstrations called by the opposition against newly imposed taxes.Hundreds of protesters turned up in Nairobi, as well as in the coastal city of Mombasa and the lakeside city of Kisumu where the opposition enjoys huge support, but were dispersed by police who fired tear gas canisters at them. The protesters had lit bonfires and barricaded some major roads.Nairobi police commander Adamson Bungei told The Associated Press on Friday that “more than 20 people had been arrested by midday” but did not disclose what charges they will face.The opposition had called for the demonstrations to protest the newly imposed taxes on petroleum products, salaried workers and businesses.Opposition leader Raila Odinga last week announced “civil disobedience” asking his followers not to pay the new taxes.The implementation of the newly signed l...

Countries agree to slash shipping emissions but not enough to stay within warming limits

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

Maritime nations agreed Friday to slash emissions from the shipping industry to net zero by about 2050 in a deal that some experts and nations say falls short of what’s needed to curb warming to agreed temperature limits. Negotiators at the meeting of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization in London, seen as key to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, rubber-stamped a deal for shipping emissions to reach net zero “by or around” 2050.The plan also calls for shipping emissions to be slashed by at least 20% but aiming for 30% by 2030 and at least 70% but working toward 80% by 2040 despite a push from Pacific nations for more ambitious targets. Experts calculate the industry must cut its emissions by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 to keep on track with 1.5 C temperature goal.Environmentalists and some nations pushing for more ambitious targets are unhappy with the deal, which doesn’t se...

Man who served 13 years for murder is acquitted at a retrial in Germany

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A man who spent 13 years in prison in Germany for the death of an elderly woman was acquitted in a retrial on Friday by a court that determined that the supposed murder victim had died in an accident.Manfred Genditzki, 63, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2010 by a Munich court. Judges ruled then that he had hit an 87-year-old woman on the head in October 2008 after an argument at her apartment in the upscale Bavarian lakeside town of Rottach-Egern and then drowned her in a bathtub.Genditzki, who worked as a caretaker at the complex where the woman lived, always insisted that he was innocent and appealed unsuccessfully against the original verdict. He fought for years to get a retrial, which he secured last August.Announcing the verdict at the Munich state court on Friday, presiding Judge Elisabeth Ehrl told Genditzki, “You have heard the words you spent nearly 14 years waiting for.” She said he will have to be compensated for the time he wron...

Muslims across Pakistan hold anti-Sweden rallies to denounce burning of Islam’s holy book

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Muslims in Pakistan were holding rallies on Friday to observe a “Day of the Sanctity of Quran” after the South Asian Islamic nation’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a call for anti-Sweden protests over last week’s burning of the Islamic holy book in Stockholm.The biggest anti-Sweden rallies were expected in the eastern city of Lahore and in Karachi, the largest city in the country. In the capital, Islamabad, lawyers holding copies of the Quran protested in front of the Supreme Court, while worshippers outside mosques held small rallies, demanding the severing of diplomatic ties with Sweden.A group of minority Christians in the northwest also held a rally to denounce the burning of the Quran.Supporters of Pakistan’s main radical Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party are holding rallies in the country’s all major cities, including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta to denounce the burning of the Quran.Anger has grown in Muslim countries si...

Earth sets unofficial heat record for 3rd time this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

Earth's average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record.The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17.23 degrees Celsius), surpassing the 62.9-degree mark (17.18-degree mark) set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition.That average includes places that are sweltering under dangerous heat — like Jingxing, China, which checked in almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) — and the merely unusually warm, like Antarctica, where temperatures across much of the continent were as much as 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) above normal this week.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued a note of caution about the Maine tool's findings, saying it could not confirm data that results in part ...

ATCEMS: 1 dead, 2 with serious injuries after crash off SH 130

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Officials said a person died early Friday morning after two vehicles were involved in a collision near the 10100 block of North State Highway 130 heading north. Two others were also reported with serious injuries, one possibly life-threatening.Austin-Travis County EMS said the initial callout occurred at 1:20 a.m. for a single vehicle 100 to 200 feet down an embankment. Officials later discovered a second vehicle and identified there were three total patients involved.ATCEMS said one person was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other two patients were declared trauma alerts.Officials said one of the trauma patients was ejected from a vehicle. The two patients with serious injuries were taken to the hospital for treatment, according to officials.SH 130 near FM 973, just south of Manor, was shut down for an investigation, according to ATCEMS, and drivers were asked to avoid the area.

Magnet factory brings future of clean energy to Central Texas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) -- Magnets are going green in Central Texas. Noveon Magnetics celebrated its grand opening this summer, after opening its doors in 2020. The company manufactures permanent magnets by reusing old ones."We can reprocess old magnets from applications that reached the end of their lives," said Catalina Tudor, co-founder and Chief Information Officer with Noveon.Traditionally, rare earth metals needed to produce magnets are mined. Not only does this require digging for a non-renewable resource, but it also produces CO2 emissions in the transportation of those materials. According to the company, using fewer mined rare earth metals is better for the environment.How do you reuse old magnets?Noveon collects old magnets that have lost their magnetic charge, then pulverizes them. After the magnets are broken down enough, they are melted, then placed in a mold where they form a big block. ‘World’s largest lettuce greenhouse’ opens in Temple, Texas That block is slic...

Next string of 100s takes hold this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Hot... and only getting hotter.After some nice spots of soaking rain yesterday, our rain chance thins out today to only include a 10% chance of isolated storms late morning through early evening. Afternoon highs will be a few degrees warmer but will top out close to seasonal averages.Friday afternoon forecast high temperaturesThe infamous "heat dome" currently sitting to our west will nudge a bit closer to the state this weekend into next week. This change in pattern will shut down our rain chances and allow temperatures to return to the low 100s.High pressure shuts down rain chances this weekend into next weekLight amounts of Saharan dust are blowing across the Atlantic into our area. While you may notice a light haze in the sky at times this week, there is no impact expected to air quality.Summer Fan DriveOur Summer Fan Drive is underway! Please click here to find out how you can make an online donation and learn more about Family Eldercare's Summer Fan Drive even...

Literary picks for July 9

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

Bestselling authors Sujata Massey and Reed Farrel Coleman talk about their new books in separate programs this week at Once Upon a Crime mystery bookstore, 604 W. 26th St., Mpls.Massey’s program begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 13, and Coleman takes the podium at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 15.(Courtesy of Sujata Massey)Sujata Massey(Chris Hartlove)Sujata Massey, who grew up in the Twin Cities, introduces “The Mistress of Bhatia House,” latest in her series featuring Perveen Mistry, the only female lawyer in Bombay in the 1920s. Her novel, which grapples with class divisions, sexism, and family dynamics, was named one of the best new books for summer 2023 by the Boston Globe.It’s 1922 and Perveen is attending a fundraiser for a new women’s hospital when the grandson of an influential Gujarati businessman catches fire and his young ayah (servant) rushes to save him and is badly burned. Perveen learns the woman, Sunanda, has been arrested on trumped-up charges a...

Noah Feldman: Supreme Court’s conservative revolution comes into sharper focus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:26 GMT

The Supreme Court’s conservative judicial revolution is taking on a recognizable, three-pronged structure.On big-ticket, hot button issues, like abortion and affirmative action, the court blows precedent out of the water and replaces it with a ruling that the conservative legal movement has been demanding for half a century.On major Democratic initiatives, like climate policy and President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, the court blocks executive action using Chief Justice John Roberts’s brainchild, the major questions doctrine.In the third category, the revolution takes a breather as each of President Donald Trump’s three appointees gets the chance to emphasize a specific legal issue he or she cares about. Roberts and the court’s three liberals provide the rest of the votes. The result is a reasonable ruling that avoids major doctrinal upheaval – and doesn’t undermine the rest of the revolution.Examples of this third category...