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A military jet crashes in eastern Myanmar. Ethnic resistance groups claim they shot it down

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A Myanmar military jet fighter crashed Saturday in a combat zone in the eastern state of Kayah, a military officer and a member of an anti-military resistance organization said. The resistance group said the plane had been shot down, but its claim could not immediately be confirmed.A spokesperson for the ethnic armed group, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, said it had shot down the plane during heavy fighting near Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state, which is also known as Karenni.However, an officer in Myanmar’s military, while confirming that one of its aircraft crashed somewhere in Kayah, said he did not know whether it was shot down or crashed due to technical failure.The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information, said a search for the crashed aircraft and two pilots was underway.Loosely organized resistance groups have sprung up around Myanmar since the army seized power in February 2021 from the...

Saving Brazil’s golden monkey, one green corridor at a time

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Dozens of young people kneeled under the scorching sun this week in Rio de Janeiro’s rural interior, planting a green corridor that will be a future safe passageway for the region’s most emblematic and endangered species, the golden lion tamarin.The 300 tree seedlings they planted this week — only inches tall at present — will eventually connect two patches of forest together. It is the latest in a series of incremental forest growth initiatives driven by environmentalists, providing an ever-larger habitat for the monkey.Until recently, the bare and dry land they were replanting belonged to a ranch owner who had torn down its trees for cattle pasture.Rampant deforestation over centuries has decimated this part of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, the only place in the world where the small, copper-colored monkey whose face is framed by a silken mane can be found. With fewer than 5,000 individuals, it is considered an endangered species.“One of the biggest problems is t...

Hezbollah says it is introducing new weapons in ongoing battles with Israeli troops

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said Saturday his fighters have introduced new weapons, including a missile with a heavy warhead in the ongoing fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that they will keep using the tense frontier to pressure Israel.Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also blasted the United States over the Israel-Hamas war, saying it is the only country that can stop Israel’s wide offensive on the Gaza Strip but doesn’t do so. He said attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, that Washington says have reached more than 40 rockets and suicide drone attacks, will continue until the war in Gaza comes to an end.Nasrallah’s comments came as the situation along Lebanon’s southern border continues to escalate. Hezbollah on Friday attacked northern Israel with three suicide drones after an Israeli strike in central Syria killed seven Hezbollah fighters.Nasrallah did not claim responsibility for a suicide drone attack that hit the Israeli Red Sea t...

Hold and secure lifted at Toronto library after bomb threat

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

The Toronto Reference Library at Bloor and Yonge Streets has lifted the hold and secure that was put in place due to a bomb threat.At approximately 8:44am the library received a bomb threat, and police say the threat came through online.The library has hired additional security for the day as employees were still let into the library to open later while under the hold and secure. Police responded to clear the building and advise.BOMB THREAT: (UPDATE)Bloor St & Yonge St8:44am– the library is currently in hold and secure– police are o/s– the building is currently being cleared #GO2612159^se— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) November 11, 2023

You may be surprised by the state with the most roundabouts

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — There are some 13,000 roundabouts in the U.S. (depending on what you consider a roundabout) — that works out to one roundabout per 25,531 people, give or take. Can you imagine 25,531 people all waiting to traverse through a roundabout?Thankfully, you’re likely never going to encounter such a situation. But depending on where you live, you may drive through more roundabouts in a day than someone in another state does in a year. If you aren’t familiar with what a roundabout is, let’s start there. What is a roundabout?Roundabouts, sometimes called traffic circles or rotaries, are circular intersections meant to “safely and efficiently” move traffic, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration explains. Traffic enters through usually-curved approaches, yields to traffic from the left, then proceeds into the counterclockwise flow around an island. DOT data shows roundabouts can reduce crashes that cause injury or death by roughly 80% ...

Did you know bread bag tag colors mean something?

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Your bread is speaking in code — or at least the colored tag or twist tie keeping its plastic bag is. While this isn't exactly a science, it turns out that colors of the tags or twists serve a very specific purpose: to indicate the age of the bread.And while this isn't an exact science (and many stores/bakeries may have their own color systems), what follows is the generally accepted color code to indicate what day of the week a particular loaf was baked on. Will Ferrell’s ‘Elf’ returning to theaters for 20th anniversary Here is the most common color coding system:Monday — BlueTuesday — GreenThursday — RedFriday — WhiteSaturday — YellowIn case you're wondering where Wednesday and Sunday are in the list, well, those days are generally skipped for baking, according to fact-checking outlet Snopes. While origins of the color coding seem to be unknown, Snopes verified through research that many bakeries and stores do in fact use it. In conversation with Southern Living, Har...

How do you talk to your parents or grandparents about scams?

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — This summer, Daniel Goldstein’s 86-year-old mom got an email that looked like it was from her bank. She was alarmed because she hadn’t spent the money it mentioned, so she called a help number on the email. The person on the other end of the line asked for her bank account information and made her believe she would get her money back. Instead, she lost $600 to a scammer.Last year, consumers of all ages were scammed out of $8.8 billion. And older adults lost the most money compared to other age groups, according to the Federal Trade Commission.While everyone wants to protect their parents and grandparents from scammers, sometimes these conversations can be complicated to navigate.“We encourage people to think in multigenerational approaches. Everyone is getting scammed, it’s just a different way that scammers go after you,” said Genevieve Waterman from the National Council on Aging.From having a lot of empathy to knowing how to report a scam, experts shared ...

Pamela Paul: It’s not kids with the cellphone problem. It’s parents

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

The hardest rule I ever set for my kids was refusing them cellphones until high school.I’d seen the research on the doleful effects of social media, screens and surveillance parenting on kids’ mental, physical and cognitive well-being. If it turns out that the data is wrong, I figured, they will have survived a mild deprivation in their relatively privileged lives and provided fodder for a future therapist’s couch.“How did you manage?!” other parents asked, and I knew exactly what they meant. Much as parents don’t want to admit it, we need — or it feels like we need — our kids to have a phone.They’ll be safer walking to school, we tell ourselves — fully aware that should they be hit by a car or snatched away, they won’t be texting Mom about the situation. Even in a school shooting, cellphones have as much potential for danger as they do for safety.We tell ourselves the phone will give our kids a sense of independence, even though phone trackers let us know exactly where they are. It...

Avalanche Journal: NHL players at the 2026 Winter Olympics “would mean a lot” to Mikko Rantanen

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

Mikko Rantanen can probably envision himself streaking down the wing in a blue-and-white jersey, collecting a pass from one of the best centers or defensemen in the world and scoring one of the biggest goals of his hockey career.Sure, that can happen in a Stanley Cup Final with Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and the Colorado Avalanche. But this version of his dream could include Aleksander Barkov and Miro Heiskanen, and the jersey would have a golden lion on the front.Rantanen, like MacKinnon, Makar and so many of the NHL’s greatest players under the age of 30, has not had the chance to play for his country in the Winter Olympics, let alone any best-on-best tournament with his national team. He has played for Finland at the IIHF world championships, which is a much bigger deal in European countries. But to put on the Suomi sweater and participate in an experience like the Olympics would be something entirely different.“It would mean a lot,” Rantanen said. “Hope...

10 Freeway shut down in downtown L.A. due to massive storage yard fire 

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:54:44 GMT

A large fire shut down part of the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles early Saturday morning, and the closure is expected to last at least 24 hours, officials said.The blaze was first reported around 12:30 a.m. at a storage yard near East 14th and Alameda streets and quickly spread to neighboring storage yards, preliminary indication from the Los Angeles Fire Department indicated. Fire had engulfed both sides of 14th Street underneath the 10, and the heat was so intense that it melted some of the freeway's steel guardrails, according to LAFD Public Information Officer David Ortiz. Only 15% of Californians can afford a home, new data shows "Firefighters mounted a very heroic defense against this fire, and they saved three buildings they were looking to protect," Ortiz told KTLA 5's Erin Myers. "But the flame lengths were to the point where...steel was melted [and] concrete is falling."More than 160 firefighters and a helicopter were brought out to battle the blaze, which eru...