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It’s time to prepare for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — It’s time for residents along the southeastern U.S. coastlines to make sure their storm plans are in place as the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season gets underway on Thursday.Forecasters are predicting a “near-normal” season, but Mike Brennan, the new director at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, stressed during a Wednesday news conference that there’s really nothing normal when it comes to hurricanes. “A normal season might sound good in comparison to some of the hurricane seasons in the past few years,” he said. “But there’s nothing good about a near-normal hurricane season in terms of activity.” WILL THE 2023 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON BE BUSY?Uncertainty is the key word, Brennan said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted in late May a 40% chance of 2023 being a near-normal hurricane season, a 30% chance of an above-average season, which has more storms than usual, and a 30% chance of a below-normal season, which has ...

Feds still trying to rescue families of Canadians who helped in Afghanistan: minister

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is working with some Canadians who helped the military in Afghanistan to develop programs that would bring their families to safety, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday.Some of those Canadians, however, say the government has not heard them out or helped rescue their families from the Taliban.Two Canadians who served as language and cultural advisers in the country filed a Federal Court application last week alleging the government provided “superior immigration benefits” to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.The court filing alleges the government has been discriminatory in its uneven response to the two crises.The Canadian government recruited some 45 Canadian citizens with Afghan heritage to serve as language and cultural advisers during its military mission in Afghanistan. It recently created a program to bring the Afghan families of those advisers to Canada, but the lawsuit says the criteria are so restrictive that it...

Sean “Diddy” Combs sues Diageo, saying it neglected his vodka and tequila brands

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

Rapper, producer and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs sued Diageo Wednesday, saying the spirits company didn’t make promised investments in his vodka and tequila brands and treated them as inferior “urban” products.The lawsuit, filed with the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, says Diageo North America starved Combs’ Ciroc vodka and DeLeon tequila brands of resources even as it showered attention on other celebrity brands. Diageo bought actor George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila brand for $1 billion in 2017, for example.Combs, who is Black, said Diageo leadership told him his race was one of the reasons it limited distribution to urban neighborhoods. He was also told that some Diageo leaders resented him for making too much money, according to the lawsuit.“Cloaking itself in the language of diversity and equality is good for Diageo’s business, but it is a lie,” the lawsuit said. “While Diageo may conspicuously include images of its Black partners in advertising materials and press re...

Hundreds of Amazon workers protest company’s climate impact, return-to-office mandate

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Telling executives to “strive harder,” hundreds of corporate Amazon workers protested what they decried as the company’s lack of progress on climate goals and an inequitable return-to-office mandate during a lunchtime demonstration at its Seattle headquarters Wednesday.The protest came a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week. Previously, team leaders were allowed to determine how their charges worked.The employees chanted their disappointment with the pace of the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint — “Emissions climbing, time to act” — and urged Amazon to return authority to team leaders when it comes to work location. Wearing a black pirate hat and red coat, Church Hindley, a quality assurance engineer, said working from home allowed him to live a better, healthier life.“I’m not suited for in-office work,” Hindley said. “I...

Louisiana lawmakers reject resolution that opponents say target diversity, equity efforts in schools

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Republicans in Louisiana rejected a resolution Wednesday that sought to request K-12 schools and institutions of higher education submit a report of all programs and activities related to critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion.Authored by Republican Rep. Valarie Hodges, the resolution came before the House Committee of Education for consideration and stemmed from “concerns” about how much money is being spent specifically on the programs and because “activities offered by the state’s education institutions merit further examination.”Proponents argued that the measure was simply being proposed to further look into the cost of the programs. Opponents of the resolution, which included Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said that the legislation was unnecessary and worried about how it defined DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — and critical race theory.“At its core, this is a racist instrument,” Monty Sullivan, the pre...

Movie Review: The giddy splendor of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

Let’s get this upfront: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was the best comic-book film of the last decade. With an animation blizzard blown straight in from the pages of comics, “Into the Spider-Verse” took a supercollider to all the conventions of the superhero movie. Solemnity was out. Gone, too, was the idea of a chosen one. Spider-Man could be anyone, including a graffiti-tagging kid from Brooklyn, including a pig named Spider-Ham. The possibilities of the comic book movie were suddenly limitless. With Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” thumping, the vibes were, as they say, immaculate. So a lot to live up to. Yet five years later, the Spider-verse is still expanding in thrilling ways. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is the rare sequel that dazzles as much as the original did. It’s something to behold. Colors drip, invert and splatter in a shimmering pop-art swirl. If “Into the Spider-Verse” reveled in the head-spinning collision of universes,...

Movie Review: Sydney Sweeney is brilliant in ‘Reality,’ based on true story of NSA whistleblower

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

“Reality,” a new movie starring Sydney Sweeney, is largely set in one empty room. There is nothing on the walls. There are no chairs or rugs, just a stark and ugly room in a nondescript rental property in a downtrodden neighborhood. Its script is as minimalistic — lifted directly from the transcript of one long conversation between two FBI agents and a young woman they suspect has leaked classified documents. The dialogue has all the ums and ahs, botched sentences and awkward small talk one might expect from actual human beings, not slickly intelligent Aaron Sorkin creations. And it’s one of the most tense and exciting films of the year. It’s based on the actual FBI interrogation of the unbelievably named Reality Winner, a former Air Force translator who worked as a contractor at a National Security Agency office in Augusta, Georgia. One day in May 2017, she printed a classified report, tucked it into her pantyhose, walked out of the office and mailed it to an online news outlet. Th...

Portland mulls ban on daytime camping amid sharp rise in homelessness

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — City Council members in Portland will decide Wednesday whether to ban homeless camping during daytime hours in most public places, a move that aims to bring the city into compliance with a new state law and appease the growing number of residents frustrated by a deepening yearslong homelessness crisis.Portland is among the progressive West Coast cities moving to adopt stricter rules on camping while grappling with intertwined homelessness, housing, mental health and addiction crises. In Portland, homelessness jumped more than 30% between 2019 and 2022, according to federal data.But while there appears to be an increasing appetite for camping regulations in Oregon’s largest city, advocates said the new rules would further burden homeless people and strain nonprofits already working at capacity. Mayor Ted Wheeler has said his goal is to have enough shelter and housing to eliminate unsanctioned camping in Portland. The City Council previously voted in Novemb...

Former Que. finance minister Leitão appointed to Bank of Canada

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

OTTAWA — Former Quebec finance minister Carlos Leitão has been appointed to the Bank of Canada’s board of directors.Leitão was Quebec’s finance minister between 2014 and 2018.He represented the provincial riding of Robert-Baldwin in Québec’s National Assembly from 2014 until his retirement from politics in 2022.Before entering politics, Leitão had a 30-year career in the Canadian banking and financial sector, including stints at the Royal Bank of Canada and Laurentian Bank Securities.Leitão’s appointment was announced by federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Wednesday.His term will last until Feb. 28, 2025.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2023.The Canadian Press

Beloved New York swan babies rescued after mother was eaten by family, police say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:58:20 GMT

The village of Manlius in upstate New York is mourning the loss of Faye, a swan who was stolen from the town’s pond over the weekend along with her four cygnets. The cygnets, or baby swans, were recovered, but officials say the mama swan was eaten.“The mother swan was consumed,” Manlius Mayor Paul Whorrall said Wednesday. “Sad to say, but that’s what they did.”Three teenagers were arrested Tuesday on charges including grand larceny and criminal mischief in connection with the swan-napping, Manlius police Sgt. Ken Hatter said. Mute swans like Faye and her mate, Manny, are not native to North America. They were introduced as an ornamental species and are loved for their beauty but are considered invasive by wildlife officials.Hunting swans is legal in a few U.S. states but not in New York.Southeast of Syracuse, the village of Manlius has a swan insignia on its website, as well as on merchandise like hats and T-shirts.“The swans have been a part of this village for well ove...