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9 killed in a pair of bombings in Pakistan in attacks claimed by no group, police say

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying a local politician and his friends in southwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing him and six others, police said. In a separate bombing, two people were killed in the northwest.The attack that killed seven happened in Kech, a town in Baluchistan province, local police officer Haider Ali said. He said that the slain politician, Ishaq Yaqub, was from the Baluchistan Awami Party and it was unclear who was behind the attack. For years, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by small separatist groups and nationalists who complain of discrimination and demand a fairer share of their province’s resources and wealth.The bombing in Baluchistan happened hours after a suicide bomber apparently detonated his explosives-laden vehicle prematurely in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, killing a married couple in a nearby car, officials said.A local administration official, Rehmant Ullah, said the bombing ...

William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of ‘The Exorcist’ and The French Connection,’ dead at 87

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director who became a top filmmaker in his 30s with the gripping “The French Connection” and the horrifying “The Exorcist” and struggled in the following decades to match his early success has died. He was 87.Friedkin, who won the best director Oscar for “The French Connection,” died Monday in Los Angeles, a representative from his office told The Associated Press. His wife, former studio head Sherry Lansing also confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie, based on a true story, deals with the efforts of maverick New York City police Detective James “Popeye” Doyle to track down Frenchman Fernando Rey, mastermind of a large drug pipeline funneling heroin into the United States. It contains one of the most thrilling chase scenes ever filmed.The movie also won Academy Awards for best picture, screenplay and film editing and led critics to hail Friedkin, then just 32, as a leading member of a new generation of filmmakers.He foll...

From prison, Pakistan’s former Premier Imran Khan and his lawyer plan to challenge his graft case

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s Imran Khan and his lawyer met Monday at a high-security prison where the former prime minister is being held following his sentencing, to plan how to challenge the graft case that landed him behind bars more than a year after he was ousted from power.A national cricket hero and top opposition leader, Khan was sentenced over the weekend to three years for concealing assets after selling state gifts while in power and taken to Attock, a high-security prison in eastern Punjab province. The stunning sentence could bar him from politics as Pakistani law prohibits anyone with a criminal conviction from holding or running for public office, and may cost him the chairmanship of the party he founded, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI.Khan’s lawyer, Naeem Haider Panjutha, told reporters after their meeting Monday that Khan was in good spirits and maintaining “a high morale” despite the harsh conditions at the prison, which is known for holding convicted ...

Trio of missing hikers who set out on treacherous ridge in Scottish Highlands found dead

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

GLEN COE, Scotland (AP) — The bodies of three missing hikers were recovered from a mountain in the Scottish Highlands after they didn’t return from a notoriously difficult scramble on the narrowest ridge crest in Britain, police said Monday. The trio set out Saturday in Glen Coe to hike the Aonach Eagach, a 6-mile (10-kilometer) knife-edge ridge that tops out at 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) and has precipitous drops. A search began after sunset when they didn’t return, Police Scotland said. A Coastguard helicopter flying in fog and mist located the bodies and a search and rescue crew returned Sunday morning to recover them. The deaths did not appear to be suspicious but a report will be given to the office that investigates deaths and prosecutes crimes, police said.While storm Antoni lashed parts of the U.K. on Saturday with strong winds and heavy rain, the forecast in the Highlands was for light rain in the afternoon and temperatures as low as 41 degrees (5 celsius) at 6 p...

Thousands in Haiti march to demand safety from violent gangs as killings and kidnappings soar

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Several thousand people — their faces covered to conceal their identities — marched through Haiti’s capital on Monday demanding protection from violent gangs who are pillaging neighborhoods in the capital Port-au-Prince and beyond.Haitians’ daily lives have been disrupted by incessant gang violence that has worsened poverty across the country as it awaits a decision from the U.N. Security Council over a potential deployment of an international armed force.“We want security!” the crowd chanted as it marched for two hours from the troubled community of Carrefour-Feuilles to Champ de Mars in the downtown area and then to the prime minister’s official residence, where police broke up the demonstration with tear gas.“I can’t work. I can’t go out. I’m like a prisoner in my own home,” said Wilene Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor and mother of two who joined the march out of frustration.“I worry about my kids being shot because bullets are flying ...

Ex-student accused in California stabbing deaths is mentally unfit for trial

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The criminal case against a former Northern California university student accused of several stabbings is on hold after prosecutors agreed that he is incompetent to stand trial for charges related to the attacks, which killed two people, wounded a third and terrorized a peaceful college town.The judge dismissed jurors in Carlos Dominguez’s competency trial Monday, which would have been the fifth day of testimony, after county prosecutors informed the court last week they no longer planned to fight the defense by Dominguez’s attorney that he was not mentally fit for trial.A determination of incompetency means Dominguez cannot currently understand court proceedings, assist his attorney in his defense and understand his own status in the criminal proceeding. Yolo Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam last week ordered the defendant to receive medication over Dominguez’s objections, ruling he was a danger to himself and others without it. Three medical experts te...

MCU star Ryan Reynolds among 14 new appointees to the Order of British Columbia

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

VANCOUVER — Ryan Reynolds has received his home province’s top honour after being named to the Order of British Columbia. The “Deadpool” star and mainstay of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was among 14 new appointees announced by Lieutenant-Governor Janet Austin today.Other honourees included Susan Giles and Evanna Brennan, longtime outreach nurses working in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, music talent scout Sam Feldman and conservationist George Riefel.The province says the Order of BC is intended to recognize residents who have made a significant provincial, national or international impact. Premier David Eby extended his congratulations to the new order members, describing them all as “superheroes” for their “unique and profound” contributions to the province.A ceremony for the new appointees will take place in Victoria this fall.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2023. The Canadian Press

Cecilia Bartoli veers into opera management while still singing at 57

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — Cecilia Bartoli has a favorite role she wished she could sing.“There is one character which I was always in love with since I started my Mozart career, and it’s Don Giovanni,” she said. “With me, you never know.”She laughed at her thought of a baritone part. Now 57, the mezzo-soprano has highlighted 17th and 18th century music and is singing the lead in Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Eurydice, which opened Friday at the Salzburg Festival in modern-dress Cristof Loy production that has five performances through Aug. 14.Bartoli has expanded into an administrative career, succeeding Riccardo Muti as artistic director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival in 2012 and in January became director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.“After 35 years of singing, I think it’s a great challenge,” she said. “When you are the performer, you are concentrating in your music,” she said. “You don’t know exactly the other artists, what are their needs. Everybody’s different, has a different body, has a...

A survivor of the fatal Pennsylvania bus crash describes chaos, heroism after it turned over

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A passenger bus carrying up to 50 people crashed and hit another vehicle on a Pennsylvania interstate, killing three bus passengers, state police said.The wreck happened during heavy rain around 11:50 p.m. Sunday on southbound Interstate 81 just north of Harrisburg, state police said. The bus drove off the roadway, struck an embankment and rolled onto its right side before hitting the back of a car that was stopped in the right lane of traffic, according to a crash report.The three passengers were declared dead at the scene, the police report said, and others suffered injuries that ranged from minor to severe. Matthew Oshiafi, a passenger on the bus, told Pennlive that he remembered a terrible screeching and shuddering before it crashed and flipped on its side. He said he was sitting in the last row of the bus that was covering a normal route between New York and Ohio.Oshiafi, 39, a New York City resident who was headed to Cincinnati to visit family, said the ...

Missing woman was last seen at festival in Gage Park, police say

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:53:48 GMT

CHICAGO  — Chicago police seek the public's help locating a woman the department says may have seen leaving a summer festival in Gage Park. Juana Maldonado, 52, has not been seen or heard from since 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 6. According to police, Maldonado's last known location was the St. Galls Festival in the area of 55th and Sawyer-Kedzie Ave. She wore a light blue shirt with a circle logo on the front, black jeans and black shoes. The 52-year-old may have been seen walking with another woman from the festival, police added.Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesMaldonado, who is Hispanic with a medium skin complexion, stands 5-foot-1-inches. She weighs 190 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. Anyone with information may leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.