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Alert level downgraded for Papua New Guinea’s tallest volcano

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Papua New Guinea’s tallest volcano had its alert level reduced Tuesday and a tsunami was ruled out one day after Mount Ulawun erupted, spewing smoke as high as 15 kilometers (50,000 feet) into the sky.One of the South Pacific nation’s most active volcanoes, Ulawun erupted on Monday afternoon, placing regional neighbors, including Japan temporarily, on tsunami alert.The alert level for the volcano on the northeastern island of New Britain was downgraded by Papua New Guinea’s Geohazards Management Division to Stage 3, which means a “moderate-to-strong eruption.” The division rated the tsunami risk in a bulletin at “nil.”The organization had on Monday elevated it to Stage 4 which in Papua New Guinea’s four-tier scale indicates a “very strong eruption.”But the volcano, which stands 2,334 meters (7,657 feet) above sea level, remained active and the eruption could continue indefinitely, the division said.The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Darwin, Australia, rep...

Utah special election for Congress sees Republican former House staffer face Democratic legislator

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

Voters in Utah will choose between a Republican former congressional staffer and a Democratic state senator in a special election Tuesday to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, who recently resigned.Republican Celeste Maloy, who is Stewart’s former chief counsel, and state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, who as minority whip is the No. 2 Democrat in the state Senate, are competing to become the first woman in Utah’s congressional delegation since 2019 and only the fifth in history.Maloy, a southern Nevada native and resident of southwestern Utah, is the heavy favorite in the Republican-leaning 2nd congressional district, which stretches from southern and western Utah to Salt Lake City. The winner will join the state’s three other Republican U.S. House members. The state’s two U.S. senators are also Republican. Maloy campaigned on improving security on the U.S.-Mexico border, reining in what she calls “out of control” federal spending, protecting religious freedom and ...

Takeaways on fine water, a growing trend for the privileged in a world that’s increasingly thirsty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

SAMTSE, Bhutan (AP) — Millions of people worldwide don’t have clean water to drink, even though the United Nations deemed water a basic human right more than a decade ago. Yet, even as extreme heat dries up more aquifers and wells and leaves more people thirsty, luxury water has become fashionable among the world’s privileged, who uncap and taste it like fine wine.Fine water is drawn from volcanic rock in Hawaii, from icebergs that have fallen from melting glaciers in Norway, or from droplets of morning mist in Tasmania. The rarest of all, often bottled in collectable glass, sell for hundreds of dollars apiece.Associated Press teams reported on the trend from India, Bhutan and Greece.A GROWING MOVEMENTThe fine water scene was on full display when members of the Fine Water Society gathered in April at a swanky hotel in Athens, Greece, for their annual international tasting competition and symposium.They discuss “virginality,” or purity. They learn about “terroir,” the environment in ...

10 years later, a war-weary Ukraine reflects on events that began its collision course with Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — It happens every November, when the cold descends on Kyiv. The change in weather always makes Dmytro Riznychenko think back, and he is overwhelmed by his emotions.“This is where it truly began,” Riznychenko said, walking through central Kyiv’s Independence Square recently, reflecting on the uprising that unleashed a decade of momentous change for Ukraine, eventually leading to the current war with Russia.“Ten years of war and struggle,” the 41-year-old psychologist continued, wearily and reluctantly. “And it seems like the blood has only just begun to flow, truly. I regret nothing. But, God, it’s just so tiresome.”On Nov. 21, 2013, the Moscow-friendly president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, announced he was shelving an agreement to bring the country closer to the European Union and instead would deepen ties with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.Outraged crowds soon filled Independence Square for peaceful anti-government protests. Later, after...

Rosalynn Carter’s advocacy for mental health was rooted in compassion and perseverance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The sun was shining in June 1979 as Rosalynn Carter made her way through an enthusiastic crowd in Laconia, New Hampshire.“She shook my hand!” yelled one delighted participant.The first lady was in the state for her husband’s re-election campaign, but this was no political rally. Instead, she was at a sprawling 75-year-old institution founded for “feebleminded” children that the U.S. Justice Department had deemed “a classic example of warehousing.” She was joined by Gov. Hugh Gallen, a kindred spirit who had been pushing to correct the deplorable conditions there and at the state’s psychiatric hospital.“Going to a place like the Laconia State School and talking not to voters but to people dealing with a very acute issue — well, it doesn’t happen very often. It didn’t then, and it certainly doesn’t at all now,” recalled Dayton Duncan, who was there as Gallen’s press secretary. “She could have just given a good speech about what the administration was hoping to do ...

A Georgia judge will consider revoking a Trump co-defendant’s bond in an election subversion case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge in Atlanta is set to hear arguments Tuesday on a request to revoke the bond of one of former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week filed a motion asking county Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to revoke the bond of Harrison Floyd. She wrote in her motion that Floyd has been attempting to intimidate and contact likely witnesses and his co-defendants in violation of the terms of his release.Floyd’s attorneys wrote in a court filing that Willis’ allegations are without merit and that the motion is a “retaliatory measure” against their client. Floyd “neither threatened or intimidated anyone and certainly did not communicate with a witness or co-defendant directly or indirectly,” they wrote.McAfee set a hearing on Willis’ motion for Tuesday afternoon.The charges against Floyd relate to allegations of harassment toward ...

Precious water: As more of the world thirsts, luxury water becoming fashionable among the elite

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

SAMTSE, Bhutan (AP) — Monsoon rains have finally passed and floods blocking the lone dirt road have retreated enough for a small truck to climb these Himalayan foothills to a gurgling spring. It spews water so fresh that people here call it nectar.Workers inside a small plant ferry sleek glass bottles along a conveyer. The bottles, filled with a whoosh of this natural mineral water, are labeled, packed into cases and placed inside a truck for a long ride.Ganesh Iyer, who heads the operation, watches like a nervous dad, later pulling out his phone, as any proud parent might, to show the underground cavern the waters have formed in this pristine kingdom, the world’s last Shangri-La.This is no ordinary water. It will travel hundreds of miles to some of India’s luxury hotels, restaurants and richest families, who pay about $6 per bottle, roughly a day’s wage for an Indian laborer. Millions of people worldwide don’t have clean water to drink, even though the United Nations deemed water a...

Vivek Ramaswamy struggles to gain traction with Iowa Republicans as critics question his path ahead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Ten minutes before Vivek Ramaswamy was to take the stage in a dated casino hotel in western Iowa, no one was in the conference room except for two staffers from the Iowa GOP, which organized the event, and a group of journalists.Guests started trickling in at the time the event was scheduled. By the time Ramaswamy began his remarks an hour later, there were about 60 people.While Ramaswamy is packing his schedule with stops across Iowa, he has failed to move up in the 2024 Republican primary race and is increasingly at risk of becoming an afterthought. He is polling in the mid to high single digits and has left critics asking what his endgame is or if he is staying in the race only to boost former President Donald Trump.Ramaswamy is falling behind just as the GOP campaign enters the critical final weeks before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. After an earlier flurry of attention, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and first-time political candidate is gaini...

With patriotic reggaeton and videos, Venezuela’s government fans territorial dispute with Guyana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Middle school student Jeanmaikol Castrillo can quickly point out Venezuela on a map and identify what’s around it — the Caribbean Sea and the countries of Colombia, Brazil and Guyana. But the map with which he is familiar differs greatly from those included in plenty of books, textbooks and even a CIA website. It shows a much larger Venezuela, one that includes a big chunk of Guyana.Venezuelans hold as self-evident truth that their homeland’s eastern end includes Guyana’s Essequibo region next to the Atlantic — a territory larger than Greece and rich in oil and minerals. As students, they learn it is subject to a century-old dispute and then, for the most part, forget about it.These days, however, Venezuela’s government wants it to be the focus of their attention.President Nicolás Maduro and his allies are appealing to Venezuelans’ patriotism as they summon voters supposedly to decide the territory’s future in a Dec. 3 referendum, although the l...

Police identify suspect in Koreatown killing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:07 GMT

L.A. police have identified a 28-year-old suspect in connection with the homicide of a 59-year-old man in Koreatown earlier this year, authorities announced late last week.  The deadly encounter occurred on Oct. 30 at around 7:40 p.m. at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Kingsley Drive, the Los Angeles Police Department said.  Officers responded to the area on reports of an “ambulance battery” and discovered suffering from serious injuries. Medical personnel with the Los Angeles Fire Department responded and took the man to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on Nov. 6.  The victim’s identity was not immediately released.  Investigators learned that the suspect, now identified as Jacob Williams James McFadden, is alleged to have physically assaulted the 59-year-old until nearby witnesses intervened.  He was last seen fleeing on foot northbound on Kingsley Drive.  Jacob Williams James McFadden, 28, is wanted in connection with the killing...