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The US and Canada saw dangerous smoke this week. It’s a routine peril for many developing countries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Thick, smoky air from Canadian wildfires made for days of misery in New York City and across the U.S. Northeast this week. But for much of the rest of the world, breathing dangerously polluted air is an inescapable fact of life — and death.Almost the entire world breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organization’s air-quality limits at least occasionally. The danger grows worse when that bad air is more persistent than the nightmarish shroud that hit the U.S. — usually in developing or newly industrialized nations. That’s where most of the 4.2 million deaths blamed on outdoor air pollution occurred in 2019, the UN’s health agency reported.“Air pollution has no boundaries, and it is high time everyone comes together to fight it,” said Bhavreen Kandhari, the co-founder of Warrior Moms in India, a network of mothers pushing for clean air and climate action in a nation with some...

The best days to fly around the Fourth of July in 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

If Memorial Day 2023 was any indication, travelers should brace for big Fourth of July crowds at airports. On the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened roughly 2.7 million people at U.S. airports, the highest checkpoint volume thus far in 2023.And summer travel is only just getting started. In 2019, the Friday before Memorial Day was the third-busiest day at U.S. airports for the entire year, losing only to the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the Sunday after July Fourth. This may indicate that airports could be even busier around Independence Day than Memorial Day weekend.Making Fourth of July travel predictions is tricky this year because the holiday falls midweek, on a Tuesday. Some folks may take Monday off to enjoy a long weekend, while others may save their vacation time for a different holiday.With that in mind, here’s some guidance around booking July Fourth weekend air travel and how you might be able to avoid the crowds (an...

Accused rapist Gary Zerola’s case is now in the hands of Suffolk Superior jury

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

The fate of former prosecutor Gary Zerola, charged with raping a 23-year-old woman in 2016, is in the hands of the Suffolk Superior Court jury pool composed of eight women and six men — two of whom are alternates.Zerola, 51, is charged with two counts of rape, which the prosecution has said occurred at around 7 a.m. on Nov. 10, 2016, on a couch in an apartment on Myrtle Street in Beacon Hill, which is owned by a friend of Zerola’s who did not testify in the trial.Defense attorney Joseph Krowski Jr. made his thunderous closing argument first on Friday, the last day of the trial which began on Tuesday, in which he repeatedly said that his client’s accuser is a “liar” and called the allegations of rape “effing absurd.”“You know she’s lying when you see her lips moving,” Krowski said of the alleged victim in the case. “If you’re telling the truth it’s easy to get your story straight. But when you lie it’s so much harder because you’re trying to remember the lies you told in the past.”Th...

International reinforcements arrive in Quebec as wildfires stabilize

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

MONTREAL — The arrival of firefighters from France and New Brunswick is expected to bolster efforts to contain and control the large number of fires burning across Quebec in what’s expected to be a marathon wildfire season, officials said Friday. Maïté Blanchette Vézina, the province’s minister of forests and natural resources, said the situation in the province remains critical but is improving.The province’s forest fire prevention agency — SOPFEU — says the arrival of fresh forces on the ground is a sign “the sprint phase has ended and we’re now in the marathon phase,” she told a Quebec City briefing.Blanchette Vézina said the efforts in the coming days will permit firefighters to contain and begin extinguishing some of the approximately 140 fires that remained active across the province as of Friday morning, including some that have been allowed to burn freely due to a lack of personnel. She said the improved situation is also allowing the prov...

Stock market today: Wall Street is mixed; Big Tech climbs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks gave up an early gain and turned mixed on Wall Street as more gains for Big Tech companies helped offset weakness elsewhere in the market. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% and is headed for a fourth straight week of gains. Big technology companies were doing much of the heavy lifting, and more stocks fell than rose in the index.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was just barely lower as of 12:35 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite was up 0.1%.Trading has been listless throughout the week amid a lack of any big market moving reports or news. The benchmark S&P index still gained enough ground by Thursday to close 20% above its October low, entering a new bull market.Technology stocks, which have been responsible for much of Wall Street’s gains, did better than the rest of the market. Adobe rose 4.2% and Advanced Micro Devices rose 2.4%. General Motors rose 1.9% and Tesla rose 3.6% after announcing a deal for electric-vehicle charging. Electric vehicles made by...

Biden in North Carolina to push clean energy agenda and promote order aiding military spouses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday will sign an executive order that aims to bolster job opportunities for military and veteran spouses whose careers are often disrupted by their loved ones’ deployments.Biden is using a visit to the recently renamed Fort Liberty in North Carolina to highlight the order. The order directs agencies to develop a federal government-wide strategic plan on hiring and job retention for military spouses; bolster child care options; improve the collection of data on military and veteran spouses, caregivers and survivors in the federal workforce; and more than a dozen additional actions.First lady Jill Biden, in a call with reporters to preview the action, said the order was largely framed by conversations through the White House’s Joining Forces initiative, which looks to support families, caregivers and survivors of members of the U.S. military. The Democratic president is expected to sign the order during his visit to the ba...

Federal prosecutors charge Texas businessman linked to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas businessman at the center of the scandal that led to the historic impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton was charged Friday with eight counts of making false statements while seeking loans from mortgage lenders in 2017 and 2018.The federal indictment of real estate developer Nate Paul is the result of a yearslong FBI investigation — a probe Paxton involved his office in, setting off a chain of events that ultimately led to his impeachment and suspension from office last month. Paul, 36, did not enter a plea during his initial appearance in an Austin court nor visibly react as the charges against him were read. He entered the federal courtroom shackled and wearing jeans, a blue shirt and Nikes, and was released ahead of trial but ordered to surrender his passport and inform the court of any travel outside Texas.One of Paul’s lawyers, David Gerger, said his client may comment after his court appearance. Dan Cogdell, a defense attorney for P...

New York lawmakers consider bill to automatically seal old criminal records

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — People in New York who have old criminal records could have them automatically sealed as long as they remain out of trouble for a certain number of years under a bill lawmakers debated Friday.The “clean slate” legislation would automatically seal most recent convictions — three years after serving time or parole for a misdemeanor, and eight years for felony convictions. Sex crimes and most Class A felonies, such as murder, will not be eligible for sealing.Some liberal lawmakers and unions who support the bill say it would give New Yorkers a path forward that is not encumbered by past mistakes. They say a criminal record often means difficulty obtaining secure work and housing. That’s the case for Ismael Diaz Jr., of Long Island, who was released from prison seven years ago and is still struggling to find secure employment.Diaz, who served almost 10 years in prison for manslaughter, said he went through three rounds of interviews for a janitorial position at...

Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will tour with stops in Europe and Britain to support war effort

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra will tour for the second straight summer, appearing in eight cities in Europe and Britain in support of the nation’s war effort against Russia.Keri-Lynn Wilson, the Canadian-Ukrainian wife of Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb, will conduct the tour, which runs from Aug. 20 to Sept. 3 and is being produced by the Met and the Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera. The Aug. 24 concert at Berlin’s Schönhausen Palace coincides with Ukrainian Independence Day and will be a free outdoor performance.“Putin and the Russian propaganda machine have kind of weaponized culture and it’s very important for Ukraine to mount its own cultural defense,” Gelb said Friday, referring to the Russian president. “Ukrainian people need to be bolstered. They’ve been battered and their morale needs to be lifted.”Musicians include members of the Kyiv National Opera, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra and Kharkiv Opera. Wil...

Young black bear wanders Washington D.C. neighborhood, sparking a frenzy before being captured

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A young black bear gave residents of a quiet northeast Washington neighborhood a start Friday morning when they woke to find a furry interloper wandering backyards and sniffing around garbage cans.Pictures of the bear and its capture touched off a frenzy on social media. It also spurred a healthy online debate as to whether to name it Franklin, for the street where he was captured, or Smokey — for both the iconic cartoon bear and as a testament to this particularly smoky week in Washington weather. The bear was discovered roaming the Brookland neighborhood, less than 5 miles from the Capitol and White House. It prompted formation of a sort of ursine emergency task force including the Metropolitan Police Department, the local Humane Rescue Alliance, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the National Zoo. Authorities formed a perimeter near the 1300 block of Franklin Street NE to keep curious onlookers away. When the young male bear climbed a tree, police ...