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Massive landslide buries trucks, kills 2 people in Pakistan

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A massive landslide struck a key highway in northwestern Pakistan near the border town of Torkham before dawn Tuesday, burying two dozen trucks and killing at least two people, officials said. It was unclear how many people were missing and feared buried under the landslide.Police official Ishrat Khan said dozens of firefighters and rescuers were trying to save truck drivers and other people hit by the landslide near the Afghan border. Officials said the landslide was triggered by lightning amid rain.At least one truck caught fire when it was struck by lightning, rescuers said.The injured were being transported to a nearby hospital, Khan added. Volunteers also joined the search for survivors as authorities dispatched heavy machinery to Torkham to try and remove the massive mudslide, Khan said.Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for a state-run rescue service, said two bodies were pulled out and eight people were also injured. “Rescuers are very careful because there i...

Holocaust survivors, descendants join forces on social media

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Assia Gorban was 7 years old when the Germans occupied her hometown of Mogilev-Podolsky in Ukraine. The Jewish girl and her family were first imprisoned in a ghetto on the outskirts of town and later forced onto a cattle car that took them to the Pechora concentration camp in 1941.After a few failed attempts, Gorban, her mother, and younger brother managed to escape in 1942, and spent the rest of World War II living under false identities until they were liberated in 1944.Sitting in her apartment in Berlin, where she still lives on her own at age 89, Gorban vividly remembers the horrendous details of her time in the camp and during hiding from the Nazis who wanted to kill her only because she was Jewish.She likes to share her memories with her granddaughter, 19-year-old Ruth Gorban, a university student, who also lives in Berlin and visits her frequently at home.“My grandmother is amazing,” said Ruth, sitting next to Gorban on the couch. “I even invited her to my schoo...

For Palestinians, holiest Ramadan night starts at checkpoint

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

QALANDIYA CHECKPOINT, West Bank (AP) — For many Palestinians, the journey to one of Islam’s most sacred sites on the holiest night of Ramadan begins in a dust-choked, garbage-strewn maelstrom. Tens of thousands of Palestinian worshippers from across the occupied West Bank on Monday crammed through a military checkpoint leading to Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Laylat al-Qadr, or the “Night of Destiny,” when Muslims believe that the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammad centuries ago.The noisy, sweaty crowds at Qalandiya checkpoint seem chaotic — but there was a system: women to the right; men to the left. Jerusalem residents here, disabled people there. And the grim-looking men stranded at the corner had endured the long wait only to be turned back altogether.“I’m not political, I’m just devout, so I thought maybe tonight, because of Laylat al-Qadr, they’d let me in,” said Deia Jamil, a 40-year-old Arabic teacher from the West Bank city of R...

Wild take Game 1 against Stars, win marathon thriller in double overtime

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

DALLAS — Maybe this version of the Wild didn’t score a franchise-record 113 points. Maybe it didn’t put up as many goals during the regular season. Maybe it didn’t have a flair for the dramatic with the comeback wins.Ask anyone on the Wild, though, and they would wholeheartedly agreed that this particular group is more equipped to win in the playoffs.“I think this year’s team would beat last year’s team,” general manager Bill Guerin said last week. “I think this group plays a better brand of hockey.”That was on fully display on Monday night at American Airlines Center as the Wild showcased their grit in a Game 1 thriller against the the Dallas Stars. In the end, Ryan Hartman ended it 12 minutes, 20 seconds into double overtime, intercepting a deflected pass and scoring from the crease on his forehand to lift the Wild to a 3-2 win.It went down as longest road playoff game in franchise history.The night started with Filip Gustavsson emerging f...

As Germany ends nuclear era, activist says there is still more to do

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

Heinz Smital (pictured) was a 24-year-old nuclear physics researcher when he first saw how far nuclear contamination could spread after the Chornobyl disaster in 1986.A few days after it occurred he waved a damp cloth out of a window at the University of Vienna to sample the city's air and was shocked by how many radionuclides could be seen under a microscope."Technetium, Cobalt, Cesium 134, Cesium 137 ...Chernobyl was 1,000 kilometres away ... That made an impression," Smital, now 61, said as he said about his life-long activism against nuclear power in Germany.On Saturday (15 April) Germany shut off its last three reactors, ending six decades of nuclear power which helped spawn one of Europe's strongest protest movements and the political party that governs Berlin today, the Greens."I can look back on a great many successes where I saw injustice and many years later, there was a breakthrough," Smital said, showing a photo of himself in 1990s in front of the Unterweser Nuclear Powe...

France's Macron signs contested pension law as unions plan more protests

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday (15 April) signed into law a deeply unpopular bill to raise the state pension age, infuriating unions that called for months of mass protests to continue.The proclamation of the law in the government's official journal came hours after France's Constitutional Council had approved the main pension-age increase in a ruling on Friday (14 April).The legislation, which will progressively push up the age for drawing a state pension to 64 from 62, is due to take effect from 1 September.The swift proclamation of the law angered trade unions that had urged the government to wait in order to defuse tensions."This is a totally shameful decision," Sophie Binet, head of the CGT union, told Franceinfo radio. "He (Macron) has slammed the door in our face yet again."Unions have called workers to turn out in force for marches on Labour Day on 1 May. Binet said other actions would take place on April 20 and 28, while rail workers' unions called for a day o...

Iafallo's goal in OT lifts Kings to 4-3 win over Oilers

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- Alex Iafallo scored in OT to lift the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers to open their first-round playoff series Monday night.Iafallo scored a power-play goal at 9:19 of OT by converting Victor Arvidsson's feed from behind the net.Adrian Kempe scored twice and Anze Kopitar had a goal and three assists for Los Angeles, which held Oilers captain and NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid scoreless.Kings goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 38 saves for the win.Leon Draisaitl countered with a pair of goals and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers (50-23-9), who ranked second in the Pacific Division this season ahead of third-seeded Kings (47-25-10).Oilers starter Stuart Skinner stopped 31 shots in his NHL playoff debut.Edmonton defenseman Vincent Desharnais was penalized in overtime for tripping Blake Lizotte, although Lizotte appeared to step on a broken stick on the ice and fall.The Oilers almost ended it at 1:54 of OT, but officials rul...

Kurtenbach: The Warriors’ dynasty is on life support

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

The Warriors’ dynasty is not dead.Not yet, at least.But it’s on life support after the Warriors dropped Game 2 of their first-round playoff matchup to the Sacramento Kings Monday, putting them in a 2-0 series hole.It’s the first 2-0 deficit the Warriors have faced in the dynastic era, which stretches back to the 2014-15 season.It might be the deficit that brings an end to the Dubs’ Big Three and the dynasty as we knew it.For a team that has prided itself on winning a road game in 27-straight playoff series and having never lost a Western Conference playoff series with its core three players healthy, the fall of both of those streaks could well be imminent.But there’s no conspiracy or scandal to the Dubs being in this predicament. The Kings have roundly beaten them in both games. The Warriors have helped Sacramento’s cause with their play.Now the Warriors need to do something incredible — win four of the next five games — to win this series and con...

Russian court to hear jailed US reporter’s appeal

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday is scheduled to hear a defense appeal of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s arrest on espionage charges.Gershkovich, 31, is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia for alleged spying. Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, arrested Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, on March 29 and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory.Gershkovich, his employer and the U. S. government all deny he was involved in spying and have demanded his release.The Moscow City Court is set to consider a defense appeal of his arrest on Tuesday.Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Russian lawyers have said past investigations into espionage cases took a year to 18 months, during which time he could have little contact with the outside world.He is held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which dates from the czarist era and has be...

Hartman goal in 2nd OT gives Wild 3-2 win over Stars in G1

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:50:08 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Ryan Hartman scored 12:20 into the second overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars in their playoff opener Monday night that dragged into early Tuesday morning. Hartman gathered the loose puck and skated in front of the crease before lifting it over the extended left leg of Jake Oettinger at 1 a.m. local time, ending a more than four-hour game in which both 24-year-old goalies had spectacular performances. Stars defenseman Thomas Harley had knocked the puck toward the corner, but Colin Miller was unable to clear it, with the puck instead ricocheting off Sam Steel’s stick and toward Hartman, who had just circled from behind the net. Steel was credited with an assist, and also scored a goal in his first NHL playoff game. The Stars had just been turned away on a power play after Frederick Gaudreau’s tripping penalty against captain Jamie Benn 9:11 into that second overtime. Roope Hintz, who scored on a power play in the second period...