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An abandoned desert village an hour from Dubai offers a glimpse at the UAE’s hardscrabble past

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

AL-MADAM, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Nestled in sand dunes an hour’s drive from the skyscrapers of Dubai, a desert village abandoned in the 1990s stands as an eerie relic of the rapid urbanization of the United Arab Emirates.Built in the 1970s to house semi-nomadic Bedouin, the village of al-Ghuraifa was abandoned two decades later as oil wealth transformed the country into a global hub of commerce and tourism, home to the futuristic cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.In recent years, the ghost village near the town of al-Madam in the Sharjah emirate has become something of a tourist attraction, offering an escape from the concrete jungles of the coastal cities and a glimpse at the Emirates’ hardscrabble past.The village, which comprises two rows of homes and a mosque, “can teach us a lot of the modern history of the UAE,” said Ahmad Sukkar, an assistant professor at the University of Sharjah who is part of a team researching the site.It was built as part of a public housing project aft...

Tech company behind Kentucky school bus problems had similar issues in Ohio last year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The company behind a disastrous change to a Kentucky city’s school bus routes that resulted in more than a week of canceled classes had similar problems in two cities in neighboring Ohio last year.Touting its connections to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, bus-routing vendor AlphaRoute pitched its mathematical models and machine-learning technology as a way of saving money and smoothing out complex bus routes in Louisville, Kentucky, and school districts across the U.S.But real-world problems often got in the way.Columbus began running new routes planned by AlphaRoute in fall 2022 after entering into a three-year, $1.6 million contract. But there were problems from the beginning. Most importantly, the district was not able to make adjustments quickly with the company’s software. It decided to pivot mid-year to the software it was previously using from another company, Versatrans, said district spokesperson Jacqueline Bryant. Cincinnati Public S...

Oil, aquatic trash and toxic algae threaten life in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) — The fishermen of Lake Maracaibo say they face their worst nightmare everyday as fish stocks decline and pollution degrades the health of this great freshwater lake, one of the oldest — and largest — in the world.Lake Maracaibo, which once was at the heart of Venezuela’s oil boom, has turned into a polluted wasteland, according to environmentalists.The pollution of the lake, located about 600 kilometers (372 miles) west of the capital, Caracas, is the result of decades of excessive oil exploitation, poor maintenance of the obsolete infrastructure and a lack of waste treatment plants in the area. Tens of thousands of kilometers of pipes lie at its bottom, where crude oil leaks and system failures are frequent.The lake, which collects rainwater from more than a hundred tributaries, has also become the wastewater deposit for the western states of Zulia, Mérida and Trujillo, where 5.3 million people live. Waste from the Colombian department of Norte de S...

Pushing back on limits elsewhere, Vermont’s lieutenant governor goes on banned books tour

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) — On a recent Sunday afternoon, Vermont’s lieutenant governor was at a local library, reading a book about two male penguins to a crowd of nearly two dozen. This was not the first stop for Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman nor would it be the last.While officials in some other states are banning or restricting certain books in schools and libraries, Zuckerman, in liberal Vermont, has taken a different tack: reading and discussing them at libraries and bookstores around the state.″ These bans often target books that feature LGBTQ+ characters; talk about gender and sexuality; highlight racial disparities; or talk about difficult issues such as substance abuse and cases of police violence,” Zuckerman, a Democrat, said in a statement when he announced the tour in June. “Students, teachers, and curious minds should be able to access materials that spark critical thinking, cover difficult topics, and appeal to diverse interests without fear of government interference.”While Ver...

Trump enjoys strong support among Republicans. The general election could be a different story

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After every new indictment, Donald Trump has boasted that his standing among Republicans only improves — and he has a point.Nearly two-thirds of Republicans — 63% — now say they want the former president to run again, according to new polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s up slightly from the 55% who said the same in April when Trump began facing a series of criminal charges. Seven in 10 Republicans now have a favorable opinion of Trump, an uptick from the 60% who said so two months ago.But in a crucial warning sign for the former president and his supporters, Trump faces glaring vulnerabilities heading into a general election, with many Americans strongly dug in against him. While most Republicans — 74% — say they would support him in November 2024, 53% of Americans say they would definitely not support him if he is the nominee. Another 11% say they would probably not support him in November 2024.The findings bolster...

UN envoy says ICC should prosecute Taliban for crimes against humanity for denying girls education

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The International Criminal Court should prosecute Taliban leaders for a crime against humanity for denying education and employment to Afghan girls and women, the U.N. special envoy for global education said.Gordon Brown told a virtual U.N. press conference on the second anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on Tuesday that its rulers are responsible for “the most egregious, vicious and indefensible violation of women’s rights and girls’ rights in the world today.”The former British prime minister said he has sent a legal opinion to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan that shows the denial of education and employment is “gender discrimination, which should count as a crime against humanity, and it should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.”The Taliban took power in August 2021, during the final weeks of the U.S. and NATO forces’ pullout after 20 years of war. As they did during their previous rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban ...

Ty Blach gives Rockies strong start, but bullpen collapses in loss to D-backs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

The Rockies’ 2024 rotation picture looks murky, but left-hander Ty Blach is making his pitch to be a part of it.The Denver native and Regis Jesuit graduate made another strong start Tuesday night, but the Rockies’ bullpen collapsed in the ninth inning, leading to Arizona’s 8-5 victory at Coors Field.The Diamondbacks stung closer Justin Lawrence for five earned runs on five hits, including a two-run double by Ketel Marte. Colorado loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame but couldn’t score.The Rockies appeared to take control with a three-run seventh inning, sparked by its young players at the bottom of the order. Nolan Jones (3-for-4) hit a one-out double to right and scored on Michael Toglia’s double to left to tie the game, 3-3. Rookie center fielder Brenton Doyle’s two-run homer produced the go-ahead run.Blach certainly did his job, limiting Arizona to two runs over five innings, giving up six hits, striking out two and walking two.“Ty...

Victims of deadly Long Beach boat fire identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

Authorities have identified the two people who were killed after a boat fire erupted in Long Beach earlier this month.On Aug. 5, two people were killed and three others were critically injured when flames ignited on a 35-foot pleasure craft at Alamitos Bay near the 200 block of Marina Drive.The two female victims were identified as Margaret Lynn Gentry, 60, from Inglewood and Sharon Gentry, 75, from Atlanta, Georgia.Reports from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office list Margaret’s cause of death as blunt head trauma and thermal burns. Sharon’s cause of death was listed as thermal burns and smoke inhalation.At the time, Long Beach fire crews responded to the burning craft at around 5:17 p.m. The boat was found in close proximity to a fuel dock near Fire Station 21, authorities said.Images from the scene show large plumes of smoke covering the pier as bystanders looked on. Both land and marine reinforcements responded to the scene the extinguish the blaze. Two people ...

SF Giants get the best of former reliever Littell to beat Rays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Zack Littell’s last two walks off the mound at Oracle Park have not been happy ones.Eleven months, three teams and a new role after publicly airing his grievances with manager Gabe Kapler last September, never to be seen in a Giants uniform again, Littell marched back to the visitor’s dugout in the sixth inning Tuesday evening after his shutout bid evaporated and his former club took a commanding lead in an eventual 7-0 win.Littell, now a starter — not an opener — for the Rays, traded zeros with Jakob Junis and Sean Manaea for five innings, frustrating Kapler enough to get him ejected in the fourth inning, before the Giants’ long-dormant bats revved up to finish with seven runs on nine hits, one of their best showings since the trade deadline.Thairo Estrada homered to left, breaking the scoreless tie, and Wade Meckler lined a single into center for his first MLB hit, bringing Rays manager Kevin Cash out with the hook. No protesting from Littell this...

Woman with knife arrested after altercation outside Oakley middle school

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:35 GMT

(KRON) -- A woman with a knife was arrested and two teenage girls were detained after an altercation outside an Oakley middle school on Tuesday, the Oakley Police Department said. Police responded to Delta Vista Middle School, located at 4901 Frank Hengel Way, at about 3:25 p.m. Officers de-escalated an argument between two adults, but another altercation involving the same people broke out 15 minutes later, according to police. Petaluma bus driver arrested on suspicion of annoying a minor Yvette Brice, 61, of Antioch, was armed with a knife and yelling at adults, OPD said. Officers attempted to separate the group"As our officers took this action, Brice moved closer to the people she was angry with and she moved the knife into an even more threatening position," OPD wrote. This caused one officer to draw his gun. Brice was taken into custody "forcibly," police said. Nobody was injured. As she was being arrested, several students began fighting, per police. A 13-year-old girl and ...