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Children of imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi accept the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — The children of imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi have accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf in a ceremony Sunday in the Norwegian capital. Mohammadi is renowned for campaigning for women’s rights and democracy in her country, as well as fighting against the death penalty.Ali and Kiana Rahmani, Mohammadi’s twin 17-year-old children who live in exile in Paris with their father, will be given the prestigious award at Oslo City Hall, after which they will give the Nobel Peace Prize lecture in their mother’s name. Mohammadi, 51, was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in October for her decades of activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and spending years behind bars. She is currently detained in a prison in Tehran.At a news conference in Oslo on Saturday, Kiana Rahmani read out a message from her mother, in which the imprisoned activist praised the role international media played in “conveying the voice of dissenters...

Canada has a secretive history of adoption, and some want it brought to light

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — In a theatre in St. John’s, N.L., a murmur spreads through the audience as people timidly raise their hands. They have been asked if they saw their own stories reflected in the film they just watched — “A Quiet Girl.”The National Film Board documentary by Montreal director Adrian Wills follows him as he searches for his biological mother in her home province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Each step closer to his mother takes him deeper into the history of adoption in the province, where many unwed pregnant women in deeply Christian towns surrendered their babies to be brought up by someone else.“What people said to us afterwards was, ‘My God, this is my cousin’s story, this is my sister’s story, this is our story,'” Wills said in a recent interview after screenings in central Newfoundland. “It was really emotional … so many people want to tell you their stories.”Many more of those stories need ...

A bright start to the week, with temperatures climbing to 50 degrees

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- There were clouds overhead this morning. We'll see decreasing clouds throughout the day, but highs will only hit the low 40s. The winds will continue to ease through the day. Partly cloudy overnight, with lows down into the 20s. There is plenty of sunshine for Monday, with highs rebounding to close to 50 degrees. We'll settle into a dry pattern for the work week, with highs each day near or a little above normal for this time of year.

Avalanche Journal: Two months in, who are the contenders, pretenders in the NHL?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

The 2023-24 NHL season is two months old, and one of the biggest storylines is how many teams with high expectations have stumbled out of the starting gate.Look no further than any preseason Stanley Cup odds. The five teams that had the best odds to win a title per BetMGM were sixth, 11th, 14th, 19th and 25th in the league standings after the games Friday night. The most recent Stanley Cup champions were first, sixth, 15th, 20th, 18th and 21st.There’s enough data to start to form some opinions, and to identify some weaknesses. There is time for disappointing teams to get it together, but it’s unlikely that they all will.This field feels pretty wide open. The 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning or 2022 Colorado Avalanche would almost certainly be a significant favorite against anyone in the NHL right now. But those teams aren’t going to be in the 2024 tournament.Which teams look like true Stanley Cup contenders? Which ones have started well but aren’t actually threats to win 16 playoff games?No...

Brandon Royval, a homegrown talent from MMA epicenter Factory X, vies to become first Denver-born fighter to win UFC belt

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

ENGLEWOOD — Before Brandon Royval got his chance at a UFC belt, he almost ran out of gas.Royval walked into the 1stBank Center in Broomfield in November 2019 with a torn shoulder and broken foot. Between his job working overnight at a juvenile detention center and his training, he was hurt, hardly sleeping and one defeat away from quitting on his dream.“I was desperately trying to get to the UFC, staying up all night to work, practicing as much as I could,” Royval recalled. “I knew I was so close. I remember walking in there, thinking, ‘If I don’t win this fight, this is the end of my career. I can’t do this any longer, and I just need to move on with my life.’“Then I went out there and smoked the dude in like 20 seconds. The dream was back on.”Royval submitted his opponent with an arm bar 23 seconds into that bout for the Legacy Fighting Alliance title. About three months later, he got the call he’d been waiting for ...

Can Rockies follow Diamondbacks’ or Rangers’ path to postseason glory?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

NASHVILLE — The Rockies’ road to contention is steep and narrow, with little room for error.But is there hope for a team coming off a 103-loss season? The 2023 World Series says yes.In 2021, the Texas Rangers lost 102 games and the Arizona Diamondbacks lost 110. Yet there they were, just two years later, playing in the Fall Classic, with the Rangers prevailing in five games.The two organizations followed different yellow brick roads to reach their destinations. The Rangers spent big in free agency and traded boldly. The D-backs developed their young players and made shrewd trades.“(The Diamondbacks) have good young players,” Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt said last week during the winter meetings. “I said a year ago at this time that they were running ahead of us and were in the process of getting better.”Although the D-backs and Rangers built their teams differently, the clubs had a couple of things in common, beginning with a passion to win.R...

Three dead in outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, CDC warns

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

By Katherine Dillinger | CNNAn outbreak of the tickborne disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever has caused at least five illnesses, including three deaths, in the US since July, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Friday.The five cases were identified in Southern California and involved people who had traveled to Tecate, Baja California, in the previous two weeks. Four were under age 18, and three were US residents, the agency said in a health alert. All five were hospitalized, and three died.The CDC is warning health care providers that if a patient has symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and has recently traveled to northern Mexico, they should consider starting treatment with the antibiotic doxycycline right away, rather than waiting for test results to confirm the condition.“RMSF is a severe, rapidly progressive, and often deadly disease transmitted by the bite of infected ticks, although many patients do not recall being bitten by a tick,” the agency not...

From urchin crushing to lab-grown kelp, efforts to save Northern California’s kelp forests show promise

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

By JULIE WATSON | Associated PressCASPAR BEACH — A welding hammer strapped to her wrist, Joy Hollenback slipped on blue fins and swam into the churning, chilly Pacific surf one fall morning to do her part to save Northern California’s vanishing kelp forests.Hollenback floated on the swaying surface to regulate her breathing before free diving into the murky depths toward the seafloor. There, she spotted her target: voracious, kelp-devouring purple urchins.Within seconds she smashed 20 to smithereens. “If you’re angry, it’s a cathartic way to get it all out,” Hollenback joked. “It’s ecologically sanctioned mayhem.”The veterinarian who lives in Berkeley, California is part of a crew of volunteers who swim, snorkel and dive armed with pick axes and hammers on a sole mission: To crush purple urchins that largely destroyed 96% of California’s iconic bull kelp forests between 2014 and 2020, and with it harmed red abalone and other sea life they supported.The pilot project off the Mendocin...

Trial date reset for Bay Area attorney charged with child sex crimes

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

A Solano County Superior Court judge has rescheduled the jury trial from January to February for a former Vacaville attorney accused in a felony child sex assault case.James Glenn Haskell, 41 (Solano County Sheriff’s Office) Defendant James Glenn Haskell, 41, appeared Friday in Department 23 for a trial confirmation, and Judge John B. Ellis ordered him to return for the trial at 9 a.m. Feb. 13 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.Haskell – who has entered not-guilty pleas to all allegations – enhancements and prior offenses, also must return for a trial management conference at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 9, court records show.He is represented by Fairfield criminal defense attorney Thomas Maas. Deputy District Attorney Shelly Moore leads the prosecution.The latest development in the case comes after a two-day April preliminary hearing and Haskell’s held-to-answer arraignment. He faces 16 counts, felonies and misdemeanors.As previously reported, before the second day of the preliminary hearin...

Widow blames suicide of LA County sheriff’s deputy on excessive overtime

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:18:17 GMT

The widow of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who killed himself last month has filed a $20 million claim alleging her husband suffered from deep depression after he was forced to work exhaustive, mandatory overtime for a dozen years at a jail facility.The claim, filed Friday, Dec. 8, against the county, blames the Sheriff’s Department for the death of Deputy Arturo Atilano-Valadez, who died from a gunshot wound at his home on Nov. 7. He is among eight current or former Sheriff’s Department employees to die by suicide this year, according to the agency, the largest sheriff’s department in the nation.“What has happened to my family is going to continue to happen to any other deputies forced to work (in the jail) all the time,” Michele Atilano said at a news conference. “My husband is just one of many, many who are sick and are being forced to work in the jail all of the time.”As of Friday, the Sheriff’s Department had not received a copy of the claim, which is a precursor to a f...