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Ukraine trying to end battlefield stalemate in what may be start of counteroffensive

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

By SUSIE BLANN (Associated Press)KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to end a battlefield stalemate and punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day Monday, in what may herald the start of a long-anticipated counteroffensive after 15 months of war.Russian officials seemed to be trying to portray the Ukrainian attacks as the start of the counteroffensive, saying that Moscow’s forces foiled at least one assault. While not explicitly confirming such a large-scale effort, Kyiv authorities said their forces were indeed increasing offensive operations and making gains, but suggested some of the Russian announcements were misinformation. Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russia-backed administration of Ukraine’s partly occupied Zaporizhzhia province, said fighting resumed on its border with the eastern Donetsk province on Monday after Russian defenses beat back a Ukrainian advance the previous day.“The ene...

Apple unveils sleek, $3,500 ‘Vision Pro’ goggles. Will they be what VR has been looking for?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE (AP Technology Writer)CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination.After years of speculation, Apple CEO Tim Cook hailed the arrival of the sleek goggles — dubbed “Vision Pro” — at the the company’s annual developers conference held on a park-like campus in Cupertino, California, that Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs helped design. “This marks the beginning of a journey that will bring a new dimension to powerful personal technology,” Cook told the crowd. Although Apple executives provided an extensive preview of the headset’s capabilities during the final half hour of Monday’s event, consumers will have to wait before they can get their hands on the dev...

Stock market today: Wall Street slips after tepid report on economy

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

By STAN CHOE (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are edging lower Monday to begin what could be a quiet stretch following their best week since March.The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower in late trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 179 points, or 0.5%, at 33,583, as of 3:10 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.The majority of stocks fell on Wall Street after a report showed growth fell short of economists’ forecasts for businesses in the construction, accommodation and other U.S. services industries last month. It was still a fifth straight month of expansion, though. It’s the latest mixed reading for a U.S. economy that has defied forecasts for a recession but has begun to slow under the weight of higher interest rates.“There’s this muddle-through environment that the market is starting to work through,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.Monday’s dip comes a...

Robert Hanssen, former FBI agent who sold secrets to Soviet Union, dies in Supermax prison

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

Robert Hanssen, a former federal agent who pleaded guilty two decades ago to spying for the Soviet Union, died Monday morning in the Supermax prison in southern Colorado. He was 79.Prison staff at the United States Penitentiary Florence ADMAX in Florence found Hanssen unresponsive around 6:55 a.m., the Bureau of Prisons said in a news release. They attempted life-saving measures before pronouncing him dead, the release stated.No staff or other inmates were injured, prison officials said.Hanssen had been serving time in the prison known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies” since July 17, 2002. He was arrested in 2001 and pleaded guilty to selling highly classified material to the Soviet Union and, later, Russia.

Takeaways from Yanks’ successful, painful West Coast road trip

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

LOS ANGELES – The Yankees’ first west coast trip of the season proved successful, as the team went 4-2 over six games in Seattle and Los Angeles.The team won its first two games against the Mariners before getting blanked by George Kirby. A less-than-electric Luis Severino then started the Dodgers set on a sour note before the Yankees won their last two games at Chavez Ravine.The third-place Bombers, who had an off day on Monday, are now 36-25 this season.While the Yankees’ westward expedition was fruitful, it was also painful. With a new crop of injuries leading the way, here are some takeaways from the club’s road trip.The Injuries Never EndThe Yankees were thrilled to get three players – Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Tommy Kahnle – back for the opening Dodgers game, but that same contest also saw Ryan Weber (forearm) and Greg Allen (hip flexor) get hurt. Aaron Judge then banged his right big toe while making a spectacular, gate-breaking...

For Florida couple, Alzheimer’s isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a love story

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

Francisco Rios is a member of a small club that no one wants to join.Once a month, Rios, 47, logs online from Orlando to video chat with a group of people with the same genetic mutation that gave him dominantly inherited Alzheimer’s disease, a very rare form of early-onset dementia. There are fewer than 10 people in his group and only one is over 50.“Sometimes it’s sad, sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s well, you know, heartbreaking, but it’s what life is, right? You’re not always going to be sad. You’re not always going to be happy. It’s just a roller coaster,” Rios said. “And it’s a blessing that I’ve met good people in my support group.”He’s supported as well by his wife, Zahydie Burgos, a 38-year-old clinical psychologist. To help her husband with his currently mild symptoms, she’s taken over managing the household finances and started working from home. She shuttles him to doctors’ appointments and travels with him to and from Missouri and Puerto Rico for an ongoing clinical...

Red Sox notebook: Arroyo returns, Tapia DFA’ed, Story making progress

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

The Red Sox activated Christian Arroyo from the 10-day injured list on Monday, hopefully giving their infield a much-needed refresher.Arroyo hasn’t played since May 6 in Philadelphia, when the Red Sox were 21-14. In 24 games since, they only added nine wins to their season total.Over 27 games this season, Arroyo is hitting .257 with a .660 OPS, 19 hits, including five doubles and a home run, 12 runs, 11 RBI, a stolen base, four walks, and 17 strikeouts.When healthy, Arroyo is capable of going on incredible offensive tears. He’d been on one before going on the IL; over his last 10 games, he went 10-for-23 (.435) with two doubles, his first home run of the season, eight runs, eight RBI, two walks, and just four strikeouts.However, the infielder’s return comes at a surprising cost; as the corresponding move, the Red Sox designated Raimel Tapia for assignment.Tapia appeared in 39 games, primarily coming off the bench. He also spent six games in the leadoff spot, going ...

Mexico president’s ruling party ousts once-dominant party in most populous state

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The ruling party of Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador won the governorship of the country’s most populous state, dealing a life-threatening blow to the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Part y — or PRI — which had governed the State of Mexico without interruption for nearly a century.With over 99% of precincts counted in a preliminary report, electoral authorities said Monday that Morena’s Delfina Gómez won 52.7% of votes in the State of Mexico — which surrounds Mexico City on three sides — to 44.3% for the PRI’s Alejandra del Moral. Del Moral later gave a concession speech acknowledging her defeat. The result was a new low for the PRI, which held Mexico’s presidency uninterrupted for 71 years until losing power in 2000 elections; the party had governed the State of Mexico and its 17 million inhabitants for 94 years until its loss Sunday.The PRI managed to hold on to the governorship of the sparsely populated norther...

DNA from drinking glass linked New Jersey man to 4 Boston sexual assaults, prosecutor says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A New Jersey lawyer charged with sexually assaulting four women in Boston about 15 years ago was ordered held on $500,000 bail Monday during a hearing in which a prosecutor said authorities helped tie him to the attacks by getting DNA from a drinking glass he had used.Matthew Nilo, of Weehawken, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty in a Boston courtroom to several charges, including three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and battery. The charges stem from four attacks that happened in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood from August 2007 through December 2008 — a time that authorities say Nilo lived in the city.Nilo, 35, was arrested last week. During the hearing Monday, prosecutor Lynn Feigenbaum said that in some cases, the assailant said he had a gun and threatened to kill the victim. In one case, he showed the victim a knife, she said.The first two victims, who were both 23 years ...

2nd flight carrying migrants lands in Sacramento; California officials say Florida arranged travel

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:51:51 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Another plane carrying migrants arrived in Sacramento on Monday, marking the second flight in recent days that California officials allege was coordinated by Florida. The flight carrying roughly 20 migrants that arrived Monday follows the arrival Friday of 16 migrants from Colombia and Venezuela, who were taken from Texas to New Mexico before they were put on a chartered plane to California’s capital. It’s not clear what countries the latest group of arrivals are from, but their travel appears to have been arranged by the same company, said Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta.Bonta says he’s investigating whether any crimes were committed.The first group of migrants was dropped off at the Roman Catholic Church diocese’s headquarters in Sacramento.They carried documents that said they were transported through a program run by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and carried out by contractor Vertol ...