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Snow blankets northern China, closing roads and schools and suspending train service

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Overnight snowfall across much of northern China prompted road closures and the suspension of classes and train service on Monday.A red alert for a blizzard was in effect until mid-morning in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, and schools were closed there and in two other cities in Henan, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The Zhengzhou airport was also closed until 11 a.m.A total of 134 road sections in 12 provinces, including 95 on highways, were closed as of 7 a.m. because of snowfall and icy conditions, CCTV said. Several trains in two parts of Shanxi province were suspended.It was the first significant snowfall this year in much of China, outside of mountainous areas and in the northeast near the border with Russia’s Siberia.A thin layer of snow blanketed rooftops and parked cars in downtown Beijing. The roads were mostly clear and workers swept remaining snow from the sidewalks. The Beijing Public Transport Group said that 187 bus routes were suspend...

Mariah Carey’s 1994 hit ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ still dominates the holiday charts

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — If anything about Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” annoys you, best to avoid shopping malls now. Or the radio. Maybe music altogether, for that matter.Her 1994 carol dominates holiday music like nothing else.The Christmas colossus has reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart the past four years in a row — measuring the most popular songs each week by airplay, sales and streaming, not just the holiday-themed — and it’s reasonable to assume 2023 will be no different. One expert predicts it will soon exceed $100 million in earnings. Even its ringtone has sold millions.“That song is just embedded in history now,” says David Foster, the 16-time Grammy-winning composer and producer. “It’s embedded in Christmas. When you think of Christmas right now, you think of that song.”Yet the story behind “All I Want for Christmas is You” is not all holly and mistletoe.The song’s co-authors, Carey and Walter Afanasieff, are in a mystifying feud. The authors of a diff...

Negotiators, activists and officials ramp up the urgency as climate talks enter final days

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Delegates at the United Nations climate talks have little time left to decide how the world plans to cap planet-warming emissions and keep the worst of warming at bay, ramping up the urgency as new drafts were expected on key outcomes of the summit. Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, told journalists Monday morning that the “climate wolves” remained at the world’s doors as negotiations reach their climax at the summit.“We do not have a minute to lose in this crucial final stretch and none of us have had much sleep,” Stiell said. He added that “the areas where options need to be negotiated have narrowed significantly,” in particular how to reduce planet-warming emissions and the “transition with the proper means of support to deliver it.”When asked directly if it was a possibility that negotiators could leave Dubai without a deal, Stiell did not deny that could happen.“One thing is for certain: ...

Teachers have been outed for moonlighting in adult content. Do they have legal recourse?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

At a small rural Missouri high school, two English teachers shared a secret: Both were posting adult content on OnlyFans, the subscription-based website known for sexually explicit content.The site and others like it provide an opportunity for those willing to dabble in pornography to earn extra money — sometimes lots of it. The money is handy, especially in relatively low-paying fields like teaching, and many post the content anonymously while trying to maintain their day jobs.But some outed teachers, as well as people in other prominent fields such as law, have lost their jobs, raising questions about personal freedoms and how far employers can go to avoid stigma related to their employees’ after-hour activities.At St. Clair High School southwest of St. Louis, it all came crashing down this fall for 28-year-old Brianna Coppage and 31-year-old Megan Gaither. “You’re tainted and seen as a liability,” Gaither lamented on Facebook after she was suspended. Coppage resigned. The industr...

Embattled wolves gain a new frontier in Democratic Colorado. The move is stoking political tensions

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

DENVER, Colo. (AP) — Wildlife officials plan to release gray wolves in Colorado in coming weeks, at the behest of urban voters and to the dismay of rural residents who don’t want the predators but have waning influence in the Democratic-led state.The most ambitious wolf reintroduction effort in the U.S. in almost three decades marks a sharp departure from aggressive efforts by Republican-led states to cull wolf packs. More releases planned for Colorado over the next several years will start to fill in one of the last remaining major gaps in the western U.S. for a species that historically ranged from northern Canada to the desert southwest.The reintroduction, starting with the release of up to 10 wolves, emerged as a political wedge issue when GOP-dominated Wyoming, Idaho and Montana refused to share their wolves for the effort. Colorado officials ultimately turned to another Democratic state — Oregon — to secure wolves.As anticipation grows among wildlife advocates, who’...

Biden to host Hanukkah ceremony at the White House amid fears about rising antisemitism

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting a White House reception Monday to mark Hanukkah, celebrating the holiday as he has continued to denounce rising antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.The president, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will attend the reception. Hanukkah continues through Friday.The Biden administration in May announced what it called the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism. That laid out more than 100 actions, including a series of steps to raise awareness and understanding of antisemitism and the threat it poses around the U.S. Still, antisemitism has only intensified in some quarters since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants sparked Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to de...

Biden heads to Philadelphia for firefighters and fundraising

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will join Philadelphia firefighters on Monday to announce federal funding that will reopen three fire companies, according to the White House. The companies — Engine 6, Ladder 1 and Ladder 11 — were decommissioned during the Great Recession. Union leaders have said the cutbacks hampered the city’s response to a deadly rowhouse fire in the Fairmount neighborhood last year. Three adults and nine children were killed in the blaze. The White House said Philadelphia would receive $22.4 million to pay for 72 firefighters’ salaries and benefits for three years. The money comes from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and was made available through last year’s budget. Also scheduled to attend Monday’s event are Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell. Ed Kelly, p...

The Golden Globe nominations are coming. Here’s everything you need to know

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

After scandal and several troubled years, the Golden Globes are ready for a comeback.The revamped group, now a for-profit endeavor with a larger and more diverse voting body, is announcing nominations Monday for its January awards show.HOW TO WATCH THE GLOBE NOMINATIONSCedric the Entertainer and Wilmer Valderrama will announce the nominees, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern on www.CBSNews.com/GoldenGlobes. At 8:30 a.m., an additional 10 categories will be announced on “CBS Mornings.”In addition to nominations for films, shows and actors, segmented between comedy/musical and drama, the 2024 show will have two new categories: cinematic and box office achievement and best stand-up comedian on television.Analysts expect films like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Poor Things” and “The Color Purple” will be among the top nominees.WHAT’S NEW WITH THE GOLDEN GLOBES?The 81st Golden Globe Awards will be the first major broadcast of awards season, with a new h...

Holocaust survivors will mark Hanukkah amid worries over war in Israel, global rise of antisemitism

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Holocaust survivors from around the globe will mark the start of the fifth day of Hanukkah together with a virtual ceremony as Jews worldwide worry about the Israel-Hamas war and a spike of antisemitism in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. Survivors can join an online ceremony of a menorah lighting on Monday night to pay tribute to the 6 million European Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust. Several dozen survivors were also expected to gather in-person for a menorah lighting at Jerusalem’s Western Wall — the holiest place where Jews can pray.“Holocaust survivors somehow overcame the depravity of concentration camps, death camps and killing centers, among other horrors, to become our living exemplars, providing a roadmap on how light can overcome darkness,” Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, said in remarks released to The Associated Press ahead of the ceremony. The New York-based confer...

Russian presidential hopeful vows to champion peace, women and a ‘humane’ country

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:24:01 GMT

Sometime in the early 2010s, Yekaterina Duntsova’s eldest daughter drew a picture of her debating Russian President Vladimir Putin live on prime-time TV.A decade on, the little-known journalist and mom-of-three from a small town in western Russia recalls the drawing as a joke about her civic activism — but says it also carried a “message about the future.”Duntsova hopes that future might see her forcing Putin into a run-off in Russia’s next presidential vote, scheduled for March, despite her political inexperience and analysts’ assessments that the Kremlin leader’s tight grip on politics has virtually assured him another term as head of state.Speaking to The Associated Press in Moscow, Duntsova, a 40-year-old independent, said her message of peace with Ukraine, freedom for imprisoned critics of the government and a “humane” Russia that heeds its citizens’ concerns could give hope to those opposing the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine, the decades-long centralization of power ...