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AP concludes at least hundreds died in floods after Ukraine dam collapse, far more than Russia said

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (AP) — They recognized the TV repairman. The residents of Oleshky in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine could not identify many of those they buried after a catastrophic dam collapse in June sent water coursing through their homes and shattered their lives. The bodies were too bloated and discolored, volunteer rescuers and health workers said. They described seeing faces that resembled rubber masks, frozen in that last frenzied gasp for air. But to those secretly keeping count of the drowned, Yurii Bilyi was no stranger.The cheerful 56-year-old was a town fixture. He had serviced many homes and spent his days working from a shop just across the street from the churchyard where he was buried, in a hurriedly dug mass grave, The Associated Press has learned.Anastasiia Bila, his daughter, remembers his last words clearly over the unstable phone connection. “Nastya,” he affectionately called her, hoping to soothe her anxieties as flood waters rose quickly, inundating 600...

Gypsy Rose Blanchard set to be paroled years after persuading boyfriend to kill her abusive mother

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the Missouri woman who persuaded an online boyfriend to kill her mother after she had forced her to pretend for years that she was suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy and other serious illnesses, is set to be paroled on Thursday. The case sparked national tabloid interest after reports emerged that Gypsy Blanchard’s mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, who was slain in 2015, had essentially kept her daughter prisoner, forcing her to use a wheelchair and feeding tube.It turned out that Gypsy Blanchard, now 32, was perfectly healthy, not developmentally delayed as her friends had always believed. Her mother had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder in which parents or caregivers seek sympathy through the exaggerated or made-up illnesses of their children, said her trial attorney, Michael Stanfield.“People were constantly telling Dee Dee what a wonderful mother she was, and Dee Dee was getting all of this attention,” he said.Throug...

Takeaways from AP investigation into Russia’s cover-up of deaths caused by dam explosion in Ukraine

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian occupation authorities vastly and deliberately undercounted the dead in one of the most devastating chapters of the 22-month war in Ukraine — the flooding that followed the catastrophic explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in the southern Kherson region.The AP’s reporting focused on Oleshky, one town in the vast area flooded by the dam. Health workers and others who were in Oleshky told The Associated Press that Russian authorities hid the true number of dead by taking control of the issuance of death certificates, immediately removing bodies not claimed by family, and preventing local health workers and volunteers from dealing with the dead, threatening them when they defied orders. Still afraid, many Oleshky residents and health workers declined to speak, fearing reprisal. The AP’s investigation is based on the accounts of those who did, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity or on condition only their first names be used, fearing ...

House where 4 University of Idaho students were killed is set to be demolished

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

The house where four University of Idaho students were killed last year was set to be demolished Thursday, marking an emotional step for the victims’ families and a close-knit community that was shocked and devastated by the brutal stabbings.The owner of the rental home near the university campus in Moscow, Idaho, donated it to the university earlier this year. It has since been boarded up and blocked off by a security fence. Students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were fatally stabbed there in November 2022. School officials, who in February announced plans to raze the house, view the demolition as a key step toward finding closure, university spokesperson Jodi Walker said. “That is an area that is dense with students, and many students have to look at it and live with it every day and have expressed to us how much it will help with the healing process to have that house removed,” she said.Contractors estimated that it would take a few hours f...

Gaming proponents size up the odds of a northern Virginia casino

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — With casinos popping up on Virginia’s southern border, some lawmakers now want to explore whether wealthy northern Virginia should get in on the action.State Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax, is planning to re-introduce legislation that would allow Fairfax County to hold a referendum on building a casino. He introduced similar legislation last year that went nowhere. This year, though, his proposal envisions far more than a casino and includes a convention center, concert hall, hotel, and other amenities. Marsden’s preferred location is Tysons Corner, a suburb of the nation’s capital just a few miles from the Maryland border and a center of wealth that’s already home to successful high-end shopping malls and retail. While that area makes the most sense to Marsden, the legislation would allow the county to pick a site anywhere near one of the Silver Line Metro stations, including Reston.Placing a casino and entertainment on the Silver Line will be a boon t...

As pandemic unfolded, deaths of older adults in Pennsylvania rose steeply in abuse or neglect cases

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania recorded a steep increase in the deaths of older adults following an abuse or neglect complaint the last few years, as COVID-19 ravaged the nation, complaints grew and agencies struggled to keep caseworkers on staff.The staggering increase shown in state data — from 120 deaths reported in 2017 to almost 1,400 in 2022, a more than tenfold increase — may have had several contributing factors, and the state and county-level agencies that field and investigate complaints gave varying answers explaining why.Mostly, Pennsylvania’s Department of Aging and county-level agency officials speculated that it had to do with a growing population of people 65 and older, an increase in complaints and the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults.One county said errors in its data entry procedure — now corrected — led to undercounting in the initial years. Another pointed to cases staying open longer.Some county agencies wouldn’t answer que...

A legendary Paris restaurant reopens with a view of Notre Dame’s rebirth and the 2024 Olympics

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The Tour d’Argent already boasts a 320,000-bottle wine cellar, a world-famous duck recipe and a storied 441-year history. Now, the legendary restaurant is about to serve up its “plat de résistance”: a front-row view of two of the biggest events of 2024 — the renaissance of Notre Dame Cathedral and the 2024 Summer Olympics.A city landmark unto itself — and an inspiration for the restaurant in the movie “Ratatouille’’ — the Tour d’Argent recently reopened after its own renovation, which preserved revered traditions while adapting to the 21st century.‘’It’s very reassuring for many customers to see that such establishments are still present in our history, and in French gastronomic history,’’ owner and CEO André Terrail told the Associated Press.The restaurant claims to be the oldest in Paris, its 1582 opening date embossed on the doors. It says King Henri IV ate heron pâté here; ‘’Sun King’’ Louis XIV hosted a meal here involving an entire cow; and presidents,...

Mexican officials clear border tent camp as US pressure mounts to stem migrant influx

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — A ragged migrant tent camp next to the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, is a long way from the country’s National Palace, where a top level U.S. delegation met with Mexico’s president seeking more action to curb the surge of migrants reaching the U.S. border.But as Mexican officials in Matamoros worked with bulldozers Wednesday to clear out what they claimed were abandoned tents, it was probably a sign of things to come.The United States has given clear signs — by temporarily closing key border rail crossings into Texas — that it needs Mexico to do more to stop migrants hopping freight cars, buses and trucks to the border.Mexico, desperate to get those crossings reopened to its manufactured goods, is starting to give signs it will crack down a bit.That was on display in Matamoros as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City. Migrants set up the encampment in Matamoros, across from ...

The number of wounded Israeli soldiers is mounting, representing a hidden cost of war

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — Igor Tudoran spent just 12 hours inside the Gaza Strip before a missile slammed into his tank, leaving him with a life-altering injury.“Already within the tank, I understood from the condition of my leg that I would lose it. But the question was how much of it will I lose,” he said, seated on a bed in the hospital where he has been treated since he was wounded last month.Tudoran, 27, a reservist who volunteered for duty after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas that triggered the war, lost his right leg beneath the hip. He has kept up a positive attitude — but concedes that his hopes of becoming an electrician may no longer be possible.Tudoran is part of a swelling number of wounded Israeli fighters, yet another sizable and deeply traumatized segment of Israeli society whose struggles are emerging as a hidden cost of the war that will be felt acutely for years to come. Given the large numbers of wounded, advocates worry the country is not prepared ...

US companies are picky about investing in China. The exceptions? Burgers, lattes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:52:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s been no shortage of tough news for China’s economy as some of the world’s biggest brands consider or take action to shift manufacturing to friendlier shores at a time of unease about security controls, protectionism and wobbly relations between Beijing and Washington.Count Adidas, Apple and Samsung among those looking elsewhere. But as a tumultuous 2023 for the Chinese economy comes to a close, there has been at least one bright spot for Beijing when it comes to foreign investment: American fast-food chains have decided a market of 1.4 billion people is simply too delicious to pass up. KFC China’s parent company opened its 10,000th restaurant in China last month and aims to have stores within reach of half of China’s population by 2026. McDonald’s is planning to open 3,500 new stores in China over the next four years. And Starbucks invested $220 million in a manufacturing and distribution facility in eastern China, its biggest project outside the U.S.This i...