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Telegram app back on in Brazil after judge lifts suspension

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — The Telegram messaging app was up and running in Brazil on Saturday after a federal judge revised an earlier ruling suspending it over the company’s failure to hand over data on neo-Nazi activity.But in lifting the suspension, the judge kept in place a daily fine of $1 million reais (about $200,000) for Telegram’s refusal to provide the data, according to a press statement provided by the federal court that issued the ruling.Complete suspension “is not reasonable, considering the wide affectation throughout the national territory of the freedom of communication of thousands of people who are absolutely strangers to the facts under investigation,” judge Flávio Lucas was quoted as saying in the statement. Telegram had been temporarily suspended in the context of a police inquiry into school shootings in November, when a former student armed with a semiautomatic pistol and wearing a bulletproof vest fatally shot three people and wounded 13 after barg...

Arkansas woman indicted in $11,000 sale of stolen body parts

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas woman has pleaded not guilty to charges that she sold 20 boxes of stolen body parts from medical school cadavers to a Pennsylvania man for nearly $11,000.The April 5 indictment, unsealed Friday in federal court in Little Rock, accuses Candace Chapman Scott, 36, a former mortuary worker, of setting up the transactions with a man she met through a Facebook group about “oddities.” Scott, a Little Rock resident, pleaded not guilty to 12 counts, including conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, and interstate transportation of stolen property.Scott is jailed, with a hearing on whether she will be released on bail scheduled for Tuesday. A lawyer for Scott did not immediately answer an email seeking comment on Saturday.The buyer is not identified in the federal indictment, but separate state charges in Pennsylvania name him as Jeremy Lee ...

Texas border city struggles with large arrival of migrants

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Shelters in a Texas city struggled to find space Saturday for migrants who authorities say have abruptly begun crossing by the thousands from Mexico, testing a stretch of the U.S. border that is typically equipped to handle large groups of people fleeing poverty and violence. The pace of arrivals in Brownsville appeared to catch the city on the southernmost tip of Texas off guard, stretching social services and putting an overnight shelter in an uncommon position of turning people away. Officials say more than 15,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have illegally crossed the river near Brownsville since last week.That is a sharp rise from the 1,700 migrants that Border Patrol agents encountered in the first two weeks of April, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. “It’s a quite concerning because the logistical challenge that we encounter is massive for us,” said Gloria Chavez, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector.T...

Details revealed about King Charles III’s coronation service

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

LONDON (AP) — It will be a coronation of many faiths and many languages.King Charles III, keen to show that he can be a unifying figure for everyone in the United Kingdom, will be crowned in a ceremony that will for the first time include the active participation of faiths other than the Church of England.Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders will take part in various aspects of the coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office said Saturday, as it revealed details of a service it described as an act of Christian worship that will reflect contemporary society.The ceremony also will include female bishops for the first time, as well as hymns and prayers sung in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic, as well as English.“The service contains new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society,’’ Archbishop Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Church of England, said in a statement. “It is my prayer that all who share in this service, whether they are o...

Newfoundland man captures phallic iceberg in Conception Bay

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

A Dildo, N.L., man’s photo of a phallic iceberg in Newfoundland’s Conception Bay was getting laughs across the globe on Saturday.Ken Pretty says he could tell from the shore that the stately iceberg drifting off the coast of Harbour Grace, N.L., on Thursday had a distinctive anatomical quality. But it wasn’t until he flew his drone out for a closer look that he realized just how lifelike the ice formation’s features really were.“The resemblance is — you know, it’s good, right?” he said in an interview, choosing his words carefully. “It’s unreal how much it looked like part of the male anatomy.”He posted the pictures to social media on Thursday evening, figuring they’d draw a few wisecracks. By Saturday morning, the iceberg had been nicknamed the “dickie berg” and Pretty’s photos had attracted news coverage from Quebec to Australia. He admitted the iceberg’s location in Conception Bay, alo...

AP Interview: Pelosi says Ukraine, democracy 'must win'

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — “We thought we could die.”The Russian invasion had just begun when Nancy Pelosi made a surprise visit to Ukraine, the House speaker then the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to lead a congressional delegation to Kyiv.Pelosi and the lawmakers were ushered under the cloak of secrecy into the capital city, an undisclosed passage that even to this day she will not divulge.“It was very, it was dangerous,” Pelosi told The Associated Press before Sunday’s one-year anniversary of that trip.“We never feared about it, but we thought we could die because we’re visiting a serious, serious war zone,” Pelosi said. “We had great protection, but nonetheless, a war — theater of war.”Pelosi's visit was as unusual as it was historic, opening a fresh diplomatic channel between the U.S. and Ukraine that has only deepened with the prolonged war. In the year since, a long list of congressional leaders, senators and chairs of powerful committees, both Democrats and Republicans, follo...

Home invasion suspects hold 5-year-old at gunpoint in the Bronx: NYPD

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) – A family in the Bronx is shaken up after several men forced their way into their apartment and held a 5-year-old at gunpoint, police said on Saturday.The harrowing home invasion happened around 8 a.m. on Wednesday near Gates Place and West Gun Hill Road. The NYPD released a surveillance video of the suspects, who they said waited outside the 30-year-old mother’s door until it was eventually opened.  5 killed in ‘execution style’ mass shooting in Texas, suspect on the run The group then forced their way inside, pointed a gun at the boy and threatened to shoot him unless she gave them money, according to the NYPD. The suspects also pistol-whipped the woman’s 58-year-old mother before pushing the 30-year-old woman into a back bedroom and removing $40,000 from as safe, authorities said.Two of the suspects took off in a gray sedan and the third drove off in a dark blue SUV, according to the NYPD.  Real or fake? This tick bite could lead to food allergies The...

Austin officials are sued over South-Central Waterfront funding plan

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – On Monday, a group of Austin property taxpayers filed a lawsuit against Mayor Kirk Watson, Austin City Council members and Interim City Manager Jesús Garza, saying that the City officials should not be allowed to put tax dollars towards the development of the old Austin American Statesman building. In the lawsuit filed in the Travis County District Court, the plaintiffs said that the Austin City Council established the South-Central Waterfront Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, or SCWF-TIRZ, a tax-increment financing zone that would divert $354 million away from the city’s general fund over 19 years. The Plaintiffs, who include Taxpayers Against Giveaways, Save Our Springs Alliance, former Austin City Councilmember Ora Houston, former state senator Gonzalo Barrientos and Fay Holland, said this action was illegal and should be stopped. A TIRZ allows a jurisdiction to finance infrastructure improvements and other projects using a portion of proceeds from property and sal...

Charley Walters: Way too early to judge Vikings’ pick of Jordan Addison

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

What impact will Jordan Addison have on the Vikings? Nobody knows. Despite the hype that’s spewed out on draft day about how great the players are, the NFL draft remains a crapshoot.USC Wide receiver Jordan Addison poses with Minnesota Vikings fans after being selected as the 23rd pick at the 2023 NFL Draft on Thursday, April 27, 2023 in Kansas City, MO. (Tyler Kaufman/AP Images for NFL)In 2016, with the No. 23 overall pick, the Vikings chose wide receiver Laquon Treadwell from Mississippi. He turned out to be a bust.Four years ago, the Vikings drafted Justin Jefferson out of LSU with the No. 22 overall pick. He’s probably the NFL’s best wide receiver.On Thursday, with the No. 23 overall pick, the Vikings drafted Addison out of Southern California.Star? Bust? We’ll see.—New licensed sales of Jefferson merchandise rank No. 13 among all NFL players, the highest-ranking Viking. Jefferson’s $150 million contract extension will come this summer.—It will be Bryce Young, age 21, throwing p...

How a St. Louis Cardinals team once at risk moving stayed put 70 years ago

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:31:11 GMT

ST. LOUIS - What might St. Louis look like without the Cardinals? It's hard to imagine, but for a brief time more than half a century ago, that was a possibility. A changing of the guard 70 years ago proved essential to keeping the Cardinals in St. Louis. The history behind it all doesn't get unpacked all that often, but sports and culture contributors at Defector.com and Nine PBS recently dove into what happened. In 1953, August "Gussie" Busch Jr. officially purchased the St. Louis Cardinals franchise from Fred Saigh Jr. for $3.75 million. Leading up to that, St. Louis was home to two MLB franchises - the Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns. While the Cardinals generally performed better than the Browns, and held bragging winning a head-to-head World Series matchup in 1944, a few factors put them in a tough spot financially. RELATED - Albert Pujols confident that 2023 Cardinals will overcome slow start In the 1930s and 1940s, the Cardinals weren't quite kings of attendance, drawi...