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Weird and wonderful trains that break the rules

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

(CNN) — Whether we call them railways or railroads, we’re all familiar with the concept — big, heavy vehicles that can’t climb steep hills, running on two steel rails. That’s the pattern, right?Well, railway technology is more versatile than you think. Over the last 200 years it has evolved to conquer cities, mountains, deep mines and some of the world’s most extreme climates. Here’s a selection of unusual railways that break the rules in order to reach the places other trains can’t roll.Wuppertal Schwebebahn, GermanyThe suspension railway, symbol of the city at the river Wupper. Credit: Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty ImagesIf ever a railway was perfectly suited to its environment, it’s the legendary Schwebebahn monorail in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region. Built to link several industrial towns along the narrow, twisting valley of the Wupper river, the suspended monorail was completed in 1901 and was instrumental...

Lawsuit: Yellen should ignore ‘unconstitutional’ debt limit

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and FATIMA HUSSEIN (Associated Press Writers)WASHINGTON (AP) — A union of government employees on Monday sued Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and President Joe Biden to try to stop them from complying with the law that limits the government’s total debt, which the lawsuit contends is unconstitutional.The lawsuit comes just weeks before Yellen has warned that the government could default on the federal debt if Congress fails to raise the borrowing limit by then. Financial markets have been increasingly nervous about the potential for default, with economists warning that a failure to raise the debt limit could trigger a global financial crisis.The lawsuit, filed by the National Association of Government Employees, says that if Yellen abides by the debt limit once it becomes binding, possibly next month, she would have to choose which federal obligations to actually pay once the debt limit bars the government from further borrowing. Doing so, the law...

Yankees great Derek Jeter and Hannah Jeter welcome son

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

Derek Jeter is now a father of four.The Yankees great and wife Hannah Jeter welcomed their fourth child and first son, he announced Monday. Kaius Green Jeter was born Friday.“Welcome to the world lil man!!!” Jeter captioned an Instagram post.Jeter, who played each of his 20 MLB seasons with the Yankees, updated his Instagram biography to read, “Sleep-deprived father of four.” He and Hannah, who married in 2016, are also parents to 5-year-old Bella Raine, 4-year-old Story Grey and 1-year-old River Rose.Jeter, 48, retired in 2014 and remains the Yankees’ all-time hits leader with 3,465. That total is the sixth-most in MLB history.The New Jersey-born, Michigan-raised Jeter won five championships with the Yankees, including over the crosstown Mets in 2000, when he was named the World Series MVP. The former Yankees captain was also a 14-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner at shortstop and a 2020 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Yankees ret...

Maple Leafs stars fall silent with season on brink: ‘It’s do or die now’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

What happens when you label a game a “must win” and don’t?Where does it leave a team that throws around buzzwords like urgency and desperation for two days, yet displays less of it than their opposition?What happens when you allot $40.5 million — nearly half your payroll — to four dynamic offensive stars, and they combine for zero goals in the first three games of a playoff series?Well, you fall behind 0-3 to a harder-working, more inspired hockey team and risk swiftly skating out of a second round that it took you forever to taste.A weekend ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs and their nation celebrated the most joyous victory of a generation. Maybe two.Fans mobbed downtown and chanted “We! Want! Flo-ri-da!” at the top of their lungs, preferring to avoid the top-seed Boston Bruins in the next stop in the bracket.After Sam Reinhart blew through the Maple Leafs’ defence in overtime, gathered a puck and jammed it through backup goalie Joseph Woll’s f...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts as banks stabilize

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting Monday ahead of a week full of reports on some of the market’s biggest worries, including how stubbornly high inflation remains across the economy. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in midday trading, coming off its worst week in nearly two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 99 points, or 0.3%, at 33,575, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower. Besides a strong reading on U.S. jobs, which calmed worries about a possible recession but raised concerns about high inflation, last week was dominated by fears about smaller and mid-sized banks. They were stabilizing Monday. PacWest Bancorp rose 2.9% to recover some of its steep 43% plunge last week. It said on Friday night that it’s cutting its dividend to help it build its financial strength. Several other smaller- and mid-sized banks also rose. Western Alliance Bancorp was 0.1% higher after drifting down from a bigger morning gain.They’ve been ...

Driver in deadly Texas crash charged with manslaughter

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — Police say the driver in a deadly crash that killed 8 people in Brownsville, Texas, has been charged with manslaughter.The Associated Press

Pearson Airport turns to bolstered staffing, tech improvements to reduce travel chaos

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

The Greater Toronto Airports Authority says it’s well-prepared for the summer travel season at Toronto Pearson International Airport thanks to bolstered staffing and technological improvements following widespread delays and cancellations that travellers experienced last year.The airport authority says it has hired 130 new staff to help handle critical areas such as busing, baggage handling and terminal operations.It has also streamlined its contactless check-in and boarding processes through a new partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency to deploy biometric e-gates and expedite customs clearance for travellers.Meanwhile, an upgraded baggage system relying on AI technology is designed to anticipate overloading and detect potential breakdowns before they occur.The authority says it will gather data to hold airlines accountable on proper training and staffing availability when handling baggage, with the goal of reducing baggage recirculation, maintaining system capacit...

Former UNDP chief and Turkish minister Dervis dies at 74

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish economist, politician and former head of the United Nations Development Program Kemal Dervis died Monday at the age of 74, Turkish news outlets reported. He was being treated for an unspecified illness in Washington D.C., state-run Anadolu Agency reported, as did BBC Turkish and t24, which first reported the news. In early 2001, amid the worst economic crisis in Turkey’s modern history, Dervis left his job at the World Bank, where he had worked for more than two decades, and joined the government at the invitation of then-Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit. Inflation was soaring and the stock market had crashed. As minister of economic affairs, Dervis was largely responsible for the successful three-year economic recovery plan launched that year, which included major structural changes and bank reforms. He also negotiated loans from the International Monetary Fund, a highly unpopular move as deep spending cuts were required. However, they would lead to rapid ...

Review: ‘Heavens’ profiles figures in modern space race

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

“When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach,” by Ashlee Vance (Ecco)During the space race of the 1960s that was chronicled by Tom Wolfe in “The Right Stuff,” the era was personified by larger-than-life heroes like John Glenn, Gus Grissom and Alan Shepard.In “When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach,” Ashlee Vance writes about a new kind of space race marked by private companies launching rockets and putting a massive number of satellites into orbit. The characters behind this new fight to dominate the skies are just as interesting as the ones Wolfe wrote about decades ago.Vance, the author of a biography of SpaceX founder Elon Musk and a writer at Bloomberg Businessweek, is well-positioned to tell the story of the modern fight for the skies. He follows four companies — Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs and Rocket Lab — as they’re vying against each other.Vance’s behind-the-scenes acce...

Man wanted in separate, random assaults of women in Toronto

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:40:22 GMT

Toronto police have released additional photos of a male suspect wanted in the random attacks of at least two women in the downtown core.Authorities responded to separate assaults on Saturday, May 6, between noon and 1 p.m. in the Spadina Avenue, Cecil Street, and Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West area.In the first incident, a 75-year-old woman was walking southbound on Spadina Avenue when a man approached the victim from behind and stabbed her on the left side of the neck with a sharp object. He then fled the area on foot.The woman was treated for non-life-threatening injuries in the hospital.In the other alleged assault, police said a woman was walking northbound on Spadina Avenue when the suspect approached the victim, reached over, and stabbed her in the right arm with a sharp object. He then fled the area.The woman was treated at the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.Police believe the same man is responsible for both assaults.The suspect was last seen wearing a b...