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Tokyo Olympics sullied by bid-rigging, bribery trials more than 2 years after the Games closed

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The bid-rigging trial around the Tokyo Olympics played out Tuesday in a Japanese courtroom — more than two years after the Games closed — with advertising giant Dentsu and five other companies facing criminal charges. Seven individuals are also facing charges from Tokyo district prosecutors in the cases, including Koji Henmi, who oversaw the sports division at Dentsu at the time.Executives or management-level officials at each of the accused companies, and Tokyo Olympic organizing committee official Yasuo Mori, have been charged with violating anti-monopoly laws.Among the companies facing charges are Dentsu Group, Hakuhodo, Tokyu Agency and event organizer Cerespo. All deal with event organizing, sports promotion or marketing.Dentsu has a long history of lining up sponsorships and advertising with bodies like World Athletics, headed by Sebastian Coe, and the Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee, led by Thomas Bach.Genta Yoshino, the lawyer for Henmi, did no...

China’s government can’t take a joke, so comedians living abroad censor themselves

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Comedian Xi Diao says he knows he should avoid talking politics on stage, but sharing a family name with Chinese President Xi Jinping makes it hard to resist.Even his name is politically sensitive, the Melbourne-based amateur comedian tells audiences, setting up a joke about a group chat on the Chinese messaging service WeChat being shut down as soon as he joined it. The 33-year-old civil engineer gets nervous laughs whenever he breaks a de facto rule of Chinese comedy: Don’t say anything that makes China look bad. To most comedians, that means no jokes about censorship, no mentioning the president’s name, and no discussion of China’s extraordinarily strict COVID lockdowns or social topics like domestic violence.“It is a pity, if the environment were open, there would be somebody world-class coming up,” Xi said.Mandarin-language standup comedy is growing, and not just in China. The medium has taken off in the last decade, and China’s expatriate population has...

Prince Harry challenges UK government’s decision to strip him of security detail when he moved to US

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry is challenging on Tuesday the British government’s decision to strip him of his security detail after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the United States. The Duke of Sussex said he wants protection when he visits home and claimed it’s partly because an aggressive press jeopardizes his safety and that of his family. The three-day hearing scheduled to begin in London’s High Court is the latest in a string of Harry’s legal cases that have kept London judges busy as he takes on the U.K. government and the British tabloid media. It was not clear if he would attend Tuesday’s hearing.Harry failed to persuade a different judge earlier this year that he should be able to privately pay for London’s police force to guard him when he comes to town. A judge denied that offer after a government lawyer argued that officers shouldn’t be used as “private bodyguards for the wealthy.”Harry, the youngest son of...

Magnitude 5.1 earthquake felt widely across Big Island of Hawaii; no damage or risk of tsunami

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

HILO, Hawaii (AP) — A magnitude 5.1 earthquake on the Big Island of Hawaii was felt widely Monday, but there were no reports of damage or injury, officials said. The earthquake hit at 5:54 p.m. near the Kilauea volcano at a depth of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) below sea level, according to a statement from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. The initial quake and a magnitude 3.0 aftershock were not related to volcanic activity, the statement said. “Aftershocks will likely continue, some large enough to be felt locally. We see no detectable changes in activity at Kilauea as a result of these earthquakes,” the observatory said. There was no risk of a tsunami, officials said. Hundreds of people across much of the island reported shaking. The Associated Press

Bus crashes in western Thailand, killing 14 people and injuring more than 30 others

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A bus crashed in western Thailand early Tuesday, killing 14 people and injuring more than 30 others, officials said.The accident occurred in Prachuap Khiri Khan province as the bus was traveling from the capital, Bangkok, to Songkhla province in the deep south. It was carrying 49 people when it ran off the road and hit a tree near Hat Wanakorn National Park, a local police official said. Prachuap Khiri Khan province is located on a coastal stretch between the Gulf of Thailand and Myanmar.“We presume the driver might have fallen asleep,” said Pol. Col. Weerapat Ketesa, the superintendent of the Huay Yang Police Station, adding that officials were waiting for the result of a blood test on the driver, who survived the accident.Police were still investigating what caused the crash, he added.Most victims were Thai and a few were Burmese, Weerapat said.Some 35 people were being treated for injuries at local hospitals, according to the Sawang Rungrueang Rescue Foundation.The...

A roadside bombing in the commercial center of Pakistan’s Peshawar city wounds at least 3 people

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bomb went off near a school in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, wounding at least three passersby and damaging windows of a nearby bank and several shops, authorities said.The bombing happened in the commercial center of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, Bilal Ahmed Faizi, a spokesman for the state-run emergency service, told reporters. The province is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.Faizi said security forces were at the scene of the blast and officers were working on finding out who planted the bomb in the city’s commercial hub of Warsak Road.The province has witnessed a rise in violence with several deadly attacks. In January, at least 101 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque in Peshawar. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Tali...

EU endorses international Declaration on Climate and Health at COP28 Health Day

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

On behalf of the EU, the Commission officially endorsed on Sunday, 3 December, an international Declaration on Climate and Health. The endorsementtook place in the United Arab Emirates in the context of COP28 Health Day, during which the first ever climate-health ministerial was held, with the participation of Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič. Ministers discussed ways to address the burden of climate change on health and health systems, both through policy and investment.An estimated 62,000 deaths were linked to the heatwave in Europe during the summer of 2022. In addition, rising temperatures are bringing new threats to our continent, including mosquito-and water-borne diseases. As an example of our actions to address this challenge, the Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) is investing €120 million to enhance the accessibility of medical countermeasures for vector-bor...

Residents blast city leaders for fire at vacant West Hollywood home

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

Residents in a West Hollywood neighborhood are demanding answers and action from city officials after a massive fire on Thanksgiving Night destroyed a vacant home that’s been the subject of repeated complaints about squatters and trespassers.  The dilapidated and vacant home on North Sierra Bonita Avenue, which is surrounded by apartment buildings, erupted in flames on Nov. 23 jarring neighbors from gatherings with their loved ones.  Fortunately, fire officials said no one was injured during the blaze, and while the fire has sent shockwaves through the nearby community, some of the residents tell KTLA that the property was a public safety hazard waiting to happen and that’s why they’re fuming.  At a West Hollywood City Council meeting on Monday, many residents were speaking their minds.  “The landlord did not secure his property,” one speaker said.  “I wish that WeHoans who ask the city for help could actually get it,” another told the council.  Neighbo...

Sideshow backs up traffic at busy San Francisco intersection

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – A sideshow stopped all traffic in a busy intersection in San Francisco over the weekend. It went on far longer than neighbors would have liked.The sideshow woke people up in the middle of the night, disturbing not only people who live around there but also all the people stuck in traffic while the intersection was shut down. The sideshow happened at Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue. People who live near this intersection say they got woken up by people doing “donuts” around 1 a.m. Sunday. Kimberly Chin said it was extremely loud. Oakland police investigate fatal shooting near 7-Eleven “I heard a lot of screeching, then about a little bit later I heard fireworks go off multiple times,” she said.The sideshow also backed up traffic in all directions. Dozens of people parked in the middle of the street to go watch.Eventually, police responded and shut it all down with people and cars dispersing quickly. Other video online showed a Waymo being trappe...

250,000 birds euthanized in Petaluma due to bird flu

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:00:32 GMT

PETALUMA, Calif. (KRON) – Avian or “bird” flu is hitting Bay Area poultry farms hard, with a quarter of a million birds euthanized in Sonoma County this week alone.Mike Weber, the co-owner of Sunrise Farms in Petaluma, says around 82,000 of his egg-laying chickens had to be euthanized after birds started testing positive for Avian Flu.“They are posing a risk to the neighboring farms, so we are sacrificing the life of these birds so we can remove the risk of spreading like a wildfire,” he said. VIDEO: Person steals Christmas tree from parked car in San Mateo Weber says there are about 800,000 chickens left at the farm, but just down the street from him, a duck farm lost all 170,000 of its ducks due to the bird flu. Wildcare is a non-profit wildlife hospital in San Rafael. Its director of animal care, Melanie Piazza, has been monitoring the spread of the bird flu. She believes it’s coming from wild birds migrating south for the winter.“It’s so contagious. It’s harder to stop and it’...