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Stock market today: Asian shares mixed, oil prices flat after armed rebellion quelled in Russia

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares are mixed after a short-lived armed rebellion in Russia added to uncertainties over the war in Ukraine. Benchmarks rose in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul and fell in Shanghai and Sydney. U.S. futures rose and oil prices were little changed. The rebellion by mercenary soldiers who briefly took over a Russian military headquarters on an ominous march toward Moscow was over. But the brief weakened President Vladimir Putin just as his forces were facing a fierce counteroffensive in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner troops were some of Russia’s most effective fighters in Ukraine. Their aborted takeover of the capital also left their fate uncertain.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 recouped early losses, gaining 0.2% to 32,846.24. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5% to 2,581.83. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.1% to 18,898.51, while the Shanghai Composite, reopening after a holiday, dropped 0.7% to 3,173.37. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4% to 7,07...

Your state has a law on bathrooms and trans kids? Officials may not know how it will be enforced

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — When North Dakota restricted what bathrooms transgender students can use in public schools and universities this year, the school district in the state’s largest city promised to ignore the new rules. A Republican legislator then called for confiscating its state funding, but the law doesn’t include that possibility.The defiance in Fargo shows that it’s not exactly clear how bathroom laws will play out in local communities after being enacted in at least 10 states with Republican-controlled legislatures.Kansas’ GOP attorney general planned to discuss his state’s law Monday, five days before it was to take effect. His view is likely be challenged. Even Florida’s law, allowing the state to threaten the licenses of educators who don’t comply, says a transgender student or staffer must first be asked to leave a restroom and refuse. Some schools already have gender-neutral bathrooms and changing spaces or allow trans student...

Theater review: Nontraditional ‘bull-jean/we wake’ at Pillsbury House Theatre proves a difficult grasp

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

When you visit a large, fairly comprehensive art museum, it’s always good to throw a little abstract art in with the realism. And you can approach going to the theater the same way, periodically setting aside conventional narratives and loosening the parameters around what you expect to see on a stage.Playwright Sharon Bridgforth is good at shaking up your expectations. She has a captivating gift for storytelling, often transporting audiences to a set of southern towns where the residents speak in very distinctive voices while poetically exorcising their demons and seeking healing.If you’ve never experienced a Bridgforth play, her latest, “bull-jean/we wake,” may not be the best introduction. Currently receiving its premiere at Minneapolis’ Pillsbury House Theatre, it completes a trilogy of plays inspired by Bridgforth’s award-winning 1998 fiction collection, “The Bull-Jean Stories.” But unlike the piece of theater by that name Pillsbury House presented in January, “we wake” is some...

1 dead, several injured after 10-car crash on 10 Freeway in Upland

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

At least one person is dead, and several others were injured after a crash involving 10 cars on the I-10 Freeway in Upland, authorities announced Sunday night.  According to officials with the San Bernardino County Fire Department, the crash involves both directions of the 10 Freeway, just west of Euclid Avenue.  Fire officials also said that some of the victims involved in the mass-casualty incident required extrication.  It is unclear what led up to the crash, but as many as six other people, including children, may have been injured during the fatal incident.  Damage seen to one vehicle in a 10-car crash on the I-10 Freeway in Upland on June 25, 2023. (Key News TV)Damage seen to one vehicle in a 10-car crash on the I-10 Freeway in Upland on June 25, 2023. (Key News TV)Damage seen to one vehicle in a 10-car crash on the I-10 Freeway in Upland on June 25, 2023. (Key News TV)Victims and first responders seen after a 10-car crash on the I-10 in Upland on June 25, ...

What to stream this week: ‘The Bachelorette,’ Idris Elba, The Weeknd, Sarah Snook and ‘Jack Ryan’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

John Krasinski makes his final bow in season four of “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” a new album from Lucinda Williams and the debut of the mystery video game Crime O’Clock are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are Idris Elba on the worst flight ever in the new series “Hijack” for Apple TV+ and a horror movie starring “Succession’s” Sarah Snook as the single mother of a young girl who says she has memories of another life. NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— The film adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic coming-of-age novel “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” will be available on video on demand starting Tuesday — perfect for summer sleepovers or mother-daughter movie nights at home. Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (“The Edge of Seventeen”), Abby Ryder Fortson plays the 11-year-old narrator who is navigating a move to the suburbs, new friends, puberty, periods, f...

Today in History: June 26, first Harry Potter book published

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

Today in History Today is Monday, June 26, the 177th day of 2023. There are 188 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On June 26, 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco. On this date: In 1917, the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force deployed to France during World War I landed in St. Nazaire. In 1925, Charles Chaplin’s classic comedy “The Gold Rush” premiered at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.In 1948, the Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he delivered his famous speech expressing solidarity with the city’s residents, declaring: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner).In 1977, 42 people were killed when a fire sent toxic smoke pouring through the Maury County Jail in Columbia, Tennessee. Elvis Presley performed his last concert at Market Square Arena...

BET Awards honor hip-hop’s 50 years, Busta Rhymes, pay tribute to legends like Takeoff, Markie

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

Lil Uzi Vert performs a medley at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 25, 2023, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark Terrill)(Mark Terrill/Invision/AP) Lil Uzi Vert performs a medley at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 25, 2023, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark Terrill)(Mark Terrill/Invision/AP) LOS ANGELES (AP) — The 2023 BET Awards celebrated 50 years of hip-hop with tributes to the genre’s earliest voices, late legends, and new talent during a performance-packed show that consistently felt like a party.Sunday’s biggest surprise was a rare public performance by Quavo and Offset, the surviving members of Migos, who did a rendition of “Bad and Boujee” in front of an image o...

Comienza el conteo de votos en Guatemala tras cierre de centros de votación

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

CIUDAD DE GUATEMALA – Los centros de votación cerraron este domingo en Guatemala para iniciar el conteo de sufragios, en una jornada electoral con incidentes en al menos cinco municipios de los 340 que componen al país centroamericano.El cierre de los 3,482 centros de votación se realizó a las 6:00 p.m. hora local, como estableció el Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE), a la espera del conteo individual de votos.La jornada electoral había empezado en Guatemala a las 07:00 a.m. hora local y tuvo su culminación sin mayores incidentes, de acuerdo a la misma entidad. Guatemala: condenan a la cárcel a reconocido periodista crítico del presidente Guatemala: corte deja afuera de las presidenciales al candidato que encabeza las encuestas Las cifras de abstencionismo por parte de los 9.3 millones de votantes habilitados serán conocidas también en horas posteriores, ya que la ley guatemalteca no contabiliza cifras de manera electrónica y...

Final miles of new I-5 HOV lanes set to open in North County: Caltrans

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Drivers in North County will get some traffic congestion relief this week with the opening of four more miles of carpool lanes on Interstate 5 on Monday, Caltrans announced.The new lanes will open on the northbound side of the highway in Oceanside and Carlsbad, stretching from Palomar Airport Road to the State Route 78 exit. According to Caltrans, this could cut commute time for some drivers by as much as 50% during peak travel hours.The opening of the northbound highway expansion comes about two weeks after four miles of new southbound carpool lanes were opened in the same area, marking the beginning of the end for a $410 million project aimed at adding 13 miles of HOV lanes through North County.The project is part of the nearly $900 million Build North Coast Corridor program -- a joint effort by Caltrans and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) described by transportation officials earlier this month as "one of the largest infrastructure improvements in t...

County could declare local state of emergency over sewage spill from Tijuana

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:01:05 GMT

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. -- San Diego County leaders are aiming to get the attention of federal officials this week to help address the ongoing sewage spill from Tijuana into the region's southernmost beaches.The crisis from the Tijuana River Valley has been a problem for decades, contaminating water around Imperial Beach and Coronado. However, the problem is seemingly becoming more acute, with nearly 30% of the San Diego coastline closed due to the discharge of untreated sewage. Yellow warning signs have dotted the Imperial Beach shore for nearly 500 consecutive days, alerting people to avoid the water.Now, county leaders are looking to declare a state of emergency over the worsening problem.During the County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Board Chairwoman Nora Vargas and Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer plan to introduce a board policy that would proclaim the local emergency. The two would join Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and the City of San Diego in sounding the alar...