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Israel faces new truce calls as errant killing of captives adds to concern about its wartime conduct

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

Israel’s government faced local protests and calls for a cease-fire from some of its closest European allies on Sunday after a series of shootings, including of three hostages who were waving a white flag, added to mounting concerns about its conduct in the 10-week-old war in Gaza.The protesters are calling on the government to renew hostage negotiations with Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whom it has vowed to destroy. Israel could also face pressure to scale back major combat operations when U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visits this week, as Washington has expressed growing unease with civilian casualties even while providing vital military and diplomatic support.The air and ground war has flattened large parts of northern Gaza, killed thousands of civilians and driven most of the population to the southern part of the besieged territory, where many are packed into crowded shelters and tent camps, surviving off a trickle of humanitarian aid. Some 1.9 million Palestinians — ...

The pattern stays quick and cold for the early weeks.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Metro Today:  mostly cloudy AM, clearing PM, wind WNW 10-15, high 49.  Overnight:  mostly clear, not as cold, low 32.  Monday:  blustery, bright and cold; wind NW 15–30; high 39; low 22.    Tuesday:  partly cloudy, high 45, low 33.  Wednesday:  variable clouds, high 54, low 42.  Thursday:  increasing clouds, rain developing, high 56, low 44.  Friday:  scattered showers, high 55, low 47.  Weekend:  scattered rain chances continue; highs 55 to 58, lows 43 to 46.

Nuggets’ DeAndre Jordan takes vegan diet to London for Great American Baking Show’s celebrity holiday special

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

With applesauce as an egg substitute, DeAndre Jordan worried his batter would take more time to rise than his first career NBA championship banner.It was summer, after he “sobered up a little bit” from celebrating a title with the Denver Nuggets, and Jordan was outside London … baking holiday goodies. On a tight deadline. Without any animal products. Surrounded by competitors and judges.A perfectly relaxing way to unwind after the soaring highs of a parade in Denver.“I was afraid it was gonna take my (stuff) forever to set and rise,” he recalled. “Just because I was using other ingredients.”Jordan, 35, spent a week last offseason in the English countryside recording a celebrity holiday episode of “The Great American Baking Show,” a spin-off of “The Great British Bake Off.” And he made his appearance with a twist. It has been five years since Jordan, a three-time All-NBA center who won his first career championship with Denv...

Grading The Week: Don’t poke The Moose! Do Avs fans have Artturi Lehkonen’s dad to thank for Mikko Rantanen’s scoring surge?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

So, um, do we give Ismo Lehkonen … an assist? No?Lordy, you should’ve seen the cringes and awkward glances traded around the Grading The Week offices after we saw what Lehkonen, father of Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen, told the Yle media outlet in Finland about Mikko Rantanen, his son’s very large and very good teammate, this past Monday.With the Avs having dropped five of six, the elder Lehknonen, an analyst in Finland, his homeland as well as Rantanen’s, said the Colorado forward “didn’t have a very good summer” and had basically hit a wall in December, and that “frustration and pain have started to show in Rantanen’s game.”Given how the Moose responded, any chance Papa Lehkonen would like to chuck a few more Avs under the bussi — that’s “bus” or “shuttle” in Finnish — now that he’s talking roskat (“trash”)?Mikko Rantanen — A-After a stretch of nine straight goalless ga...

Hickenlooper: With the PUEBLO Act, the old Chemical Depot is primed to get cleaned up and revitalized

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

Puebloans: rest easy. Congress is about to pass our bill to finally bring certainty to the future of the Pueblo Chemical Depot. Our Promoting Utilization and Economic Benefits from Land Optimization (PUEBLO) Act has been included in the final version of the annual defense authorization bill, which will pass into law this month.What does this bill mean for Pueblo? The PUEBLO Act directs the Army to close the Pueblo Chemical Depot no later than one year after the completion of the chemical demilitarization mission using the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.The Depot hit this milestone in June. Passage of this legislation means a seamless transfer of Department of Defense land to the local economic redevelopment authority, PuebloPlex, which will reimagine the property to serve Pueblo for decades to come.The Pueblo Chemical Depot was one of two remaining military sites in the United States that safely stored chemical weapons. The weapons held at these facilities were incredib...

El papa Francisco celebra su cumpleaños 87

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

(CNN) — El papa Francisco cumple 87 años y celebrará en el Vaticano con niños desfavorecidos y sus familias ayudados por el “Dispensario de Santa Marta”, una organización caritativa del Vaticano.Más tarde, tiene previsto rezar el Ángelus al mediodía desde el palacio apostólico del Vaticano y dar una reflexión, como lo hace todos los domingos.El papa, que se recuperó recientemente de un ataque de bronquitis, continúa manteniendo una apretada agenda de reuniones con funcionarios y líderes mundiales, con un viaje al extranjero a Bélgica previsto para 2024 y visitas a su tierra natal, Argentina y Polinesia, bajo consideración.Si bien el papa Francisco es uno de los pontífices más antiguos en la historia de la iglesia, todavía está unos años por detrás de León XIII, quien ocupó el cargo hasta los 93 años.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.Source

Trump confronts ‘scheduling nightmare’ as court cases collide with campaign

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

DURHAM, New Hampshire — Donald Trump’s upcoming court calendar is creating a logistical headache for his presidential campaign.“It’s a scheduling nightmare,” Trump senior adviser Susie Wiles told reporters Saturday. “There’s no way to sugarcoat that.”Already ricocheting from the courtroom to the campaign trail, Trump’s bid for a second term is now on a collision course with court dates for the myriad legal challenges he’s facing.Testimony in Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York wrapped Wednesday. Lawyers on both sides will have until Jan. 5 to submit written statements before they return to court Jan. 11, just four days ahead of the Iowa caucuses Jan. 15. The civil trial for writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit is scheduled to start the same day as the caucuses.And the trial in his federal election interference case is slated to start the day before Super Tuesday, though a judge put the case on hold as Trump’s team argues for its dismissal.Wiles said Trump’s campaign is frontlo...

Timing out our next storm

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

Good morning! It’s a cool to chilly start. Today will be mild with a lot of clouds. Scattered showers arrive later today ahead of a storm that will bring us heavy rain and strong wind.Here’s a look a the timing of the rain and potential wind gusts.

Massive whale sculpture being assembled in Downtown Crossing

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

The installation of a 52-foot whale sculpture is underway in Downtown Crossing, at the corner of Washington and Franklin streets.The interactive sound-and-light artwork by artist Mathias Gmachl, titled “Echoes – a voice from uncharted waters,” asks viewers to consider human impact on nature and the environment, according to the Boston BID.The sculpture will be installed over the course of the weekend. On Saturday, cranes moved pieces of the 11,000-pound whale into place. On Sunday, sound and lighting aspects will be finalized.

Column: Will the Chicago Cubs have to do more with less under Craig Counsell? Takeaways from a lukewarm hot stove league.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:09:47 GMT

Hot stove takeaways for a lukewarm holiday season.When Craig Counsell talked about “solving for wins” at the MLB winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn., I thought I had misheard him.Then I realized the new Chicago Cubs manager was simply speaking a different language, like Theo Epstein when the former Cubs president arrived on the scene in 2011 and began using terms such as “parallel tracks” and teams “evolving” like “Galápagos Islands — that type of thing.”“If you can get one player that adds up to a lot of wins, that’s helpful,” Counsell said. “There’s no question about it. But you’re solving for wins and that’s a puzzle you’re putting together. That’s the hard part about roster building, and it’s the challenge that every team faces in an offseason with player movement.”That puzzle-solving ability is what helped make Counsell one of the game’s most respec...