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Mexico’s ruling party appears to have dodged possible desertions in the run-up to 2024 elections

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s ruling party appeared Monday to have dodged the possibility of large-scale desertions of disappointed hopeful candidates in the run-up to the country’s 2024 elections. Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard announced he would not leave President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party. Ebrard had wanted the party’s nomination for president in the June elections but lost to former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum amid what he claimed was improper polling and campaigning. But Ebrard said Monday he had reached “a political understanding” with Sheinbaum and would continue working as “the second force” within Morena. “We can form part of a coalition of forces,” he said.The party was at risk of falling apart because it was built around López Obrador’s outsized personality. He cannot run for reelection and will leave office in 10 months, and there is little else to hold its disparate membership together.Ebrard said he met with Sheinbaum on a...

At least four people stabbed at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston; suspect in custody

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

RUSTON, La. (AP) — Four people were stabbed Monday morning on the campus of Louisiana Tech University in the north Louisiana city of Ruston.Ruston Police Chief Randall Hermes told the Ruston Daily Leader the suspected attacker was in custody. Three of the victims were hospitalized. Details on their conditions were not immediately released. A fourth person refused treatment, officials said.The attack happened Monday morning at Tech’s Lambright Sports and Wellness Center, a recreation center for students. The attack was random, Hermes said.“It sounds like he ran up behind them and surprised them,” Hermes said.Charges were pending against the person in custody.The Associated Press

Music Review: Bob Dylan’s ‘The Complete Budokan 1978’ box set is a welcomed release, flute and all

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

Bob Dylan with flute and saxophone isn’t for everyone.But that’s what you get with “The Complete Budokan 1978,” a deluxe box set presenting two live shows at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan Hall, from a tour that has been derided in some corners as “Dylan going Vegas.”The extravagantly packaged four-disc set expands upon the 1979 “Bob Dylan at Budokan” live record that caught Dylan in Japan on just the second week of his 1978 world tour that would run for 10 months. The tour started after the widely acclaimed Rolling Thunder guerilla tours across the United States in 1975 and 1976, and just before Dylan’s conversion to Christianity in 1979. In fact, Dylan has pointed to a fan throwing a small silver cross on stage in November 1978 as helping to spur his conversion. But that’s a story for another time, and one that was explored deeply in the “Trouble No More” box set released in 2017.“The Complete Budokan 1978” includes full concerts from Feb. 28 and March 1, 197...

Michigan man pleads guilty to making violent threats against Jews

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A 19-year-old Michigan man pleaded guilty Monday to using social media to make violent threats against Jewish people last summer.Seann Pietila, who has been in custody since June, was accused of using Instagram to spread neo-Nazi ideology, discuss plans to kill people and compliment mass shooters.In his plea agreement with prosecutors, Pietila admitted that he told someone he had a plan to kill or injure Jewish people and wanting to post the attack online. The FBI said Pietila had written the name of the Shaarey Zedek congregation in East Lansing, near Michigan State University, in a note on his phone along with a 2024 date. Investigators said Pietila told another Instagram user that he would “inspire others to take arms against the Jewish controlled state.”During a search of Pietila’s home in Pickford in the Upper Peninsula, investigators found a cache of weapons, knives, tactical equipment and a red-and-white Nazi flag, the FBI said.“Thank Go...

Exxon Mobil is drilling for lithium in Arkansas and expects to begin production by 2027

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Exxon Mobil on Monday announced it’s drilling for lithium in southern Arkansas, with the oil giant expected to begin production of the critical material for electric vehicles by 2027.Exxon in early 2023 acquired the rights to 120000 gross acres (48562 gross hectares) of the Smackover formation in southern Arkansas, considered one of the most prolific lithium resources of its type in North America. Exxon said that by 2030 it aims to produce enough lithium to supply the manufacturing needs more than 1 million electric vehicles. “Lithium is essential to the energy transition, and ExxonMobil has a leading role to play in paving the way for electrification,” Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, said in a news release. Exxon didn’t disclose how much it’s spending on the project, which is expected to be a boost for a part of Arkansas that has a history as an oil and gas producer.“I’m not being dramatic when I say this has the ...

A timeline of retailer Bad Boy’s rise and fall

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

TORONTO — Famed Greater Toronto Area retailer Bad Boy Furniture Warehouse Ltd. has been around for 70 years, but the business begun by Mel Lastman, a flamboyant Toronto salesman who went on to become the city’s mayor, and revived by his son has hit hard times. Amid higher interest rates and slow home sales, it is attempting to restructure its business under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. This is how Bad Boy got to this point:1953: Marilyn Lastman gets her future husband Mel Lastman a job at an appliance store on College Street in Toronto. A video Bad Boy once shared detailing his history says Mel Lastman started on accounts receivable, but one night, when a salesman called in sick, he hit the floor, selling two stoves and a fridge, kick-starting his career in sales.1954: Mel Lastman runs Heather Hill appliances in 1954, the Bad Boy video says. Sales were difficult to come by so he would follow an ice truck around noting their delivery stops and would later visit to pitch t...

Toronto’s massive 55-foot tall Christmas tree arrives at Nathan Phillips Square

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

The area around Toronto City Hall is starting to look a little more festive with the city’s traditional giant Christmas tree arriving in Nathan Phillips Square. The 55-foot tree officially arrived around 7:30 a.m. Monday on the back of a flatbed truck — it now towers over the entrance to City Hall. The city says the complete installation of the massive tree will take around eight hours.The city will let the tree settle in for three days and then crews are expected to begin decorating it over the next couple of weeks.“There will be 500 decorations put on it, as well as 20,000 energy efficient lights,” says Kerri MacDonald with city’s Programming and Special Events. “It’s going to be quite spectacular.”The 57th annual Cavalcade of Lights kicks off on Nov. 25 and includes the official tree lighting ceremony.“Inspired by Christmas, winter solstice, lantern and light festivals from around the world, Cavalcade of Lights is a free event...

Hyundai joins Honda and Toyota in raising wages after auto union wins gains in deals with Detroit 3

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

South Korean automaker Hyundai has joined Honda and Toyota in raising factory worker wages after the United Auto Workers union reached new contract agreements with Detroit automakers.Hyundai said Monday it will raise factory worker pay 25% by 2028, matching the general wage increase won by the UAW during that period. Toyota raised factory pay 9% to 10% starting in January, while Honda said it will increase wages 11% during the same period.Experts say the increases at least in part are aimed at thwarting UAW President Shawn Fain’s strategy of trying to organize U.S. auto plants run by foreign automakers and Tesla in order to increase the union’s bargaining power. Fain said terrified auto executives at nonunion plants are raising wages, and he called Toyota’s pay increase the UAW bump.“UAW, that stands for ‘You Are Welcome,’” he said.About 146,000 UAW members are voting on new contracts with General Motors, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis that give them 25% general wa...

High-ranking Mormon leader M. Russell Ballard dies at age 95. He was second-in-line to lead faith

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — One of the highest ranking leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, M. Russell Ballard, has died. He was 95.He died Sunday surrounded by family at his home, according to a church statement Monday morning. Ballard was second-in-line to become church president based on being the second-longest tenured member of a top governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which he said he was called to join in 1985. The leadership body sits below the first presidency, and helps set church policy and oversees the faith’s business interests. The longest-tenured member of the Quorum becomes the new president in a church tradition established in 1889 to prevent lobbying and ensure a smooth transition in the faith known widely as the Mormon church. Ballard was a great-great grandson of church co-founder Hyrum Smith. Beginning as a young missionary in England, he rose through church leadership ranks, becoming a bishop, president of the Toronto missi...

Liberal MPs among Canadians in D.C. Tuesday to battle rising antisemitism

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:43:19 GMT

WASHINGTON — Two Liberal MPs are part of a Canadian delegation in the U.S. capital today to join a multilateral effort to combat the rise in antisemitism. Mental Health Minister Ya’ara Saks and Montreal MP Anthony Housefather are taking part in two days of meetings as part of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians. Housefather says this is the council’s first in-person meeting in eight years and comes during what he describes as the worst worldwide upsurge in antisemitism since the 1930s.He says recent incidents in Montreal — including attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools and a protest at Concordia University last week that turned violent — have been his most emotional time as an elected official. The Canadian delegation will also take part in what police expect will be a large pro-Israel rally scheduled to take place Tuesday in the shadow of Capitol Hill. Housefather says a number of Canadian protesters will also be in D.C. for the rally, part of an in...