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Tee Thursday: Lessons not required, but a good idea

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

A recent pickleball experience led me to ponder more about golf, lessons and who needs them.I’m a tennis player, you see, but so many of my friends (and yours) have been swept up in the pickleball frenzy that I just had to join in.“You don’t need to know a thing to have fun at it. Just show up!” my friends counseled me. And so I did. But I found myself lacking. Sure, I could hit the ball over the next and get the general gist of that. But not understanding the basics just made it feel less fun to me.And so, even after my friends said I was fine, I headed to a beginners pickleball clinic. Like magic, understanding the basics and intent made it immediately more fun. (Important to note here that “understanding” and “playing better” are two unique things.) But still, knowing what I should be trying to do just brought up the fun factor for me.I feel the same way about golf. As an adult learner (and knowing my own sports coaching needs), I knew if I really want to become a competent and –...

Mass grave with at least 87 bodies found in West Darfur, United Nations says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The bodies of dozens of people allegedly killed by Sudanese paramilitary and allied militia have been uncovered in a mass grave in West Darfur, the United Nations said Thursday.According to “credible information” obtained by the U.N. Human Rights Office, the bodies of the 87 people, some of whom belong to the ethnic African Masalit tribe, were dumped in a one-meter (around three-foot) shallow grave just outside the West Darfur city of Geneina.The first 37 bodies were buried on June 20, the agency said. The next day, another 50 bodies were dumped at the same site. Seven women and seven children were among those buried.Sudan has been rocked by violence since April 15 when tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted into open fighting.Darfur has been at the epicenter of the 12-week conflict, morphing into ethnic violence with RSF troops and allied Arab militias attacking African ethnic groups.The Associated Press

No deal on Hollywood actors contract, strike vote will be held Thursday morning

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The union representing film and television actors says no deal has been reached with studios and streaming services and its leadership will vote on whether to strike later Thursday.The Screen Actors Guild -American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said early Thursday that its decision on whether to join already striking screenwriters will be weighed upon by leadership at a meeting later Thursday.If the actors go on strike, it will be the first time since 1960 that actors and writers picket film and television productions.The actors’ guild released a statement early Thursday announcing that its deadline for negotiations to conclude had ended without a contract. The statement came hours after this year’s Emmy nominations, recognizing the best work on television, were announced. “The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reac...

Climate activists block runways at 2 German airports, causing numerous flight cancelations

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Climate activists blocked a runway at Hamburg airport early Thursday, causing numerous flights to be canceled on the first day of the school vacation in the north German city.The group Last Generation said several of its members entered the grounds of Hamburg airport around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) and glued themselves to the runway. “It can’t yet be predicted when operations can resume,” the airport operators said. “According to current information about a dozen flights have had to be canceled. Further cancelations and diversions aren’t ruled out.”Members of the group also cut through a security fence at Duesseldorf airport, in the west of the country, and blocked an access route to the runway.In a statement, the group accused the German government of lacking a strategy to tackle the climate crisis and called for immediate measures to cut emissions in the transport sector, including ending tax exemptions for airline kerosene.Aviation is responsible for a si...

China and ASEAN agree to try to conclude nonaggression pact on sea feud in 3 years

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — China and Southeast Asian nations agreed Thursday to try and conclude within three years a long-delayed nonaggression pact aimed at preventing the frequent territorial spats in the busy South China Sea from turning into a major armed conflict.China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed Thursday during a meeting between the 10-nation bloc’s foreign ministers and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta to guidelines to complete their code of conduct negotiations before fall 2026, a Southeast Asian diplomat involved in the meetings told The Associated Press.The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authority to discuss the issue publicly ahead of the official announcement of the agreement.China and four of ASEAN’s member states — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — along with Taiwan have been locked in a decades-long territorial standoff in the disputed waterway, a key passageway for glo...

Russian anti-war activist says he was banned entry into Serbia at Belgrade airport

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A Russian pro-democracy activist residing in Serbia and a fierce critic of the invasion of Ukraine said Thursday that Serbian authorities have banned him from entering the country upon returning from a trip abroad. Peter Nikitin told The Associated Press he was stopped at Belgrade airport’s passport control early on Thursday, returning from a holiday in Portugal. He said the decision was “arbitrary and illegal.”Though it formally seeks European Union membership, Serbia has maintained friendly relations with Russia and refused to impose Western-backed sanctions against Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.Nikitin holds both Russian and Dutch citizenship and has a Serbian residence permit, where he has lived for years. He said he was trying to enter Serbia using his Dutch passport when he was turned back and ordered to return to Frankfurt, Germany, from where he had flown in.“I have been in the border zone at the Nikola Tesla airport (in Belgrade) the enti...

In the news today: Effectiveness of past health accords, possible port strike deal

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Did past health accords work?Experts say governments have often failed to set a baseline that lets them know how well federal-provincial health accords are working. But the latest deals are trying to change that.The federal government is now attaching data requirements to $46 billion in new spending over the next 10 years. All provinces and territories except Quebec have endorsed a plan to harmonize health data across the country and make it more accessible. —Here’s what else we’re watching …Union and employers consider B.C. port strike dealBoth sides in the ongoing British Columbia port strike will have to decide today whether to accept terms of a settlement recommended by a federal mediator that would end the 13-day-old industrial action.The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association ...

Beyond the big top: Montreal circus market unites performers and talent bookers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

MONTREAL — As Cesar Omar Barrio made his pitch at a Montreal trade show on Tuesday, a woman on the stage twisted her body into seemingly impossible positions, sometimes juggling balls or tossing them with her feet.At the International Market for Contemporary Circus, the salespeople are artists and the audience is composed of presenters, creative directors and other talent bookers who are interested in bringing circus to their venues. The market, the only event of its kind in North America, runs alongside Montreal’s Complètement Cirque festival, which attracts hundreds of jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and other performers. But behind the big tops and air flips, serious circus business is taking place.Barrio, of Mexico’s Cabaret Capricho, said the five-minute pitch won’t sell the show on its own. Instead it’s to attract the eye of presenters, “to tell them we are really open, we really want to meet you and talk, and then you will be in love with the ...

Did past health accords work? Ottawa is trying to make that question easier to answer

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

OTTAWA — In medicine, before a doctor treats a patient’s illness, they first try to get a sense of the person’s health. They collect information on the symptoms, run tests and blood work and gather whatever details they can.That way, they’ll know whether or not the medicine has worked. It’s called establishing a baseline, and policy experts do the same thing to figure out if their latest strategy has actually fixed the problem.When it comes to fixing Canada’s ailing health-care systems, governments have often failed to set that baseline — so it’s difficult to know how well the treatment has worked, said Haizhen Mou, a professor with University of Saskatchewan Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.She launched a research project to study whether past health accords between federal and provincial governments have made meaningful differences in the quality and availability of health care in Canada, but ran into trouble almost immediately.&...

‘Wild West’: Amid foreign meddling headlines, lawyers fear unfair immigration rulings

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:48:36 GMT

OTTAWA — Even as the conversation around foreign interference continues to centre on efforts to disrupt Canadian elections, the federal government is routinely deporting people suspected of engaging in espionage or terrorism — or barring them entry to Canada. Lawyers who work within the immigration system say they expect security officials to ramp up those efforts amid the heightened attention on other countries’ meddling attempts. Some fear they could go too far.Athena Portokalidis, an immigration lawyer based in Markham, Ont., said there seems to be a growing number of such cases.“What I’m kind of starting to notice is that … whether it’s explicit or not, they can be politically motivated,” she said. “There might be a trend here. It may be too early to tell, but that’s … something that I’ve noticed and something that I’ve heard.”The federal government was unable to provide data on the number of related cases in time for p...