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Anthony Albanese soon will be the first Australian prime minister in 7 years to visit China

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Anthony Albanese will become the first Australian prime minister in seven years to visit China in recognition that bilateral relations have improved after crashing to unprecedented depths over trade and security differences that remain largely unresolved.The election of Albanese’s center-left government last year after nine years of conservative rule created an opportunity for a reset. His three-day visit that starts Saturday will take him to Shanghai then Beijing, though details about his itinerary are limited.Since 2016, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping met an Australian prime minister twice in six months, China severed top-level ministerial contacts. Official and unofficial trade sanctions stacked up since 2020 to cost Australian exporters up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year for commodities including coal, wine, beef, barley and lobsters as business and politics entwined in the relationship as never before.But many say the trade boyco...

Christie banks on New Hampshire as he makes the case that only he can stop Trump: ‘I am the cavalry’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has a message for disgruntled Democrats and independents in New Hampshire fed up with the 2024 presidential front-runners.“Vote in the Republican primary, baby. We’re the only game in town, and we’re the only way to stop Donald Trump,” he told voters at a diner in Derry last week during a swing through the first-in-the-nation primary state.As his GOP rivals including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott go all in on Iowa in the weeks before voting begins, Christie often has New Hampshire all to himself. He’s charting a path here as the race’s most vocal critic of the former president, casting himself as the only Republican willing to directly take him on and arguing that Trump will lose to President Joe Biden next November if he’s the party’s nominee.While he’s unpopular in national polling, some surveys here conducted in September suggest his support reaches the low do...

How an American meat broker is fueling Amazon deforestation

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As incomes in China have grown in the last decade, so has China’s appetite for beef. No longer out of reach for China’s middle class, beef now sizzles in home woks and restaurant kitchens. China has become the world’s biggest importer of beef, and Brazil is China’s biggest supplier, according to United Nations Comtrade data. More beef moves from Brazil to China than between any other two countries. But the Brazilian cattle industry is a major driver of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Data analysis by The Associated Press and the Rainforest Investigations Network, a nonprofit reporting consortium, found that a little-known American company is among the key suppliers and distributors feeding China’s hunger for beef – and the Amazon deforestation that it fuels.The world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon plays a critical role in the global climate by absorbing carbon emissions. A new study published this week in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences ...

Daylight saving 2023: Here’s what a sleep expert says about the time change

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Brunch dates and flag football games might be a little easier to get to this Sunday, when phones grace early-risers with an extra hour of rest before alarm clocks go off.The downside: Next week across most of the U.S., the sun will set well before many folks step foot out of the office, leaving them to run errands or take walks in utter darkness. Come Nov. 5, daylight saving time is out and standard time is in, and will last until March 10.No need to wait till the midnight hour to prepare for the time change that clocks in early Sunday, when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. Before bed beckons Saturday night, rewind the clock on the microwave, oven, car, or any other device not yet clever enough to make the leap on its own. Besides scheduling stumbles and sleep habit disruptions, experts say the twice-yearly ritual can have more serious effects on human health.Many Americans are already sleep-deprived, and a change in time messes with sleep schedules even more, says Dr. Phyllis Z...

What’s streaming now: Annette Bening, Jason Aldean, ‘Planet Earth,’ NKOTB and ‘Blue Eye Samurai’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

Awkwafina starring as a game-show-obsessed woman in “Quiz Lady” and the animated historical drama “Blue Eye Samurai” about a mixed-race, revenge-seeking female samurai in Japan are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near youAlso among the offerings selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are a studio album from Jason Aldean, a new Hulu series made from Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel “Black Cake” and Annette Bening portrays a real-life hero who swam the treacherous passage from Cuba to Key West in 2013.NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— It took Diana Nyad more than 30 years and five tries to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys. “Free Solo” filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad,” streaming Friday on Netflix, dramatizes her feat of endurance, along with the perseverance of her closest friends and collaborators. Bening plays Nyad, who was 60 when she began training herself again for the open-ocean swim. In a stand-out supporti...

Poll shows most US adults think AI will add to election misinformation in 2024

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The warnings have grown louder and more urgent as 2024 approaches: The rapid advance of artificial intelligence tools threatens to amplify misinformation in next year’s presidential election at a scale never seen before.Most adults in the U.S. feel the same way, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.The poll found that nearly 6 in 10 adults (58%) think AI tools — which can micro-target political audiences, mass produce persuasive messages, and generate realistic fake images and videos in seconds — will increase the spread of false and misleading information during next year’s elections.By comparison, 6% think AI will decrease the spread of misinformation while one-third say it won’t make much of a difference.“Look what happened in 2020 — and that was just social media,” said 66-year-old Rosa Rangel of Fort Worth, Texas.Rangel, a Democrat who sa...

As billions roll in to fight the US opioid epidemic, one county shows how recovery can work

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — Communities ravaged by America’s opioid epidemic are starting to get their share of a $50 billion pie from legal settlements.Most of that money comes with a requirement that it be used to address the overdose crisis and prevent more deaths.But how?It could mean that places look more like the area around Findlay. Here, conservative Hancock County has built a comprehensive system focused on both treatment and recovery by adding housing, a needle exchange, outreach workers and a community center. “People recover in a community,” said Precia Stuby, the official who heads the county’s addiction and mental health efforts. “We have to build recovery-oriented communities that support individuals.”___It was 2007 when Stuby began hearing from officials about prescription opioids being misused. That was about the same time Jesse Johnson, then 14, was prescribed the painkiller Percocet.The Findlay native was pregnant when she needed stents put into her kidneys as trea...

Ex-San Diego youth football coach arrested on suspicion of defrauding team families

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A former San Diego youth football coach has been arrested and charged with defrauding team families out of thousands of dollars. “We did not want this to continue happening to other families, because so easily he swindled us,” said Sofia Aguais, one of the team moms of the San Diego Bolts 11U team. Former San Diego youth football coach Latell Love spent some time in jail Thursday after being arrested by La Mesa police. FOX 5 first shared the story in September when team moms Sofia Aguais and Jessica Johnson put a spotlight on the issue.  “We had to do something because this might not just happen once,” Aguais said. Following that interview, Aguais contacted the city of La Mesa and La Mesa police about her concerns because that’s the city where the team practices.  “I sent an email, bringing the story to their attention letting them know that it’s unfortunate what had happened at the Junior Seau Sports Complex that is part of the La Mesa Community,” Aguais said.    ...

66-year-old woman missing in Ramona

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

RAMONA, Calif. -- A 66-year-old woman went missing on Thursday in the Ramona area, authorities said.Zita Swanson was reported missing by her family around 2:30 p.m. after walking away from her home in the 700 block of G Street, Lt. John Malan with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a news release. Del Mar home sold for record-breaking $44.1M as countywide sales slow Swanson, who has a history of walking away from home, does not have any known access to vehicles, per law enforcement. Authorities do not believe she is carrying a cell phone or purse.Swanson is described as a Hispanic woman about 5-foot-5, 174 pounds. She has gray hair, brown eyes and was last seen wearing a navy blue sweater and blue pants.If you see Swanson or have any information on her whereabouts, please call 9-1-1 or the San Diego County Sheriff's Department at (858) 565-5200.

In the wake of Matthew Perry’s death, Chinese fans mourn an old friend

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:38:31 GMT

Long before “Friends” made its official debut in China, the show was a word-of-mouth phenomenon in the country. In the wake of Matthew Perry’s death at 54, fans in China are mourning the loss of the star who felt less like a distant celebrity and more like an old friend.A Wednesday evening memorial at a cafe in Shenzhen, a busy city across the border of Hong Kong, was one of several held throughout the country for the actor who played Chandler Bing and died Saturday in Los Angeles. The coffee shop — an homage to the 10-season sitcom, from its name (Smelly Cat) to the Central Perk sign on its glass wall — was packed with people and floral arrangements as the TV mounted in the corner played an episode of “Friends.”“There are more people who showed up than we expected,” said cafe manager Nie Yanxia. “People shared their own memories about Chandler and ‘Friends’ and many teared up.”A large poster displayed on the bar featured pictures of Perry over the years. “We love you, friend,...