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US Defense Secretary Austin meets with Papua New Guinea leaders about boosting security ties

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Papua New Guinea leaders on Thursday to discuss developing the Pacific Island nation’s military strength and deepening security ties, as the United States competes with China for influence in the Indo-Pacific region.Austin is the first U.S. defense secretary to visit the nation of 10 million people that was fiercely fought over during World War II and is gaining strategic importance in the U.S. struggle against Beijing.The retired four-star general met with Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape and discussed implementing the Defense Cooperation Agreement signed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the capital, Port Moresby, in May.Blinken had stepped in for Joe Biden, who was to become the first U.S. president to visit Papua New Guinea but canceled to deal with the then-unresolved debt crisis in Washington, D.C.Austin said the United States was “not seeking permanent basing” on Papua New Guinea b...

Army fire kills a 14-year-old, Palestinians say, as an Israeli minister visits flashpoint mosque

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli military fire killed a 14-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said Thursday, as an extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem mosque that has been a frequent flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians.Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the disputed hilltop compound came as a year-and-a-half long bout of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians showed no signs of abating and was likely to draw condemnation from Palestinians who view such visits as provocative.Early Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said 14-year-old Fares Sharhabil Abu Samra was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank town of Qalqilya. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.Ben-Gvir was joining what will likely to be hundreds of Jews visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to mark the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning and repentance when Jews reflect on the destruction of the First...

Sentencing is set for Arizona mother guilty of murder and child abuse in starvation of her son

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona mother who pleaded guilty to murder and child abuse is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in the death of her 6-year-old son who was kept in a closet and denied food at their Flagstaff apartment.Elizabeth Archibeque faces a maximum penalty of up to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the March 2020 death of Deshaun Martinez when she goes before Coconino County Superior Court Judge Ted Reed.Archibeque was charged along with the boy’s father, Anthony Martinez, and grandmother, Ann Martinez, who have pleaded not guilty and are being tried separately on murder and child abuse charges.An autopsy determined Deshaun Martinez, who weighed just 18 pounds (8.1 kilograms), died of severe starvation. Authorities found him unresponsive after Ann Martinez called 911 on March 2, 2020, and said she thought her grandson was dead. The manner of death later was listed as homicide.The boy’s parents initially attributed their son’s malnourished state t...

Bluffing or not, Putin’s declared deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus ramps up saber-rattling

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

Sometime this summer, if President Vladimir Putin can be believed, Russia moved some of its short-range nuclear weapons into Belarus, closer to Ukraine and onto NATO’s doorstep.The declared deployment of the Russian weapons on the territory of its neighbor and loyal ally marks a new stage in the Kremlin’s nuclear saber-rattling over its invasion of Ukraine and another bid to discourage the West from increasing military support to Kyiv.Neither Putin nor his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, said how many were moved — only that Soviet-era facilities in the country were readied to accommodate them, and that Belarusian pilots and missile crews were trained to use them.The U.S. and NATO haven’t confirmed the move. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg denounced Moscow’s rhetoric as “dangerous and reckless,” but said earlier this month the alliance hasn’t seen any change in Russia’s nuclear posture.While some experts doubt the claims by Putin and Lukashenko, others not...

Elon Musk wants to turn tweets into ‘X’s’. But changing language is not quite so simple

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk may want to send “tweet” back to the birds, but the ubiquitous term for posting on the site he now calls X is here to stay — at least for now. For one, the word is still plastered all over the site formerly known as Twitter. Write a post, you still need to press a blue button that says “tweet” to publish it. To repost it, you still tap “retweet.” But it’s more than that. With “tweets,” Twitter accomplished in just a few years something few companies have done in a lifetime: It became a verb and implanted itself into the lexicon of America and the world. Upending that takes more than a top-down declaration, even if it is from the owner of Twitter-turned-X, who also happens to be one of the world’s richest men. “Language has always come from the people that use it on a day-to-day basis. And it can’t be controlled, it can’t created, it can’t be morphed. You don’t get to decide it,” said Nick Bilton, the author of “Hatching Twitter: A True Stor...

Taiwan shuts down schools and offices as Typhoon Doksuri scrapes the island’s coast

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Two of Taiwan’s largest cities have shut down schools and offices Thursday as Typhoon Doksuri brought heavy rains and winds to the island’s eastern and southern coast. Doksuri weakened further on Thursday, with sustained winds of 155 kph (96 mph) and gusts of up to 190 kph (118 mph), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau. The typhoon’s center will not hit Taiwan’s mainland, but its outlying bands will still bring stronger winds and rains Thursday afternoon.In the south, port city Kaohsiung and the ancient capital Tainan announced that offices and schools will be closed Thursday. Hualien and Taitung counties in the east have also shuttered schools and offices. Kaohsuing also evacuated some 300 residents who lived in a mountainous part of the district, according to the semi-official Central News Agency.The storm temporarily left tens of thousands of households without power in Kaohsiung and Tainan, although most of them have had their pow...

Armed robbery suspects busted in downtown L.A.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

Three men have been arrested and are facing charges of robbery after entering a business in downtown Los Angeles armed with a shotgun and handguns, authorities announced Wednesday.  Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Division responded to calls of a robbery in progress in the 300 block of South Wall Street on July 25, at around 5:15 p.m., according to an LAPD news release.  The three suspects, identified by police as 41-year-old Louis Peralta, 25-year-old Jacob Alarcon and 44-year-old Damian Morales, parked their vehicle near the entrance of the business and entered the location with guns drawn.   Suspects in Angeles Crest killing connected to Rancho Palos Verdes homicides, police say Inside, the suspects headed to the cash register and the back room of the establishment. The owner of the business was watching the robbery on closed-circuit television and called 911, police said.  At the scene, police arrived as the three men were fleeing the busine...

Oakland: Suspect, two officers injured after police pursuit ends in crash

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

OAKLAND – A suspect and two officers were injured in a police pursuit Wednesday in Oakland, police said.The chase kicked off just after 5 p.m. when undercover officers witnessed an armed carjacking near 32nd and West streets, Oakland police Officer Rosalia Lopez said.Lopez said officers briefly pursued the suspects, who were caravanning with other vehicles, before handing the chase off to Argus, the police department’s helicopter.As officers headed to the scene, one of the vehicles collided with a marked patrol vehicle, Lopez said. Multiple people were then taken into custody.Lopez said two officers and an individual linked to the carjacking were taken to a hospital. A fourth person, described by Lopez as a victim, was also hospitalized, but it was not immediately clear if they were injured in the carjacking or the crash. None of their injuries was considered life-threatening.Officers recovered a firearm at the scene, Lopez said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | D...

The top 10 most expensive home sales in Alameda, Piedmont and Oakland, reported the week of July 17

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

A house in Oakland that sold for $3.4 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Alameda, Piedmont and Oakland in the past week.In total, 27 residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $2.1 million, $864 per square foot.The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of July 17 even if the property may have been sold earlier.10. $2 million, single-family home in the 1600 block of Moreland DriveThe 1,997 square-foot detached house in the 1600 block of Moreland Drive in Alameda has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in June and the total purchase price was $1,955,000, $979 per square foot. The house was built in 1929. The house features two bedrooms and two bathrooms.Moreland Drive9. $2 million, detached house in the 5800 block of BroadwayThe property in the 5800 block of Broadway in Oakland has new owners. The price was $1,975,...

Police use Taser on man suspected of assault, vandalism at Gilroy Premium Outlets

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:36:47 GMT

GILROY – Officers on Wednesday used a Taser to subdue a man suspected of using concrete blocks and a metal chair to break windows at the Gilroy Premium Outlets, police said.The incident happened shortly before 9 a.m. at the shopping center on Leavesley Road, the Gilroy Police Department said in a news release.The suspect, identified as a 38-year-old Gilroy man, also approached a vehicle and used his fist to break the windshield while the driver was still seated inside, police said.Officers found the man in the parking lot, but he did not respond to their de-escalation attempts and showed no intention of cooperating with them, police said.“To prevent any further threat to the public and businesses, a Taser was used to prevent further attacks and to subdue the suspect and he was safely placed under arrest,” police said.The man received medical treatment and was booked into Santa Clara County jail on assault and vandalism charges.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Die...