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House GOP to subpoena Blinken over Afghanistan dissent cable

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans plan to deliver a subpoena to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday for classified cables related to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Rep. Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that he had spoken with Blinken earlier in the day when he was notified the agency would not be turning over a so-called dissent cable written by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul shortly before the August 2021 withdrawal. “We have made multiple good faith attempts to find common ground so we could see this critical piece of information,” McCaul, R-Texas, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Secretary Blinken has refused to provide the Dissent Cable and his response to the cable, forcing me to issue my first subpoena as chairman of this committee.”The July 2021 communication warned Blinken about the potential fall of Kabul via a special “dissent channel,” which allows State Depart...

Landslide in Ecuador kills at least 7, with dozens missing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

ALAUSI, Ecuador (AP) — A huge landslide swept over an Andean community in central Ecuador, burying dozens of homes, killing at least seven people and sending rescuers on a frantic search for survivors, authorities said Monday.Earlier in the day, officials had reported 16 deaths, but President Guillermo Lasso put the confirmed toll at seven as he arrived Monday night at the scene of the disaster in Alausí, about 137 miles south of the capital, Quito. Officials also raised the number of people reported missing to 62.Lasso lamented the tragedy and promised people in the town that “we will continue working” on the search effort.Ecuador’s Risk Management Secretariat said more than 30 people were rescued after the mountainside collapsed around 10 p.m. Sunday. It said 23 people were injured.“My mother is buried” under the mud, said Luis Ángel González, 58, who also lost other family members Sunday. “I am so sad, devastated. There is nothing here, no houses, no anything. W...

Do Adani’s woes matter for India’s clean energy transition?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

BENGALURU, India (AP) — When the bidders for India’s multibillion-dollar incentive to make solar components were announced in early March, the absence of corporate behemoth Adani Group was conspicuous.The group — which set up a gigantic factory to make solar equipment in 2016, more than tripled its capacity to make solar panels since 2017 and have begun making silicon materials needed to convert the sun rays to electricity — was expected to “bid in a large way,” said Chiranjeev Saluja, the managing director of Premier Energies, an Indian solar components manufacturer.The absence is another indication of the holding pattern the group has been in since U.S. short-selling firm Hindenburg Research alleged in late January that the businesses had engaged in fraud and stock price manipulation. Spooked investors dumped tens of billions of dollars in shares, while the company’s purported proximity to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dominated politics in past weeks.The gro...

Kim wants N. Korea to make more nuclear material for bombs

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for his nuclear scientists to increase production of weapons-grade material to make bombs to put on his increasing range of weapons.The report in state media Tuesday followed a series of missile launches — seven launch events in this month alone — and rising threats to use the weapons against his enemies. North Korea’s weapons tests and U.S.-South Korea military exercises have intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle, underscoring heightened tensions in the region. Officials say North Korea could further up the ante in coming weeks or months with more provocative displays of its military nuclear program, possibly including its first test detonation of a nuclear device since September 2017. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim during a meeting on Monday with officials and scientists at a state nuclear weapons institute stressed the need to ramp up bomb fuel production to meet his goals to expand his nuclear arsenal “ex...

2 dead, 1 critical after car flips over embankment on Stevenson Expressway, ejecting passengers

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

CHICAGO — Two people are dead and one is critical in the hospital after a vehicle flipped over an embankment, ejecting its passengers on the Stevenson Expressway Monday evening.According to the Chicago Fire Department, the one car crash happened around 8:05 p.m. on the Stevenson Expressway when a single car crashed into an inbound embankment and flipped, ejecting three passengers from the vehicle.When CFD arrived on scene, one of the men, a 30-year-old, was dead on arrival. Another man, 26, was taken to St. Anthony Hospital where he was also later pronounced dead.A 42-year-old man was taken from the scene in critical condition with multiple injuries to Mt. Sinai Hospital. Man shot and killed during domestic incident in Joliet, 1 in custody It is unclear what lead to the car flipping over the embankment.No other information is available at this time.

WGN at 75: Rick Sutcliffe & the 1984 Cubs

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

CHICAGO - He wasn't even there at the beginning of the season, but it's hard to believe the Cubs would have finished how they did in that campaign 39 years ago if the pitcher didn't show up.Certainly September 24, 1984, one of the most celebrated moments in team history, would have looked different if Rick Sutcliffe hadn't arrived in a mid-season trade from Cleveland.But the starting pitcher was on the mound at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh that evening to pitch a complete game in a 4-1 victory over the Pirates. His strikeout of Joe Orsulak gave the Cubs their 93rd victory of the season to clinch the Eastern Division championship.It put the team in the playoffs for the first time since 1945, setting off a celebration for fans across the world, many of whom fell in love with the Cubs thanks to WGN-TV. Sutcliffe had a lot to do with it since he went 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA after arriving with the team in mid-June, winning the National League's Cy Young Award. He even started the fir...

59th anniversary of largest U.S. earthquake in Alaska, March 27, 1964

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

Spring rollercoaster ahead for Chicago this week to include everything from snow showers, mild 60+ degree temps for the first time in 2023 and possible severe thunderstormsGOOD FRIDAY, 1964— 59th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ALASKA EARTHQUAKEThe largest earthquake ever recorded in the U.S. and North AmericaThe second largest earthquake ever recorded on earth: 9.2Courtesy of the U.S. Geological SurveyPam Grimes and I reported on this in a program we produced and aired on WGN entitled "Tsunamis on American Shores" which we ran on the one year anniversary of the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which killed more than 227,000.It struck as Alaskans were sitting down to dinner (5:36pm March 27, 1964) unleashing a swarm of tsunamis which were responsible for most of the 138 deaths attributed to the mammoth quake which had the Needle in Seattle, WA swaying violently and was felt in all but a handful of states. It's tsunamis devastated Hilo in Hawaii and resulted in deaths as far away as Crescent City...

Minn. Senate GOP offers new deal on Social Security tax, bonding

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

Minority Senate Republicans are pitching a revised deal to Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers on Social Security income tax and infrastructure borrowing. Their move comes after a disagreement on the issues stopped a $1.9 billion infrastructure investment proposal from moving forward earlier this month.Now that legislative DFLers are taking action on tax bills, Senate Republicans came back to the table Monday with a new offer to revive the bonding bill, increase spending for long-term care and nursing homes, and eliminate Minnesota’s income tax on Social Security payments. It matches the current DFL budget framework calling for $3 billion in tax cuts and credits.“Senate Republicans aren’t here to just sit in our chairs and vote ‘no,’ we really do want to work and try to pull this thing together so we can come to a bipartisan agreement,” said Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake.Republicans have already been pushing for full elimination of the Social Security income tax, but...

St. Louis demand Kia, Hyundai take action addressing rising car thefts in suit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

ST. LOUIS – New information is coming to light about just how bad St. Louis's stolen car crisis has gotten. In a new lawsuit filed in federal court, the City of St. Louis blames automakers Kia and Hyundai for the suit calls an “epidemic” of vehicle thefts.Crime victims tell FOX 2 News there’s another piece to this: prosecuting the people who are actually stealing the cars. Suspects caught driving stolen cars are routinely released from jail pending criminal charges, if charges are ever filed, according to police sources.Jim Hayes had his Kia stolen from in front of his house in south St. Louis over the summer. He got the vehicle back, but has heard nothing about anyone being punished for the crime. Top Stories: City of St. Louis suing Hyundai, Kia over surge in car thefts “Just do your jobs and convict these people,” he said. “Not everybody’s an angel out there.”Hayes applauded the City of St. Louis for trying to hold carmakers accountable, too.“Since May of 2022, the St. Louis Me...

St. Louis FBI office promises consequences for hoax school threats  

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:11:19 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Following a deadly school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, several St. Louis area schools reported hoax threats.“These are easy to investigate,” said Jay Greenberg, special agent in charge for the St. Louis office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We will eventually find whoever is behind a threat and hold them accountable.”Greenberg said arrests were made in the St. Louis area and beyond following a spike in hoax threats after a deadly school shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis.“If we bring charges federally, it will be a felony that will stick on somebody’s record for the rest of their life,” Greenberg said. Top Stories: City of St. Louis suing Hyundai, Kia over surge in car thefts There is also the emotional toll a fake threat can cause.“This traumatizes every family that’s associated with that school or community,” Greenberg said.He encourages the parents of any child with a smart device to have a conversation about the c...