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From left, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Sweden's King Carl Gustaf at the inauguration of Esrange's new satellite launch ramp, Spaceport Esrange outside Kiruna Sweden, Friday Jan. 13, 2023. The European Commission and the Swedish government met in Sweden's northernmost city Kiruna and nearby Jukkasjarvi on Jan. 12-13, the first meeting since Swedish took over the EU presidency on Jan. 1, 2023. (Jonas Ekströme/TT News Agency via AP)

EU inaugurates first mainland satellite launch port

The Associated Press 2 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — The European Union wants to bolster its capacity to launch small satellites into space with a new launchpad in Arctic Sweden.

European officials and Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf inaugurated the EU's first mainland orbital launch complex on Friday during a visit to Sweden by members of the European Commission, which is the 27-nation bloc's executive arm.

The new facility at Esrange Space Center near the city of Kiruna should complement the EU’s current launching capabilities in French Guiana.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said small satellites are crucial to tracking natural disasters in real time and, in the light of Russia's war in Ukraine, to help guarantee global security.

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Poland lawmakers back law intended to release EU funds

Monika Scislowska, The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s legislators voted Friday to approve a new law on judicial accountability that the government hopes will meet European Union expectations and help unfreeze billions of euros in pandemic recovery funds for the country.

Brussels suspended the aid for Poland, saying the government's policies of exerting control over the judiciary are in violation of democratic principles. The EU has called for essential changes to be made before Poland can be granted access to the money.

The right-wing coalition government says that the provisions of the new law have been agreed on with Brussels and should lead to the release of more than 35 billion euros ($37 billion) of EU grants and loans. Some previous changes made by Poland didn't go far enough for the EU.

But the justice minister, who introduced the measures to wield political control over the judiciary, opposes the changes, threatening the government's future, and President Andrzej Duda says he hasn't been consulted on the new law.

Sri Lanka church seeks criminal justice for Easter bombings

Colombo,Sri Lanka, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Sri Lanka church seeks criminal justice for Easter bombings

Colombo,Sri Lanka, The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church urged the country Friday to criminally prosecute its former leader for negligence, a day after the top court ordered him to pay compensation to the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks that killed nearly 270 people.

Two local Muslim groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group were accused of carrying out six near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks, targeting worshippers at Easter services in three churches and tourists having breakfast at three popular hotels. The attacks killed 269 and wounded some 500 more.

Duthika Perera, an attorney representing Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, said the church expects the attorney general to file criminal charges against former President Maithripala Sirisena and four others whom the court found to have neglected their duties to protect the people.

In its decision Thursday on a fundamental rights petition — filed by families of victims, religious leaders and well-wishers — the court said two top intelligence officials, a former secretary to the ministry of defense and Sirisena, who was also defense minister and commander in chief of the armed forces, failed to act on near-specific foreign intelligence that was received prior to the attacks.

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Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

Germany to scrap mask mandate in long-distance transport

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Germany to scrap mask mandate in long-distance transport

The Associated Press 2 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

BERLIN (AP) — Germany will soon drop a mask mandate on long-distance trains and buses, one of the country's last remaining COVID-19 restrictions, the health minister said Friday.

The mandate will be dropped on Feb. 2, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced in Berlin.

Other European countries already have scrapped mask mandates in public transport, and Lauterbach faced increasing pressure to follow suit in recent weeks. Masks remain mandatory in doctors’ practices, while masks and negative tests are still required to enter hospitals and nursing homes.

Rules for local transportation are a matter for Germany’s 16 state governments, and an increasing number have dropped or are dropping their mask mandates. Some also have scrapped rules requiring infected people to isolate at home.

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Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

FILE --People wear face masks to protect themself against the coronavirus as they leave and get on board of a subway train in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 23, 2020. Germany's health minister says the country will soon drop a mask mandate in long-distance trains and buses, one of the country’s last remaining COVID-19 restrictions. Rules for local transport are a matter for Germany’s 16 state governments. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn,file)

Vatican to hear from PR expert with grudge against cardinal

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Vatican to hear from PR expert with grudge against cardinal

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s big financial fraud and corruption trial took a soap opera turn Friday with court-ordered testimony from a public relations specialist who has long harbored a grudge against one of the prime defendants, Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

Francesca Chaouqui was called to answer questions after text messages entered into the court record indicated that she helped coach Becciu’s key accuser into turning on the cardinal. Chaouqui has never hidden her fantasy of taking revenge on Becciu, whom she accused of being behind her 2015-2016 prosecution for passing confidential documents to journalists.

She apparently found the chance to settle scores when Vatican police in 2019 began investigating the secretariat of state’s 350 million-euro investment in a London property. Prosecutors charged 10 people, including Becciu, with a host of financial crimes, alleging Vatican monsignors and external brokers fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions.

Becciu is accused in two deals that are tangential to the London case and emerged after his onetime deputy, Archbishop Alberto Perlasca, flipped and started cooperating with prosecutors in August 2020. Perlasca revealed last month that he changed his story after a friend started passing advice to him from someone she identified as a “retired magistrate.”

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Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

Public relations specialist Francesca Chaouqui arrives for testimony in a trial in the city-state's criminal tribunal at the Vatican, Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. Prosecutors have accused 10 people, including a once-powerful cardinal and papal contender, on charges related to the Holy See's 350 million-euro investment in a luxury London real estate venture causing the Vatican the loss of millions of euros in fees to brokers, bad investments and other questionable expenses. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Emergency departments are in a state of crisis, Halifax ER chief says

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Emergency departments are in a state of crisis, Halifax ER chief says

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

HALIFAX - The head of emergency medicine for Halifax and the surrounding area says ERs are under the most extreme pressure that he’s seen in his 23-year career, and he says it’s taking a toll on patients and health-care workers.

Emergency medicine is in a state of “crisis” amid a shortage of nurses, physicians and hospital beds, and with a rise in patients with complex needs, Dr. Kirk Magee, chief of the central zone’s network of emergency departments, said in an interview Thursday.

“We all went into emergency medicine because we love to do it and we love a challenge — but we used to have the resources to meet that challenge,” he said.

“Now (emergency department staff) are extremely worried they're going to be put in a position where they're not able to manage the expectations or even the needs of patients and their families.”

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Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

Chief of the central zone’s network of emergency departments Dr. Kirk Magee says emergency medicine is in a state of “crisis” amid a shortage of nurses, physicians and hospital beds, and with a rise in patients with more complex needs. Paramedics are seen at the Dartmouth General Hospital in Dartmouth, N.S., on July 4, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Bizarre phrases riddle aid documents for Alaska Natives

Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Bizarre phrases riddle aid documents for Alaska Natives

Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press 6 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After tidal surges and high winds from the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage to homes along Alaska’s western coast in September, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents — largely Alaska Natives — repair property damage.

Residents who opened Federal Emergency Management Agency paperwork expecting to find instructions on how to file for aid in Alaska Native languages like Yup’ik or Inupiaq instead were reading bizarre phrases.

“Tomorrow he will go hunting very early, and will (bring) nothing,” read one passage. The translator randomly added the word “Alaska” in the middle of the sentence.

“Your husband is a polar bear, skinny,” another said.

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Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

FILE - In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a search and rescue and damage assessment in Deering, Alaska, shows the damage caused by Typhoon Merbok, Sept. 18, 2022. After the remnants of a rare typhoon caused extensive damage along Alaska's western coast last fall, the U.S. government stepped in to help residents, largely Alaska Natives, recovery financially. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Ian Gray/U.S. Coast Guard via AP, File)

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Tornado hits Selma, Alabama; 7 deaths reported across South

Kim Chandler And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Tornado hits Selma, Alabama; 7 deaths reported across South

Kim Chandler And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — A massive storm system whipping up severe winds and spawning tornadoes cut a path across the U.S. South, killing at least seven people in Georgia and Alabama, where a twister damaged buildings and tossed cars in the streets of historic downtown Selma.

Authorities said a more comprehensive picture of the damage and a search for additional victims would come Friday, when conditions were expected to clear. Early Friday, tens of thousands of customers remained without power across the two states.

In Selma, a city etched in the history of the civil rights movement, the city council used lights from cellphones as they held a meeting on the sidewalk to declare a state of emergency Thursday.

Six of the deaths were recorded in Autauga County, Alabama, 41 miles (66 kilometers) northeast of Selma, where dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado that cut a 20-mile (32-kilometer) path across two rural communities, said Ernie Baggett, the county’s emergency management director.

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Friday, Jan. 13, 2023

CORRECTS DAY OF WEEK TO THURSDAY, NOT WEDNESDAY - Kids walk home from school after a tornado hit near Meadowview elementary school Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Japan eyes delay of Fukushima plant water release

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Japan eyes delay of Fukushima plant water release

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press 3 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

TOKYO (AP) — Japan has revised the timing of a planned release to the sea of treated but still radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to “around spring or summer," indicating a delay from the initial target of this spring, after factoring in the progress of a release tunnel and the need to gain public support.

The government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, announced in April 2021 a plan to begin releasing the treated wastewater into the sea starting in spring 2023. They say more than 1 million tons of water stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant are hampering its decommissioning and risk leaking in the event of a major earthquake or tsunami.

Under the current plan, TEPCO will transport the treated water through a pipeline from the tanks to a coastal facility, where it will be diluted with seawater and sent through an undersea tunnel, currently under construction, to an offshore outlet. The company has acknowledged the possibility of rough winter weather and sea conditions delaying the tunnel progress.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Friday the government has adopted a revised action plan, which includes enhanced efforts to ensure safety and measures to financially support the local fishing industry and a new release target of “around spring or summer this year.”

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - This aerial photo shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, on March 17, 2022. Japan's government has revised the timing of a planned release to the sea of treated but still radioactive wastewater at the Fukushima nuclear power plant to “around spring or summer,

Toyota pushes zero-emission goals by converting old models

Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Toyota pushes zero-emission goals by converting old models

Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press 3 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

CHIBA, Japan (AP) — To accelerate the global move toward sustainable vehicles, Toyota is suggesting simply replacing the inner workings of vehicles already on the roads with cleaner technology like fuel cells and electric motors.

“I don’t want to leave any car lover behind,” Chief Executive Akio Toyoda said Friday, appearing on the stage at the Tokyo Auto Salon, an industry event similar to the world’s auto shows.

The message was clear: Toyota Motor Corp. wants the world to know it hasn’t fallen behind in electric vehicles, as some detractors have implied.

Japan’s top automaker, behind the Lexus luxury brands and the Prius hybrid, is highlighting its clout: It has all the technology, engineering, financial reserves and industry experience needed to remain a powerful competitor in green vehicles.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Toyota Motor Corp. Chief Executive Akio Toyoda delivers a speech on the stage at the Tokyo Auto Salon, an industry event similar to the world's auto shows Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, in Chiba near Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Designer Thom Browne bests Adidas in court battle of stripes

Larry Neumeister And Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Designer Thom Browne bests Adidas in court battle of stripes

Larry Neumeister And Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — Smiling, fashion designer Thom Browne emerged from a New York courthouse Thursday victorious over sportswear giant Adidas in a grand battle over signature stripes.

Browne told The Associated Press that he hopes the preservation of his striped designs on luxury athletic clothing and accessories inspires others whose work is challenged by larger clothing producers.

“It was important to fight and tell my story," Browne told The Associated Press after a Manhattan federal court jury sided with him. Adidas had claimed that the striped designs used by Thom Browne Inc. were too similar to its own three stripes.

“And I think it’s more important and bigger than me, because I think I was fighting for every designer that creates something and has a bigger company come after them later,” he said.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Fashion designer Thom Browne, right, arrives at Manhattan federal court in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

US nuclear agency falls short on scheduling, cost estimates

Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

US nuclear agency falls short on scheduling, cost estimates

Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press 5 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. agency in charge of jumpstarting the production of key components for the nation’s nuclear arsenal is falling short when it comes to having a comprehensive schedule for the multibillion-dollar project.

The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday that plans by the National Nuclear Security Administration for reestablishing plutonium pit production do not follow best practices and run the risk of delays and cost overruns.

The federal government has not manufactured plutonium cores regularly in more than 30 years and faces a congressionally mandated deadline of turning out at least 80 per year by 2030.

The GAO describes the modernization effort as the agency’s largest investment in weapons production infrastructure to date, noting that plutonium is a dangerous material and making the weapon cores is difficult and time consuming.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2021 file photo, The Los Alamos Study Group takes aim at the U.S. government's plans to ramp up production of plutonium cores for the nation's nuclear arsenal with this billboard near Bernalillo, N.M. The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, that plans by the National Nuclear Security Administration for reestablishing plutonium pit production do not follow best practices and run the risk of delays and cost overruns. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

Toilet paper toxin found in endangered killer whales, say B.C. researchers

The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Toilet paper toxin found in endangered killer whales, say B.C. researchers

The Canadian Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

VANCOUVER - Toxic chemicals from toilet paper have been found in the bodies of British Columbia's endangered orcas, according to a study conducted by marine scientists.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia analyzed tissue samples from six southern resident killer whales and six Bigg's whales, also known as transient killer whales, stranded along the coast of B.C. between 2006 and 2018.

Dr. Juan José Alava, co-author of the study, said in an interview Thursday that the findings left him and other researchers “shocked and saddened.”

He said the toxic chemical substances could affect killer whales’ hormone systems, disrupting physiological function and making them susceptible to diseases.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Whales in the Gulf Islands, a southern resident killer whale critical habitat, are shown in a handout photo. Toxic chemicals from toilet paper have been found in the bodies of British Columbia's endangered orcas, according to a study conducted by marine scientists.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Fisheries and Oceans Canada-Paul Cottrell **MANDATORY CREDIT**

EXPLAINER: List of states banning TikTok grows

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

EXPLAINER: List of states banning TikTok grows

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press 4 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin and North Carolina have joined at least 22 other states in banning the popular social media app TikTok on state-owned devices, including Mississippi, Indiana, Louisiana and South Dakota.

Congress also recently banned TikTok from most U.S. government-issued devices over bipartisan concerns about security.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. It has been targeted by critics who say the Chinese government could access user data, such as browsing history and location. U.S. armed forces also have prohibited the app on military devices.

TikTok is consumed by two-thirds of American teens and has become the second-most popular domain in the world. But there’s long been bipartisan concern in Washington that Beijing would use legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or try to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Appeals court rules against vaccine mandate in 3 states

The Associated Press 2 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) — An appeals court has affirmed a ban in three states on enforcing a federal vaccine mandate for workers who contract with the federal government.

A panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Thursday affirmed a lower court's ruling that said the mandate was unconstitutional. President Joe Biden's administration is not enforcing the rule while legal battles play out around the country.

A federal judge in Louisville, Kentucky, blocked the Biden rule in November 2021 for that state and two others: Tennessee and Ohio. The mandate requires workers contracting with the federal government to wear face masks and be vaccinated for COVID-19.

The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a similar ruling in December for Indiana, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Wisconsin Republicans block ‘conversion therapy’ ban

Harm Venhuizen, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Wisconsin Republicans block ‘conversion therapy’ ban

Harm Venhuizen, The Associated Press 5 minute read Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans voted Thursday to again allow therapists, social workers and counselors to try to change LGBTQ clients’ gender identities and sexual orientations — a discredited practice known as conversion therapy.

A ban on conversion therapy was passed in 2020 by a state board within the Democratic governor's administration overseeing licensing for mental health professionals. But a committee in the Republican-controlled Legislature temporarily blocked the ban then and did so again Thursday, with all six Republican members voting to block it and the four Democrats voting to keep it in place.

LGBTQ rights advocates have decried the scientifically discredited practice of trying to “convert” LGBTQ people to heterosexuality and traditional gender expectations as harmful, citing research suggesting the practice can increase the risk of suicide and depression.

At least 20 states and the District of Columbia have outlawed conversion therapy for minors, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a pro-LGBTQ rights think tank. Wisconsin is not one of them.

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Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

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