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A rebel group in the Indian state of Assam signs a peace accord with the government

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A rebel group that fought for decades to free India’s northeastern state of Assam from New Delhi’s rule on Friday signed a peace accord with the government pledging to end the insurgency in the region. The United Liberation Front of Asom or ULFA, led by Arabinda Rajkhowa, concluded 12 years of negotiations with the Indian government. The signing ceremony in New Delhi was attended by India’s Home Minister Amit Shah and the top elected official of Assam state Himanta Biswa Sarma. However, the group’s hard-line faction, led by Paresh Baruah, is not part of the agreement. Baruah is believed to be hiding somewhere along the China-Myanmar border, the Press Trust of India news agency said. ULFA, formed in 1979 demanding a “sovereign Assam,” carried out a reign of terror in Assam state in the late 1980s, including extortion, kidnappings and killings, especially targeting the state’s flourishing tea companies. It killed several tea planters. India banned ULFA in 1990. It the...

New Ontario laws and regulations come into effect on New Year’s Day

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

Several new Ontario laws and regulatory changes are set to come into effect on New Year’s Day, including daycare safe-arrival rules and penalties for inappropriately accessing patients’ personal health information.As of Jan. 1, 2024, the province will require all child-care operators to develop a policy outlining what steps they will take to closely monitor when a child does not arrive or is not picked up as expected.The changes are intended to prevent the rare, but horrendous deaths of young children inadvertently left in hot cars.Safe arrival systems have long been in place in schools, where children are as young as three or four when starting junior kindergarten, but not in child-care settings, where children are younger and more vulnerable.Other new regulations taking effect on Monday will allow Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner to fine individuals or organizations who inappropriately access or share a patient’s personal health information.Se...

Woman struck and killed by car late Thursday night on city's South Side

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

CHICAGO — A woman was hit and killed by a car in the Washington Heights neighborhood on the city's South Side overnight.Chicago police report that around 11 p.m. Thursday, a driver was heading southbound when a 25-year-old female walked into the street in the 10000 block of S. Halsted St.The woman was hit and transported by the Chicago Fire Department to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where she later died.Police say the driver of the vehicle was not injured. The Major Accidents Unit is investigating.

Dean's Weekender: 'Shrek: The Musical,' 16 Candles and more

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

Check out Dean's Weekender for all the latest events coming to the Chicagoland area this weekend.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

Symptoms of RSV, strep, flu, COVID: How to tell them apart

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

(WGN Radio) – Feeling a little gross after the holidays? You may have one (or two, or three) of the overlapping symptoms of RSV, flu, COVID and strep. We asked Dr. Sindhu Aderson at Northwestern Medicine to run through some of the most common symptoms and treatments for each virus and bacteria, to break down the differences. With strep, the most common signs are sore throat and fevers, but not often a cough, Aderson said. When it comes to flu, you're more likely to see body aches. With COVID, one distinguishing symptom Aderson sees is fatigue, and occasionally loss of taste and/or smell. With RSV, you'll often hear wheezing and coughing as the main symptom. However, coughing is reported with all three of the viral illnesses (COVID, RSV and flu). It's less common with strep, which is caused by a bacteria, Aderson said. Testing negative but still feeling sick? Doctors explain why Trouble breathing is most common with COVID and RSV, but it can also be seen with patients with the flu,...

US military space plane blasts off on another secretive mission

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

(AP) — The U.S. military's X-37B space plane blasted off Thursday on another secretive mission that’s expected to last at least a couple of years.Like previous missions, the reusable plane resembling a mini space shuttle carried classified experiments. There's no one on board.The space plane took off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at night, more than two weeks late because of technical issues.It marked the seventh flight of an X-37B, which has logged more than 10 years in orbit since its debut in 2010.The last flight, the longest one yet, lasted 2 1/2 years before ending on a runway at Kennedy a year ago. Mystery note found in sealed cereal box in Pennsylvania Space Force officials would not say how long this orbital test vehicle would remain aloft or what's on board other than a NASA experiment to gauge the effects of radiation on materials.Built by Boeing, the X-37B resembles NASA’s retired space shuttles. But they're just one-fourth the siz...

Marjorie Taylor Greene says daughters' homes were 'swatted'

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

(The Hill) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claimed that her two daughters were “swatted” Thursday — just days after she experienced what she estimated was her eighth swatting incident.Swatting refers to a large-scale response by law enforcement officials in response to false claims of an emergency, often at the homes of public officials.“Both my daughter’s houses just got swatted today. Big thanks to the police who responded! We appreciate you and support you!” Greene wrote Thursday afternoon in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Greene says she was swatted while at home with family on Christmas “Whoever is doing this, you are going to get caught and it won’t be funny to you anymore,” Greene added, before tagging the FBI account.Greene did not provide more information about the incidents her daughters experienced.On Christmas Day, Greene reported she was swatted at her home in Rome, Ga., for what she estimated was the eighth time.“I was just swatted. This i...

Albany man arrested after breaking window with brick

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- An Albany man was arrested early Friday morning after breaking a window with a brick and causing a disturbance, according to the Albany County Sheriff's Office. Thomas Bruni, 51, is charged with third-degree criminal mischief. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! On Friday, around 1 a.m., deputies from the Albany County Sheriff's Office responded to a report of a man screaming and banging on the front door and windows of the victim's home. Upon arrival, law enforcement says they found the suspect, identified as Bruni, standing outside the house by a window that had been broken. Deputies later found a brick inside the home that was used to break the window.Bruni was arrested and was held at the Albany County Correctional Facility. He was arraigned in the Albany County Correctional Facility at 9 a.m.

Denver Art Museum curator named one of the 100 most influential art figures in the world

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

Raphael Fonseca joined the Denver Art Museum in 2021 as its first-ever curator of Latin American Modern & Contemporary Art, a position created to showcase, and grow, the museum’s considerable collection of objects from the region.His most notable move here — so far — was curating last year’s “Who Tells a Tale Adds a Tail,” a group show built around the talents of 19 millennial-aged artists from places like Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil.Raphael Fonseca is the first person to hold the title of Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Denver Art Museum. (Provided by Raphael Fonseca)But Fonseca, who is Brazilian, is also busy working in both South America and Europe. He continues to organize important exhibitions internationally, and has gained a reputation for discovering new voices from across the hemisphere. That work has not gone unnoticed. This month, the well-respected Art Review magazine placed him on its annual “Power 100,” a list ...

A cannoli recipe that’ll bring Sicily to you

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:50:39 GMT

By Claire Saffitz, The New York TimesI have a burning desire to visit Sicily, which has a little to do with “The White Lotus” and a lot to do with a tube-shaped pastry made of fried dough and filled with ricotta: cannoli.Last year, I came across a video of Nicola and Luca Petta, father-son bakers who own Extrabar, a pastry shop in Piana degli Albanesi, preparing their specialty, cannoli. In the video, Luca mixes and rolls the dough, punches out the shells, and fries them until they’re golden and blistered. The shells flare outward dramatically at the ends, creating more surface area to hold the creamy sheep’s milk ricotta filling.I was captivated.Extrabar’s cannoli looked nothing like the tough, often-soggy versions with too-sweet filling I’d eaten before. Knowing that a trip to Sicily wasn’t happening anytime soon, I set out to make my own version, inspired by the perfect simplicity of Extrabar’s. I bought a set of stainless-steel cannoli molds, needed to maintain the tubular shape...