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Struggling Malaysian budget carrier MyAirline abruptly suspends service, leaving travelers stranded

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian budget carrier MYAirline abruptly suspended operations Thursday, citing financial pressures less than 11 months after it took to the skies. The announcement on social media caught many travelers by surprise and left thousands stranded as 40 flights were canceled.The airline apologized for the “extremely painful decision” but said “significant financial pressures” forced it to suspend operations pending an ownership restructuring and recapitalization of the company. “We have worked tirelessly to explore various partnership and capital raising options to prevent this suspension. Unfortunately, the constraints of time have left us with no alternative but to take this decision,” the airline’s board of directors said in their statement.The move came just days after the airline said it was in advanced stages of finalizing a strategic partnership. Local media reported that the suspension signaled that those talks may have collapsed.The airline ...

Record Heat Ahead of a Fall Front this Weekend

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

Lots of changes are ahead over the next few days in South Florida as we go from record heat to below average, fall-like conditions by next week.It’s all thanks to a couple areas of low pressure near northern Florida this morning followed by a strong front developing near the Rocky Mountains.These lows near Florida will be the main influence on our weather pattern through Saturday.At least for today, it’s all about the heat as a slot of drier air filters into South Florida today, keeping rain chances low and providing more sunshine.High temperatures this afternoon will reach the low to mid 90s, which will be near records. Miami is forecast to hit 93F, which would break the record by 1F. The saving grace for today is that it will be breezy with wind gusts up to 30 mph, helping to take the edge off from the heat just a little bit.More heat and high humidity remains in place Friday and Saturday with temperatures potentially a degree warmer into the mid 90s. Record-breaking h...

Spandex-clad Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White look like total knockouts in new ‘Iron Claw’ trailer

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

(CNN) — The new “Iron Claw” trailer was released on Wednesday, and it features the first full look at its beefed up all-star cast, which includes Zac Efron and “The Bear’s” Jeremy Allen White.Portraying Kevin and Kerry Von Erich – two of the brothers who hail from the infamous real-life Von Erich wrestling family dynasty that made history throughout the 1980s – Efron and White are seen in the trailer sporting retro shaggy hair, washboard abs and spandex wrestling shorts.“Ever since I was a child, people said my family was cursed,” Efron is heard saying in the trailer. “Mom tried to protect us with God. Pop tried to protect us with wrestling. He said if we were the toughest, the strongest, nothing could ever hurt us.”Also featured in the trailer is Lily James, who appears to be a romantic partner of Kevin (Efron). They are later seen getting married and welcoming a child.Clips of Efron, White and actor Harris Dickinson (who portrays brother David Von Erich) show the brothers grapplin...

Restaurant review: Yemeni Restaurant

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

Chaussée d’Ixelles 298What’s good? If you’ve been to Yemen, this place will bring you right back. If not, it will give you a good idea of that country’s distinctive cuisine. The classic stews, served in sizzling dishes straight from the oven, are a must: Try foul in madarah (beans with tomato and onion), or fahsah, a meaty concoction flavored with the unique tang of fenugreek. The chicken mandy, baked with rice and gentle spices, was also a hit.What’s not? Yemeni food is hearty, adapted to the surprisingly chilly highlands of South Arabia. This isn’t the place for a light lunchtime salad.Vibe: As the straightforward name suggests, this is a place for honest food with no pretension. Bright and bustling, with most tables configured for larger groups, it’s more geared to conviviality than to romance. The plastic covers on the tables mean you can spill rice to your heart’s content.Who’s picking up the check? Main dishes come in at €10 t...

Germany will ban all Hamas-linked activities, Scholz says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that anyone who glorifies the crimes of Palestinian militant group Hamas, uses its symbols, condones murder, calls for criminal acts or burns Israeli flags could be prosecuted in Germany.Speaking in the Bundestag, the German parliament, Scholz vowed “zero tolerance” on antisemitism and called on German law enforcement agencies to hold anyone who does such things accountable “with all the means that our defensible constitutional state offers.”“These means expressly include bans on associations and activities. The Federal Ministry of the Interior will issue a ban on Hamas activities in Germany,” Scholz added. Scholz’ remarks follow images in Berlin of some people celebrating Hamas’ attack on Israel last weekend, which he described as “despicable” and “inhuman” — adding “they contradict all the values to which we as a country are committed.”On Iran’s influence over Hamas, the German chancello...

After Musk, EU gives Zuckerberg deadline to address Hamas content

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

European Commissioner Thierry Breton has written to Mark Zuckerberg, head of Facebook’s parent company Meta, asking him to respond within 24 hours to explain his plan to limit falsehoods and illegal content linked to the Hamas attacks in Israel.Breton, the EU’s chief digital official, asked Zuckerberg to lay out his plan to comply with the EU’s content moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA) after a surge of online disinformation and illegal content following the Hamas terror attacks in Israel. The letter to Meta’s chief followed an earlier letter to Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly Twitter), on Tuesday evening, criticizing X for letting disinformation, violent content and propaganda run rampant — the latest in a series of run-ins of Musk with EU officials over his platform’s online moderation policies. X’s Chief Executive Officer Linda Yaccarino on Thursday replied in a public letter that the company was “actively working to address t...

‘I don’t want them to take away his smile,’ aunt of 12-year-old Hamas hostage pleads

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

EILAT, Israel — A day after Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped dozens of others to Gaza, a friend sent Sharon Calderon a video of her 12-year-old nephew being carried away by one of those terrorists. Calderon hadn’t heard from Erez, her nephew, or his sister or his father, who all lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz, since the Saturday morning massacre. Over 16 seconds, a video posted to social media shows the camera turn to Erez, who is being held by his armpits by a member of the Palestinian group and marched away from the camera. A voice in Arabic says: “Don’t harm him.”Since the bloodbath, the 49-year-old woman worries about the still-unknown fate of her loved ones, she told POLITICO during a visit to Eilat, an Israeli resort on the Red Sea.Right now, though, hardly anyone is here for a vacation. Rather, the people who are huddled around communal tables next to a shimmering swimming pool have been relocated by the Israeli government...

Mild Today, Weekend Trending Dry?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

If you liked yesterday, you’ll like today as temps rebound from the 40s and 50s this morning, back to near 70 degree this afternoon. With a mix of sun and clouds and a light breeze, overall, it’ll be a solid day to enjoy those outdoor activities. Tonight, a cold front slips through, allowing for a cooler day tomorrow with highs in the lower 60s. It’ll be dry, so a pleasant day overall still. How about the weekend? Trending drier! While the weather pattern certainly has not been on our side for many of the recent weekends, the trend is our friend with this one. As an area of low pressure to our east, retrogrades back west, into Nova Scotia, the overall pattern gets pressed a bit south. That means an area of low pressure approaching us from the west, will slip south of New England. In fact, it’ll slip far enough to the south that most of the rain misses to our south. The highest risk for showers in our area will be Saturday night/Sunday AM near the south coast...

CT man who found bag of cash and claimed finders-keepers pays back town, felony charge dropped

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

A Connecticut man who found a bag containing nearly $5,000 in cash outside a bank and claimed “finders-keepers” had a criminal charge against him dropped Wednesday after he gave the money back.Robert Withington, 57, went to Bridgeport Superior Court for a scheduled court hearing, and a state prosecutor informed Withington’s lawyer the felony larceny charge was being dropped.Withington found the bank bag containing $4,761 on May 30 outside a bank in his hometown of Trumbull, near Bridgeport. It turned out the money belonged to the Trumbull tax collector’s office, and a town employee had dropped the bag while walking to the bank to deposit the money, police said.Police said the bag had the bank’s name on the outside, and there were deposit slips inside indicating the money belonged to the town, authorities said. A police officer had escorted the town employee to the bank, but neither one noticed the bag being dropped, police said.Withington, a dog trainer, happened t...

Orioles’ sour end to sweet 2023 extends playoff losing streak to MLB-worst 8 games: ‘Are we ever going to win again?’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:15:25 GMT

The Orioles’ streak of 91 regular-season series without being swept defined their 2023 campaign before the club’s unprecedented year ended in “ironic” fashion, as center fielder Cedric Mullins put it, with a sweep in the American League Division Series.That streak is technically still intact, but the next time Baltimore is in the playoffs, a new one will be the focus.With their three-and-out in the ALDS against the Rangers, the Orioles have lost eight consecutive postseason games — the worst stretch in franchise history and the longest active streak in the sport. Only nine teams in MLB history have suffered a longer such streak.“You never want to be on a streak,” Orioles fan Nathan Skidmore said before Game 3 of the ALDS. “You never want people to be able to pull that up on a graphic and be like, ‘Eight in a row.’“Anytime you’re on a streak like that, I think you start to worry like, ‘Are we e...