Life & Style – Winnipeg Free Press

Artist recreates stolen St. Bernadette statue for St. Malo shrine

Brenda Suderman 3 minute read Yesterday at 2:00 AM CDT

A replica of a stolen religious statue will soon rest in a southern Manitoba shrine thanks to the generosity of a Winnipeg artist.

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Spanish climber leaves cave after 500 days in isolation

Ciarán Giles, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Spanish climber leaves cave after 500 days in isolation

Ciarán Giles, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 10:09 AM CDT

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish mountain climber emerged Friday from a cave 70 meters (230 feet) underground where she spent 500 days isolated from the outside world.

Beatriz Flamini, 50, of Madrid, left the cave in southern Spain shortly after 9 a.m. after being told by supporters that she had completed the feat she set out to accomplish on Nov. 21, 2021.

Spanish media said the spell underground set a new world record, but the claim could not be immediately confirmed.

The Spanish state news agency Efe later reported Flamini as saying she was obliged to temporarily halt the challenge after some 300 days and leave the cave for eight days because of a technical problem. Efe said she spent the eight days in a tent but had no contact with anyone before going back down once the problem was resolved.

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Updated: Yesterday at 10:09 AM CDT

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish mountain climber emerged Friday from a cave 70 meters (230 feet) underground where she spent 500 days isolated from the outside world.

Beatriz Flamini, 50, of Madrid, left the cave in southern Spain shortly after 9 a.m. after being told by supporters that she had completed the feat she set out to accomplish on Nov. 21, 2021.

Spanish media said the spell underground set a new world record, but the claim could not be immediately confirmed.

The Spanish state news agency Efe later reported Flamini as saying she was obliged to temporarily halt the challenge after some 300 days and leave the cave for eight days because of a technical problem. Efe said she spent the eight days in a tent but had no contact with anyone before going back down once the problem was resolved.

Suspects to get mental health, addictions help

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Suspects to get mental health, addictions help

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Yesterday at 5:59 PM CDT

CALGARY - The Alberta government says it will fund mental health and addiction supports for people being held in police custody in Calgary and expand community-led harm reduction teams in the city.

Nicholas Milliken, minister of mental health and addiction, says the province is to spend $5 million on the program over three years in partnership with Calgary police.

"I've grown increasingly concerned about the growing trend of social issues like addiction, mental health, homelessness and public safety, and how they've affected our city," Milliken said Friday.

"Residents, businesses, transit riders and even visitors can all clearly see the impact of this crisis and the social disorder that comes along with it."

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Yesterday at 5:59 PM CDT

Northwest Territories Minister of Health and Social Services Julie Green, from left to right, Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Nicholas Milliken and Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping listen during a news conference, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. The Alberta government says it will fund mental health and addiction supports for people being held in police custody in Calgary and expand community-led harm reduction teams in the city. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Bird flu: Scientists find mutations, say threat is still low

Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Bird flu: Scientists find mutations, say threat is still low

Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 4:05 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A man in Chile is infected with a bird flu that has concerning mutations, but the threat to people from the virus remains low, U.S. health officials said Friday.

Past animal studies suggest these mutations could cause the virus to be more harmful or spread more easily, health officials said. But they also said there is no evidence that the mutations would make it easier for it to take root in a person’s upper lungs — a development that would raise concerns about spread among people.

The mutations do not change public health officials’ assessment of the overall risk to people from the H5N1 virus, which "continues to be low,” said Vivien Dugan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The mutations, which have appeared only in the one hospitalized patient, may have occurred after the man got sick, CDC officials said. There’s no evidence that the mutated virus spread to other people, mixed with other flu viruses, or developed the ability to fight off current medicines or evade vaccines, agency officials said.

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Updated: Yesterday at 4:05 PM CDT

FILE - A municipal worker stands amid dead pelicans as a crew works to clear them from Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru, Nov. 30, 2022, as thousands of birds died in November along the Pacific of Peru from bird flu, according to The National Forest and Wildlife Service (Serfor). A man in Chile is infected with a bird flu that has concerning mutations, according to a new lab analysis. But U.S. health officials said Friday, April 14, 2023, that the threat to people remains low. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo, File)

Abortion bans raise fears inside GOP about backlash in 2024

Steve Peoples And Anthony Izaguirre, The Associated Press 8 minute read Preview

Abortion bans raise fears inside GOP about backlash in 2024

Steve Peoples And Anthony Izaguirre, The Associated Press 8 minute read Yesterday at 11:29 PM CDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — As a new election season begins, the Republican Party is struggling to navigate the politics of abortion.

Allies for leading presidential candidates concede that their hardline anti-abortion policies may be popular with the conservatives who decide primary elections, but they could ultimately alienate the broader set of voters they need to win the presidency.

The conflict is unfolding across America this week, but nowhere more than Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law one of the nation's toughest abortion bans late Thursday. If the courts ultimately allow the new measure to take effect, it will soon be illegal for Florida women to obtain an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, which is before most realize they're pregnant.

Even before he signed the law, DeSantis' team was eager to highlight his willingness to fight for, and enact, aggressive abortion restrictions. The Florida governor's position stands in sharp contrast, they say, with some Republican White House hopefuls — most notably former President Donald Trump — who are downplaying their support for anti-abortion policies for fear they may ultimately alienate women or other swing voters in the 2024 general election.

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Yesterday at 11:29 PM CDT

FILE - New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu takes part in a panel discussion during a Republican Governors Association conference on Nov. 15, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. “Any conversation about banning abortion or limiting it nationwide is an electoral disaster for the Republicans,” said Sununu, a Republican who describes himself as “pro-choice” but also signed a law banning abortions in the state after 24 weeks. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

Russell Crowe stars as Vatican’s ‘James Bond of exorcists’

Deepa Bharath (), The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

Russell Crowe stars as Vatican’s ‘James Bond of exorcists’

Deepa Bharath (), The Associated Press 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:46 AM CDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Rev. Edward Siebert's journey with “The Pope's Exorcist,” a film about arguably the most famous exorcist in the Catholic Church, began with an adventuresome visit to Milan about six years ago.

The Jesuit priest recalls sitting at a restaurant sipping wine and mulling the costly airline ticket he had purchased a day earlier. He also worried about the deal he had just closed with the Society of St. Paul to purchase the rights to the life story of the Rev. Gabriele Amorth — the late Pauline priest known as “the James Bond of exorcists.”

Siebert, who teaches film at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and runs the college’s film production company, had no motion picture credits to his name and wondered at the time: “What have I gone and done?”

Today, he heaves a sigh of relief as a version of Amorth’s life unfurls on the big screen as “The Pope’s Exorcist,” starring Oscar-winner Russell Crowe in the titular role. It opens in U.S. theaters Friday.

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:46 AM CDT

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Russell Crowe, right, in a scene from Screen Gems'

Missouri rules part of rapid push to limit trans health care

Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Missouri rules part of rapid push to limit trans health care

Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press 5 minute read Yesterday at 1:17 PM CDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The push to restrict health care for transgender people has expanded beyond children, with Missouri placing new limits on gender-affirming care for both adults and minors.

The restrictions highlight how rapidly states' efforts targeting the rights of transgender people have grown this year, despite new obstacles from the courts and the Biden administration.

Here's what's happening:

WHAT'S THE STATUS OF BILLS TARGETING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE?

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Yesterday at 1:17 PM CDT

FILE - Glenda Starke wears a transgender flag as a counterprotest during a rally in favor of a ban on gender-affirming health care legislation, March 20, 2023, at the Missouri Statehouse in Jefferson City, Mo. Minors in Missouri soon will be required to undergo 18 months of therapy before receiving gender-affirming health care under an emergency rule released Thursday, April 13, 2023, by the state's Republican attorney general. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

US Supreme Court’s abortion pill order spares safe havens

Geoff Mulvihill, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

US Supreme Court’s abortion pill order spares safe havens

Geoff Mulvihill, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:43 PM CDT

Before the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in Friday, access to an abortion pill was in line to become more cumbersome in California, New York and some other states that have positioned themselves as safe havens for those seeking to end their pregnancies.

The order keeps in place federal rules for use of mifepristone, one of the two drugs usually used in combination in medication abortions. The legal saga isn't over: The Supreme Court suggested it will decide the issue by Wednesday.

The high court's position at least pauses a ruling issued last Wednesday by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that would have allowed mifepristone sales to continue, but under rules adopted by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, before a series of changes that relaxed access.

The 5th Circuit ruling, which overturned another recent federal court order halting mifepristone sales nationwide, was set to take effect Saturday. It would have required the drug to be taken in the presence of a physician, ruling out mailing it to patients.

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Updated: Yesterday at 6:43 PM CDT

FILE - Bottles of the drug misoprostol sit on a table at the West Alabama Women's Center, March 15, 2022, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. For California, New York and some other states trying to position themselves as safe havens for those seeking abortions, a federal court ruling this week, Wednesday, April 12, 2023, could be a setback, adding barriers to obtaining one of the two drugs usually used in combination to end pregnancies with medication. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

First Nation sues Saskatchewan over autonomy bill

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

First Nation sues Saskatchewan over autonomy bill

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:54 PM CDT

SASKATOON - Onion Lake Cree Nation is suing the Saskatchewan government over autonomy legislation meant to reassert the province’s control over natural resources.

The First Nation, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary, filed its statement of claim in Court of Kings Bench in Saskatoon this week, saying the Saskatchewan First Act infringes on treaty rights.

"Our Nation has consistently spoken out against this law as it is contrary to our treaty, constitutional and inherent rights," Okimaw Henry Lewis, the chief of the First Nation, said in a news release.

The First Nation is arguing the bill was enacted without input, consultation or consideration of Indigenous people, calling it utterly repugnant to the letter and spirit of the treaty.

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Updated: Yesterday at 12:54 PM CDT

The Saskatchewan Legislative Building at Wascana Centre in Regina is shown on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Onion Lake Cree Nation is suing the Saskatchewan government over autonomy legislation meant to reassert the province’s control over natural resources.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor

Officials: Paper mill worker dead from fungal infection

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Officials: Paper mill worker dead from fungal infection

The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:19 PM CDT

ESCANABA, Mich. (AP) — A contract worker at a northern Michigan paper mill has died from a fungal infection that has forced the business to temporarily close for deep cleaning.

The death was announced Friday in a release by public health officials in Delta and Menominee counties which said the worker died as a result of blastomycosis infection.

The person's name and a date of the death were not released.

Company officials on Thursday said the Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba, which employs more than 800 people, will close for up to three weeks for scrubbing after authorities confirmed at least 21 cases of blastomycosis among workers since March and dozens more probable cases.

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Updated: Yesterday at 6:19 PM CDT

ESCANABA, Mich. (AP) — A contract worker at a northern Michigan paper mill has died from a fungal infection that has forced the business to temporarily close for deep cleaning.

The death was announced Friday in a release by public health officials in Delta and Menominee counties which said the worker died as a result of blastomycosis infection.

The person's name and a date of the death were not released.

Company officials on Thursday said the Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba, which employs more than 800 people, will close for up to three weeks for scrubbing after authorities confirmed at least 21 cases of blastomycosis among workers since March and dozens more probable cases.

NJ charges itself with damaging land it was bound to protect

Wayne Parry, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

NJ charges itself with damaging land it was bound to protect

Wayne Parry, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:13 PM CDT

New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection has charged itself with damaging habitat for threatened and endangered birds that it was supposed to protect.

The work was designed to create habitat for one species of bird, but actually wound up destroying habitat for two others.

The department acknowledged it sent a violation notice and threatened penalties against its own Division of Fish and Wildlife regarding unauthorized work in February and March at the Glassboro Wildlife Management Area in Clayton, Gloucester County.

It was unclear how any penalties might work when the DEP is both the accuser and the accused. It also was not immediately clear whether any money might actually change hands. The department did not respond to questions about potential fines.

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Updated: Yesterday at 1:13 PM CDT

FILE - Migratory bird biologist Tom Cooper, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, removes an America woodcock from a research net, Oct. 6, 2014, at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, near Zimmerman, Minn. On April 6, 2023, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued a violation notice against one of its own sub-divisions accusing it of wrongly clearing 15 acres of a wildlife management area in southwestern New Jersey. The work was designed to create habitat for the American woodcock, but wound up destroying habitat for the barred owl, which is threatened, and the red-shouldered hawk, which is endangered. (Dave Orrick/Pioneer Press via AP, File)

Southwestern Ontario hospitals lift mask mandates

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Southwestern Ontario hospitals lift mask mandates

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:20 AM CDT

Several southwestern Ontario hospitals say that starting next week staff, patients, and visitors will no longer be required to wear masks at all times, dropping requirements introduced during the pandemic.

Physicians will only have to cover their mouths and nose if they are within two metres of a patient and not shielded by a physical barrier, or if there is an active COVID-19 outbreak in the unit, the hospitals announced in press releases.

No one inside Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Bluewater Health, Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH), Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and Erie Shores HealthCare will be required to mask up in non-clinical areas, such as main lobbies, waiting areas, cafeterias and elevators.

"Much has changed over the last three years," Dr. Michel Haddad, the chief of staff at Bluewater, said in a statement.

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:20 AM CDT

Health-care workers discard their masks at the end of their shift at the Bluewater Health Hospital in Sarnia, Ont., on Wednesday, January 26, 2022. Masking inside several hospitals in southwestern Ontario will no longer be mandatory in high risk areas for physicians, patients, staff and all other visitors starting next week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Salmonella illnesses linked to snakes, rodents

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Salmonella illnesses linked to snakes, rodents

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 10:19 AM CDT

OTTAWA - The Public Health Agency of Canada is investigating a series of salmonella illnesses linked to handling snakes and rodents.

There have been confirmed cases in 45 people across the country. One person died.

The illnesses happened between February 2022 and March 2023 in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Reptiles and rodents can carry salmonella and people can get infected after touching them, their food or their habitats.

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Yesterday at 10:19 AM CDT

A snake swallowing a rodent is shown in this undated handout image provided by The Public Health Agency of Canada. The agency is investigating a salmonella outbreak linked to handling snakes and rodents. There have been confirmed illnesses in 45 people across the country. One person died. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Public Health Agency of Canada
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What might cuts to dwindling Colorado River mean for states?

Suman Naishadham, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

What might cuts to dwindling Colorado River mean for states?

Suman Naishadham, The Associated Press 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:02 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration floated two ideas this week to reduce water usage from the dwindling Colorado River, which supplies 40 million people.

The 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river is a lifeline for seven U.S. states, dozens of Native American tribes, and two states in Mexico. It irrigates nearly 5.5 million acres (about 2.2 million hectares) of farmland in the U.S. and Mexico and generates hydroelectric power used across the West.

In recent decades, drought, climate change and an imbalance between the river's flows and how much water users are promised has forced federal officials to consider new steps.

Tuesday's analysis from the Interior Department considers two ways to force cuts in the water supply for Arizona, Nevada and California: use the existing water priority system or the same percentage across the board. California and some tribes with senior rights to water benefit more under the first option. Arizona and Nevada, largely with junior rights, don't feel as much pain under the second.

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Updated: Yesterday at 1:02 PM CDT

FILE - A formerly sunken boat sits high and dry along the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Tuesday, May 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. The Biden administration on Tuesday, April 11, 2023 released an environmental analysis of competing plans for how Western states and tribes reliant on the dwindling Colorado River should cut their use. (AP Photo/John Locher,File)

High court temporarily blocks restrictions on abortion pill

Mark Sherman And Jessica Gresko, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

High court temporarily blocks restrictions on abortion pill

Mark Sherman And Jessica Gresko, The Associated Press 7 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:25 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Friday it was temporarily keeping in place federal rules for use of an abortion drug, while it takes time to more fully consider the issues raised in a court challenge.

In an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito, the court put a five-day pause on the fast-moving case so the justices can decide whether lower court rulings restricting the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug, mifepristone, should be allowed to take effect in the short term.

The justices are being asked at this point only to determine what parts of an April 7 ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas, as modified by an appellate ruling Wednesday, can be in force while the case continues. The order expires late Wednesday, suggesting the court will decide that issue by then.

The court finds itself immersed in a new fight involving abortion less than a year after conservative justices reversed Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:25 PM CDT

FILE - Bottles of the drug misoprostol sit on a table at the West Alabama Women's Center, March 15, 2022, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. White House officials warned on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, that access to nearly any medication is in jeopardy after a federal judge ordered that mifepristone, a pill commonly used for abortions, be pulled off the market, and they said they're consulting with lawmakers, doctors and pharmacies to fight the ruling. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

European spacecraft on way to Jupiter and its icy moons

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

European spacecraft on way to Jupiter and its icy moons

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 12:51 PM CDT

A European spacecraft rocketed away Friday on a decadelong quest to explore Jupiter and three of its icy moons that could hold buried oceans.

The journey began with a perfect morning liftoff by Europe's Ariane rocket from French Guiana on the coast of South America. But there were some tense minutes later as controllers awaited signals from the spacecraft.

When contact finally was confirmed close to an hour into the flight, Mission Control in Germany declared: “The spacecraft is alive!”

It will take the robotic explorer, dubbed Juice, eight years to reach Jupiter, where it will scope out not only the solar system’s biggest planet but also Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. The three ice-encrusted moons are believed to harbor underground oceans, where sea life could exist.

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Updated: Yesterday at 12:51 PM CDT

This image provided by the European Space Agency depicts the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, spacecraft orbiting the gas giant. (ESA/ATG Medialab via AP)

Florida floods: Businesses, residents begin cleaning up mess

Freida Frisaro And Terry Spencer, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Florida floods: Businesses, residents begin cleaning up mess

Freida Frisaro And Terry Spencer, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:52 PM CDT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Workers at one of Fort Lauderdale’s landmark restaurants spent Friday tearing out carpeting and original hardwood floors, both ruined when 8 inches (0.25 meters) of water poured inside two days earlier.

Old Heidelberg was among numerous businesses and residences affected by historic rainfall in South Florida this week that caused widespread flooding, closing the state's international airport for nearly two days and turning streets into rivers.

While it started raining on Monday, much of the water fell Wednesday, and the Fort Lauderdale area saw record rainfall amounts in a matter of hours, ranging from 15 inches (38 centimeters) to 26 inches (66 centimeters), the National Weather Service said.

Stephan and Yvonne Liebe said they had never experienced a flood like this since they bought Old Heidelberg 16 years ago, even during hurricanes and tropical storms. The German restaurant sits at the entrance to Fort Lauderdale’s Edgewood neighborhood, the city's hardest-hit area.

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:52 PM CDT

American Airlines airplanes sit at terminal as a truck drives through the flooded tarmac at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Thursday, April 13, 2023, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

7.0 magnitude earthquake shakes Indonesia’s main island

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

7.0 magnitude earthquake shakes Indonesia’s main island

The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:28 AM CDT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake shook parts of Indonesia’s main island of Java and tourist island of Bali on Friday, causing panic but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.0 quake was centered 96.5 kilometers (59.8 miles) north of Tuban, a coastal city in East Java province, at a depth of 594 kilometers (369 miles).

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks. The agency put a preliminary magnitude at 6.6. Variations in early measurements are common.

Videos circulating on social media showed local residents and tourists in the neighboring provinces of Central Java, Yogyakarta and Bali panicking as houses and buildings swayed for several seconds. Some places ordered evacuations, sending streams of people into the streets.

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:28 AM CDT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake shook parts of Indonesia’s main island of Java and tourist island of Bali on Friday, causing panic but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.0 quake was centered 96.5 kilometers (59.8 miles) north of Tuban, a coastal city in East Java province, at a depth of 594 kilometers (369 miles).

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks. The agency put a preliminary magnitude at 6.6. Variations in early measurements are common.

Videos circulating on social media showed local residents and tourists in the neighboring provinces of Central Java, Yogyakarta and Bali panicking as houses and buildings swayed for several seconds. Some places ordered evacuations, sending streams of people into the streets.

US energy secretary says G7 can lead global emissions cuts

Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

US energy secretary says G7 can lead global emissions cuts

Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 7:16 PM CDT

OTARU, Japan (AP) — Wealthy nations can lead by example in cutting carbon emissions, though much faster action is needed to stem global warming, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Granholm and other senior energy and environment officials from the Group of Seven advanced economies are in Hokkaido in northern Japan this week for meetings on climate change, energy security and related issues.

“That’s what we hope to do is lead by example,” Granholm said after touring the world’s first and only liquefied hydrogen carrier, a ship that showcases Japanese efforts to transform heavily polluting coal into emissions-free hydrogen power.

At the G-7 summit in May last year, member nations set a common goal of achieving a fully or predominantly decarbonized electricity supply by 2035.

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Updated: Yesterday at 7:16 PM CDT

The Suiso Frontier, back right, a liquefied hydrogen carrier, is berthed as a Japan Coast Guard ship is docked to watch the area in Otaru, northern Japan, Friday, April 14, 2023. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm took a tour Friday on the liquefied hydrogen carrier, the day before the G-7 ministers' meeting on climate, energy and environment. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

German town bids farewell to nuclear, eyes hydrogen future

Frank Jordans, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

German town bids farewell to nuclear, eyes hydrogen future

Frank Jordans, The Associated Press 6 minute read Yesterday at 2:05 AM CDT

LINGEN, Germany (AP) — For 35 years, the Emsland nuclear power plant in northwestern Germany has reliably provided millions of homes with electricity and many with well-paid jobs in what was once an agricultural backwater.

Now, it and the country's two other remaining nuclear plants are being shut down. Germany long ago decided to phase out both fossil fuels and nuclear power over concerns that neither is a sustainable source of energy.

The final countdown Saturday -- delayed for several months over feared energy shortages because of the Ukraine war -- is seen with relief by Germans who have campaigned against nuclear power.

Yet with energy prices stubbornly high and climate change a growing concern, some in the country and abroad are branding the move reckless. As Germany closes nuclear stations, other governments in Europe have announced plans to build new ones or have backtracked on commitments to shut down existing plants.

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Yesterday at 2:05 AM CDT

FILE - Mining debris covers the ground of a lignite coal pit near the village of Welzow in the Lusatia (Lausitz) area in Germany, June 5, 2018. Germany is shutting down its last three nuclear power plants on Saturday, April 15, 2023, as part of an energy transition agreed by successive governments. Critics have warned that without nuclear power, Germany will have to rely on dirty coal and gas plants for energy during periods of overcast but calm weather. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Papal official rejects new claims in ‘Vatican Girl’ mystery

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Papal official rejects new claims in ‘Vatican Girl’ mystery

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press 3 minute read Yesterday at 1:27 PM CDT

ROME (AP) — The Vatican pushed back hard Friday at “slanderous” insinuations against St. John Paul II that were aired following the reopening of an investigation into the 1983 disappearance of the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee.

The kerfuffle erupted after Emanuela Orlandi’s brother, Pietro, spent eight hours meeting Tuesday with Vatican prosecutors, who earlier this year reopened the dormant investigation into Emanuela’s disappearance. The Vatican probe has coincided with the recent decision by Italy’s parliament to open a parliamentary commission of inquest into the case, giving the Orlandi family hope that the truth might finally emerge.

Emanuela Orlandi, 15, vanished June 22, 1983, after leaving her family’s Vatican City apartment to go to a music lesson in Rome. Her father was a lay employee of the Holy See.

Her disappearance has been one of the Vatican’s enduring mysteries, and over the years has been linked to everything from the plot to kill John Paul, a financial scandal involving the Vatican bank and Rome’s criminal underworld.

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Yesterday at 1:27 PM CDT

FILE - Pietro Orlandi wears a placard with a picture of his sister Emanuela during a sit-in near Saint Peter's Basilica, in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. One of the Vatican’s enduring mysteries took another twist Friday, April 14, 2023, with the Vatican pushing back hard against “slanderous” insinuations that St. John Paul II was involved in a molesting young girls. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

Digital conglomerate buys right-wing app Parler

Associated Press, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Digital conglomerate buys right-wing app Parler

Associated Press, The Associated Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 10:51 AM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The digital media conglomerate Starboard said Friday it purchased the conservative social media site Parler and will temporarily take down the app as it undergoes a “strategic assessment.”

The deal came months after another acquisition agreement with rapper Kanye West, legally known as Ye, collapsed in November.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed by either company. Parler said the deal was concluded on April 7.

Parler caters to right-wing, far right and libertarian voices and fashions itself as a platform with fewer rules in support of free speech. It was briefly booted off the internet in 2021 due to its connections to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And its user base remains small.

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Yesterday at 10:51 AM CDT

FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2021, file photo, the website of the social media platform Parler is displayed in Berlin. The digital media conglomerate Starboard said Friday, April 14, 2023, it purchased the conservative social media site Parler and will temporarily take down the app as it undergoes a “strategic assessment.” (Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP, File)

Online gaming chats have long been spy risk for US military

Tara Copp, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Online gaming chats have long been spy risk for US military

Tara Copp, The Associated Press 4 minute read Yesterday at 3:57 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Step into a U.S. military recreation hall at a base almost anywhere in the world and you’re bound to see it: young troops immersed in the world of online games, using government-funded gaming machines or their own consoles.

The enthusiasm military personnel have for gaming — and the risk that carries — is in the spotlight after Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, was charged with illegally taking and posting highly classified material in a geopolitical chat room on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.

State secrets can be illegally shared in countless different ways, from whispered conversations and dead drops to myriad social media platforms. But online gaming forums have long been a particular worry of the military because of their lure for young service members. And U.S. officials are limited in how closely they can monitor those forums to make sure nothing on them threatens national security.

“The social media world and gaming sites in particular have been identified as a counterintelligence concern for about a decade,” said Dan Meyer, a partner at the Tully Rinckey law firm, which specializes in military and security clearance issues.

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Yesterday at 3:57 PM CDT

FILE - The Pentagon is seen from Air Force One as it flies over Washington, March 2, 2022. The FBI wants to question a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in connection with the disclosure of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war, two people familiar with the investigation said Thursday, April 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Bridge collapse in Kashmir kills girl, injures at least 70

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Bridge collapse in Kashmir kills girl, injures at least 70

The Associated Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 1:55 PM CDT

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — An overcrowded footbridge collapsed into a rocky river in Indian-controlled Kashmir while thronged with more than 100 people celebrating a festival, killing a 10-year-old girl and injuring at least 70 people, authorities said Friday.

Police and relief teams rushed to the low metal bridge, which could not withstand the weight of the revelers celebrating the spring harvest season, said Joginder Singh, a civil administrator in Udhampur district. The narrow bridge's maximum capacity was around three dozen, he said.

The girl died after being taken to a hospital, and at least seven people were in critical condition, Singh said.

The bridge's red railings and green deck lay twisted across the riverbed following the collapse, as onlookers stood on the banks or waded into the water. A white-domed Hindu temple sat nearby beside the river, flanked by forested hills.

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Yesterday at 1:55 PM CDT

People crowd near a steel footbridge which collapsed during the Baisakhi fair in Udhampur, near Jammu, India, Friday, April, 14, 2023. Indian officials have reported that at least 62 people were injured when a steel footbridge collapsed during the Baisakhi fair in Udhampur's Bain village. (AP Photo)

France’s Macron tours Notre Dame Cathedral reconstruction

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

France’s Macron tours Notre Dame Cathedral reconstruction

The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 11:21 AM CDT

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron toured the reconstruction works at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Friday, cheering on workers painstakingly restoring the medieval monument four years after it suffered a devastating fire.

With light streaming through the cathedral's stained-glass rose windows, Macron and his wife Brigitte gazed up at activity underway to replace the roof and spire, consumed by the flames on April 15, 2019.

Outside, Macron stepped carefully along scaffolding and shouted to workers, “Good luck, and don’t give up in the months ahead!”

Macron has taken a personal interest in the reconstruction, creating a government agency to oversee the works and pushing for the cathedral to reopen to visitors and the faithful next year. While it won’t be ready in time for the Paris Olympics in July-August 2024, it is currently slated to open in time for Christmas next year.

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Updated: Yesterday at 11:21 AM CDT

April 15, 2023