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  • Tennessee roads plan mulls toll lanes, electric car fee hike

    Tennessee roads plan mulls toll lanes, electric car fee hike

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    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is considering allowing express toll lanes on highways and tripling a fee for electric car owners as he targets his first big push after winning reelection — paying for tens of billions of dollars in roadway projects.

    The Republican is adamant about what he won’t do: Raise the gas tax; add fully tolled roads; or issue debt in lieu of the state’s pay-as-you-go road funding method.

    Lee says the timing is crucial to pivot quickly to roads. With Tennessee’s rapid growth and truck traffic, state transportation officials say $26 billion in projects are needed to address worsening congestion, and only $3.6 billion of it is planned under a big swipe at roads by Lee’s predecessor. Officials also say projects are taking so long — 15 years on average — that they are coming in 40% over budget.

    Like other states, Tennessee’s current road funding through gas taxes looks less reliable as more people switch to fuel-efficient and electric cars. Tennessee is also becoming a electric vehicle production hub, highlighted by a massive upcoming Ford electric vehicle project with a partner company’s battery factory.

    Lee will need Republican lawmakers on board for much of what he wants. That includes opening up the possibility for private companies to bid to build new express lanes on highways and impose tolls for profit. Lawmakers would also need to approve raising the annual fee on owning an electric vehicle from $100 to $300.

    Transportation commissioner Butch Eley has stated that any express toll lanes would be newly built, and would not turn existing carpool lanes into paid ones. Across the country, five states have express toll lanes, 10 states have carpool lanes that let others join at a price, and some have both, according to a February 2021 report by the Federal Highway Administration.

    The state could control driver eligibility and the pricing policy, which can fall or rise based on current congestion, while charging only those who want the quicker ride. A private company would design, build, finance, operate and maintain the lanes.

    “There’s nothing, I think, more fair than people paying for what they use,” Eley told reporters Thursday.

    The $300 electric vehicle fee could be the country’s most expensive. As of July, 31 states have a similar yearly fee, ranging from $50 in Colorado to $225 in Washington, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Eley says the increase better reflects what electric car drivers would be paying in federal and state gas taxes.

    Lee, however, said officials may or may not settle on $300.

    “We want to make sure there’s a fair fee for everyone,” Lee told reporters. “We’ll figure out what that number is and move forward.”

    Vehicle taxes are a mixed bag state by state. Some have property taxes and annual inspection fees, for example. Tennessee phased out its last required vehicle testing and doesn’t charge property taxes on personal cars.

    Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro said he will await specifics of Lee’s strategy, hoping to hear about everything from roadwork to mass transit.

    “I’m looking forward to learning more and talking to the governor because there has been a lot of focus on the highways of the state,” the Nashville lawmaker said. “But the state needs a transportation strategy, not just a highway plan.”

    Lee’s sweeping roads push, which also calls for pay increases for transportation workers and other expansions to public-private partnerships, comes after former Republican Gov. Bill Haslam struck a deal during a drag-out fight over his 2017 plan. Haslam’s IMPROVE Act increased Tennessee’s gas tax from $0.20 to $0.26 per gallon over three years and upped the diesel rate as well, among other changes that in part reduced separate taxes.

    Lee’s push comes after the passage of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law . The governor’s transportation team, however, has said Tennessee’s five-year building plan was up about $1.7 billion under the law, saying that is not a major funding influx.

    Rail expansion, meanwhile, is not part of Lee’s immediate plans. The concept has been hotly debated around Nashville, where a light rail ballot vote failed in 2018, toppled by tax increase opposition and concerns it could quicken gentrification that has pushed some lower-income people out of their communities. Eley said the state will keep looking at future rail possibilities.

    In the GOP-led Legislature, House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Speaker Randy McNally said they are on board with a deep dive into how transportation infrastructure is funded.

    They’ll have plenty to hammer out when lawmakers return for their annual legislative session in January. For one, Sexton mentioned rail as a topic that needs discussion.

    “We must have honest discussions on infrastructure in our state to solve the traffic congestion issue,” Sexton said. “Those must include expansion of rail access, shortening the decades-long timeline to build roads, as well as looking at express lanes on our interstates in highly congested areas.”

    ———

    Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville contributed to this report.

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  • Beijing, Shenzhen scrap COVID-19 tests for public transport

    Beijing, Shenzhen scrap COVID-19 tests for public transport

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    BEIJING — Chinese authorities on Saturday announced a further easing of COVID-19 curbs with major cities such as Shenzhen and Beijing no longer requiring negative tests to take public transport.

    The slight relaxation of testing requirements comes even as daily virus infections reach near-record highs, and follows weekend protests across the country by residents frustrated by the rigid enforcement of anti-virus restrictions that are now entering their fourth year, even as the rest of the world has opened up.

    The southern technological manufacturing center of Shenzhen said Saturday that commuters no longer need to show a negative COVID-19 test result to use public transport or when entering pharmacies, parks and tourist attractions.

    Meanwhile, the capital Beijing said Friday that negative test results are also no longer required for public transport from Monday. However, a negative result obtained within the past 48 hours is still required to enter venues like shopping malls, which have gradually reopened with many restaurants and eateries providing takeout services.

    The requirement has led to complaints from some Beijing residents that even though the city has shut many testing stations, most public venues still require COVID-19 tests.

    The government reported 33,018 domestic infections in the past 24 hours, including 29,085 with no symptoms.

    As the rest of the world has learned to live with the virus, China remains the only major nation still sticking to a “zero-COVID” strategy which aims to isolate every infected person. The policy, which has been in place since the pandemic started, led to snap lockdowns and mass testing across the country.

    China still imposes mandatory quarantine for incoming travelers even as its infection numbers are low compared to its 1.4 billion population.

    The recent demonstrations, the largest and most widely spread in decades, erupted Nov. 25 after a fire in an apartment building in the northwestern city of Urumqi killed at least 10 people.

    That set off angry questions online about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other anti-virus controls. Authorities denied that, but the deaths became a focus of public frustration.

    The country saw several days of protests across cities including Shanghai and Beijing, with protesters demanding an easing of COVID-19 curbs. Some demanded Chinese President Xi Jinping step down, an extraordinary show of public dissent in a society over which the ruling Communist Party exercises near total control.

    Xi’s government has promised to reduce the cost and disruption of controls but says it will stick with “zero COVID.” Health experts and economists expect it to stay in place at least until mid-2023 and possibly into 2024 while millions of older people are vaccinated in preparation for lifting controls that keep most visitors out of China.

    While the government has conceded some mistakes, blamed mainly on overzealous officials, criticism of government policies can result in punishment. Former NBA star Jeremy Lin, who plays for a Chinese team, was recently fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400) for criticizing conditions in team quarantine facilities, according to local media reports.

    On Friday, World Health Organization emergencies director Dr. Michael Ryan said that the U.N. agency was “pleased” to see China loosening some of its coronavirus restrictions, saying “it’s really important that governments listen to their people when the people are in pain.”

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  • Thousands protest in South Korea in support of truckers

    Thousands protest in South Korea in support of truckers

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    SEOUL, South Korea — Thousands of demonstrators representing organized labor marched in South Korea’s capital on Saturday denouncing government attempts to force thousands of striking truckers back to work after they walked out in a dispute over the price of freight.

    There were no immediate reports of injuries or major clashes from the protests near the National Assembly in Seoul. The marchers, mostly members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, accused President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative government of labor oppression and ignoring what they described as the truckers’ harsh work conditions and financial struggles, worsened further by rising fuel costs.

    The government on Tuesday issued an order for some 2,500 drivers of cement trucks to return to work, saying that their walkout is rattling the national economy. It wasn’t immediately clear how many truckers returned to their jobs following the order as their union vowed to continue the strike.

    Thousands of members of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity union have been striking since last week, calling for the government to make permanent a minimum freight rate system that is to expire at the end of 2022.

    While the minimum fares are currently applied to shipping containers and cement, the strikers also call for the benefits to be expanded to other cargo. That would include oil and chemical tankers, steel and automobile carriers and package delivery trucks under the broader agreement.

    Container traffic at ports recovered to 81% of normal levels as of Saturday morning after dropping to around just 20% earlier this week, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. It said more than 5,000 truckers were actively participating in the strike on Saturday.

    Tuesday’s order marked the first time a South Korean government exercised its controversial powers under a law revised in 2004 to force truckers back to their jobs.

    A failure to comply without “justifiable reason” is punishable by up to three years in jail or a maximum fine of 30 million won ($22,400). Critics say the law infringes on constitutional rights because it doesn’t clearly define what qualifies as acceptable conditions for a strike.

    Officials say they issued the “work start order” to cement truckers first because the construction industry was hit hardest by shipment delays. They say they are considering expanding the order to drivers transporting fuel as a second step, citing concerns about possible shortages at gas stations.

    The strike’s impact has so far been mostly limited to domestic industries and there has been no immediate reports of major disruptions to export industries such as semiconductors.

    Yoon’s government has offered to temporarily extend the minimum freight fares for another three years but balked at the demand to widen the scope of such payments.

    The truckers say the minimum-rate system is crucial for their finances and personal safety, saying that without it they are forced to increase their deliveries and drive dangerously to make ends meet.

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  • Molten lava on Hawaii’s Big Island could block main highway

    Molten lava on Hawaii’s Big Island could block main highway

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    HILO, Hawaii — Many people on the Big Island of Hawaii are bracing for major upheaval if lava from Mauna Loa volcano slides across a key highway and blocks the quickest route connecting two sides of the island.

    The molten rock could make the road impassable and force drivers to find alternate coastal routes in the north and south. That could add hours to commute times, doctor’s visits and freight truck deliveries.

    “I am very nervous about it being cut off,” said Frank Manley, a licensed practical nurse whose commute is already an hour and 45 minutes each way from his home in Hilo to a Kaiser Permanente clinic in Kailua-Kona.

    If the highway closes, he anticipates driving two-and-a-half to three hours in each direction. Manley fears he might lose pay if an accident or other traffic disruption along an alternate route delays his arrival.

    The lava is oozing slowly at a rate that might reach the road next week. But its path is unpredictable and could change course, or the flow could stop completely and spare the highway.

    The slow-moving flow was coursing about 2.7 miles (4.3 kilometers) from the road Friday, U.S. Geological Survey scientists reported.

    There are more affordable housing options on the island’s east side, home to the county seat, Hilo. But many jobs at beach resorts, in construction and other industries are readily available on the west side, where Kailua-Kona is located. Saddle Road, also known as Route 200 or Daniel K. Inouye Highway, connects the two communities.

    The state Department of Transportation took steps Thursday to remove potential traffic obstacles on the northern coastal route by reopening a lane across Nanue Bridge that was closed for repairs.

    Hilo also is one of the island’s major harbors, where a wide variety of goods arrive by ship before proceeding across the island by truck.

    Hawaii County Councilor Susan “Sue” L. K. Lee Loy, who represents Hilo and parts of Puna, said she’s concerned about big rigs traveling across aging coastal bridges.

    “It’s going to take a lot to rethink how we move about on Hawaii Island,” she said.

    Manley said he would have to get up at 3 a.m. to reach work by 8 a.m. If he left at 5 p.m., he wouldn’t get home until 8 p.m. “That drastically reduces my amount of time that I would be able to spend with my family,” he said.

    Tanya Harrison of Hilo said she would need a full day off work to travel to her doctor in Kona.

    There are more than 200,000 Big Island residents. Amidst throngs of tourists, delivery trucks and commuters forced to reroute, Harrison said she couldn’t imagine the congestion.

    “It might even be quicker just to fly to Honolulu,” she said of the hour flight. “There’s no line at the Hilo airport. Fly over, see the doctor, come back would actually be quicker than driving.”

    Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa plans to provide rooms at a Kailua-Kona hotel so its dozen or so Hilo-based employees can avoid the long commute five days per week.

    A shutdown could also affect major astronomy research at the summit of Mauna Kea, a 13,803-foot (4,207-meter) peak next to Mauna Loa that is home to some of the world’s most advanced telescopes.

    The road heading to Mauna Kea’s summit is midway between Hilo and Kona. If lava crosses Saddle Road on either side of Mauna Kea Access Road, many telescope workers would be forced to take long, circuitous routes.

    Rich Matsuda, associate director for external relations at W.M. Keck Observatory, said telescopes may need to adjust staff schedules and house workers at a facility partway up the mountain for a while so they don’t have to commute.

    There’s also a chance the lava flow may head directly across the lower part of Mauna Kea Access Road, which could block workers from reaching the summit. Matsuda hopes they’ll be able to use gravel or other bypass routes if that happens.

    The telescopes previously have shut down for multi-day or weeklong winter storms. “So we’re prepared to do that if we have to,” Matsuda said.

    Hilo resident Hayley Hina Barcia worries about the difficulty of reaching west-side surf spots and relatives in different parts of the island.

    “A lot of my family is on the Puna side and we have other family in Kona,” Barcia said. “We use this road to see each other, especially with the holidays coming up, to spend time, so we’re looking to have to go several hours longer to go the south way or taking the north road.”

    Geologists with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said if Mauna Loa follows historical patterns, they expect the eruption, which began Sunday night, to continue for one to two weeks.

    Since then, traffic has clogged the road as people try to glimpse the lava. A handful of resulting accidents included a two-vehicle crash that sent two people to the hospital with “not serious injuries,” Hawaii Police Department spokesperson Denise Laitinen said.

    U.S. Rep. Ed Case and U.S. Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele sent a letter to President Joe Biden saying Hawaii County would need “immediate help” to keep island communities safe if lava flow blocks the highway. The two Hawaii Democrats noted that restricted access could hinder emergency services because one of the island’s primary hospitals is on the east side.

    ———

    McAvoy reported from Honolulu. Associated Press writers Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu and Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon, contributed.

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  • Ukraine bans religious organizations with links to Russia

    Ukraine bans religious organizations with links to Russia

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine on Friday banned the activities of religious organizations “affiliated with centers of influence” in Russia and said it would examine the links between the Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree enacting a National Security and Defense Council decision to impose personal sanctions against representatives of religious organizations associated with Russia, which invaded Ukraine more than nine months ago.

    Zelenskyy’s decree additionally provided for examining the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, one of two Orthodox bodies in Ukraine following a schism that in 2019 resulted in the establishment of one with independence from the Russian church.

    Ukrainian officials suspect the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is promoting pro-Russian views and that some priests may be actively collaborating with Russia. Moscow Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has justified Russia’s war in Ukraine as part of a “metaphysical struggle” to prevent a liberal ideological encroachment from the West.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukrainian authorities last week of “waging a war on the Russian Orthodox Church.” But the Rev. Mykolay Danylevich, who has often served as a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, disputed Peskov’s characterization, asserting on Telegram that the church was not Russian.

    The UOC declared its independence from Moscow in May over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    In his nightly video address on Thursday, Zelenskyy said the use of Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra monastery complex — a UNESCO world heritage site revered as the cradle of Orthodox monasticism in the region — would also come under further scrutiny.

    Members of the Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s National Guard and police searched the monastery last week after a priest spoke favorably about Russia during a service there. The Security Service said its agents searched more than 350 church buildings in all, including at another monastery and in a diocese of the Rivne region, 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Kyiv.

    The security agency, which is known by the Ukrainian acronym SBU, said the searches turned up “pro-Russian literature, which is used during studies in seminaries and parish schools, including for propaganda of the ‘Russian world.’” More than 50 people underwent in-depth “counterintelligence interviews, including using a polygraph,” as part of the investigation, the agency said.

    The investigation of the centuries-old monastic complex in Ukraine’s capital and other religious sites underscored Ukrainian authorities’ suspicions about some Orthodox Christian clergy they consider as remaining loyal to Russia. The SBU said last week’s activities were part of its “systematic work to counter the subversive activities of the Russian special services in Ukraine.”

    Orthodox Christians are the largest religious population in Ukraine. But they have been fractured along lines that echo political tensions over Ukraine’s defense of its independence and its Western orientation amid Russia’s continued claim to political and spiritual hegemony in the region — a concept sometimes called the “Russian world.” Many Orthodox leaders have spoken fiercely in favor of Ukrainian independence and denounced the Russian invasion, but the recent searches show that authorities suspect places like Pechersk Lavra of being hotbeds of pro-Russian sentiment and activity.

    ———

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Raimondo: US isn’t seeking to sever economic ties with China

    Raimondo: US isn’t seeking to sever economic ties with China

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    WASHINGTON — The United States isn’t seeking to sever economic ties with China — even as Washington takes steps to protect America’s technological and military prowess from Beijing, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

    Speaking to reporters in advance of a speech Wednesday on the Biden administration’s China policy, Raimondo said: “We’re not seeking the decoupling from China. We want to promote trade and investment in areas that don’t threaten our core economic and national security interests or compromise human rights values.’’

    Relations between the world’s two biggest economies have chilled over the last decade, partly because the communist government in Beijing has cracked down on dissent in Hong Kong and on Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

    President Donald Trump imposed massive taxes on Chinese imports in a dispute over the strong-arm tactics — including the alleged theft of trade secrets — that Beijing has used to challenge America’s edge in technology.

    The Biden administration has kept Trump’s tariffs and has stepped up a campaign to keep the Chinese from acquiring sensitive technology that could speed its military buildup. Most notable was the decision last month to block exports of advanced computer chips to China.

    The administration has also sought to make the United States more competitive by investing in infrastructure and pouring more than $50 billion into the semiconductor industry.

    For years, Raimondo said, the United States “pursued a policy of engagement with China,’’ hoping that Beijing would open its economy to foreign competition.

    “But China took a different path,’’ she said. “China’s leaders have made it very clear they don’t plan to pursue political and economic reform and opening. Instead, they are committed to increasing the role of the state in the Chinese society and economy, constraining the free flow of capital and information. Further, they’re accelerating their efforts to fuse their economic and technology policies with their military ambitions.’’

    The result, she said, was that “interdependence with China introduces significant new risks for our national security.’’

    But Raimondo rejected the idea that the United States should seek to isolate its economy completely from China’s.

    “We need to continue to do business with China,’’ she said. “Trade with China supports American jobs.’’

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  • China prepares to send new 3-person crew to space station

    China prepares to send new 3-person crew to space station

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    BEIJING — Final preparations were being made Monday to send a new three-person crew to China‘s space station as it nears completion amid intensifying competition with the United States.

    The China Manned Space Agency said the Shenzhou-15 mission will take off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert at 11:08 p.m. Tuesday night.

    The six-month mission, commanded by Fei Junlong and crewed by Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu, will be the last “in the construction phase of China’s space station,” agency official Ji Qiming told reporters Monday.

    Fei, 57, is a veteran of the 2005 four-day Shenzhou-6 mission which was the second in which China sent a human into space. Deng and Zhang are flying in space for the first time.

    The station’s third and final module docked with the station earlier this month, one of the last steps in a more than decade-long effort to maintain a constant crewed presence in orbit.

    The astronauts will overlap briefly onboard the station, named Tiangong, with the previous crew, who arrived in early June for a six-month stay.

    Tiangong has room to accommodate six astronauts at a time. Previous missions to the space station have taken about 13 hours from liftoff to docking.

    Next year, China plans to launch the Xuntian space telescope, which, while not part of Tiangong, will orbit in sequence with the station and can dock occasionally with it for maintenance.

    No other future additions to the space station have been publicly announced.

    The permanent Chinese station will weigh about 66 tons — a fraction of the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 465 tons.

    With a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, Tiangong could one day find itself the only space station still running if the International Space Station adheres to its 30-year operating plan.

    China’s crewed space program is officially three decades old this year, but it truly got underway in 2003, when China became only the third country after the U.S. and Russia to put a human into space using its own resources.

    The program is run by the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, and has proceeded methodically and almost entirely without outside support. The U.S. excluded China from the International Space Station because of its program’s military ties.

    China has also chalked up successes with uncrewed missions, and its lunar exploration program generated media buzz last year when its Yutu 2 rover sent back pictures of what was described by some as a “mystery hut” but was most likely only a rock. The rover is the first to be placed on the little-explored far side of the moon.

    China’s Chang’e 5 probe returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s in December 2000 and another Chinese rover is searching for evidence of life on Mars. Officials are also considering a crewed mission to the moon.

    No timeline has been offered for a crewed lunar mission, even as NASA presses ahead with its Artemis lunar exploration program that aims to send four astronauts around the moon in 2024 and land humans there as early as 2025.

    China’s space program has also drawn controversy. Beijing brushed off complaints that it has allowed rocket stages to fall to Earth uncontrolled after NASA accused it of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris” when parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.

    China’s increasing space capabilities also feature in the latest Pentagon defense strategy.

    “In addition to expanding its conventional forces, the PLA is rapidly advancing and integrating its space, counterspace, cyber, electronic, and informational warfare capabilities to support its holistic approach to joint warfare,” the strategy said.

    The U.S. and China are at odds on a range of issues, especially self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing threatens to annex with force. China responded to a September visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by firing missiles over the island, holding wargames in surrounding waters and staging a simulated blockade, something that could trigger an American military response.

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  • Pockets of shelling across Ukraine as wintry warfare looms

    Pockets of shelling across Ukraine as wintry warfare looms

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    KHERSON, Ukraine — Russian forces struck eastern and southern Ukraine early Sunday as utility crews scrambled to restore power, water and heating with the onset of snow and frigid temperatures, while civilians continued to leave the southern city of Kherson because of the devastation wreaked by recent attacks and their fears of more ahead.

    With persistent snowfall blanketing the capital, Kyiv, Sunday, analysts predicted that wintry weather — bringing with it frozen terrain and grueling fighting conditions — could have an increasing impact on the conflict that has raged since Russian forces invaded Ukraine more than nine months ago.

    Both sides were already bogged down by heavy rain and muddy battlefield conditions, experts said.

    After a blistering series of Russian artillery strikes on infrastructure that started last month, workers were fanning out in around-the-clock deployments to restore key basic services as many Ukrainians were forced to cope with only a few hours of electricity per day — if any.

    Ukrenergo, the state power grid operator, said Sunday that electricity producers are now supplying about 80% of demand, compared to 75% the previous day.

    The deprivations have revived jousting between Ukraine’s president and Kyiv’s mayor. Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Sunday defended himself against allegations levelled by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that too many Kyiv residents were still without power and that insufficient centers had been set up for them to stock up on food, water, battery power and other essentials.

    Kitschko wrote on Telegram that hundreds of such centers are in operation, as well as hundreds of emergency generators, adding that “I do not want, especially in the current situation, to enter into political battles. It’s ridiculous.”

    The president and the mayor have sporadically sparred since Zelenskyy took office in 2019. Zelenskyy has accused Klitschko and officials around him of corruption, while Klitschko contends the president’s office has put him under political pressure.

    The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that has been closely monitoring developments in Ukraine, said reporting from both sides indicated that heavy rain and mud have had an impact — along with wider freezing expected along the front lines in the coming days.

    “It is unclear if either side is actively planning or preparing to resume major offensive or counter-offensive operations at that time, but the meteorological factors that have been hindering such operations will begin lifting,” it said in a note published Saturday.

    ISW said Russian forces were digging in further east of the city of Kherson, from which Ukrainian forces expelled them more than two weeks ago, and continued “routine artillery fire” across the Dnieper River.

    The think tank also cited reports that Russian forces were moving multiple launch rocket and ground-to-air missile systems into positions closer to the city as part of a possible plan to step up “the tempo of rocket and anti-air missile strikes against ground targets north of the Dnieper River in the coming days.”

    Kherson city, which was liberated more than two weeks ago — a development that Zelenskyy called a turning point in the war — has faced intense shelling in recent days by Russian forces nearby.

    The top U.N. official in Ukraine said civilians, many of whom lamented unlivable conditions and feared more strikes to come, continued to pour out of Kherson on Sunday.

    “The level of destruction, the scope of the destruction, what’s required in the city and in the oblast — it’s massive,” said U.N. resident coordinator Denise Brown, referring to the region. U.N. teams were ferrying in supplies like food, water, shelter materials, medicines, and blankets and mattresses, she said.

    “Time is of the essence, of course, before it becomes an absolute catastrophe,” Brown told The Associated Press in Kherson.

    Galina Lugova, head of the city’s military administration, said in an interview that evacuation trains had been lined up and bomb shelters set up in all city districts with stoves, beds, first aid kits and fire extinguishers.

    “We are preparing for a winter in difficult conditions, but we will do everything to make people safe,” Lugova said. Her biggest worry, she said, was “shelling that intensifies every day. Shelling, shelling and shelling again.”

    On the roads out of the city, some residents felt they had no choice but to leave.

    “The day before yesterday, artillery hit our house. Four flats burned down. Windows shattered,” said Vitaliy Nadochiy, driving out with a terrier on his lap and a Ukrainian flag dangling from a sun visor. “We can’t be there. There is no electricity, no water, heating. So we are leaving to go to my brother.”

    In the eastern Donetsk region, five people were killed in shelling over the past day, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Overnight shelling was reported by regional leaders in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk areas to the west. In addition, he said two people were killed in artillery firing on the town of Kurakhove.

    Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed and three wounded in the northeastern region.

    Russian rockets hit unspecified railroad facilities in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, on Sunday, according to a regional official. No injuries were immediately reported.

    ———

    Keaten reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Mstyslav Chernov in Kherson contributed to this report.

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  • NYPD officers, bystander save man who fell on subway tracks

    NYPD officers, bystander save man who fell on subway tracks

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    Two New York City police officers raced to save a man who fell on the tracks at a Manhattan subway station, plucking him out of the way of an oncoming train in a daring rescue captured by an officer’s body camera

    NEW YORK — Two New York City police officers and a bystander raced to save a man who fell on the tracks at a Manhattan subway station, plucking him out of the way of an oncoming train in a daring rescue captured by an officer’s body camera.

    The incident happened around 4 p.m. Thursday at the 116th Street station in East Harlem. The man, whom police said fell by accident, was taken to a hospital with injuries to his hand and back.

    Officers Brunel Victor and Taufique Bokth were on patrol at the station when they saw a commotion and heard a scream from the opposite side of the station, police said.

    They ran up and down stairs, through an emergency exit and onto the tracks, pulling the man to safety with the assistance of a bystander who was already trying to help, police said.

    Bystanders then helped the officers climb back to the platform, just before a 6 train pulled into the station.

    “Our daily thing is to help people. We don’t care what if we have to put ourselves on the line. That’s why we do, that’s why we take this job,” Victor told WABC-TV.

    Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell praised the officers in a tweet, writing: “The heroics of NY’s Finest always amazes me…. the courage is second nature. Join me in saluting these great cops!”

    Officers Victor and Bokth were assigned to the subway station as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams’ efforts to beef up security in the system.

    Janno Lieber, the chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which runs the subway system, said having extra officers posted to trains and stations “not only helps riders feel safer, but in this case enabled brave officers and a good Samaritan — in the finest tradition of New Yorkers helping each other — to save a life.”

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  • US FCC bans sales, import of Chinese tech from Huawei, ZTE

    US FCC bans sales, import of Chinese tech from Huawei, ZTE

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    WASHINGTON — The U.S. is banning the sale of communications equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE and restricting the use of some China-made video surveillance systems, citing an “unacceptable risk” to national security.

    The five-member Federal Communications Commission said Friday it has voted unanimously to adopt new rules that will block the importation or sale of certain technology products that pose security risks to U.S. critical infrastructure. It’s the latest in a years-long escalation of U.S. restrictions of Chinese technology that began with President Donald Trump and has continued under President Joe Biden’s administration.

    “The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, in a prepared statement.

    Huawei declined comment Friday. Along with Huawei and ZTE, the order affects products made by companies such as Hikvision and Dahua, makers of widely used video surveillance cameras.

    The FCC’s order applies to future authorizations of equipment, though the agency leaves open the possibility it could revoke previous authorizations.

    “Our unanimous decision represents the first time in FCC history that we have voted to prohibit the authorization of new equipment based on national security concerns,” tweeted Brendan Carr, a Republican FCC commissioner.

    Carr added that as “a result of our order, no new Huawei or ZTE equipment can be approved. And no new Dahua, Hikvision, or Hytera gear can be approved unless they assure the FCC that their gear won’t be used for public safety, security of government facilities, & other national security purposes.”

    Hikvision said in a statement that its video products “present no security threat” to the U.S. but the FCC’s decision “will do a great deal to make it more harmful and more expensive for US small businesses, local authorities, school districts, and individual consumers to protect themselves, their homes, businesses and property.”

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  • NASA’s Orion capsule enters far-flung orbit around moon

    NASA’s Orion capsule enters far-flung orbit around moon

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Orion capsule entered an orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles around the moon Friday, as it neared the halfway mark of its test flight.

    The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit more than a week after launching on the $4 billion demo that’s meant to pave the way for astronauts. It will remain in this broad but stable orbit for nearly a week, completing just half a lap before heading home.

    As of Friday’s engine firing, the capsule was 238,000 miles (380,000 kilometers) from Earth. It’s expected to reach a maximum distance of almost 270,000 miles (432,000 kilometers) in a few days. That will set a new distance record for a capsule designed to carry people one day.

    “It is a statistic, but it’s symbolic for what it represents,” Jim Geffre, an Orion manager, said in a NASA interview earlier in the week. “It’s about challenging ourselves to go farther, stay longer and push beyond the limits of what we’ve previously explored.”

    NASA considers this a dress rehearsal for the next moon flyby in 2024, with astronauts. A lunar landing by astronauts could follow as soon as 2025. Astronauts last visited the moon 50 years ago during Apollo 17.

    Earlier in the week, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with the capsule for nearly an hour. At the time, controllers were adjusting the communication link between Orion and the Deep Space Network. Officials said the spacecraft remained healthy.

    ———

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • US FCC bans sales, import of Chinese tech from Huawei, ZTE

    US FCC bans sales, import of Chinese tech from Huawei, ZTE

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    The U.S. is banning the sale of communications equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE and restricting the use of some China-made video surveillance systems, citing an “unacceptable risk” to national security

    WASHINGTON — The U.S. is banning the sale of communications equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE and restricting the use of some China-made video surveillance systems, citing an “unacceptable risk” to national security.

    The five-member Federal Communications Commission said Friday it has voted unanimously to adopt new rules that will block the importation or sale of certain technology products that pose security risks to U.S. critical infrastructure. It’s the latest in a years-long escalation of U.S. restrictions of Chinese technology that began with President Donald Trump and has continued under President Joe Biden’s administration.

    “The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, in a prepared statement.

    Along with Huawei and ZTE, the order affects products made by companies such as Hikvision and Dahua, makers of widely used video surveillance cameras.

    The FCC’s order applies to future authorizations of equipment, though the agency leaves open the possibility it could revoke previous authorizations.

    “Our unanimous decision represents the first time in FCC history that we have voted to prohibit the authorization of new equipment based on national security concerns,” tweeted Brendan Carr, a Republican FCC commissioner.

    Carr added that as “a result of our order, no new Huawei or ZTE equipment can be approved. And no new Dahua, Hikvision, or Hytera gear can be approved unless they assure the FCC that their gear won’t be used for public safety, security of government facilities, & other national security purposes.”

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  • Empty streets, cranes: the city built for Qatar’s World Cup

    Empty streets, cranes: the city built for Qatar’s World Cup

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    LUSAIL, Qatar — Less than a month before it is set to host the World Cup final, Lusail City is oddly quiet.

    Wide empty streets, idle lobbies and construction cranes are everywhere in the sleek district 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the capital, Doha, built to accommodate World Cup fans and hundreds of thousands of host nation Qatar’s residents.

    But with soccer’s biggest event underway, the empty futuristic city is raising questions about how much use the infrastructure Qatar built for the event will get after more than a million soccer fans leave the small Gulf Arab nation after the tournament.

    Elias Garcia, a 50-year old business owner from San Francisco, visited Lusail City from Doha with a friend on a day when there wasn’t a soccer game in the city’s bowl-shaped, golden stadium.

    “We came to check it out but there’s not much here,” Garcia said, looking up at a huge crescent-shaped skyscraper behind him designed to look like the curved swords on Qatar’s national emblem.

    Across the street, a building site was concealed by a low fence illustrated with desert scenes. “Everything looks like it’s under construction,” Garcia said. “It’s just empty lots with little walls they put up to make you think it’s up and running.”

    Driving north from Doha, Lusail City’s glittering skyline and marina are hard to miss. Pastel-colored towers that look like crates stacked on each other rise from the desert. Wide avenues give way to zigzagging buildings, glass domes and clusters of neoclassical housing blocks. It’s unclear if anyone lives in them. Most are advertised as luxury hotels, apartments or commercial office space. Cranes hang above many buildings.

    Plans for Lusail City had been around since 2005 but construction was fast-tracked after Qatar won the rights to host the World Cup five years later. Backed by Qatar’s $450 billion sovereign wealth fund, the city was designed to be compact and pedestrian friendly and is connected by Doha’s new metro and a light rail.

    Fahad Al Jahamri, who manages projects at Qatari Diar, the real estate company behind the city that’s backed by Qatar’s Investment Authority, has called Lusail City a self-contained “extension of Doha.”

    Officials have also said the city is part of broader plans that natural gas-rich Qatar has to build its knowledge economy — an admission of the type of white-collar professionals the country hopes to attract to the city long-term.

    But reaching its goal of housing 400,000 people in Lusail City could be tough in a country where only 300,000 people are citizens, and many of the 2.9 million residents are poor migrants who live in camps, not luxury towers.

    Even during the World Cup, Lusail City is noticeably quieter than Doha, itself the site of jaw-dropping amounts of construction over the past decade in preparation for the event.

    At the Place Vendome, a luxury mall named for the grand Parisian square, many stores are not yet open. A few tourists snapped pictures of Lusail City’s skyline on a recent afternoon from the mall while cashiers talked among themselves. At a building downtown housing the Ministry of Culture and other government offices, a security guard said almost everyone had left by 11 a.m.

    “Even on the metro, if you go on a day when there’s not a match, there are like five to 10 people on it besides you,” Garcia said.

    On the man-made Al Maha Island, a crowd of World Cup fans and locals lounged at an upscale beach club, pulling on shisha tobacco pipes and dipping into a swimming pool.

    Timothe Burt-Riley directed workers at an art gallery opening later that night. The French gallery director said Lusail City – or at least Al Maha Island with its amusement park, high-end boutiques, restaurants and lounges, would be a place where locals come to meet.

    “This is a totally man-made island,” Burt-Riley said, “it’s pretty crazy what they can do.”

    He said Qatar could find a way to make use of the infrastructure it’s built for the World Cup, including seven new soccer stadiums, but admitted, “it might take time.”

    ———

    Follow Suman Naishadham on Twitter: @SumanNaishadham

    ———

    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • UK lecturers, teachers join postal workers in strikes

    UK lecturers, teachers join postal workers in strikes

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    LONDON — Thousands of postal workers, university lecturers and schoolteachers in the U.K. were going on strike on Thursday to demand better pay and working conditions amid the country’s cost-of-living crisis.

    Picket lines will be set up outside postal offices, universities and schools in one of the biggest co-ordinated walkouts this year.

    Britons have faced travel misery and overflowing garbage bins in recent months as unions representing multiple industries launched successive strikes. Lawyers, nurses, posties and many others have walked out of their jobs to seek pay rises that match soaring inflation. Domestic energy bills and food costs have skyrocketed this year, driving inflation to a 41-year high of 11.1% in October.

    In Scotland, most schools will close Thursday as teachers there take the first large-scale strike action in decades.

    In universities, some 70,000 academic staff will strike on Thursday and again on Nov. 30 in the biggest action of its kind in higher education. The action will affect an estimated 2.5 million students.

    Meanwhile, workers at the Royal Mail will walk out on Thursday and again on Black Friday and Christmas Eve.

    The latest walkouts come after the Rail, Maritime and Transport union announced Tuesday that more than 40,000 rail workers will stage fresh strikes in December and January, disrupting travel for scores of people during the busy festive season. The union said members will walk out for four days from Dec. 13 and in the first week of January.

    Pubs, bars and other hospitality businesses have expressed dismay at the latest train strike announcement.

    “Continued rail strikes have had a huge impact on our hospitality sector; preventing staff from making it into work and disrupting consumers’ plans, meaning a huge drop in sales for venues across the sector,” said Kate Nicholls, chief executive for the UKHospitality trade body.

    “Further strikes during the busiest time of the year for hospitality will be devastating, just as everyone was anticipating an uninterrupted Christmas period for the first time in three years,” she added.

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  • Space diversity: Europe’s space agency gets 1st parastronaut

    Space diversity: Europe’s space agency gets 1st parastronaut

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    PARIS — The European Space Agency made history Wednesday by selecting an amputee who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident to be among its newest batch of astronauts — a leap toward its pioneering ambition to send someone with a physical disability into space.

    John McFall, a 41-year-old Briton who lost his right leg when he was 19 and went on to compete in the Paralympics, called his selection at Europe’s answer to NASA “a real turning point and mark in history.”

    “ESA has a commitment to send an astronaut with a physical disability into space … This is the first time that a space agency has endeavored to embark on a project like this. And it sends a really, really strong message to humanity,” he said.

    The newly-minted parastronaut joins five career astronauts in the final selection unveiled during a Paris news conference — the conclusion of the agency’s first recruitment drive in over a decade aimed at bringing diversity to space travel.

    The list also included two women: France’s Sophie Adenot and the UK’s Rosemary Coogan, new ambassadors for another greatly underrepresented section for European astronauts. A small minority of those who have explored space have been women, and most of those were Americans.

    Wednesday’s list did not, however, include any persons of color. The hiring campaign didn’t specifically address ethnic diversity, but at the time stressed the importance of “representing all parts of our society.”

    McFall will follow a different path than his fellow astronauts because he will participate in a groundbreaking feasibility study exploring whether physical disability will impair space travel. It’s uncharted land, since no major Western space agency has ever put a parastronaut into space, according to the ESA.

    Speaking with pride amid flashes of emotion, McFall said that he was uniquely suited to the mission because of the vigor of his mind and body.

    “I’m very comfortable in my own skin. I lost my leg about twenty plus years ago, I’ve had the opportunity to be a paralympic athlete and really explored myself emotionally … All those factors and hardships in life have given me confidence and strength — the ability to believe in myself that I can do anything I put my mind to,” he added.

    “I never dreamt of being an astronaut. It was only when ESA announced that they were looking for a candidate with a physical disability to embark on this project that it really sparked my interest.”

    The feasibility study, that will last two to three years, will examine the basic hurdles for a parastronaut including how a physical disability might impact mission training, and if modifications to spacesuits and aircraft are required, for example.

    ESA’s Director of Human and Robotic Exploration David Parker said it was still a “long road” for McFall but described the fresh recruitment as a long-held ambition.

    Parker said it started with a question. “Maybe there are people out there that are almost superhuman in that they’ve already overcome challenges. And could they become astronauts?”

    Parker also says that he “thinks” it may be the first time the word “parastronaut” has been used, but “I do not claim ownership.”

    “We’re saying that John (McFall) could be the first parastronaut, that means someone who has been selected by the regular astronaut selection process but happens to have a disability that would normally have ruled him out,” he said.

    It will be at least five years before McFall goes into space as an astronaut — if he is successful.

    Across the Atlantic, Houston is taking note. Dan Huot, a spokesman for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, home to the American agency’s astronaut corps, told the AP that “we at NASA are watching ESA’s para-astronaut selection process with great interest.”

    Huot acknowledged that “NASA’s selection criteria currently remains the same” but said the agency is looking forward to working with the “new astronauts in the future” from partners such as the ESA.

    NASA stressed that it has a safety-conscious process for vetting future astronauts who might be put in life-threatening situations.

    “For maximum crew safety, NASA’s current requirements call for each crew member to be free of medical conditions that could either impair the person’s ability to participate in, or be aggravated by, spaceflight, as determined by NASA physicians,” Huot added.

    NASA said future “assistive technology” might change the game for “some candidates” to meet their stringent safety requirements.

    The European agency received applications from all member nations and associate members, though most came from traditional heavyweights France, Germany, Britain and Italy.

    The two-day ESA council running Tuesday to Wednesday in Paris also saw France, Germany and Italy announcing an agreement Tuesday for a new-generation European space launcher project as part of apparent efforts to better compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other rocket programs in the U.S. and China.

    The ESA’s 22 European members also announced their commitment to “space ambitions” with a budget rise of 17% — representing 16.9 billion euros over the next three years. It will fund projects as diverse as tackling climate change to exploring Mars.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Marcia Dunn contributed to this story from Cape Canaveral, Florida

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  • Teenage driver charged in crash of stolen car that killed 4

    Teenage driver charged in crash of stolen car that killed 4

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    BUFFALO, N.Y. — A 16-year-old accused of driving a stolen SUV involved in a high-speed crash that killed four teenage passengers was arraigned Tuesday on manslaughter and other charges.

    The parents of two of those killed, meanwhile, have filed a lawsuit against automaker Kia, claiming their children would be alive if its cars were harder to steal.

    A total of six teens were in the Kia Sportage when it crashed on state Route 33 on Oct. 24, Buffalo police said. The car had been reported stolen the previous night.

    The driver, apparently held in by an airbag and the steering wheel, was the only occupant not ejected through the sunroof when the vehicle struck a concrete embankment at high speed and flipped backwards, District Attorney John Flynn said. The driver was treated at a hospital and released. A 14-year-old girl also survived.

    The driver, whose name was not released, pleaded not guilty in Erie County Court on Tuesday to charges of manslaughter, assault and possession of stolen property. He was released under supervision with an ankle monitor, according to Flynn, who said opposed the release.

    Flynn told reporters the teen was charged as an adolescent but he would argue to keep the case in adult court at a hearing next week.

    “I still don’t think it’s right that this kid is out playing video games when on Thursday at Thanksgiving, there’s going to be an empty chair of four individuals at the Thanksgiving dinner table,” he said.

    The 16-year-old’s attorney said in court that those killed were close friends.

    Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said after the crash that the teens may have been participating in a TikTok challenge encouraging people to break into and steal Kia cars using cellphone chargers.

    The so-called Kia challenge showed how to hot-wire Kias and Hyundais with a USB cord and a screwdriver. Many police departments around the country have reported increases in Kia and Hyundai thefts since the video was posted last summer.

    A federal lawsuit filed last week on behalf of the mothers of 15-year-old Kevn Payne Jr. and 17-year-old Swazine Swindle, who died in the Buffalo crash, seeks unspecified damages while accusing Kia Corp. and Kia America Inc. of negligence and creating a public nuisance. It alleges that Kia failed to include an anti-theft device on certain vehicles and did not recall the cars or warn the public when the issue became evident.

    California attorney Jonathan Michaels, who represents the parents, said no one should be stealing cars but social media can have a powerful pull.

    “This is something that, on a young brain that’s not fully developed, that temptation is just so strong,” Michaels, of MLG Attorneys at Law, said by phone, “and they’re not understanding the consequences of what they’re doing, and all their friends are doing it. So it’s foreseeable this is happening, and it’s a defect to begin with.”

    An insurance industry group has said some Kias are stolen at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the auto industry because their keys lack computer chips for theft “immobilizer” systems.

    Kia has since announced it would include an immobilizer for all vehicles starting with model year 2022.

    A spokesman for the automaker said the company generally does not respond to pending litigation.

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  • Officer acquitted in man’s shooting at Chicago train station

    Officer acquitted in man’s shooting at Chicago train station

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    CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer was found not guilty Tuesday in the February 2020 shooting and wounding of an unarmed man during a struggle at a downtown commuter train station.

    Cook County Judge Joseph Claps acquitted Melvina Bogard, 33, of aggravated battery and misconduct charges.

    Prosecutors have said Bogard and another officer, Bernard Butler, were riding a train when they saw Ariel Roman move between cars while the train was in motion, in violation of a city ordinance. The officers asked Roman to get off the train, and on the platform he told them he had anxiety issues and moved from car to car because someone was bothering him.

    Roman then turned his back on the officers and opened his backpack, prompting Butler to grab him. A struggle ensued between the officers and Roman.

    Bogard shot Roman once in the chest or abdomen during that struggle, then shot him from behind in the buttocks or hip when Roman ran up the escalator, according to prosecutors.

    Cellphone video shot by a bystander that was made public almost immediately received national attention, as did footage from police body cameras and Chicago Transit Authority surveillance cameras released two months later.

    Roman survived the shooting and has filed a federal lawsuit that alleged Bogard and Butler “chased, tackled, pepper-sprayed, Tasered and shot twice.”

    Police Superintendent David Brown later recommended to the city’s police board that Bogard, who joined the police department in 2017, be fired.

    In his ruling, Claps said Roman posed a danger to the officers at the scene when he grabbed at a Taser.

    Bogard’s defense attorney Tim Grace told reporters after Tuesday’s acquittal that it was “not a day to celebrate.”

    “Officer Bogard was left in a position where she had to make a decision,” Grace said. “She could have ran away … but that’s not her job. That’s not what we pay her to do. We pay her to keep the trains safe.”

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  • Europe seeks bigger piece of space market with new launchers

    Europe seeks bigger piece of space market with new launchers

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    PARIS — France, Germany and Italy announced an agreement Tuesday for a new-generation European space launcher project as part of apparent efforts to better compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other rocket programs in the U.S. and China.

    A statement from the three governments announced an unspecified amount of public funding for the plan, saying it would be based on market prices and economic conditions for each element of the project. The European Space Agency would award contracts to the companies involved.

    The next-generation Ariane and Vega launchers will be used to boost Europe’s role in the commercial and government satellite markets, the French Finance Ministry said.

    The governments also agreed to support development of European-made mini and micro rocket launch systems.

    European government ministers are meeting with ESA in Paris this week. The agency is scheduled to announce its first new team of astronauts in more than a decade on Wednesday, with a focus on more diversity and what are expected to be the first disabled astronauts.

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  • NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit

    NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the far side and buzzing the lunar surface on its way to a record-breaking orbit with test dummies sitting in for astronauts.

    It’s the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA’s Apollo program 50 years ago, and represents a huge milestone in the $4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday.

    Video of the looming moon and our pale blue planet more than 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) in the distance left workers “giddy” at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, home to Mission Control, according to flight director Judd Frieling. Even the flight controllers themselves were “absolutely astounded.”

    “Just smiles across the board,” said Orion program manager Howard Hu.

    The close approach of 81 miles (130 kilometers) occurred as the crew capsule and its three wired-up dummies were on the far side of the moon. Because of a half-hour communication blackout, flight controllers in Houston did not know if the critical engine firing went well until the capsule emerged from behind the moon. The capsule’s cameras sent back a picture of the Earth — a tiny blue dot surrounded by blackness.

    The capsule accelerated well beyond 5,000 mph (8,000 kph) as it regained radio contact, NASA said. Less than an hour later, Orion soared above Tranquility Base, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on July 20, 1969. There were no photos of the site because the pass was in darkness, but managers promised to try for pictures on the return flyby in two weeks.

    Orion needed to slingshot around the moon to pick up enough speed to enter the sweeping, lopsided lunar orbit. Another engine firing will place the capsule in that orbit Friday.

    This coming weekend, Orion will shatter NASA’s distance record for a spacecraft designed for astronauts — nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from Earth, set by Apollo 13 in 1970. And it will keep going, reaching a maximum distance from Earth next Monday at nearly 270,000 miles (433,000 kilometers).

    The capsule will spend close to a week in lunar orbit, before heading home. A Pacific splashdown is planned for Dec. 11.

    Orion has no lunar lander; a touchdown won’t come until NASA astronauts attempt a lunar landing in 2025 with SpaceX’s Starship. Before then, astronauts will strap into Orion for a ride around the moon as early as 2024.

    Mission manager Mike Sarafin was delighted with the progress of the mission, giving it a “cautiously optimistic A-plus” so far.

    The Space Launch System rocket — the most powerful ever built by NASA — performed exceedingly well in its debut, Sarafin told reporters. He said teams are dealing with two issues that require workarounds — one involving the navigational star trackers, the other the power system,

    The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket caused more damage than expected, however, at the Kennedy Space Center launch pad. The force from the 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilograms) of liftoff thrust was so great that it tore off the blast doors of the elevator, leaving it unusable.

    Sarafin said the pad damage will be repaired in plenty of time before the next launch.

    ———

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Consumers could pay price if railroads, unions can’t agree

    Consumers could pay price if railroads, unions can’t agree

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    OMAHA, Neb. — Consumers could see higher gas prices and shortages of some of their favorite groceries during the winter holiday season if railroads and all of their unions can’t agree on new contracts by an early-December deadline that had already been pushed back.

    The likelihood of a strike that would paralyze the nation’s rail traffic grew on Monday when the largest of the 12 rail unions, which represents mostly conductors, rejected management’s latest offering that included 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. With four of the 12 unions that represent half of the 115,000 rail workers holding out for a better deal, it might fall to Congress to impose one to protect the U.S. economy.

    The Retail Industry Leaders Association said a rail strike “would cause enormous disruption” although retail stores are well stocked for the crucial holiday shopping season. It’s not clear what a strike would mean for packages because FedEx and UPS, which both rely on rail to some degree, haven’t commented in detail.

    “Fortunately, this year’s holiday gifts have already landed on store shelves. But an interruption to rail transportation does pose a significant challenge to getting items like perishable food products and e-commerce shipments delivered on time, and it will undoubtedly add to the inflationary pressures already hitting the U.S. economy,” said Jess Dankert with the group that represents more than 200 major retailers.

    Even getting close to the deadline could cause problems because railroads will freeze shipments of dangerous chemicals and perishable goods ahead of time. And commuters could be stranded if there is a strike because so many passenger railroads operate on tracks owned by the freight railroads.

    Just about every industry could be affected because so many businesses need railroads to deliver their raw materials and completed products, and there aren’t enough trucks to pick up the slack.

    Tom Madrecki with the Consumer Brands Association said a rail strike “would effectively bring hundreds of America’s largest food, beverage, household and personal care manufacturing operations to a halt in a matter of days as inputs and ingredients run out. On-shelf availability and accessibility will quickly drop, compounded by almost inevitable panic buying.”

    There’s no immediate threat of a strike even though four unions have rejected deals the Biden administration helped broker before the original strike deadline in September. Those unions agreed to try to hash out a contract before a new Dec. 5 strike deadline. But those talks have deadlocked because the railroads refuse to add paid sick time to what they’ve already offered.

    Railroad engineers voted Monday to join seven smaller unions in approving the deal, but conductors’ union rejected its contract, joining three unions that previously voted no.

    It appears increasingly likely that Congress will have to settle the dispute. Lawmakers have the power to impose contract terms, and hundreds of business groups have urged Congress and President Joe Biden to be ready to intervene.

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated to reporters on Monday that Biden believes “a shutdown is unacceptable” but that “the best option is still for the parties to resolve this themselves.”

    Workers frustrated with the demanding schedules and deep job cuts in the industry pushed to reject these contracts because they wouldn’t do enough to resolve their quality-of-life concerns. The deals for the engineers and conductors did include a promise to improve the scheduling of regular days off and negotiate the details of those schedules further at each railroad. Those two unions also received three unpaid days off a year to tend to medical needs as long they were scheduled at least 30 days in advance and the railroads said they wouldn’t penalize workers who were hospitalized.

    The railroads also lost out on their bid to cut crew sizes to one person as part of the negotiations. But the conductors in the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union still narrowly rejected the deal. A small division of the SMART-TD union did approve it.

    “The ball is now in the railroads’ court. Let’s see what they do. They can settle this at the bargaining table,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said. “But, the railroad executives who constantly complain about government interference and regularly bad-mouth regulators and Congress now want Congress to do the bargaining for them.”

    Dennis Pierce, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union, said the deal engineers ratified should help improve working conditions somewhat, but that the railroads must address workers’ frustrations, especially after they cut nearly one-third of their jobs over the past six years as they overhauled their operations.

    “When you’ve got to offer $20,000 to get somebody to go to work for the railroad in Lincoln, Nebraska, you’ve got a problem. People used to stand in line there,” Pierce said. “The reason for that is the word is out that if you go to work here, you’re not going to ever see your family.”

    The railroads maintain that the deals with the unions should closely follow the recommendations made this summer by a special panel of arbitrators Biden appointed. That’s part of the reason why they don’t want to offer paid sick time. Plus, the railroads say the unions have agreed over the years to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher pay and strong short-term disability benefits.

    The unions say it is long overdue for the railroads to offer paid sick time and that the pandemic highlighted the need for it.

    The group that negotiates on behalf of the railroads that include Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, Kansas City Southern and CSX said Monday that the unions that rejected their deals shouldn’t expect to receive more than the Presidential Emergency Board of arbitrators recommended.

    It’s unclear what Congress might do given the deep political divisions in Washington D.C. and a single lawmaker could hold up a resolution. But the head of the Association of American Railroads trade group, Ian Jefferies, said “if the remaining unions do not accept an agreement, Congress should be prepared to act and avoid a disastrous $2 billion a day hit to our economy.”

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