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Tag: Transportation and shipping

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

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

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

    Tennessee roads plan mulls toll lanes, electric car fee hike

    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

    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

    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

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

    NYPD officers, bystander save man who fell on subway tracks

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

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

    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

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

    Officer acquitted in man’s shooting at Chicago train station

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

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

    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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  • Plane hits vehicle on runway, catches fire at Lima’s airport

    Plane hits vehicle on runway, catches fire at Lima’s airport

    LIMA, Peru — A LATAM Airlines plane taking off from Lima’s international airport struck a firetruck on the runway and caught fire Friday. Authorities said the plane’s passengers and crew were all safe, but two firefighters in the truck were killed.

    Lima Airport Partners, the company that operates Jorge Chávez airport, said in a tweet that operations at the facility had been suspended. There were 102 passengers and six crew members aboard the Airbus A320neo.

    “Our teams are providing the necessary care to all passengers, who are in good condition,” the company said.

    Luis Ponce La Jara, general commander of the fire department, said two firefighters were killed and one was injured when the truck they were in was struck by the plane. Both the plane and the firetruck were in motion when they collided.

    Flight LA2213 was taking off from Lima’s main airport en route to the Peruvian city of Juliaca.

    Videos on social media showed smoke coming from a large plane on the runway.

    According to the fire department, the incident was registered at 3:25 p.m. and four rescue units were mobilized.

    Fire department chief Mario Casaretto told local media that “we do not yet know technically what happened.”

    The Prosecutor’s Office in Callao, where the airport is located, said an investigation into the cause of the accident had been opened.

    Aviation authorities said operations at Jorge Chávez International Airport were suspended until 1 p.m. local time Saturday. Flights would be direct to other airports in the meantime.

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  • US Merchant Marine Academy gets 1st female superintendent

    US Merchant Marine Academy gets 1st female superintendent

    KINGS POINT, N.Y. — The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s next superintendent will be the first woman appointed to the position in the institution’s nearly 80-year history, the U.S. Transportation Department announced Saturday.

    Retired U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Joanna Nunan will take the helm at the 1,000-person academy on New York’s Long Island in a few weeks, the department said. She succeeds Jack Buono, who resigned in June.

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Nunan is “the right leader at the right time” for the Merchant Marine Academy, which has been racked by sexual misconduct allegations in recent years.

    “Her years of experience as a senior military leader — including command at sea — have prepared Rear Admiral Nunan to shape the future of the (academy) and help ensure the safety and success of its extraordinary midshipmen,” Buttigieg said.

    Last year, the academy suspended its Sea Year program — which sends cadets to work on container ships, oil tankers, passenger liners and other vessels — for the second time since 2016 after a cadet said a cargo ship supervisor got her drunk and raped her.

    In December 2020, the Transportation Department agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a cadet who alleged he was hazed and sexually assaulted by his academy soccer teammates.

    Nunan, a Bridgeport, Connecticut native, retired this year as the Coast Guard’s Deputy for Personnel Readiness. She graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, in 1987. She has an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and three Coast Guard merchant mariner licenses.

    Nunan spent nine years at sea, commanded two buoy tenders and was the commander of the Ninth Coast Guard District on the Great Lakes and Coast Guard Sector Honolulu.

    She served as military advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and military assistant to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and was later the Coast Guard’s Assistant Commandant for Human Resources.

    As the Coast Guard’s Deputy for Personnel Readiness, Nunan supervised the Coast Guard Academy and served on its board of trustees. She has also been a member of the Coast Guard’s Sexual Assault Prevention, Response, and Recovery Committee.

    The Merchant Marine Academy trains graduates to work in the commercial shipping industry. It is one of five military service academies, and the only one under the direction of the Department of Transportation.

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  • Iranian who inspired “The Terminal” dies at Paris airport

    Iranian who inspired “The Terminal” dies at Paris airport

    PARIS — An Iranian man who lived for 18 years in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport and inspired the Steven Spielberg film “The Terminal” died Saturday in the airport, officials said.

    Merhan Karimi Nasseri died after a heart attack in the airport’s Terminal 2F around midday, according an official with the Paris airport authority. Police and a medical team treated him but were not able to save him, the official said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named.

    Karimi Nasseri, believed to have been born in 1945, lived in the airport’s Terminal 1 from 1988 until 2006, first in legal limbo because he lacked residency papers and later by choice, according to French media reports.

    He had been living in the airport again in recent weeks, the airport official said.

    His saga inspired “The Terminal” starring Tom Hanks, and a French film.

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  • Nicole, rare November hurricane, makes landfall in Florida

    Nicole, rare November hurricane, makes landfall in Florida

    MIAMI — Hurricane Nicole made landfall early Thursday along the east coast of Florida. The storm was already battering a large area of the storm-weary state with strong winds, dangerous storm surge and heavy rain, officials said.

    The rare November hurricane had already led officials to shut down airports and theme parks and order evacuations that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

    Authorities warned that Nicole’s storm surge could further erode many beaches hit by Hurricane Ian in September. The sprawling storm is then forecast to head into Georgia and the Carolinas later Thursday and Friday, dumping heavy rain across the region.

    Nicole was a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) early Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph (22 km/h).

    Tropical storm force winds extended as far as 485 miles (780 kilometers) from the center in some directions. Nicole’s center is expected to move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia on Thursday and into the evening, and into the Carolinas on Friday.

    A few tornadoes will be possible through early Thursday across east-central to northeast Florida, the weather service said. Flash and urban flooding will be possible, along with renewed river rises on the St. Johns River, across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday. Heavy rainfall from this system will spread northward across portions of the southeast, eastern Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and New England through Saturday.

    Large swells generated by Nicole will affect the northwestern Bahamas, the east coast of Florida, and much of the southeastern United States coast over the next few days.

    Nicole is expected to weaken while moving across Florida and the southeastern United States through Friday, and it is likely to become a post-tropical cyclone by Friday afternoon.

    Nicole became a hurricane Wednesday evening as it slammed into Grand Bahama Island, having made landfall just hours earlier on Great Abaco island as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. It is the first storm to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019.

    For storm-weary Floridians, it is only the third November hurricane to hit their shores since recordkeeping began in 1853. The previous ones were the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.

    Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and home, was in one of those evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago. The resort’s security office hung up Wednesday when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated and there was no sign of evacuation by Wednesday afternoon.

    There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.

    Officials in Daytona Beach Shores deemed unsafe at least a half dozen, multi-story, coastal residential buildings already damaged by Hurricane Ian and now threatened by Nicole. At some locations, authorities went door-to-door telling people to grab their possessions and leave.

    Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced they likely would not open as scheduled Thursday.

    Palm Beach International Airport closed Wednesday morning, and Daytona Beach International Airport said it would suspend operations. Orlando International Airport, the seventh busiest in the U.S., also closed. Farther south, officials said Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Miami International Airport experienced some flight delays and cancellations but both planned to remain open.

    At a news conference in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that winds were the biggest concern and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.

    “It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis said of the storm’s expected landing.

    Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.

    Forty-five of Florida’s 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration.

    Warnings and watches were issued for many parts of Florida, including the southwestern Gulf coastline that was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm Sept. 28. The storm destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state. — damage that many are still dealing with.

    Daniel Brown, a senior hurricane specialist at the Miami-based National Hurricane Center, said the storm would affect a large part of the state.

    “Because the system is so large, really almost the entire east coast of Florida except the extreme southeastern part and the Keys is going to receive tropical storm force winds,” he said.

    Early Wednesday, President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local response efforts to the approaching storm. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still responding to those in need from Hurricane Ian.

    Hurricane Ian brought storm surge of up to 13 feet in late September, causing widespread destruction.

    ———

    Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington and Terry Spencer in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

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  • Tropical Storm Nicole churns toward Bahamas, Florida

    Tropical Storm Nicole churns toward Bahamas, Florida

    MIAMI — Tropical Storm Nicole churned toward the northwestern Bahamas and Florida’s Atlantic coastline on Tuesday, gradually gaining strength as it neared hurricane strength, forecasters said.

    Nicole reached 70 mph (110 kph) late Tuesday, just shy of the 74 mph (119 kph) to become a Category 1 hurricane.

    A range of warnings and watches remain in place. Many areas are still reeling from damage caused by Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida’s southwestern Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm in late September before dumping heavy amounts of rain across much of the central part of the state. Forecasters said heavy rain could fall on areas still recovering from Ian’s flooding.

    Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Abacos, Berry Islands, Bimini and Grand Bahama Island, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Other areas of the Bahamas, including Andros Island, New Province and Eleuthera remained under a tropical storm warning.

    Residents in at least three Florida counties — Flagler, Palm Beach and Volusia — were ordered to evacuate from barrier islands, low-lying areas and mobile homes. The evacuation orders are set to take effect Wednesday. Officials at Orlando International Airport, the seventh busiest in the U.S., said commercial operations would stop Wednesday afternoon until it was safe to resume flights.

    “This incoming storm is a direct threat to both property and life,” said Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald. “Our infrastructure, particularly along the coastline, is very vulnerable because of Hurricane Ian.”

    In the Bahamas, long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores earlier Tuesday, said Eliane Hall, who works at a hotel in Great Abaco island.

    “We just boarded it up,” she said of the hotel, adding that the impact of Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that struck in 2019, was still fresh in many people’s minds. “We’re still affected,” she said.

    Authorities said they were especially concerned about those now living in about 100 motorhomes in Grand Bahama after Dorian destroyed their homes, and about the migrant community in Great Abaco’s March Harbor that Capt. Stephen Russell, emergency management authority director, said has grown from 50 acres (20 hectares) to 200 acres (81 hectares) since Dorian. The previous community of Haitian migrants was among the hardest hit by the 2019 storm given the large number of flimsy structures in which many lived.

    The hurricane center said the storm’s track shifted slightly north overnight, but the exact path remains uncertain as it approaches Florida, where it is expected to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane late Wednesday or early Thursday.

    By Tuesday night, hurricane warnings were issued for a large portion of Florida’s Atlantic Coast, from Boca Raton to north of Daytona Beach. Tropical storm warnings are in place for other parts of the Florida coast, all the way to Altamaha Sound, Georgia.

    The warning area also stretches inland, covering Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, with tropical storm watches in effect on the state’s Gulf Coast from Bonita Beach in southwestern Florida to Indian Pass in the Panhandle. The tropical storm watch extends north to the South Santee River in South Carolina.

    Jack Beven, a National Hurricane Center forecaster, said the storm has a “very large cyclonic envelope,” meaning that even if it makes landfall along the central Florida coastline, the effects will be felt as far north as Georgia.

    NASA announced that because of the storm, next week’s planned launch of its much-anticipated moon rocket will be pushed back two days to Nov. 16. The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket will send an empty crew capsule around the moon and back in a dramatic flight test before astronauts climb aboard in a couple of years.

    However, the storm did not have any impact on voting in Florida on Tuesday.

    Officials in the Bahamas opened more than two dozen shelters across the archipelago on Tuesday as they closed schools and government offices in Abaco, Bimini, the Berry Islands and Grand Bahama.

    Authorities warned that some airports and seaports will close as the storm nears and not reopen until Thursday, and they urged people in shantytowns to seek secure shelter.

    Communities in Abaco are expected to receive a direct hit from Nicole as they still struggle to recover from Dorian.

    “We don’t have time to beg and plead for persons to move,” Russell said.

    Some counties in Florida were offering sandbags to residents. In Indian River County, which is north of West Palm Beach, shelters were set to open at 7 a.m. Wednesday, though no mandatory evacuation orders had been issued by late morning Tuesday, said spokesman Mason Kozac.

    Any evacuations would be strictly voluntary, with residents “having a conversation with themselves about whether they need to leave or not,” Kozac said.

    The mandatory evacuation order in Palm Beach County affects 52,000 residents of mobile homes and 67,000 residents of barrier islands, officials said in an afternoon news conference. Shelters up and down the coast were opening at 7 a.m. Wednesday, officials said.

    Schools will be closed in multiple counties across Florida as the storm approaches. Some announced closures through Friday, already an off day because of the Veteran’s Day holiday. Other districts have said they would cancel classes on Thursday. The University of Central Florida, one of the largest U.S. universities with 70,000 students and 12,000 employees, was closing on Wednesday and Thursday.

    Disney World outside Orlando planned to close its Typhoon Lagoon water park and two miniature golf courses on Thursday.

    In Seminole County, north of Orlando, Hurricane Ian caused unprecedented flooding, and officials are concerned the impending storm could bring a new round of flooding and wind damage.

    “The water on the ground has saturated the root structures of many trees. The winds could bring down trees and those could bring down power lines,” Alan Harris, Seminole County’s emergency manager, said at a Tuesday news conference.

    In South Carolina, forecasters warned several days of onshore winds from Nicole could pile seawater into places like downtown Charleston. Thursday morning’s high tide was predicted to be higher than the water level from Hurricane Ian.

    At 10 p.m. Tuesday, the storm was about 150 miles (240 kilometers) east-northeast of the northwestern Bahamas and 325 miles (525 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach, Florida. It was moving west-southwest at 10 mph (17 kph).

    Tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 380 miles (610 kilometers) from the center of the storm, the National Hurricane Center’s advisory said.

    The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. The last storm to hit Florida in November was Tropical Storm Eta, which made landfall in Cedar Key, on the state’s Gulf Coast, on Nov. 12, 2020.

    Since record keeping began in 1853, Florida has had only two hurricanes make landfall in November, said Maria Torres, a spokesperson for the Hurricane Center. The first was the Yankee Hurricane in 1935, and the second was Hurricane Kate, which struck Florida’s Panhandle as a Category 2 storm in 1985.

    ———

    Walker reported from New York City. Associated Press writers Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this report.

    ———

    For more AP coverage of hurricanes: https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes

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  • Germany may block sale of chip factory to Chinese-owned firm

    Germany may block sale of chip factory to Chinese-owned firm

    BERLIN — The German government may decide this week to block the sale of a chip factory to a Swedish subsidiary of a Chinese company, following a recent compromise over a Chinese shipping firm’s investment in a German container terminal.

    German company Elmos said late Monday that it was informed by the Economy Ministry that the sale of its factory in Dortmund to Silex Microsystems AB “will most likely be prohibited in the upcoming cabinet session.” The ministry previously “had indicated to the parties that the transaction most likely will be approved,” Elmos added.

    Silex is owned by Sai Microelectronics of China, according to German media. The planned 85 million-euro (dollar) sale was announced in December.

    The change comes as Germany struggles with the extent it should allow Chinese companies to invest in Europe’s biggest economy.

    The Cabinet, which will hold its weekly meeting Wednesday, reached a compromise late last month after officials argued over whether to allow China’s COSCO to take a 35% stake in a container terminal at the Hamburg port.

    Members of two junior parties in the governing coalition opposed that deal while Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, downplayed its significance.

    COSCO was cleared to take a stake below 25%, with a threshold above that allowing an investor can block a company’s decisions.

    Scholz traveled to Beijing last week, becoming the first leader from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations to meet President Xi Jinping since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The visit, coming shortly after Xi further cemented his authoritarian rule at home, drew some criticism at home.

    Scholz is encouraging companies to diversify but not discouraging business with China. He said before the trip that “we don’t want decoupling from China” but that “we will reduce one-sided dependencies in the spirit of smart diversification.”

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  • Hong Kong court upholds veteran journalist’s conviction

    Hong Kong court upholds veteran journalist’s conviction

    HONG KONG — An award-winning Hong Kong journalist lost her appeal Monday against her conviction over making false statements in obtaining information for her investigation of a violent attack during widespread pro-democracy protests in 2019.

    Bao Choy was found guilty in April 2021 of deceiving the government by getting vehicle ownership records for journalistic purposes after she had declared in her online application that she would use the information for “other traffic and transport related issues.” She was trying to track down perpetrators of a mob attack on protesters and commuters inside a train station for her documentary for public broadcaster RTHK.

    That ruling sparked outrage among local media professionals over the city’s shrinking press freedoms. Choy — who was fined 6,000 Hong Kong Dollars ($765) for two counts of making false statements — called it “a very dark day for all journalists in Hong Kong.”

    High Court Justice Alex Lee upheld the verdict in a written judgment, saying there are only three options available in the application form for conducting such searches: transport or traffic-related matters, legal matters, or vehicle purchases or sales. Journalism is not an option.

    “I don’t deny that the appellant was trying to obtain the information with good intentions. But as the magistrate had pointed out, in terms of conviction, having good intentions is not a justification,” Lee said.

    Flanked by veteran journalists who held up placards printed with “Fearless, Selfless,” Choy said she was disappointed with the judgement.

    “It’s a decision that really hinders the access to free information in the city, which means that will create obstacles for the press to act as a brake on the abuse of power, and to monitor and hold the powerful accountable,” she said.

    The judgement also called into question whether other activities such as some due diligence searches would be considered illegal, she said, and the ruling’s implication should be discussed by the wider society.

    Choy added she would make a decision on whether to take the case to the Final Court of Appeal within a month.

    The story Choy co-produced, titled “7.21 Who Owns the Truth,” won the Chinese-language documentary award at the Human Rights Press Awards in 2021. The judging panel hailed it as “an investigative reporting classic” that had chased “the smallest clues, interrogating the powerful without fear or favor.”

    In the months after the journalist was convicted, two media outlets — Apple Daily and Stand News — were forced to shut down during an ongoing crackdown on dissents following the 2019 protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China’s rule in 1997 with the promise by Beijing that it would keep the city’s freedoms, but critics say that’s no longer the case.

    Some of the top management of the two outlets also have been prosecuted. Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai faces collusion charges under a sweeping National Security Law enacted in 2020. A trial of two former Stand News editors charged under a colonial-era sedition law that has been used increasingly to snuff out critical voices is underway. One of them, acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam, has been granted bail on Monday after being detained for more than 10 months.

    Hong Kong fell more than 60 places to 148th place in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index released in May.

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  • Rail union approves deal offering hope of avoiding strike

    Rail union approves deal offering hope of avoiding strike

    OMAHA, Neb. — Another one of the 12 railroad unions narrowly approved its deal with the major freight railroads Saturday, offering some hope that the contract dispute might be resolved without a strike even though two other unions rejected their agreements last month.

    Now that 52% of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers members who voted approved their deal, seven railroad unions have ratified contracts that include 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses, but all 12 have to approve contracts to prevent a strike.

    Concerns remain about the possibility of an economically devastating strike because the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division and Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen unions voted down their contracts, and many workers say these deals just don’t address their quality-of life concerns. No strike is imminent because those unions agreed to return to the bargaining table to try to work out a new deal, but those talks have been deadlocked over the unions’ demands for paid sick time and there is a Nov. 19 deadline.

    The railroads have rejected union demands for paid sick time because they say the deals they’ve been offering include higher wages that are intended to compensate workers for the lack of sick time and their other quality of life concerns. The railroads want any deal to closely follow the recommendations made this summer by a special panel of arbitrators that President Joe Biden appointed.

    The railroads have also maintained that the unions have agreed over the years to forego paid sick leave in favor of better wages and strong short-term disability benefits.

    The group that negotiates on behalf of Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, CSX and other railroads said the deal the Machinists approved includes “the largest wage package in nearly five decades” and implements the recommendations the Presidential Emergency Board made.

    The deal the Machinists approved this weekend was the second one they voted on after rejecting their first agreement. This one includes all the raises and an additional paid leave day that was in the original deal, but it also included several additional benefits including a cap on health insurance expenses, an agreement that the railroads will study how much overtime employees are being forced to work and a promise that each railroad will negotiate individually over expense reimbursement.

    The railroads also promised the Machinists that they won’t force workers to share hotel rooms when they’re on the road for work.

    “Our union recognizes that the agreement wasn’t accepted overwhelmingly, so our team will continue conversing with our members at our rail yards across the nation,” the Machinists union’s District 19 unit said in a statement. “This agreement is the first step in addressing some of the issues in our industry. Our fight was able to shine a light on the work-life balance issues as well as the lack of proper paid sick leave.”

    Three other unions are scheduled to vote later this month, including the largest ones that represent engineers and conductors.

    The workers represented by the Machinists union generally have more regular schedules than the engineers and conductors who say the railroads’ strict attendance policies keep them on call 24/7. And the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers unions won’t even release the results of their votes until after the current Nov. 19 deadline in the BMWED talks.

    Because of the fears about a possible strike, business groups have urged Biden and Congress to be ready to intervene if both sides can’t reach an agreement. Biden played an active role in securing these original deals back in September, and Congress has the power to block a strike and impose terms on the workers if there is a walkout.

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  • EXPLAINER: Traveling to, around Qatar during FIFA World Cup

    EXPLAINER: Traveling to, around Qatar during FIFA World Cup

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Some 1.2 million people are expected to pour into Qatar during the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup that begins this month.

    With fans coming from all over the world, reaching Qatar on the Arabian Peninsula, as well as getting around once there, remains a concern. Estimates suggest that as many as half a million people may be in the country each day during the height of the competition.

    However, fans have a variety of transportation options to choose from ahead of the tournament.

    Here’s a look at how to get there, where to go and how to move around.

    FLYING TO QATAR

    Qatar has become a hub for East-West travel, thanks to its long-haul carrier Qatar Airways. Already, the airline is offering tailored flight, hotel and ticket options for its customers. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is gearing up to have its low-cost carrier FlyDubai run as many as 30 trips a day into Doha to allow spectators to watch a match and then shuttle back to hotels in the emirate. Those flying in will land at Doha’s Hamad International Airport, a massive airport that Qatar built for $15 billion and opened in 2014. The airport has plans to expand further in 2022 to handle 58 million passengers a year. Passengers will clear immigration and customs checks before heading out into the city. Note that during the tournament, Qatar won’t be issuing normal visas and those coming for the matches must have a Qatari-issued Hayya Card. The card verifies you have housing for the time you’re in the country or will travel in just for the match you’re watching. The Hayya Card also is required for entry into stadiums. Also keep in mind that Qatar has only one land border, with Saudi Arabia, if you’re thinking about driving.

    CORONAVIRUS CONSIDERATIONS

    Qatar has had strict rules regarding travel and the coronavirus since the pandemic began, but they were loosened as of Nov. 1. Qatar has dropped a requirement for PCR testing prior to your trip to the country, and said it’s no longer required to download its Ehteraz contact-tracing app.

    HOW TO GET AROUND QATAR

    As you walk out of the airport, you have several options on how to get around. Qatar’s state-owned Mowasalat transportation company offers taxi cabs at curbside. Major ride-hailing apps like Uber also work in Qatar. Mowasalat runs a bus service at the airport, too. Doha also has a recently built metro service, which will take you from the airport to most areas in the capital. The metro also connects to a tram now running in Lusail. You can rent a car at the airport, though officials are urging those coming to the tournament to take mass transit. On match day, public transport will be free to those holding tickets. Keep in mind that Qatar’s riyal currency trades at $1 to 3.64 riyals. There are 100 dirhams in each riyal.

    WHAT TO SEE WHILE IN QATAR

    Outside of the tournament, Doha has several cultural sites to visit. Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art offers both interesting views inside its galleries and a view outside of the city’s skyline. Nearby is Doha’s Souq Waqif, which has traditional storefronts and gifts for sale — including even a falcon section. The National Museum of Qatar, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, is a take on the desert rose. Qatar’s National Library also is renowned for its design. Doha’s Mall of Qatar has some 500,000 square meters (5.3 million square feet) for shopping. There are also beachfront resorts and tour companies offer trips into Qatar’s desert expanses as well.

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    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • Cholera overwhelms Haiti as cases, deaths spike amid crisis

    Cholera overwhelms Haiti as cases, deaths spike amid crisis

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The sun shone down on Stanley Joliva as medical staff at an open-air clinic hovered around him, pumping air into his lungs and giving him chest compressions until he died.

    Nearby, his mother watched.

    “Only God knows my pain,” said Viliene Enfant.

    Less than an hour later, the body of her 22-year-old son lay on the floor wrapped in a white plastic bag with the date of his death scrawled on top. He joined dozens of other Haitians who have died from cholera during a rapidly spreading outbreak that is straining the resources of nonprofits and local hospitals in a country where fuel, water and other basic supplies are growing scarcer by the day.

    Sweat gathered on the foreheads of staff at a Doctors Without Borders treatment center in the capital of Port-au-Prince where some 100 patients arrive every day and at least 20 have died. Families kept rushing in this week with loved ones, sometimes dragging their limp bodies into the crowded outdoors clinic where the smell of waste filled the air.

    Dozens of patients sat on white buckets or lay on stretchers as IV lines ran up to bags of rehydrating fluids that gleamed in the sun. So far this month, Doctors Without Borders has treated some 1,800 patients at their four centers in Port-au-Prince.

    Across Haiti, many patients are dying because say they’re unable to reach a hospital in time, health officials say. A spike in gang violence has made it unsafe for people to leave their communities and a lack of fuel has shut down public transportation, gas stations and other key businesses including water supply companies.

    Enfant sat next to her son’s body as she recalled how Joliva told her he was feeling sick earlier this week. She had already warned him and her two other sons not to bathe or wash clothes in the sewage-contaminated waters that ran through a nearby ravine in their neighborhood — the only source of water for hundreds in that area.

    Enfant insisted that her sons buy water to wash clothes and add chlorine if they were going to drink it. As Joliva grew sicker, Enfant tried to care for him on her own.

    “I told him, ‘Honey, you need to drink the tea,’” she recalled. “He said again, ‘I feel weak.’ He also said, ‘I am not able to stand up.’”

    Cholera is a bacteria that sickens people who swallow contaminated food or water, and it can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea, in some cases leading to death.

    Haiti’s first major brush with cholera occurred more than a decade ago when U.N. peacekeepers introduced the bacteria into the country’s biggest river via sewage runoff at their base. Nearly 10,000 people died and thousands of others were sickened.

    The cases eventually dwindled to the point where the World Health Organization was expected to declare Haiti cholera-free this year.

    But on Oct. 2, Haitian officials announced that cholera had returned.

    At least 40 deaths and 1,700 suspected cases have been reported, but officials believe the numbers are much higher, especially in crowded and unsanitary slums and government shelters where thousands of Haitians live.

    Worsening the situation is a lack of fuel and water that began to dwindle last month when one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs surrounded a key fuel terminal and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Gas stations and businesses including water companies have closed, forcing an increasing number of people to rely on untreated water.

    Shela Jeune, a 21-year-old hot dog vendor whose 2-year-old son has cholera, said she buys small bags of water for her family but doesn’t know if it’s treated. She carried him to the hospital where he remains on IV fluids.

    “Everything I give him to eat, he just throws it up,” she said.

    Jeune was among dozens of mothers seeking treatment for their children on a recent morning.

    Lauriol Chantal, 43, recounted a similar story. Her 15-year-old son would vomit as soon as he finished eating, prompting her to rush him to the treatment center.

    While at the center, her son, Alexandro François, told her he felt hot.

    “He said to me … ’Mama, could you take me outside to wash me or pour water over my head?’” she said.

    She obliged, but suddenly, he collapsed in her arms. The staff ran over to help.

    Children younger than age 14 make up half of cholera cases in Haiti, according to UNICEF, with officials warning that growing cases of severe malnutrition also make children more vulnerable to illness.

    Haiti’s poverty also has worsened the situation.

    “When you are unable to get safe drinking water by tap in your own home, when you don’t have soap or water purifying tablets and you have no access to health services, you may not survive cholera or other waterborne diseases,” said Bruno Maes, Haiti’s UNICEF representative.

    Perpety Juste, a 62-year-old grandmother, said one of her three grandchildren became ill this week as she fretted about how their situation might have led to her sickness.

    “We spent a lot of days without food, I cannot lie,” she said. “Nobody in my house has a job.”

    Juste, who lives with her husband, five children and three grandchildren, said she used to work as a house cleaner until the homeowners fled Haiti.

    The increasing demand for help is squeezing Doctors Without Borders and others as they struggle to care for patients with limited fuel.

    “It’s a nightmare for the population, and also for us,” said Jean-Marc Biquet, a project coordinator with the organization. “We have two more weeks of fuel.”

    Life is paralyzed for many Haitians, including Enfant, as she mourned her son’s death. She wants to bury him in her southern coastal hometown of Les Cayes, but cannot afford the 55,000 gourdes ($430) it would cost to transport his body.

    Enfant then fell quiet and gazed into the distance as she continued to sit next to her son’s body — too stunned, she said, to stand up.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

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