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Ambitious Saudi plans to ramp up Hajj could face challenges from climate change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia has ambitious plans to welcome millions more pilgrims to Islam’s holiest sites. But as climate change heats up an already scorching region, the annual Hajj pilgrimage — much of which takes place outdoors in the desert — could prove even more daunting. The increased number of pilgrims, with the associated surge in international air travel and infrastructure expansion, also raises sustainability concerns, even as the oil giant pursues the goal of getting half its energy from renewable resources by 2030.Next week, Saudi Arabia hosts the first Hajj pilgrimage without the restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic. Some 2.5 million people took part in the pilgrimage in 2019, and around 2 million are expected this year.Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s wide-ranging plan to overhaul the kingdom’s economy, known as Vision 2030, 30 million pilgrims would take part in the Hajj and Umrah — a smaller, year-round pilgrima...

Judge to weigh suspending Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming’s first-in-the-nation ban on abortion pills will come before a state judge Thursday as the court considers whether the prohibition should take effect as planned July 1 or be put on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit.While other states have instituted de facto bans on the medication by broadly prohibiting abortion, Wyoming in March became the first U.S. state to specifically ban abortion pills. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that access to one of the two pills, mifepristone, may continue while litigants seeking to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of it.Two nonprofit organizations in Wyoming, including an abortion clinic that opened in Casper in April; and four women, including two obstetricians, have sued to stop Wyoming from curbing access to the abortion pills. On Thursday, Teton County Judge Melissa Owens will hear arguments about what should happen as the lawsuit plays out.Wellspring Health Access, Wyoming’s ...

Up, up and away – flying taxis look to France’s city of revolution to unleash change on the skies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Just a dot on the horizon at first, the bug-like and surprisingly quiet electrically-powered craft buzzes over Paris and its traffic snarls, treating its doubtless awestruck passenger to privileged vistas of the Eiffel Tower and the city’s signature zinc-grey rooftops before landing him or her with a gentle downward hover. And thus, if all goes to plan, could a new page in aviation history be written.After years of dreamy and not always credible talk of skies filled with flying, non-polluting electric taxis, the aviation industry is preparing to deliver a future that it says is now just around the corner. Capitalizing on its moment in the global spotlight, the Paris region is planning for a small fleet of electric flying taxis to operate on multiple routes when it hosts the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer. Unless aviation regulators in China beat Paris to the punch by green-lighting a pilotless taxi for two passengers under development t...

The case of Azerbaijanis citizens in Iran

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

The EU should take a stronger stand against the Ayatollah regime repression of Human Rights and meddling in the South Caucasus, writes Maurizio Geri.The relationship between Azerbaijan and Iran is at its worst since long time. For the second time in just months, Baku has warned its citizens against traveling to Iran. Following the January terrorist attack in the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran there has been a mutual expulsion of some diplomatic personnel and the suspension of Azerbaijan's embassy operation. In February, the Azerbaijani authorities detained nearly 40 people on suspicion of spying for Iran. In March an anti-Iranian member of Parliament was wounded in Baku, with the involvement of the Islamic Republic in an attempt to kill him. Some scholars even wonder about a risk of a war between the two countries. Actually, the President of Azerbaijan is one of the few heads of state in the world willing to call out Iran’s “state-sponsored terrorism”. But why Iran is so interested in ...

Just nine fashion companies do even the bare minimum on unsustainable cotton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

When it comes to their use of cotton, the vast majority of international brands (89%) are non-transparent, unsustainable and show little progress towards improving labour conditions. Those are the findings of the 2023 Cotton Ranking, published by Solidaridad Europe and the Pesticide Action Network UK, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.One of the report’s main messages is that unsustainable cotton is a choice. It maintains that a wide range of possible actions are available to corporations to help them mitigate, address or even reverse the worst environmental and social impacts of cotton production. They are set out in a paper ‘Cotton and Corporate Responsibility’, published simultaneously with the 2023 Cotton Ranking.Much of the cotton purchased by major companies does not meet even the requirements of basic certification, meaning that its source cannot be verified as meeting minimum standards. Only nine of the 82 largest cotton-sourcing companies in the world are found to be...

Meet Bosco: LAPD drug dog that sniffed out drugs, gun, cash from vending machine  

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

KTLA 5’s Rick Chambers got the opportunity to meet Bosco, the LAPD drug dog that sniffed out heroin, fentanyl, guns and cash from a vending machine in a warehouse in Gardena on Friday. What makes Bosco’s story even more remarkable is the fact that he has only been a K-9 for six months and that he was on his third-ever deployment when he got called into action. Deputies with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office were serving a search warrant at the Gardena warehouse when they requested a K-9 Unit from the Los Angeles Police Department to assist them. The two-year-old Dutch shepherd quickly alerted officers to 15 pounds of heroin, a kilogram of fentanyl, an assault rifle and thousands of dollars in cash in an operational vending machine. Los Angeles City Council approves ‘robot dog’ donation to police According to Bosco’s handler, Officer Pablo Soto, his frenetic energy is what helps officers the most when searching for drugs.  “When he’s looking for the odor, he’...

No comeback necessary: SF Giants’ winning streak reaches 10 games thanks to overturned call against Padres

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Nothing, not another bullpen game, not the Padres’ star power, nor Fernando Tatis Jr.’s powerful right arm, can stop the Giants’ winning streak.It reached 10 games Wednesday with a 4-2 win over San Diego, matching the club’s longest unbeaten stretch since it was Barry Bonds, not Mike Yastrzemski, dropping walk-off splash hits into McCovey Cove. Their win Wednesday night didn’t require any such heroics, thanks to the efforts of six pitchers in a bullpen game and a crucial overturned call that turned their lone scoring rally from a one-run inning into four.San Francisco clinched a series win over the Padres — they will have a chance at a four-game sweep with Alex Wood on the mound Thursday — the first time the Giants have won a series at Oracle Park since the third weekend of May, despite owning the majors’ best record since Mother’s Day (25-9). Somehow, they don’t own the majors’ longest active winning streak, whic...

Up, up and away — flying taxis look to France’s city of revolution to unleash change on the skies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Just a dot on the horizon at first, the bug-like and surprisingly quiet electrically-powered craft buzzes over Paris and its traffic snarls, treating its doubtless awestruck passenger to privileged vistas of the Eiffel Tower and the city’s signature zinc-grey rooftops before landing him or her with a gentle downward hover. And thus, if all goes to plan, could a new page in aviation history be written.After years of dreamy and not always credible talk of skies filled with flying, non-polluting electric taxis, the aviation industry is preparing to deliver a future that it says is now just around the corner. Capitalizing on its moment in the global spotlight, the Paris region is planning for a small fleet of electric flying taxis to operate on multiple routes when it hosts the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer. Unless aviation regulators in China beat Paris to the punch by green-lighting a pilotless taxi for two passengers under development t...

Wizards trading Porzingis to Celtics in 3-team deal with Smart headed to Grizzlies, AP sources say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

The Wizards are banking on Kristaps Porzingis to rewrite the narrative on his injury history. He's intent on doing the same. The Wizards are banking on Kristaps Porzingis to rewrite the narrative on his injury history. He's intent on doing the same. The Washington Wizards have agreed to trade center Kristaps Porzingis to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team trade that also includes Marcus Smart heading to the Memphis Grizzlies, two people with knowledge of the deal said Thursday morning.The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreements hadn’t been announced. The trade comes with Porzingis accepting his player option for next season.The deal also includes the Griz...

Destructive storm slams northern Texas town of Matador, deaths, widespread damage reported

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:13:53 GMT

MATADOR, Texas (AP) — Destructive storm slams northern Texas town of Matador, deaths, widespread damage reported.Source