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Sierra Leone declares nationwide curfew after gunmen attack main military barracks in the capital

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio declared a nationwide curfew Sunday after gunmen attacked the military’s main and largest barracks in the West African nation’s capital, raising fears of a breakdown of order amid a surge of coups in the region.The unidentified gunmen attacked the military armory within the Wilberforce barracks in the capital, Freetown, early morning, Bio said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that they were driven back by security forces and “calm has been restored.”“As the combined team of our Security Forces continue to root out the remnant of the fleeing renegades, a nationwide curfew has been declared and citizens are encouraged to stay indoors,” he wrote.The country’s Ministry of Information and Education also said in a statement the government and security forces are “in control” of the situation.No details have been immediately given about the gunmen or the reason for the att...

Fragile Gaza truce is back on track after hourslong delay in hostage-for-prisoner swap

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The tense cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appeared to be back on track early Sunday after the release of a second group of militant-held hostages and Palestinians from Israeli prisons, but the swap followed an hourslong delay that underscored the truce’s fragility.In a separate development, Hamas announced Sunday that one of its top commanders had been killed, without saying when or how.The exchange was delayed Saturday evening after Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement, which has brought the first significant pause in seven weeks of war marked by the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades, vast destruction and displacement across the Gaza Strip, and a hostage crisis that has shaken Israel. Qatar and Egypt, which mediate with Hamas, announced late Saturday that the obstacles to the exchange had been overcome. The militants released 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners.Thousand...

Other voices: Inoculation against extremism: Censorship only leaves us more vulnerable

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

New Yorkers were shocked and appalled when some social media personalities rediscovered a 2002 “Letter to America” in which Osama Bin Laden, dripping with antisemitism, criticized U.S. foreign policy, suggesting it painted a more compelling picture of the terrorist. While the rehabilitation of the dead jihadist behind 9/11 may have been overstated, the Guardian, which had hosted a version of the letter, pulled it from its site.We’ve defended the principles of free speech many times here, including several in the past several weeks as some institutions have turned toward speech restrictionism in response to widespread public discourse and high tensions in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel and its subsequent military response.It is crucial to note, though, that this isn’t a principle for its own sake. There is a practical purpose to having robust public discussion, in particular around contentious social and political topics and including unp...

Skywatch: Your guide to buying a telescope for holiday giving

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

Over the years of writing this column and putting on astronomy and stargazing presentations, I’ve received inquiries from many nice folks about purchasing a telescope for themselves or that special someone. I’m often asked to recommend a “not all that expensive” scope. That’s always tough for me because I’m not sure what their definition of “expensive” is, so I have to ask them for a specific price range. Since this is the big gift-giving season, I want to help as many of you as possible find the best telescope for the best price, depending on who you’re buying it for. Maybe it’s you! As with anything, you get what you pay for. I want you to buy right and not just buy cheap. I don’t want your telescope gift to wind up in what I call the closet of no return.My strongest recommendation is to avoid telescopes at retail stores and general shopping websites. Nothing against any of them, but there are a lot of junky scopes that find their wa...

Minneapolis fitness instructor Leslie Fhima makes it to ‘The Golden Bachelor’ finale

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

Over the past two months, both viewers and 72-year-old retired restaurateur Gerry Turner have gotten to know Minneapolis fitness instructor Leslie Fhima via ABC’s “The Golden Bachelor.” During the two-hour finale that airs at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, we’ll learn whether Turner chose to pursue a romance with Fhima or New Jersey financial services professional Theresa Nist.“I honestly have no idea how I’m going to decide,” Turner told the camera during the episode that aired Nov. 2, when Turner gave Fhima one of his two final roses.The latest spin-off of the reality TV juggernaut “The Bachelor,” “The Golden Bachelor” brought the dating-in-front-of-cameras concept to the baby boom generation. In addition to the 64-year-old Fhima and 70-year-old Nist, the cast featured 20 other women ranging in age from 60 to 75.“The Golden Bachelor” has found success with both viewers and critics. The Hollywood Reporter noted the show has earned the strongest ratings in the franchise...

Tyler Cowen: The hypocrisy at the core of America’s elite universities

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

Now that congressional Democrats have relaunched an effort to ban legacy admissions at top U.S. universities, virtually everyone can count on one thing: ideological embarrassment.Legacy admissions are part of a broader system whereby elite U.S. colleges and universities largely favor wealthy families in their admissions practices. It is possible to buy your way into those institutions — whether by being born into a legacy family that is considered likely to make a donation, or by being the child of someone who actually makes a large donation. Some 43% of white students admitted to Harvard are recruited athletes, legacies, from the “dean’s interest” list (which is often related to donations), or children of faculty and staff.There are any number of motives behind these admissions practices. But a major one is the desire to bring in money and boost endowments.As someone who stands to the political right of most of my fellow university faculty and administrators...

Northern Minnesota inventor hopes ice fishing rod holders catch on

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

HACKENSACK, Minn. — In a sport that has exploded with expensive technology in recent decades, like $400 battery-operated augers, $4,000 electronic fish-finding video-like sonar systems and $40,000 wheelhouse shelters, Dwight Kurz is hoping to sell you something far more basic: a better ice fishing rod holder for $23.99.Readers may remember a Duluth News Tribune story on Kurz’s rod holders from 2019. This year, he received a U.S. patent on one of his holders, with patents for the others scheduled to be final in December.Undated courtesy photo, circa November 2023, of Dwight Kurz, who believes he has invented the best ice fishing rod holders on the market — one that tips down when a fish bites and the other that locks a rod in place, either on the ice or on the wall of a fish house. (Courtesy of Holdersonice.com / Forum News Service)“Now I’m more willing to invest the time and effort and money to make this go … to not have to worry as much about the pirates charging something by 10% a...

Readers and writers: How Barbara Kingsolver’s daughter got her to team up to write first children’s book

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

Barbara Kingsolver and her daughter Lily remember the day “Coyote’s Wild Home” was born at Barbara’s farm in the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia.(The Gryphon Press)This beautiful new picture book will be published Tuesday by Emilie and Dana Buchwald’s Edina-based Gryphon Press, and it’s a coup for a small publisher to attract an author such as Kingsolver, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize and the British Women’s Fiction Prize for her novel “Demon Copperhead.”Barbara Kingsolver (Steven Hopp / The Gryphon Press)But Barbara didn’t want to talk about her previous literary honors during a conversation about “Coyote’s Wild Home,” co-written with Lily. She was concentrating on the new book and giving affectionate prompts to her daughter to help her tell their story.“I had just written a letter to Emilie for my secretary to type saying I didn’t do picture books,” Kingsolver recalled o...

Boxes in Forest Lake drugstore attic contain treasure trove of history

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

Dana Stachowski and Shelley Trimble reached into a banker’s box at Rolseth Drug in downtown Forest Lake last week and pulled out a yellowed sheath of paper that looked as if it hadn’t been touched since the 19th century.Inside was an insurance policy that their great-grandfather, J.L. Simmons, purchased in 1899 to cover his store in Forest Lake in the event of any “damage done by tornadoes, wind storms and cyclones.” Simmons paid $5.75 to Continental Insurance of the City of New York to insure J.L. Simmons Dry Goods, Clothing and Shoes – now the site of Rolseth Drug – for up to $1,500 in damages.“He probably would have used that – if he was still insured – when that devastating tornado came through here in the 1920s,” Trimble said.The insurance policy is one of hundreds of documents and artifacts belonging to J.L. Simmons that were found this fall in the attic of Rolseth Drug, the oldest commercial building in Forest Lake. Simmons, who also served as Forest Lake’s treasu...

Nicholas Kristof: Houston shows how to tackle homelessness

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:11:06 GMT

Dallas and Houston are two Democratic bubbles in Texas that have long faced the familiar urban ache of homeless people slumped on sidewalks and camping in parks. Both cities tried to address the challenge.But smart policy matters far more than good intentions. In Dallas, homelessness worsened for years, and that city now has the most unhoused people in Texas. Meanwhile, the Houston region has slashed homelessness by more than 60% since 2011.Homelessness is one of those topics that leaves Americans despairing, but Houston offers hope: It demonstrates what should be obvious, that a wealthy society doesn’t have to accept as inevitable throngs of people sleeping on sidewalks. Delegations from around the country now troop to Houston to seek lessons, with the mayors of Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver traipsing through this summer.Houston achieved its results on the cheap, spending very little of its own money even as West Coast cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, ...