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Refrigeration chemicals are a nightmare for the climate. Experts say alternatives must spread fast

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — When Jennifer Byrne, owner and technician at Comfy Heating and Cooling, gets a call to come and fix a relatively new air conditioning system, one of the first questions she asks is if the house has just been remodeled. Here in West Philadelphia, Byrne has found shoddy renovations where installers skip steps such as pressure testing after installation. That can result in ice buildup and leaks of the chemicals that cool, called refrigerants.“This problem is extremely frequent around here. Usually people tell you they bought a house that was flipped and all kinds of things are wrong, like the AC is freezing,” Byrne said, referring to the ice buildup. “Trying to get it done as cheaply as possible,” she added, as she hauled equipment out of her truck. It’s not a small matter. When refrigerants leak out like this, they are highly destructive to the Earth’s sensitive atmosphere. They’re “the most potent greenhouse gases known to modern science,” ...

NewsAlert: Supreme Court majority rules against federal impact assessment law

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled against the federal government’s impact assessment law.In a decision released this morning, five out of seven judges found most of the Impact Assessment Act to be unconstitutional because it ultimately seeks to regulate activities within provincial jurisdiction.Chief Justice Richard Wagner, writing for the majority, said federal powers don’t cover the list of projects subject to federal review under the act.Wagner wrote the impacts of those projects must be within federal jurisdiction for an act to be constitutional.In his 204-page judgment, he wrote the government failed to make that case.Two judges, however, dissented, saying the law was constitutional.The Impact Assessment Act, which was known in Parliament as Bill C-69, is now the second such piece of legislation to be thrown out by the courts. In 2016, the Federal Court of Appeal struck down assessment legislation passed by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper....

Stock market today: Wall Street rises as hopes for stronger profits collide with worries about war

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ticking higher as they get pulled in opposite directions by competing waves of optimism and fear. The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher shortly after the open of trading on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 200 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher. Several of the biggest U.S. banks said their profits during the summer were better than feared, which offered hope for an earnings reporting season that may deliver the first growth in a year. But worries about the latest war in Gaza at the same time sent oil prices jumping and Treasury yields falling.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.HONG KONG (AP) — World shares slipped and oil prices soared Friday on deepening concern over the Israel-Hamas war. U.S. futures edged lower, auguring more losses after a retreat Thursday driven by rising bond yields. Oil prices gained about $3 early Friday after Israel’s military ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians livi...

Malaysia will cut subsidies and tax luxury goods as it unveils a 2024 budget narrowing the deficit

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia will progressively cut subsidies and launch new taxes including for luxury goods next year as part of economic reforms and to tighten its finances, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday.Anwar, who took power last November, announced the measures while tabling 2024 federal budget in Parliament. He said the 393.8 billion ringgit ($83.3 billion) budget is aimed at fixing economic imbalances and helping people to cope with rising cost of living amid a global economic slowdown. Anwar, who is also finance minister, said economic growth is likely to slip to 4% this year but could reach nearly 5% in 2024.He said Malaysia’s annual subsidies for fuel, food and other items were among the highest in the world but its taxes among the lowest. This year, for instance, he said government subsidies and social assistance surged to 81 billion ringgit ($17 billion) as global commodity prices rose. For 2024, the government allocated 52.8 billion ringgit ...

‘Barbenheimer’ was a boon to movie theaters and a headache for many workers. So they’re unionizing

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For movie theater owners around the country, the same-day release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” this summer meant record box office sales and a gratifying sign that the public still craved entertainment on the big screen. But for some employees at the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan, “Barbenheimer” was the breaking point.“That really pushed us to the edge,” says Maggie Quick, a guest attendant. “It was just the constant understaffing and the emotional exhaustion.”“People were waiting longer than usual for their food and that makes them short-tempered and impatient,” recalls Tyler Trautman, a shift leader. “We’re the ones facing customers. It takes a toll, a mental toll, to be yelled at by guests because their drink has been taking an hour.”Quick and Trautman were among dozens at the Manhattan theater who decided it was time to form a union. Alamo employees worked with United Auto Workers Local 2179 and this week voted to unionize, with nearly two-thir...

Elf Bar finds an easy way around US vape import ban: a name change

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four months after U.S. regulators tried to block imports of Elf Bar, the top-selling Chinese disposable e-cigarette remains widely available thanks to a simple but effective tactic: a name change.Stores in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York and other cities remain fully stocked with the brightly colored vapes, sold in fruity flavors like strawberry melon and claiming to contain 5,000 “puffs” per device.The Food and Drug Administration considers the products illegal. In May, it directed customs officials to seize incoming shipments of Elf Bar and EBDesign, two of the company’s U.S. brand names.The newer vaping devices bear a different name, EBCreate, and list different Chinese manufacturers than those targeted by the FDA.The makeover underscores the FDA’s inability to stanch the flow of unauthorized e-cigarettes into the U.S., mainly through large shipping hubs like Los Angeles and Houston.“E-cigarette manufacturers have proven themselves to not operate i...

An employee at Israeli Embassy in China is stabbed. A foreign suspect has been detained.

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A 50-year-old Israeli man who works at the Israeli Embassy in Beijing was stabbed on Friday in front of a supermarket, Chinese police and the Israeli government said.Beijing police said they had arrested a suspect, a 53-year-old foreign man. They said the victim is a family member of an Israeli diplomat. No motive was given for the attack.“The employee was transferred to hospital and he is in a stable condition,” an Israeli government statement said, without giving additional details.The incident came after Israel criticized China’s statement following the unprecedented and deadly incursion by the militant group Hamas into southern Israel last Saturday. The attack sparked an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The stabbing occurred as Muslims across the world took to the streets in large protests after Friday prayers over Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Gaza.Just before the announcement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry...

Microsoft closes deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard after antitrust fights

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

NEW YORK — Microsoft has completed its acquisition of video game-maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, closing one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history that could have repercussions across the video game industry.The notice that the deal has gone through came seven hours after Microsoft got final approval from Britain’s competition watchdog, which reversed its earlier decision to block the $69 billion gaming deal, removing the last obstacle for the transaction.Taking over the studios behind blockbuster games like Call of Duty, Diablo and Overwatch will be a boost for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console, which ranks third in sales behind PlayStation and Nintendo. The software giant also has bigger ambitions to fold Activision titles into its multi-game subscription service that works something like a Netflix for video games.The nearly 22 months it took to close the deal reflected concerns from rivals and government regulators that Microsoft could use its growing collec...

Israeli evacuation call in Gaza hikes Egypt’s fears of a mass exodus of refugees into its territory

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Israel’s call Friday for half of the Gaza Strip’s population to evacuate south is hiking Egypt’s fears of a massive influx of refugees across the heavily fortified border into its territory.Since Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel sparked a massive retaliation in Gaza, Egypt’s leadership has frantically tried to negotiate the entry of humanitarian aid through its crossing into the Palestinian territory — partially in hopes of averting an exodus into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Officials say its efforts have received no response from Israel.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was expected to visit Cairo over the weekend and Egyptian officials are expected to discuss the entry of aid with him.Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip, stopping all entry of food, water, medicine and fuel to its 2.3 million people, while bombardment has leveled swaths of its cities. That has left Egypt’s Rafah crossing as the sole access. But repeated Israeli airstrikes at the Palestinian side of the cr...

Ruling expected in trial of DCFS workers in connection to death of 5-year-old AJ Freund

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:06 GMT

CHICAGO -- A McHenry County judge is expected to make a ruling on two former DCFS workers accused of ignoring signs of child abuse. They have both pleaded not guilty.Carlos Acosta and Andrew Polovin worked on 5-year-old AJ Freund's case who was killed by his parents in 2019.They are accused of ignoring red flags and failing to remove 5-year-old AJ Freund from his Crystal Lake home despite signs of abuse and multiple police reports indicating the likelihood of abuse. Testimony also was heard from emergency room doctors who treated the boy. Freund was murdered in 2019 by his parents and his bod was found in a shallow grave after his parents claimed he was missing. Chicago to open new migrant shelters weekly His parents, Joanne Cunningham and Andrew Freund, were both convicted of numerous charges in connection to his murder and are serving at least 30 years in prison. The defense has tried to poke holes in the police reports for a lack of consistency and defense attorneys have said ...