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Unversed in UNGA? Stumped by SDGs? A glossary of UN General Assembly meeting lingo

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly’s yearly meeting of world leaders is here — and with it, an array of acronyms, abbreviations, titles and terms that can be confounding to observers. Here’s some key vocabulary, decoded.FOR STARTERS…UNGA: Acronym (yes, people do pronounce it “UN’-gah”) for the U.N. General Assembly’s “High-level Week.” It’s the international organization’s biggest annual event, inviting presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other top leaders of all 193 U.N. member countries to speak to the world and each other. Although New Yorkers sometimes just use “General Assembly” to describe what many experience mainly as a week of street closures and whizzing motorcades, the assembly actually isn’t just this meeting. It’s a body that convenes countries’ ambassadors throughout the year to discuss a wide range of global issues and vote on resolutions. GENERAL DEBATE: The centerpiece of the week, it giv...

Girl, 12, charged for assaulting teachers and student at Oshawa school

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

A 12-year-old girl is facing charges after she assaulted three teachers and a student at a school in Oshawa on Monday morning.Durham Regional Police were called to Sir Albert Love Catholic School in the Hillcroft Street and Wilson Road North area around 11:30 a.m. for reports of a female student assaulting staff and students.Police arrived at the school and said a girl had fled the area. They located the 12-year-old physically assaulting a female staff member in the schoolyard.An officer deployed a Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW) to stop the assault, and the girl was taken into custody.Police said the incident was captured on body-worn camera. One victim was taken to a local hospital after being struck in the head by the girl. It’s unclear how serious those injuries are.A 12-year-old girl is facing four counts of assault and mischief. She was released on an undertaking.The girl’s identity is protected under Ontario’s Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).A police spokesp...

Girl found dead in B.C. park had ‘blunt force’ injuries: sexual assault expert

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

VANCOUVER — A sexual assault expert testifying at the British Columbia Supreme Court trial of a man accused of killing a 13-year-old girl six years ago says she believes the girl’s injuries were “highly indicative of blunt force trauma.”CAUTION: note graphic content in next three paragraphs. Dr. Tracy Pickett, a doctor specializing in emergency and clinical forensic medicine, says it is unlikely those injuries, to the girl’s vagina, came from a small object such as a tampon, and is more consistent with penial penetration.She told the jury she was not at the autopsy and didn’t see the body in person, but formed her expert opinion from photos and pathologist notes, including descriptions of the injuries in the autopsy report.She says injuries to the rectum and anus are also consistent with “completed penetration.”Ibrahim Ali has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of the teen, whose body was found in Burnaby’s Central ...

Iranian soccer fans flock to Cristiano Ronaldo’s hotel after he arrives in Tehran with Saudi team

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Hundreds of soccer fans stormed into a hotel in Tehran on Monday, hoping for a glimpse of star player Cristiano Ronaldo after he arrived with his Saudi teammates ahead of a game.Chanting “Ronaldo, Ronaldo,” the fans pushed past police, filling the corridors and public spaces of the Espians Palace Hotel.Ronaldo arrived on his first visit to Iran with the Saudi football club Al Nassr, which is set to play Iran’s Persepolis in Tehran on Sept. 19. The return game will be played in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Nov. 27.Ronaldo was the first of several big-name players to accept lavish contracts to play for Saudi teams. The oil-rich kingdom is spending billions of dollars to try to transform itself into a sports and entertainment powerhouse.The Asian Champions League games are made possible by the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia following an agreement brokered by China earlier this year. The longtime rivals had severed ties in 20...

Kilogram of fentanyl found in NYC day care center where 1-year-old boy died of apparent overdose

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A taped package containing several thousand dollars worth of fentanyl was discovered inside the New York City day care center where a 1-year-old child died of an opioid overdose last week, according to a court filing.The owner of the day care center, however, maintained she had no knowledge of the presence of the highly potent opioid, which sickened three other young children, including an 8-month-old girl who tested positive for fentanyl use.The drug was found underneath a mat where the children had napped, Joseph Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives, said at a news conference Monday evening.Grei Mendez, a 36-year-old who operated the Divino Niño day care inside a Bronx apartment, pleaded not guilty on Sunday to murder charges in the death of Nicholas Dominici. A man who rented a room inside the Bronx apartment, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, is awaiting arraignment on the same set of charges.Police said they recovered about one kilogram of fenta...

Baylor settles years-long federal lawsuit in sexual assault scandal that rocked Baptist school

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

Baylor University has settled a years-long federal lawsuit brought by 15 women who alleged they were sexually assaulted at the nation’s biggest Baptist school, ending the largest case brought in a wide-ranging scandal that led to the ouster of the university president and its football coach, and tainted the school’s reputation.Notification of the settlement was filed in online court records Monday. The lawsuit was first filed in June 2016.The lawsuit was one of several that were filed that alleged staff and administrators ignored or stifled reports from women who said they were assaulted on or near campus. Among the early claims from some women in the lawsuit was that school officials sometimes used the campus conduct code that banned alcohol, drugs and premarital sex to pressure women not to report being attacked. Another previously settled lawsuit alleged Baylor fostered a “hunting ground for sexual predators.”The terms of the settlement announced Monday were not discl...

Family says daughter, 14, discovered phone taped to back of airplane's toilet seat

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — The family of a 14-year-old girl who allegedly discovered a phone taped to the back of a toilet seat on a recent flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston said they believe she was targeted by a member of the crew.During the Sept. 2 American Airlines flight 1441, the girl was told by a male member of the crew to use the first-class bathroom. The crew member entered just before 14-year-old, told her the seat was broken but not to worry about it and then re-entered the bathroom after she left, her family said in a written statement. What are the lights placed above traffic signals? After using the toilet, the girl realized that a largely obscured iPhone had been affixed to the back of the toilet seat, apparently to record her. She took a picture of this with her own phone before leaving the bathroom.“These events have left our daughter — and entire family — shocked and profoundly disturbed,” the family wrote in a statement.Paul Llewellyn, a lawyer representing t...

Carlos Correa departs early as Twins fall 7-3 to Reds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

CINCINNATI — First they lost their shortstop. Then they lost the ballgame.Carlos Correa left Monday night’s game, a 7-3 loss to the Reds in the series opener at Great American Ball Park, in the second inning after racing back to snag a TJ Friedl popup in the bottom of the first. The Twins called it an aggravation of the plantar fasciitis in his left foot that has plagued him since May.Though Correa has been slowed by the injury, he has never missed an extended period of time for it — an injured list stay, he reasoned, is no guarantee to fix the problem and he would rather be out there playing, even if not at 100%.Monday, it ended his night prematurely.Already down their shortstop, the Twins were unable to put together much against Reds starter Connor Phillips in his seven innings of work. The Twins scored a pair of runs off him — on solo home runs from Royce Lewis in the fourth and Alex Kirilloff in the seventh — but only had three hits on the night against Phillips, unable to strin...

Albany County launches new craft beverage trail tasting pass

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Tasting all of the drinks on Albany's craft beverage trail is getting easier. Albany County announced a new Tasting Pass.Residents can save on tasting packages and flights of drinks at the breweries and wineries that are part of the trail. Officials said that the new trail pass will help support and expand the brewing industry in the area. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! "If we can strengthen that by creating an official trail, we can not only push tourism, which helps every other sector, we can strengthen their ties in selling directly to the community, individuals, expand visits in conventions people coming to the capital and other things," Albany County Legislator Matthew Peter said.The Albany County Craft Beverage Trail was first created in March. So far, nine businesses are part of the beverage trail. Those include Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont, Helderberg Mountain Brewing in East Berne, Mixed Br...

Trump calls DeSantis abortion ban “a terrible mistake,” sparking anger from some key Republicans

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:51:40 GMT

Donald Trump is facing new blowback from anti-abortion activists for refusing to commit to national abortion restrictions and for calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a six-week ban on the procedure a “terrible mistake.”Speaking Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump repeatedly declined to say whether he would support a federal ban on abortion. He said he could “live with” the procedure being banned by individual states or nationwide through federal action, though he said “from a legal standpoint, I think it’s probably better” to be handled at the state level.Regarding the bill signed by DeSantis, which bans abortions before many women know they are pregnant, Trump said, “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.”So far, the former president has dominated the 2024 field while at times spurning the anti-abortion groups that traditionally have huge influence in Republican primaries. But Trump’s direct attack on DeSantis, whom he’s long treated as his ch...