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How an American meat broker is fueling Amazon deforestation

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As incomes in China have grown in the last decade, so has China’s appetite for beef. No longer out of reach for China’s middle class, beef now sizzles in home woks and restaurant kitchens. China has become the world’s biggest importer of beef, and Brazil is China’s biggest supplier, according to United Nations Comtrade data. More beef moves from Brazil to China than between any other two countries. But the Brazilian cattle industry is a major driver of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Data analysis by The Associated Press and the Rainforest Investigations Network, a nonprofit reporting consortium, found that a little-known American company is among the key suppliers and distributors feeding China’s hunger for beef – and the Amazon deforestation that it fuels.The world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon plays a critical role in the global climate by absorbing carbon emissions. A new study published this week in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences ...

Daylight saving 2023: Here’s what a sleep expert says about the time change

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Brunch dates and flag football games might be a little easier to get to this Sunday, when phones grace early-risers with an extra hour of rest before alarm clocks go off.The downside: Next week across most of the U.S., the sun will set well before many folks step foot out of the office, leaving them to run errands or take walks in utter darkness. Come Nov. 5, daylight saving time is out and standard time is in, and will last until March 10.No need to wait till the midnight hour to prepare for the time change that clocks in early Sunday, when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. Before bed beckons Saturday night, rewind the clock on the microwave, oven, car, or any other device not yet clever enough to make the leap on its own. Besides scheduling stumbles and sleep habit disruptions, experts say the twice-yearly ritual can have more serious effects on human health.Many Americans are already sleep-deprived, and a change in time messes with sleep schedules even more, says Dr. Phyllis Z...

What’s streaming now: Annette Bening, Jason Aldean, ‘Planet Earth,’ NKOTB and ‘Blue Eye Samurai’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

Awkwafina starring as a game-show-obsessed woman in “Quiz Lady” and the animated historical drama “Blue Eye Samurai” about a mixed-race, revenge-seeking female samurai in Japan are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near youAlso among the offerings selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are a studio album from Jason Aldean, a new Hulu series made from Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel “Black Cake” and Annette Bening portrays a real-life hero who swam the treacherous passage from Cuba to Key West in 2013.NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— It took Diana Nyad more than 30 years and five tries to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys. “Free Solo” filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad,” streaming Friday on Netflix, dramatizes her feat of endurance, along with the perseverance of her closest friends and collaborators. Bening plays Nyad, who was 60 when she began training herself again for the open-ocean swim. In a stand-out supporti...

Poll shows most US adults think AI will add to election misinformation in 2024

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The warnings have grown louder and more urgent as 2024 approaches: The rapid advance of artificial intelligence tools threatens to amplify misinformation in next year’s presidential election at a scale never seen before.Most adults in the U.S. feel the same way, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.The poll found that nearly 6 in 10 adults (58%) think AI tools — which can micro-target political audiences, mass produce persuasive messages, and generate realistic fake images and videos in seconds — will increase the spread of false and misleading information during next year’s elections.By comparison, 6% think AI will decrease the spread of misinformation while one-third say it won’t make much of a difference.“Look what happened in 2020 — and that was just social media,” said 66-year-old Rosa Rangel of Fort Worth, Texas.Rangel, a Democrat who sa...

As billions roll in to fight the US opioid epidemic, one county shows how recovery can work

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — Communities ravaged by America’s opioid epidemic are starting to get their share of a $50 billion pie from legal settlements.Most of that money comes with a requirement that it be used to address the overdose crisis and prevent more deaths.But how?It could mean that places look more like the area around Findlay. Here, conservative Hancock County has built a comprehensive system focused on both treatment and recovery by adding housing, a needle exchange, outreach workers and a community center. “People recover in a community,” said Precia Stuby, the official who heads the county’s addiction and mental health efforts. “We have to build recovery-oriented communities that support individuals.”___It was 2007 when Stuby began hearing from officials about prescription opioids being misused. That was about the same time Jesse Johnson, then 14, was prescribed the painkiller Percocet.The Findlay native was pregnant when she needed stents put into her kidneys as trea...

Ex-San Diego youth football coach arrested on suspicion of defrauding team families

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A former San Diego youth football coach has been arrested and charged with defrauding team families out of thousands of dollars. “We did not want this to continue happening to other families, because so easily he swindled us,” said Sofia Aguais, one of the team moms of the San Diego Bolts 11U team. Former San Diego youth football coach Latell Love spent some time in jail Thursday after being arrested by La Mesa police. FOX 5 first shared the story in September when team moms Sofia Aguais and Jessica Johnson put a spotlight on the issue.  “We had to do something because this might not just happen once,” Aguais said. Following that interview, Aguais contacted the city of La Mesa and La Mesa police about her concerns because that’s the city where the team practices.  “I sent an email, bringing the story to their attention letting them know that it’s unfortunate what had happened at the Junior Seau Sports Complex that is part of the La Mesa Community,” Aguais said.    ...

66-year-old woman missing in Ramona

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

RAMONA, Calif. -- A 66-year-old woman went missing on Thursday in the Ramona area, authorities said.Zita Swanson was reported missing by her family around 2:30 p.m. after walking away from her home in the 700 block of G Street, Lt. John Malan with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a news release. Del Mar home sold for record-breaking $44.1M as countywide sales slow Swanson, who has a history of walking away from home, does not have any known access to vehicles, per law enforcement. Authorities do not believe she is carrying a cell phone or purse.Swanson is described as a Hispanic woman about 5-foot-5, 174 pounds. She has gray hair, brown eyes and was last seen wearing a navy blue sweater and blue pants.If you see Swanson or have any information on her whereabouts, please call 9-1-1 or the San Diego County Sheriff's Department at (858) 565-5200.

In the wake of Matthew Perry’s death, Chinese fans mourn an old friend

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

Long before “Friends” made its official debut in China, the show was a word-of-mouth phenomenon in the country. In the wake of Matthew Perry’s death at 54, fans in China are mourning the loss of the star who felt less like a distant celebrity and more like an old friend.A Wednesday evening memorial at a cafe in Shenzhen, a busy city across the border of Hong Kong, was one of several held throughout the country for the actor who played Chandler Bing and died Saturday in Los Angeles. The coffee shop — an homage to the 10-season sitcom, from its name (Smelly Cat) to the Central Perk sign on its glass wall — was packed with people and floral arrangements as the TV mounted in the corner played an episode of “Friends.”“There are more people who showed up than we expected,” said cafe manager Nie Yanxia. “People shared their own memories about Chandler and ‘Friends’ and many teared up.”A large poster displayed on the bar featured pictures of Perry over the years. “We love you, friend,...

Santa Fe considers tax on mansions as housing prices soar

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Voters are deciding whether to tax mansions to pay for affordable housing initiatives in a state capital city prized for its desert-mountain vistas, vibrant arts scene and stucco architecture rooted in Native American and Spanish-colonial tradition.The tax on homes sold for more than $1 million is being pitched as a lifeline to teachers, service-sector workers, single parents and young professionals who can’t afford local mortgages or struggle to pay rent amid a national housing shortage and the arrival in Santa Fe of high-income digital nomads and affluent retirees.The Nov. 7 ballot measure is the latest bellwether for the popularity of so-called mansion taxes to fund affordable housing and stave off homelessness. It comes on the heels of a voter-approved initiative in Los Angeles and new proposals from Chicago to Massachusetts.THE PROPOSALIf approved, the measure would add a 3% tax on residential property sales of $1 million or more — with no tax on the...

Child custody dispute leads to police shooting, pursuit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:56:27 GMT

Newly released video by the Los Angeles Police Department shows an attempted murder and a police chase that ends in a crash, all stemming from a child custody dispute.  The incident occurred on Oct. 1 when Harbor Division officers responded to calls of a child custody dispute in the parking lot of a Target store at Gaffey Street and Capitol Drive in San Pedro, according to a LAPD news release. In the video, the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Miesha Scott, is having a discussion with officers about why she’s refusing to return her 5-year-old son to his foster parents following a visitation.  “I’m having a hard time co-parenting with my cousin here,” Scott is heard saying in the video. The 39-year-old tells officers that she’s distressed and as they question her about her son’s legal guardian, she becomes agitated. Police then call the Department of Children and Family Services, who confirm that Scott does not have custody, all of this while her 5-year-old is sitting in ...