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At UN climate talks, cameras are everywhere. Many belong to Emirati company with a murky history

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — At the United Nations’ COP28 climate summit in Dubai, surveillance cameras seem to be everywhere you turn. And that has some worried.It’s unclear how the United Arab Emirates, an autocratic federation of seven sheikhdoms, uses the footage it gathers across its extensive network. However, the country already has deployed facial recognition at immigration gates at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel. Surveillance cameras increasingly are a part of modern life. However, experts believe the UAE has one of the highest per capita concentrations of such cameras on Earth — allowing authorities to potentially track a visitor throughout their trip to a country without the civil liberty protections of Western nations.“We’ve just assumed at every point in this conference that someone is watching, someone is listening,” said Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch focused on the Emirates. She and other act...

Wireless companies’ spectrum gains could have lasting effect on 5G quality, pricing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

As an underdog in Canada’s recent spectrum auction, Execulink Telecom Inc. CEO Ian Stevens acknowledged that “inexperience and budget” were working against his company compared with some of the bigger players.The event, which spanned a month, featured 22 telecom providers bidding on licences for wireless spectrum, the electromagnetic frequencies that enable smartphone communications.When it wrapped up late last month, Canadian wireless companies had collectively spent about $2.1 billion on chunks of 5G bandwidth in the federal government’s most recent spectrum auction. Though cellphone owners don’t often think about these technicalities, experts say the results could affect future prices and the quality of their mobile phone and internet plans.“Make no mistake, the cost of your cellular service includes the cost of the spectrum that has been purchased over the years for the service provider that you choose,” said Stevens, whose Woodstock, Ont.-based pro...

Massive fire at historic, abandoned Emerson High School in Gary

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

GARY, Ind. -- Firefighters battled a fire at the former historic Emerson High School in Gary Saturday night. This would be the second time the abandoned school caught fire in the past six months.The fire broke out at the school near 7th Avenue and Carolina Street just before 10 p.m. Saturday night. Firefighters said smoke could be seen miles away.The building roof collapsed due to flames, yet firefighters said they do not believe anyone was in the building at the time of the fire.Firefighters from multiple northwest Indiana communities including Merryville and Munster fought the flames until 3 a.m. Sunday morning.A fire broke out at the same abandoned school June 14 and the school is on the national register of historic places. Residents still waiting to move back into apartments nearly 1 year after South Side high-rise fire The school was known for a 1927 boycott after 18 African American students were transferred to the school that led to a strike against desegregation and a st...

Much of the week cooler than normal

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Today will be the first day this month with high temperatures below normal. On a day where the normal high is 65° today's afternoon maximums will peak in the middle to upper 50s.The air is dry with morning dew points in the teens and 20s. The dry air will combine with lower wind speeds overnight and the clear sky to send lows Monday morning to the upper 20s to low 30s. The forecast low at Camp Mabry is 32°. If this happens it will be the first time this season where the low at Camp Mabry has dropped to freezing.First freeze forecast at Camp MabrySoutherly wind will warm the air to the lower half of the 60s Monday.Peak wind gusts after Saturday's cold front averaged 25 mph to 32 mph. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport had a peak of 37 mph, Camp Mabry 32 mph.Wind gusts will rise to 20 to 25 mph in some areas early this afternoon before lowering late.Gusty winds will subside after 4 p.m. Those strong wind did cause an increase in the cedar count. Cedar is in medium...

Austin police investigating downtown homicide early Sunday

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Detectives with the Austin Police Department are investigating a homicide that happened in the 600 block of Congress Avenue just after 4 a.m. Sunday morning.In a media briefing Sunday morning, police said they received the call at 4:17 a.m. and were on the scene within five minutes and began performing life-saving measures. Austin-Travis County EMS medics arrived and transported the person to Dell Seton Medical Center, where they died from their injuries. Detectives remain downtown gathering information as part of their preliminary investigation, police said. They added a person of interest has been identified and detectives are talking with them to figure out what happened. It's unclear right now what happened leading up to the stabbing, police added.

How Austin tries to slow speeders and why one neighbor thinks it's 'useless' on his road

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — With his measuring tape in action, James Harding believes he’s measuring futility.“Let’s say it’s 12 feet,” Harding read off the tape. He was measuring the width of a bike lane on his street, Greystone Drive in Northwest Hills.“That’s 12 feet that got taken away from the people,” he said.Taken away, he believes, because the city installed flexible traffic poles, or delineators that border the bike/pedestrian lane. A few are even installed in the lane.Northwest Hills Resident James Harding measures the distance he believes is wasted on Greystone Drive's bike/pedestrian lane because of traffic delineators (KXAN Photo/Mike Rush)The city of Austin installed 8 delineators on this stretch of Greystone to keep drivers from swerving to avoid speed cushions (KXAN Photo/Mike Rush)Neighbors James Harding and Bennett Brooke both believe the delineators are unnecessary and dangerous (KXAN Photo/Mike Rush)Brooke has contacted the city several times trying to get them removed but ...

AMBER Alert issued for missing children in San Antonio

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

SAN ANTONIO (KXAN) — San Antonio police are looking for two missing children they believe are in immediate danger.An AMBER Alert was issued for four-year-old Milo Ortiz, a white male described as 3'6", 41 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes who was last seen wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt, gray sweatpants and sneakers. Police are also looking for two-year-old Sienna Ortiz, a white female described as 2'6", 29 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes who was last seen wearing an aqua blue blouse with pink figurines on it as well as white Converse sneakers.English-Flyer-SAPD-OrtizDownloadSAPD is searching for 22-year-old Demetri Ortiz, a white male who's 5'7", 130 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. The last time he was seen, he wore a white shirt with black shorts and had a tattoo on his chest. Police said Demetri is driving a black 2015 Chrysler 300 with the license plate number LPR4543. He was last seen in San Antonio. Anyone with information is asked to call SAPD at 210-207-7660.

Other voices: Voters are right to complain about inflation

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

Against the odds, the Federal Reserve’s effort to guide the U.S. economy to a soft landing — reducing inflation without causing a recession — seems to be working. Recent data show a still-growing economy, a gently cooling jobs market and a slower pace of price increases in services. Investors are growing more confident that the Fed won’t need to raise its policy rate any higher — and might start cutting in another few months.President Joe Biden’s administration seems baffled that voters aren’t celebrating this accomplishment. Opinion polls show they’re persistently unhappy with the economy. It shouldn’t be a mystery why.Given the surge in inflation following the pandemic — the headline rate of consumer-price inflation peaked at more than 9% in June 2022 — a relatively painless return to price stability would in fact be a notable achievement. But both the Fed and the administration should be cautious about celebrating ...

Volunteers of America: Needs of people living on Colorado streets growing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

One thing employees of Volunteers of America say they know for certain: the needs of people living on Colorado streets are increasing.They range from seasoned all-weather campers to a family of Venezuelan refugee newcomers wearing shorts who wandered up to VOA’s mission downtown at 2877 Lawrence St. recently – as temperatures plunged to 25 degrees. They were among the tens of thousands who found hot meals and a place to stay at VOA facilities around the state. The Venezuelans got warmer clothes, coats, and gloves.Needs are increasing due to “the current times in Colorado and everywhere else in the United States,” VOA vice president Faustine Curry said on her way to a Christmas party with low-income seniors at VOA’s Sunset Towers on Larimer Street. “Costs of living are high. Inflation is high.”The Denver Post Season To Share is the annual holiday fundraising campaign for The Denver Post and The Denver Post Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Grants a...

In Houston, the city’s housing-first roadmap pays off big — but shows challenges facing Denver’s new homeless strategy

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:19:32 GMT

HOUSTON — The apartment complex where Teresa Eddins now lives is so quiet that “you can hear a pin drop” at night, she says — a stark contrast to the constant noise she withstood while living beneath a bridge two years ago.She was one of the first people who moved into a former hotel in Houston that served as a center to help homeless people navigate their way to more stability. She credits the transitional housing facility and programs launched as part of “The Way Home,” the large Texas city’s nationally recognized homelessness-reduction strategy, for the fact that she now lives in an apartment she loves, alongside her adopted dog, Violet. It’s also where she decided to tackle her alcoholism, getting sober.“You don’t ever want to be in those shoes under a bridge — going through a hurricane, going through the cold, going through the winds, going through hot weather, you name it,” recalled Eddins, 63, of her life in 2021, wh...