Author: Grace Thompson

If you still haven t booked yourholiday travel plans, take note: Prices tend to rise the closer you get to the days you re looking totravel. To afford holiday trips, about 50% of respondents are cutting back on other expenses while 49% are picking up discounts and deals,accordingto the 2024 Holiday Travel Outlook by Hopper, a travel site. Some last-minute holiday travelers are leaning into so-calledTravel Tuesdayor the Tuesday after Cyber Monday and Black Friday which falls on Dec. 3 this year. Search interest for Travel Tuesday rose more than 500% from 2021 to 2023,accordingto a recent report by McKinsey and Company. There s a reason why shoppers are searching for the term. Last year, 83% more deals were offered on Travel Tuesday versus Cyber Monday and 92% more than Black Friday, accor...

Pope Francishas suggested the global community should study whetherIsrael s military campaign in Gazaconstitutes agenocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel s conduct in its year-long war. In excerpts published on Sunday from a forthcoming book, the pontiff said some international experts say that what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. We should investigate carefully to assess whether this fits into the technical definition (of genocide) formulated by international jurists and organizations, the pope said in the excerpts, published by Italian daily La Stampa. Last DecemberSouth Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Courtof Justice for allegedly violating the Genocide Convention. In January the judge...

The NBA fined Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball $100,000 Sunday for using offensive and derogatory language during a postgame TV interview. At issue was an anti-gay phrase Ball used when answering a sideline interviewer s question about defending the last shot against Milwaukee s Giannis Antetokounmpo in Charlotte s 115-114 win over the Bucks on Saturday. Hornets coach Charles Lee addressed Ball s remark in his postgame press conference and said Ball was very apologetic. As an organization, that is obviously not something we condone, said Lee, who is in his first season as Charlotte s coach. Our standards and what is required of our players in the environment we create is really important to us. Ball, 23, is averaging 29.6 points through 12 games for the Hornets, ranking fifth in th...

The U.S. auto safety regulator has opened two new probes into potential defects related to Ford vehicles. In separate releases issued Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its Office of Defect Investigations (ODI) was looking into complaints about a seat belt retractor, as well as ones about loss of motive power in recent model-year Ford Broncos and Ford Mavericks. ODI said it had received three complaints about the retractors in model year 2019-20 Ford Expeditions. "The complaints allege hearing a loud sound immediately followed by the seat belt rapidly tightening,"the release says. "The complaints do not allege a crash or impact occurred that may have resulted in the deployment of the pretensioner system. Additionally, the seat belt remains in a locked position ...

The United States imposed sanctions on Monday on an Israeli settler group it accused of helping perpetrate violence in theoccupied West Bank, which has seen a rise in settler attacks on Palestinians. The Amana settler group a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various persons previously sanctioned by the U.S. government and its partners for perpetrating violence in the West Bank, the Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions. The sanctions also target a subsidiary of Amana called Binyanei Bar Amana, described by Treasury as a company that builds and sell homes in Israeli settlements and settler outposts. The sanctions block Americans from any transactions with Amana and freeze its U.S.-held assets. The United Kingdom and Can...

Authorities announced an arrest Monday in thebrutal murder of an exotic dancerwhose body was discovered in a burning car on an Arizona interstate more than a year ago. Sencere Hayes, 22, was taken into custody Nov. 11 in Tennessee in connection with the killing of Mercedes Vega, 22, April 17, 2023, the Maricopa County Sheriff s Office said in a statement. The sheriff s office and local prosecutors are working to extradite Hayes to Arizona, the statement said, adding that the case remains active and under investigation and that no other information would be released. It isn't clear what Hayes has been charged with, where he is being held or whether he has a lawyer to speak on his behalf. Vega s mother, Erika Pillsbury, said that for 19 months she felt her daughter would never see justice. N...

No foul play is suspected in the death of the19-year-old Walmart employeewhose body was found in the store s walk-in oven in Canada last month, police said Monday. Halifax Regional Police had responded on a report of a sudden death to the Walmart at 6990 Mumford Rd. the evening of Oct.19 and found Gursimran Kaur dead in a large walk-in oven belonging to the store s bakery department. The investigation has determined that her death was not suspicious, and there is no evidence of foul play, police said in anews releaseMonday. We conducted several interviews, reviewed video footage, and worked very closely with our partners at Nova Scotia Department of Labor and medical examiner service, Martin Cromwell, public information officer for Halifax Regional Police, said in a video statement. W...

Nearly three years after a couple from India and their two young childrenfroze to deathwhile trying to cross the border from Canada into the U.S., two men on Monday will face trial on human smuggling charges, accused of being part of a criminal network that stretched around the world. Prosecutors say Indian nationalHarshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, ran part of the scheme and recruitedSteve Shand, 50, of Florida, to shuttle migrants across the border. Both men have pleaded not guilty in federal court in Minnesota. They will stand trial before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim, with proceedings expected to last about five days. On Jan. 19, 2022, Shand was allegedly waiting in a truck for 11 migrants, including the family of four from the village of Dingucha in Gujarat state. Prosecutors say 39-y...

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein landed in Beirut on Tuesday for talks with officials on a truce between armed groupHezbollah and Israel, Lebanon s state news agency said, hours after a proposal drafted by Washington won a nod from the Iran-backed group. The visit indicates progress in U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at ending a conflict which spiralled into all-out war in late September, when Israel launched a major offensive againstIran-backed Hezbollah. Both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah have agreed to the U.S. ceasefire proposal that was submitted in writing last week and made some comments on the content, Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, told Reuters on Monday. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Hezbollah endorsed its long-time ally Berri to negotiate o...