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What is it like living in Mecca? For residents, Islam’s holiest sites are simply home

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — For Zainab Abdu, the holiest sites in Islam were the backdrop for her weekends growing up.Raised in Mecca, Abdu remembers roller-skating with friends near the Grand Mosque where the Kaaba is located. The desert plains and valleys that throng with pilgrims every year are where, in the off season, she and family and friends had picnics, rode horses and played soccer.“The Haram (Grand Mosque) is my home,” said the 29-year-old pharmacist. “It’s my childhood. But people can’t imagine how normal life is for us. We do things that everyone else does.”Mecca is Islam’s holiest city and a focal point for followers of the faith. It’s the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, where Muslims believe he first received God’s revelations of the Quran. It’s the location of the Kaaba, the black, cube-shaped structure that Muslims around the world turn to five times a day when praying. It’s also where around 2 million people live, work, and do ordinary activities like laundry, groce...

Arguments over South Carolina abortion ban returns to newly all-male state Supreme Court

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The right to an abortion in South Carolina is back before the state’s highest court as Republicans try to restore a ban that was overturned earlier this year — this time in front of the only state Supreme Court in the nation made up entirely of men.Tuesday’s oral arguments will mark the second time since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal protections last summer that lawyers for the state and providers will present their arguments to the state Supreme Court. A 3-2 majority in January tossed a similar law that banned abortion once cardiac activity is detected, or at about six weeks and before most people know they are pregnant.Republican Gov. Henry McMaster recently signed into law a similar ban that starts once cardiac activity is detected. That restriction has been temporarily placed on hold as the case involving the new ban moves through the courts. Meanwhile, abortion remains legal through 22 weeks in this conservative state.The circumsta...

Verdict due for 5 protesters accused of blocking Thai queen’s car. Law allows the death penalty

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai court is to deliver a verdict Wednesday in the case of five people accused of impeding the queen’s motorcade during a pro-democracy march in 2020, an offense that if judged egregious could bring a death sentence.Hundreds of criminal cases have arisen from the student-led protests in recent years, but the five defendants are the only ones charged with violating Article 110 of the Criminal Code, which in part prohibits an “act to cause harm to the liberty of the queen, the heir apparent and the regent.” There is uncertainty whether that part of the law has been used in any previous case.The incident in question followed a rally in Bangkok on Oct. 14, 2020, the anniversary of a popular uprising in 1973 that led to the fall of a decadelong military dictatorship.As hundreds of protesters marched to Government House, where the prime minister’s offices are, a royal motorcade with a limousine carrying Queen Suthida, wife of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and his son, Prince...

Victims confront Colorado Springs gay nightclub killer, calling him a monster and a coward

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — One-by-one, nearly two dozen victims stood in a courtroom to confront the person who pleaded guilty to murdering five people and injuring 17 others in an attack last year on a nightclub that served as a sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs.Some cried, others seethed with anger. They called him coward, monster, terrorist.Family and friends of the deceased and survivors who witnessed Anderson Lee Aldrich unleash terror at Club Q a week before Thanksgiving made sure during Monday’s emotional hearing that Aldrich won’t start a life prison sentence without confronting the truth of the many lives ruined or inalterably changed.“This monster next to me decided to come into my job and our community safe space and begin hunting us down as if our lives were meaningless,” said Michael Anderson, who was bartending that night. “He has broken this community into pieces that may never be repaired.”Aldrich pleaded guilty in state court to five c...

One of America’s first elected lesbian governors is visiting Ireland on LBGTQ rights anniversary

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey — one of the country’s first two openly lesbian elected governors and a descendant of Irish immigrants — has been invited to address the Irish Senate on Tuesday to help commemorate the 30th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland.In 1993, Ireland passed a law decriminalizing homosexual acts. It would take the predominantly Catholic nation another two decades before it legalized same-sex marriage, by popular vote in 2015.“As the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Irish immigrants and the first openly LGBTQ+ governor of Massachusetts, I’m honored to have been invited to address Seanad Éireann about the importance of developing our economic ties, standing up for our values and protecting the rights of everyone in our communities,” Healey said in a written statement.Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage, as a result of a 2004 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, more than a...

Dash camera captures 710 Freeway crash that killed 5 people

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

Dash camera footage captured the horrific crash that ended the lives of five people, at least two of them children, on the 710 Freeway in Long Beach early Monday morning.Tati, who did not want her last name revealed, told KTLA that she was driving to her job as a barista around 4 a.m. when the Hyundai Sonata sped past her in the fast lane.Seconds later in the distance, her dash camera footage shows the Sonata slam into an attenuator near the 91 Freeway interchange and explode into flames.Dash camera footage showed the Hyundai Sonata speeding before hitting an attenuator, killing 5 people. June 26, 2023. (Tati)“It was pretty bad. That area is pretty dark so I didn’t see much, but I did see the flames start ... I was just scared,” said Tati.According to the California Highway Patrol, six people were riding in the car. Five died instantly in the crash. Some were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected.Authorities have identified two of the victims as George Dobbs and Ariahh Slemaker, bo...

Triple digit temps to hit Southern California by Fourth of July

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

With a high-pressure system building over Southern California, temperatures are forecast to heat up Thursday and into the weekend, culminating in a heat wave over the Fourth of July holiday, the National Weather Service reports.  Wednesday is likely to be the last of the cool summer days. Temps begin an upward climb of 5-10 degrees Thursday with the heat expected to continue marching upward in the long-term forecast.  “This abrupt shift from many months of unseasonably cool weather (Wednesday will likely tie the all-time record of consecutive May-June days below 80 degrees in downtown L.A.) to unusually hot weather will be difficult, especially for those more sensitive to heat, outdoor workers, and people recreating outdoors in the hottest part of the day,” the NWS said.   KTLA California weather homepage By Friday, temps are expected to hit the triple digits in the valleys of San Luis Obispo County and the Antelope Valley. Interior coastal valleys may see temperatu...

Popular L.A. restaurant staff demands change amid rising crime 

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

The La Boheme restaurant staff is demanding immediate change amid rising crime in the West Hollywood area.  On April 25, a group of suspects wielding guns was caught on camera robbing three people in the alleyway of La Boheme on Santa Monica Boulevard and Orlando Avenue. Since then, the restaurant has reportedly been vandalized five times. A woman identified only as Natalie, who does LA Boheme’s events and marketing and coordinating, says the restaurant cameras also capture people attempting to break into the restaurant, trespassing and other unwanted intrusions.“For instance, there’s homeless people coming into the patio part of the restaurant, sleeping on couches,” she said. “I don’t know if they have a weapon on them. I don’t know their mental state. There’s also people doing crack in the back alley. It’s really concerning. I just don’t feel safe.”Restaurant staff say customers and employees fear for their safety and are afraid to come to work. Lucian Tudor, C...

San Jose smash-and-grab spree caught on video

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – Neighbors in South San Jose say three men waved a gun in the air during a smash-and-grab spree. They are believed to have been driving a stolen car while breaking other car windows. Then, they reportedly almost ran over an elderly woman.Several neighbors shared video from their surveillance cameras online and found out the three men were riding around swerving and wreaking havoc across several streets. One neighbor said the car they were driving might have been their own stolen vehicle.Video above shows part of the ordeal Monday morning when, at around 11 a.m., they were seen seemingly at random breaking about four different cars’ windows. Moments leading up to deadly Oakland Koreatown shooting caught on video They were seen across southside San Jose along Calero, Santa Teresa, and Cuttle Streets, and Lean Avenue. KRON4 was told at least one neighbor had their belongings stolen, while others had nothing inside but now face the financial burden of replacin...

San Jose Fire Department on high alert for fireworks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:45:11 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) – The Fourth of July is still a week away, but some Bay Area residents may already be hearing fireworks. That’s a concern for firefighters across the Bay Area, including San Jose -- where fireworks are illegal.It’s about to get really hot in San Jose, and firefighters are warning that heat, mixed with fireworks, is a recipe for disaster.The San Jose Fire Department has been dealing with people putting on illegal fireworks shows almost every night. These Bay Area cities could see 90-plus degree temps this week “In Santa Clara County, and specifically San Jose, all fireworks are illegal,” said James Dobson, SJFD deputy fire chief. The fire department clarified that fireworks are only legal within the City of GilroyDobson says that by this time last year, the county received more than 800 requests for illegal fireworks and issued 13 citations. And Dobson says someone was burned after setting off fireworks.“Typically we have injuries on a yearly basis,” he said...