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Top 25 for 2024: Best new theme park rides and attractions

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

It’s never too early to look ahead at what’s on tap for next year and 2024 is already shaping up as a good year for roller coaster enthusiasts, thrill ride junkies and theme park fans.Consider our Top 25 for 2024 to be an evolving and ever-changing list of the best new rides and attractions coming to theme parks in the United States and around the globe in the coming year.Early announcements suggest 2024 will once again be a good year for theme park enthusiasts. Many parks have already begun construction on 2024 projects while other parks have only announced plans or launched teaser campaigns.Several Southern California theme parks have announced new attractions that have not yet been given opening dates — suggesting they could be pegged for 2025 or later. Universal Studios Hollywood has started construction on a new Fast & Furious coaster while Disneyland has teased a new Avengers E-ticket ride and Avatar experience.We’ll update our Top 25 list for 2024 as new rides and attract...

California said yes, Maine said no: Trump ballot fights threaten voting chaos just weeks before Iowa

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

By Gregory Korte, Stephanie Lai and Greg Stohr | BloombergFormer President Donald Trump’s latest legal woes are threatening to throw the Republican primary contest into chaos just weeks before the party’s voters begin the nominating process with the Iowa caucuses.Challenges from voters, seeking to keep Trump from running again over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, are likely to end up before the US Supreme Court, with pressure already mounting for the justices to act quickly to quell the legal chaos.On Thursday, Maine’s top election official moved to remove Trump from the ballot, citing his conduct after the 2020 vote, culminating in the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Hours later in California, election officials said Trump would stay on their ballot.Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, said the ruling in Maine — the second state to bar Trump, following Colorado — set the stage for an “epic...

A Hong Kong pro-independence activist seeks asylum in the UK after serving time over security law

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — An activist who advocated for Hong Kong independence and was imprisoned under a sweeping national security law has fled to Britain to seek political asylum, according to his social media posts on Friday. Tony Chung was among the first people convicted under the Beijing-imposed law introduced after the 2019 pro-democracy protests. He was found guilty of secession and money laundering in 2020 and sentenced to 43 months in prison. The intimidation faced by Hong Kong dissidents like Chung reflects the drastic erosion of the freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to China in 1997. But both Beijing and Hong Kong have hailed the security law as bringing stability to the city.Chung detailed in two Instagram posts how he was under a supervision order after his release from prison, banned from public speaking. He was asked to meet with national security authorities regularly and report on his whereabouts, people he had met and conversations he had. He...

Britain and Spain earn victories as United Cup tennis tournament starts in Australia

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Kati Boulter and Cameron Norrie helped Britain beat host Australia on the opening day of the United Cup tennis tournament, while Spain won the decisive mixed double to edge Brazil 2-1.The tournament involving mixed teams from 18 countries is being played in Perth and Sydney as a warmup ahead of the Australian Open, with a format featuring a men’s and women’s singles match played ahead of a mixed doubles.Boulter gave Britain a decisive 2-0 lead in the opening Group C match in Perth when she beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 6-4. Norrie had earlier silenced a packed home crowd with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (2) win over Alex de Minaur.“I really had to dig deep and play very brave in that third set,” Norrie said. “It is always tough playing Alex. He is a good friend of mine and we always have battles. I knew I would have to run a lot today and I did. It was a great atmosphere.”Matthew Ebden and Storm Hunter gave Australia a consolation win when they teamed up to win the mixed do...

Stock market today: Stocks slip on the final trading day of a surprisingly good year on Wall Street

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks edged lower on the final day of trading for 2023 in what has been a surprisingly strong year of gains on Wall Street.Yet the so-called Magnificent 7 companies — Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla — accounted for about two-thirds of the gains in the S&P 500 this year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Nvidia leads the group with a gain of about 240%. The S&P 500 index fell 0.3% Friday and is sitting just below the all-time high it set in January of 2022. It is up 24% for the year.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 44 points, or less than 0.1%, to 37,665, a day after hitting another record. It is up more than 12% for the year.The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.5% as of 10:56 a.m. Eastern and is up 43% for the year thanks largely to the movement of those marquee companies.Every major index more than recovered their losses from a dismal 2022. Smaller company stocks had a late rally, but also erased losses from last year...

Ohio’s GOP governor vetoes a ban on gender-affirming care and transgender athletes playing girls sports

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s GOP governor vetoes a ban on gender-affirming care and transgender athletes playing girls sports.Source

Poland says ‘everything indicates’ a Russian missile briefly entered its airspace and left

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s defense forces said an unknown object entered the country’s airspace Friday morning from the direction of Ukraine and then vanished off radars, and that all indications pointed to it being a Russian missile.“Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace. It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from allies” in NATO, said Poland’s defense chief, Gen. Wiesław Kukuła.Poland’s defense forces said the object penetrated about 40 kilometers (24 miles) into its airspace and left it after less than three minutes. The defense forces said both its radar and NATO radar confirmed that the object left Polish airspace.Kukula said steps were being taken to verify those findings and eliminate the possibility of a technical error.There was no comment from Russian officials.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on X, formerly Twitter, that he had spoken with Poland’s presid...

BSO searching for 12-year-old boy missing from Tamarac

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

Broward Sheriff’s Office officials are asking for the public’s help in locating a 12-year-old boy missing from Tamarac.Detectives said Isaiah Lopez was last seen around 11 a.m. on Thursday at the 4500 block of Treehouse Lane in Tamarac. Lopez is approximately 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 140 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a purple shirt and black shorts.Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact BSO Detective Leonard Charla at 954-321-4274 or the BSO non-emergency number at 954-764-HELP (4357).

Police investigating after apparent case of domestic violence leaves family of 3 dead in Dover

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

Police are investigating after three victims were found deceased in a Dover home Thursday.Dover Police responded to a call at 7:24 Thursday evening from a family member of the victims who had stopped by to check in on them at their home on Wilson’s Way.Responding officers found an adult male, an adult female, and their teenage daughter dead. After securing the scene, police contacted Massachusetts State Police’s Detective unit to join the investigation.The three victims were identified as married couple Rakesh Kamal, 57, and Teena Kamal, 54, and their daughter Ariana Kamal, 18, a student at Middlebury College and graduate on Milton Academy.Authorities said the couple had no other children but that the family has relatives in the country and abroad who were notified before details were made public.—Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey speaks about the Dover tragedy—“This is very unfortunate and our hearts go out to the entire Kamal family for this...

The NFL’s oldest rivalry continued at Soldier Field. A look back at the teams that started it all in 1920.

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 22:22:18 GMT

The oldest rivalry in the NFL doesn’t include a team from Green Bay.This matchup began in 1920 when two professional football teams called Illinois home. That’s when the Chicago Bears, then known as the Decatur Staleys, faced the Racine Cardinals — named after Racine Avenue where their home venue was Normal Park and not for the city in Wisconsin — for the first time.The Cardinals started in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club on Chicago’s South Side before becoming the Chicago Cardinals in 1922, then moved to Missouri to become the St. Louis Cardinals in 1960, and then to Arizona in 1988. Two winning seasons were capped by championships for the Cardinals in 1925 (though it is still controversial) and 1947. These remain the franchise’s only titles.The team’s color has a history too. The Cardinals first used borrowed maroon jerseys from the University of Chicago.The Bears hold the overall advantage in the series: 60-29-6 in regular-season games. ...