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From sun hats to comfortable shoes: A guide to the Hajj

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

By Riazat Butt | Associated PressMECCA, Saudi Arabia — Straw hats, cross-body bags, and collapsible chairs: These are just some of the essentials Muslims bring to the Hajj pilgrimage.Spiritually, the five-day Hajj is awe-inspiring for the faithful, an experience they say brings them closer to God and to the entire Muslim world.Physically, it’s grueling. Pilgrims walk outdoors for hours in broiling heat around holy sites in Mecca and the surrounding desert. They are caught in unimaginable and overwhelming crowds, all trying to get to the same place. Barriers directing the traffic mean that if you miss your turn, you might walk hours more to get where you want to be.So the more than 2 million pilgrims don’t just learn the complicated rules of how to properly perform the rituals, which began Monday. They also pick up helpful hints and tricks of the trade to get by, learned from other hajjis — as those who have completed the pilgrimage are known.Here’s a look at what t...

Contra Costa DA: Fraud, conspiracy was rampant at Concord construction company

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

Contra Costa prosecutors have charged five people from two Bay Area construction companies with fraud and conspiracy charges, District Attorney’s Office officials said.All five were arraigned Friday and pleaded not guilty, DA spokesperson Ted Asregadoo said early Monday.The charges filed in March arose from two separate complaints, according to a statement from Asregadoo.Gilbert Guiotti, 60, and Christopher Vieira, 62, were charged with operating Centrox Construction, of San Bruno, as a shell company to route unlawful payments to unlicensed subcontractors for three members of a Concord company, according to Asregadoo and court documents.Those three members — 57-year-old Candido Silva; 42-year-old Itamar De Morais Jr. and 42-year-old Irma Ruiz-Alarcon — were from Atlas Pavers and are alleged to have paid more than $12 million to unlicensed and misclassified construction crews from 2016-19, according to court documents.Prosecutors allege the trio misclassified worker...

Shell oil pipeline spill fouls farms, river in Niger Delta

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

By Taiwo Adebayo | Associated PressABUJA, Nigeria — A new oil spill at a Shell facility in Nigeria has contaminated farmland and a river, upending livelihoods in the fishing and farming communities in part of the Niger Delta, which has long endured environmental pollution caused by the oil industry.The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, or NOSDRA, told The Associated Press that the spill came from the Trans-Niger Pipeline operated by Shell that crosses through communities in the Eleme area of Ogoniland, a region where the London-based energy giant has faced decadeslong local pushback to its oil exploration.The volume of oil spilled has not been determined, but activists have published images of polluted farmland, water surfaces blighted by oil sheens and dead fish mired in sticky crude.While spills are frequent in the region due to vandalism from oil thieves and a lack of maintenance to pipelines, according to the U.N. Environmental Program, activists call this a R...

Serpentine Pavilion helps draw visits to downtown San Jose block party

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

SAN JOSE — A curving pavilion that’s an eye-catching structure in downtown San Jose was a focal point in a crowded SoFA district block party, the second such recent event designed to spur activities in the city’s urban core.Numerous visitors strolled along First Street in downtown San Jose during a block party on June 22 that was spurred by two real estate entrepreneurs and the Urban Vibrancy Institute.Development entrepreneurs Gary Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga, principal executives and co-founders of San Jose-based real estate firm Urban Community have teamed up with the urban vibrancy group to launch a series of block parties in the city’s downtown.A painter, visitor and musicians are seen next to the Serpentine Pavilion at 350 South First Street in downtown San Jose, one of the events during a SoFA block party, June 2023. (George Avalos/Bay Area News Group)People gather at a night market at 500 South First Street in downtown San Jose, one of the even...

$1.50 bridge toll hike? Bay Area drivers could be on the hook to help bail out BART and other transit

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

Bay Area drivers could soon be on the hook to help bail out BART and other transit agencies struggling to recover from the pandemic under a new plan that would hike bridge tolls $1.50, lawmakers plan to announce at a news conference this morning.The proposal comes amid optimism that Gov. Gavin Newsom will accept basic terms of a short-term transit bailout in the upcoming budget expected to be finalized this week.The toll hike legislation by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, calls for a $1.50 toll increase for crossing state-owned bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area through 2028 and to allocate proceeds to Bay Area transit operators that have seen revenues plummet since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.Lawmakers are expected to detail the proposal at an 11:30 a.m. news conference at the state Capitol.The bridge toll increase would apply to seven state-owned toll bridges managed by the Bay Area Toll Authority: The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Antioch, Carquinez, Dumbart...

Supreme Court allows lawsuits over sexual abuse against Ohio State

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a decision that allows more than 230 men to sue Ohio State University over decades-old sexual abuse by a university doctor, the late Richard Strauss.Two cases involving the abuse were on a list of many cases the court said it would not hear. And, as is typical, the court did not comment in saying it would not hear the cases.Ohio State University had urged the court to review a ruling by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that revived lawsuits that had been dismissed. The men who sued are among hundreds of former student-athletes and other alumni who say they were abused by Strauss, who worked at the school from 1978 to 1998.They say university officials failed to stop him despite complaints raised as early as the late 1970s. Many of them allege Strauss abused them during required physicals and other medical exams at campus athletic facilities, a student health center, his home and an off-campus clinic.Strauss killed himself...

Moscow tries to project stability as Wagner chief remains defiant

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

Associated PressThe leader of the Wagner mercenary group defended his short-lived insurrection in a boastful, taunting audio statement Monday as the Kremlin tried to project stability, with authorities releasing a video of the defense minister reviewing troops in Ukraine.In an 11-minute audio statement, Yevgeny Prigozhin said he acted to prevent the destruction of his private military company, Wagner, and wasn’t seeking to stage a coup. “We started our march because of an injustice,” he said, giving no details about where he was or what his plans were.The feud between the Wagner Group leader and Russia’s military brass had festered throughout the war, erupting into a mutiny over the weekend when mercenaries left Ukraine to seize a military headquarters in a southern Russian city. They rolled seemingly unopposed for hundreds of miles toward Moscow before turning around after less than 24 hours on Saturday.The Kremlin said it had made a deal for Prigozhin to mo...

Aston Martin strikes deal with Bay Area-based Lucid to help make EVs

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

New York  — British ultra-luxury sports car maker Aston Martin has signed a deal with Lucid Group, the Newark, California-based electric luxury car startup. Lucid will provide electric motors under the arrangement and battery systems for Aston Martin’s future electric vehicles.Aston Martin announced last year that it plans to produce its first fully electric model by 2025. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is the largest shareholder in Lucid and the second-largest in Aston Martin, after billionaire chairman Lawrence Stroll. Chinese automotive conglomerate Geely, which owns Volvo and Lotus, among other brands, doubled its stake in Aston Martin last month to about 17%. And Lucid will take a 3.7% stake in Aston Martin as part of the newly announced arrangement.Lucid said it was selected by Aston Martin “through a competitive process” in its Monday announcement of the deal. In total, the contracts with Aston Martin are worth more than $450 million, according to Lucid. Aston Martin p...

Moments leading up to deadly Oakland Koreatown shooting caught on video

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

(KRON) -- Surveillance video obtained by KRON4 captures the moments leading up to a deadly shooting in Oakland's Koreatown last week, in which a delivery person was killed. The shooting occurred just before 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the 400 block of 26th Street between Telegraph Avenue and Broadway, near a Target location.In the video, a man and a woman can be seen walking their dog past another man, who looks like he's trying to deliver flowers. The couple stops walking and pauses for a moment before the man hands the dog leash off to the woman. 15-year-old shot in Santa Rosa Saturday night has died, police say gang-related The man then walks over to the delivery man and the two begin fighting. He attacks the delivery man at one point, who responds by throwing his flowers. That's when the man who was walking the dog takes out a gun and shoots the delivery man.The man who fired the shot can be seen running away in the video.The delivery man later died at the hospital. Police say t...

Severe Thunderstorm Watch: When wind and hail are expected to hit DC area

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:18:42 GMT

Listen to WTOP on the 8’s for the latest weather updates. The D.C. region is under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch as strong storms are expected to roll in Monday evening.The watch from the National Weather Service — which means conditions are favorable for severe storms — goes until 9 p.m. The watch covers D.C., all of Northern Virginia and Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland.The weather service said the storms could include scattered damaging wind gusts up to 65 mph and large pingpong ball-sized hail.The storms are expected to develop in West Virginia and move east-northeast toward the Interstate 95 corridor later Monday afternoon.Severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon with localized damaging wind gusts and large hail being the primary threats. Please stay weather aware, and be ready to seek shelter if warnings are issued. pic.twitter.com/cw9lnHTCmC— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) June 26, 2023“The evening com...