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Pope visits a once-troubled neighborhood in Lisbon to draw attention to the church’s charitable side

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pope Francis visited a once-troubled and crime-plagued neighborhood in Portugal’s capital on Friday to draw attention to the charitable side of the Catholic Church and to press his case for a church that goes to the peripheries and welcomes everyone.Francis continued his busy schedule in Portugal, hearing confessions of some young people who were in Lisbon for World Youth Day, the big Catholic festival, and then having a festive pasta and steak lunch with others. Later Friday, he was presiding over the solemn Way of the Cross procession recreating Christ’s crucifixion.Francis visited a community center in the city’s Serafina neighborhood, which sits beneath a giant 18th-century aqueduct that is a symbol of the bounty of the bounty that gold from Portugal’s Brazilian colony once afforded the country.Two decades ago, drug and crime problems dogged the neighborhood, but Serafina has tried to put that past behind it, thanks in part to efforts by churc...

Officials urge people in Slovenia to stay home after torrential rain and flash kill at least 3

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Torrential rains and heavy floods ravaged Slovenia on Friday, killing at least three people, cutting off roads and bridges and surging into buildings.The Slovenian environmental agency raised the weather alert to the highest level after a month’s amount of rain fell within 24 hours in the northern, northwestern and central parts of the small European country.As rain continued to fall Friday, authorities warned of more floods in other areas because of swiftly swelling rivers. Authorities ordered evacuations of several thousand people in parts of the town of Celje along the surging Savinja River, including the old town area. Upstream in the town of Ljubno, the same river swept away houses and caused landslides. Northern Slovenia’s Koroska region, bordering Austria, was hit the hardest, with bridges and roads destroyed and the water supply cut off in some areas. Local authorities asked the Austrian government to stand ready to provide hospital car...

S&P/TSX composite index up, U.S. markets also on the rise

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock market ticked upward in late-morning trading alongside U.S. markets, which also got a lift.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 175.16 points at 20,295.90.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 172.21 points at 35,388.10. The S&P 500 index was up 23.14 points at 4,525.03, while the Nasdaq composite was up 104.69 points at 14,064.41.The Canadian dollar traded for 74.87 cents US compared with 74.90 cents US on Thursday.The September crude oil contract was up 55 cents at US$82.10 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up two cents at US$2.58 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was up US$6.60 at US$1975.40 an ounce and the September copper contract was down four cents at US$3.86 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Cleanup from chemical spill and fire that shut down I-24 in Tennessee could take days

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Cleanup from a chemical spill and fire near Interstate 24 in Tennessee will take several days, after the interstate was shut down and nearby homes evacuated overnight on Thursday.Emergency responders were called to the scene just after 9 p.m. when a tractor-trailer carrying organic peroxide and sodium hydroxide caught fire in a shopping center parking lot in Chattanooga, according to the Chattanooga Fire Department. In addition to burning the semitrailer, flaming liquid chemicals spilled into the parking lot. The vapors from the burning chemicals can cause skin and respiratory problems, so all homes and businesses within a half-mile radius were evacuated, according to the fire department.A special truck from the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport responded to the scene with a piercing nozzle that punctured the trailer and injected foam into the truck to put out the fire. In addition, The Tennessee Department of Transportation brought 80 tons of dirt to stop t...

An American billionaire says he’ll stop funding the think tank behind Israel’s judicial overhaul

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — An American billionaire and major donor to a Jerusalem think tank backing the Israeli government’s divisive judicial overhaul said on Friday that he would stop giving to the conservative group.The decision by Arthur Dantchik, a 65-year-old libertarian multibillionaire from New York, to cut funding to the Kohelet Policy Forum reflects the scope of the unrelenting protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to weaken the Supreme Court.“I believe what is most critical at this time is for Israel to focus on healing and national unity,” Dantchik said in a statement shared with The Associated Press announcing his move to halt funding. “Throughout my life, I have supported a diverse array of organizations that promote individual liberties and economic freedoms for all people.”The protests have raged in Israel for seven months, exposing deep-seated social tensions and thrusting the country into a crisis over the future of its democra...

Vehicles set alight in Cape Town amid commuter chaos caused by minibus taxi strike

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Vehicles were set on fire in the South African city of Cape Town on Friday after a dispute between taxi drivers and local authorities earlier in the week sparked days of disorder.South African media reported that the driver of a city bus was shot and wounded in the unrest. Police didn’t confirm that.But there have been “several incidents of public violence,” police said, and buses, trucks and private vehicles were set alight in a number of areas in and on the outskirts of South Africa’s second-largest city.Cape Town police spokesman Col. Andre Traut said that officers were on high alert for more trouble over the weekend.Drivers of minibus taxis — South Africa’s main means of transport for city commuters — had announced a weeklong city-wide strike in Cape Town on Thursday in response to what they described as heavy-handed tactics by police and city authorities. The drivers claim they have had their vehicles impounded for minor of...

How rogue Mississippi officers tried to cover up their torture of 2 Black men

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Men who had sworn an oath to protect and serve were huddled on the back porch of a Mississippi home as Michael Corey Jenkins lay on the floor, blood gushing from his mutilated tongue where one of the police officers shoved a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.The roughly 90-minute period of terror preceding the shooting began late on Jan. 24 after a white neighbor called Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman inside a Braxton home. McAlpin tipped off Deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies who called themselves “The Goon Squad,” a moniker they adopted because of their willingness to use excessive force. “Are y’all available for a mission?” Dedmon asked. They were. A little more than six months after the racist attack on Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker, six former officers pleaded guilty on Thursday.The officers included Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Bre...

Ukraine says its drones damaged a Russian warship, showing Kyiv’s growing naval capability

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine said its sea drones struck a major Russian port Friday and damaged a warship in an attack that underlined Kyiv’s growing capabilities as the Black Sea becomes an increasingly important battleground in the war.The strike on Novorossiysk — which halted maritime traffic for a few hours — marks the first time a commercial Russian port has been targeted in the nearly 18-month-old conflict. The Black Sea port — which hosts a naval base, shipbuilding yards and an oil terminal and is key for exports — lies about 110 kilometers (about 60 nautical miles) east of Crimea, where Russia’s Defense Ministry said it thwarted another attack overnight. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the country’s navy carried out the attack that damaged Olenegorsky Gornyak, a landing vessel of the Russian navy, according to an official with the security service. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give the information to...

'Beat the Nun' driving contest returns at Kennedy Golf Invitational

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

CHICAGO — For the sixth year, St. Coletta's "Beat the Nun" driving contest is returning to the annual Kennedy Golf Invitational.Sister Maryann Dosen is returning Aug. 21 to benefit St. Coletta — which is a non-profit that provides educational, residential and vocational training services to more than 300 children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.“God gave me the gift of hitting the golf ball long and straight, so I’m going to use it to help benefit others,” Sister Dosen said.For $25, golfers can see if they have what it takes to “Beat the Nun.”Those who out drive are entered in a raffle to win a Bettinardi putter.Tickets to participate in the day-long Kennedy Invitational are $600 for a single golfer or $2,400 for a foursome.

Man cheated Home Depot out of $300K with door-return scam, prosecutors say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:24 GMT

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Connecticut man was given nearly $300,000 in fraudulent Home Depot credit by walking into stores in several states, taking expensive doors, and then returning them without a receipt, federal prosecutors allege.Alexandre Henrique Costa-Mota, 26, of West Hartford, Connecticut, was detained without bail after a judge entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf this week in a Rhode Island federal court. Costa-Mota is facing charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. attorney's office in Providence said in a statement Wednesday.An email seeking comment was left with Costa-Mota's attorney. How much does the average Costco shopper spend per visit? Costco reveals the answer Costa-Mota dressed to appear like a contractor and entered the stores empty-handed, prosecutors allege in court documents. He would then load a door or several doors, worth hundreds of dollars each, onto a lumber cart, then take them to the service department and return the...