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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis booed at vigil as hundreds mourn more racist killings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

By RUSS BYNUM and AARON MORRISON (Associated Press)JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday at prayer vigils and in church, in frustration and exhaustion, to mourn yet another racist attack in America: this one the killing of three Black people in Florida at the hands of a white, 21-year-old man who authorities say left behind white supremacist ramblings that read like “the diary of a madman.”Following services earlier in the day, about 200 people showed up at a Sunday evening vigil a block from the Dollar General store in Jacksonville where officials said Ryan Palmeter opened fire Saturday using guns he bought legally despite a past involuntary commitment for a mental health exam.Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — who is running for the GOP nomination for president, who has loosened gun laws in Florida and who has antagonized civil rights leaders by deriding “wokeness ” — was loudly booed as he addressed the vigil. Ju’...

Chicago baseball report: A wild week for the White Sox, and a big home series set-up for the Cubs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

The Chicago Cubs took care of business in Pittsburgh to set up a huge series at Wrigley Field.They carry momentum into a three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers after winning three of four games against the Pirates. It’s a chance to chip away at the Brewers’ National League Central lead, beginning with Monday night’s series opener in what should be an electric atmosphere.It was a week of change for the White Sox after firing executive vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn on Tuesday. In the release announcing the news, the Sox said they will “begin a search for a single decision-maker to lead the baseball operations department” and anticipate having someone in place “by the end of the season.”Every Monday throughout the season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead for the Cubs and Sox.Seiya Suzuki on a roll since mental resetSometimes watching the game from t...

UK air traffic control says ‘technical issue’ affecting flights on a busy travel day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s air traffic control system said it is experiencing a “technical issue” that could delay flights on Monday, the end of a holiday weekend and a busy day for air travel.National Air Traffic Services said it had “applied traffic flow restrictions to maintain safety” and that engineers were working to find and fix the fault.It did not give an estimate of how long it would take to fix the problem, or what had caused it.European air traffic authority Eurocontrol warned of “very high” delays because of a “flight data processing system failure” in the U.K.Scottish airline Loganair said there had been “a network-wide failure of U.K. air traffic control computer systems.”“Although we are hopeful of being able to operate most intra-Scotland flights on the basis of local co-ordination and with a minimum of disruption, north-south and international flights may be subject to delays,” it said.The Associated Press

Iran summons Swiss diplomat over US seizure of Iranian crude oil that’s now at port in Houston

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has summoned a Swiss diplomat over the apparent U.S. seizure of Iranian crude oil from a ship that sat for months off Texas, an official said Monday, as the oil now appeared to be moored in Houston. The remarks by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani mark the latest twist in the saga of the oil once aboard the tanker Suez Rajan, which had become mired in the wider tensions between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic. That’s even as Tehran and Washington work toward a trade of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets in South Korea for the release of five Iranian-Americans held in Tehran. Iran has been trying to evade sanctions and continue selling its oil abroad, while the U.S. and its allies have been seizing cargoes since 2019 after the country’s nuclear deal allowing the trade collapsed.Speaking to journalists Monday, Kanaani said Tehran had summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Swiss Embassy in Iran to express a “strong objection” ov...

Trans-Siberian Orchestra will return with a heavy metal holiday tour, ‘The Ghosts of Christmas Eve’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Trans-Siberian Orchestra — the heavy metal, classical music, theater production, pyrotechnics and laser lightshow hybrid — will return this winter.“The Ghosts of Christmas Eve — the Best of TSO & More,” will hit 62 cities and deliver 104 performances in both matinee and evening sets. It kicks off on Nov. 15 at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and runs through Dec. 30, concluding at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.Al Pitrelli, TSO’s guitarist and music director, says that since the band started 28 years ago, their winter tours have become a tradition for loyal fans and their families. “I call them repeat offenders,” he jokes.Pitrelli estimates that nearly half the attendees have been “coming to us since the jump.”Fans can expect a memorable performance that references the band’s 1999 “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” television film and album. The story follows a young girl who runs away from home on Christmas Eve; sheR...

Tehran and Baghdad reach a deal to disarm and relocate Iranian dissident groups based in north Iraq

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran and Iraq have reached an agreement to disarm members of Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq and relocate their members from their current bases, officials from the two countries said Monday.Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said in a news briefing Monday that the Iraqi government had agreed “to disarm the armed terrorist groups stationed in Iraq’s territory by September 19, and then, evacuate and transfer them from their military bases to camps designated by the Iraqi government.”He added that the deadline would not be extended and that while relations between the two countries are “entirely friendly and warm … the presence of terrorists in the northern region of Iraq is an unpleasant stain on mutual ties.”Iran has periodically launched strikes targeting members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iran, or KDPI, and other Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region near the bo...

Top Pakistani court in southwest quashes sedition case against imprisoned ex-PM Imran Khan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A court in southwest Pakistan on Monday quashed a sedition case against imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his lawyer said, a sign of some relief for the former cricket hero-turned-politician who has been embroiled in more than 150 cases since his ouster in parliament last year.The 70-year-old Khan is currently being held at a high-security Attock prison in eastern Punjab province. He was arrested after another court in Islamabad sentenced him to three years for concealing assets after selling gifts he received while in office. The sedition case was registered against Khan in the southwestern city of Quetta in March on charges of inciting people to violence and spreading hate against national institutions — a phrase which is used for the military and spy agencies.According to Khan’s lawyer, Iqbal Shah, a top court in Quetta, quashed the sedition case and suspended the arrest warrants for Khan.The latest development comes hours after another co...

The long road to an ‘epidemic’ of intimate partner violence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, in 2015, three women were murdered in rural Ontario by a former partner who had been stalking them. Last summer an inquest into the murders came back with more than 80 recommendations. This month, the federal government joined Toronto and other municipalities in Canada in following one of them: Declaring intimate partner violence an “epidemic” in this country.Julie Lalonde is an educator, advocate, and expert on intimate partner violence. You can find Julie’s resources on stalking and harassment here. She says that the pandemic declaration is an encouraging sign that the federal government is taking this issue seriously, but that it doesn’t mean the fight is over.“We have to continue to hold the government accountable, and that includes provincial governments, because they do have a tremendous role in this conversation,” says Lalonde.This declaration is a massive step, but will we follow it up with concrete action to address the escalating d...

An evacuation order finds few followers in northeastern Ukraine despite Russia’s push in the region

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

KUPIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — The thunder of mortar fire echoes in the distance as 5-year old David approaches his mother with an innocent request: Can he play with the baseball bat a relative gave him as a gift?Valeria Pototska rolls her eyes and tells her son no for the umpteenth time. It’s a toy for big kids, she scolds. The boy, who doesn’t so much as flinch when the weapons not far from their town in northeast Ukraine shoot off more rounds, pouts and pedals away on his bicycle.Other neighborhood children frolic in a playground in Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, seemingly immune to the war unfolding 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away. Ukrainian authorities this month ordered a mandatory evacuation of the village and three dozen other populated areas as war returned to Kharkiv province. So far, most residents have refused to go as the battle inches closer to their backyards. “It’s normal,” Pototska said of the soundtrack of weapons that punctuates the monotony of their daily lives. Olena Kanivet...

Clashes between US-allied Arab and Kurdish fighters in east Syria kill 3 and raise tensions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:08 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Clashes broke out Monday between two U.S.-backed groups in eastern Syria, leaving three gunmen dead and raising tensions in the region where hundreds of American troops are deployed, opposition activists said.The clashes raise concerns of more divisions between U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters in eastern Syria that borders Iraq and where the Islamic State group once enjoyed wide presence. U.S.-backed fighters play a major role in targeting sleeper cells of the Islamic State group that still carry out deadly attacks.Monday’s clashes came a day after the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces detained the commander a formerly allied group and several other members of his faction after they were invited to a meeting in the northeastern city of Hassakeh on Sunday.The SDF did not confirm the detention of Ahmad Khbeil, better known as Abu Khawla. He heads the Deir el-Zour Military Council, which was allied with the SDF in its yearslong battle against the I...