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Georgia to drop foreign agents law after massive protests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s governing party said Thursday it would withdraw draft legislation that opponents — and tens of thousands of protesters who swarmed the capital — warned could stifle dissent and curtail media freedoms, ushering in Russian-style repression.The bill would have required media and nongovernmental organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register as “agents of foreign influence.” Its opponents argued the bill was inspired by a similar law in Russia that’s used to silence critics, and could hinder Georgia’s aspirations of one day joining NATO and the European Union.Protests against the bill began last week in the capital, Tbilisi, but swelled in recent days and were met with tear gas and water cannons. The Interior Ministry said 133 demonstrators were arrested, although Georgian police late announced they had released all who face administrative charges and not criminal prosecution, without specifying how many...

3 wounded in Tel Aviv shooting, hours after West Bank raid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a crowded street in central Tel Aviv late Thursday, wounding three people before he was shot and killed, Israeli officials said. The shooting came hours after an Israeli military raid killed three Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.The incidents were the latest violence in a year-long wave of Israel-Palestinian fighting that shows no signs of slowing.The Tel Aviv shooting occurred on Dizengoff Street, a popular thoroughfare filled with shops and restaurants. The city was filled with people on Thursday night, the start of the Israeli weekend, and as anti-government protests were taking place in the Mediterranean city .An image on social media showed what was believed to be the attacker standing in the middle of the road as he pointed a pistol. The MADA rescue service said one of the wounded was in critical condition, while authorities said security forces in the area quickly killed the shooter. Amateur video app...

Wisconsin court sides with AP, others in open records case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin appeals court ruled Thursday that the state Assembly violated the open records law when it initially rejected, then fulfilled with redactions, documents sought by The Associated Press and three other media outlets related to sexual harassment allegations against a former legislator.The AP, the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sued in March 2020 after their open records requests seeking copies of the complaint against then-state Rep. Staush Gruszynski and other related documents were denied by the clerk of the Assembly.The 4th District Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling from 2021 in favor of the AP and others. The appeals court agreed with a circuit court’s ruling that Assembly leaders misapplied a balancing test, erroneously finding that the complainant’s privacy outweighed the public’s interest in the documents.The appeals court also found that the Assembly violated the...

4 ‘Ostomy Athletes’ to climb the Seven Summits around the world

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

A group of four people from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. who each have Crohn’s Disease and Ileostomy are setting their sights on a lofty goal, climbing the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents and pursing the Explorer’s Grand Slam.The group, which calls themselves the Ostomy Athletes, hope to begin their epic adventure in September this year and it’s expected to take until Dec. 2026 to complete.The seven summits including Everest, Kilimanjaro and Denali while the Explorer’s Grand Slam will consists of skiing to the North and South Pole.Patrick Belton, a Toronto native, put together the team and will be joined by the only man to ever climb some of the world’s tallest mountains, including Everest with an ostomy and an inflammatory bowel disease.The team will be the second.Belton tells CityNews he came up with the idea after he was two to three years into his recovery from his 13th intestinal surgery and began hiking a trail in Cape Breton.&#...

Norfolk Southern train derails in Alabama, no public threat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

PIEDMONT, Ala. (AP) — A Norfolk Southern train derailed in Alabama on Thursday, but company and local officials said there was no threat to the public.The Alabama accident came on the same day the company’s CEO testified before Congress about the impact of a hazardous materials train derailment in Ohio. The derailment in Calhoun County, Alabama involved about 37 train cars, though none were carrying hazardous materials, said Connor Spielmaker, a spokesman for Norfolk Southern. Two of the cars are considered “residue” cars because they previously contained hazardous materials but they were not compromised, he said. “They did not breach. There is no hazardous material leak. There is no risk at all to the public,” Spielmaker told reporters during a news conference. Photos posted by local news outlets showed train cars on their side or leaning off the tracks in the wooded rural area. Myles Chamblee, director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, said no injuries or ro...

Weather advisory issued for Toronto ahead of next winter blast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

Mother Nature isn’t letting up, as another round of snow is set to hit Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) just ahead of the weekend.Environment Canada has issued a winter weather travel advisory in Toronto for Friday, with snow accumulations ranging from 4 to 8 cm by the time the system passes. Snow is expected to start falling around noon and will taper off by late evening.“Widespread snow will push across southwestern Ontario and the Golden Horseshoe on Friday. The evening commute will be affected by this snowfall,” Canada’s weather agency said.“Motorists should expect hazardous winter driving conditions and adjust travel plans accordingly. Be prepared to adjust your driving to changing road conditions. If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance.”RELATED: Messy, snowy sidewalks posing a hazard to residents, clean-up to begin Monday nightWinter weather travel advisories span the GTA,...

OAS boss traveled with female aide at center of ethics probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — The head of the Organization of American States made almost three dozen work trips with a female staffer with whom he maintained a long-running intimate relationship, according to travel records uncovered by The Associated Press.The revelations come as an external probe is expected to wrap up this month looking into whether OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro’s romance with the Mexican staffer two decades his junior violated the Washington-based group’s ethics code.The trips together, all but one between July 2018 and December 2019, included a four-day visit to Oxford, England to deliver a talk on Latin America, a newspaper publishers’ conference in the historic Colombian city of Cartagena and a quick jaunt to Miami to receive the “Executive Mastermind Latino” award. Listings of the trips were found in publicly available reports the secretary general files periodically with the OAS’ permanent council and which are buried deep in the organization’s website.It’s not clear...

Ex-Biden aide agrees to House interview on classified docs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former executive assistant to Joe Biden has agreed to sit for an interview with the House Oversight Committee as Republicans expand their probe into the president’s handling of classified documents. Kathy Chung — one of the staffers who packed Biden’s belongings at the end of his term as vice president — is set to talk to the committee on April 4, the committee said. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the Oversight committee, requested the interview last month. “The Committee believes your proximity to Vice President Biden and role as handler of his personal matters gave you access not only to classified material he maintained after leaving the White House, but also to the Biden family’s business schemes,” Comer said in a letter dated Feb 4. Chung has already begun to turn over documents and communications with the Biden family dating back more than 10 years, the committee said. A Justice Department special counsel is already investigating how classified ...

California sues Huntington Beach over affordable housing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — California on Thursday sued one of its picturesque coastal cities and accused it of refusing to build more affordable housing, an issue Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom called the “original sin” of the state’s housing shortage.Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Huntington Beach, a city of about 200,000 people along the Southern California coast where the median home sales price is $1.1 million — or more than $300,000 higher than the state average. Bonta is asking a judge to order Huntington Beach City Council to comply with state housing laws and to punish councilmembers by making them pay a fine.Bonta said the council has blocked new duplexes in some single-family home neighborhoods, despite a state law requiring them to do it. He also said the council has not allowed new “accessory dwelling units” — small apartments built on a property commonly known as “granny flats.”Both approaches are a key part of state lawmakers’ strategy to address ...

Funeral for fallen Chicago Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:43:37 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer who was killed in the line of duty will be laid to rest Thursday.Officers from across the country are expected to be present for the funeral of Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso.32-year-old Andres Vasquez-Lasso, courtesy CPDA funeral procession will begin at 9:30 a.m., leaving from Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn, located at 4727 West 103rd Street. The processional will head to St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel at 7740 South Western Avenue, where a funeral mass service will be held.Expect rolling street closures today for the funeral of Chicago Police Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso, who was killed in the line of duty last week while responding to a domestic disturbance on Chicago’s South Side.There will be two processions today for the service. DETAILS: pic.twitter.com/I4JW9ZSPqP— Sarah Jindra (@SarahJindra) March 9, 2023The 19th Ward alderperson is asking the community to line the streets during the procession to honor the fallen offic...