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Slovakia halts military aid for Ukraine as parties that oppose it negotiate to form a new government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s president has refused a plan by her country’s caretaker government to send further military aid to Ukraine, saying it doesn’t have the authority and parties that oppose such support are in talks to form a government following last week’s election.The presidential office said in a statement Thursday that the current government of technocrats has only limited powers because it lost a mandatory confidence vote in Parliament on June 15, a month after President Zuzana Caputova swore it in.The technocrat Cabinet was created with the aim of leading the country to Saturday’s early election.Caputova on Monday asked the leader of the winning party in the election to try to form a coalition government. Populist former prime minister Robert Fico and his leftist Smer, or Direction, party captured 22.9% of the vote on Saturday. It will have 42 seats in the 150-seat Parliament.Fico has vowed to withdraw Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine, and his v...

Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker could cost the GOP its best fundraiser heading into 2024

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kevin McCarthy spent years raising mountains of Republican campaign cash, flying around the country to recruit top candidates in key districts and painstakingly building political relationships as he worked his way toward becoming speaker of the House. Now that he’s been ousted from the post after less than nine months, some in the GOP are wondering if anyone can take his place as a fundraising dynamo and party builder.The House isn’t scheduled to vote on who could replace McCarthy until at least next week with all legislative work suspended as the chamber navigates a situation never before seen in the nation’s history. In the meantime, House Republicans have no clear leader heading into next year’s election as they cling to a razor-thin majority. “Nobody can raise money like him,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D. “And no matter who is the next speaker of the House, none of them can do what Kevin McCarthy did.”The National Republican Congressional Committee,...

Israeli suspects to plead to charges of raping of a British woman after defense lawyers get material

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Five Israelis accused of gang raping a British woman in a Cyprus hotel room won’t plead to charges including rape, sexual assault and abduction until prosecutors hand over key material including DNA tests, fingerprints and eyewitness testimony, a lawyer said Thursday. Yannis Habaris, a lawyer representing three of the five Israeli nationals, told The Associated Press that the judge adjourned the trial until Oct. 16 to give the prosecution enough time to give the material to defense lawyers.Habaris said DNA results, which prosecutors told the court would be ready within 24 hours, are essential in counselling his clients on the best course of action that should be taken for their defense.He said without that material, which also includes testimony from one witness who was inside the hotel room at the time of the alleged rape, he would not be in a “position to counsel his clients regarding their plea.”The Israelis will remain in custody in a Paralimni detention c...

Jon Fosse, a Norwegian master of spare Nordic writing, wins the Nobel Prize in literature

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Jon Fosse, a master of spare Nordic writing in a sprawling body of work ranging from plays to novels and children’s books, won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for works that “give voice to the unsayable.”Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel literature committee, said Fosse’s work is rooted “in the language and nature of his Norwegian background.”“I was surprised when they called, yet at the same time not. I have cautiously prepared myself for the possibility that this could happen in the past 10 years,” Fosse, 64, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. “It was a great joy for me to get the phone call.”One of his country’s most-performed dramatists, Fosse has written some 40 plays as well as novels, short stories, children’s books, poetry and essays. The Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, said it was “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the academy, reached Fosse by telephone...

Baltimore police ask for help IDing ‘persons of interest’ seen in video in Morgan State shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police have asked for the public’s help identifying a group of people seen in the area of a shooting at Morgan State University that left five people injured.Police released surveillance video late Wednesday that shows several people walking in a grassy area. They are seeking the identities of “persons of interest” in Tuesday night’s shooting. Earlier in the day, Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at least two people opened fire during a dispute between two groups at the university’s homecoming events, but the victims were likely not the shooters’ intended targets. Preliminary evidence indicates the shooters were targeting one person, who wasn’t among the victims, Worley said. All five are expected to survive. Worley said a third person also pulled a gun during the dispute, though it wasn’t clear whether they pulled the trigger. He said ballistics testing will reveal how many shooters were ultimately involved.Wednesday morning’s upda...

Mysterious injury of 16-year-old Iranian girl not wearing a headscarf in Tehran’s Metro sparks anger

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A mysterious injury suffered by a 16-year-old girl who boarded a Metro train in Iran’s capital without a headscarf has reignited anger just after the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini and the nationwide protests it sparked. What happened in the few seconds after Armita Geravand entered the train on Sunday remain in question. While a friend told Iranian state television that she hit her head on the station’s platform, the soundless footage aired by the broadcaster from outside of the car is blocked by a bystander. Just seconds later, her limp body is carried off. Geravand’s mother and father appeared in state media footage saying a blood pressure issue, a fall or perhaps both contributed to their daughter’s injury.Activists abroad have alleged Geravand may have been pushed or attacked because she was not wearing the hijab. They demand an independent investigation by the United Nations’ fact-finding mission on Iran, citing ...

Police investigating online threat against 6 Brampton high schools

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

Security measures are being stepped up at several high schools in Peel Region after reported threats of violence on social media.Peel Regional Police confirm they are investigating an online post they allege made threats towards specific schools in Brampton for Thursday. Police tell CityNews they were made aware of the post on Monday.“Police have been working collaboratively with the Peel District School Board and the Dufferin Peel Catholic School Board to ensure the safety and well-being of all students and staff,” reads a statement from Peel police.“There will be increased security measures put in place in consultation with both school boards as the safety of our students and school staff is paramount.”Investigators say the schools listed in the social media post are:Holy Name of MaryLouise ArbourSaint Thomas AquinasBramalea SecondaryNotre DameNorth Park SSPolice have not said what type of threats were made in the online post.School boards enhance security ...

A year after Thai day care center massacre, a family copes with their grief

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand (AP) — In a simply built concrete house a few meters (yards) off a dirt road in the rural town of Uthai Sawan in northeastern Thailand, Tawee Lasopha wakes up before sunrise to catch fish from his pond, then moves onto household chores with his wife, cooking breakfast and preparing his grandchildren for school.Under the blazing morning sun, he walks his two young grandsons out to the main road to wait for their school van before going about his day, picking vegetables and weeding.It’s an idyllic scene, and not so rare for the Thai countryside. But a dark cloud hangs over Tawee and his village. His family is forever scarred by the sudden loss of the boys’ mother, who died last year in Thailand’s deadliest mass killing, in which 36 people were killed, including 24 toddlers.Although the shock was felt all over Thailand, highlighting gun control issues, memories of the tragedy had largely faded outside the village until this past Tuesday, when a 14-year-old boy wit...

Montreal home sales in September up 9% from year ago: QPAREB

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

MONTREAL — The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal home sales in September rose nine per cent compared with a year ago, but remained below the historic average for the time of year. The association says home sales in Montreal totalled 2,738 in September, up from 2,514 in the same month last year.Single-family home sales totalled 1,391, up from 1,324 a year ago, while condominium sales amounted to 1,068, up from 944 in September 2022. Plex sales came in at 276, up from 245 a year earlier.Active listings totalled 16,398 in September, up 10 per cent from 14,916, while new listings for the month fell two per cent to 5,872, compared with 5,984 a year earlier.The median price of a single-family home in Montreal was $549,000, up three per cent from a year ago, while the median condominium price was $402,000, up six per cent.The median plex price was $730,000, up seven per cent from a year ago. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 20...

Thursday Forecast: Scattered showers early with temps in low 70s

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:21 GMT

CHICAGO — Scattered showers Thursday morning will move east through the day and gradually clear Northwest Indiana this afternoon. Decreasing clouds should allow temperatures to reach the lower 70s.  Interactive Radar: Track showers and storms here Skies become mostly clear tonight as temperatures fall into the lower 50s. Friday Forecast: Clouds increase Friday, leading to a chance of scattered showers in the afternoon. It will become breezy with a high near 60.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog