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Israeli troops briefly raid northern Gaza to ‘prepare’ for an expected full-scale incursion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

By NAJIB JOBAIN, KAREEM CHEHAYEB and AMY TEIBEL (Associated Press)RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops and tanks briefly raided northern Gaza overnight, the military said Thursday, engaging with Hamas terrorists and targeting anti-tank weapons in order to “prepare the battlefield” before an expected ground invasion.The raid came after after more than two weeks of devastating airstrikes in the small, densely-populated territory — with more than 250 in the past 24 hours — and as the U.N. and other world leaders warn of a dire humanitarian crisis getting worse.Israel has imposed a suffocating siege on Gaza since Hamas’ bloody rampage and hostage-taking across southern Israel ignited the war. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union. Residents are running out of food, water and medicine, and U.N. workers have barely any fuel left to support their relief missions across Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians have b...

Massachusetts State Police detail efforts working with Maine on manhunt for mass shooting suspect Robert Card

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Massachusetts State Police are in regular contact with authorities in Maine as the manhunt for Robert Card, wanted in connection with a massacre in Lewiston, Maine, continues.At least 18 people were killed in locations that include a bowling alley and local pub.“Massachusetts State Police Colonel John Mawn has been in contact with his counterparts from Maine and the other New England states to assess and coordinate capabilities for providing mutual aid to the Maine State Police,” according to an MSP statement released Thursday morning. “The full complement of Massachusetts State Police assets stand ready for deployment if requested, as necessitated by the evolving investigation and fugitive apprehension mission.”The trooper deployed, a member of the MSP bomb squad, was sent in along with his K9 partner as a member of a federal ATF task force, according to the MSP.State police are also continuing to probe whether or not Card, 40, has any connections to to Mass...

Hurricane Otis caused 27 confirmed deaths and left 4 missing, Mexican authorities report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

By MARK STEVENSON (Associated Press)ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Mexican authorities on Thursday gave the first human toll for Hurricane Otis’ destruction along the country’s Pacific coast: at least 27 dead and four missing.Tens of thousands of residents in damaged homes without electricity awaited help more than a day after Otis roared ashore in Acapulco. The municipal water system wasn’t functioning, because there was no electricity to run the pumps.President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said at his morning news briefing that the deaths occurred around Acapulco, but provided few details. He acknowledged that the government was late in arriving because of the havoc Otis left behind.López Obrador, who made it into Acapulco late Wednesday, said the destruction was so complete in the impact zone that not a single power line pole remained standing. Outside the city, small farmers had their corn crops devastated by Otis’ wind and pounding rain, he said. Restoring power...

Canada Border Services Agency issues alert about man wanted for Maine mass shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

The Canada Border Services Agency has issued an “armed and dangerous” alert to its officers stationed along the Canada-U.S. border, warning them to be on the lookout for the man suspected of fatally shooting at least 18 people in southern Maine.The shootings were reported Wednesday night in Lewiston, about 260 kilometres southwest of the New Brunswick border.A police bulletin identified the suspect as 40-year-old Robert Card, a firearms instructor believed to be in the U.S. Army Reserve and assigned to a training facility in Saco, Maine.As a massive search continued today for Card, residents of southern Maine were told to lock their doors and remain inside.The CBSA says it is working with Canadian and U.S. law enforcement partners, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and RCMP to “protect Canada’s borders against any threat or attempt at illegal entry.”The Canadian border agency said its “Armed and Dangerous – Firearms lookout”...

Teenager charged in deadly 2022 school shooting in Iowa seeks to withdraw guilty plea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One of the 10 teenagers charged in a deadly 2022 shooting at an Iowa high school now wants to withdraw his guilty plea.Octavio Lopez Sanchez Jr. was originally charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of willful injury-causing serious injury. In August, Lopez Sanchez agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of willful injury, WHO-TV reported. He was scheduled to face sentencing Nov. 7.Fifteen-year-old Jose David Lopez was killed in the shooting on March 7, 2022, on the grounds of East High School in Des Moines. Two other teenagers were seriously injured. Lopez was not a student at the school.Lopez Sanchez filed a motion last week to withdraw his guilty plea. In the motion, Lopez Sanchez said his legal counsel was ineffective and incorrectly told him that if found guilty he would face life in prison without parole. But the motion noted that as a minor, a life sentence is not mandatory.The motion said...

Want people to tune in to an opioid film? Make it funny, says director David Yates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

TORONTO — How do you get people to pay attention to the opioid epidemic? For English director David Yates and Canadian producer Lawrence Grey, the answer was simple: make it funny.  In an effort to draw “as broad an audience as possible,” per Yates, they created “Pain Hustlers,” a highly stylized Netflix film in the vein of “The Big Short” that takes aim at big pharma instead of big banks. “When you see opioid on the tin, you might go: ‘Oh, it’s a drama about the opioid crisis,'” Yates said last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the movie premiered.“But if you cast two big movie stars, or three or four movie stars, and then you watch a trailer that looks kind of fun, then there’s a good chance that you will tune in and give it some time.” Those Hollywood celebrities — a bottle blond Emily Blunt and a goateed Chris Evans — portray pharmaceutical sales executives who conspire to bribe d...

Many Israelis are furious at their government’s chaotic recovery efforts after Hamas attack

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — More than two weeks after Hamas militants rampaged through a string of sleepy farming towns, many Israelis are furious at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, not just for failing to prevent the attack, but for failing to come to their aid afterward.While the military is launching unrelenting airstrikes in Gaza that have killed thousands of Palestinians, and hundreds of thousands of Israeli troops are massing for a possible ground offensive, government infighting and lack of help for those in need have left traumatized survivors to mourn on their own and volunteers — many of whom spent the past year protesting the government — to take on recovery efforts.“It has to be clear. The government is completely incompetent,” said Ruvi Dar, a clinical psychologist and Tel Aviv University professor who has been counseling survivors evacuated from their homes. “Any support that the refugees are getting right now is completely grassroots. Absolutely nothing by the st...

Global Affairs says 7th Canadian killed in Israel-Hamas hostilities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Global Affairs Canada says it is providing support to the family of a seventh Canadian killed during ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas.More to come

Nineteen-year-old acquaintance charged with murder in the death of a Philadelphia journalist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An acquaintance has been charged in the death of a Philadelphia journalist who went from sleeping on the street to working for the mayor to writing urgent columns on the city’s most pressing social issues.Robert Edmond Davis, 19, faces murder, weapons counts and related charges in the death of Josh Kruger, 39, who was shot and killed at his Philadelphia home Oct. 2. A warrant had been issued for Davis four days later and authorities have said they have video of him in the area of Kruger’s home before the shooting.Davis was arrested at his South Philadelphia home Wednesday night. Authorities have said the motive behind the killing remains unclear but that the pair were in a relationship.It was not clear Thursday if Davis has retained an attorney. His mother, Damica Davis, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that if her son did kill Kruger, there’s no excuse, noting “it’s tragic what happened, but I feel like my son is a victim in this, as well.”Kruger was shot se...

Turkey’s central bank opts for another interest rate hike in efforts to curb inflation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:00:00 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s central bank hiked interest rates again on Thursday, pressing ahead with more conventional economic policies recently embraced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to fight inflation.The bank raised its policy rate by 5 percentage points to 35% after inflation hit 61.53% last month. It was the bank’s fifth rate hike in as many months.The bank said its monetary policy committee “decided to continue the monetary tightening process in order to establish the disinflation course as soon as possible.”It also announced more such moves “in a timely and gradual manner until a significant improvement in inflation outlook is achieved.”Erdogan had long pressured the central bank into cutting interest rates, arguing that low borrowing costs help fight inflation. That thinking, however, runs contrary to traditional economic theory. Many central banks around the world hiked interest rates to bring consumer prices under control.Many blamed Erdogan’s unorthodox poli...