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US challenges world to tell Russia to stop using Ukrainian grain as `blackmail’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken challenged all countries Thursday to tell Russia to stop using the Black Sea and Ukraine’s grain as “blackmail” and stop treating the world’s hungry and vulnerable people as leverage in its “unconscionable war.”America’s top diplomat lashed out at Russia at a U.N. Security Council meeting for ignoring the world’s appeals and pulling out of the year-old deal that allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 tons of grain from Black Sea ports to needy countries. “And what has Russia’s response been to the world’s distress and outrage? Bombing Ukrainian granaries, mining port entrances, threatening to attack any vessel in the Black Sea,” he said.Blinken was chairing the signature event of the United States’ council presidency this month on conflict as a key driver of hunger and famine. He announced that the United States, which has provided more than $17.5 billion since January 2021 to address famine and food insecurity, will g...

The Miami-Dade police chief and his wife argued before he shot himself, bodycam footage shows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Police officers responding to a report of someone with a gun threatening to “end it all” outside a downtown Florida hotel discovered the person in question was the director of the Miami-Dade police force.Newly released bodycam footage provides a fresh look at the July 23 incident, which happened hours before Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez stopped his vehicle, with his wife, Jody Ramirez, inside, along Interstate 75 south of Tampa and shot himself in the head.Jody Ramirez frantically called 911, and the police chief was rushed to a Tampa hospital, where he remained in stable condition Thursday after surgery last week, news outlets reported. A person who answered the phone at the hospital on Thursday said the police director’s name was not on a list of registered patients. Messages seeking updates were left Thursday with police and at the office of Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.Tampa police were initially called around 6:30 p.m. that Sunday evening...

Islamic State group says its leader was killed by al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group announced Thursday the death of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, who had been heading the extremist organization since November. It did not say when he was killed.Al-Qurayshi is the fourth IS leader to be killed since the group was founded by Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014 before its defeat years later.IS spokesman Abu Huthaifa al-Ansari said in an audio message that al-Qurayshi “was martyred” in rebel-held northwestern Syria. He added that al-Qurayshi was killed by members of Syria’s al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when they tried to detain him in the province of Idlib. “He fought them until he succumbed to his wounds,” al-Ansari said of al-Qurayshi, adding that the al-Qaida-linked group detained some IS members who were with the late leader, including Abu Omar al-Muhajir, another spokesman, and that they are still being held. In Apr...

“Dime cuándo y dónde”: los gobernadores de Florida y California acuerdan participar en un debate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

El gobernador de Florida, Ron DeSantis, quien se postula para la nominación presidencial republicana, le dijo a Sean Hannity de Fox News el miércoles que estaría dispuesto a debatir en vivo con el gobernador demócrata de California, Gavin Newsom.“Absolutamente. Estoy dispuesto. Hagámoslo. Sólo dime cuándo y dónde. Lo haremos”, dijo DeSantis a Hannity.La idea surgió en junio, cuando Hannity entrevistó a Newsom y le preguntó si estaría dispuesto a debatir con DeSantis.“Totalmente. Cuenta con ello”, dijo Newsom en ese momento.“¿Harías un debate de dos horas con Ron DeSantis?”, le preguntó Hannity. “Que sea de tres”, dijo Newsom. Trump puede ser candidato a unas elecciones imputado, incluso si acaba en prisión Obama le dijo a Biden en privado que haría todo lo necesario para apoyar su reelección El miércoles, Hannity enmarcó la idea como un “debate basado en políticas” entre el líder de un estado ro...

Drag artists and LGBTQ+ advocates sue to block Texas law expanding ban on sexual performances

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A group of drag performers and LGBTQ+ rights advocates have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block a new Texas law that expands what is considered an illegal public performance of sexual conduct, arguing it is meant to target drag shows and could also criminalize ballet and even cheerleading.The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. district court in Houston by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of plaintiffs, contends that the law is unconstitutional and threatens the “livelihood and free expression of many Texans, including drag performers across our state.” It seeks to block the from taking effect Sept. 1. The law approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature was part of a broader effort in Texas and other conservative states to crack down on drag shows and limit LGBTQ rights. Such laws have already run into trouble in other states, including Florida and Tennessee, where judges put drag performance bans on hold.Like Texas, Arkansas has a new law re...

US judge blocks water pipeline in Montana that was meant to boost rare fish

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A U.S. judge blocked a proposed water pipeline through a wilderness area in southwest Montana that was intended to help a rare fish species that’s in sharp decline due to habitat loss, warming temperatures and other pressures.The mile-long pipeline was intended to move oxygenated water that’s beneficial for fish from a creek to a lake in the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness — winter home for one of the last few populations of Arctic grayling in the Lower 48 states. The fish are prized by many anglers and known for their sail-like dorsal fins.U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said in a Wednesday ruling that environmentalists who sued to stop the pipeline raised valid concerns that its construction would disturb the wilderness area, where motor vehicles, roads or structures are largely prohibited under federal law.The number of grayling in Montana’s Centennial Valley, which includes the Red Rock Lakes area, plummeted from 1,131 fish in 2015 to 73 fish...

Reportan 2 balaceras a media hora de diferencia en la misma calle en Manassas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

La policía reportó dos tiroteos con 30 minutos de diferencia en una misma comunidad de Manassas el martes por la noche. En el segundo incidente, una persona resultó herida en el cuello.Hacia las 6 p.m., en el vecindario Georgetown Sur, se registró un disparo desde un vehículo en movimiento. Allí rebotó en el suelo y golpeó la parte trasera de un auto. Otros dos vehículos también recibieron disparos.El vídeo de vigilancia capta ligeramente el sonido de los disparos y muestra a una persona huyendo.“Sinceramente, no me siento bien”, afirmó un residente que pidió permanecer en el anonimato. “Esta zona tenía un mal historial, pero oí decir de todo el mundo que estaba mejorando”.Los agentes de policía rodearon el barrio y se dirigieron a una casa adosada, pero no se localizó a ninguna víctima ni se detuvo a nadie.La policía despejó la escena, pero media hora más tarde estaban de vuelta.Una persona había recibido un disparo en el cuello en el mismo adosado del que l...

Pittsburgh synagogue gunman has been sentenced to die in the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The man who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue was formally sentenced to death Thursday, one day after a jury determined that capital punishment was appropriate for the perpetrator of the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.U.S. District Judge Robert Colville imposed the sentence on Robert Bowers, a 50-year-old truck driver whose vicious antisemitism led him to shoot his way into a place of worship and target people for practicing their faith.“I have nothing specific that I care to say to Mr. Bowers,” Colville said, before issuing the formal sentence. “I am however convinced there is nothing I could say to him that might be meaningful.”Bowers ranted about Jews online before carrying out the attack at Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, and told police at the scene that “all these Jews must die.” He has since expressed pride in the killings.Jurors were unanimous in finding that Bowers’ attack was motivated by his hatred of Jews, and that he ch...

I-70 closed through Glenwood Springs? Here's how to detour

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Monsoon season means the possibility of trip-altering closures on Interstate 70, especially through the Glenwood Springs area, where rain on the Grizzly Creek burn scar heightens the risk of mudslides.While mudslides closed the interstate for weeks in July 2021, there was "very little flooding" last summer, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Travel officials expect even fewer closures in the canyon this summer.Still, the risk remains. Here's what to know if your travels are derailed because of an I-70 closure.When will I-70 be closed?CDOT has updated the thresholds for when I-70 will be closed through Glenwood Canyon this summer.I-70, Glenwood Canyon rest areas and recreation path will close under these circumstances:If a flash flood warning is issued for the Grizzly Creek burn scarIf 1 inch of rain is in the forecast for the next hourIf 0.6 inches of rain is in the forecast for the next 30 minutesIn the event of a closure, all traffic will be ev...

$1 awarded for illegal search verdict: Lawsuit follows Colorado Police Reform Act

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:47 GMT

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) -- Christopher Mosley asked an Arapahoe County jury to award him $1, and that's exactly what it did. The 33-year-old sued Aurora Police Officer Brendan Daves for violating his civil rights when Daves searched Mosley's car without a legal justification.According to Mosley's attorney, he is the first person to successfully sue a police officer under the state's Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, passed as part of Senate Bill 20-217 in response to the George Floyd and Elijah McClain protests. Colorado prison escapee caught living ‘flashy’ life in Florida after 5 years "The new law is great because now it allows for us regular people to have a fighting chance against law enforcement," Mosley said.Aurora officer illegally searched carMosley was driving to his home in Aurora on April 25, 2021, when he was pulled over for not having license plates on his car.Instead of writing Mosley a ticket or deciding to have his car towed, Daves asked him to sit on the curb a...