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Italy investigates migrant boat disaster, with 41 feared dead. Four survivors tell a harrowing tale

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

ROME (AP) — Prosecutors in Sicily on Thursday investigated a capsizing that left 41 migrants missing in the Mediterranean Sea after they set out in a flimsy boat from Tunisia, the latest in a string of similar tragedies involving people who entrust themselves to smugglers to reach Italy’s shores.Four young migrants who were rescued by a passing merchant ship told doctors and police on a tiny Italian island where they were brought on Wednesday that they survived by holding on to inner tubes for hours. They and a few other survivors spotted an empty boat a nd struggled to reach it. But only the four of them made it to the boat and climbed aboard — to find the iron-hulled, open-topped vessel had no engine. State TV reported that the migrants survived for some four days on four bottles of drinking water and a half-package of crackers they found in the boat. A Malta-flagged ship rescued them, and an Italian Coast Guard vessel took them to Lampedusa island. The survivors said 41 fel...

3 charged, firearms recovered after multiple carjackings in York region

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

Three people are facing multiple charges after police officers recovered two firearms and two stolen vehicles following carjackings in York region.On Aug. 5, just before midnight, York police received a call of an attempted carjacking in the area of Mistysugar Trail and Thornhill Woods Drive, near Highway 7 and Bathurst Street, in Vaughan.The victim told police that a male suspect pointed a gun at her, tried to take her car, and took off when approached by the victim’s husband. The vehicle was not taken and there were no injuries.Half an hour later, at approximately 12:30 a.m., police received a call about another carjacking, this time in the area of Fairburn Drive and Highway 7 East in Markham.The victim said his Mercedes was taken at gunpoint by a male suspect.Police located the suspects and officers were able to arrest one of them and recover the victim’s Mercedes. A loaded handgun was later located near the scene.On Aug. 8, the second outstanding suspect was located in a stolen ...

Taylor Swift announces ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ at Eras Tour show in Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taylor Swift closed the 2023 U.S. leg of her landmark Eras Tour in Los Angeles in a big way, announcing the fourth edition of her re-recording project: “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” After playing a few tracks from her “1989” era live, the pop superstar approached the center of the stage with an acoustic guitar in hand and suggested to the audience that she had been working on something big. “Instead of telling you about it, we’ll just show you,” she told the crowd as the screen illuminated behind her. “’1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ available Oct. 27!” she cheered.Just last month, Swift released her re-recording of “Speak Now” and soon claimed the record for the woman with the most No. 1 albums in history. The “Taylor’s Version” projects were sparked by music manager Scooter Braun’s purchase and subsequent sale of her early catalog.Aside from breaking some news, across more than three hours at SoFi Stadium, Swift offered fans a bevy of career-spann...

Harvest of horseshoe crabs, needed for blue blood, stopped during spawning season in national refuge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

The federal government is shutting down the harvest of a species of marine invertebrate in a national wildlife refuge during the spawning season to try to give the animal a chance to reproduce.Fishermen harvest horseshoe crabs so the animals can be used as bait and so their blood can be used to make medical products. Conservationists have long pushed to limit the harvest of the animals, in part because horseshoe crab eggs are vitally important food for migratory birds.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a ruling on Monday that calls for the end of horseshoe crab harvesting in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina from March 15 to July 15.The service wrote that allowing the harvesting would “materially interfere and detract from the purposes for which the refuge was established and the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System.” The refuge is is about 66,000 acres (26,700 hectares) including marshes, beaches and islands located about a half hour’s dr...

Utah’s multibillion dollar oil train proposal chugs along amid environment and derailment concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

DUCHESNE, Utah (AP) — On plateaus overlooking the Uinta Basin’s hills of sandstone and sagebrush, pumpjacks bob their heads as they lift viscous black and yellow oil from the earth that will eventually make everything from fuel to polyester fabric.To move fossil fuels from the Uinta Basin’s massive reserve to refineries around the country, officials in Utah and oil and gas companies are chugging along with a plan to invest billions to build an 88-mile (142-kilometer) rail line through national forest and tribal land that could quadruple production.The Uinta Basin Railway would let producers, currently limited to tanker trucks, ship an additional 350,000 barrels of crude daily on trains up to 2 miles long. Backers say it would buoy the local economy and lessen American dependence on oil imports.“We still have a huge need for fuel and we’re not creating more capacity in the Gulf or anywhere in the United States,” said Duchesne County Commissioner Greg Miles, who co-chairs ...

West African leaders meet on Niger coup but have few options as a military junta defies mediation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — West African heads of state began meeting Thursday on next steps after Niger’s military junta defied their deadline to reinstate the nation’s deposed president, but analysts say the bloc known as ECOWAS may be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention.Nine of the 11 heads of state expected to attend were present, including the presidents of Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. The non-ECOWAS leaders of Mauritania and Burundi also participated in the closed-door meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.“It is crucial that we prioritize diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach,” said Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who currently chairs the bloc, said before the closed part of the meeting. He said leaders must act with a “sense of urgency,” though appeared to retreat from the bloc’s earlier threat to use force.As Niger’s junta turns away most efforts a...

Putin profits off US and European reliance on Russian nuclear fuel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and its European allies are importing vast amounts of nuclear fuel and compounds from Russia, providing Moscow with hundreds of millions of dollars in badly needed revenue as it wages war on Ukraine.The sales, which are legal and unsanctioned, have raised alarms from nonproliferation experts and elected officials who say the imports are helping to bankroll the development of Moscow’s nuclear arsenal and are complicating efforts to curtail Russia’s war-making abilities. The dependence on Russian nuclear products — used mostly to fuel civilian reactors — leaves the U.S. and its allies open to energy shortages if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to cut off supplies. The challenge is likely to grow more intense as those nations seek to boost production of emissions-free electricity to combat climate change.“We have to give money to the people who make weapons? That’s absurd,” said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Washington-based Nonproliferation...

Emmy Awards postponed to January 2024 as Hollywood strikes continue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The strike-delayed 75th Emmy Awards have a new home — one that places them squarely within Hollywood's awards season, for a change.Fox announced Thursday that the Emmys will air Jan. 15 from the Peacock Theater at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles. The show will air on the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. The timing means that the Emmys, which honor the best shows on television, will air weeks before the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which honors film and television actors. Numerous other shows like the Golden Globe Awards, which haven't been confirmed for a return to network television, and the Critics Choice Awards, also are held in January.The ceremony will happen roughly four months later than originally planned. While the move is a bit of a throwback — the first Emmys, where only six awards were handed out, were held in January 1949, the Emmys traditionally air in September, a slot that once heralded the upcoming fall television season. But that timing dates bac...

Thomas took dozens of trips paid for by billionaire friends: Report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

(The Hill) - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has taken dozens of trips paid for by at least four billionaire friends during his time on the bench, a new report from ProPublica found.The report expands upon ProPublica’s previous investigation into Thomas’s relationship with Harlan Crow, a GOP megadonor who gifted the justice with vacations, flights and even paid for his mother’s house in Georgia. ProPublica’s newest story sheds additional light on the two men’s friendship and details trips Thomas purportedly accepted from three other billionaires: former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, oil businessman Paul “Tony” Novelly and H. Wayne Huizenga, who helped expand Blockbuster.The report detailed how Thomas’s friends footed the bills for at least 38 destination vacations, 26 private jet flights and eight helicopter flights. Besides travel costs, billionaires paid for 12 VIP passes to sporting events, two resort stays in Florida and Jamaica and one...

Travelers return to O'Hare from Hawaii amid deadly fires

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:18:05 GMT

CHICAGO -- One of the first flights from Hawaii landed in Chicago Thursday morning as the deadly fires burn through Hawaii.An Illinois resident who landed at O'Hare Thursday morning was one of the first travelers to leave Maui as the fire spread throughout the island."We had power outage for about 36 hours, there were hurricane winds. It was really bad," Mark Mautino from Spring Valley, Illinois said.Mautino said it looked like a bomb went off. Lahaina Maui, Photo Courtesy of Mark MuatinoAt least 36 people have died from the fires. Some people were fortunate enough to jump in the Pacific Ocean to escape the smoke and flames. Mautino said due to the power outage the resort he was staying at started grilling burgers and chicken to feed guests. At least 36 dead on Maui as fires burn through Hawaii, county reports | WGN-TV (wgntv.com)He tried to leave Hawaii earlier but couldn't because so many roads were closed. Mautino said Wednesday morning a north road opened through a one road moun...