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Hurricane Nigel gains strength over the Atlantic Ocean

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Nigel is gaining strength over the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to intensify later this week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.Nigel had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (145 kph) on Tuesday, making it a Category 1 hurricane. The wind speeds had increased from 80 mph (130 kph) that were reported in an earlier weather service advisory.The system was centered about 630 miles (1,010 kilometers) east of Bermuda. The island territory might see swells from Nigel that could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, forecasters said. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.The Miami-based hurricane center said Nigel could strengthen early Wednesday. However, it is expected to weaken on Thursday and Friday.The Associated Press

Ray Epps, center of a Jan. 6 conspiracy theory, is charged with a misdemeanor over the Capitol riot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ray Epps, an Arizona man who became the center of a conspiracy theory about Jan. 6, 2021, has been charged with a misdemeanor offense in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Epps, a former Marine who claimed in a lawsuit filed this year that Fox News Channel made him a scapegoat for the Capitol riot, is charged with a count of disorderly or disruptive conduct on restricted grounds, court records show. Messages seeking comment from an attorney representing Epps in his lawsuit against Fox were not immediately returned Tuesday. There was no attorney listed in the court docket in the criminal case filed in Washington’s federal court. Epps was falsely accused by Fox of being a government agent who was whipping up trouble that would be blamed on Trump supporters, his lawsuit claims.Although the lawsuit mentions Fox’s Laura Ingraham and Will Cain, former Fox host Tucker Carlson is cited as the leader in promoting the theory...

QEW blocked in both directions south of Burlington Skyway after 2 crashes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is blocked in both directions just south of the Burlington Skyway after two crashes.Police were called to the scene near the Nikola Tesla Boulevard and Eastport Drive on Tuesday morning to reports of a crash.Tractor trailer on fire #WBQEW past Eastport. Lanes blocked both ways. Listen: https://t.co/xGrbNN6JMp pic.twitter.com/rgLqkX114t— CityNews Toronto Traffic & Weather (@citynews680) September 19, 2023A crash was reported on the Toronto-bound side of the QEW, and shortly after, a tractor-trailer on the Fort Erie-bound side collided with the median nearby. The tractor-trailer then caught fire.The fire has since been extinguished. It’s unknown if the two collisions are related.There is no word on any injuries.More to come

Far from home, Ukrainian designers showcase fashion created amid air raid sirens

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

LONDON (AP) — For Ksenia Schnaider and her fellow Ukrainian fashion designers, the show must go on despite the war in their country — or precisely because of it. For much of the past year, Schnaider and her team of seamstresses toiled away in their Kyiv studio, crafting her new collection of designer denim and luxury daywear even as air raid sirens, drone attacks and power cuts took over their lives and made production almost impossible to continue.Schnaider, 39, fled Ukraine with her husband and young daughter when Russia invaded her country in 2022. They found a temporary home with a British family in a peaceful corner of southern England. But she hasn’t put down the fashion business she founded 12 years ago, and continues to divide her time between the U.K. and Kyiv, where all her garments are still being made against the odds.“My team needs this sense of normality — they told me they want to go to work and have something to do, to support each other, rather than staying home hid...

Tampa Bay Rays finalizing new ballpark in St. Petersburg as part of a larger urban project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays put the finishing touches Tuesday on plans for a new 30,000-seat ballpark in St. Petersburg as part of a huge $6.5 billion development project that includes affordable housing, retail, bars and restaurants and a Black history museum.The site is on the same 86-acre (34-hectare) tract of downtown land where Tropicana Field now sits. That domed, oddly-tilted ballpark will be demolished once the new one is built, in time for Opening Day 2028, said Brian Auld, co-president of the Rays, in an interview Monday.The plan, which still has some political hurdles on funding and approvals to clear, would keep the Rays in St. Petersburg for the foreseeable future despite constant talk of the team moving across the bay to Tampa, possibly to Nashville, Tennessee, and even a plan to split home games with Montreal that was shot down by Major League Baseball.“We’re going to be here for a very long time,” Auld said. “We’re all rea...

Almost 50 children from occupied Ukrainian regions arrive in Belarus, sparking outrage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian state media reported that 48 children from Ukraine arrived in Belarus on Tuesday from Ukrainian regions which Moscow claims it has annexed.The group of children came from the occupied Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions. They include children from towns which were captured by the Russian army in July 2022. Those regions were illegally annexed by Moscow in December last year, but Russia doesn’t have full control over them.In photos published by the Belarus state news agency Belta, the children were pictured holding the red and green state flag of Belarus and reportedly thanked the Belarusian authorities, while being flanked by police and riot police.The removal of the children from Ukraine was organized by a Belarusian charity, supported by President Alexander Lukashenko, which has previously organized health recuperation programs for Ukrainian children in Belarus. “The president, despite external pressure, said this important humanitari...

International Criminal Court says it detected ‘anomalous activity’ in its information systems

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court said Tuesday that it detected “anomalous activity affecting its information systems” last week and took urgent measures to respond. It didn’t elaborate on what it called a “cybersecurity incident.”Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said in a written statement that extra “response and security measures are now ongoing” with the assistance of authorities in the Netherlands, where the court is based.“Looking forward, the Court will be building on existing work presently underway to strengthen its cyber security framework, including accelerating its use of cloud technology,” his statement added.The court declined to go into any more detail about the incident, but said that as it “continues to analyse and mitigate the impact of this incident, priority is also being given to ensuring that the core work of the Court continues.”The ICC has a number of high-profile investigations and preliminary inquiries underway in na...

Watchdog finds mismanagement, ‘disturbing’ lack of disclosure at Defence Department

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

OTTAWA — A federal watchdog says the Department of National Defence committed wrongdoing by contravening a law designed to help whistleblowers. Public sector integrity commissioner Joe Friday released what he described as “disturbing” findings today related to disclosures by department. He found that the Defence Department and the Canadian Armed Forces have a pattern of keeping the public in the dark when it comes to internal investigations of wrongdoing.Friday’s report says that when his office launched an investigation in 2020, the department hadn’t updated a web page about public disclosures of wrongdoing since 2015. He says whistleblower reports had resulted in three findings of wrongdoing, but information about the cases wasn’t made public until until 2021 and 2022, after Friday launched his investigation. Friday says there is gross mismanagement within the department and the lack of transparency doesn’t live up to the department’s lega...

US issues more sanctions over Iran drone program after nation’s president denies supplying Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Tuesday imposed sanctions on seven people and four companies in China, Russia and Turkey who officials allege are connected with the development of Iran’s drone program. The U.S. accuses Iran of supplying Russia with drones used to bomb Ukrainian civilians as the Kremlin continues its invasion of Ukraine.The latest development comes after Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi denied his country had sent drones to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine. “We are against the war in Ukraine,” President Raisi said Monday as he met with media executives on the sidelines of the world’s premier global conference, the high-level leaders’ meeting at the U.N. General Assembly.The parties sanctioned Tuesday by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control include: An Iranian drone company previously sanctioned in 2008, now doing business as Shahin Co., its managing executives, a group of Russian parts manufacturers and two Turkish money exchangers, Mehmet Tokdemir and A...

Woman struck, killed by vehicle in Joliet; driver cited

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:45 GMT

JOLIET, Ill. — A woman was struck and killed Monday night by a vehicle in Joliet.Just after 7:15 p.m., police responded to the area of McDonough Street and South Larkin Avenue on the report of a crash involving a pedestrian.Police determined a Ford 250 pickup truck, driven by Matthew Ortelli, 33, of Joliet, turned left heading westbound on McDonough. Police said a 49-year-old woman, who was believed to be in the roadway, was struck by the truck.The woman was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.Police said Ortelli originally left the scene but returned a short time later. Following questioning, he was cited for failure to give information and rendering aid. Joliet man sentenced to 35 years in prison for bludgeoning, sexually assaulting brother’s girlfriend Anyone with information is encouraged to call police at 815-724-3010.