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Former official under Belarus President Lukashenko to face Swiss trial over enforced disappearances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — A former member of Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko’s special security forces is to face trial in Switzerland next month for the forced disappearances of political opponents in the late 1990s, rights groups said Wednesday.Activists called it a “watershed moment” in international justice that could trigger prosecutions abroad of other Belarus officials — including Lukashenko, whose regime has come under renewed criticism over a crackdown against opposition leaders that began in August 2020 and support for Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine last year, among other things.The case against Yuri Harauski, a former member of a military unit known as SOBR, is due on Sept. 19-20 in the northern Swiss regional court of St. Gallen and focuses on the enforced disappearances of three people in 1999. An extract of the court filing, obtained by The Associated Press, indicated that prosecutors planned to seek a three-year prison sentence — of which two would be s...

Longest alligator in Mississippi history captured by hunters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

YAZOO CITY, Miss. (AP) — A group of hunters have captured the longest alligator ever to be recorded in Mississippi, according to the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Four state residents — Donald Woods, Will Thomas, Joey Clark and Tanner White — harvested a male alligator Saturday in west Mississippi’s Sunflower River. It weighed 802.5 pounds (364 kilograms) and measured 14 feet, 3 inches (4.3 meters) long, breaking the previous record by over 2 inches, the department said. After capturing the animal, the hunters hoisted it with a forklift and posed for a picture at Red Antler Processing in the Mississippi Delta town of Yazoo City. The area is located in a designated alligator hunting zone. Mississippi’s alligator hunting season opens on the last Friday in August each year. In 2023, the season ends Sept. 4.The Associated Press

Teen arrested in fatal shooting of 16-year-old during Oklahoma high school football game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old at an Oklahoma high school football game, the authorities said Wednesday.Deputies working with other law enforcement agencies took the boy into custody without incident early Wednesday in the Oklahoma City suburb of Spencer, Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said.The boy’s name was not released because he is a juvenile, Johnson said.Johnson referred other questions to Choctaw police, who are leading the investigation into the shooting. The sheriff’s office is investigating a shot fired during the gunfire by an off-duty police officer who, along with another off-duty Del City officer, was providing security for the Del City team at the game in Choctaw, east of Oklahoma City.Choctaw Police Chief Kelly Marshall said no other suspects are being sought but that the investigation is ongoing.“I’m confident that we have the prime suspect in custody,” Marshall said, decl...

Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Florida’s Big Bend, the ‘Nature Coast’ far from tourist areas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s Big Bend is one of the last truly natural places in the state. It’s not Disney World. It’s not South Beach. This is where people go to hunt alligators, fish for tarpon and search for scallops in the shallow waters. On Wednesday, it became the bull’s-eye of a major hurricane.The Big Bend is where the peninsula merges into the Panhandle, just southeast of the capital, Tallahassee, and well north of the Tampa metro area. Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning near Keaton Beach in the lightly populated region as a high-end Category 3 hurricane, becoming the first major storm to hit the Big Bend region since Hurricane Easy in 1950, according to the National Hurricane Center.This is where people go to appreciate nature and be left alone.“The counties of Florida’s Nature Coast believe that many people — our residents, and those who travel here from far away — think having a good time involves more than expensive restaurants, theme parks,...

White House says Putin and Kim Jong Un traded letters as Russia looks for munitions from North Korea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Wednesday said that it has new intelligence that shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have swapped letters as Russia looks to North Korea for munitions for the war in Ukraine.National Security Council spokesman John Kirby detailed the latest finding just weeks after the White House said that it had determined that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a recent visit to Pyongyang called on North Korean officials to increase the sale of munitions to Moscow for its Ukraine war.Kirby said that Russia is looking for additional artillery shells and other basic materiel to shore up its defense industrial base. He added that the letters were “more at the surface level” but that Russian and North Korean talks on a weapons sale were advancing. The leaders exchanged the letters following Shoigu’s visit, he said.“Following Shoigu’s visit another group of Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang f...

Metro, Unifor reach second tentative deal for striking grocery workers in Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

TORONTO — The union representing striking grocery store workers at 27 Metro stores in the Greater Toronto Area has reached a tentative agreement with the retailer that could serve as a precedent for the union’s coming contract talks with the other big grocers.If ratified, the deal will bring an end to a month-long strike that saw grocery stores shuttered and later, distribution warehouses blocked from making deliveries as the dispute ramped up.Unifor national president Lana Payne said in statement Wednesday that the union was able to negotiate the tentative deal thanks to the “unwavering commitment” of the workers. “I commend the workers and the bargaining committee for their solidarity and also the customers who supported them during this difficult time.”The contract talks with Metro were the first for Unifor in a two-year stretch of negotiations for more than a dozen collective agreements with the major grocers. The union has said it hopes the Metro d...

Woman threatened with golf club while being robbed in Lincoln Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

CHICAGO — A woman was threatened with a golf club during a robbery in the city's Lincoln Park neighborhood.The robbery happened around 11:50 p.m. Tuesday in the 500 block of West Wrightwood Avenue. Police said the woman was standing on the sidewalk when two unknown males approached her and demanded her property.According to police, one of the offenders was holding a golf club and threatened the woman while the other offender forcefully grabbed her purse. The two then fled eastbound in a white vehicle.The woman was not injured. No one is in custody.Area Three detectives are investigating.

PHOTOS: Hurricane Idalia slams into Florida

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday in Florida as a Category 3 storm and unleashed devastation along a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast, submerging homes and vehicles, turning streets into rivers, unmooring small boats and downing power lines in an area that has never before received such a pummeling.People look out at the flood waters from Hurricane Idalia surrounding their apartment complex on August 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Hurricane Idalia is hitting the Big Bend area on the Gulf Coast of Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)A woman surveys the flooding on Bayshore Blvd., along Old Tampa Bay after winds from Hurricane Idalia pushed water over the sea wall Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. Idalia made landfall earlier this morning along the Big Bend of the state. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)A person canoes through the flooded streets caused by Hurricane Idalia passing offshore on August 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs,...

Protesters block road into Burning Man festival; rangers ram blockade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

(NewsNation) — Climate activists caused a miles-long traffic jam when they blocked the only road leading into the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.Videos posted online show activists using a trailer to block the road that leads into Black Rock City. One video posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, shows a white pickup truck appearing to be from the Pyramid Lake Ranger Station crashing through the barricade set up by protesters.The blockade led to clashes with motorists and tribal rangers, the Los Angeles Times reported. Pyramid Lake, a tribal law enforcement agency, did not respond to the Times' request for comment.The group behind the protest, Seven Circles, said the purpose of the blockade was to draw attention to "capitalism's inability to address climate and ecological breakdown," according to a news release. Seven Circles said Burning Man has been commodified by "affluent people who do not live the stated values" of the festival. Crime, fe...

Circle K stations offering 30 cents off per gallon Thursday: Here's where

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:14:21 GMT

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) -- Drivers are getting a surprise deal on gas Thursday, courtesy of Circle K. The gas station chain announced that over 5,000 locations across the U.S. will be offering 30 cents off per gallon from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 31. The company will also have a 50% deal on food and drinks from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Car washes and electric vehicle charging will also be at a discount.“Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, we are proud to honor our customers’ unwavering loyalty and take the energy and excitement of Circle K Day up a notch with even more spectacular savings," said COO Alex Miller. US questions Tesla move to allow hands-free driving longer with Autopilot The deal is only available at participating Circle K locations and may not be available in some states. "Out of an abundance of caution" the company is not hosting Circle K Day this week in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina or South Carolina due to Hurricane Idalia. The company said it would reschedule the discount day ...