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Opposition disrupts Indian Parliament after Gandhi’s ouster

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Members of opposition parties dressed in black disrupted India’s Parliament on Monday and protested in the capital, New Delhi, after Rahul Gandhi, a key opposition leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was expelled from the legislature last week. Hundreds of supporters of Gandhi’s Congress party demonstrated in the heart of New Delhi and dozens were detained by police. Lawmakers from 18 opposition parties also protested together outside Parliament, donning black clothes to symbolize mourning and waving posters that warned India’s democracy is in danger. Gandhi’s expulsion on Friday came a day after a local court convicted him of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for mocking Modi’s surname in an election speech in 2019. The actions against Gandhi, the great-grandson of India’s first prime minister, were widely denounced by opponents of Modi as assaults against democracy and free speech by a gov...

Kate Beaton’s graphic memoir ‘Ducks’ gives insight into working at Alberta’s oilsands

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

When Kate Beaton migrated west to work in Alberta’s oilsands, she didn’t know what to expect — other than a job that would allow her to pay down her student loans. Those making the move now, some 15-plus years after the comics artist worked in Fort McMurray, have more information about the industry thanks to social media, she said.“If you don’t have a personal connection to the actual area, the location, or the workforce, or the people that travel back and forth and work there, then it’s harder to have an understanding of day-to-day life there,” Beaton said in a phone interview from her home in Cape Breton. With “Ducks,” Beaton’s graphic memoir that’s now competing in Canada Reads, she sought to show people what the experience can really be like.The 430-page retelling of her two years in the oilsands portrays the industry as one burdened by misogyny and corporate interests, but also a place where employees can find unexpect...

Scotland’s ruling SNP picks new leader to succeed Sturgeon

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Scotland’s governing party will elect a new leader on Monday after a bruising five-week contest that exposed deep fractures within the pro-independence movement.The Scottish National Party is choosing a successor to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who unexpectedly stepped down last month after eight years as leader of the party and of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government.The SNP’s 72,000 members are choosing among Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and lawmaker Ash Regan. The winner will be announced on Monday afternoon. The new party leader is due to be confirmed as first minister by Scottish lawmakers on Tuesday.A formidable leader who led the SNP to a dominant position in Scottish politics, Sturgeon failed in her aim of leading Scotland out of the United Kingdom, and divided the party with a contentious transgender rights law.The three candidates to succeed her share the goal of independence, but differ in their economic and socia...

Who is bidding to buy English soccer club Manchester United?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The race to buy Manchester United is taking shape.Based on the publicly declared bids for one of the world’s most iconic soccer teams, the frontrunners are Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and local boy-turned-billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.There is also the possibility that the current American owners, the Glazer family, could yet retain control of the team, despite raising hopes among supporters they would finally walk away after repeated attempts by fans to drive them out.After a second round of bidding last week, Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe remain in contention for what is likely to be the biggest ever sale of a sports team, with the price estimated to reach up to $6 billion.Sheikh Jassim’s latest offer was placed on Friday night, a person with knowledge of the bid said.The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.American merchant bank Raine’s decision to extend the dead...

Amid strained US ties, China finds unlikely friend in Utah

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — China’s global campaign to win friends and influence policy has blossomed in a surprising place: Utah, a deeply religious and conservative state with few obvious ties to the world’s most powerful communist country.An investigation by the Associated Press has found that China and its U.S.-based advocates spent years building relationships with the state’s officials and lawmakers. Those efforts have paid dividends at home and abroad, the AP found: Lawmakers delayed legislation Beijing didn’t like, nixed resolutions that conveyed displeasure with its actions and expressed support in ways that enhanced the Chinese government’s image.Its work in Utah is emblematic of a broader effort by Beijing to secure allies at the local level as its relations with the U.S. and its western allies have turned acrimonious. U.S. officials say local leaders are at risk of being manipulated by China and have deemed the influence campaign a threat to national security.Beijing’s success...

First Citizens to acquire troubled Silicon Valley Bank

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — North Carolina-based First Citizens will buy Silicon Valley Bank, the tech industry-focused financial institution that collapsed earlier this month, rattling the banking industry and sending shockwaves around the world. The deal could reassure investors at a time of shaken confidence in banks, though the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other regulators had already taken extraordinary steps to head off a wider banking crisis by guaranteeing that depositors in SVB and another failed U.S. bank would be able to access all of their money.Customers of SVB will automatically become customers of First Citizens, which is headquartered in Raleigh. The 17 former branches of SVB will open as First Citizens branches Monday, the FDIC said.Nasdaq-traded shares of First Citizen BancShares Inc. jumped 12.4% to $654.95 in premarket trading Monday. Shares in mid-sized San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which serves a similar clientele as Silicon Valley Bank and had appeared t...

Man stabbed onboard TTC bus in Toronto’s west end

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

A man is in hospital with serious injuries after a stabbing onboard a TTC bus in Toronto’s west end.Police say they received reports that a man was stabbed on a bus on Keele Street near Donald Avenue, just north of Rogers Road, around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday.Officers located an injured man at the scene. He was transported to hospital with serious injuries.The suspect fled the scene.Police tell CityNews the victim and the suspect knew each other and the attack was not random.No suspect information has been made available.The investigation is ongoing.STABBING:Keele St & Donald Ave– reports of a man stabbed onboard a TTC bus @TTCNotices– police o/s– officers located a man with injuries – @TorontoMedics o/s – took the patient to hospital with serious injuries– suspect fled– ongoing investigation#GO671006^al— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) March 27, 2023The stabbing onboard a TTC vehicle comes one day after a teen boy was...

Man critically injured in shooting on West Side

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

CHICAGO — Police are looking for the person responsible for shooting two men late Sunday night on Chicago’s West Side.According to police, the two men were standing a courtyard around 11 p.m. near 13th Street and Throop in the city’s Near West Side neighborhood. Police said a man approached the men and began shooting.One of the men, a 40-year-old, was shot in the back and side and taken to the hospital in critical condition.Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesThe other man, who police said is in his 60s, was shot in the leg. He refused medical attention at the scene.No one is in custody.

Chilly, cloudy and dry to start the week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

Monday starts mostly cloudy in the morning, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. N 5-10 mph. High Monday of 46.Air quality is in the Good category with pockets of Moderate air quality near Milwaukee, NW Illinois, and SW Michigan. Monday night will see increasing clouds late, frosty overnight. N 5-10 mph. Low 28Full forecast details at the WGN Weather CenterTuesday morning will see clouds with partly cloudy in the afternoon.NW 5-10 mph High of 47 Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Extended outlook calls for Wednesday to start with some sunshine, but clouds increasing a chance of a line of rain/snow showers to move through from the north in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 40s. Thursday looks mostly cloudy for the Cubs home opener and rain showers could hold off to the evening with a high finally above normal in the lower 50s. Rain looks likely after midnight and into Friday morning's commute. Friday set to be a mild day where we could score our first 60 of the year. Ste...

All 7 victims of Pennsylvania chocolate factory blast found

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:22 GMT

WEST READING, Pa. (AP) — All seven bodies have been recovered from the site of a powerful explosion at a chocolate factory in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania, officials said.West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag said in a statement Sunday night that none of the victims will be named until officials are certain that all families have been contacted.“Please understand that this is a devastating loss, but we are truly grateful to bring closure to the families involved in the upcoming days,” Kaag said.West Reading Borough Chief of Police Wayne Holben said at a press briefing just after 9 p.m. that rescue workers had found the bodies earlier in the evening and that they are believed to be the remaining two individuals who were listed as missing earlier in the day. Their identities will be confirmed by the Berks County Coroner’s Office, he said.One of the victims was found around 6:50 p.m. and the other around 8:20 p.m., Holben said. The deaths brought the total number killed to seven in ...