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Palestinians gather in Toronto, Vancouver for rally, more demonstrations expected

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

TORONTO — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators spilled onto streets in several Canadian cities on Thanksgiving Day while the prime minister and Opposition leader spoke at a vigil at a Jewish community centre, following a weekend of deadly fighting in the Middle East.Protesters gathered at Nathan Phillips Square in front of Toronto city hall on Monday afternoon, many draped in or waving Palestinian flags as the crowd chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,”in a demonstration that was denounced by the city’s mayor. One sign read, “Occupation is a crime, resistance is a response.”The gathering came after Hamas militants out of Gaza launched an attack on Israel on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of fighters to infiltrate the heavily fortified border by air, land and sea. The attack has been called the deadliest on Israel in years, with the incursion and counteroffensive killing hundreds on both sides and injuring thous...

San Francisco police fire gun at Chinese consulate where vehicle crashed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A vehicle crashed into the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Monday, prompting a massive response from police and fire personnel.The San Francisco Police Department also said in a statement that an officer or officers had fired their guns at the site of the crash but provided no other immediate details.A heavy police presence descended on the area and the department urged the public to avoid the area. Television cameras showed a vehicle that had crashed into the building.The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China is on a major street across from the city’s Japantown neighborhood.The Associated Press

Russia claims `neo-Nazis’ were at wake for Ukrainian soldier in village struck by missile killing 52

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s U.N. ambassador claimed Monday that alleged “neo-Nazis” and men of military age were at the wake for a Ukrainian soldier in a village café that was hit by a missile strike last week, killing 52 people.Vassily Nebenzia told a U.N. Security Council meeting called by Ukraine that the soldier was “a high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist,” with “a lot of neo-Nazi accomplices attending.”In Thursday’s strike by a Russian Iskander ballistic missile, the village of Hroza in the northeastern Kharkiv region, lost over 15% of its 300 population. The café, which had reopened for the wake, was obliterated, and whole families perished.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied last Friday that Russia was responsible for the Hroza attack. He insisted, as Moscow has in the past, that the Russian military doesn’t target civilians and civilian facilities.Nebenzia reiterated that the Russian military doesn’t target civilians and civilian facilities. “We remind that if the Kyiv r...

Lawsuit alleges famous child-trafficking opponent sexually abused women who posed as his wife

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

Five women on Monday sued the founder of an anti-child-trafficking group that inspired a popular movie this year, alleging he sexually manipulated, abused and harassed them on overseas trips designed to lure and catch child sex traffickers.Tim Ballard’s life story and work with Operation Underground Railroad inspired “Sound of Freedom,” a 2023 film popular with conservative moviegoers. He recently resigned from the group amid sexual abuse and harassment allegations he has denied.Ballard’s prominence as an opponent of child sex trafficking got him invited to the White House under President Donald Trump. Previously a special adviser to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, Ballard was appointed to a White House anti-human-trafficking board in 2019.The complaints against Ballard center on a “couple’s ruse” he allegedly engaged in with Operation Underground Railroad women who he persuaded to pose as his wife to fool child sex traffickers into thinking he was a legitima...

Brett Favre’s deposition in Mississippi’s welfare scandal is rescheduled for December

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The deposition hearing in the civil lawsuit against retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre surrounding Mississippi’s welfare scandal has been pushed back at the request of the athlete’s attorneys, a court document shows.Favre is set to answer questions under oath about misspending federal welfare money in Mississippi, where about $77 million in public funds intended to help some of the nation’s poorest people were used to fund pet projects Favre and other well-connected people are accused of supporting with the money. The Pro Football Hall of Famer is among more than three dozen defendants in a lawsuit the state Human Services director filed to recover some of the welfare money. Favre has denied wrongdoing, sued the state auditor who investigated the misspending for defamation and said he paid back misspent welfare funds. A notice of deposition filed in Hinds County Circuit Court by attorneys for Mississippi’s Department of Human Services said Favre wa...

Plans for migrant shelter at Amundsen Park put on hold, mayor says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

CHICAGO — The Amundsen Park advisory council and neighbors rallied Monday to protest plans to use the park's fieldhouse as a migrant shelter.The city had planned to house 200 people at the park district facility near Austin and Narragansett in the Galewood neighborhood for at least six months. It would have become the seventh Chicago Park District facility to be turned into a migrant shelter.Many called on Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to develop a better plan. Early Monday evening, just days away from the possibility of hundreds of migrants calling Amundsen Park their temporary home, the city has opted to change course. "The move to Amundsen Park is currently on hold," the mayor's office told WGN News.Since last year, more than 18,000 migrants from Texas have been bused into the city. As of October, more than 10,000 migrants live in shelters, with about 3,500 awaiting placement.At various CPD districts, nearly 2,800 migrants remain — more tha...

Walgreens employees across the US stage walkout over working conditions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

CHICAGO — Starting Monday, some Walgreens employees are reportedly staging walkouts at stores across the country.Unlike labor strikes organized by union leaders, Walgreens employees likely won't be standing outside or holding picket signs. In a different showing of solidarity, some employees say they plan on calling in sick as part of the three-day walkout. “A lot of pharmacy technicians have voiced their concerns over the last few years," said one Walgreens employee who asked to remain anonymous.  2 dead after shooting inside convenience store in Englewood On the condition of anonymity, WGN TV spoke with a Chicago-area Walgreens pharmacy technician who said he feels that things did not need to escalate to the point where a walkout was necessary to initiate change and get their message across. Citing working conditions that make it tough to safely refill prescriptions, some pharmacy and support staff will be calling in sick in solidarity. “The amount of workload tha...

Israel-Hamas war: History, hostage negotiation experts weigh in

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- More than 1,200 people have died in a bloody conflict between Hamas and Israel after Hamas launched a surprise attack over the weekend. Thousands more have been injured on both sides and roughly 130 people have reportedly been taken captive from Israel and brought into Gaza with the threat of being executed. At least nine Americans have been killed, a State Department spokesperson told The Hill Monday. According to Jeremi Suri -- a professor of history and public affairs at the University of Texas and author on the history of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East -- Hamas was created in the 1980s by Palestinian and other Arab Muslim groups to create an alternative to the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Hamas has a political arm which has governed Gaza for roughly a decade, Suri said. There are around 2 million people living in the strip. Israel declares war, bombards Gaza and battles to dislodge Hamas fighters after surprise attack But the group also has a ...

School funding debate begins Texas' third special session

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Lawmakers are back together at the Texas Capitol, but top Republican leaders have never been further apart. Proposals for major new public school funding are competing with the Governor's priority for private school subsidies as legislative leaders trade attacks more hostile than ever.Education funding leads the debate -- both for public schools and private schools. The governor is calling for a universal 'educational freedom' plan that would use state money to subsidize private education expenses, while legislators are also prioritizing major increases to public school funding and teacher pay.The Texas Senate on Monday moved swiftly to advance their school finance package, allocating $5.2 billion in additional school funding in Senate Bill 2.That package includes $400 million for school safety, doubling the minimal funding that came with the legislature's sweeping school safety bill passed in the regular session.Senate Bill 2 also gives every Texas teacher a $3,...

Charges: DNA links man to 2003 sexual assault in St. Paul

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:48:25 GMT

Nearly 20 years have passed since a woman reported a friend sexually assaulted her inside her truck on St. Paul’s West Side.Now, Ramsey County prosecutors say DNA collected from a sexual assault exam in 2003 matches that of the man whom she accused — and that he’s been charged.Shawn Phillips Skie (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)Shawn Phillips Skie, 48, of St. Paul, faces first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the December 2003 assault after charges say his DNA came back this year as a hit through a statewide initiative to analyze a backlog of untested sexual assault kits.“This offender’s actions took a permanent toll on the victim’s spirit and future,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a Monday statement. “The determination and partnership of the St. Paul police investigators, the BCA lab and the dedicated sexual assault prosecutor in our office made this outcome possible.”A complaint warrant was issued for Skie on Wednesday and he...