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5 prisoners freed in US swap with Iran, arrive in Qatar

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

By JON GAMBRELL, LUJAIN JO and MATTHEW LEE (Associated Press)DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Five prisoners sought by the U.S. in a swap with Iran were freed Monday and headed home as part of a deal that saw nearly $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen.Despite the deal, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the U.S. and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.The planned exchange has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” President Joe Biden said in a statement released as the plane carrying the group from Tehran landed in Doha, Qatar.After the plane slowed ...

Netanyahu visits Elon Musk in California to hold discussion about artificial intelligence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is starting a U.S. trip in California to talk about technology and artificial intelligence with billionaire businessman Elon Musk.The Israeli leader posted Monday on Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he plans to talk with the Tesla CEO “about how we can harness the opportunities and mitigate the risks of AI for the good of civilization.”Netanyahu’s high-profile visit to the San Francisco Bay Area comes at a time when Musk is facing accusations of tolerating antisemitic messages on his social media platform, while Netanyahu is confronting political opposition at home and abroad. Protesters gathered early Monday outside the Fremont, California factory where Tesla makes its cars.The video livestream kicked off shortly before 9:30 a.m. with Netanyahu and the Tesla CEO. Netanyahu’s official X account posted that he is holding a “a one on one conversation” with Musk. The two kicked of...

Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley discharged from hospital after pneumonia bout: wife

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

TORONTO — Deryck Whibley, the lead singer of pop-punk band Sum 41, is back home after being hospitalized with a case of pneumonia.The musician’s wife Ari posted an Instagram update over the weekend saying Whibley was discharged after responding well to medical treatment.She says he’s now under the care of both her and his mother, who is a registered nurse.Days earlier, Ari used her Instagram account to share with fans that Whibley spent a night in the emergency room with a case of pneumonia, sidelining plans to spend their eight-year wedding anniversary in Chicago.While he was in the hospital, she wrote that doctors told them “a lot of strain on his heart” could lead to possible heart failure.The 43-year-old has faced other major health issues in the past. In 2014, he was placed in a medically induced coma after his alcoholism led to severe damage of his liver and kidneys.“This is obviously not our first time in a situation like this but it brings back ...

1 injured, 1 arrested following stabbing at Whitby high school

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

One person has been injured and another person is in police custody following a stabbing at a high school in Whitby.Father Leo Austin Catholic Secondary School, located at 1020 Dryden Blvd. near Taunton Road East and Thickson Road North, was placed on lockdown just before 12:30 p.m. on Monday. It has since been lifted.Police confirm the stabbing took place on school property but it is not clear if it happened inside or outside the school.Police say the victim’s injuries are not life-threatening.No further details have been released about the victim or suspect at this time.

Class-action lawsuit application for COVID-19 response in care homes begins in Quebec

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge is being asked to authorize a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all residents of public long-term care homes that experienced COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic’s first two waves.Montreal lawyer Patrick Martin-Ménard said today in court that Quebec’s early response to COVID-19 in long-term care homes was marked by improvisation and that a pre-existing pandemic plan was ignored until it was too late.The lawsuit would also include family members of residents who died between March 2020 and March 2021.Martin-Ménard says that outbreaks at care homes would have been prevented had the existing plan been put into action.He says long-term care centres were ill-prepared to receive patients from hospitals, and couldn’t properly care for residents after the government banned visits from family caregivers.Lawyers for the Quebec government are scheduled to argue against the lawsuit later this week. This report by The Canadian Press w...

Indiana’s attorney general faces misconduct complaint over remarks about abortion doctor

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A complaint filed Monday alleges that Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita violated professional conduct rules in statements he made about a doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim last year.The Indiana Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission references an interview Rokita gave in July 2022 about Dr. Caitlin Bernard on a Fox News show, The Indianapolis Star reported.The commission also alleges in its complaint that Rokita, a Republican who is anti-abortion, violated confidentiality requirements by making statements about an investigation into Bernard prior to filing a complaint with the state’s Medical Licensing Board.Rokita’s office told the newspaper Monday that it would file a response to the complaint.Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, gave the girl a medication-induced abortion in June 2022 and received widespread attention after she gave an interview to the Indianapolis Star about the child.The doctor’s account o...

China’s foreign minister holds talks in Russia after meeting with US national security adviser

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — China’s top diplomat on Monday began several days of security consultations with Russian officials following his weekend talks with U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser in Malta.Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who simultaneously holds the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy post, will be in Russia through Thursday for strategic security consultations, the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement.Wang opened his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov by hailing “strategic cooperation” between the two countries and their shared commitment to a “multipolar world” and a “more just world order,” terms Moscow and Beijing use to describe their efforts to counterbalance the perceived U.S. domination of global affairs.“China and Russia, as leading global powers and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, bear special responsibility for maintaining global strategic stability and global development,” Wang said. ...

Trump calls DeSantis abortion ban ‘a terrible mistake,’ sparking anger from some key Republicans

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

Donald Trump is facing new blowback from anti-abortion activists for refusing to commit to national abortion restrictions and for calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a six-week ban on the procedure a “terrible mistake.”Speaking Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump repeatedly declined to say whether he would support a federal ban on abortion. He said he could “live with” the procedure being banned by individual states or nationwide through federal action, though he said “from a legal standpoint, I think it’s probably better” to be handled at the state level.Regarding the bill signed by DeSantis, which bans abortions before many women know they are pregnant, Trump said, “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” So far, the former president has dominated the 2024 field while at times spurning the anti-abortion groups that traditionally have huge influence in Republican primaries. But Trump’s direct attack on DeSantis, whom he’s lon...

9 teen boys escaped from a detention center in Pennsylvania. They made it a few miles

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

MORGANTOWN, Pa (AP) — Nine teenagers who escaped from a detention center in Pennsylvania after overpowering staff and crawling under a fence were captured less than 12 hours later, state police said Monday.“It probably was planned, but poorly planned,” said Pennsylvania State Police Trooper David Beohm.Beohm said the first four were taken into custody shortly before 6 a.m. after they went to a home and knocked on the door. They turned themselves in because they were cold and tired, Beohm said. Police caught up with the other five after a pickup truck and trailer were reported stolen. After a brief car case, police found four of them in the vehicle. The last teen took off on foot and was caught in a field a short time later.State and local police were called late Sunday to take control of the juvenile center in Morgantown, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia. Beohm said the escape happened after the boys, all between the ages of 15 and 17, wrested the keys away f...

Farmers across Bulgaria protest against Ukrainian grain as EU divide grows

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:42 GMT

PERNIK, Bulgaria (AP) — Farmers across Bulgaria protested Monday after the government lifted a ban on food products from Ukraine, complaining that the move will cause an influx that drives down prices for local growers.Hundreds of farmers around the country converged in their tractors, many of them waving national flags and honking horns as they blockaded main roads and disrupted traffic to express their anger.The protest follows a decision Thursday by Bulgarian lawmakers to allow imports from Ukraine to resume, saying the ban had deprived the government of tax revenue and led to higher food prices.A day later, the European Union also decided not to renew the overall ban on Ukrainian food heading to five member countries. Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have since unilaterally imposed their own blockades, threatening European unity on support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.The rising tensions come after Russia halted a U.N.-brokered agreement last month to guarantee safe shipmen...