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Tobacco company settles with US over business in North Korea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A British tobacco company has agreed to pay more than $629 million to settle allegations that it did illegal business with North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said Tuesday.British American Tobacco, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, while the company’s Singapore subsidiary pleaded guilty to bank fraud and sanctions charges. BAT said in its own statement that the settlement concerns sales from 2007 through 2017 and that the company has since taken steps to improve its business practices.North Korea faces stringent U.S. and international sanctions going back nearly two decades for its nuclear weapons program and development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Pyongyang has continued to research and test more nuclear weapons. It has also worked to evade sanctions with the cooperation of allies like China and illicit trade with barred countries ...

More sanctions for deadly fentanyl if bill becomes law

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the past year, the U.S. Treasury Department has used its sanctions powers to impose wide-ranging financial penalties on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine — turning Russia into the most sanctioned country in the world. Now, the federal agency is facing increasing pressure, including from legislation introduced Tuesday in the Senate, to use those tools with similar vigor against the people, financial institutions and companies that have participated in the explosion of fentanyl use and distribution in the U.S.“As a matter of policy we are dealing with drug cartels who have tremendous economic gain to be made,” said Paul DelPonte, executive director of the nonprofit National Crime Prevention Council, which is pushing for tougher action against those behind the scourge of drug overdose and death. “There are a lot of hands involved in this crime.”Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in the U.S. today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estim...

Montana House cancels after rally for transgender lawmaker

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s House speaker canceled a Tuesday floor session a day after seven protestors were arrested for disrupting proceedings with demands that Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender Democrat silenced by lawmakers for comments against bans on gender-affirming care, be allowed to speak.The cancellation is the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on a gender-affirming care ban proposal.Speaker Matt Regier did not take questions on Tuesday or explain why lawmakers were not returning to the floor, but in a brief statement called the disruptions a “dark day for Montana.”“Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules,” Regier told reporters. “The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will n...

Entertainment, civil rights notables honor Harry Belafonte

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Reaction poured in Tuesday from civil rights leaders and the entertainment world following the death of Harry Belafonte at age 96. As a prominent activist, charismatic singer, Hollywood leading man, Broadway star and trailblazing Black entertainer, Belafonte’s loss was felt across a wide swath of American life. ___“May God Have My Dear Friend Harry Belafonte At A Peaceful Rest. We Are Losing Our Giants Left And Right. We Have To Celebrate Our Elders While They Are With Us.” — Spike Lee, who directed Belafonte’s final film, 2018’s BlacKkKlansman.” ___“Another ‘GREAT TREE’ has fallen: Harry Belafonte, a Trailblazer and Hero to us all. Thank you for your music, your artistry, your activism, your fight for civil rights and justice — especially risking your life back in the day to get money to the movement. Your being here on Earth has Blessed us all.” — Oprah Winfrey. ___“Harry Belafonte was a true mentor and friend. I am heartbroken to hear of hi...

B.C. Appeal Court sides with mom in case involving access to parental medical records

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia Court of Appeal has struck down a section of the province’s child protection legislation that allowed social workers to access a parent’s medical records without their consent, a search warrant or a court order. The three-judge panel says a section of B.C.’s Child, Family and Community Service Act is unconstitutional, finding the legislation lacked safeguards to protect parents’ deeply personal medical information.The ruling says the act allowed child welfare workers with the Ministry of Children and Family Development to access private medical information on parents from public bodies, including hospitals and medical clinics. The panel says the section of the act allowing broad access to parents’ medical history was not “minimally intrusive” as a lower court found, and could give access to “intensely private information” that was not a necessary part of an investigation. The appeals court ruling ...

‘Mojave Max’ tortoise emerges in Vegas; latest since 2000

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A desert tortoise that is the focus of schoolchild predictions and local lore about the start of spring has emerged from its winter burrow at a nature preserve in Las Vegas, officials said Tuesday.Mojave Max’s appearance above ground with burrow-mate at 3:40 p.m. Monday at the Springs Preserve marked the latest date since an annual watch contest began in 2000 for the critter compared locally with Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania. Phil’s handlers said Feb. 2 that their groundhog predicted their spring wouldn’t arrive until April.In Las Vegas, where the threatened species’ reptilian winter rest is called brumation, the earliest a Mojave Max has emerged since 2000 was a little before noon on Feb. 14, 2005. The latest had been April 17, 2012.Three male tortoises since 2000 have borne the moniker Mojave Max. Today’s Max is marked with a radio transmitting device attached to his shell. The tortoise seen with Mojave Max on Monday does not hav...

Judge mulls evidence for 3 of 6 in Alabama birthday shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama investigator described a bloody and chaotic crime scene filled with 89 bullet casings and other evidence after a shooting killed four young people and wounded dozens at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party. Authorities have charged six people with murder.Tuesday’s court hearing could determine if the three adults accused of last week’s shooting will be held without bond. A judge did not immediately issue a ruling. Hearings will be held later for the three juvenile defendants.“Multiple shell casings. Blood everywhere,” testified Special Agent Jess Thornton of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Thornton said he’d never encountered a crime scene like the one at the dance studio just off Dadeville’s town square. He said shell casings from four types of handguns were recovered at the scene, and evidence indicates at least one of the handguns had been altered for rapid fire. Thornton said statements from the six defendants, either about...

Stock market today: Stocks tumble on profit, economy worries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is tumbling Tuesday toward its worst day in a month on worries about the strength of corporate profits and the economy following some mixed reports. The S&P 500 was 1.4% lower in late trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 332 points, or 1%, at 33,542, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.7% lower. First Republic Bank plunged 43.4% for the sharpest loss in the S&P 500 after it said customers withdrew more than $100 billion in deposits during the first quarter. That doesn’t include $30 billion that big banks plugged in to build faith in their rival after the second- and third-largest U.S. bank failures in history shook confidence.The size of the drop in deposits overshadowed First Republic’s beating analysts’ expectations for earnings at the start of the year.The majority of companies so far this reporting season have been topping expectations, but the bar was set considerably low. Analysts are forecasting the wor...

Search underway for missing Chicago man who requires medication

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Police Department are asking for the public's help locating a missing man who requires medication.Oscar Pena, 32, was last seen by his family on the 2100 block of North Pulaski Avenue at 11 p.m. on Sunday, April 23.Pena is described as 5-foot-6, weighing 210 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and a dragon tattoo on his right arm. He has a medical condition that requires medication. Five $1 million lottery wins in Illinois remain unclaimed Pena was last seen wearing a blue raincoat, black shirt, and camouflage pants. He's known to frequent the area near the Walmart on the 4600 block of West Diversey Avenue.Anyone with information on Pena's whereabouts are asked to contact the Chicago Police Department at 312-746-6554.

'Get her': Suburban parents accused of encouraging daughters to beat classmate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:23 GMT

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — The parents of two junior high school students in Naperville have been charged after allegedly encouraging their daughters to beat up a fellow classmate.On April 3 at around 7 a.m., authorities allege a junior high student was walking to her bus stop while being followed by two other girls and a vehicle. Police said parents Steven Teague, 36, and Terika Thomas, 30, both of Naperville, were inside the vehicle.When the girl reached her bus stop, the daughters of Teague and Thomas allegedly attacked the girl, a fellow classmate, by throwing her to the ground and punching her.While the incident was happening, authorities allege Teague stood by and Thomas encouraged the daughters to "get her." Warrant issued for driver accused of killing elderly man while drag racing in Beach Park DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said the girl did not sustain serious injuries.The next court appearance for Teague is scheduled for May 15 and the next court appearance for Th...