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Turkey hits Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and detains about 1,000 people days after Ankara blast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish warplanes carried out new airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militant sites in northern Iraq on Tuesday, days after a suicide attack in the Turkish capital. Police, meanwhile, detained almost 1,000 people in raids across Turkey. A defense ministry statement said the air raids hit 16 targets, including caves, shelters and depots, used by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK in the neighboring region. It said the operation aimed to protect Turkey’s borders and prevent terror attacks.It was Turkey’s second cross-border aerial operation against PKK targets in northern Iraq since the attack in Ankara on Sunday. Earlier, police conducted raids in several Turkish provinces, detaining close to 1,000 people, including dozens with alleged links to Kurdish militants. An opposition news anchor was also briefly detained. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that 55 people suspected of being part of the PKK’s “intelligence structure...

Joly says Canadians ‘want to do more’ to help Haiti as military intervention looms

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Canada is determining how it can best help with an international military intervention in Haiti, but a fellow Liberal MP says it’s unlikely that will involve any military role for Canada.“Canada has always been involved in issues related to Haiti. We will continue to be,” Joly told reporters Tuesday morning on Parliament Hill, in French.“We want to do more. So we’ll thus continue these diplomatic conversations, and I would say that we’ll also continue to support solutions that are by and for Haitians.”The United Nations Security Council approved a multinational force Monday to help combat violent gangs in Haiti, which Kenya has offered to leadand expects to kick off by January.Joly said she’s spoken with her counterpart from Kenya as well as Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, on how Canada can be of help.Haiti’s unelected prime minister asked for an intern...

Vermont dedicates marker in honor of birthplace of Burton Snowboards

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

LONDONDERRY, Vt. — The state of Vermont, dozens of snowboard enthusiasts and local history buffs dedicated a site Tuesday in honor of one of the most iconic brands in the sport, which played a key role in its rise from a curious hobby to an Olympic event.Snowboard lovers used the event to commemorate the birthplace of Burton Snowboards with a small blue sign down the road from where the company was born more than 40 years ago. The sign states that “from its humble beginnings in Londonderry, snowboarding grew from a backyard hobby to one of the world’s most popular winter sports.”The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation participated in the event to recognize the creation of the first Burton snowboards. Jake Burton founded the company in 1977, preceding a revolution in winter recreation.The company’s Londonderry factory, which was lost in a fire, is critical to the history of snowboarding, said Hilary Batchelor, president of the Londonderry Arts and Historical Society.“It ...

‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat sues over expulsion and House rules that temporarily silenced him

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Democratic Rep. Justin Jones filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging his expulsion in April and the House rules restricting lawmakers’ floor comments that Republicans applied to silence Jones for part of one day in August.Filed against House Speaker Cameron Sexton and House administrative officials, the lawsuit in Nashville federal court argues that Republicans have repeatedly blocked Jones from speaking during debate in violation of free speech rights under the state and federal constitutions. Additionally, the lawsuit by the Nashville member of the “Tennessee Three” contends his constitutional due process rights were infringed upon by the expulsion proceedings. Republicans ousted Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, a fellow young Black Democrat, over their megaphone-amplified protest calling for gun control on the House floor just days after a Christian elementary school shooting killed six people. Republicans spared Democratic Rep. Gloria Jo...

Butler sworn in to replace late California Sen. Feinstein, third Black female senator in US history

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former union leader and Democratic insider Laphonza Butler was sworn in as the newest member of the Senate on Tuesday, replacing California Sen. Dianne Feinstein after her death and becoming only the third Black female senator in history.Butler was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday, just two days after Feinstein died at her home in Washington. Butler is a longtime fundraiser and strategist in the state’s Democratic circles and was the head of Emily’s List, a national organization that raises money for women candidates who support abortion rights. On the Senate floor Tuesday, Butler was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris, who served as the second Black female senator until she resigned in 2021 to join President Joe Biden in the White House. The first was Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, who served one term in the 1990s.The Congressional Black Caucus was also holding a ceremonial swearing-in for Butler. “Her background an...

11-year-old shoots, injures 2 teens following altercation at Florida Pop Warner football practice

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

APOPKA, Fla. (AP) — An 11-year-old boy retrieved a gun from an unlocked box in his mother’s vehicle and shot two 13-year-olds following an altercation that began during a Pop Warner football practice in central Florida, police said Tuesday.The child fired one shot on Monday night, hitting one teen in the arm and the other in the torso, Apopka police Chief Mike McKinley said during a Tuesday morning news conference. He said surveillance video showed that both teens were running away from the boy when the shot was fired. The two teens are in stable condition, McKinley said.The shooting was reported about 8:18 p.m. and officers arrived at the scene about four minutes later, McKinley said.Responding officers took the gun from the child, and he was detained, McKinley said. The boy was later charged with one count of attempted second-degree murder, and booked into the juvenile assessment center. The chief said the boy’s mother may face a second-degree misdemeanor charge of lea...

Man charged with human trafficking drugged woman, made her work as escort: Toronto police

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

Toronto police have laid multiple charges on a man allegedly involved in human trafficking, with investigators saying the accused forced a woman to work as an escort across Canada.The Toronto police human trafficking enforcement team opened an investigation into allegations in September 2023.Authorities said the accused sex trafficked the female victim from January 2020 to July 2023 after the victim met the male suspect while working in the sex trade.It’s alleged the accused trafficked the female victim throughout the GTA and Bellville, Ont. and transported the female victim to Montreal, Que., simultaneously forcing her to work as an escort and holding her in a hotel room for three months.Police said all of the money earned by the victim was taken by the suspect, who withheld her identification and bank cards. Additionally, the man used physical force and supplied the victim with drugs to exercise control over her.On September 20, police arrested 32-year-old Raj Kirubananthan ...

North Carolina retiree group sues to block 30-day voter residency requirement

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina laws requiring citizens to reside in the state and within a precinct at least 30 days before an election date to be eligible to vote are unlawful and must be blocked, a union-affiliated retiree group said in a federal lawsuit this week. Lawyers for the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans write that the 30-day residency mandate violates the U.S. Constitution and Voting Rights Act and totally denies newcomers to the state the right to vote for no compelling reason. People who currently comply with that residency window can participate in same-day registration at early voting sites up to the Saturday before the election.The lawsuit, if successful, could allow more people to cast ballots in the 2024 elections in the ninth-largest state, which has over 7 million registered voters and is often marked by very close results in races for president and other statewide offices. Lawyers who helped file the lawsuit on Monday on behalf of the alliance...

GO Transit trains, UP Express stopped at stations due to CN rail system failure

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

TORONTO — All GO Transit trains have stopped running amid what rail agencies are calling a network-wide system failure. The outage is also affecting some Via Rail trains routed through Toronto’s Union Station as well as the rail service that connects downtown Toronto to Pearson International Airport.Metrolinx, which operates GO Transit and the UP Express airport rail service, says a CN Rail system failure is affecting all rail corridors.It says trains are holding at their nearest stations.Metrolinx says in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that its teams are working with CN to resolve the issue quickly.GO Transit, which runs commuter trains across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, says on its website that customers should consider taking alternative travel options.Via Rail says some of its trains entering and leaving Union Station will experience delays. CN, which has not posted about the outage on social media so far, appears to be having problems with its website ...

New York judge issues gag order after Trump attacks clerk on Truth Social

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:19 GMT

NEW YORK — The judge overseeing former President Trump’s New York fraud trial issued a limited gag order for all parties on Tuesday after Trump’s Truth Social account made a post targeting the judge’s principal clerk while she sat just feet away from him in the courtroom. Judge Arthur Engoron issued the gag order barring Trump and any party in the case from posting or speaking publicly about members of his staff after Trump released personally-identifying information about his principal clerk on Truth Social while the hearing was underway.The trial judge, without naming Trump, addressed the court on the matter, saying “one of the defendants” posted a “disparaging, untrue and personally-identifying post” about his staff, and though the judge ordered it deleted, it had been emailed out to “millions of other recipients.”“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are not appropriate and I will not tolerate it under any circumstance,” Engoron said.He added that he warned counsel off ...