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Belarus opposition group urges EU to maintain sanctions on Belarus state companies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A member of the Belarus opposition movement urged the European Union on Monday to keep sanctions against a Belarusian state fertilizer producer, warning that lifting them would generate a $1.5 billion windfall for Alexander Lukashenko’s regime as it supports Russia’s war on Ukraine.Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian minister of culture who is now in exile in Poland, said he feared the EU might be tempted to lift sanctions against Belaruskali, which is one of the world’s largest exporters of potash fertilizers.Latushka heads an opposition group, the National Anti-Crisis Management, which has been documenting what it alleges is Lukashenko’s participation in a scheme to deport Ukrainian orphans to camps in Belarus. The team has been working to bring international attention to its findings in an attempt to stop the alleged deportations and hold Lukashenko to account. “Belaruskali is the firm that finances the deportation of Ukrainian children,” Latushka, who...

Stock market today: Wall Street is mixed ahead of talks to avoid U.S. default

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are moving tentatively Monday, as Wall Street waits to see whether a pivotal meeting later in the day will help the U.S. government avoid a potentially disastrous default on its debt.The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher after coming off its best week since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 67 points, or 0.2%, at 33,359, as of 3:05 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.The stock market is near its highest level since August, but it’s been mostly drifting within a tight range for weeks as several big worries weigh. The biggest near-term risk is the possibility of a U.S. default, something that could occur as soon as June 1.That’s when Washington could run out of cash to pay its bills, unless Congress allows it to borrow more. Because Treasurys are seen as the safest investment on Earth, economists and investors say a default would likely trigger a recession for the economy and deep pain for financial markets. President Joe Biden...

Oklahoma lures Enel solar panel manufacturing facility with $180M incentive package

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Enel North America announced Monday it plans to build a solar cell and panel manufacturing facility in eastern Oklahoma that would employ about 1,000 people after the Legislature agreed to a $180 million incentive package to help lure the company.The company will invest $1 billion in the project, which includes the construction of a 2 million-square-foot solar photovoltaic cell and panel manufacturing facility that will have an annual production capacity of 3 gigawatts, it said in a statement. Construction on the massive facility is expected to begin in the fall in Inola, Oklahoma, which is located about 27 miles (43 kilometers) east of Tulsa.“Our selection of Oklahoma is a testament to the strength of the Tulsa Port of Inola site, the state’s commitment to workforce development and an attractive investment climate,” said Giovanni Bertolino, head of Enel North America’s affiliate 3Sun USA.The decision was announced after the Legislature and Gov. Kevi...

Steer on the run for weeks lassoed, captured on Detroit-area freeway

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

HOLLY, Mich. (AP) — A team of wranglers — including one on horseback — chased down and captured a wayward steer named Lester across several lanes of a Detroit-area freeway.State police in-car video shows the tail-end of Sunday afternoon’s chase on northbound Interstate 75 in Holly, about 57 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.A rider on horseback and three people in two ATVs can be seen chasing Lester in and around fields and woods along the east side of the freeway as the state police car follows slowly behind on the shoulder.At one point, Lester races from near a clump of trees toward the freeway lanes and is quickly cut off by one of the ATVs before running behind the vehicle and into traffic. Three vehicles pass the steer as it runs into the northbound lanes.The rider on horseback catches up and lassos Lester, which then runs into the median and hops a guardrail onto the freeway’s southbound shoulder before it is stopped.“Eventually after much tom foolery, th...

California, Arizona, Nevada offer landmark drought deal to use less Colorado River water – for now

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Arizona, California and Nevada on Monday proposed a plan to significantly reduce their water use from the drought-stricken Colorado River over the next three years, a potential breakthrough in a year-long stalemate that pitted Western states against one another.The plan would conserve an additional 3 million acre-feet of water through 2026, when current guidelines for how the river is shared expire. About half the cuts would come by the end of 2024. That’s less than what federal officials said last year would be needed to stave off crisis in the river but still marks a notable step in long and difficult negotiations between the three states.The 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river provides water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and more than two dozen Native American tribes. It produces hydropower and supplies water to farms that grow most of the nation’s winter vegetables. In exchange for temporarily using less water, cities, irr...

MUST-WATCH: Another film from the fast and furious family

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

All types of families are heading to the cinema to check out the latest Fast and Furious film! But will it speed its way to the top of the MUST-WATCH? Or could it go to a remake of a ’90s classic? Perhaps an adaptation of a beloved graphic novel starring the two leads of last year’s Best Picture winner at the Oscars?Prehistoric Planet (Season 2)Where to watch: Apple TV+First up, a trip back in time!Prehistoric Planet is a nature documentary, but one that doesn’t the show the world as it is. It instead shows the world during the time of the dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous period, around 66 million years ago. This show, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, depicts the average life of many creatures including Triceratops, Velociraptors, and Morrosaurus.You can watch the second season on Apple TV+ now!Master GardenerWhere to watch: CinemasNext up, an intense drama!Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver in Master Gardener, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.Master Gardener is th...

Atlantic City 1Q casino earnings down nearly 15% from year ago

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Atlantic City’s nine casinos collectively saw their gross operating profit decline by nearly 15% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period a year earlier.Figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the casinos collectively posted an operating profit of $135.4 million in the first three months of 2023, down from the more than $159 million in profits they saw in the first quarter of 2022.James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said the casinos are dealing with higher costs this year, including significantly higher wages they agreed to pay workers including housekeepers, bartenders, beverage servers and porters under a landmark contract reached last summer.Gross operating profit reflects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and other charges, and is a widely accepted measure of profitability in the Atlantic City casino industry.“Compared to the first qua...

Ukraine’s ambassador welcomes F-16 pledges; urges patience on counteroffensive

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova welcomed pledges of F-16 fighter jets to her country Monday while also urging patience for the launching of a spring counteroffensive against Russia’s full-scale invasion. For Ukrainians, she said, the effort to repel Russian has essentially been one long counterattack.“I wouldn’t label it. Whether it’s going to be one offensive or several. Whether it going to be just the hard, daily work on every front line or we will see some big results in any of them, it doesn’t really matter,” Markarova said. “What matters is the goal is to liberate all Ukraine.”Markarova, speaking after delivering a commencement address at Boston College, said the delivery of F-16 jets is critical to the short and long-term security of the country.The U.S. has agreed to help train pilots in Ukraine to fly F-16s, but it has provided few details and said decisions on when, how many, and who will supply the F-16s will be made in the mont...

Irish actor Ray Stevenson, of ‘Rome’ and ‘Thor’ movies, dies at 58

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

Ray Stevenson, the Irish actor who played the villainous British governor in “RRR,” an Asgardian warrior in the ‘Thor’ films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBO’s “Rome,” has died. He was 58.Representatives for Stevenson told The Associated Press that he died Sunday but had no other details to share on Monday.Stevenson was born in Lisburn in 1964. After attending the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and years of working in British television, he made his film debut in Paul Greengrass’s 1998 film “The Theory of Flight.” In 2004, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s “King Arthur” as a knight of the round table and several years later played the lead in the pre-Disney Marvel adaptation “Punisher: War Zone.”Though “Punisher” was not the best-reviewed film, he’d get another taste of Marvel in the first three “Thor” films, in which he played Volstagg. Other prominent film roles included the “Divergent” trilogy, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “The Transporter: Refueled.”A loomin...

Indiana Court of Appeals upholds murder convictions in 1998 Hammond triple slaying

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:24 GMT

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the murder convictions of a man in the killings of a woman and two teens who were bludgeoned to death in 1998 in a house in northwest Indiana.In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals panelk rejected several arguments offered by James Higgason III, 53, of Whiting, including a long delay in bringing him to trial and the use of a digital copy of a phone call linking him to the killings, instead of the original cassette recording.Higgason was sentenced to 180 years in prison. Man gets 2 life sentences in Gary bank robbery where retired Cook County deputy was killed Prosecutors alleged Higgason and David Copley, 47, beat Elva Tamez, 36, Jerod Hodge, 18, of Chicago; and Timothy Ross, 16, of Calumet City, Illinois, to death on Jan. 18, 1998, at the woman’s Hammond home with pieces of wood or metal pipes, according to court records. They were trying to get drugs and cash, prosecutors said.The victims' skulls we...