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A federal grand jury in Puerto Rico indicts three men on environmental crimes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three men have been indicted as part of an ongoing federal investigation into environmental crimes committed on protected land in southern Puerto Rico, authorities announced Thursday.Two of the men are accused of dumping fill material into the waters and wetlands of the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in the southern town of Salinas from June 2018 to December 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The men operated and managed a nearby resort that also served as a short-term rental.A third man was charged with discharging fill material into the wetlands and building an unauthorized boat dock. He also operated a guest house nearby, officials said.The indictments come as a growing number of Puerto Ricans decry the illegal developments built in Puerto Rico’s second largest estuary. Activists say developers have decimated mangrove forests and stripped that part of the island of a natural barrier that protects the shore from hurricane sto...

Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda says he’ll seek reelection in 2024 for another 5-year term

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania’s president announced Thursday he will seek reelection for another five-year term as the leader of the Baltic nation that is a member of the European Union and NATO.President Gitanas Nauseda announced his intention to run as a candidate in next year’s presidential election at a news conference in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. The 59-year-old former economist and banker has served as Lithuania’s head of state since 2019.He said he was “determined and committed” to continue in the post. The country’s president is elected in a popular vote, with the constitutional limit being two consecutive terms in office.“I will run for president in May 2024 and I hope that the people of Lithuania will give me a strong mandate of trust, as they did in 2019,” Nauseda said at the Presidential Palace.The president’s main task is to oversee Lithuania’s foreign and security policy, including acting as the supreme commander of the armed forces. Nauseda, who enj...

Climate activists pour mud and Nesquik on St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

ROME (AP) — Activists poured mud and chocolate milk on the facade of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice on Thursday in their latest climate protest, drawing a swift rebuke from the lagoon city’s mayor.Police quickly detained the six activists. There was no immediate word of any permanent damage to the Byzantine basilica, an iconic symbol of Venice.The activists from the Last Generation movement are demanding a 20 billion euro “reparation fund” to compensate Italians for climate-related damage. They cited the threat of rising sea levels on Venice as well as mudslides that have wreaked havoc recently on some Italian communities.They said the liquid poured on the basilica’s facade and columns involved mud and Nesquik.Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro condemned the protest as a “shameful and serious” act of vandalism. While acknowledging activists’ right to protest, he said they must “respect the law and our cultural and religious patrimony.”The activists cited Pope Francis’ call to protect ...

Rights groups file legal challenge with UK court, urging a halt on British arms exports to Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Legal and human rights groups have filed a legal challenge with Britain’s High Court calling for the U.K. to stop granting licenses for weapons exports to Israel, activists said Thursday.Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and U.K.-based Global Legal Action Network said they took the step after Britain’s government repeatedly ignored their written requests to suspend arms sales to Israel following the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the current Israeli-Hamas war. Ahmed Abofoul, an international lawyer at Al-Haq, claimed that Britain “has a legal and moral obligation” to not grant arms exports licenses to governments that commit atrocities. There have been widespread claims of breaches of international law by Hamas and Israeli forces since the war erupted.Rights groups have long opposed British arms exports to Israel.The Campaign Against Arms Trade nonprofit group says British industry, namely BAE Systems, provides some 15% of the components in the F3...

Labor union asks federal regulators to oversee South Carolina workplace safety program

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — One of the largest labor organizations in the United States petitioned the federal government on Thursday to wrest workplace safety oversight from South Carolina regulators accused of failing to protect service employees.South Carolina is one of 22 states allowed to run its own ship when it comes to enforcing occupational safety in most private businesses — as long as the programs are “at least as effective” as their federal counterpart. Service Employees International Union argues that’s not the case in South Carolina, where its lawyer says a subpar enforcement program and “skeletal inspection force” are preventing real accountability. Organizers also said in the Dec. 7 filing to the U.S. Labor Department that the state does not carry out enough inspections. South Carolina ran fewer inspections than expected by federal regulators in four of the five years from 2017-2022. The totals fitting for a state economy of its size fell 50% below federal expectations in ...

PSG sells minority stake to US firm Arctos Partners

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

Paris Saint-Germain owner Qatar Sports Investments agreed to sell a minority stake to U.S. private equity platform Arctos Partners on Thursday.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the French league club. Arctos will own 12.5% of the club, valuing PSG at 4.25 billion euros ($4.6 billion), said a person familiar with the deal who was not authorized to speak publicly.The French league champion said Arctos’ investment will go towards growing PSG operations “into new markets, including North America” and supporting plans to develop its stadium and training center. Arctos, as a non-controlling partner, won’t have a say in sporting matters.Since it took over 12 years ago, QSI has increased PSG’s net expenditure to more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion). The club has become a dominant force on the domestic stage — having won nine of the last 11 league titles — but has repeatedly failed to win the Champions League.Arctos has invested in more than 20 professional sports o...

What to know about the Hall & Oates legal fight, and the business at stake behind all that music

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

After more than a half-century of making music together, Daryl Hall is suing John Oates and arguing in arbitration that he can’t sell his share of a Hall & Oates business partnership without Hall’s permission.Public court filings have revealed just how wide the rift has grown between the duo famous for hits in the 1970s and ’80s, including “Maneater,” “Rich Girl” “Kiss on My List” and “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”Hall has accused Oates of blindsiding and betraying him, saying their relationship and his trust in Oates have deteriorated. Oates has said he is “deeply hurt” that Hall is making “inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements” about him.A Nashville judge recently paused the sale of Oates’ stake in Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave IP Investment Management LLC until an arbitrator weighs in, or until Feb. 17.Here are some recent developments.WHY ARE HALL & OATES GOING TO COURT?The dispute went public on Nov. 16, when ...

Mexico focuses on looking for people falsely listed as missing, ignores thousands of disappeared

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s government is pouring resources into detecting what it suggests are “fake” missing people — cases reported by political opponents to embarrass the government, or kidnapped people who return home but don’t notify authorities.Yet officials make no significant effort to find actual missing people, angering the families of Mexico’s estimated 113,000 “disappeared.”They are outraged that President Andrés Manuel López’s administration has spent almost a year, lots of money and thousands of work hours combing databases to see if a supposedly missing person has applied for a loan, paid taxes, registered to vote or gotten a flu shot.López Obrador said last week he expects to release the first partial results of the recount soon. Claiming the figures of missing — up about 47,000 since he took office in 2018 — have been inflated to make him look bad, he said, “We are going house to house because we have found a lot of the people who were reported as...

Son of US Sen. Kevin Cramer crashes during police chase, killing North Dakota sheriff’s deputy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashed into a North Dakota sheriff’s vehicle during a police chase, pushing it into a deputy and killing him, according to authorities and the Republican senator’s family.Ian Cramer, of Bismarck, was arrested and jailed following Wednesday’s crash, and charges are pending, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said in a news release. The name of the Mercer County deputy who was killed has not been released, and the sheriff’s office didn’t immediately respond to a Thursday voicemail seeking further information.“We ask the public for prayers for the lost officer’s family and colleagues who serve us every day and are grateful for all they do for us,” Kevin Cramer said in a statement.The first-term senator wrote that his son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.” Earlier Wednesday, Ian Cramer insisted on “going to his brother Ike,” who died ...

Holiday budget planning should include more than gifts you’re planning on giving

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:40 GMT

A holiday spending plan is always a good idea, but as inflation pushes the cost of everything up and higher interest rates squeeze households, a budget is more important than ever.Anne Arbour of the Credit Counselling Society says in a perfect world you would have started planning your holiday budgeting months ago, but it’s never too late.In making a plan, Arbour says to begin by asking yourself how you want to feel in January and February when those bills come in.“Do you want to have wonderful memories of time spent with family and friends and joy and laughter and some great food? Or do you want to feel stressed and exhausted and, quite frankly, financially stressed?” says Arbour, the society’s director of strategic partnerships and education.“It’s not a great way to start the new year with a large credit card bill that you can’t pay off in full.”Arbour says when making a list of who you’re looking to buy a gift for and how much you want to...