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Voters brave the heat as Spain holds election that could make it the latest EU member to veer right

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Voters in Spain braved soaring summer temperatures to cast ballots in a general election Sunday that could make the country the latest European Union member to swing to the political right.Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the early election after his Spanish Socialist Workers Party and its far-left partner, Unidas Podemos, took a severe beating in local and regional elections in May. Sánchez has been Spain’s head of government since 2018.Polling stations for the 37 million voters close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Near-final results were expected by midnight.Most opinion polls have put the right-wing Popular Party, which won the May vote, ahead of the Socialists but likely needing the support of the extreme right Vox party to form a government.Such a coalition would return a far-right force to the Spanish government for the first time since the country transitioned to democracy in the late 1970s following the nearly 40-year rule of dictator Francisco Franco. A PP-Vox...

Freed Egyptian human rights campaigner arrives in Italy, which championed his case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

MILAN (AP) — A high-profile Egyptian activist who was recently released from prison landed Sunday in Italy, where the government championed his case. Patrick George Zaki was greeted by applause and a throng of video and still cameras as he emerged into the arrivals hall at Milan’s Malpensa Airport after traveling on a commercial flight. He was then continuing to Bologna, where he had been living and studying before being detained in Cairo on in 2020. “This is the most important day of my life,’’ Zaki, 32, told reporters as he made is way through the Milan airport.Zaki’s case has echoed in Italy, reminding many of the tragic fate of Italian student Giulio Regeni who was abducted and killed in Cairo in 2016. The Italian government had repeatedly called for Zaki’s release since his arrest in 2020.Zaki was pardoned last week, just days after an Egyptian court convicted him of a charge of disseminating false news, stemming from an article he wrote in 2019 about alleged discrimination aga...

Final suspect arrested in March stabbing that left one man dead in Moss Park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

The final suspect has been arrested following a fatal stabbing in the Moss Park neighbourhood that happened in March.On Monday, July 17, Surrey B.C. RCMP arrested the last outstanding suspect wanted for the death of 55-year-old Jeffrey Munro.Hussein Ibrohim, 28, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with second degree murder.He was transported back to Toronto and remotely attended the Toronto Regional Bail Court on Saturday where he was remanded into custody.Just before 1 a.m. on March 6, in the area of Sherbourne Street and Queen Street East, police say Munro was attacked by a group of people.During the course of the attack, Munro was stabbed. He was taken to a trauma centre in life-threatening condition but later died of his injuries.Four men were arrested in connection with the stabbing that investigators told CityNews was not believed to be a random attack and said there was some sort of conflict prior to the incident.On Friday, March 17, police arrested 36-year-old Hussen Elmi a...

The results of ‘Barbenheimer’ weekend are in. Here’s who took the box office crown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

“ Barbenheimer ” didn’t just work – it spun box office gold. The social media-fueled fusion of Greta Gerwig’s “ Barbie ” and Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer ” brought moviegoers back to the theaters in record numbers this weekend, vastly outperforming projections and giving a glimmer of hope to the lagging exhibition business, amid the sobering backdrop of strikes.Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” claimed the top spot with a massive $155 million in ticket sales from North American theaters from 4,243 locations, surpassing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (as well as every Marvel movie this year) as the biggest opening of the year and breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman. Universal’s “Oppenheimer” also soared past expectations, taking in $80.5 million from 3,610 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, marking Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biographical drama.It’s also the first time that one movie opened to more than $10...

Woman in hospital in critical condition after house fire in Oshawa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

A woman is in critical condition in hospital after a suspicious house fire in Oshawa.On Saturday, Durham police responded to a call at approximately 12:30 a.m. at 250 McNaughton Avenue in Oshawa for a working house fire.Two people were inside the home at the time of the fire, with both able to get out of the home, however, a 67-year-old woman suffered smoke inhalation and was transported to hospital in life-threatening condition. Her condition has since been upgraded to critical.The Ontario Fire Marshal attended the scene of the fire and has deemed the fire to be suspicious.Durham police are asking anyone in the area at the time of the incident with any video surveillance or information is to contact investigators. 

Congolese soldier kills 13 civilians, including wife, after son is buried without him, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

GOMA, Congo (AP) — A soldier in northeastern Congo opened fire on family members and others who had buried his son before he could arrive home to attend the ceremony, killing 13 people, including 10 children, officials said Sunday. The attack late Saturday left the soldier’s wife, in-laws and two of his children dead, before he turned his weapon on other civilians, said Lt. Jules Ngongo, a spokesman for the army in Ituri province, where the killings took place.The soldier was not identified.The soldier arrived home from his post at another village in the province to find family and community members gathered in mourning for his son, who died Thursday of natural causes, said Baraka Muguwa Oscar, the local village chief. “This soldier did not like the fact that his son … was buried without his approval and in his absence,” Oscar said. Elements of the Congolese army were dispatched to apprehend the soldier, a member of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, or FARD...

Weekend shootings leave at least 6 dead, 20 others wounded in Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Six people have died and at least 20 others were wounded in weekend shootings across Chicago.A shooting early Saturday in the city’s North Lawndale neighborhood killed one man and wounded four other men, police said.Three people, including two women, were shot Saturday night on Chicago’s South Side when gunfire rang out from an alley at a group of people.A man was found shot inside an overturned vehicle about 1:25 a.m. Sunday. He later was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said.A 16-year-old boy was pronounced dead at a hospital after being shot Friday night, also on the city’s South Side.Since Friday, Chicago police responded to at least nine separate shooting scenes. Forty people were shot, four fatally, across Chicago over the July 14 weekend, according to WLS-TV.The Associated Press

Why the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles don't teach kids about recycling anymore

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

(The Hill) - Children used to get regular PSA-style lessons from pop culture characters they related to, learning about everything from avoiding drugs to recycling. But these days, it's like the Power Rangers don't even care.Significant shifts in popular culture and how kids consume media have caused such national campaigns to dwindle. “I cannot think of any modern cartoons or video game characters or anything like that that are giving out those messages — like it used to be about recycling or about not smoking or anti-bullying or things like that,” said Matt Slayter, educational director for Pop Culture Classroom, a group that aims to help children learn through their entertainment.“I think it's really on parents and educators to take that [up], to impose those messages or pick out those messages from the properties that our kids love already,” Slayter added.  Are your old CDs worth anything to collectors? In the 1980s, '90s, and early 2000s, popular kids' TV shows such as "...

Boozy break: These states buy the most alcohol at lunch, study finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

(NEXSTAR) - You’ve likely heard the phrase, “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” usually from someone trying to justify having an alcoholic beverage before five o’clock. A recent survey found that might be especially true for residents in one state around lunchtime. Restaurant management software company Toast recently reviewed transactions nationwide to determine how Americans, many of whom are returning to in-office work for the first time since the COVID pandemic, treat lunchtime. Among the lunchtime trends Toast found was a specific behavior: buying alcoholic beverages at lunchtime.  Your Old Fashioned won’t be the same in Wisconsin: Here’s why It wasn’t a behavior limited to one state or a specific region of the U.S. Overall, Toast found that, on average, 16% of the items on Americans’ lunch bills during the first quarter of 2023 were alcoholic beverages. Two metro areas tied for having the highest percentage of alcohol purchases during weekday lunch hours: Milw...

Other voices: Democrats again recycle court-packing schemes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:32 GMT

Progressive activists remain committed to tearing down the Supreme Court on one hand as, without irony, they fret about threats to democracy on the other. In the wake of recent decisions looking askance at the use of race in college admissions and nixing a Biden administration plan to unilaterally forgive billions in student loan debt, they’re again threatening to pack the court.Federal judges are charged with assessing the constitutionality of congressional and executive branch actions regardless of popular opinion. But polls reveal that both the student loan and affirmative action decisions enjoyed public support and were hardly outside the mainstream. In fact, it’s notable that much of the criticism is based less on constitutional doctrine than on liberal disappointment that the majority justices dare erect roadblocks to a progressive agenda at odds with the principles articulated in this nation’s founding document.So far, President Joe Biden has resisted pushin...