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Biden makes defending democracy a touchstone in his reelection campaign – and a rejoinder to Trump

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — On the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, President Joe Biden stood in early 2022 at the literal epicenter of the insurrection and accused Donald Trump of continuing to hold a “dagger” at democracy’s throat. Biden closed out the summer that year in the shadow of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, decrying Trumpism as a menace to democratic institutions.And that November, as voters were casting ballots in the midterm elections, Biden again sounded a clarion call to protect democratic institutions, warning that their underpinnings remained under threat. Biden on Thursday will make his fourth in a series of presidential addresses about the state of democracy, a cause that is a key motivator and a touchstone for him as he tries to remain in office even in the face of low approval ratings and widespread concern from voters about his age, 80. The location for this speech, as was the case for the others, was deliberately chosen: It will be near Arizona State Univer...

American soldier who crossed into North Korea arrives back in the US, video appears to show

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

The American soldier who sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas more than two months ago arrived back in the U.S. early Thursday, video appeared to show.North Korea abruptly announced Wednesday that it would expel Pvt. Travis King. His return was organized with the help of ally Sweden and rival China, according to the White House. While officials have said King, 23, is in good health and the immediate focus will be on caring for him and reintegrating him into U.S. society, his troubles are likely far from over. King, who had served in South Korea, ran into the North while on a civilian tour of a border village on July 18, becoming the first American confirmed to be detained in the isolated nation in nearly five years. At the time, he was supposed to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, following his release from prison in South Korea on an assault conviction.He has been declared AWOL from the Army. In many cases, someone who is AWOL for more tha...

Iraq’s prime minister visits wedding fire victims as 2 more people die from their injuries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s prime minister on Thursday visited injured patients and the families of victims in northern Iraq days after a deadly wedding fire killed around 100 people, as two more people died from their injuries.Mohammed Shia al-Sudani arrived in Nineveh province early Thursday with a delegation of ministers and security officials, state television reported. He met with the wounded and family members of victims at Hamdaniyah Hospital and Al-Jumhoori Hospital.He later visited the Syriac Catholic Mar Behnam Monastery to express his condolences to victims.A health official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, told The Associated Press that two critically burned victims — a 30-year-old woman and a 4-year-old child — died from their injuries.Around 250 panicked guests surged for the exits on Tuesday night in the Haitham Royal Wedding Hall in the predominantly Christian area of Hamdaniya near Mosul after the ceiling panels above a pyrotechnic machi...

Cleanup of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate after climate protest to be longer and more expensive

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate will have to be cleaned at greater effort and expense than initially thought after climate activists sprayed orange paint on the German capital’s signature landmark earlier this month, a company that manages official buildings in the city said Thursday.Members of the Last Generation group used fire extinguishers filled with paint to spray all six columns of the gate on Sept. 17 — the latest in a series of eye-catching actions. It is best known for protests in which activists glue themselves to roads and block traffic, a polarizing tactic.The group’s priorities include getting Germany to stop using all fossil fuels by 2030 and take short-term measures, including imposing a general speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) on highways, to cut emissions more quickly.The cost of cleaning the gate was initially put at about 35,000 euros ($36,900). But the management company, Berliner Immobilienmanagement, made clear that it now ex...

Crews rescue person trapped on balcony in Scarborough high-rise fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

One person needed to be rescued from a balcony as crews worked to put out an overnight three-alarm high-rise fire in Scarborough.The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. Thursday at a building in the area on McLevin Avenue near Neilson Road.Officials say it started on the 9th floor and one person was rescued from a balcony after they became trapped. The occupant was rushed to hospital with minor injuries.Several others also needed to be helped to safety. No other injuries were reported.Toronto Fire advised the fire was out as of 5 a.m. but heavy smoke remained in the building.Toronto Fire Services say one person needed to be rescued from 9th floor balcony after a three-alarm fire broke out at a high-rise on McLevin Avenue in Scarborough on Sep. 28, 2023. CITYNEWS/Bertram Dandy

Rights watchdog accuses the World Bank of complicity in rights abuses around Tanzanian national park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A rights watchdog is accusing the World Bank of enabling the Tanzanian government’s violent expansion of a national park through financing from the global lender. The World Bank has failed to hold Tanzanian authorities accountable for serious rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and sexual assaults, relating to the expansion of Ruaha National Park in the south of the East African country, according to a new report by the Oakland Institute. The report by the California-based watchdog, which regularly monitors rights abuses against Indigenous communities, is the result of months of investigation that found evidence of wrongdoing by park rangers funded partly through the World Bank’s $150 million project known by the acronym REGROW. In October 2022, Tanzania’s government minister in charge of lands and human settlement announced a plan to evict people from five villages with a combined population of more than 21,000. Evictions are...

Miguel Cabrera’s career coming to close with Tigers, leaving lasting legacy in MLB and Venezuela

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Miguel Cabrera sat in a gray chair beside his two stalls in the Detroit Tigers’ clubhouse early in the final week of his career, sorting through stuff to get shipped.Major League Baseball’s only Triple Crown winner since 1967 stuffed dozens of barely used cleats and a bunch of batting gloves in a cardboard box at his feet. Cabrera then put a slew of balls he had signed, each in a zip lock bag, in a tote. The bottle of wine, in bubble wrap, that the Oakland Athletics gave him last week along with his personal belongings are being sent to his home in Miami.Where’s he going to put it all?“I don’t know,” the 40-year-old Cabrera said with a shrug and a grin.For Cabrera — and baseball fans — there’s a lot to unpack from the career of one of the best hitters ever.Cabrera’s career will end Sunday afternoon against Cleveland at Comerica Park, where a sold-out crowd will include a few thousands fans paying for standing-room only tickets to ch...

Hail storm repairs could be slowed by roofing tile shortage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) -- Josh Herrington said the homes in the Cat Hollow neighborhood in Round Rock look like a war zone following Sunday night's hail storm. Herrington is the owner of Sixth Gen Roofing, and he and his team are in the process of helping homeowners who suffered roof and window damage. "The ice storm -- it was bad, it was bad, but it was a lot of clean up. This is going to be a lot of work," Herrington said. That work could be compounded because of a shortage in a certain material that goes into the production of roof shingles. Herrington said there is a lack of production on granular minerals, which serves as a protector from excessive heat for roof shingles. Cars, homes in Round Rock damaged after Sunday night hail storm How much damage could it be? Herrington said he expects there is a need of between three million and four million roofing shingles for damaged homes in the Austin area. "One of the firsts for me was seeing actual hail going through shingles a...

Letters: What’s gone so wrong that we even need cops in schools?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

The question to pressThe current debate regarding what School Resource Officers can and cannot do to delinquents isn’t the issue. What needs to be addressed is how badly has public education failed that cops are needed to patrol school hallways?Al Spannbauer, North St. Paul Neutralizing the GaetzesDo the House Democrats not realize that it is entirely in their power to keep the government open? Speaker McCarthy need not cower to the Gaetzes or the Greenes if the Democrats are willing to back his speakership. They may need to hold their noses while they do it, but that’s a price worth paying.Hear me out.  From CBS News (May 31), “In order to win over conservative members in his bid to become speaker earlier this year, McCarthy agreed to a House rule that allows a single member to call for a ‘motion to vacate,’ which forces a vote on removing the House leader. The no-confidence vote would need only a simple majority to oust him.”Let’s say...

Ross Douthat: The permanent migration crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:02:45 GMT

Last week, the Biden administration announced that it will offer work permits and deportation protections to more than 400,000 Venezuelans who have arrived in the United States since 2021. On paper, this is a humanitarian gesture, a recognition of the miseries of life under the Nicolás Maduro dictatorship. In political practice, it’s a flailing attempt to respond to a sudden rise in anti-immigration sentiment in blue cities, particularly New York, as the surge of migrants overwhelms social services and shelters.I say flailing because the fundamental problem facing the Biden administration is on the southern border, where every attempt to get ahead of the extraordinary numbers trying to cross or claim asylum has been overwhelmed.In Eagle Pass, Texas, The Wall Street Journal reports that in a week, an estimated 10,000 migrants have entered the city, whose entire population is less than 30,000. The subsequent movement of migrants to places like New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., h...