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In corrupt Libya, longtime warnings of the collapse of the Derna dams went unheeded

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

CAIRO (AP) — The warnings were clear but went unheeded.Experts had long said that floods posed a significant danger to two dams meant to protect nearly 90,000 people in the northeast of Libya. They repeatedly called for immediate maintenance to the two structures, located just uphill from the coastal city of Derna. But successive governments in the chaos-stricken North African nation did not react. “In the event of a big flood, the consequences will be disastrous for the residents of the valley and the city,” Abdelwanees Ashoor, a professor of civil engineering, wrote in a study published last November in the Sabha University Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences.The warnings came true in the early hours of Sept. 11, when residents of Derna woke up to loud explosions before floodwaters pounded the Mediterranean city. They found that two dams had broken, unleashing a wall of water two stories high that wreaked destruction and swept entire neighborhoods out to sea.The deluge proved dea...

Clinton Global Initiative will launch network to provide new humanitarian aid to Ukrainians

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

NEW YORK (AP) — The Clinton Global Initiative will announce the launch of the CGI Ukraine Action Network, as well as numerous financial pledges, to support nonprofits working in the country, as the annual conference opens in New York on Monday morning.The CGI Ukraine Action Network is the result of a collaboration between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Olena Zelenska, first lady of Ukraine, that began last year. The new organization, which will be formally announced Tuesday, is designed to mobilize existing CGI partners, as well as new leaders from around the world, to create and finance new commitments for Ukrainians, according to CGI. Numerous monetary commitments for Ukraine are also set to be announced Tuesday,Continuing support is part of the Clinton Global Initiative, or CGI, theme of “Keep Going” this year, as Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton say they will convene political, business and philanthro...

Trial of 3 Washington officers charged with murder, manslaughter in death of Black man set to begin

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

SEATTLE (AP) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the trial of three Tacoma, Washington, police officers charged in the death of a 33-year-old Black man who was tackled, punched, shocked with a Taser and held face-down on a sidewalk in March 2020, just two months before George Floyd met a similar fate.Officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins have been charged with second-degree murder, and Timothy Rankine with first-degree manslaughter, in the death of Manuel “Manny” Ellis. All three officers are white. They pleaded not guilty. Opening statements are expected to start Oct. 2 in Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma. The trial is expected to run four days each week until December.Ellis purchased a box of doughnuts and some water at a convenience store at about 11:21 p.m. that Tuesday night and walked across the street, where he encountered Burbank and Collins sitting in a patrol car, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Washington Attorney General...

Centuries after Native American remains were dug up, a new law returns them for reburial in Illinois

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

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — For centuries, Europeans carving up the prairie to suit their own idea of settlement dug up the graves of Native Americans as they conquered lands and pushed tribes to the West. Now, Native Americans whose ancestors’ remains ended up held for study in sterile, nondescript boxes on shelves in educational facilities or displayed in cultural locales hope a new Illinois law will speed their recovery for proper reburial in their homeland. “I always have a bit of unease because I know if I’m going to a university or to a museum … that chances are pretty high that we’ve got some ancestors sitting in a basement or in a closet somewhere,” said Raphael Wahwassuck, tribal preservation officer for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Mayetta, Kansas. “I hope that this (law) will help ease those concerns, knowing that we are working on correcting that and taking care of our ancestors to put them in a good resting place.”Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed The...

Stock market today:

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

Shares fell Monday in Asia, with Hong Kong’s benchmark pulled lower by property stocks following reports that police had detained staff at the wealth management business of troubled real estate developer China Evergrande.U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices advanced.Tokyo’s markets were closed for a national holiday. On Friday, China’s national financial regulator announced it had approved the takeover of the group’s life insurance arm by a new state-owned entity. On Saturday, police in the southern city of Shenzhen, where Evergrande is based, announced the arrests of some staff of its wealth management business. Defaults on debts in the property sector since 2021 have resulted in half-finished apartment buildings, disgruntled homebuyers and fears the industry’s troubles might further slow the world’s second-largest economy and shake global financial markets. Evergrande’s Hong Kong traded shares were up 1.6% after plunging early in the session. Country Garden, ...

Republican legislatures flex muscles to maintain power in two closely divided states

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

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — In 2020, North Carolina seemed the model of an evenly-divided swing state. Then-President Donald Trump barely won, beating Democrat Joe Biden by just over a percentage point. Meanwhile, the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, won reelection by a relatively comfortable 5 points.Even last year, as Republicans won two seats on the state Supreme Court, North Carolina’s congressional delegation split evenly between Democrats and the GOP. But it’s the Republican Party that is making the decisions in the state, thanks to recent seat gains in the legislature and aggressive stances from GOP lawmakers. It has passed voting changes over Democrats’ objections and this week could vote to wrest power from the governor over how the state’s elections are run.In both cases, Republicans are expected to override the governor’s veto thanks to their legislative supermajorities. Those major changes will come on the heels of similar p...

Judge to hold hearing on ex-DOJ official’s request to move Georgia election case to federal court

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

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge who rejected efforts by former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to move his charges in the Georgia election subversion case to federal court is set to hear arguments Monday from former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark on the same issue.Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused Clark and Meadows, along with former President Donald Trump and 16 others, of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory and keep Trump in power. The 41-count indictment includes charges under the state’s anti-racketeering law. All 19 defendants have pleaded not guilty.Clark is one of five defendants seeking to move his case to federal court. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones, who will preside over Monday’s hearing, rejected Meadows’ attempt for removal earlier this month, saying the actions outlined in the indictment were taken on behalf of the Trump campaign and ...

In a state used to hurricanes and flooding, Louisiana is battling an unprecedented wildfire season

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

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana, typically one of the wettest states in the country, is on fire.In communities often challenged by flooding and hurricanes this time of year, firefighters instead are fending off 300-foot-tall (91.44 meters) blazes during an unprecedented wildfire season, which isn’t even halfway over. Stoked by record-breaking heat, drought and plentiful dry vegetation to fuel the flames, more than 550 fires — in August alone — ravaged tens of thousands of acres of Louisiana land, engulfed homes and forced entire towns to evacuate.Louisiana’s excessive wildfire season is just one climate disaster in a summer of weather anomalies that have plagued the country — a tropical storm watch issued for southern California, destructive flooding in the Northeast and the fatal wildfires in Maui, the deadliest in the country in over a century. More extreme weather events are happening across the globe, from longer, more intense and more frequent droughts and heat waves to...

North Carolina Republicans seek control over state and local election boards ahead of 2024

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

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Republicans who control the North Carolina legislature with veto-proof majorities are close to wresting supervision of elections from the governor and the governor’s party — almost always the Democrats for over a century.A bill that could reach Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk this week would, among other changes, take away from him and future governors the power to appoint members of the State Board of Elections. It would give that authority to legislative leaders instead.The legislation also could lead to the ouster of the top elections administrator ahead of the next presidential election in a state where former President Donald Trump squeezed out a razor-thin win over Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. North Carolina was Trump’s narrowest victory that year, raising hopes among Democrats that Biden could win there in 2024.GOP attempts since 2016 to erode Cooper’s election board power have been struck down by courts or defeated by voters in a statewide referendum.Cooper ...

Vigil held in honor of slain 31-year-old model

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

Family, friends and supporters gathered in downtown Los Angeles Sunday evening to honor the life of model and real-estate agent Maleesa Mooney, whose death is being investigated as a homicide.  The 31-year-old was discovered dead inside her apartment at the Sky at Bunker Hill complex in the 200 block of South Figueroa Street at around 4 p.m. on Sept. 12. Police were asked to conduct a welfare check after she abruptly stopped answering calls or texts from her family.  Police did not release any details about any injuries or a possible cause of death for Mooney, however they did confirm that the incident was being investigated as a homicide.31-year-old aspiring model and real estate agent Maleesa Mooney was found dead in her DTLA apartmentJust three days later, authorities announced the death of another model, 32-year-old Nichole “Nikki” Coats. Coats was found dead in her apartment by concerned family members on Sept. 10 after she wouldn’t answer attempts to contact her...