Home

Glenys Kinnock, former UK minister, European Parliament member and wife of ex-Labour leader, dies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Glenys Kinnock, a former British cabinet minister, member of the European Parliament and wife of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, has died. She was 79.Kinnock died Sunday at her London home some six years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, her family said.Kinnock went from being a schoolteacher to an outspoken politician to cabinet minister under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and was known for her work to reduce poverty and starvation in Africa and other parts of the world.Tony Blair, the former prime minister, said she had been a huge support to her husband but was a leader herself and her passing would be mourned in many places around the globe. “She was a huge figure in progressive politics for decades: incredibly smart, brave, determined and resolute in standing up for what she believed was right,” Blair said. “Whether in fighting the cause of development, and the eradication of global poverty, social justice in Britain, equality for women...

Frustrated Vaughan residents say illegal land use destroying their community

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

On the edge of Vaughan, there’s no shortage of serene countryside. But talk to people in the area and they say that has changed in recent years.“Our biggest concern is that by doing nothing, it just manifests itself,” says resident John Bartella, pointing to the rise in businesses that have popped up on farm and residential properties at the King-Vaughan border.“The noise that happens from these industrial machineries, they’re continuously throughout the day and it’s not fair. We have residents that have been here in this community for over 50 years, they’re in their golden years, they’re trying to enjoy a summer day in their backyards and they’re unable to.”Once a picturesque street, Coal Creek Road in the Kleinburg area of Vaughan has a different look these days with trucks and sea containers stacked high, stored up and down the street in an area mostly zoned agricultural. Truck after truck can also be seen on a road wher...

Guinea-Bissau’s leader calls a shootout an attempted coup, heightening tensions in West Africa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

BISSAU, Guinea Bissau (AP) — A shootout in Guinea-Bissau’s capital Friday was an attempted coup, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said Sunday after a meeting with security forces, confirming fears over the latest threat to democracy in the increasingly volatile and coup-hit West Africa.“They attempted a coup and failed to materialize their objective,” Embalo said, after members of the National Guard command improperly released two ministers detained over alleged corruption, resulting in a shootout with the Presidential Palace Battalion.During a visit to the National Guard command in Bissau, Embalo said Victor Tchongo, the head of the National Guard, has been dismissed and “will pay dearly” for the attempt to depose the president. “You are all betrayed by your commander … (and) this is why we advise you to distance yourself from politicians and do your service to the nation,” he told officers.The attempted coup is the second in West and Central Africa in a week after last week’s ...

Family seeks justice as Saskatchewan Mountie goes to trial for first-degree murder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — Brett Herman thinks back fondly on his childhood, running outside his grandfather’s house in northern Saskatchewan with his younger brother chasing behind. He describes his brother, Braden Herman, as a gentle giant who would never hurt a fly.Brett Herman says he never would have imagined that years later, his younger brother would be killed and the accused would be a veteran police officer. “I really don’t know how to deal with this,” Brett Herman says. Bernie Herman, a former Mountie, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Braden Herman in 2021. The former officer and the brothers are not related. His trial begins on Monday at the Court of King’s Bench in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan’s third-largest city. Braden Herman’s body was found in an isolated area of Little Red River Park on the outskirts of Prince Albert that May. Police have said he was shot.Bernie Herman, who was a 32-year member of the RCMP, was arrested ...

20-year-old man shot during carjacking while leaving for work in Bolingbrook

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — A 20-year-old man was shot during a carjacking while he was trying to leave for work late Saturday night in Bolingbrook, police said.Bolingbrook Police Department officers were called around 11:45 p.m. to the 400 block of North Bolingbrook Drive and found the man with a gunshot wound to the leg when they arrived. Man arrested after Naperville man found dead in Bolingbrook parking lot in 2022 Police said the man said he was walking to his car to go to work when two men who were wearing ski masks and demanded his car and keys. One of the men shot him in the leg.The two men then took the man's black Dodge Charger and left the area, according to police. The man was taken to a local hospital and is stable.Neither of them have been located yet. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 630-226-8620. Tips can also be reported anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 630-378-4772.

Pentagon: American warship, multiple commercial vessels under attack in Red Sea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Pentagon says an American warship and multiple commercial vessels have come under attack in the Red Sea.This is a developing story, check back for updates.

4 family members dead, suspect fatally shot by police in Queens: NYPD

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

FAR ROCKAWAY, Queens (WPIX) — A man is believed to have fatally stabbed four family members, including two children, before he was shot and killed by police in Queens Sunday morning, officials said. Authorities responded to the incident between Brookhaven and Elk Drive in Far Rockaway at around 5 a.m., according to the NYPD. Four people were pronounced dead at the scene and a 61-year-old woman was taken to the hospital in critical condition with multiple stab wounds, police said. The young 911 caller said her cousin was killing her family members, according to NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. The suspect, identified as Courtney Gordon, fatally stabbed a 12-year-old girl, an 11-year-old boy, a 44-year-old woman, and a man in his 30s at the home before setting the couch on fire on his way out the door, Maddrey said. The FDNY responded to that fire at the home at around 5:17 a.m., officials said. Two cops spotted Gordon, 38, near the home carrying luggage and stopped him to a...

Where has your money been? Here's how to find out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — When you get cash, whether as change, from an ATM, or as a gift, do you ever think about where it’s been?Americans are using less cash in recent years, according to a 2022 Gallup poll. While much of that was sparked by increasingly digital payment systems and venues going completely cashless, some of it can be attributed to COVID-19 (neither the CDC or the WHO ever advised against using cash to prevent the spread of the virus, but numerous places did away with it — a useless move, a study by BYU found, since the virus wasn’t viable on cash banknotes).Even if plastic has become king, you can still find paper banknotes being passed around. Maybe you’ll even be lucky enough to find some green in a Christmas card this year. Or maybe you’re trying to find an elusive dollar bill that will be worth more than its printed value. RELATED: Have a $2 bill? It could be worth thousands While it can be harder to know if the money in your hand is worth more than it looks, it isn’t ter...

Woman killed in San Marcos 18-wheeler incident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) — A woman died Saturday evening in San Marcos following an incident involving an 18-wheeler, according to the San Marcos Police Department.The incident occurred before 6:30 p.m. on Interstate 35 near the Aquarena Springs exit, according to SMPD.Police said a preliminary investigation suggested the woman was “stowed away on the exterior of the 18-wheeler.”SMPD said the woman attempted to get off while the vehicle was stopped in traffic and slipped, and she was run over by the 18-wheeler as it began to move.San Marcos Police, Fire and San Marcos-Hays County EMS responded to the incident.When officials arrived, emergency crews began life-saving measures but were unsuccessful.As of Sunday morning, the woman was not identified, but police said she was traveling into Central Texas from the Rio Grande Valley with a man who left the scene before officials arrived.“No criminal charges are expected to be filed as a result of this collision,” SMPD said.An autopsy was o...

Real World Economics: The economy is terrible – for the last two decades

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:28 GMT

Edward LottermanMany people think that the U.S. economy is in terrible shape – regardless of highly positive numbers for unemployment, growth in jobs and in the value of output of goods and services. Even though consumer prices increased only 3% over the last 12 months, many people will tell you that inflation is the worst it has been in decades.  Economists are stumped. However, that may be positive on two counts.First, the current situation may quash economic theories based on the assumption that the general public is not only highly informed about economic conditions, but that collectively, they accurately can foresee what government will do, what the effects of such policies will be and thus how to best protect their own positions as circumstances evolve. That “rational expectations” theory was all the rage in the last 20 years of the 20th century but is increasingly ignored as the world has moved on.More importantly, concern about a bad economy in the form of an inflationary sp...