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Last planned release of hostages in Gaza begins, as mediators aim to extend Israel-Hamas truce

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

By WAFAA SHURAFA, JACK JEFFERY and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated PressDEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — International mediators on Wednesday worked to extend the truce in Gaza, encouraging Hamas to keep freeing hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and further relief from Israel’s air and ground offensive. The cease-fire will otherwise end within a day.Two Russian-Israeli women freed by Hamas entered Israel Wednesday evening, the military said. The release was expected to be followed by the swap of 10 more hostages in Gaza for 30 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.Israel has welcomed the release of dozens of hostages in recent days and says it will maintain the truce if Hamas keeps freeing captives. Still, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored on Wednesday that Israel will resume its campaign to eliminate Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years and orchestrated the deadly attack on Israel that triggered the war. Hamas has been designated as a terr...

Families of American hostages in Gaza describe their anguish and call on US government for help

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The last Omer Neutra’s parents heard from him, he told them reassuringly that he anticipated a quiet weekend. But they checked the news anyway before getting ready for bed in New York, their nightly routine as parents of a tank commander in the Israeli military tasked with protecting small villages near the Gaza Strip. What they saw horrified them.“Of course, everything was wrong. Immediately, we understood that he’s right there,” his mother, Orna Neutra, said Wednesday of the brutal Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 civilians and soldiers and triggered a war in Gaza.They would later learn that their son, a dual Israeli-U.S. citizen, had been ambushed and pulled out of his tank. He was taken to Gaza, where he is believed to remain as a hostage more than 50 days later.The Neutras joined relatives of three other American hostages — including of newly freed 4-year-old Abigail Edan — in calling for the governments of Israel and the United ...

Arizona officials who refused to canvass election results indicted by grand jury

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Officials in a rural Arizona county who delayed canvassing the 2022 general election results have been criminally charged, the state’s top prosecutor said Wednesday.A grand jury in Maricopa County Superior Court has indicted Cochise County supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby on one count each of conspiracy and interference of an election officer. “The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “I took an oath to uphold the rule of law, and my office will continue to enforce Arizona’s elections laws and support our election officials as they carry out the duties and responsibilities of their offices.”Judd and Crosby did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In December 2022, Cochise County certified election results only after a judge ruled Crosby and Judd, both Republicans, were breaking the law by refusing to sign off on the vote count by the deadline. Crosby and Judd sai...

Thunder guard Josh Giddey being investigated by police on alleged relationship with underage girl

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

The Newport Beach, California, Police Department said Wednesday that its detectives are conducting an investigation into an accusation that Oklahoma City Thunder guard Josh Giddey had an improper relationship with an underage girl.In a since-deleted post, an anonymous social media user last week said a girl who is seen with Giddey in videos and photographs was a high school junior at the time. The social media account has since been deactivated.Giddey, an Australian, turned 21 in October.The Newport Beach Police said in a news release that it is “actively seeking additional information related to these allegations and pursuing all leads and evidence to obtain the facts of the case.”The NBA said last week that it is investigating. Giddey has declined to comment, and coach Mark Daigneault had no comment before Tuesday’s game at Minnesota. The NBA and the Thunder did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.Giddey is averaging 12 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.5 a...

After concerns, Ottawa pauses work on $2-million contract for help on unmarked graves

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government has paused and plans to reworka $2-million contract with an international group hired to provide advice on identifying and locating the unmarked graves of children who attended residential schools. A spokesman for Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree says Ottawa has “heard the concerns raised by Indigenous partners” about the contract with the International Commission on Missing Persons. “We are working to determine a path forward,” said a written statement from Matthieu Perrotin. Ottawa signed a technical agreement with the Netherlands-based commission in February, in which it is slated to work with Indigenous communities.First Nations across Western Canada and parts of Ontario have used ground-penetrating radar technology to try locating possible graves at former residential schools.The searches began in earnest after Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced in May 2021 that the technology had helped t...

Sands casino family say they’ll buy majority of Mavs from Cuban. AP source says valuation is $3.5B

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has entered into an agreement to sell a majority stake in the NBA franchise to the family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company, it was announced Wednesday. The deal could be completed in the coming weeks.The agreement would be in the valuation range of $3.5 billion, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because that detail was not being made public. Cuban would retain control of basketball operations in the deal.The company controlled by Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, announced earlier Tuesday it was selling $2 billion of her shares to buy an unspecified professional sports team. It revealed Wednesday that the team was the Mavericks.“The families are targeting a closing of the transaction by year-end, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and approval of the NBA Board of Governors,” said the statement released by the Adelson and Dumont families.Patric...

Hearing in Minnesota will determine if man imprisoned for murder was wrongfully convicted

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man serving life in prison for a deadly 2004 flower shop robbery has gone before a judge reexamining his conviction and delivered a simple message: “I’m innocent 100 percent.”Marvin Haynes, 35, has spent nearly two decades behind bars for the shooting death of 55-year-old Randy Sherer, who was killed inside his family business in Minneapolis when Haynes was a teenager. Working with the Great North Innocence Project, the inmate successfully lobbied to plead his case before a Hennepin County district judge.Judge William Koch held two days of hearings on the conviction and said Tuesday he would continue the case until Dec. 20, when the final witness is scheduled to testify.In initial police interviews with Haynes, detectives falsely asserted that they’d found fingerprints, DNA and surveillance footage linking him to the crime. He testified Tuesday that those claims were impossible, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.Dressed in an orange jail jump...

Proposed NewRange copper-nickel mine in Minnesota suffers fresh setback on top of years of delays

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The proposed NewRange Copper Nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota suffered a fresh setback this week when an administrative law judge recommended that state regulators should not reissue a crucial permit for the long-delayed project.Administrative Law Judge James LaFave said in a ruling late Tuesday that the design for the mine’s waste basin won’t adequately prevent water pollution. So, he said, the Department of Natural Resources should not reissue the main “permit to mine” for the project.The next step is up to the DNR, which can accept or reject the judge’s recommendations or impose new conditions for reissuing the permit.The proposed $1 billion mine has been delayed by a string of court rulings and administrative actions since regulators issued the original permit to mine and other necessary permits in 2018 and 2019. The Minnesota Supreme Court in 2021 ordered the DNR to gather more evidence on whether the mine’s waste basin would keep pollution c...

Coal-producing West Virginia is converting an entire school system to solar power

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — An entire county school system in coal-producing West Virginia is going solar, representing what a developer and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s office touted on Wednesday as the biggest-ever single demonstration of sun-powered renewable electricity in Appalachian public schools.The agreement between Wayne County Schools and West Virginian solar installer and developer Solar Holler builds on historic investments in coal communities made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democratic Sen. Manchin had a major role in shaping through his role as Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair. Manchin, who announced this month that he wouldn’t run for reelection in the deep-red state, citing an increasingly polarized political system, was quick Wednesday to tout U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2022 landmark climate, health and tax law, which placed special emphasis on creating new clean energy jobs.“Let’s be clear — this investment in Wayne ...

Residents in St. Croix sue government over water contaminated with lead and copper

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:03:20 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A group of residents have sued a public utility company in the U.S. Virgin Islands after authorities there reported finding high levels of lead and copper in the tap water on St. Croix. The report caused panic and forced tens of thousands to rely on bottled water.The class-action lawsuit, which is expected to be served in the coming days, accuses the U.S. territory’s Water and Power Authority and Seven Seas Water Corporation of improper monitoring and failing to provide safe water, among other things.Andrew Smith, the public utility’s CEO, condemned the lawsuit on Wednesday. He said the agency acted swiftly and transparently after the test results became available and that officials are still working to improve water quality in St. Croix.“We … are disappointed that amidst these challenging circumstances, there are those who seek monetary gain by exploiting the evolving situation impacting the people of St. Croix,” he said in a statement.Seven Seas Water ...