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The UN cut their food aid this summer. These Palestinians now struggle to find their next meal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Except for a small bag of lentils and the orange juice she reserves for guests, there is no food in Ashwaq Abu al-Wafa’s house in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Ever since the U.N. cut her food aid in June, she has fallen behind on rent. All her money now goes to feeding her three children, she said. “The fridge is empty,” al-Wafa said from her apartment on Thursday. “I can barely hold all of this stress in my heart.”Thousands of families like al-Wafa’s across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip go through the day not sure where they will get their next meal now that the World Food Program has halted aid to 200,000 people, 60% of beneficiaries, its largest-ever cuts in the Palestinian territories. The agency has made cuts across the world, from war-torn Yemen to West Africa, a region gripped by its worst hunger crisis in years.The WFP’s deputy executive director, Carl Skau, announced last week that the agency has raised just $5 billion of the $20 bil...

2 charged in violent downtown Toronto kidnapping, other man wanted

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

Toronto police have arrested two men and are searching for a third in an alleged downtown kidnapping that saw the suspects demand money from the victim and threaten them with a firearm and baseball bat.Investigators were notified of a kidnapping on July 5 just after 7:30 p.m. in the Wellington Street West and Bay Street area.It’s alleged that a group of suspects approached the victim, took his car keys and stole his vehicle. They then forced him into a different vehicle and took him to a bank machine, where the suspects demanded money.The suspects demanded money and threatened the victim while taking him to other locations across the city. Police said the group kept asking for more money from the victim and threatened him with a firearm and baseball bat.The victim was dropped off in the Humber Bay Park area in Etobicoke. Police said the suspects assaulted the victim and demanded more money before fleeing.On July 8, investigators arrested 26-year-old Peter Okoronkwo of Toronto....

Shots again fired at site of Parkland school massacre in reenactment after lawmakers visit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Gunfire erupted again at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Friday as part of a reenactment by ballistics experts of the 2018 massacre that left 14 students and three staff members dead.The reenactment is part of a lawsuit by the victims’ families and the wounded that accuses the Broward County deputy assigned to the school of failing in his duty to protect them and their loved ones.Reporters gathered outside heard shots just before noon. Earlier in the day, nine members of Congress toured the blood-stained and bullet-pocked halls.Few have been inside the three-story building since the Valentine’s Day 2018 shooting. The structure looms over the campus, locked behind a chain-link fence for use as evidence in last year’s penalty trial for the shooter.There is broken glass on the floor, along with wilted roses, deflated balloons and discarded gifts. Opened textbooks and laptop computers remain on students’ desks — at least those that we...

Another harrowing escape puts attention on open prostitution along Seattle’s Aurora Avenue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — A vanload of church volunteers drove along a main street in north Seattle one night last month with sandwiches, water bottles and blankets for homeless people. They didn’t find any — but they did see dozens of barely clothed women walking along the road or leaning into traffic to advertise their services.“Just woman after woman after woman,” recalled one of the volunteers, Stuart Jenner. “We prayed for them as we drove south.”About two hours later, the FBI said, a man posing as an undercover police officer shackled and abducted a woman from the area after soliciting her to engage in prostitution. He then drove her hundreds of miles to his home in southern Oregon, where he locked her in a makeshift cell in his garage — a cinder block cage with a metal door, charging papers say. She escaped by punching the door, bloodying her knuckles, until it broke.Authorities say they are looking for more possible victims after linking the man, Negasi Zuberi, to violent sexual ...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises following mixed reports on US job market, Big Tech earnings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are gaining ground Friday following mixed reports about the U.S. job market and profits at two of Wall Street’s most influential stocks.The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in afternoon trading and heading for its first gain in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 215 points, or 0.6%, at 35,431, as of 12:21 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% higher.Taking some pressure off stocks were falling Treasury yields in the bond market. They dipped after a highly anticipated U.S. jobs report said hiring was a touch weaker last month than economists expected, though wages for workers rose more than forecast.The job market is in a precarious place, where investors want a reading that’s neither too hot nor too cold. On one hand, investors want it to remain strong enough to keep the economy out of a long-predicted recession. On the other, they don’t want wage growth in particular to be so strong that the Federal Reserve sees it putting upward pre...

Major cases await as liberals exert control of Wisconsin Supreme Court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Conflicts on Wisconsin’s newly liberal controlled state Supreme Court spilled out publicly as the court majority flipped this week, setting the stage for deep divisions in the battleground state on major cases that could determine the legality of abortions and voting rules, as well as legislative boundary lines. Conservatives controlled the court for 15 years until Tuesday. Liberals will have the majority for at least the next two years.Under conservative control, the court upheld Republican-drawn maps in 2011 that helped the GOP increase its majorities, affirmed a state law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers, and declared absentee ballot drop boxes illegal.Deep partisan divisions on the court aren’t new. Tensions were so high in 2011 as the court considered a case about collective bargaining rights that a liberal justice accused one of her conservative colleagues of trying to choke her. On Wednesday, conservative Chief Ju...

Guatemala-based group extends hand on First Nations’ residential school searches

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

OTTAWA — A Guatemala-based forensic anthropology organization is extending its hand to Indigenous Peoples in Canada looking to potentially recover remains of children on the grounds of former residential schools.Fredy Peccerelli, a founding member of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation, has been working for years to bring home bodies of the “disappeared” — those who died in the 36-year civil war in Guatemala.Peccerelli says their Indigenous-led excavations identify on average as many as 125 loved ones per year, returning remains to family members and communities.He says Indigenous Peoples in Canada should develop their own forensics team without government involvement, similar to the organization’s work in Guatemala.He adds his organization has worked with groups in Mexico and Rwanda to train people on how to collect DNA, excavate graves and repatriate remains, and is willing to do the same in Canada.The organization’s work has been cited by Kimbe...

Glendale Heights village president indicted over allegedly filing false police reports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

GLENDALE HEIGHTS, Ill. — The village president of Glendale Heights has been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly filing two false police reports.Chodri Ma Khokhar, 66, is charged with two counts of disorderly conduct.He turned himself into authorities Thursday afternoon after a judge issued a warrant earlier in the day.Authorities allege on April 26 and May 23, Khokhar claimed he was the victim of assault. They claim Khokhar knew "at the time of the transmission that there was no reasonable grounds for believing that the offense had been committed.” ‘Asking for prayers’: Steve McMichael admitted to ICU amid ALS battle His next court appearance is schedule for Sept. 11.Khokhar was elected in the summer of 2021.

'Breaking Bad' actor Mark Margolis dead at 83

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

(KTLA) -- Mark Margolis, a longtime actor perhaps best known for his role as Hector Salamanca in the prestigious television show "Breaking Bad," has died at the age of 83, according to publicist Henry Eshelman. Margolis died Thursday in New York City after "a short illness," according to Eshelman's statement. Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies at 70 His turn as the disabled cartel enforcer Hector Salamanca in “Breaking Bad” quickly became his most recognizable role. Some may remember his wrathful face as he rings a small bell attached to his wheelchair, thereby blowing himself and iconic villain Gus Fring up. The scene was among the most memorable moments of the show, as noted by Nexstar's WGHP.Actors Aaron Paul and Mark Margolis are seen at the AMC Emmy After Party on Sunday Sept. 23, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision for AMC/AP Images)He returned to the Salamanca Cartel in “Better Call Saul,” a prequel spinoff in which he portrayed a younger Salamanca in...

Why the Mega Millions jackpot winner won't actually get $1.35 billion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:44 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Ahead of Friday's drawing, the Mega Millions jackpot has reached an estimated $1.35 billion, one of the largest grand prizes in the game's history — and in the nation. This jackpot has been brewing since April, when a $20 million prize was won by a ticket sold in Syracuse, New York, just four days after a $483 million Mega Millions jackpot was hit by a ticket sold in Queens.At an advertised $1.35 billion, the jackpot ranks as the fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot and the sixth-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. How are Mega Millions jackpots calculated? Yet, if you or anyone else is lucky enough to win the jackpot, it's safe to say you won't be a billionaire. There are a few reasons for that. Annuity vs. lump sumFirst is the game's structure. Both Mega Millions and Powerball, the most widely-played lottery draw games in the U.S., list two different values for their jackpots. The first is the big, estimated number, which is referred to as th...