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Rights groups denounce Spain and Morocco’s lack of justice as Melilla tragedy anniversary nears

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Rights groups on Friday denounced a lack of justice and transparency over the deaths of 37 migrants on June 24, 2022, during a mass attempt to cross the border from Morocco into the Spanish enclave city of Melilla.Ahead of the tragedy’s anniversary, Amnesty International said the Spanish and Moroccan authorities were “preventing attempts to find the truth” of what happened when up to 2,000 African migrants tried to climb a border wall and dozens were crushed, beaten and denied medical attention by security forces at the “Barrio Chino” border crossing.Spain’s interior minister has repeatedly rejected that any deaths occurred on Spanish soil.The independent Spanish Commission for Refugees, also known by its Spanish acronym CEAR, ordered authorities to clarify what happened that day for “truth, justice and reparations,” and demanded the launch of an independent investigation after prosecutors shelved the only state probe into the deaths in December.“This...

Israel arrests 3 settlers suspected in violent attacks in Palestinian towns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s security agency said Friday it had detained three Israeli settlers on suspicion of involvement in mass rampages through Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank this week following the killing of four Israelis.While rights groups welcomed the arrests, the small number of suspects given the scale of the attacks have revived criticism of the wider lack of accountability for Israeli settlers. The arrests fueled concerns that the Israeli military is not doing enough to stop and prevent settler attacks.“We didn’t expect much,” said Roy Yellin, of the Israeli rights group B’Tselem. “The rule is impunity from justice.”Israel’s Shin Bet security agency did not identify the three Israelis detained or offer further details, saying only they were suspected of participating in “violent incidents.”Over the past three days, Jewish settlers have torched and vandalized dozens of Palestinian homes and cars throughout the occupied West Bank. Their ferocity echoed a deadly...

Cyprus court orders that 2 Syrians remain in custody after 45 migrants were rescued at sea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A court in Cyprus on Friday ordered that two Syrian men remain in police custody for seven days on suspicion of people smuggling after authorities rescued a total 45 Syrian migrants aboard two rickety vessels off the island nation’s southern coast.The decision came after the court heard that the two Syrians — aged 18 and 20, respectively — were the captains of the vessels sailing separately southeast of the island. One vessel was a wooden boat “in bad shape” while the other was an inflatable craft from which passengers had signaled that they were in distress.A police helicopter located the vessels on Thursday, about 46 kilometers (16 miles) and 65 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of the island. All migrants, including four women and 15 minors — five of them unescorted — were brought ashore aboard police patrol boats and transferred to a migrant reception center. A merchant ship near the inflatable craft assisted in the rescue.Police said the migrants said they ...

1 worker dies in an explosion at an Illinois ammunition factory

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

EAST ALTON, Ill. (AP) — An explosion at an Illinois ammunition factory killed one employee, authorities said.“We were driving through there and heard a big boom, pushed the van a little bit,” said Dustin Courtouise, who lives in East Alton, the site of Winchester ammunition.The factory, which is owned by Olin Corp., is about 20 miles (32.1 kilometers) north of St. Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.“There was a loud explosion heard throughout the town,” East Alton Mayor Darren Carlton said.TV stations reported that the explosion Thursday involved a truck. Winchester said it would fully investigate the “tragedy.”“Our thoughts and prayers are with our employee’s family and coworkers,” the company said in a statement.Winchester’s manufacturing operations are located in East Alton and Oxford, Mississippi. It makes ammunition for various markets, including the U.S. military.The Associated Press

Andrew Tate to remain under house arrest in Romania as human trafficking case drags on

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A Romanian court on Friday extended by 30 days the house arrest of Andrew Tate, the divisive social media personality and former professional kickboxer who was charged this week with rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.The Bucharest Tribunal’s decision comes days after prosecutors from Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, formally indicted the 36-year-old social media star after filing their criminal investigation to a Bucharest court.Tate, who has amassed nearly 7 million Twitter followers and is known for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech online, was initially arrested near Romania’s capital, Bucharest, in late December, along with his brother, Tristan. Two Romanian women are also charged in the case. All four defendants will remain under house arrest for 30 days, the court ruled, but the decision can be appealed within 48 hours. DIICOT requested this week that judges extend the house arrest...

Will Canada’s largest city take a hard left turn?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, for a while now, Toronto has been run by conservative mayors. But all the polls indicate that will change on Monday, with former NDP MP and long-time progressive, Olivia Chow, holding a commanding lead. If she does win the job, she’ll have to work with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said this week that Chow would be an “unmitigated disaster” as mayor.Ben Spurr, a reporter with the Toronto Star’s City Hall Bureau, says that whoever wins the mayoral seat has a tough job ahead of them.“The city government has a 1.5 billion dollar operating deficit that it needs to figure out how to fix immediately… and housing of course is a hugely urgent issue,” says Spurr, “whoever is mayor, pretty much on day one, has to get started on addressing those really pressing issues.”So will Toronto see its first left-leaning mayor in more than 12 years? And if it does, will they be able to work with the conservatives in Queen’s Park to fix a crumbling city?Yo...

‘Titanic’ director James Cameron says the search for the missing sub became a ‘nightmarish charade’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

LONDON (AP) — “Titanic” director James Cameron says the search operation for a deep-sea tourist sub turned into a “nightmarish charade” that prolonged the agony of the families of the passengers.Cameron told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Friday that he “felt in my bones” that the Titan submersible had been lost soon after he heard it had lost contact with the surface during its descent to the wreckage of the ocean liner at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.He said focus in the media over the next few days about the submersible having 96 hours of oxygen supply — and that banging noises had been heard — were a “prolonged and nightmarish charade.”“That was just a cruel, slow turn of the screw for four days as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “Because I knew the truth on Monday morning.”The Titan launched at 6 a.m. on Sunday, and was reported overdue that afternoon about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. On Thursday, U.S. Coast Guards said de...

Driver dead, passenger seriously injured after semi-truck hit-and-run on I-55

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. -- A driver is dead after they were hit by a semi-truck trailer while pulled over on the side of the road on I-55 in Bolingbrook early Friday morning, police said. Police were dispatched to the location of I-55 northbound at milepost 267 in Bolingbrook around 3:23 a.m., responding to a fatal crash. Police said a vehicle was pulled over onto the right shoulder of the road when the driver exited the vehicle with one passenger. They were standing close to lane three when they were both struck by a semi-truck. Motorcyclist dead after crashing into center Median in Rogers Park The driver of a semi-truck fled the scene, police said. The driver of the vehicle was pronounced dead on the scene and the passenger was transported to the hospital with serious injures. Lane three is currently shut down and there is no further information at this time.

Bulls end up making a selection in 2023 NBA Draft

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

CHICAGO — As it turns out, the Bulls end up making a selection in the 2023 NBA Draft thanks to a trade. The team was able to swing a deal with the Wizards to acquire the 35th overall selection in the second round, allowing them to select Tennessee small forward Julian Phillips. Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Bulls are giving Washington a few future second round picks for this pick in 2023. It would be the only selection of the evening for executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley. The Bulls' first round pick was traded away to the Magic in the March 2021 trade for Nikola Vucevic and their original second rounder went to the Wizards in a February 2019 trade that involved Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis. A second round pick acquired in the three-team trade with the Blazers and Cavaliers in August 2021 was forfeited by the Bulls due to tampering in the Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade with the Pelicans in the summer of 2021."We just target the most ...

About 350 Pakistanis were on migrant boat that sank off Greece and many may have died, officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:14 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s interior minister said Friday that an estimated 350 Pakistanis were on board an overcrowded fishing boat carrying migrants that sank off Greece last week, and many remain missing and may have died in one of the deadliest incidents in the central Mediterranean Sea.Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told lawmakers in the National Assembly that an estimated 700 migrants were on the boat when it sank June 14. Only 104 people, including 12 Pakistanis, were rescued and 82 bodies have been recovered.The total number of people on the ship has not been confirmed.Khan said many of the missing Pakistanis are feared dead. “So far, 281 families have contacted the government saying their sons or dear ones might have been among those who were on the boat,” he said.Khan's comments shocked the lawmakers, who appeared distressed as he spoke. It was the first time a senior official has reported that so many Pakistani citizens were missing since the boat sinking...