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Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama redistricting case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population.Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court’s liberals in affirming a lower-court ruling that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in an Alabama congressional map with one majority Black seat out of seven congressional districts in a state where more than one in four residents is Black.The case had been closely watched for its potential to weaken the landmark voting rights law.The court had allowed the challenged map to be used for the 2022 elections and at arguments in October, the justices appeared willing to make it harder to use the voting rights law to challenge redistricting plans as racially discriminatory.The chief justice himself suggested last year that he was open to changes in the way courts weigh discrimina...

Reports of student with gun prompts lockdown at 2 Fort Lauderdale schools; suspect in custody

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

Two Fort Lauderdale schools were briefly placed on lockdown as police responded to reports of a student brandishing a firearm in the presence of another student. The incident occurred Thursday morning just before 7:15 a.m. at Dillard High School, located at 2501 NW 11th Street, prompting a swift response from law enforcement.While officers initiated a thorough search of the school, they gathered information that suggested the student in question had already left the school.After expanding their search, the suspect was located just before 10 a.m. in the 700 block of NW 10th Avenue. The suspect was safely taken into custody.As a precautionary measure, both Dillard High School and Dillard Elementary were immediately placed on lockdown, ensuring the safety and security of students and staff. Once the suspect was apprehended, authorities downgraded the lockdown status to “code secure” and lifted the lockdown. Authorities have not released any additional details. The motive be...

Secrecy around von der Leyen’s vaccine texts hurting EU reputation, say campaigners

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

It’s the story that just won’t go away.The European Commission’s refusal to engage openly about text messages that may have been exchanged between its president and the Pfizer CEO as part of EU vaccine contract negotiations came under fire from transparency activists Thursday, who said that the secrecy is “slowly chipping away at public trust.”Rachel Hanna, deputy director of NGO Access Info Europe, said the way the Commission had handled a request by Alexander Fanta, a journalist for German news site Netzpolitik, to access text messages allegedly exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla, goes against the EU’s own regulations, which aims to give citizens the widest possible access to documents.The refusal to share the text messages, said Hanna, “denies the public its fundamental right.”The Commission has never confirmed the existence of the messages, which were first disclosed in a New York Times interview with Ursula v...

China seeking to spy on the US from a base in Cuba

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

China is in talks with Cuba to establish a foothold there to spy on the United States, two senior U.S. officials said, a provocative move that already has lawmakers warning about parallels to the Cold War.The officials, granted anonymity to discuss an extremely sensitive intelligence matter, said that China was in direct conversations with Cuba to set up a base on the island nation just 100 miles from the U.S. It would allow Beijing to collect signals intelligence on southeastern portions of America, home to many military facilities and major industries. Evidence of the negotiations came to light in recent weeks, they said.Such a base would threaten to derail the Biden administration’s efforts to “thaw” out frosty relations with Beijing. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reportedly planning to visit China in the coming weeks, a trip that was postponed already after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon traversing the U.S. Diplomacy with China continues mainly at the econo...

DOJ: Wakefield man arrested for allegedly trying to aid ISIS via gift card reselling scheme

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

An 18-year-old man from Wakefield, Mass., was arrested for allegedly trying to provide support for ISIS via a plot to sell gift cards on the dark web, according to law officials.Mateo Ventura was charged on Thursday with one count of “knowingly concealing the source of material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization,” according to a news release from the office of acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Joshua Levy.Citing charging documents, Levy’s office described how Ventura allegedly provided gift cards to an individual he thought was a supporter of ISIS, with the intention of the cards being sold on the dark web and profits being used to support the terrorist organization.“Ventura allegedly stated that he wanted the proceeds to go to ISIS ‘for war on kuffar,’ (disbelievers),” the release stated. “In total, it is alleged that between January and May 2023, Ventura donated $705 intended to support ISI...

Giants cancel Thurday, Friday practices due to poor air quality in New Jersey practice facility due to Canadian wildfires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

The Giants have canceled Thursday’s and Friday’s practices in New Jersey — and Thursday’s player media availability — due to the air quality inside their indoor practice facility, where they had planned to move practice due to the conditions outside.Head coach Brian Daboll said some Giants players said something to the medical staff about the hazy air in the practice bubble while holding meetings in a tent at one corner of an end zone.Doctors and Daboll and GM Joe Schoen huddled up and determined they will cancel practice until next week’s minicamp.Developing story, check back for details ()

Smoke from Canadian wildfires now forecast to reach Norway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian officials said the smoke from Canadian wildfires that has enveloped parts of the U.S. and Canada in a thick haze is expected to pour into Norway on Thursday.Atmosphere and climate scientists with the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute used a forecast model to predict how the smoke would travel through the atmosphere.The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1, and observations in southern Norway have recorded increasing concentrations of aerosolized particles, the independent research institution said.“We may be able to see some haze or smell smoke,” Nikolaos Evangeliou, a senior NILU researcher, said. “However, we do not believe that the number of particles in the air here in Norway will be large enough to be harmful to our health.”Kjetil Tørseth, research director with NILU, said that with “the increasing temperatures due to climate change, forest fires are likely to be more common and of a larger magnitude.“...

Supreme Court, in surprise, rules for Black voters in Alabama in congressional redistricting case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court, in surprise, rules for Black voters in Alabama in congressional redistricting case.

Lawyer wraps up Prince Harry’s phone hacking case by grilling ex-tabloid reporter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

By JILL LAWLESS (Associated Press)LONDON (AP) — A lawyer for Prince Harry finished setting out the royal’s case against a newspaper publisher on Thursday, quizzing a former tabloid reporter about information inserted into stories by then-editor Piers Morgan.On the final day of evidence, attorney David Sherborne grilled former Daily Mirror royal correspondent Jane Kerr, whose byline appears on several of the 33 articles cited by Harry as examples of unlawful intrusion by publisher Mirror Group Newspapers.The lawyer suggested to Kerr that some of the information in her stories came from phone hacking.“It absolutely didn’t,” Kerr said with a touch of anger.“I’ve never intercepted a voicemail. I wouldn’t even know how,” Kerr added. She also denied knowing about lawbreaking by any freelance journalists or private investigators employed by the newspaper.Kerr acknowledged in her written witness statement that Morgan, who edited the Dail...

Prosecution rests in rape trial of former prosecutor Gary Zerola

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:25:52 GMT

The prosecution has rested its case on day three of the rape trial of former prosecutor and one-time “most eligible bachelor” Gary Zerola.Prosecutors rested their case at the opening of Thursday’s session immediately after the jury was seated.Zerola, 51, who served as a prosecutor in both Essex and Suffolk counties before becoming a defense attorney, has pleaded not guilty to accusations that he raped a 23-year-old woman in 2016.On the first day of the trial at Suffolk Superior Court in Boston, which began on Tuesday, prosecutors first called Jacqueline Hurley, a bartender at the former Four Winds in Boston, who testified that she had served drinks to the party of four the night of Nov. 9, 2016.That party included Zerola; Colleen Daley, the esthetician he had once represented in court and later began a “sexual relationship” with; a man named Jonathan Plaut, Zerola’s friend who he was at a concert with before they came to the Four Winds together and the owner of the...