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In key meeting, top Biden aide tells China diplomat that US wants to ‘move beyond’ spy balloon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Wang Yi during talks in Vienna this week that the Biden administration is “looking to move beyond” tensions spurred by the U.S. shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental United States, according to a senior Biden administration official.The meeting was not publicized by Washington or Beijing ahead of the high-level talks on Wednesday and Thursday in the Austrian capital. The White House described the wide-ranging discussions, in which the two leaders spent more than eight hours together, as “candid” and “constructive.”The administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting, said that both sides recognize that the February incident was ”unfortunate” and are now looking to “reestablish standard, normal channels of communications.”The talks are the latest in a series of small signs that ...

Man who choked NYC subway rider to death will face manslaughter charge, prosecutors say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday that they will bring criminal charges against a man who used a fatal chokehold on an unruly passenger aboard a New York City subway train, a death that stirred outrage and debates about the response to mental illness in the nation’s largest transit system.Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran, will be arrested and face a charge of second degree manslaughter, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years.“We cannot provide any additional information until he has been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, which we expect to take place tomorrow,” the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a statement.The charges come nearly two weeks after Penny pinned fellow subway rider Jordan Neely, 30, to the floor of a subway car and put him in a chokehold that lasted for several minutes.According to a freelance journalist who witnessed the struggle, Neely, who is Black, had been screaming and begging for money aboa...

Man indicted on 98 charges including hate crimes for 2022 shooting at Taiwanese church in California

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A man accused of killing one person and wounding five others when he opened fire at a Southern California church luncheon last year has been charged with dozens of federal hate crimes in connection with the attack, which investigators said was motivated by political hatred of Taiwan. The indictment announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice charges David Chou, of Las Vegas, with 98 counts including weapons and explosives charges and forcefully obstructing the free exercise of religion. Messages seeking comment from attorneys who have represented Chou in a separate case in state court were not immediately returned. Authorities said Chou chained and nailed shut exit doors before launching the attack on a gathering of older parishioners from the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on May 15, 2022.Chou had two handguns, bags of ammunition and four Molotov cocktail-style devices, and was motivated by hatred of Taiwan, where he grew up, ...

Alberta regulator says Imperial Oil faces more water problems at Kearl oilsands mine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

The Alberta Energy Regulator has warned Imperial Oil about more wastewater problems at its Kearl oilsands mine in northern Alberta.The regulator has issued a notice of non-compliance to the company after chemicals associated with oilsands tailings were found at an off-site well at levels that exceed provincial guidelines.“In light of the exceedance of sulphate levels in the off-site well, we have issued a notice of non-compliance to Imperial for failing to control industrial runoff,” says a notice from the regulator obtained by The Canadian Press.“This is not related to a tailings pond or the (environmental protection order) issued against Imperial in February.”The document says sulphates have been detected in a well near a mine overburden disposal area that is 100 metres from the Muskeg River, a tributary of the Athabasca River. Data from the provincial oilsands monitoring program shows sulphates measured in the well suddenly spiked by a factor of roughly 10...

Efforts underway to improve internet access in Nunavut

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

IQALUIT, Nunavut — Several projects are underway to improve internet access in Nunavut, which has long been slow, unreliable and costly for many residents. Quintillion and CanArctic Inuit Networks Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this year to build a subsea fibre optic cable network in the North American Arctic. Initially, they plan to construct a fibre line from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., to Iqaluit. Madeleine Redfern, chief operating officer of CanArctic, a majority Inuit-owned company, said the project is “effectively shovel-ready,” but requires funding. She said the goal is to complete a marine survey this summer, which would allow for construction in 2024.“The need is immediate,” she said. “Without this type of infrastructure, northerners, especially those in Nunavut, continue to pay the highest internet, telephone and cellphone services.”Redfern said improved internet access would benefit residents, businesses and the res...

‘BlackBerry’ film hails the must-have gadget that the iPhone turned into a forgotten relic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

Almost everyone knows Steve Jobs’ uncanny vision, relentless drive and technological wizardry hatched the iPhone, a breakthrough that continues to reshape culture 16 years after the late Apple co-founder introduced the device to the world.But when Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007, another smartphone was the must-have gadget. It was the BlackBerry, a device so addictive that it became known as the “CrackBerry” among tech nerds and power brokers hunched over a tiny keyboard that was best operated with both thumbs clickety-clacking.Now the BlackBerry is “that phone people had before they bought an iPhone,” a relic so irrelevant that the Canadian company that made it is now valued at $3 billion — down from $85 billion at its 2008 peak when it still controlled nearly half of the smartphone market.But its legacy is worth remembering — and audiences will get a chance to learn more about its origins in the new film, “BlackBerry.” The film out Friday in theaters is th...

Coyote killed after attack on two-year-old child in Port Coquitlam, B.C., park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. — A coyote has attacked a two-year-old child in the Metro Vancouver community of Port Coquitlam, resulting in the toddler being sent to hospital with minor injuries.The B.C. Conservation Officer Service says on Twitter that the attack happened Wednesday after 8 p.m. at Lions Park near the town centre.The service says Coquitlam RCMP officers killed a coyote near the attack scene, and a search of the park did not turn up other animals.It says on Twitter the coyote ate “non-natural food sources,” later clarifying that it had consumed peanuts and dog food.The service says the public should not feed dangerous wildlife under any circumstances, and violators will incur “enforcement action as warranted.”Wildlife experts say feeding coyotes is one of the biggest causes of attacks, as the animals lose fear of people and may then try to test humans as possible prey.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 11, 2023.The Canadian Press

Large police presence in Dolton, search continues for carjacking suspect

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

DOLTON, Ill. -- A search is underway in Dolton after a carjacking suspect led police on a pursuit Thursday morning.A source with police said a carjacking suspect led officers on a chase that ended in the area of 130th Street and South Doty Avenue in Dolton on Thursday. Woman charged in series of baseball bat attacks on Northwest Side According to police sources, an off-duty officer's vehicle was reportedly rear-ended as the carjacking suspect attempted to get away. The suspect has been described as a 30-year-old man driving a red Hyundai.No injuries were reported. No arrests have been made at this time.The Dolton Police Department, Chicago Police Department, and the Cook County Sheriff's Office responded to scene as the search for the suspect continues.No further information has been provided at this time.Stay with WGN as this story develops.

Skilling: Rain possible for most of Friday, Saturday night

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

Spells of wet weather ahead for Chicago--the greatest rain/isolated t-storm concentration expected Friday; a let-up in rain coverage expected Saturday--then an increase in coverage and frequency of rainfall likely again sat night into Sunday morning---longer range: huge warm dome forecast to develop over west Canada next week and this is to buckle the jet stream northward there sending it crashing southward into the Midwest and driving cool weather into Chicago--warming follows the following week.Spells of rainfall in Chicago over coming days are to accompany the arrival of Gulf moisture. But rainfall coverage and intensity is to vary in the Chicago area from day to day---maximizing Friday, dropping off as NE winds off still chilly Lake Michigan stabilize the air mass a bit Saturday. Rains will diminish to sporadic drizzle or sprinkles-- and even stop at times Saturday. Then a surge of moist air up and over an unseasonably cool, full fetch (that means "full length of Lake Michigan" ...

Pritzker re-appoints top tollway official despite Madigan tapes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:19 GMT

A top official with the Illinois Toll Highway Authority was caught where no one wants to be: On an FBI wiretap. While tollway board vice chairman Jim Connolly was not accused of wrongdoing, the recordings played at a recent bribery trial appear to show him pledging allegiance to former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who is now under indictment, and his top lieutenant who was just found guilty of bribery conspiracy.“You know it always goes back to that you’re nothing without him,” Connolly is heard telling Madigan confidant Michael McClain on the recordings as they discussed Madigan.  The conversation centered around a lobbyist new to the profession - or “the dark side” as McClain called it – who had apparently crossed Madigan.“I always told these young pups when they start lobbying – I said: ‘Hey guys, you only have one client,” McClain said to Connolly on tape apparently referring to Madigan.  “Long as you treat that client well, you’ll do real well for the peo...