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NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:___ Extreme weather events are becoming more severe, not less CLAIM: Climate, weather or meteorological events that we would classify as “extreme” have declined in severity over the last 20 or 30 years.THE FACTS: While the impacts of climate change vary across the globe, scientists agree that overall, human-caused warming is supercharging events such as extreme precipitation, droughts and forest fires. But a podcast clip shared on Instagram falsely claims that extreme climate, weather and meteorological events are actually declining in severity. “We could look at accumulated cyclonic energy — typhoons in the Pacific, hurricanes in the Atlantic — and it’s actually declined over the last 20 or 30 years,” the speaker says in the vide...

Near ‘cliff’s edge,’ Credit Suisse not seen as systemic risk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Longtime troubles at Credit Suisse came to a head this week with a record stock plunge that spread fears of a banking crisis jumping from the U.S. to Europe. But the problems have been building for years at Switzerland’s second-largest bank, ranging from bad bets on hedge funds to a spying scandal involving rival lender UBS.Experts say the upheaval is largely a byproduct of Credit Suisse’s troubles in recent years — making it look relatively vulnerable — and investor worries about the health of Western banks in general following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States.Shares of Credit Suisse sank over 30% Wednesday after its biggest shareholder — the Saudi National Bank — announced it would not provide more money to the Swiss lender. Hours later, Switzerland’s central bank agreed to lend Credit Suisse up to 50 billion francs ($54 billion) to shore up its finances. The stock rebounded. On Friday, shares dropped as much as 12% on the Swiss ex...

EPA tells states not to block waste from Ohio derailment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday ordered states to stop blocking contaminated waste from a fiery train derailment in Ohio from being sent to hazardous waste storage sites around the nation. A handful of politicians and states have sought to block shipments from East Palestine, including Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who last week said he had stopped waste from the derailment from coming into his state. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said there was no reason for states to block shipments of the type of waste that certified facilities routinely handle every day. “This is impermissible and this is unacceptable,” he said. The EPA has ordered railroad Norfolk Southern to cover the costs of cleaning up from the Feb. 3 derailment that toppled 38 rail cars. No one was hurt, but concerns over a potential explosion led state and local officials to approve releasing and burning toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars and forced the evacuations of half the village.Ohio this w...

US pledges over $171M in humanitarian help for Venezuelans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The U.S. government pledged more than $171 million Friday for humanitarian and development projects to assist Venezuelans experiencing a variety of urgent needs at home and abroad.Some of the money will go for food, water and sanitation efforts within the crisis-wracked country, while other funds are designated for emergency shelter, health care and other services for Venezuelans who have migrated to other South American nations, the U.S. Department of State told The Associated Press.The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced the funding during a conference in Brussels. The event is designed to raise awareness of Venezuela’s protracted economic and political crisis, which has pushed millions into poverty and driven more than 7 million others to migrate, mostly within Latin America.“We must continue to provide critical assistance to Venezuelan refugees, migrants, their host communities and those still in Venezuela,” Thomas-...

German lawmakers approve plan to shrink bloated parliament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Lawmakers in Germany approved electoral reforms Friday that would reduce the size of the country’s increasingly bloated parliament, but two opposition parties were vehemently critical and the plan is expected to face a court challenge.Parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, currently has a record 736 members. The changes approved on a 400-261 vote with 23 abstentions would reduce that number to 630.Other proposals to reform the system have failed in recent years because of the difficulty of reconciling parties’ interests. Germany’s next national election is expected in the fall of 2025.In German elections, every voter gets two votes: one for a directly elected candidate, the other for a party list.Each of the country’s 299 constituencies elects its legislative representative directly by a simple majority vote. At least 299 further seats go to candidates elected on party lists. The list votes are critical because they determines the percentage of seats each ...

‘Brother’ was a moment to be seen for Lamar Johnson and Kiana Madeira

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

TORONTO — In the opening scene of “Brother,” two Black teens prepare for a climb, the elder instructing his younger sibling: “follow my every step.” As they trek up a hazardous hydro tower, an impeccable sight of Toronto comes into view. It’s treacherous but rewarding, an allegory for the Black experience.At an early point in his life, Lamar Johnson — who stars in the Clement Virgo-directed coming-of-age chronicle — said he couldn’t imagine himself starring in this scene.“I didn’t even know that being able to act, much less in a film like ‘Brother,’ was possible until I sat down and saw a commercial with a little Black kid, and I was like, ‘whoa, hold on, I could do that too,’” said Johnson, 28, who spent most of his growing years as a self-taught dancer.  “In a way, it was quite beautiful to be able to sit down and read the script and feel seen.”“Brother,” adapted from Vancouver-based author David Chariandy’s novel of the same name, i...

Man who hoped to kill Arab and Black people gets 20 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia man who shot at two convenience stores hoping to kill Arab and Black people has been sentenced to serve 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal hate crime charge.Larry Edward Foxworth, 48, fired a Glock pistol multiple times through the windows and doors of two convenience stores in Jonesboro, just south of Atlanta, shortly before 3 a.m. on July 30, 2021, the U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta said in a news release. Both stores were open and people were inside, but no one was hit.Clayton County police arrested Foxworth shortly after the shots were fired. He told investigators he wanted to kill Arab and Black people and believed that’s who was inside those two stores, the release says. He said he hoped he had killed people and expressed belief in white supremacy.“He fired repeatedly into convenience stores in his effort to kill those inside based solely on the color of their skin,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said in the releas...

Lobster giant partially owned by Indigenous bands delivering higher sales and profits

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

HALIFAX — A seafood giant that is half-owned by a coalition of East Coast First Nations is reporting a leap in annual sales, as 2022 revenues rose by $71.6 million compared to the year before.George Paleologou, the chief executive of Premium Brands Holdings Inc., said during the company’s fourth-quarter conference call that Clearwater Seafood’s annual earnings reached a “record-breaking” level of $130 million on $604 million in revenues in 2022.Much of the gain for Nova Scotia-based Clearwater came in the last three months of the year, as the firm increased sales by $50 million compared to same period the year before, according to results released Thursday by Premium — which is based in Vancouver.The $1-billion investment in Clearwater led by the Membertou First Nation in Cape Breton and Miawpukek First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador was the largest ever by Indigenous communities in the Canadian seafood industry.Clearwater harvests a variety of seafood, ...

Four Ontario youths arrested with ‘pen gun’ after stealing vehicle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) arrested four youths in Durham Region after the group stole a vehicle in possession of a single-shot pen gun.OPP’s Highway Safety Division said the four youths tried to Toronto police officers in a stolen car on Salem Road in Ajax.The four young people were charged with stolen property and other offences. Toronto police also charged one of the youths with weapons offences for possessing a .22 calibre pen gun.No injuries were reported. The group was not identified due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).Pen guns have been in circulation for decades — often as homemade weapons as a form of self-defence in the 20th century.The small gun is a single-shot weapon with a safety notch, and it is designed to be carried in a pocket.Yes, this is a gun! Four youths arrested after trying to flee from police in a stolen vehicle on Salem Rd #Ajax. #TorontoOPP charged all youth with stolen property and other offences. One youth also charged with wea...

At least 5 killed in mysterious north Iraq helicopter crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:58 GMT

DOHUK, Iraq (AP) — A mysterious helicopter crash in northern Iraq has killed at least five people, allegedly including militants belonging to an outlawed Kurdish insurgency group, according to statements Thursday from the Iraqi Kurdish-run counterterrorism agency and the regional government. The AS350 Eurocopter crashed in the district of Chamanke in Dohuk province in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region on Wednesday night, the counter-terrorism agency said in a statement posted on social media. At least five passengers were killed, said Lawk Ghafuri, spokesperson for the government of northern Iraq’s Kurdish semi-autonomous region. “The investigations are ongoing by security officials to determine the ownership of the helicopter,” Ghafuri said in a post on Twitter. At least seven were on board, according to an investigator at the crash scene speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation with the media.The helicopter was carrying militants belonging to...