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Results in Iraqi provincial elections show low turnout and benefit established parties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s first provincial elections in a decade saw a relatively low turnout and largely benefitted traditional parties, according to results announced Tuesday by the country’s election authorities.The Independent High Electoral Commission said some 41% of registered voters turned out in Monday’s general voting and in special polling on Saturday for military and security personnel and internally displaced people living in camps. Out of 23 million eligible voters, only 16 million registered to cast ballots.Turnout was particularly low in strongholds of the influential Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who called his followers to boycott the election, describing the system as corrupt. Al-Sadr officially stepped down from politics in 2022 amid a lengthy standoff over government formation.Young people who took to the streets en masse in 2019 to protest the political establishment also largely sat the polls out.The province of Kirkuk, which has a mixed popu...

South dominates US population gains as deaths drop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — South Carolina and Florida were the two fastest-growing states in the U.S., as the South dominated population gains in 2023, and the U.S. growth rate ticked upward slightly from the depths of the pandemic due to a drop in deaths, according to estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.The United States added 1.6 million people, of which more than two-thirds came from international migration. The half percent growth rate was a slight uptick from the 0.4% growth rate last year and the less than 2% increase in 2021.The growth rate “is an uptick from the pandemic but still low by historical standards,” said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.Population gains or losses come from births outpacing deaths, or vice versa, and migration. There were about 300,000 fewer deaths this year compared with a year earlier. That helped double the natural increase to more than 500,000 people in 2023. However, it was the 1.1 million immigrants who drov...

Takeaways from lawsuits accusing JBS, others of contributing to Amazon deforestation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

JACI-PARANA, Brazil (AP) — Authorities in a western Brazil state are taking aim at deforestation of the Amazon with a slew of lawsuits against slaughterhouses and farmers accused of illegally raising cattle in a protected area.The lawsuits seek millions of dollars for environmental damage in the Jaci-Parana reserve, an area that was once rainforest. It’s now mostly grassland after decades of misuse by land-grabbers, loggers and cattle ranchers.The state of Rondonia has brought the lawsuits against meat processing giant JBS and three smaller slaughterhouses, along with farmers accused of raising and selling cattle illegally. And prosecutors say the evidence was provided by the ranchers themselves.The Associated Press and Agencia Pública, a Brazilian nonprofit news agency, examined the 17 lawsuits as part of a collaboration that included visiting the Jaci-Parana to view damage to the reserve and to interview people who said they were forced from their homes there by land-grabber...

The EU’s naval force says a cargo ship hijacked last week has moved toward the coast of Somalia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A Maltese-flagged merchant ship that was hijacked last week in the Arabian Sea with 18 crew on board is now off the coast of Somalia, the European Union’s maritime security force said Tuesday. One crew member has been evacuated for medical care.The bulk carrier Ruen remains under the control of the hijackers, whose identity and demands are unknown, the EU Naval Force said in a statement. It did not give details on the condition of the crew member who was taken off the vessel on Monday and moved to an Indian navy ship that has been shadowing the Ruen.An Indian maritime patrol plane spotted the Ruen a day after its hijacking last Thursday and made radio contact with the crew, who had locked themselves in a safe room. The hijackers broke into the safe room and “extracted the crew” hours later, the EU Naval Force said.The Ruen, which is managed by Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, was off the Yemeni island of Socotra near the Horn of...

Ex-Proud Boys leader is sentenced to over 3 years in prison for Capitol riot plot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former leader of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years behind bars for joining a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol nearly three years ago.Charles Donohoe was the second Proud Boy to plead guilty to conspiring with other group members to obstruct the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. His sentence could be a bellwether for other Proud Boys conspirators who agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.Donohoe, 35, of Kernersville, North Carolina, apologized to his family, the law-enforcement officers who guarded the Capitol on Jan. 6 and “America as a whole” for his actions on Jan. 6.“I knew what I was doing was illegal from the very moment those barricades got knocked down,” he said. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced him to three years and four months in prison. Donohoe could be eligible for release in a month or two because he gets credi...

OrganiGram: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — TORONTO (AP) — OrganiGram Holdings Inc. (OGI) on Tuesday reported a loss of $24.7 million in its fiscal fourth quarter.The Toronto-based company said it had a loss of 8 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for asset impairment costs, came to 4 cents per share.The cannabis producer posted revenue of $34.5 million in the period.For the year, the company reported a loss of $184.6 million, or $2.27 per share. Revenue was reported as $120 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on OGI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/OGIThe Associated Press

Regulators approve deal to pay for Georgia Power’s new nuclear reactors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Almost 15 years of wrangling over who should pay for two new nuclear reactors in Georgia and who should be accountable for cost overruns came down to one vote Tuesday, with the Georgia Public Service Commission unanimously approving an additional 6% rate increase to pay for $7.56 billion in remaining costs at Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Vogtle.The rate increase is projected to add $8.95 a month to a typical residential customer’s current monthly bill of $157. It would take effect in the first month after Vogtle’s Unit 4 begins commercial operation, projected to be sometime in March. A $5.42 rate increase already took effect when Unit 3 began operating over the summer. Tuesday’s vote was the final accounting for Georgia Power’s portion of the project to build a third and fourth reactor at the site southeast of Augusta. They’re currently projected to cost Georgia Power and three other owners $31 billion, according to Associated Press calculations. ...

Prosecutors drop all charges against Chicago man wrongfully convicted of 2011 murder; Darien Harris will be a free man

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago man whose murder conviction was recently vacated will be a free man after spending more than 12 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.In 2011, Darien Harris was an 18-year-old high school senior with no criminal record when Rondell Moore was murdered and another man wounded at a South Side gas station.Harris was convicted in 2014 for the murder of Moore and sentenced to 76 years in prison. But Harris' family always maintained his innocence, saying he was at home watching the NBA playoffs when Moore was murdered.On Tuesday morning, more than 12 years after he was arrested, Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges against Harris, now 30 years old and married.Harris' wife, mom and other family members and supporters are waiting for his release from Cook County Jail, which will happen Tuesday afternoon."I feel like I’m dreaming, it doesn’t feel real," said an overjoyed Nakesha Harris, Darien's mom, in a news conference Tuesday. "Once I hold him in my arms...

Powerball jackpot reaches $572M: How much would a winner get?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Another large Powerball jackpot is brewing, just in time for the holidays. But as large as it is, a winner would, at best, take home only about two-thirds of the advertised prize. For the fourth time this year, the Powerball jackpot has surpassed $500 million, reaching $543 million ahead of Monday night's drawing. There were no grand prize winners in that drawing, but two tickets — one each in North Carolina and New York — matched five numbers to win $1 million prizes. The winning numbers drawn Monday were 5, 8, 19, 34, 39, and red Powerball 26. The Power Play was 3X.Powerball officials now estimate the jackpot to be $572 million with a cash value of $286.7 million ahead of Wednesday night's drawing. As frequent lottery players already know, a winner would take home far less than the above totals: The game's structure and taxes will shrink your payout by as much as $273 million. How did two tickets sold at the same gas station win the Mega Millions jackpot? There are t...

'Violated our feeling of safety': Bucktown's Red June ransacked, vandalized

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:30 GMT

CHICAGO — Beloved Bucktown coffee shop Red June was ransacked and vandalized early Tuesday morning.Owner Kim Blackburn woke up to a call at around 4:30 a.m. from the neighbor who lives above the mainstay, located in the 2000 block of North Leavitt, with some bad news.He told her he heard loud noises and thought the shop was burglarized.Blackburn, who has dealt with a similar incident in the past, was met with the following scene."Twelve years ago, four young guys grabbed my phone, they grabbed the tablets," Blackburn said.Despite a rise in crime in Bucktown over the last few years, Blackburn has not had an issue since until Tuesday. Bucktown residents voice concerns after man beaten, robbed in broad daylight "They validated our feeling of safety, but unfortunately that’s the way Chicago is right now. We are always watching our back," Blackburn said. "Honestly, I was waiting for it to happen. But we are off the beaten path so I thought we were under the radar. But it’s Christmas ti...