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What’s behind the surge in migrant arrivals to Italy?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Thousands of migrants and refugees have landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa this week after crossing the Mediterranean Sea on small unseaworthy boats from Tunisia, overwhelming local authorities and aid organizations.Scenes of chaos at an overcrowded reception center in Lampedusa have provoked both solidarity and anger with fingers pointing blame at not just people smugglers, but also Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, European Union officials and their Tunisian partner, President Kais Saied. Here’s what happened:HOW MANY MIGRANTS ARRIVED?More than 120 small boats arrived in Lampedusa in the span of roughly 24 hours, bringing the number of people at the local reception center to 7,000 people at one point. That’s 15 times its capacity and more than the island’s full-time population. According to Italy’s Interior Ministry, more than 127,000 migrants have reached Italy by sea so far this year, nearly double the number for the same peri...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial nears a verdict as closing arguments begin

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers leading the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton made a final appeal Friday to a jury of senators to convict and remove the embattled Republican over corruption allegations that have shadowed him for years. “If we don’t keep public officials from abusing the powers of their office, then frankly no one can,” said Republican state Rep. Andrew Murr, a member of the bipartisan group of impeachment managers from the Texas House.The two-week trial was nearing an end as Paxton, whose three terms in office have been marred by scandal and criminal charges, faces a defining test of political durability after an impeachment driven by his fellow Republicans that has widened party fractures in America’s biggest red state. The closing arguments were the last chance for impeachment managers to make their case that Paxton is unfit for office over allegations he abused his power to protect a political donor who was under FBI investigation.A verdict co...

IMF warns Lebanon that the country is still facing enormous challenges, years after a meltdown began

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Four years after Lebanon’s historic meltdown began, the small nation is still facing “enormous economic challenges,” with a collapsed banking sector, eroding public services, deteriorating infrastructure and worsening poverty, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday.In a statement issued at the end of a four-day visit by an IMF delegation to the crisis-hit country, the international agency welcomed recent policy decisions by Lebanon’s central bank to stop lending to the state and end the work in an exchange platform known as Sayrafa.Sayrafa had helped rein in the spiraling black market that has controlled the Lebanese economy, but it has been depleting the country’s foreign currency reserves. The IMF said that despite the move, a permanent solution requires comprehensive policy decisions from the parliament and the government to contain the external and fiscal deficits and start restructuring the banking sector and major state-owned companies. In late...

Suspect arrested in deadly shootings on South Platte River Trail

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Police have arrested a suspect wanted in connection to two homicides along the South Platte River Trail.Tanner Fielder, 31, was arrested in Blackhawk on Thursday.On Sept. 6 at 12:25 a.m., 31-year-old Lluvia Robles-Banuelos was found dead on the South Platte River Trail under Interstate 70. Three days later, 43-year-old Jeremy Hutcheson was found dead at 12:36 a.m. on the trail near the intersection of South Platte River Drive and West Florida Avenue.Police said both victims had multiple gunshot wounds.At the time, police believed the homicides were connected but did not know the location of the suspect. Killings along South Platte River raise safety concerns According to the Denver Police Department, an officer was conducting a patrol near the South Platte Trail on Sept. 12 at around 10 p.m. when he heard shots being fired in the area of West 13th Avenue and North Zuni Street.The officer went to the area where he heard the shots and saw a person leaving the area. D...

Trump and DeSantis to clash Friday as campaigns collide publicly in Washington and behind closed doors in Florida

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

(CNN) — The presidential campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will clash out in the open and behind closed doors on Friday as their fight for the future of the GOP intensifies.The two leading presidential candidates are expected in Washington, D.C., for a pair of dueling appearances at two separate conservative confabs – the Pray Vote Stand Summit hosted by the Family Research Council and a gathering organized by the Concerned Women For America.Meanwhile, at an Orlando hotel, the Republican Party of Florida is expected to reconsider plans to require a loyalty pledge of its presidential candidates – a brewing proxy war between Trump and DeSantis that is threatening to tear apart the GOP in the state both call home.The collision between Trump and DeSantis on these particular battlefields over the next 24 hours is illustrative of two themes that have dominated the campaign lately: Who can capture the influential support of the evangelical community a...

EU lifts ban on Ukrainian grain imports

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

The European Commission will not extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports that expires on Friday night, deciding at the last minute to let it lapse despite intense lobbying from eastern EU countries.Imports of Ukrainian grain, including wheat and maize, were banned from the territory of five eastern EU countries – including Poland, Hungary and Romania — under an agreement reached with Brussels earlier this year. Only transit to other destinations was allowed. The measures were put in place to protect farmers in the five countries from an influx of cheap produce from their war-torn neighbor.“The existing measures will expire today,” the EU executive said in a statement, adding that market distortions in the five member states bordering Ukraine have disappeared.Ukraine will now have to take measures to ensure its grain exports do not distort the neighboring markets, the statement added. The Commission, meanwhile, will refrain from imposing restrictions as long as effective ...

Macron: French ambassador held hostage in Niger

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

France’s ambassador in Niger is being held hostage by the military junta, French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday. “In Niger, as I speak to you, we have an ambassador and diplomatic members who are literally taken hostage at the French embassy,” Macron said during a trip to Burgundy. “They are preventing the delivery of food. He’s eating army rations,” Macron added.Since soldiers overthrew Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum in July and seized power, France — which has 1,500 soldiers deployed in the African country — has refused to diplomatically engage with the military junta. The junta’s representative, Amadou Abdramane, responded by stopping all military cooperation deals with France. On August 25, the junta gave French ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country, according to French news.France has advocated for a peaceful solution to the conflict and was at odds with the U.S. over sending an envoy to Niger for nego...

Mayo Clinic Minute: Walking is a step toward heart health

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

Deb Balzer | Mayo Clinic News Network (TNS)Walking is an inexpensive form of exercise that many people of various abilities and ages can do. What about those 10,000 steps a day that many fitness apps recommend?Dr. Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says there is no magic number of steps per day that people should strive for because everyone is different. What matters most, he says, is that people are moving.“Walking is perhaps the easiest, most affordable and one of the most effective types of physical activity humans can do,” says Dr. Lopez-Jimenez.How many daily steps should you take? It depends.“For a 25-to-30-year-old person, walking 6,000 steps a day is probably too little, whereas for an 85-year-old person, walking 5,000 steps is actually very good,” he says.And make walking part of your daily routine. Use the stairs, walk your dog or park away from the store entrance.“People should be walking every day, even for a few minutes at...

State of emergency declared in Massachusetts as Hurricane Lee approaches

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts Friday as the state braces for potentially damaging winds, rains, and floods stirred up by Hurricane Lee, a storm that is running up the East Coast and is expected to make landfall Saturday in Maine.The latest emergency declaration includes the activation of up to 50 National Guard members to support storm preparations and response, including by operating highwater vehicles designed to deal with storm conditions.Severe weather is not to be taken lightly, Healey said as she pointed to flooding earlier this week in Leominster and North Attleboro that wiped away roads and homes. Healey has declared a state of emergency in response to the floods there and a separate one last month in response to an emergency shelter crisis.“Flooding, wind damage, downed trees, tree limbs, all of these things create real hazards and problems for people. We’ve also seen power outages. So we are mobilizing and have mobilized,” Healey sa...

New England, eastern Canada hunker down as Hurricane Lee’s high winds, rains, waves approach

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:03:33 GMT

By DAVID SHARP and PATRICK WHITTLE (Associated Press)PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — New England harbors and fishing villages were being emptied of boats — and some were becoming ghost towns — as commercial fishermen and recreational boaters scrambled Friday to make final preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Lee, a storm threatening to bring tropical-storm-force winds across a swath hundreds of miles wide.Hundreds of out-of-state utility workers poured into Maine amid fears of widespread power outages because of a combination of heavy winds and rain-saturated soil in the nation’s most heavily wooded state.A tropical storm warning was in place from Maine to Massachusetts, but forecasters removed a hurricane watch for eastern Maine, as the storm with 20-foot (6-meter) ocean swells approached. Forecasters said there would be winds topping 40 mph (64 kph) across an area spanning more than 400 miles (643 kilometers) ahead of landfall Saturday afternoon.On Friday, ther...