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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visiting Australia, wants closer bilateral defense ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — Narendra Modi has arrived in Sydney for his second Australian visit as India’s prime minister and told local media he wants closer bilateral defense and security ties as China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region grows.Modi is the only one of the so-called Quad leaders to continue with his Australian visit plans after President Joe Biden pulled out last week to return to Washington to focus on debt limit talks. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who hosted a Group of Seven meeting last week, later canceled his Australia trip as well.Modi is giving an address to the Indian diaspora at a sold-out 20,000-seat Sydney stadium Tuesday. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend the stadium event and has a bilateral meeting scheduled with his Indian counterpart on Wednesday.Modi told Tuesday’s edition of The Australian newspaper he wanted to take India’s relationship with Australia to the “next level,” including closer defense and security ties to help ensur...

Labor union says it will start recall effort against Oregon state lawmaker

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — One of Oregon’s largest labor unions says it’s going to try to oust a Democratic state lawmaker who has been a longtime labor ally. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 said Monday it had filed paperwork to initiate a recall effort against Rep. Paul Holvey of Eugene, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. If successful, it could trigger an election later this year deciding whether Holvey, the House speaker pro-tem, can stay in office. Holvey, joined the House in 2004 and is a former union representative. But the union says his failure to support House Bill 3183, which would block cannabis employers from interfering with employee efforts to unionize, is one of the reasons behind its effort. The union is trying to make the case that the representative has turned his back on working people.“He has shown that his allegiance lies with large corporations, not with Oregonians,” Local 555 President Dan Clay said in a statement.Holvey told OPB that the recall caught ...

Iranian leader visits Indonesia to deepen economic ties amid global geopolitical challenges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

BOGOR, Indonesia (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will meet his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo on Tuesday during a two-day trip aiming to strengthen economic ties between the Muslim-majority nations amid heightened global geopolitical tensions.Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Raisi is visiting at Widodo’s invitation as Indonesia aims to speed up its post-pandemic recovery by increasing its exports.The visit is expected to deepen Iran’s ties with Indonesia as Tehran seeks alternatives to the United States-led Western domination of international affairs and seeks further cooperation after the two nations concluded negotiations on the Indonesia-Iran Preferential Trade Agreement this month, Indonesia’s Trade Ministry said.The ministry’s data showed that trade between Indonesia and Iran amounted to $54.1 million between January and March, while the bilateral trade value last year increased by more than 23% to $257.2 million.Iran was a nontraditional trade partner...

9th Circuit rules US deportation law that fueled family separations is ‘neutral as to race’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that a U.S. deportation law that fueled family separations at the southern border is “neutral as to race,” striking down an unprecedented Nevada ruling that had determined it was racist and unconstitutional.The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made that determination Monday in its long-awaited decision on the law known as Section 1326, which makes it a crime to unlawfully return to the U.S. after deportation, removal or denied entry.The ruling is a blow for advocates who had hoped to see major changes to the nation’s immigration system after U.S. District Judge Miranda Du almost two years ago threw out an illegal reentry charge against a Mexican immigrant. Du said she dismissed the case on the grounds that Section 1326 of the Immigration and Nationality Act is discriminatory against Latinos and therefore violated Gustavo Carrillo-Lopez’s constitutional rights.“We are deeply disappointed in the Ninth Circuit’s decision to uphold Se...

Chicago Public School teacher removed after allegedly threatening student with gun

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago Public School teacher has been removed pending an investigation following allegations she threatened a student with a gun back in March."Every morning it's a fight with my dad about me not wanting to go to school," Emily Lozano said.Lozano is a senior at George Washington High School. She shared details about an incident she says happened back in March involving one of her teachers."If she feels like its ok to do it to me, who knows how she's going to do it to other kids or if she's going to other kids," Lonzano said. ‘I need you one time only and I pay nice:’ Bond set for woman attempting to send narcotic-soaked paper to boyfriend in Cook County Jail According to Lozano, the teacher threatened her with a firearm following a disagreement they had in the classroom. The teacher allegedly brought the gun into the school in her bag."She pulls a gun out and she has her finger on the trigger and as she has her finger on the trigger she pulls it halfway out and says '...

'The damage this does is chronic:' Clergy sex abuse survivor shares story

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

WGN Films presents "Sanctuary of Sin," a series looking at a little-known religious order and the role it played in the Catholic church sex abuse crisis. This is Part 1 of 3.John Bellocchio tells a gut-wrenching story.Growing up in New Jersey, the Catholic Church played a major role in his community and family life.“The church was a central aspect, physically, as well as spiritually,” he said.But everything changed, he alleges in court filings, when he was around 13 and volunteering as an altar server at a mass led by Father Theodore McCarrick.At the time, McCarrick was the Archbishop of Newark and a high-ranking figure in the church.Bellocchio alleges that McCarrick abused him in the church after mass concluded.It is not the only time McCarrick has been accused of sexual abuse. He is facing criminal charges in two states and was defrocked by the Vatican for sexual abuse in 2019.So where did McCarrick end up?Although he was expelled by the church, McCarrick has been living at a comp...

Oak Lawn jewelry store broken into, owner 'beaten severely,' family says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

OAK LAWN, Ill. — The owner of an Oak Lawn jewelry store is in the hospital after a trio of suspects burst through a wall in the business and stole property, on top of assaulting the owner.Police said Elias Mseeh, owner of Ramallah Jewelry in Oak Lawn, had just opened up for the day, around 12:15 p.m., when three thieves burst through a wall into the store."It looks like they just kicked in the wall," said Gerald Vetter, Division Chief of Oak lawn PD.According to police, the trio broke into a vacant retail space next door to Ramallah Jewelry and were cutting through one side of the wall when they heard Mseeh on the other side, and kicked in the rest of the wall.Hole in the wall made by burglars at Ramallah Jewelry Monday.Family told WGN the burglars immediately snipped the phone line, which actually triggered the store's alarm, but the robbery proceeded for approximately seven more minutes.During that time, family said Mseeh was tied up, beaten severely and display cases were smashed...

Man gets stuck waist-deep in Alaska mud flats, drowns as tide comes in

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A man who was walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him, authorities said.Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, was submerged Sunday evening as the tide came in, and his body was recovered Monday morning, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told The Associated Press. A member of Porter's group called 911 when they couldn't get him out, but it was too late, authorities said.The accident was the latest tragedy at Turnagain Arm, a 48-mile-long (77-kilometer-long) estuary carved out long ago by glaciers that travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels a major highway. At low tide, the estuary is known for its dangerous mud flats made of silt created by glacier-pulverized rocks. At least three other people have gotten stuck and drowned there over the years. Many more have been rescued, ...

Rains arrive in western Canada wildfire area—how does the wildfire smoke lead to the colorful Midwest sunrises & sunsets?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

Jarring 25-30 degree high temperature drop hits Wednesday followed by several cool days after backdoor cold front’s passage early Wednesday—But, warming is back for Memorial Day weekend; Bone dry weather persists—no rain over coming weekVIEW OF THE SMOKE ON MONDAYFires are burning—sending smoke across a wide area of the countryHeaviest smoke north of Chicago across Wisconsin, Minnesota and MichiganChicagoans enjoyed the 2nd warmest weekend of 2023 with a Saturday high of 73 and an 81-degree high SundayMonday’s 84 degrees high likely marks the 9th time this year temps have reached or exceeded 80 degrees—and a 9th is likely Tuesday—with Tuesday likely to exceed Monday’s reading by 3 degrees. Lake breezes will continue cooling lakeshore areas.A jarring change to cooler weather with a 23-degree 24-hour high temp pullback likely at O’Hare is to hit Wednesday with a backdoor cold front’s passage. The front is to race southward the length of Lake Michigan ushering 25 to 30 mph north/northe...

Giants jump on Bailey Ober, Twins never recover in 4-1 loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:42 GMT

Bailey Ober stumbled out of the gate, and three San Francisco relievers handcuffed the Twins’ lineup as the Giants won the first of a three-game series, 4-1, in front of an announced crowd of 16,627 on Monday at Target Field.Ober (3-1) gave up four first-inning runs before recording an out, and although he recovered to keep the Twins within spitting distance, the Giants’ John Brebbia (1), Sean Manaea (3⅔) and Tristan Beck (2) combined to throw 6⅔ scoreless innings before Kyle Garlick hit a solo home run off Beck to start the eighth.The Twins struck out 16 times — eight against left-hander Manaea — and managed to put only two runners in scoring position. Twins left fielder Willi Castro fanned looking three times.In his first game at Target Field since being traded in the spring of 2022, Taylor Rogers relieved Beck with a runner on first and one out in the eighth inning. After walking Solano, he struck out Farmer and Castro.Left-hander Scott Alexander pitched the ninth inning fo...