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She danced with Putin at her wedding. Now the former Austrian foreign minister has moved to Russia

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A former Austrian foreign minister who had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to her wedding and danced a waltz with him at the 2018 reception said she has moved to St. Petersburg to set up a think tank there.Karin Kneissl, 58, announced on messaging app Telegram on Wednesday that her ponies, which she has been keeping in Syria, were taken to Russia on a Russian military plane.Kneissl, from the right-wing Freedom Party, served as foreign minister from 2017 to 2019. She was repeatedly criticized in Austrian and German media during that time for her pro-Russia views. Her dance with Putin came just months after Russia was accused of poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, with nerve agent Novichok in the United Kingdom.Kneissl said in her post that she moved her “books, clothes and ponies from Marseille to Beirut” in June 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, after which she says she was “banished” from France. At the Eastern Economic ...

Visible homelessness in Quebec rose about 44 per cent since 2018, report finds

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

MONTREAL — The number of people living in emergency shelters or on the streets surged in all regions of Quebec over the last four years but rose most sharply outside Montreal, a new report says.Commissioned by the province’s Health Department, the report found that “visible” homelessness in Quebec increased by about 44 per cent between April 2018 and October 2022, and by 33 per cent in Montreal. The analysis by the province’s public health institute says Quebec is witnessing a “regionalization of street homelessness,” as the number of people living outside has become increasingly significant in regions such as Mauricie—Centre-du-Québec, Estrie and the Outaouais.The survey was carried out on Oct. 11, 2022, and counted 10,000 homeless people across the province, including 4,690 in Montreal. While Montreal had by far the highest number of people living in shelters or on the streets, its percentage of the total number of homeless people in Quebec livi...

Last defendant sentenced in North Dakota oil theft scheme

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

The last of four men charged in a scheme to steal millions of dollars worth of crude oil in western North Dakota has been sentenced.Darrell Woody Merrell, of Watford City, North Dakota, on Thursday pleaded guilty to felony charges of theft conspiracy and dealing in stolen property. A state district court judge sentenced him to serve nearly a year in jail and two years of supervised probation and to pay $200,000 restitution.Defense attorney Bob Bolinske Jr. told The Associated Press the jail sentence instead of prison time is “a huge, huge benefit” to Merrell.“It’s nothing he’s happy about, but it was a lot of relief off of him and kind of a testament to his information that he provided regarding a lot of other bad activity going on out there with relation to oil,” Bolinske said. The judge had previously rejected an initial plea deal with no jail time, he said.Prosecutor Ty Skarda confirmed that Merrell is the last defendant to be sentenced in connection with the case, te...

AP Photos: Satellite images show flood devastation that killed more than 11,000 in Libya

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

DERNA, Libya (AP) — Images taken by satellite show the physical devastation from a flood that killed at least 11,300 people in the eastern Libyan city of Derna. Two dams above Derna burst early Monday under the pressure from rain dropped by a storm. The pent-up water swept blocks of low-lying downtown Derna out to the Mediterranean Sea. Many said they heard loud explosions as the two dams exploded. A flood several meters (many feet) high rolled down a mountainside into the city. Images made about 400 miles above the earth’s surface show that the storm left a brown layer of mud and dirt across the city.Untold numbers are likely buried under mud and debris that includes overturned cars and chunks of concrete. The death toll soared to 11,300 as search efforts continue, Marie el-Drese, secretary-general of the Libyan Red Crescent, told The Associated Press by phone Thursday.She said that an additional 10,100 had been reported missing. Health authorities previously put the death toll in ...

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs law restricting release of her travel, security records

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law Thursday restricting release of her travel and security records after the Legislature wrapped up a special session marked by a fight to more broadly scale back the state Freedom of Information Act.The law, which took effect immediately, allows the state to wall off details about the security provided the GOP governor and other constitutional officers, including who travels on the State Police airplane and the cost of individual trips. Proposed changes to the 1967 law protecting the public’s access to government records were among several items Sanders had placed on the agenda for a session that met this week.Sanders has argued the restrictions are needed to protect her and her family, citing threats she’s faced since taking office and going back to her time as White House press secretary for former President Donald Trump.“We protected the police officers who protect our constitutional officers and...

GOP-led Wisconsin Senate votes to fire nonpartisan official amid persistent lies about 2020 election

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted Thursday to fire the battleground state’s nonpartisan top elections official ahead of the 2024 presidential election.Democrats say the vote was held improperly and that lawmakers don’t have the authority to oust Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. The issue is expected to end in a legal battle.The fight over who will lead the elections agency stems from persisting lies about the 2020 election and creates instability ahead of the 2024 presidential race for the state’s more than 1,800 local clerks who actually run elections.Wolfe has been the subject of conspiracy theories and threats from election skeptics who falsely claim she was part of a plan to rig the 2020 vote in Wisconsin, and GOP leaders cited concerns from those skeptics in justifying Thursday’s 22-11 vote along party lines.“Wisconsinites have expressed concerns with the administration of elections both here in Wisconsin and n...

WestJet union should apologize for trying to ‘silence’ free speech, Poilievre says

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the union representing WestJet cabin crew should apologize for trying to silence free speech.Poilievre used the public announcement system to give a 45-second speech on Sunday night on board a WestJet plane that was headed to Calgary from Quebec City after the Conservative party convention.After video of the speech circulated online, CUPE Alberta’s local 4070 president said it was disappointing the airline allowed a politician to use the PA system and that cabin crew had no input in the decision. The union wanted WestJet and Poilievre to apologize for putting the cabin crew in that situation. Speaking in Vancouver on Thursday, Poilievre saidthe cabin crewasked him to speak multiple times on that flight, and the union should be the one apologizing. “I think that the union should apologize for trying to silence freedom of speech. The crew invited me to give a speech and they did that multiple times,” Poilievre said. ...

US casinos have their best July ever, winning nearly $5.4B from gamblers

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Commercial casinos in the U.S. had their best July ever this year, winning nearly $5.4 billion from gamblers, according to figures released Thursday by a national gambling industry group.The American Gaming Association said the casinos’ winnings were up nearly 6% from July 2022.The association also said the casinos remain on pace to have their best year ever in 2023, with winnings from in-person casino games, sports betting and internet gambling at nearly $38 billion over the first seven months of this year, 11% ahead of what they won during the same period in 2022.The association, the national trade group for the gambling industry, also revealed that revenue from traditional in-person casino games in July was $4.4 billion, a new monthly record. It said those figures were aided by seasonal travel trends and the addition of several new physical casino properties around the country, including in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Virginia.Sports betting genera...

CTA issues request for proposals in Red Line extension project

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority announced Thursday that they have issued request for proposals related to extending the Red Line into the city's Far South Side.The RFPs will be sent to three contracting teams that were pre-selected by the CTA earlier this year. The agency said they expect to award the contract sometime next year. The pre-selected companies are FH Paschen, Ragnar Benson, Milhouse and BOWA Joint Venture; Kiewit Infrastructure; and Walsh VINCI Transit Community Partners.The $3.6 billion project had TIF funding approved by city-council in December. It still would need federal approval. However, federal officials were in town last week pledging nearly $2 billion for the project. Chicago’s Red Line closer to federal funding to add 5.6 miles of track The Red Line Extension Project includes the following.A 5.6 mile heavy rail extension from the 95th/Dan Ryan Terminal to 130th Street.  Four new, fully-accessible rail stations near 103rd Street, 111th...

Was the Bears' Week 1 offensive game plan too conservative? Luke Getsy responds to criticism

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:25:59 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The hope that the Bears would be taking shots down the field with some new weapons didn't exactly come to pass in Week 1 of the 2023 season. So naturally, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was asked about the playcalling on Thursday after a Week 1 loss to the Packers on Sunday amidst plenty of criticism that has come his way the last few days. Was the game plan too conservative?"I don't look at it that way. I don't think I ever have," said Getsy when asked that question. "We look for advantageous looks. It sounds like screens have been a conversation, but a poor motion landmark and a couple of poor blocks. But if you watch the film, and you actually watch the film, we have everybody accounted for and there's nobody else out there, if we can just capture that edge, those are 15-25 yard gains, and you guys are patting me on my back - and I get it, that's part of it. "My point of it is, we're gonna make decisions for what we feel is advantageous to our guys having op...