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European Union ‘immediately’ suspends hundreds of millions in aid for Palestinian authorities

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union announced Monday that it was “immediately” suspending hundreds of millions of euros in aid for Palestinian authorities because of what an EU commissioner called the “scale of terror and brutality” during the attacks on Israel by Hamas.Germany and Austria also announced similar measures. “We need action and we need it now,” EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi tweeted. It also underscored strong words of EU support for Israel since the Hamas attacks started on Saturday, including that Israel had now every right to defend itself within the bounds of international law. The surprise announcement by Varhelyi on development aid came just hours after EU officials stressed that no EU money whatsoever was going to Hamas in the first place and that contacts had been frozen for 16 years. The EU considers Hamas a terror group.Queries about what the move entailed and how extensive its impact on Palestinian aid would be weren’t immediately answered. Varhelyi sa...

Flag football set to be included at Los Angeles Olympics in 2028

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

Flag football took a key step toward becoming an Olympic sport in 2028, a victory for the NFL and organizers in Los Angeles who will bring a distinctly American sport to the Summer Games as they return to the United States for the first time in 32 years.Two people familiar with a proposal from the Los Angeles organizing committee told The Associated Press on Monday that the committee had delivered its proposal to the International Olympic Committee, setting it up for a vote later this month at the IOC’s meeting in Mumbai, India. The people did not want to be named because the LA committee was expected to release the information later Monday.Other sports on the list included baseball and softball — which were in the Tokyo Games in 2021 but will not be played next year in Paris — lacrosse, squash and cricket, a sport with a much wider global reach that will go over well in Brisbane, Australia, which is hosting in 2032, and in India, where the vote will take place.Out is breakdan...

Music Review: Holly Humberstone gets candid on atmospheric debut album, ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

A third of the way through her debut album, “Paint My Bedroom Black,” Gen Z pop singer Holly Humberstone initiates a sort of slow dance, but one set in an anxious daydream.“When you found me I was a train wreck / You gathered my bones in a blanket,” she sings on “Kissing in Swimming Pools,” as if whispering in someone’s ear. “So, can we kiss in your swimming pool? In this bathing suit, I would die for you.”The song’s steady rhythm and candid lyrics are soothing but also worried — a tone that captures the rest of Humberstone’s debut, due out Friday. Across 13 tracks, Humberstone allows herself to wallow in the confusion of maintaining new and old relationships. And she isn’t afraid to own the suffocating nature of that uncertainty. But she’s also building a new world, ushering in a reset. As she sings on album’s title track, “Here’s to new horizons.”Humberstone, 23, first established a fanbase in 2020 with the release of her EP “Falling Asleep at the Wheel.” In 2022, she was aw...

Live updates | Israel vows to punish Gaza as region and world feel ripples from Hamas attack

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

Israel’s defense minister has ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip following an unprecedented incursion into Israel by Hamas fighters.Israel formally declared war on Sunday and gave the green light for “significant military steps” to retaliate against Hamas for Saturday’s surprise attack. More than 1,100 people have been killed and thousands wounded on both sides.The defense minister’s announcement on Monday came as Israel’s military scoured the country’s south for Hamas fighters and guarded breaches in its border fence with tanks while pounding Gaza from the air. A spokesperson said the Israeli military regained control of border communities taken by Hamas fighters during the attack. But Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.EGYPTIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIANSDozens of students held a rally in support of the Palestinian people Monday at the prestigious American ...

Suspects sought in Pennsylvania community center shooting that killed 1, wounded 8

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

INDIANA, Pa. (AP) — Authorities are seeking suspects in a shooting that killed one man and wounded eight other people at a private party in a Pennsylvania community center.State police in Indiana County said nine people between the ages of 18 and 23 were shot at about 12:35 a.m. Sunday at the Chevy Chase Community Center in White Township, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh. Police say they believe there was more than one shooter. They are seeking surveillance video, asking local homes and businesses to check doorbell cameras and requesting that anyone missing items — such as the cellphones and clothing found at the center — to contact them, authorities said. A 22-year-old Pittsburgh man died at the scene and an 18-year-old man from Chicago was critically injured, while another 18-year-old from Florida and six men and women from Pennsylvania were also taken to hospitals. Two were discharged.Lt. Col. George Bivens said dozens of shots were fired and there may have...

An independent inquiry opens into alleged unlawful killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

LONDON (AP) — An independent inquiry opened Monday to examine claims that British special forces murdered dozens of Afghan men during counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan a decade ago, as well as allegations that authorities subsequently covered up the alleged illegal activity or failed to investigate it properly.The inquiry, which opened at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, focuses on alleged unlawful killings that took place during night raids carried out by Britain’s elite military units in the war-torn nation between 2010 and 2013. Families of those killed say they were innocent and unarmed civilians, and called on the inquiry to unearth the truth. In one case, family members allege that nine men were shot in their beds during a raid. The British military has said that soldiers were acting in self-defense. The investigation is expected to hear submissions on behalf of the families of 33 people, including eight children, who were allegedly killed by special forc...

Book Review: Isa Arsén delivers an unconventional love story in debut novel ‘Shoot the Moon’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

If you’re going to write a novel, why not do as the title of Isa Arsén’s debut suggests? “Shoot the Moon” refers to the actual act of getting astronauts to the lunar surface, but this work of fiction also attempts to shoot the moon like a fearless player in a Hearts card game — thematically, there’s bisexuality, loss, Daddy issues, and a unique wormhole that allows for some very specific time travel.The bulk of the novel takes place in the late 1960s, as NASA is indeed trying to beat the Soviets to the moon. Annie Fisk is the lead character, a recent physics graduate whose father played a role developing the atomic bomb before dying young. By page five Annie is in love with an Apollo 11 astronaut named Norm she meets at a NASA Christmas party. And by page seven we’ve gone backwards 18 years and 8-year-old Annie is meeting a like-aged stranger named Diana in the back garden of her childhood home in New Mexico.The plot only gets trippier from there. In 1968, Annie really does discover...

Northwest Indiana Hardee's employees accused of stealing credit card numbers to bond inmates out

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

LAPORTE COUNTY, Ind. — Inmates were bonded out of jail due to fraudulently obtained credit card numbers by Michigan City Hardee's employees in an elaborate scheme, according to authorities.In September, jail administration noticed "suspicious irregularities" after large sums of money were being transferred into some inmates' accounts.The same inmates were bonding out of the jail almost immediately, authorities said.An investigation was then launched by LaPorte County Sheriff's Office's chief of detectives.The investigation uncovered a "complex fraudulent scheme" involving three employees of the Hardee’s in Michigan City, along with several other subjects, authorities said.Police allege Darrien Ward, Prince Arnold and Kristin Vanschoyck photographed credit and debit card numbers of customers that purchased food at the drive-thru window in August and September.The card numbers were then fraudulently used by placing money onto Securus accounts of inmates with low bond amounts. After th...

Food Network celebrity chef Michael Chiarello dies after allergic reaction

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

(WJW) – Celebrity chef and former Food Network star Michael Chiarello has died.PEOPLE reports Chiarello died at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, California, where he had been treated for the past week for an acute allergic reaction that led to anaphylactic shock. He was 61. Kelce mom on meeting Taylor Swift: ‘It was…’ “We deeply mourn the loss of our beloved patriarch Michael,” his company announced in a statement to PEOPLE. “His culinary brilliance, boundless creativity, and unwavering commitment to family were at the core of his being."Chef Michael Chiarello prepares food at Delta Presents Food with Altitude featuring Michael Chiarello, Michelle Bernstein, Linton Hopkins, Andrea Robinson and Jean-Paul Bourgeois during the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival Presented By FOOD & WINE at Union Square Events Kitchen on October 16, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for NYCWFF)Chiarello’s family was with him at the time of his ...

Here's what was lost, found after ACL Weekend One

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:01 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lose your phone, wallet or glasses at Austin City Limits over the weekend? You're not alone. The post-festival lost and found opened Monday morning for festival-goers to find their missing items. As of Monday morning, there were more than 15 phones, 10 wallets, 30 IDs, 50 credit cards, several key sets, bags, glasses and some jewelry pieces in the lost and found awaiting their owners. A full gallery of found items is online. Some items are identified only by last name, such as IDs and credit cards. The lost and found tent is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday. The post-festival lost and found is at the Guest Services HQ on William Barton Drive. An ACL spokesperson said people can claim items online and the festival will work to reunite the items with its owner for up to 60 days after ACL. The online lost-and-found system allows attendees to search for their items from a phone. ACL Fest: How to register for lost and found Before going to the festival, people can reg...