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Rio police raid slum to arrest drug lords, 13 people killed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police exchanged fire with gunmen Thursday when they raided one of Rio de Janeiro’s slums to arrest alleged drug traffickers, and 13 people were killed, authorities said.Police said the raid was tied to drug traffickers originally from the northern state of Para, where more than 40 police officers have been killed since 2021.Rio police said all people who died during the operation were criminals. They added that two suspects were arrested and two women were wounded.TV footage showed an intense exchange of gunfire inside the Salgueiro favela.Rio police said they would later release further information about the operation.The newspaper O Globo said the reputed head of Para-based drug trafficking organization was killed in the raid, which police did not confirm.The Associated Press

Scandal-plagued Japan tech giant Toshiba gets tender offer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Scandal-embattled Japanese electronics and technology manufacturer Toshiba has accepted a 2 trillion yen ($15 billion) tender offer from Japan Industrial Partners, a buyout fund made up of the nation’s major banks and companies. If the proposal succeeds, it will be a major step in Toshiba’s yearslong turnaround effort, allowing it to go private and delist from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. But overseas activist investors own a significant part of Toshiba’s shares, and it’s unclear if they will be happy with the latest bid. Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp. announced its board accepted the bid at 4,620 yen ($36) a share late Thursday. Toshiba closed at 4,213 yen ($32) a share Thursday, and is trading at 4,474 yen ($34) early Friday. The offer was announced after trading closed in Tokyo. The move comes while the world’s financial sector is in turmoil over the ripple effects from the recent collapse of banks in the U.S. The critical point is that the latest offer, if successful, will ...

ACLU: Officials mocked Nevada prison-firefighter burns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A group of prison firefighters said their feet burned and their socks melded to their feet during a gruesome fire clean-up assignment that left several unable to walk, stand or shower without assistance for days, according to a new lawsuit.Still, the firefighters were “mocked and ignored” when they initially told their supervisors of what would later be determined as second-degree burns and blisters, according to the Thursday filing by the ACLU of Nevada. The 35-page civil complaint alleges negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of state and federal constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment. It seeks at least $700,000 in damages for seven plaintiffs in Nevada, several changes in training and policy, and discipline for state employees “whose negligence and/or intentional conduct results in injury to … people required to work while incarcerated.”The firefighters were trained at Jean Conservation Camp, the only t...

Court blocks COVID-19 vaccine mandate for US gov’t workers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — President Joe Biden’s order that federal employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 was blocked Thursday by a federal appeals court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected arguments that Biden, as the nation’s chief executive, has the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated. The ruling from the full appeals court, 16 full-time judges at the time the case was argued, reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge 5th Circuit panel that had upheld the vaccination requirement. Judge Andrew Oldham, nominated to the court by then-President Donald Trump, wrote the opinion for a 10-member majority.The ruling maintains the status quo for federal employee vaccines. It upholds a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate issued by a federal judge in January 2022. At that point, the administration said nearly 98% of covered employees had been vaccinated.And, Oldham noted, with the preliminary injunction a...

N Korea says it simulated nuke attacks with drone, missiles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday its cruise missile launches this week were part of nuclear attack simulations that also involved a detonation by a purported underwater drone as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make his rivals “plunge into despair.”North Korea has stepped up its weapons demonstrations in a tit-for-tat response to military exercises between the United States and its ally South Korea aimed at countering the North’s growing nuclear threat. The allies completed an 11-day exercise that included their biggest field training in years on Thursday, but North Korea is expected to continue its weapons tests as the United States reportedly plans to send an aircraft carrier in coming days for another round of joint drills with the South.Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim supervised a three-day exercise that simulated nuclear counterattacks against enemy naval assets and ports that involved detonations of mock nuclear warheads. KCNA said the dril...

These innocent-looking emojis could be hiding nefarious messages, Ohio officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

CLEVELAND (WJW) — Concerning activity could be hiding behind friendly-looking text messages.The Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center (ONIC) is warning all parents about emojis that are reportedly being used on social media and cellphones to market, sell and buy illegal drugs. According to the ONIC, seeing certain emojis on your child’s phone could be an indication of possible drug activity, though emojis can be used in many other ways as well. McDonald’s fans can get this popular menu item at Wendy’s “The use of emojis in this manner is a nationwide trend, and our analysts are seeing it here in Ohio as they analyze electronic devices seized in ongoing drug investigations,” ONIC Executive Director Cynthia Peterman said. “Although the use of these emojis is most often harmless, it’s important that parents keep this alert in mind, especially if their child is showing other signs of withdrawal or drug abuse.” Park outside: Hyundai, Kia recall vehicles due to fire risk According to the...

Former Connecticut athletes ask appeals court to resurrect their challenge to state's trans-inclusive sports policy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

Four women who were formerly high school athletes in Connecticut are asking an appeals court to let them revive their challenge to the state’s trans-inclusive sports policy.The four cisgender women argued that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy allowing transgender women to compete in high school girls’ sports put them at an athletic disadvantage, and sued under Title IX. The case was dismissed due to lack of standing, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed last month to rehear the appeal. The plaintiffs — Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith and Ashley Nicoletti — are now arguing that the case does have standing to raise their Title IX concerns and should be allowed to proceed in district court. “So Plaintiffs sued under Title IX, which has protected female athletes’ equal opportunities and effective accommodation for decades. Over three years later, the female athletes still have not obtained a merits ruling. Th...

House fails to override Biden's first veto

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

The Republican-led House on Thursday failed to override President Biden’s first veto, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to revive the resolution targeting an administration rule related to ESG investing, which takes environmental and social factors into account.The chamber voted 219-200, with Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voting with every Republican in favor of overriding the veto.Both the House and the Senate approved a resolution that would undo the administration’s rule, sending it to Biden’s desk and forcing the first veto of his presidency. The votes in both chambers were bipartisan.The effort to overturn the veto was not expected to be successful — only one House Democrat supported the initial resolution — but it put most of the Democratic caucus on record as supporting this type of investing for the second time. Two Senate Democrats voted for the disapproval resolution in the upper chamber.Veto overrides are very rare for Congress. During the ...

Pentagon chief: Putin-Xi meeting sends ‘very troubling message’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday said Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia sends a “troubling message.” Xi earlier this week concluded his three-day visit to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a visit seen by the West as Beijing doubling down on its support for the Kremlin in its war in Ukraine. “Xi’s visit to Putin and remaining there for a couple of days I think sends a very troubling message, a message of support,” Austin told lawmakers on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. While the U.S. military has not assessed Beijing as yet providing any military weapons or equipment to Moscow, “certainly just showing support by his presence there, I think, is very troubling,” Austin said. Austin added that should Xi decide to provide material support to Russia, “it would prolong the conflict and certainly broaden the conflict potentially — not only in the region, but globally.” U.S. officials warned last...

Judge orders anonymous jury in Trump sexual battery trial 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:18:52 GMT

A federal judge has ordered an anonymous jury in former President Trump’s sexual battery civil trial next month, citing in part Trump's call for protests as an indictment looms in a separate probe.U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Thursday that the jurors need protection from harassment, referencing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and Trump’s various statements attacking jurors and officials involved in other cases.Author E. Jean Carroll is set to take Trump to trial late next month after she accused him during his presidency of raping her in the mid-1990s. Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s claims.“Mr. Trump’s quite recent reaction to what he perceived as an imminent threat of indictment by a grand jury sitting virtually next door to this Court was to encourage ‘protest’ and to urge people to ‘take our country back,’” Kaplan wrote.“That reaction reportedly has been perceived by some as incitement to violence. And it bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked c...