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Rights group says Lebanon electricity crisis deepens poverty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Since the collapse of Lebanon’s state power grid, many middle and working class families have been forced to spend most of their monthly income to pay shady neighborhood businessmen running private generators. Still, they go without electricity for nearly half the day, according to a report by Human Rights Watch released Thursday. The situation threatens to deepen the poverty of this tiny Mediterranean country embroiled in a devastating economic meltdown. In the report, the New York-based watchdog documented the struggles of over 1,200 lower-income households in LebanonPushed to the bring of bankruptcy, the state-run power company now provides the Lebanese with less than three hours of power a day. Most families told HRW they compromise on food, education, medications and other basic needs to pay for supplemental electricity. According to the report, generator bills take up about 44% of the average family’s monthly income, and twice that for the country’s poorer famili...

Before Morgentaler, part 2: Making it legal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion in the country in 1973. The decision shocked many around the world, and has had folks wondering: could this happen here, at home, in Canada? And what led up to this historic moment in the U.S.? What are the real and current issues facing the state of abortion in Canada, and how can we make a difference?This two-part miniseries is hosted by Sarah Sahagian, a feminist podcaster, writer, and non-profit executive living in Toronto. Her byline has appeared in such outlets as The Washington Post, The National Post, The Toronto Star, Refinery29, Romper, and Scary Mommy. In her previous life, she was a gender studies academic who studied parenting and mother blame. Sarah is also the co-host of Frequency Podcast Network’s The Reheat.You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.

Lineker’s attack on UK migrant policy puts BBC in a bind

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

LONDON (AP) — As a soccer player, Gary Lineker was one of England’s top scorers. The British government thinks his political opinions miss the mark.Conservative lawmakers in the U.K. are calling on the BBC to discipline Lineker, now a pundit and the network’s highest-paid star, for comparing the government’s language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany. In a tweet on Tuesday, the former England team captain described the government’s plan to detain and deport migrants arriving by boat as “an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.”Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Britain’s immigration minister, has called people arriving in small boats an “invasion,” and said “the law-abiding patriotic majority have said: ‘Enough is enough.’”The Conservative government called Lineker’s Nazi comparison inappropriate and unacceptable, and some lawmakers said he should be fired.“As somebody whose gra...

Transnistria accuses Ukraine of trying to kill its president

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria, which has close ties to Moscow and hosts Russian troops, claimed Thursday it has thwarted an assassination attempt on its president allegedly organized by Ukraine’s national security service.Transnistria’s state security ministry said an unspecified number of people had been arrested in connection with an attempted attack on the region’s president, Vadim Krasnoselsky, and other officials.Prosecutor Anatoly Guretsky said the suspects planned to detonate an explosives-packed automobile near the presidential cortege as it traveled through the capital, Tiraspol.It said Ukraine’s SBU security service ordered the assassination attempt, but did not provide evidence. The SBU rejected the allegation, saying it “should be considered exclusively as a provocation orchestrated by the Kremlin.”A separatist war broke out in 1990 in Transnistria — a strip of land with about 470,000 residents that borders Ukraine...

Vinícius Júnior again target of racist insults in Spain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish league filed another complaint to authorities on Thursday following racial insults aimed at Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior.It was the seventh official complaint made by the league for insults against the Brazilian player, who is Black. The latest complaint came after someone called him a monkey during Madrid’s 0-0 draw at Real Betis on Sunday.The complaint was made to a court in Seville to try to identify the person and take the appropriate legal measures against the individual. Betis is based in Seville.Vinícius has been subjected to racist insults since he came to play in Spain five years ago, though very little has been done to punish fans.Some of the league’s complaints have already been shelved by Spanish prosecutors.Last month, Spain’s anti-violence commission proposed a fine of 4,000 euros ($4,200) and a 12-month ban from stadiums for a fan who called Vinícius a monkey in a league match against Mallorca.Valladolid recently suspended 12 sea...

US futures, global markets lower amid rate hike fears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

BEIJING — Wall Street drifted modestly lower early Thursday amid increasing anxiety following Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s warning to Congress this week that rate hikes might accelerate because upward pressure on prices has been stronger than expected.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials slipped 0.1% and the S&P 500 fell 0.3% before the bell. The concern is that in efforts to cool inflation, the Fed and other central banks may tip the global economy into at least a brief recession. U.S. inflation edged up in January to 5.4%, well above the Fed’s target of 2%.“The risks of a higher and faster hike trajectory have risen,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. He said the Fed might be motivated by “mounting criticism” that it has “fallen behind the inflation curve.”Powell said Wednesday that Fed policymakers want to see more data before deciding on future rate hikes.A report Wednesday showed the number of job openings advertised across ...

France’s young people stand up against higher retirement age

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Young people in France — including some who haven’t even entered the job market yet — are protesting Thursday against the government’s push to raise the retirement age.Students blocked access to some universities and high schools, and a youth-led protest is planned in Paris as part of nationwide strikes and demonstrations against the pension bill under debate in parliament. For a generation already worried about inflation, uncertain job prospects and climate change, the retirement bill is stirring up broader questions about the value of work.“I don’t want to work all my life and be exhausted at the end,” said Djana Farhaig, a 15-year-old who blocked her Paris high school with other students during a protest action last month. “It is important for us to show that the youth is engaged for its future.”People in their teens and early 20s have taken part in protests against the retirement reform since the movement kicked off in January, but student groups and unions are seek...

Death investigation underway after 1-year-old boy found unresponsive on South Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

CHICAGO — A death investigation is underway after a 1-year-old boy was found unresponsive on the city's South Side.Police said the toddler was found around 9 p.m. Wednesday in the 7000 block of South Normal in Englewood. The boy was transported to Comer Children's Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner has identified him as Dejaun Worthington. Boy, 7, dead after fire at home of Chicago firefighter ID’d Detectives are conducting a death investigation, pending autopsy results. 

Police: Rideshare passenger shot on South Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

CHICAGO — A man inside a rideshare vehicle was shot Wednesday night on the South Side.At around at 11 p.m., police responded to the 8100 block of South Halsted on the report of a shooting.A 27-year-old man suffered gunshot wounds to the legs after a gunman in a nearby white sedan fired shots. 2 postal service mailboxes broken into in Elmhurst The man was transported to University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition. No suspects are in custody. Anyone with information can leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.

Man stabbed on CTA Red Line after fight ensued

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:27 GMT

CHICAGO — A man was stabbed on the CTA Red Line in Lakeview East after a fight ensued Thursday morning. According to police, a 36-year-old man was on the train when an unknown man approached him struck him. A physical altercation ensued and the unknown individual produced a knife and stabbed the man. Police: Rideshare passenger shot on South Side The man was transported to Illinois Masonic Hospital in fair condition with several puncture wounds. Police say the unknown man fled but a weapon was recovered on the scene. There is currently no one in custody at this time and police are investigating the incident.