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US aid worker and French journalist freed in West Africa

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — An American aid worker held by Islamic extremists in West Africa for more than six years and a French journalist abducted almost two years ago were both freed Monday, authorities said.They were brought together to Niger’s capital. U.S. officials said no ransom had been paid for aid worker Jeffery Woodke, praising Niger’s government for helping his release. The French government did not comment on how journalist Olivier Dubois’ freedom was won.Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a visit to Niger where he announced $150 million in direct assistance to the Sahel region. “I’m very pleased we are now seeing that come to fruition today,” Blinken said, thanking his team, and Niger, for their efforts. “We won’t rest until they’re all home, like Jeffery reunited with their families.”Officials in Niger unexpectedly announced Monday morning that the two men had taken a special flight to the country’s capital but provided no details. U.S...

Credit Suisse-UBS deal offers hope, but bank doubts persist

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Credit Suisse shares plunged Monday after Swiss authorities cut a deal with its bigger rival UBS to acquire the troubled bank at a marked-down price. But European bank stocks and the wider market gained as investors watch whether moves to shore up banks will stem further upheaval in the global financial system. Shares of Credit Suisse, whose woes stem from questions over its internal controls, fell about 56% a day after UBS said it would buy its fellow Swiss bank for a lowball price of 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion). The shares are now trading at about the level that they are valued at by the deal. Swiss regulators orchestrated the purchase in a bid to stop more turmoil after the collapse of two U.S. banks. In an indication of the frantic, behind-the-scenes deal-making to resolve the issue before markets opened, the acquisition was announced late Sunday.There is still uncertainty over how the deal will play out for the combined lender and what comes next for th...

Review: Stunning new novel about a family and mental illness

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

“Commitment,” by Mona Simpson (Alfred A. Knopf)Mona Simpson’s latest novel “Commitment” is a minimalist masterpiece, exploring the large and small ways that a diagnosis of mental illness affects a family. In a story utterly devoid of car crashes, murders, abductions and explosions, Simpson bears down on the truly important questions about life — home, work, love and family.At the center of the novel is Diane Aziz, a single mother struggling to raise three kids on a nurse’s salary in Los Angeles in the 1970s. She has lied to get them into an exclusive public high school in the Pacific Palisades, and it has paid off big for her two older children, Walter and Lina. When the novel begins, it is 1972, and Walter has just enrolled at UC-Berkeley. Soon after that, Diane spirals into a deep depression and is admitted to a state mental hospital. At that point, her best friend, Julie, a colleague at work, steps up to take care of Lina and younger brother Donnie.Lina, who is still in high scho...

Deputies fatally shoot woman suspected of domestic violence

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a woman who was a suspect in a domestic violence incident, officials said.Shelby County deputies stopped a vehicle Saturday afternoon in Bartlett that matched the description of one involved in a domestic call in Fayette County earlier in the day, authorities said.“For reasons still under investigation, as officers approached the vehicle, shots were fired, and the driver was struck,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. Melissa S. Horton, 43, was pronounced dead at the scene, the agency said.The Fayette County Sheriff’s office said in a statement that deputies there responded to a call near Somerville where a woman had pulled a shotgun on her fiancé and struck him in the head with the barrel of the gun, news outlets reported. Both the man and the suspect fled the residence and authorities put out a description of the car Horton was driving, along with the tag numbers.Agents with the Tennessee Bureau o...

MUST-WATCH: Ted Lasso’s hat trick

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

Everyone’s favourite football coach has returned to the MUST-WATCH Top 10! Will Ted Lasso and AFC Richmond take the top spot, or could it go to the latest show from Donald Glover? Perhaps it might go to the return of a kidlike DC superhero? You’ll have to keep reading to find out!The Magician’s ElephantWhere to watch: NetflixFirst up, let’s take a fantastical adventure!The Magician’s Elephant is about a young boy called Peter (played by Noah Jupe from Honeyboy). His sister is believed to be dead, but he doesn’t think she actually is. He goes to see a fortune teller and asks her how to find his sister, and she tells him she’ll find her when he finds the Magician’s Elephant. There’s only problem, there are no elephants in this world. But just in case, he looks for magicians, and ends up finding one with an elephant. He decides to complete a series of impossible tasks as a means to get the elephant, so he can hopefully be reunited w...

France ordered to curb mass dolphin deaths in fishing nets

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France’s highest administrative body on Monday ordered the government to better protect endangered dolphins and porpoises in an industrial fishing hub in the Atlantic Ocean that has become controversial over links to mass deaths of the creatures in recent years.The move was welcomed by conservationists, who hope it could stop some species becoming extinct in the zone.The council of state gave government officials six months “to close areas of fishing in the Bay of Biscay for appropriate periods, in order to limit the number of deaths of common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and harbor porpoises that are victims of accidental capture during fishing.”It also required them to compile a reliable estimate of the annual number of accidental catches.Government-affiliated scientists estimate that some 10,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed on average every year in that maritime zone of western France alone — one recent year recorded 18,000 deaths. They’re widely blamed o...

Will the Credit Suisse bank takeover calm financial fears?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — In a bid to ease turmoil in the world financial system, Swiss authorities engineered a plan for the UBS bank to acquire its troubled smaller rival Credit Suisse at a marked-down price.It’s another urgent attempt to fight fears that have put the financial world on edge 15 years after the failure of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers pitched the global economy into a crisis.Here are key things to know — and some things that aren’t yet known — about the takeover and the wider market anxiety fueled by bank failures in the U.S.WHY IS UBS TAKING OVER CREDIT SUISSE?Swiss authorities pushed UBS to take over its rival after the price of Credit Suisse shares plunged and depositors fled, raising fears that it could fail.Credit Suisse isn’t just any bank. Unlike midsize Silicon Valley Bank, which went under earlier this month in the U.S., it is one of 30 banks classified as globally significant because it could pose a risk of bigger trouble if it co...

Six people missing in fatal Montreal fire are from U.S., Ontario, Quebec: police

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

MONTREAL — Firefighters on Monday began dismantling a historic building in Old Montreal that caught fire last week, where one body was pulled from the rubble and six people remain missing.“Following the preparation work done (Sunday), we will begin the work of dismantling the second and third floor (of the) structure,” Montreal fire operations chief Martin Guilbault said. “We also plan to continue searching through the rubble and attempt to locate and extricate additional victims.”At least seven people were reported missing after a fire swept through the building last Thursday. Montreal police say the body of a woman was pulled from the rubble Sunday evening.Insp. David Shane said earlier on Monday the police force’s fire unit used a drone to help locate the victim.“Using drones and a bucket truck, our police officers and firemen were able to have a look at the scene from high ground and they were able to locate the victim,” Shane said. R...

Rockford man charged in funeral van theft with dead body inside in custody: Brown County PD

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

BROWN COUNTY, Wis. — The Rockford man who was charged in the funeral van theft with a dead body inside earlier this year was taken into custody by the Brown County Police Department in Wisconsin Sunday morning. According to police reports, an officer conducted a traffic stop where a man and woman were in a vehicle. Police stated that the man was uncooperative in identifying himself. 2 fatally shot on Chicago’s South Side The man was positively identified as Deon Meshawn Howard, the 23-year-old man charged in the theft of a funeral home vehicle that had a dead body inside on January 21. Police say at the time of his arrest he was in possession of a stolen handgun out of Outagamie County.There is no further information at this time and WGN is actively following the incident.

3 convicted of murder in death of rapper XXXTentacion

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:00:18 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Three men were found guilty Monday of the 2018 killing of star rapper XXXTentacion, who was shot outside a South Florida motorcycle shop while being robbed of $50,000.Michael Boatwright, 28, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, were all found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery by a jury that deliberated a little more than seven days. They will receive mandatory life sentences at a later date.The defendants showed little emotion as each stood and was handcuffed by a bailiff.During the monthlong trial, prosecutors linked the men to the June 18, 2018, shooting outside Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale through extensive surveillance video taken inside and outside the store, plus cellphone videos they took that showed them flashing fistfuls of $100 bills hours after the slaying.Prosecutors also had the testimony of a fourth man, Robert Allen, a former friend of the defendants who said he participated in the robbery. He pleade...