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Panama launches operation in Darien jungle targeting organized crime, migrant smugglers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

NICANOR, Panama (AP) — Panama launched a security operation along its shared border with Colombia on Friday to combat criminal gangs and migrant smugglers involved in record-setting migration through the perilous Darien Gap this year.Security officials said Operation Shield is part of the agreement reached with the governments of Colombia and the United States in April to stop the flow of migrants through the border’s jungle-clad mountains.Panama will use previously U.S.-donated helicopters to increase aerial patrols of the largely roadless region, but stressed that it was a Panamanian operation. The government will also send more special border police units into the area to try to root out the criminal gangs.Officials dismissed any suggestion of closing the border. It was the first visible example of the efforts promised by the three governments.Last year, nearly 250,000 people crossed the Darien Gap, nearly double the 133,000 who crossed in 2021, and a new record. That increase wa...

Quebec north shore city declares state of emergency as forest fires multiply

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

MONTREAL — A city on Quebec’s north shore declared a state of emergency on Friday as forest fires raged in different parts of the province, forcing thousands from their homes.Sept-Îles Mayor Steeve Beaupré said certain sectors of his city about 890 kilometres northeast of Montreal were ordered to evacuate by 4 p.m. Friday as a preventive measure, with an emergency shelter set up in nearby Port-Cartier.The Uashat Mak Mani-utenam First Nation said the roughly 1,500 residents of the Innu community of Mani-Utenam outside Sept-Îles, have also been told to leave their homes. They will be taken to Pessamit, an Innu community southwest of Baie-Comeau.Two fires are burning near Sept-Îles, which has a population of just over 25,000. One of those fires progressed quickly overnight, said Isabelle Gariepy, a spokeswoman for Quebec’s forest fire prevention organization, known as SOPFEU.Beaupré said the fire’s rapid growth wasn’t anticipated. “Last night, according to...

Boxer Gervonta Davis jailed after moving without permission while on home detention

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore judge has ordered professional boxer Gervonta Davis to serve the remainder of his hit-and-run crash sentence behind bars instead of in home detention after he moved to a luxury hotel and then a new home without the judge’s permission, the state’s attorney’s office confirmed Friday.Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Althea Handy sentenced Davis on May 5 to 90 days of home detention after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a 2020 hit-and-run crash that left four people injured. But Davis’ attorney indicated that the address his client gave at sentencing for serving his home detention was too small for the boxer and his security detail, State’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson Emily Witty said in an email Friday. Davis moved to the Four Seasons Hotel, where a GPS monitoring company monitored him, and then about a week ago, Davis moved into a waterfront high-rise in south Baltimore, Witty said. Handy hadn’t given permission for...

French Open lets Belarus’ Sabalenka skip standard news conference after questions about Ukraine war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Two years after Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open when she was fined, then threatened with disqualification, for skipping news conferences, another top tennis player — No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion — was allowed to avoid the traditional postmatch session open to all accredited journalists and instead speak Friday with what was described as a “pool” of selected questioners.Sabalenka, who is from Belarus, didn’t appear at a news conference Friday after reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kamilla Rakhimova. After each of her previous two wins this week, Sabalenka was asked about her stance on the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, when Russia invaded that country with help from Belarus.Sabalenka said she “did not feel safe” at her news conference Wednesday and wanted to protect her “mental health and well-being.” Sabalenka’s desire to bypass the standard Q-and-A was s...

Community mourns teenager’s death after gas station owner charged with murder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The death of a 14-year-old boy who authorities say was fatally shot in the back by a gas station owner has left community members grieving and crying out against racial profiling in the South Carolina capital city where he’d recently completed middle school.A Friday evening prayer vigil is planned at a counseling office across the street from the Xpress Mart Shell station in Columbia. The station owner Rick Chow is accused of killing Cyrus Carmack-Belton on Sunday night after chasing down the teenager, who he wrongly suspected of stealing four water bottles.“It’s a normal, human reaction to be shocked and outraged and angry and frustrated that a senseless murder happened, essentially. This child was killed and shot down,” said Reese Palmer, the founder of Palmer Counseling and Consulting and host of the vigil. “We need to be able to have a safe space to process all the emotions.”Chow, 58, was charged with murder after an autopsy showed that Carmack-...

As legal gambling surges, some states want to teach teens about the risks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — As a high school senior, Nick was blessed with a deadly accurate jump shot from the three-point range — something he was quick to monetize.He and his gym classmates not far from the Jersey Shore would compete to see who could make the most baskets, at $5 or $10 a pop.“It gave a different dynamic to the day, a certain level of excitement,” Nick said. “Little did I know how far it would continue to go.”Before long, he was gambling staggering sums of money on sports, costing him over $700,000 in the past decade. He hit rock bottom last year when he stole $35,000 from his workplace and gambled it away on international tennis and soccer matches – sports he admittedly knew nothing about.Wagering is now easier than ever for adults – and children – and there’s a growing movement in the U.S. to offer problem gambling education courses in public schools to teach teenagers how easily and quickly things can go wrong with betting. It’s a trend that Nick wishes had exis...

Ghost guns banned under new Colorado law signed by governor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Friday banning firearms that are assembled at home or 3D-printed without serial numbers, weapons that allowed owners to evade background checks and impede law enforcement’s ability to track a gun’s origins in an investigation.The new law is the latest in a slew of gun control measures signed by Polis this year. The state joins 11 others, including California, New York and Nevada, in regulating the so-called ghost guns, which have been linked to high-profile mass shootings across the U.S.The use of ghost guns in crimes has risen 1,000% since 2017, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.A gunman in Sacramento, California, who fatally shot his three adolescent daughters, another adult and himself at a church last year had been barred from owning firearms, but was able to obtain a ghost gun. In Colorado, the person accused of killing five people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs and a...

Missouri professor not guilty by reason of insanity in stabbing death of colleague

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A former history professor at Missouri State University charged in the stabbing death of a colleague was found not guilty Friday by reason of insanity.Greene County Judge David Jones announced his ruling in the case of Edward Gutting, who was charged with first-degree murder in the 2016 killing of Marc Cooper inside Cooper’s Springfield home. Cooper’s wife, Nancy, was injured but survived, the Springfield News-Leader reported.The trial was delayed for several years in part by a series of mental evaluations. The judge’s ruling followed a six-day trial.Marc Cooper, 66, who had retired, suffered more than 40 stab wounds. Gutting’s lawyers said the attack was the result of a schizophrenic hallucination. Gutting was diagnosed as mentally ill by several doctors after his arrest.But prosecutors said Gutting killed Cooper in a rage fueled by alcohol and stress that stemmed from a series of work-related slights and insults. The tipping point, t...

6 rescued after building partially collapses near Yale medical school

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A building under construction near the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven partially collapsed Friday, injuring several people who were pulled from the debris. Officials, however, said there were no fatalities.City firefighters and other authorities responded to Lafayette Street at about 12:30 p.m.Six people were trapped in the building and were injured, including two who were in critical condition, said Rick Fontana, New Haven’s emergency operations director. All were removed from the rubble and taken to the hospital.Fire officials were heard on a radio scanner saying all people who were at the site were accounted for. Multiple ambulances responded to scene. TV news footage showed first responders removing one person from the scene on a stretcher.Lafayette Street is a short distance from Yale New Haven Hospital and the Yale School of Medicine and is home to several medical offices.The Associated Press

Chicago's Willis Tower antennas light up for Taylor Swift

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:05:55 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago has T-Swift fever as the singer's Eras Tour takes over Soldier Field this weekend — and the city's tallest building is getting lit in her honor.The Willis Tower, formerly known as Sears, will light up its antennas a variety of colors to celebrate Taylor Swift's three-day tour stop in the city, according to the Skydeck's website.On Friday, June 2, the tower's antennas will honor the Eras Tour with the colors Green and Teal.On Saturday, June 3, the antenna's will illuminate and turn purple and gold.On Sunday, June 4, the antenna's will light up red and pink. What to know about Taylor Swift’s Soldier Field concerts “The Eras Tour” will be held at Soldier Field for three days — from June 2 through June 4 —and is completely sold out.Soldier Field has released an advisory for fans without tickets that discourages them from gathering outside of the arena for any of the concerts. “The stadium and surrounding areas will be at maximum capacity,” Soldier Field tweeted. “All...