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Flooding in South Africa kills 7, and rescue crews are searching for another 7 missing people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Seven people have died and another seven are missing after days of heavy rainfall triggered floods in and around the South African city of Durban, local government authorities said Friday.Six people died in Durban and one in Port Sheptsone a beachside town about 120 kilometers (75 miles) to the south. Rescue teams are still searching for seven more people, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government said.Authorities said they recovered the bodies of a woman in her 20s and a teenage girl in a canal in Durban to take the death toll to seven.Around 70 houses have been destroyed and more than 100 damaged in the wild weather. More than 150 people have been left homeless, the provincial government said. People were taking refuge in schools and other buildings, local officials said.Heavy rains and strong winds have battered South Africa’s east coast this week. The unusual weather also resulted in a type of tornado called a “landspout” ripping through one ar...

Polish child who fell overboard from ferry and mother who jumped in afterward are dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A 7-year-old child who fell overboard from a passenger ferry in the Baltic Sea and the child’s mother, who jumped into the water after her child, are both dead, a Polish police official said Friday.Police spokesperson Mariusz Ciarka told the TVN24 broadcaster that it was impossible to save the lives of the two, both of whom were Polish citizens.The tragedy occurred Thursday when the child fell into the water and the mother decided to jump in after her child, Swedish Maritime Administration spokesperson Jonas Franzen told The Associated Press. He said the child fell from a height of about 20 meters (65 feet).The mother and child were transported separately by helicopter to a hospital in Karlskrona.Anders Olsson, who was on the rescue helicopter that pulled the woman from the sea, told Swedish radio on Friday that she was “not responsive” and first aid was administered to her.Ships and helicopters from Sweden and from NATO units that were in the area assisted in ...

Prosecutor says Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey is a ‘sexual bully’ who preys on other men

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey gets a thrill by preying on other men, a prosecutor told jurors during his sexual assault trial Friday in a London courtroom.Spacey is “a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable — a sexual bully, ” Prosecutor Christine Agnew said in her opening statement. “His preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch.”The four men who have accused Spacey of sexual assault did not know each other, but all “had the misfortune to attract” his attention, she said. Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges including sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.The charges involve men now in their 30s or 40s and date from 2001 to 2013. That covers most of the decade when Spacey lived in Britain and served as artistic director of the ...

Venus Williams will begin her 24th Wimbledon appearance against Elina Svitolina

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams will begin her 24th appearance at the tournament against 2019 semifinalist Elina Svitolina, while Friday’s draw put two-time titlist Andy Murray up against wild-card entry Ryan Peniston in an all-British first-round matchup.Williams, who is 43 and has played just five matches this season, and Svitolina, who returned to the tour in April after taking time off to have a baby, both were given wild cards by the All England Club.Whoever wins that contest could face No. 28 seed Elise Mertens in the second round, followed perhaps by a matchup against No. 7 Coco Gauff, the American who was just 15 when she began her Grand Slam career by eliminating Williams at Wimbledon in 2019.Williams won Wimbledon in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008, to go along with two U.S. Open trophies.Audible gasps filled the All England Club’s main interview room where the draw was being conducted when Murray — who has twice undergone ...

Stop the press: Vienna newspaper Wiener Zeitung ends daily print edition after 320 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — One of the world’s oldest newspapers, the Vienna-based Wiener Zeitung, ended its daily print run Friday after more than three centuries.First published under the name Wiennerisches Diarium, the paper set out to provide a sober account of the news “without any oratory or poetic gloss” when it was launched on Aug. 8, 1703.“320 years, 12 presidents, 10 emperors, 2 republics, 1 newspaper,” the print edition’s final front page read.The Wiener Zeitung, which is owned by the Austrian government but editorially independent, suffered a sharp decrease in revenue after a recent law dropped a requirement for companies to pay to publish changes to the commercial registry in the print edition.The newspaper, which is considered a quality publication with a wide range of articles covering domestic and foreign news, culture and business, was forced to cut 63 jobs and reduce its editorial staff by almost two-thirds to 20.It will continue to operate online and plans a monthly...

Families of tens of thousands missing in Syria draw some hope from new UN push to find loved ones

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — In her small apartment in opposition-held Idlib in northwest Syria, Umm Mohammed is depressed and lethargic. But when her phone rings or someone knocks on the door she becomes suddenly alert. Maybe, finally, her husband has come back.In 2013, Syrian soldiers broke into the couple’s home in Damascus as they were having breakfast, she said. She and her husband had previously taken part in anti-government protests.“They beat him up in front of my young daughter” and then took him away, said Umm Mohammed, or “mother of Mohammed,” the name of her oldest son. She did not want to give her own full name for fear the authorities would harm her husband if he is still alive.The only news she has received about him since that day came in 2015, when someone claimed to have seen him in the Syrian military intelligence’s 248 Branch prison — which former detainees and human rights groups have called a torture center.“When someone is martyred, they’re buried and you know they’re ...

Sriracha prices soar amid ongoing supply shortage linked to droughts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

(The Hill) - Bottles of Huy Fong Sriracha are going for as much as $70 on some sites amid a shortage of the popular hot sauce linked to ongoing droughts.A single 28-ounce bottle is being listed by one eBay seller for nearly $70, while a two-pack of 17-ounce bottles is going on Amazon for around $100 or more from some merchants. Other brands' iterations of the sauce on the sites are notably less expensive, but prices for Huy Fong's authentic version are being driven up by the an ongoing shortage of the chilis used to make the condiment. The company announced a "a shortage of chili pepper inventory" back in 2020, and said last year that weather conditions were affecting quality and sparking an even "more severe" shortage.The company is based in Irwindale, Calif., and reportedly supplied by chili pepper farms in California, New Mexico and Mexico, areas that have faced drought in recent years.CBS News reported Thursday that a Huy Fong spokesperson said the company has recently resumed ...

Man filmed carving his name on the Colosseum is a tourist living in Britain, Italian police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italian police on Thursday said they believe the man filmed while engraving his name and that of his apparent girlfriend last week on the ancient Roman Colosseum is a tourist who lives in Britain.The identification was made using photographic comparisons, Italian Carabinieri said in a press release. The statement did not provide the name of the suspect nor his whereabouts. When reached by phone, police said no further information could be given.Italian officials have vowed to find and punish the tourist who carved “Ivan+Haley 23” on the the wall of the Colosseum in Rome, a crime that has resulted in hefty fines in the past. Texas abortion ban led to almost 10,000 additional live births The vandal was filmed in the act by an American tourist, Ryan Lutz of Orange, California, who posted the video on social media after he said Colosseum guards failed to show interest in his footage.It was at least the fourth time this year that such graffiti was reported at the ...

Father of Parkland shooting victim knocks ex-school officer, attorney for 'celebrating' verdict

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

(The Hill) - Manuel Oliver knocked a former school resource officer and his attorney for "celebrating" after the officer was found not guilty on all charges related to his actions around the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla."These guys are celebrating today. He said he got his life back. They're going to the Vatican. They thanked the Lord. Apparently their Lord is a different Lord than Joaquin's Lord," Oliver, whose son Joaquin died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, said on CNN. "He decided to give this guy his life back, which is not in any way, in any way, comparable of losing life," he added.Gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured 17 others during the shooting on Valentine’s Day in 2018 — and has been sentenced to life in prison without parole, serving 34 life terms for the victims. The tragedy prompted the survivor-founded gun control movement March for Our Lives.Scot Peterson, a former school resource officer on duty at the Parklan...

Bed Bath & Beyond name lives on! Overstock.com buys rights and assumes name

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Bed & Bath & Beyond will live on, online at least, after Overstock.com acquired the bankrupt retail chain’s intellectual property assets for $21.5 million.The online retailer Overstock.com is dumping its name online and will become Bed & Bath & Beyond, which declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Overstock.com's CEO Jonathan Johnson told The Associated Press in a phone interview on Thursday that the company is considering changing its corporate name but won't make any decisions until after it digests the assets.The switcheroo to a very recognizable brand was cheered on Wall Street. Shares of Overstock.com Inc., based in Midvale, Utah, soared nearly 20% during afternoon trading Thursday. A major UPS strike is looming — here’s what that means for your packages The deal doesn’t include Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the last of which are expected to be shuttered Friday, or the Buybuy Baby chain.The name change will roll out in Canada next month and...