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Head of China’s state-backed Catholic church to visit Hong Kong amid strained Sino-Vatican relations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — The leader of China’s Communist Party-sponsored version of the Catholic church will visit Hong Kong this month at the invitation of the city’s pope-appointed Roman Catholic cardinal, fostering dialogue as China-Vatican relations remain strained.Joseph Li, the state-appointed archbishop of Beijing, will take a five-day trip to Hong Kong starting Nov. 14 at the invitation of the city’s newly appointed cardinal Stephen Chow, according to a statement from the Hong Kong diocese. Chow made the invitation during his landmark trip to Beijing in April — the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city’s bishop in nearly three decades — in a symbolic gesture that experts said could strengthen the fragile relationship between China and the Vatican.During Li’s visit, he will meet with Chow and “different diocesan offices to promote exchanges and interactions between the two dioceses,” the statement said, without elaborating. Beijing and the Vatican severed d...

German club Mainz terminates Anwar El Ghazi’s contract over social media posts on Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

MAINZ, Germany (AP) — German soccer club Mainz terminated the contract of Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi on Friday following his social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.The announcement by Mainz came two days after El Ghazi disputed the club’s version of events when it lifted an earlier suspension. German news agency dpa reported Friday that prosecutors in the city of Koblenz were also investigating. Mainz originally suspended El Ghazi on Oct. 17, saying he had posted and then deleted a message about the war that the club deemed “unacceptable.” On Monday, the club said his suspension was lifted and that he would receive a reprimand. Mainz said that followed talks with the management and that El Ghazi “regrets publishing the post and also was remorseful about its negative impact.” The club added that the player “also stated that he does not question Israel’s right to exist.”However, in a further social media post on Wednesday, El Ghazi indicated that the club had issued its...

Tensions spike in Rio de Janeiro ahead of Copa Libertadores soccer final and after Copacabana brawl

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Tensions remained high Friday in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the Copa Libertadores soccer final, following a brawl between fan clubs and a fierce police response on the Copacabana beach the previous day.The incident marred the excitement ahead of the game between Brazil’s Fluminense and Argentina’s Boca Juniors, due on Saturday at Rio de Janeiro’s famed Maracana stadium. A mob swept across Copacabana beach, sending hundreds of others stampeding away from the commotion, some clutching caipirinhas and hastily-gathered clothes.Conmebol, the continental governing body of soccer in South America, met Friday with directors of the Brazilian Football Confederation, the Argentine Football Association, Fluminense and Boca Juniors to discuss security.The meeting was called after Thursday’s bawl on Copacabana that saw nine arrested across the city’s affluent southern zone, police said.Brazil’s police have drawn criticism for their response as images posted on ...

Chicago-area police entered wrong home, held disabled woman and grandkids for hours, lawsuit alleges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

Chicago-area police serving an arrest warrant entered the wrong home in 2021 and held a disabled woman, her four young grandchildren and others for hours, violating their civil rights, a federal lawsuit alleges.Adela Carrasco, 63, her grandchildren and other plaintiffs contend in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that officers went to wrong address and demanded entry, even after Carrasco told them the person they were seeking didn’t live at her residence in a multi-unit home in Joliet, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.The suit alleges that after Carrasco opened the door, officers pointed loaded firearms directly at her and her grandchildren, who were ages 10, 12, 13 and 14 at the time, and detained them, relatives and others for six hours without legal cause on Nov. 2, 2021.Police also allegedly refused requests by Carrasco, who has COPD and asthma and walks with a cane, to get her asthma inhaler and use the bathroom.“This is unacceptable behavior towards young chil...

Man struck and killed in Brampton mall parking lot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

A man is dead after being struck by a vehicle in the parking lot of a Brampton plaza.Peel police say they were called to the Brampton Mall on Main Street South around 1:30 p.m. Friday following reports a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle. The man, believed to be middle-aged, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say the driver of the vehicle remained on scene.

The Supreme Court will hear an NRA appeal in a dispute with a former New York state official

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday said it would hear an appeal from the National Rifle Association over comments from a former New York state official who urged banks and insurance companies to discontinue their association with gun promoting groups after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida.The justices will hear arguments early next year in the NRA’s appeal, which claimed that remarks by former New York State Department of Financial Services superintendent Maria Vullo violated the group’s First Amendment rights. Following the February 2018 shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people, Vullo spoke out against gun violence. She issued “guidance letters” to businesses and a press statement calling upon banks and insurance companies operating in New York to consider “reputational risks” arising from doing business with the NRA or other gun groups. The NRA, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, sued Vullo after multiple ent...

Stellar women’s field takes aim at New York City Marathon record on Sunday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York City Marathon women’s record, which has stood for 20 years, could go down Sunday with one of the strongest fields assembled in the history of the race.Reigning champion Sharon Lokedi looks to defend her title against a stellar group of female runners that includes Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri, Olympic gold medalist and 2021 New York champion Peres Jepchirchir and former marathon world-record holder Brigid Kosgei.“It was very life-changing,” Lokedi said of winning last year. “Very excited to be back here again.”She’ll have some added support from her mother, who flew to New York from Kenya and will be waiting at the finish line in Central Park.All will be aiming for the $50,000 bonus if they can beat the NYC event record of 2:22:31 set by Margaret Okayo in 2003. Obiri won the Boston Marathon in April, lowering her personal best to 2:21:38. “The field will be very strong when I’m together with them,” Kosgei said.Lokedi won in her marat...

Christiane Amanpour to debut weekly show after years of reduced presence on domestic CNN

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For what it’s worth, CNN’s best-known international journalist, Christiane Amanpour, also found it odd that she’s had little visible presence on the company’s North American network for the past several years.That changes Saturday at 11 a.m. Eastern with the debut of “The Amanpour Hour,” part of a revamped Saturday morning lineup that will also feature shows headlined by Chris Wallace, Michael Smerconish and Victor Blackwell.The London-based Amanpour envisions her show as a weekly letter to Americans about what is going on in the world and why it’s important to them.Amanpour, 65 and celebrating her 40th year at CNN, was for a long time the face viewers were most likely to see reporting from the world’s hotspots. That has primarily, although not always, been left to others since she began hosting the studio show “Amanpour” each weekday.That program airs at 1 p.m. Eastern on CNN International, a network that, as its name suggests, is...

Virginia teacher shot by 6-year-old can proceed with $40 million lawsuit, judge rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old student in Virginia can press forward with her $40 million against a school system over claims of negligence by school administrators, a judge ruled Friday.The surprise decision by Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman means that Abby Zwerner could get much more than just workers compensation for the serious injuries caused by January’s classroom shooting. Lawyers for Newport News Public Schools had tried to block the lawsuit, arguing that Zwerner was eligible only for workers compensation. It provides up to nearly 10 years pay and lifetime medical care for injuries.Hoffman disagreed with the school board, concluding that Zwerner’s injuries “did not arise out of her employment” and therefore did not “fall within the exclusive provisions of workers’ compensation coverage.” The judge wrote: “The danger of being shot by a student is not one that is peculiar or unique to the job of a first-grade tea...

2 killed as flooding hits Kenya, sweeping away homes and destroying roads, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:25 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Heavy rains and flooding ravaged parts of Kenya on Friday, sweeping away homes and livestock and destroying roads and electric transmission lines, authorities said. At least two people were killed and at least one was missing.One of the victims died after a house collapsed under heavy rains in the coastal city of Mombasa, police said, while the second was swept away by floods in Meru County in central Kenya. Emergency workers were searching for a third person believed to have drowned in Isiolo, in the country’s north.Kenya’s Meteorological Department had earlier warned of above average rainfall until Monday. “Flood waters may appear in places where it has not rained heavily especially downstream. Residents are advised to avoid driving through, or walking in moving water or open fields and not to shelter under trees and near grilled windows when raining to minimize exposure to lightning strikes,” read the alertIn Mombasa, heavy rains caused flash floods, w...