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Turkey’s pledge of support for Sweden’s NATO entry is tied to goals on security and EU membership

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey made a surprise pledge to drop its opposition to Sweden joining NATO, paving the way for the Nordic country to become a member of the Western military alliance.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg heralded the agreement Monday after talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Stoltenberg said Turkey had agreed to support Sweden’s NATO bid – by putting the issue to a vote in Parliament — in return for deeper cooperation with Sweden on security issues and a pledge from Sweden to revive Turkey’s quest for EU membership. The agreement also says Sweden and Turkey will step up trade and investment with each other. Hungary, the only other NATO holdout on Sweden, is also expected to drop its opposition. Hungary’s foreign minister said Tuesday that his country’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership was now just a “technical matter.” Erdogan has been uncharacteristically quiet since the agreement was publici...

Parts of GTA under severe thunderstorm watch, potential for strong winds and hail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

Environment Canada has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for parts of the GTA, calling for heavy rain, strong winds and hail.The watch is in effect for Peel Region, Newmarket, Uxbridge, and northern York and Durham regions.“Conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms that may be capable of producing strong wind gusts, large hail and heavy rain,” the national weather agency says.2:06pm: Parts of the north #GTA added into the Severe Thunderstorm Watch. Be alert and if upgraded to a warning, head indoors immediately #onstorm pic.twitter.com/tcxWwRqlwD— Natasha Ramsahai (@CityNatasha) July 11, 20232:22pm: Forecast hail size: marble up to toonie-sized pic.twitter.com/W9uVqUL5di— Natasha Ramsahai (@CityNatasha) July 11, 2023Residents in the affected regions are being warned to watch out for potential flash floods and pooling on roads.2:18pm: Approximate timing of storms this afternoon…tapering off significantly after 7pm #onstorm pi...

Elina Svitolina has the Ukraine war and her baby in mind as she beats Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — The last time Elina Svitolina was Grand Slam semifinalist — twice, actually, in 2019 — she was pursuing the usual trappings of success in professional sports: trophies, money, fame, etc.Now Svitolina plays for more important reasons. For her daughter, Skaï, who was born in October. For her country, Ukraine, where a war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022 continues to this day.And Svitolina firmly believes that those quite different factors actually do affect the way she swings a racket and the way she handles important moments on a tennis court. Enough so that she is one of the last four women remaining at Wimbledon after adding to her series of surprising victories over major champions with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory against No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek on Tuesday.“War made me stronger and also made me mentally stronger. Mentally, I don’t take difficult situations as, like, a disaster, you know? There are worse things in life. I’m just more cal...

Across the US Southwest, residents in desert cities like Phoenix are experiencing extreme heat wave

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Even Southwestern desert residents accustomed to scorching summers are feeling the grip of an extreme heat wave smacking Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Southern California this week with 100-degree-plus temps and excessive heat warnings.To add insult to injury, the region has been left high and dry with no monsoon activity, which can help offset the blazing temperatures. In Arizona, the monsoon season officially begins June 15 and can bring powerful storms with high winds, lightning and heavy bursts of rain.The heat has made parts of Phoenix feel like a ghost town. Sunset concerts were canceled, and covered restaurant patios equipped with cooling misters sit empty. On Monday, Martin Brown and his black Labrador, Sammy, escaped the heat in Phoenix by going to the lobby of Circle the City, an air-conditioned walk-in health clinic for homeless people that is also a designated hydration station. Anyone can come in to sit, to get bottled water, and to find snacks like a b...

Get another COVID-19 booster in the fall, Canada’s immunization panel recommends

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

OTTAWA — Canadians should get another COVID-19 vaccine booster in the fall if it’s been at least six months since their last dose or COVID-19 infection, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) said on Tuesday.  “Booster doses in the fall will be formulations updated to target more recent, immune-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variants,” the NACI statement said. “Individuals vaccinated with the updated formulation are expected to benefit from a better immune response against these variants compared to current vaccines,” it said. NACI continued to strongly recommend that anyone five years of age and older who hasn’t yet been vaccinated should be immunized with a primary two-dose series of an mRNA vaccine. It also issued a “discretionary recommendation” that children six months to five years of age who haven’t yet been vaccinated get the two-dose primary series of an mRNA vaccine.  The bivalent Omicron-containing mRNA vaccines ca...

Workers in Maine will get paid family and medical leave starting in 2026

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Most Maine workers will get up to 12 weeks of paid time off for family or medical reasons as part of a supplemental budget Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed into law on Tuesday. The spending bill included $25 million in startup costs for the state program which allows workers — starting in 2026 — to receive paid leave to deal with illness, to care for a relative, or for the birth of a child. Maine joins a dozen other states that have paid family and medical leave programs. The focus of legislation has been at the state level after failure to gain traction in Congress. The program caught the attention of the White House, where press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre applauded the state’s action.“Paid family and medical leave improves the lives of working families and strengthens our workforce and economy,” she said, adding that the Biden administration has worked to make the federal government a model by supporting federal workers in accessing needed leave. Putting...

Appeals court blocks construction on Mountain Valley Pipeline even after Congress says it can’t

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has again blocked construction on a contentious natural gas pipeline being built through Virginia and West Virginia, this time doing so even after Congress ordered the project’s approval.The stay issued Monday by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond comes after Congress passed legislation last month requiring all necessary permits be issued for construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The law also stripped the 4th Circuit from jurisdiction over the case.Environmentalists, though, argued that Congress overstepped its authority by enacting the law, saying it violates the separation of powers outlined in the Constitution.“Congress cannot pick winners and losers in pending litigation by compelling findings or results without supplying new substantive law for the courts to apply,” lawyers for the environmentalists wrote in court papers.Equitrans Midstream, one of the companies building the pipeline, issued a statement Tu...

Man gets lengthy sentence for fatal shooting of Minnesota girl who was jumping on trampoline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man was sentenced Tuesday to more than 37 years in prison for fatally shooting a 9-year-old Minnesota girl as she was jumping on a trampoline with friends.D’Pree Shareef Robinson, 20, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder in the 2021 death of Trinity Ottoson-Smith, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. He later tried unsuccessfully to withdraw the guilty plea.A criminal complaint said Trinity died in a gang-related drive-by shooting. The trampoline in a backyard was in the line of fire between Robinson and intended targets, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said.The shooting in May 2021 was among three that summer in which children were struck in Minneapolis.Several relatives and friends of Trinity attended the sentencing hearing. Her father and stepmother read letters from siblings and Trinity’s best friend, Avayla, whose birthday was being celebrated when Trinity was shot.“I don’t have my best friend. Instead she’s above me,” Avayla’...

Man who stormed Capitol while free on attempted murder charge gets over 3 years in prison for riot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

A North Carolina man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while awaiting trial for shooting a teenager in the head was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years in prison for attacking police officers with a flagpole during the riot.Matthew Jason Beddingfield, 22, was free on pretrial release for an attempted murder charge in Johnston County, North Carolina, when he joined the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Outside the Capitol, Beddingfield flashed a Nazi-style salute after attacking police officers with a pole attached to an American flag, according to federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols sentenced Beddingfield to a prison term of three years and two months followed by two years of supervised release, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of three years and six months for Beddingfield, who pleaded guilty in February to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding police.Beddi...

Oakland Athletics start process of applying to MLB for move to Las Vegas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:14:33 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — The Oakland Athletics have started the process of applying to Major League Baseball to move to Las Vegas.MLB last month established a relocation committee to evaluate the move, a group headed by Milwaukee Brewers chairman Mark Attanasio. Philadelphia Phillies CEO John Middleton and Kansas City Royals CEO John Sherman were also on the committee.“They have begun to submit information related to their relocation application,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “It’s not complete at this point.”Nevada’s Legislature approved providing $380 million in public financing for a proposed $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof on the Tropicana hotel site of the Las Vegas Strip. The new venue would be close to Allegiant Stadium, where the NFL’s Oakland Raiders moved to in 2020, and T-Mobile Arena, where the current Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights started play in 2017 as an expansion team.A ...