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Judge rules Alex Jones can’t use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying Sandy Hook families

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones cannot use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying more than $1.1 billion to families who sued over his conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax. The decision is another significant defeat for Jones in the wake of juries in Texas and Connecticut punishing him over spreading falsehoods about the nation’s deadliest school shooting. U.S. District Judge Christopher Lopez of Houston issued the ruling Thursday.Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year and more recent financial documents submitted by his attorneys put his personal net worth around $14 million. But Lopez ruled that those protections do not apply over findings of “willful and malicious” conduct.“The families are pleased with the Court’s ruling that Jones’s malicious conduct will find no safe harbor in the bankruptcy court,” said Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer for the families. “As a result, Jone...

Dutch king and queen are confronted by angry protesters on visit to a slavery museum in South Africa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Angry protesters in Cape Town confronted the king and queen of the Netherlands on Friday as they visited a museum that traces part of their country’s 150-year involvement in slavery in South Africa.King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were leaving the Slave Lodge building in central Cape Town when a small group of protesters representing South Africa’s First Nations groups — the earliest inhabitants of the region around Cape Town — surrounded the royal couple and shouted slogans about Dutch colonizers stealing land from their ancestors.The king and queen were put into a car by security personnel and quickly driven away as some of the protesters, who were wearing traditional animal-skin dress, jostled with police.The Dutch colonized the southwestern part of South Africa in 1652 through the Dutch East India trading company. They controlled the Dutch Cape Colony for more than 150 years before British occupation. Modern-day South Africa...

Ukraine displays recovered artifacts it says were stolen by Russians

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has recovered 14 archaeological items allegedly stolen by a Russian man who was stopped at a U.S. airport on suspicion of illegally importing artifacts, Ukrainian officials said Friday.Ukraine’s acting Minister of Culture Rostyslav Karandieiev said the man stole the artifacts from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and then tried to transport them into the U.S. At a news conference in Kyiv Friday, Karandieiev showed some of the artifacts to journalists, along with the documentation that Ukraine received. The recovered items include various types of weaponry, such as axes of different sizes, and date back to periods ranging from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. One of the oldest is a polished Neolithic axe, dating from approximately 5,000-3,000 years BCE, said Karandieiev. “It’s safe to say that Ukraine has received a new shipment of weaponry. The only catch is that this weaponry is incredibly ancient,” Karandieiev said with a smile during the pu...

Russia extends detention of a US journalist detained for failing to register as a foreign agent

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

A Russian-American journalist was ordered Friday to be detained for another three days on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, Russian media reported.Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, appeared in court in the central Russian city of Kazan, according to the state news agency Tass.She is the second U.S. journalist detained in Russia this year, after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in March.Photos published by independent Russian news website Mediazona showed Kurmasheva, who works for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service, inside a defendant’s cage in the courtroom, wearing a coat with a hood and a face mask.The state-run news website Tatar-Inform said Kurmasheva faces charges of failing to register as a “foreign agent” and was collecting information on Russian military activities. It said she could receive up to five years in prison.Kurmasheva was accused of reporting ...

Statistics Canada says retail sales down 0.1% at $66.1 billion in August

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says retail sales fell 0.1 per cent to $66.1 billion in August as sales at new and used car dealers fell for the month.The agency also says its early estimates suggest retail sales were unchanged in September, though it cautioned the reading would be revised.For August, sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers fell 0.9 per cent as sales at new car dealers dropped 1.1 per cent and used car dealers declined 0.5 per cent.Statistics Canada says core retail sales — which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers — fell 0.3 per cent in August.Sales at food and beverage retailers fell 1.2 per cent, while sales at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book and miscellaneous retailers dropped 1.1 per cent.In volume terms, overall retail sales fell 0.7 per cent in August.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2023.The Canadian Press

Woman critical, 11 displaced following Oak Park apartment fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

OAK PARK, Ill. — A woman is in critical condition and 11 residents were displaced following an apartment fire early Friday morning in Oak Park.The fire department responded to a call of a porch fire just before 3 a.m. at a 33-unit apartment building in the 200 block of South Maple.The fire was contained to multiple back porches and the staircases.A 69-year-old woman was found inside one of the units. She was transported in critical condition to Loyola Medical Center for smoke inhalation.A firefighter also sustained a minor hand injury. Authorities called the American Red Cross to assist 11 residents that were displaced. Group accused of stealing, selling $2M worth of scrap intended for Northwest Indiana steel mill An investigation is underway, Oak Park fire said.

Bears reportedly get good news on Justin Fields' thumb

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — While it's still unlikely that he's going to take the field for the Bears on Sunday, it looks like the team got some good news when it comes to Justin Fields. That's because the quarterback appears to have caught a break when it comes to the injury he suffered Sunday against the Vikings. During an appearance on the NFL Network, Ian Rapoport reported that Fields would not have to have surgery to fix his dislocated thumb that occurred in the third quarter of the 19-13 loss to Minnesota at Soldier Field. Had he had to go under the knife, it would have kept him out for a significant amount of time. The Bears nor Fields have yet to confirm that surgery won't be necessary. Are Bears' fans already looking ahead to the 2024 NFL Draft At the moment, however, the starting quarterback remains doubtful for Sunday's game against the Raiders at Soldier Field, which was initially announced by head coach Matt Ebeflus on Monday. Should that remain the case, rookie Tyson Bagent...

Can men get mammograms?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

(WHTM) - October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time devoted to educating the public about breast cancer and the importance of getting a mammogram.While an overwhelming number of breast cancer cases are among women, men can develop breast cancer as well.According to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, about 1% of breast cancer cases in the United States occur in men. Could AI help detect more cancers from mammograms? Gary Whitman, M.D., with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said men who are at risk or have symptoms of breast cancer should get a mammogram, which is an X-ray of the breast tissue.He said mammograms are the same for men and women, though there is generally less breast tissue for men. There are times when a mammogram machine does not properly fit with men.The American Cancer Society says a breast ultrasound or biopsy are other alternatives to a mammogram. Not just a lump: 5 breast cancer signs many people don’t know about but sh...

Jordan signals he's not backing down from Speaker fight: Live coverage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

GOP Speaker nominee Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Friday said he would try again to break the two-week-long Speaker stalemate that has plunged the chamber into chaos.“Our plan this weekend is to get a Speaker elected to the House of Representatives as soon as possible so we can help the American people," Jordan said when asked what his plan is for the weekend.The Ohio Republican scrapped plans to hold a third vote on his bid Thursday after opponents came out of a meeting saying they would maintain their resistance to him and at least two lawmakers who voted for him previously said they would switch their votes.Jordan lost 20 and 22 Republican votes on the first two ballots, respectively.The Republican conference on Thursday also swatted down a proposal to temporarily empower Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), which was viewed by many as a last-ditch way to resume business in the House as the Speaker race continues behind the scenes.The House is scheduled to reconvene a...

Downtown fire station closes — is it a dangerous move?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:29 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The temporary closure of a downtown Austin fire station has some people worried about response times.According to the Austin Firefighters Association, Fire Station 1 located on Fifth and Trinity streets closed suddenly after the building was condemned during construction.Both EMS and Austin Fire Department crews who work out of the station were moved to other stations around the city until the building is remodeled."It has three units in it," said Austin Firefighters Association President Bob Nicks. "It is the busiest unit in the city of Austin."Nicks said while the closure is just temporary, not having an operating station in the core of the city can impact response times all over."I can't emphasize how much — what a dangerous condition this is to have no units downtown in the 10th largest city in the nation," Nicks said. "All these other stations that surround this block are pulled in. What is called coverage calls, so what happens is their response times become lo...