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After expulsion and reinstatement, Tennessee Reps. Pearson, Jones advance past Democratic primaries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones have advanced past an election hurdle after the two young Black lawmakers were expelled earlier this year for their gun control protest on the House floor, then reinstated by local officials days afterward.Pearson appeared to handily defeat Democratic opponent David Page on Thursday in his Memphis district and advance to face independent candidate Jeff Johnston in the Aug. 3 general election, according to to unofficial results from the Shelby County Election Commission with all precincts reporting. He has no Republican opponent for the seat, which favors Democrats.Jones was unopposed in Thursday’s primary election for his Nashville seat, which also is heavily Democratic. He faces Republican Laura Nelson in the Aug. 3 general election.The Associated Press did not tabulate the results for the races.The pair’s protest took place on March 30, three days after a shooting at The Covenant School, a Christia...

Exhibition by Chinese dissident artist opens in Warsaw despite pressure from China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — An exhibition by a provocative Chinese artist that criticizes the country’s human rights record is opening at a Polish state-run museum on Friday despite pressure from the Chinese embassy to cancel it. The director of the Center for Contemporary Art in the capital, Warsaw, said the No. 2 diplomat at the Chinese embassy in Warsaw visited his museum demanding the cancellation of the exhibition by the artist, who goes by the name Badiucao. “It wasn’t a request but a firm demand,” said museum director Piotr Bernatowicz, describing the Chinese government’s behavior as unacceptable. He said the Chinese official warned that having the exhibition could harm Polish-Chinese ties. A Chinese representative also sent a letter of protest to Poland’s Culture Ministry, he said.Badiucao, who has lived in exile in Australia for many years, said the Chinese government accused him of hurting the feelings of Chinese patriots. He insisted his works are in no way against the Ch...

In rare 3-3 decision, Iowa Supreme Court declines to reinstate law largely banning abortion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Abortion will remain legal in Iowa after the state’s high court declined Friday to reinstate a law that would have largely banned the procedure, rebuffing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and, for now, keeping the conservative state from joining others with strict abortion limits.In a rare 3-3 split decision, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2019 district court ruling that blocked the law. The latest ruling comes roughly a year after the same body — and the U.S. Supreme Court — determined that women do not have a fundamental constitutional right to abortion.The blocked law bans abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.Writing for the three justices who denied the state’s request to reinstate the law, Justice Thomas Waterman said granting that request would mean bypassing the legislature, changing the standard for how the court reviews laws and then dissolving an ...

Heather Mack, convicted in Bali of killing mom and stuffing body in suitcase, pleads guilty in US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The American woman accused of helping to kill her mother and stuffing her body in a suitcase during a luxury vacation to Bali nine years ago changed her plea to guilty in Chicago federal court on Friday.Heather Mack, 27, was convicted in Indonesia in 2015 of being an accessory to Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s murder with her then-boyfriend in a bid to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund. Mack, then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother’s mouth in a hotel room while Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl, prosecutors say.Mack stood before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in orange jail garb and orange slippers as he asked her questions before she was set to enter a plea. She spoke confidently and calmly as the judge asks her that she was giving up her rights to remain silent at the motion hearing. “Yes, your honor,” she responded from a podium.After the judge explained the charge against her, Mack pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill a U.S...

Greek coast guard defends actions as up to 500 migrants feared dead in shipwreck

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard defended its actions in responding to a ship carrying hundreds of migrants that ended up sinking off the country’s south coast, as criticism mounted Friday over the European Union’s years-long failure to hammer out a comprehensive migration and asylum policy.Patrol boats and a helicopter spent a third day scouring the area of the Mediterranean Sea where the packed fishing vessel capsized and sank early Wednesday. The International Organization for Migration said as many as 500 passengers may have gone down with the trawler, which was traveling from Libya to Italy.“This could be the second deadliest shipwreck we have ever recorded after the tragic shipwreck of April, 2015 on route to Italy,” the U.N. migration agency’s Missing Migrants Project tweeted, referring to a vessel that capsized off the coast of Libya, claiming the lives of an estimated 800 migrants.The Greek coast guard said the search and rescue operation w...

Supreme Court of Canada upholds Safe Third Country Agreement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

OTTAWA — A pact with the United States to control the flow of asylum seekers across the shared border is constitutional, Canada’s highest court ruled in a unanimous decision Friday.The Safe Third Country Agreement, which came into effect in 2004, recognizes Canada and the U.S. as safe places for potential refugees to seek protection.Under the agreement, refugees must seek asylum in the first of the two countries they land in. If their claim is rejected by one then they will not be successful if they try again on the other side of the border.Opponents of the treaty had asked the top court to declare the legislation underpinning the pact violates the right to life, liberty and security of the person, saying the U.S. is not actually safe for many asylum seekers.The Supreme Court found the legislative scheme underpinning the pact does not breach Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.“A degree of difference as between the legal schemes applicable in the two countrie...

Shooting, fire at Tennessee home leads to 6 dead including 3 children

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

SEQUATCHIE, Tenn. (AP) — Six people including three children were found dead in a Tennessee home where police responded to a shooting and arrived to find the residence ablaze, authorities said.A seventh person who had suffered gunshot wounds was found alive at the home in Sequatchie on Thursday night after firefighters extinguished the flames and was hospitalized in Chattanooga, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.It appeared to be domestic situation that turned into a murder-suicide, Marion County Sheriff Bo Burnett told WTVC-TV.The person authorities think is responsible is among the deceased, the bureau said. The agency did not release any names, but said it is continuing to investigate. Autopsies on all six people will be performed in Nashville.The Associated Press

Islamic militants kill 7 farmers in northeast Nigeria, further threatening food supplies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic extremist rebels killed at least seven farmers in northeast Nigeria, an attack that further threatens food security in the hard-hit region, local authorities told The Associated Press on Friday.The militants attacked the farmers on Thursday as they worked on their crop fields near Borno state’s Molai area, the authorities said. Security forces deployed to the scene “were met with a horrifying sight; some victims had their throats slit while others were completely beheaded,” Abudulmumeen Bulama, a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force that is helping fight the militants, said.Sainna Buba, a local government official, described the attack as a “sad occurrence and a setback” to restore peace and farming activities in the troubled region. The victims have been buried, he said.The attack happened amid state efforts to help farmers and other residents recover from violence and related upheaval in the troubled region. U.N. agencies this week sought...

Heather Mack pleads guilty in murder of mother in Bali

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

CHICAGO — Heather Mack has pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill her mother in the 2014 Bali suitcase murder. Mack has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill a United States National. Max sentencing would be life in prison if she is convicted. accused of murdering her mother in Bali has plead guilty Friday.Mack is pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill a United States National. Max sentencing would be life in prison if she is convicted. Under a plea deal, the sentencing wound be capped at 28 years in prision,Heather Mack, 27, was convicted in Indonesia in 2015 of being an accessory to Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s murder with her then-boyfriend in a bid to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund. Mack, then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother’s mouth in a hotel room while Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl, prosecutors say.The body of Wiese-Mack was found badly beaten and stuffed inside a suitcase at an Indonesian resort island.Mack spe...

Man charged in shooting outside Prime Time Restaurant in Hickory Hills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:55 GMT

HICKORY HILLS, Ill. —  A 37-year-old man is charged after a shooting outside a restaurant in south suburban Hickory Hills.Police said Robert Evrard, of Chicago, was arrested Wednesday for his involvement in a shooting outside Prime Time Restaurant, located at 7750 West 95th Street, last Friday.According to police, two people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting.Evrard faces four counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and one count of reckless discharge of a firearm. Chicago Police Board fires sergeant in charge of Anjanette Young raid He is due in bond court Friday.