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British Museum says staff member dismissed after items were found to be missing, stolen or damaged

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The British Museum said Wednesday that a member of its staff has been dismissed after items dating back as far as the 15th century B.C. were found to be missing, stolen or damaged.The museum said it has also ordered an independent review of security and a ‘‘vigorous program to recover the missing items.″The stolen artifacts include gold jewelry and gems of semi-precious stones and glass dating from the 15th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. Most were small items kept in a storeroom and none had been on display recently, the museum said.“Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again,″ said George Osborne, the museum’s chair. “This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the museum we have embarked upon,” Osborne said. The m...

Kansas newspaper raided by police strikes back in first print edition since search

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

MARION, Kansas (AP) — Even without the computers, cellphones and other office equipment taken in a police raid, the new edition of the Marion County Record made it to newsstands Wednesday after a frenzied scramble by the Kansas weekly newspaper’s small staff.“SEIZED … but not silenced,” read the front-page headline in 2-inch-tall typeface.Police raids on Friday of the newspaper’s offices, and the home of editor and publisher Eric Meyer put the paper and the local police at the center of a national debate about press freedom, with watchdog groups condemning the police actions. The attention continued Wednesday — with TV and print reporters joining the conversation in what is normally a quiet community of about 1,900 residents.The raids — which the publisher believes were carried out because the newspaper was investigating the police chief’s background — put Meyer and his staff in a difficult position. Because they’re computers were seized, they were forced to recons...

Former Brazilian miltary police officer convicted in 2015 deaths arrested in New Hampshire

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — A former military police officer who was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for his part in a 2015 Brazilian massacre has been arrested in New Hampshire, immigration officials said. Antonio Jose De Abreu Vidal Filho, 29, became the subject of an active Interpol Red Notice issued by the international criminal police organization after he was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to nearly 276 years in prison in June, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations office based in Boston said in a news release Wednesday.He was arrested Monday in Rye, New Hampshire, without incident, and will remain in custody pending a hearing before a federal immigration judge. No further details were provided on how he was tracked to New Hampshire or his activities there. Vidal was convicted by a criminal court in the state of Ceara, Brazil, along with three other military police officers of 11 murder charges, and charges of...

Pickled cotton candy, Thanksgiving poutine and watermelon burgers: Here’s the new food at the CNE

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is around the corner, and, of course, that means a wacky new set of food items for all to enjoy at the annual Toronto festival.Similar to years past, pickle-infused foods are sure to generate a lot of hype and interest from those attending the CNE as early as Friday. This includes pickled cotton candy, which is exactly what you think it is.Among the wild food items: A watermelon burger (a traditional burger and instead of buns, it’s watermelon slices), pickle fries, a four-pound taco, a Krispy Kreme blueberry chicken sandwich (what?), Korean fried frog legs and deep-fried pizza.Not to mention a very Canadian Thanksgiving poutine and poutine pizza.Peanut butter lovers ought to be excited, as there will be as many as three food items of interest, including a peanut butter chocolate corn dog and a peanut butter pickle dog. That one is characterized as “a perfectly crisped batter [and] comforting peanut butter complemented with home-sty...

Pollution in Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo threatens life in one of the world’s oldest lakes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (AP) — The fishermen of Lake Maracaibo say they face their worst nightmare everyday as fish stocks decline and pollution degrades the health of this great freshwater lake, one of the oldest — and largest — in the world.Lake Maracaibo, which once was at the heart of Venezuela’s oil boom, has turned into a polluted wasteland, according to environmentalists.The pollution of the lake, located about 600 kilometers (372 miles) west of the capital, Caracas, is the result of decades of excessive oil exploitation, poor maintenance of the obsolete infrastructure and a lack of waste treatment plants in the area. Tens of thousands of kilometers of pipes lie at its bottom, where crude oil leaks and system failures are frequent.The lake, which collects rainwater from more than a hundred tributaries, has also become the wastewater deposit for the western states of Zulia, Mérida and Trujillo, where 5.3 million people live. Waste from the Colombian department of Norte de S...

Dutch journalist leaves Russia after her visa was not renewed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian authorities refused to renew the visa for Dutch journalist Eva Hartog, who has lived and worked in the country for 10 years, and gave her six days to leave Russia, she said in a column published Wednesday. Her effective expulsion is one of several in recent years and comes amid a monthslong crackdown that the Kremlin has unleashed on independent journalists, critical news outlets, opposition activists and human rights groups. The pressure has mounted further since Moscow launched its war on Ukraine almost 18 months ago. Hartog, a Dutch national, has in recent years been writing for the Dutch news magazine De Groene Amsterdammer and for Politico Europe. She first came to Moscow in 2013, Politico reported on Wednesday, and worked as a web editor and then chief editor for The Moscow Times. Hartog said in a column in De Groene Amsterdammer published Wednesday that Russia’s Foreign Ministry informed her last Monday her visa would not be renewed and g...

Stock market today: Wall Street holds relatively steady a day after its latest tumble for August

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting Wednesday and stocks are mixed a day after their latest tumble in what’s been a messy August.The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower in afternoon trading, tacking a bit more onto its prior day’s loss of 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up an early gain and fell 81 points, or 0.2%, at 34,864, as of 1:10 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.Retailers Target and TJX, the company behind T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, were pushing upward on the market. Target rose 3.5%, and TJX climbed 4.4% after both reported stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected.They were working to offset a drop of 3.8% for Brinker International, owner of the Chili’s chain. It also reported stronger profit than expected, but its revenue fell short of forecasts.Wall Street has generally been retrenching this month on several concerns, including worries that torrid gains made this year through July were overdone and that interest rates...

US sanctions Lebanese environmental group accused of being an arm of Hezbollah

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States imposed sanctions Wednesday on a Lebanese environmental organization accused of being an arm of the militant group Hezbollah.The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Green Without Borders and its leader, Zouher Nahli, for allegedly providing support and cover to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon along the “Blue Line” between Lebanon and Israel “while operating under the guise of environmental activism.”The Treasury says Green Without Border’s outposts are manned by Hezbollah operatives, serving as cover for the militant group’s warehouses and munitions tunnels. Workers at the outposts have allegedly prevent U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon from accessing areas which the United Nations has authority to access. Green Without Border is a nongovernmental organization established in 2013. It says it aims to protect Lebanon’s green areas and plant trees.“We are not an arm for anyone,” Nahli told The Associated Press in J...

Death toll rises to 25 as Dominican firefighters find more bodies in this week’s explosion

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The death toll from a powerful explosion in the Dominican Republic this week rose to 25 on Wednesday, with firefighters still trying to extinguish the ongoing blaze, a high-ranking Civil Defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the number of missing remains at 10 because forensic officials are still trying to determine whether the additional bodies found correspond to those missing.The emergency responders still have not been able to fully access the building where the explosion occurred Monday at a bakery in the city of San Cristobal, which lies just west of the capital of Santo Domingo.Anguished friends and family have been pacing outside hospitals and morgues in anger and frustration, saying no one has been providing them information.Meanwhile, authorities are probing what might have caused the explosion, vowing to cra...

60-year-old woman struck, killed in Evanston

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:17 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. — A 60-year-old woman was struck and killed Tuesday night in Evanston.Just after 9:35 p.m., authorities responded to the 1300 block of Central Street on the report of a crash involving a pedestrian.Police said 60-year-old Rabia Ahmed, of Lincolnwood, was attempting to cross the roadway mid-block when she was struck.The driver of the vehicle, a 65 year-old man, of Skokie, was not injured and he remained at the scene.Ahmen was transported to Northshore Evanston where she was pronounced dead. Highland Park High School set to roll out new weapon detection system on first day of school The NORTAF Major Crash Assistance Team (MCAT) was activated to assist with the crash investigation.Anyone with information about the crash can contact police at 847-866-5079.