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A look at the contenders for House speaker and the demands they’re facing from fellow Republicans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Republicans, it’s a question with no clear answer: Who becomes House speaker after Kevin McCarthy?Despite former President Donald Trump’s endorsement of House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio on Friday, it’s not at all certain that any of the GOP candidates will be able to round up enough votes — 218, if all lawmakers are present and voting — to ascend to one of the most powerful positions in government, second in line to the presidency. Jordan and a fellow longtime party stalwart and hard-liner, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, have begun making their case though phone calls and texts to colleagues.With the House trying to pick a new leader as soon as next week, others are waiting in the wings, including Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, who as chair of the Republican Study Committee leads the largest faction of Republicans in the chamber.McCarthy’s chaotic election as speaker in January took 15 punishing rounds and left him in a weak...

Stock market today: Wall Street slips on worries that a too-hot job market will keep inflation high

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Worries about a too-hot job market are sending Wall Street lower Friday, keeping stocks on track to close out a fifth straight losing week.The S&P 500 was down 0.3% in morning trading and heading for its longest weekly losing streak in 16 months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 117 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.Once again, it was rising yields in the bond market pushing stocks lower. Yields leaped after a report said U.S. employers added nearly twice as many jobs last month as economists expected.Trading could be shaky through the day, though, as Friday’s jobs report also included some more encouraging nuggets for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve. Stocks pared their losses as the morning progressed.Strength in the job market is normally a good sign for financial markets because it means the economy is doing well and corporate profits can too. But in this new normal of high inflation,...

Doctor who treated Morgan State shooting victim is gunshot survivor himself

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — When Johns Hopkins trauma surgeon Dr. Joseph Sakran was notified about a shooting with multiple victims on the campus of Morgan State University earlier this week, he relied on a unique combination of training and personal experience.Sakran decided to work in medicine after becoming a victim of gun violence as a teenager. He was at a high school football game in 1994 when a fight broke out and someone shot into the crowd, striking Sakran in the throat.Since then, he’s built a career as both an emergency surgeon and a gun violence prevention advocate, joining a growing subset of physicians calling on political leaders to stem the crushing tide of gun deaths in America.“So much of this is personal,” he told The Associated Press earlier this week, describing the pain he experiences during interactions with victims’ families. “I feel like honestly a piece of me dies every time I have to do this.”Initial reports from the Morgan State shooting indicated there were multipl...

Muslims in Kenya protest at Supreme Court over its endorsement of LGBTQ right to associate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Hundreds of Muslims in Kenya’s capital rallied Friday outside the Supreme Court to protest its decision last month to reaffirm the LGBTQ community’s right of association, saying that the verdict condoned immorality and demanding that some justices step down.The protest in Nairobi took place after Friday prayers, with demonstrators holding signs that attributed the verdict to “Neo Colonialists” and urged three of the five judges who supported the panel’s majority decision to “Repent and Resign.” Some conservative Christians also attended. The court last month reaffirmed an earlier ruling that the Non-Governmental Organization Board in Kenya had discriminated against LGBTQ people when it refused to register their association. The two dissenting judges opposed the ruling on the grounds that Kenya’s laws outlaw same-sex relationships.Lawmaker Mohamed Ali told The Associated Press that Kenya is a religious country and that the court should respect that.“Islam and Ch...

French judges file charges against ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy in a case linked to Libya

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French investigative judges filed preliminary charges on Friday against former President Nicolas Sarkozy for his alleged involvement in an attempt to mislead magistrates in order to clear him in a case regarding the suspected illegal financing from Libya of his 2007 presidential campaign.The preliminary charges accuse Sarkozy of “benefitting from corruptly influencing a witness” and “participating in a criminal association” in order “to mislead the magistrates in charge of the judicial investigation into suspicions of Libyan financing of his election campaign,” according to a statement from the financial prosecutors’ office.Sarkozy has denied any involvement. His lawyers said in a statement Friday that the ex-president is “determined to assert his rights, establish the truth and defend his honor.”Under French law, preliminary charges mean there is reason to suspect a crime has been committed, but it allows magistrates more time to investigate before deciding...

Prosecutor won’t seek charges against troopers in killing of ‘Cop City’ activist near Atlanta

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The use of deadly force by Georgia state troopers who shot and killed an activist at the site of a planned police and firefighter training center near Atlanta was “objectively reasonable” and no charges will be sought against them, a prosecutor said Friday.Opponents, who derisively refer to the planned center as “Cop City,” had occupied an 85-acre (34-hectare) tract of forest that is being developed for the massive facility. It is there that Manuel Paez Teran was killed.Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Christian announced his decision not to pursue charges in a news release. He was appointed to review the Georgia Bureau of Investigation file on the Jan. 18 shooting of Paez Terán after DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston recused herself from the case.State troopers were part of an “enforcement operation” at the site when they encountered Paez Terán, who was known as Tortuguita. When the activist refused to come out of a tent, the troop...

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militia targets in northern Syria after US downed Turkish armed drone

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish warplanes have carried out airstrikes on sites believed to be used by a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria, after the U.S. military shot down an armed Turkish drone that came within 500 meters (yards) of American troops, officials said Friday.A Turkish defense ministry statement said the Turkish jets targeted some 30 sites in the Tal Rifat, Jazeera and Derik regions, destroying caves, bunkers, shelters and warehouses. Ankara said the locations were used by Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, a designated terrorist group behind a decadeslong insurgency in Turkey — as well as its allies from a Kurdish militia in Syria, known as People’s Defense Units, or YPG.The YPG is part of Syrian Kurdish-led forces — known as the Syrian Democratic Forces — backed by the United States. The Syrian Kurdish fighters have been close U.S. allies in the war against the militants from the Islamic State group.Turkey has been carrying out strikes on Kurdish targets in Ira...

Bears trade Chase Claypool to the Dolphins, reports say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — In the end, Chase Claypool's time with the Bears ended up lasting less than a year.Per multiple reports, the first from Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the team is trading the wide receiver to the Dolphins. He will go to Miami along with a 2025 seventh round pick while the Bears will get a 2025 sixth round pick.The team has yet to confirm the move. This move comes after Claypool was inactive the last two games and was told to stay away from the team this past week as the Bears prepared for the Commanders. The Friday before the Broncos game, the receiver had been critical of his usage in the Bears' offense.Check back with WGNTV.com for more on this story.

Putin suggests hand grenade fragments, cocaine found in crash that killed Wagner chief

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

(The Hill) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said fragments of a hand grenade were found in the victims who died in a deadly August plane crash that killed 10 people, including Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.Putin said the crash investigation was not yet complete, but there was no "external influence on the aircraft."Speaking at a foreign policy think tank forum in the Russian city of Sochi, Putin also said cocaine and "lots of cash" were found near the debris of the plane.The Kremlin has denied any role in the plane crash but said in late August that "deliberate wrongdoing" was likely behind it. Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. This week, Putin suggested that fragments of a hand grenade were found in the victims who died in a deadly August plane crash that killed 10 people, including Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)The...

American tourist arrested for smashing ancient Roman statues at museum in Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:38 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police have arrested an American tourist at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem after he hurled works of art to the floor, defacing two second-century Roman statues.The vandalism late Thursday raised questions about the safety of Israel's priceless collections and stirred concern about a rise in attacks on cultural heritage in Jerusalem.Police identified the suspect as a radical 40-year-old Jewish American tourist and said initial questioning suggested he smashed the statues because he considered them “to be idolatrous and contrary to the Torah.”The man's lawyer, Nick Kaufman, denied that he had acted out of religious fanaticism.Instead, Kaufman said, the tourist was suffering from a mental disorder that psychiatrists have labeled the Jerusalem syndrome. The condition — a form of disorientation believed to be induced by the religious magnetism of the city, which is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims — is said to cause foreign pilgrims to believe the...