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Tropical Storm Otis forecast to strengthen to hurricane before landfall near Mexico’s Acapulco

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Otis strengthened early Tuesday as it approached Mexico’s southern Pacific coast and was forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall near the resort of Acapulco late Tuesday or early Wednesday.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that Otis was about 175 miles (280 kilometers) south-southeast of Acapulco on Tuesday morning with winds of 65 mph (100 kph). It was moving north-northwest at 8 mph (13 kph).There was a hurricane warning in effect from Lagunas de Chachua to Zihuatenejo.Otis was expected to dump five to 10 inches of rain on the southern state of Guerrero with as much as 15 inches possible in some areas. That raised the possibility of mudslides in Guerrero’s steep mountainous terrain.In the Atlantic, Hurricane Tammy continued moving northeastward over open water with winds of 75 mph (120 kph) after sweeping through the Lesser Antilles over the weekend. Tammy was located about 605 miles (975 kilometers) south-southeast of Bermuda....

At least 50 people are kidnapped over two days in northern Cameroon by unknown gunmen

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — At least 50 people were kidnapped in two separate incidents over two days in northern Cameroon, local authorities said Tuesday.The kidnappings occurred Sunday and Monday afternoons by an unknown armed group near the border with Chad, the mayor of Touboro town, Celestin Yandal, told The Associated Press.Seven people have been released so far. Abductions in this area happen often, but locals say the scale of these attacks is rare.The first kidnapping took place between Touboro and Koutere towns, where mostly Chadians were taken as well as some people from Cameroon including students and shopkeepers, the mayor said.The second abduction occurred while people were traveling on a bus from Ngaoundere city to Touboro, he said.Cameroon has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in the Central African nation in 2017 with the stated goal of breaking away from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority and setting up an ...

Funeral services planned for Philadelphia police officer killed in airport garage shooting

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Funeral services are planned Tuesday for a Philadelphia police officer killed in an airport parking garage shooting that also wounded another officer earlier this month.A funeral Mass for Officer Richard Mendez is scheduled to begin at noon Tuesday at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia with family, friends, law enforcement personnel and dignitaries in attendance. Interment is to follow at Forrest Hills Cemetery in northeast Philadelphia.Mendez and Officer Raul Ortiz had just started their shift around 11 p.m. on Oct. 12 when they heard breaking glass and saw several people breaking into a car in the parking lot at Philadelphia International Airport, police said. A confrontation ensued and the two officers and one of the suspects were shot.Mendez, 50, who had been on the force for more than two decades, was shot four times and pronounced dead at a hospital, police said. Ortiz, also a 20-year veteran, was shot once in the arm and has si...

Wisconsin officers fatally shoot person on school roof in exchange of gunfire, state police say

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

GERMANTOWN, Wis. — Police officers in suburban Milwaukee have killed a person who fired at them from a middle school roof.Dozens of students were in the building during the exchange of gunfire but none were hurt, officials said.The incident began around 6:30 p.m. Monday when officers with the Germantown Police Department responded to a call of a person acting “erratically” in Kennedy Middle School’s parking lot, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said in a statement. When officers arrived the person climbed onto the school’s roof and fired at them. Three officers returned fire, killing the person, the statement said. As many as 70 students were in the school, which went into a lockdown. The students were later bused to an elementary school where they were reunited with family.“This is believed to be an isolated incident,” the Justice Department statement said, adding that there’s no danger to the public. “All interactions with the subject occurred outside of the b...

Georgia Supreme Court sends abortion law challenge back to lower court, leaving access unchanged

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a lower court ruling that the state’s restrictive abortion law was invalid, leaving limited access to abortions unchanged for now.Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said last November that the ban was “unequivocally unconstitutional” because it was enacted in 2019, when Roe v. Wade allowed abortions well past six weeks.Tuesday’s ruling does not change abortion access in Georgia and may not be the last word on the state’s ban. The state Supreme Court had previously allowed enforcement of the ban to resume while it considered an appeal of the lower court decision. The lower court judge has also not ruled on the merits of other arguments in a lawsuit challenging the ban.McBurney had said the law was void from the start, and therefore, the measure did not become law when it was enacted and could not become law even after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.State officials challen...

Qatar becomes a key intermediary in Israel-Hamas war as fate of hostages hangs in the balance

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The gas-rich nation of Qatar has become a key intermediary over the fate of some 200 hostages held by Hamas militants after their unprecedented attack on Israel, once again putting the small Arabian Peninsula country in the spotlight. The negotiations have also thrust Qatar into a delicate international balancing act as it maintains a relationship with those viewed as militant groups by the West while trying to preserve its close security ties with the United States. Under arrangements stemming from past Hamas cease-fire understandings with Israel, the gas-rich emirate of Qatar has paid the salaries of civil servants in the Gaza Strip, provided direct cash transfers to poor families and offered other kinds of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.Qatar has also hosted Hamas’ political office in its capital of Doha for over a decade. Among officials based there is Khaled Mashaal, an exiled Hamas member who survived a 1997 Israeli assassination attempt in Jor...

Pope accepts resignation of bishop of Polish diocese where gay orgy scandal under investigation

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

ROME (AP) — The pope on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been rocked for weeks by reports of a gay orgy involving a male prostitute in a priest’s apartment.The Vatican didn’t give a reason for why Bishop Grzegorz Kaszak was resigning as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in southwestern Poland. At 59, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age of 75.But his diocese has been in the spotlight for over a month after one of his priests was placed under criminal investigation for having allegedly organized a gay orgy at his apartment in Dabrowa Gornicza. Polish media reported that a male prostitute collapsed after overdosing on erectile dysfunction pills.A prosecutor said the priest is suspected of “failing to provide assistance to a person whose life is at risk,” for having allegedly tried to bar police and paramedics from entering the apartment.Three weeks after the scandal erupted, Kaszak issued a statement calling for priests in the dioce...

CAE signs deal to sell health-care business to Madison Industries for $311 million

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

MONTREAL — CAE Inc. has signed a deal sell its health-care business to U.S. company Madison Industries for $311 million.CAE chief executive Marc Parent says the decision better positions the company to secure the many attractive growth opportunities on the horizon in its much larger, core simulation and training markets.While CAE is best known for its flight simulators, the health-care business is focused on training for medical professionals including patient simulators.Parent says the business, which it launched in 2009, is growing under a strong leadership team and has reached a point where the opportunity exists to take it to the next level. He says Madison Industries is well positioned to support the future growth of the business, which will continue to focus on evolving simulation to drive patient safety and quality outcomes.The deal, which is subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, is expected to close before the end of CAE’s 2024 fiscal year.This...

Dean's List features 5 must-see Halloween movies

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

CHICAGO — We're just a week away from Halloween but so many have already been in the spirit for a little while in October.One of the ways in which people do so is by watching their favorite scary movie before the 31st. There have been many horror movies made through the years, but everyone has their favorites.That includes Dean Richards, who decided to pick out five in which he likes to watch every year in late October.That was the subject of the "Dean's List" segment on Tuesday, and you can see those choices from the October 24 morning news in the video above.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

City of Austin looks to update water lines during I-35 expansion

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 20:11:55 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- There are plans to update and increase the water resilience for south Austin residents as part of the I-35 expansion project. As part of the plans to widen the interstate that cuts through Austin, the Texas Department of Transportation, which is heading the project, will have to relocate current water and wastewater lines placed along I-35 between Holly Street and Ben White Boulevard. TXDOT is responsible for funding the relocation effort, but the city of Austin is asking that when the lines are relocated, they are also upgraded. Austin city council voted to enter into an advanced funding agreement with TXDOT to complete the project. Austin Water will be responsible for paying for the "betterments" of the system. What will be different? The lines currently in place now were put there in the 1950s, according to Kevin Koeller, a division manager at Austin Water. In the last 70 years, our technology and population have changed and the water lines will need to reflect t...