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German Left Party plunges into crisis, declares party icon persona non grata

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

BERLIN — The German Left Party was thrown into crisis after the leadership demanded that controversial party icon Sahra Wagenknecht give up her seat in parliament because she is thinking about founding a new party.“The future of the Left is a future without Sahra Wagenknecht,” party co-leader Martin Schirdewan said in Berlin over the weekend. In a unanimous statement, the Left Party leadership called on 53-year-old Wagenknecht, the party’s parliamentary group leader from 2015 to 2019, to give up her Bundestag mandate, and demanded that she refrain from founding a competing party project. The Left Party is the smallest German opposition party, currently polling at 4 to 5 percent, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls.Wagenknecht, who has attracted attention as a populist critic of the government — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine — has often flirted with the idea of founding her own party.Left Party co-leader Janine Wi...

‘Striking and passionate.’ EU leaders salute Berlusconi

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

BRUSSELS — European leaders paid tribute Monday to Silvio Berlusconi’s political legacy after the divisive ex-Italian prime minister died aged 86. Condolences landed in Milan, where Berlusconi died in hospital, from the European political elite who remember a “great fighter” and his “remarkable legacy.” “With the death of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy has lost a strong personality,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte who, having been in power since 2010, was the Italian PM’s counterpart for a year until Berlusconi’s resignation in November 2011 as the country battled a crippling debt crisis. “He was the first Italian prime minister I worked with, and I will remember him as a striking and passionate politician,” Rutte added.Many of the Italian leader’s former political allies joined in to salute his political heritage.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — who has also been in power since 2010 and like Berlusc...

Most Californians think Dianne Feinstein should resign, poll shows

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

A new poll by Emerson College Polling and Inside California Politics shows 62.8% of registered voters in California think Sen. Dianne Feinstein should resign instead of finishing her current term in office.Questions about Feinstein’s ability to serve have surfaced in recent years, but her recent extended leave from Congress after a shingles diagnosis brought the issue to the forefront of legislators' and voters’ minds. Just 37.2% of respondents to the poll said Feinstein should finish out her current term, which ends in January 2025. The poll was conducted between June 4 - 7. Voters' opinions remained consistent between ideological leanings: 37.7% of registered Democrats, 36.4% of registered Republicans and 37.2% of independents all thought Feinstein should finish her term.Republican political strategist Rob Stutzman said aging politicians is nothing new. Schiff, Porter lead in Senate race, but nearly half of Californians still undecided, poll shows “The U.S. Senate has ...

Schiff, Porter lead in Senate race, but nearly half of Californians still undecided, poll shows

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) are in a virtual tie in the 2024 California Senate primary, a new poll from Emerson College Polling and Inside California Politics found.14.5% of California voters surveyed said they would vote for Schiff if the March 2024 primary were held today, just 0.3 percentage points ahead of Porter.Video Above: Most Californians think Sen. Feinstein should resign, poll saysThe margin of error for the poll is 3 percentage points. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) placed a distant third with 6.2% percent of respondents.Among Republican candidates, 4.3% of those surveyed said they would vote for veteran and entrepreneur James P. Bradley and another 2.8% favored attorney Eric Early. Most Californians think Dianne Feinstein should resign, poll shows 2.5% of respondents favored Democrat Jessica Resendez.No other candidate was favored by more than 2% of respondents. The poll was conducted between June 4 - 7.California’s open primary sy...

Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher expected to admit to marijuana use, gun possession

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia is expected to plead guilty in federal court Monday to using marijuana while possessing a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law.Deja Taylor is accused of lying about her marijuana use on a form when she bought the gun, which her son later used to shoot Abby Zwerner in her classroom. The first-grade teacher was seriously wounded and has endured multiple surgeries.The federal case against Taylor is separate from the charges she faces on the state level: felony child neglect and reckless storage of a firearm. A trial for those counts is set for August.Both cases are among the repercussions that followed the January shooting, which shook the city of Newport News near the Atlantic Coast.The federal charges against Taylor, 25, appear to be relatively rare. And the case comes at a time when marijuana is legal in many U.S. states, including Virginia.Marijuana is still a controlled substance under U.S. law and is strictly reg...

Woman in custody in Austria after reportedly torturing son, 12

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A woman is in custody in Austria after reportedly abusing her 12-year-old son by shutting him in a dog crate, pouring cold water over him and leaving him exposed to freezing temperatures.A police spokesman in Lower Austria province, Johann Baumschlager, confirmed on Monday that the 32-year-old woman is under investigation on suspicion of attempted murder among other offenses, the Austria Press Agency reported.The daily Kurier first reported on the case. A social worker reportedly alerted authorities on Nov. 23 after the boy fell into a coma because his body temperature had dropped to 26.8 degrees Celsius (80.2 Fahrenheit). He was taken to a hospital, which filed a criminal complaint. The mother was then arrested. The child’s condition has since improved, and the police investigation is ongoing, Baumschlager said. Authorities didn’t specify where exactly the incident took place.On May 22, Austria’s Supreme Court of Justice rejected a complaint by the w...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens higher ahead of big week for central banks

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is ticking higher ahead of a big week for central banks and interest rates around the world. The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher early Monday, coming off its fourth straight winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 86 points, or 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.4%. Illumina, a gene sequencing test maker, rose 1.8% after its CEO resigned following pressure from an activist investor. Stocks have climbed to their highest level since August on hopes the economy may avoid a recession and the Federal Reserve may soon take it easier on raising interest rates.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street was on track to open higher early Monday with two inflation reports and an interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve on tap in the coming days.Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.3% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1% before the bell Monday.Many observers expect the Fed to stand p...

Three British nationals missing after boat caught fire in Red Sea are dead, tour operator says

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Three British nationals who went missing after a scuba diving boat they were cruising in caught fire in the Red Sea off the Egyptian coast have died, a U.K.-based tour operator said Monday, Egyptian authorities said the three went missing when a medium-sized scuba vessel named “Hurricane” went up in flames off the southern Red Sea resort town of Marsa Alam on Sunday. The blaze was caused by an electrical short circuit in the boat’s engine room, they said.We “must accept that three of our much-valued dive guests, who had not participated in the dive briefing early on the morning of June 11, perished in the tragic incident,” the U.K.-based Scuba Travel said in a short statement.The company did not say how it determined the three are dead and Egyptian authorities have said only that they are missing. Scuba Travel has not identified the three.Twelve other British divers and 14 Egyptian crew members were evacuated Sunday morning from the vessel in a rescue operation near the...

Dixmoor water main project underway after being announced in April 2022

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

DIXMOOR, Ill. — After years of water issues in suburban Dixmoor, a project is underway to address the village's water infrastructure.The Dixmoor Watermain Infrastructure Improvement Project is set to break ground Monday morning. An official event is planned to mark the occasion with several officials scheduled to take part including Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle, U.S. Representatives Robin Kelly and Jonathan Jackson, Dixmoor Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts, and Lt. Col. Matthew Broderick of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Migrants move to Daley College further delayed The funding for this project was originally announced in April 2022. At least three water mains have broken in the last two years, including two this past summer. WGN most recently covered a distribution of bottled water for residents in February.WGN plans to livestream this event in its entirety within this story beginning at approximately 9 a.m.

TxTag, lawmakers resolve some tolling problems. What comes next?

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:27:37 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Following the "TxTag Troubles" investigative project, many drivers who reached out to KXAN got their issues resolved, and a new state law will soon address one of the the top complaints about Texas' tolling systems. Image of a now-closed call center TxDOT dedicated to helping resolve issues in response to KXAN's investigation (TxDOT Photo)In response to more than 700 complaints sent to KXAN in a month, the Texas Department of Transportation set up a dedicated phone line and customer service outreach center specifically to resolve these drivers' issues through the end of May.That dedicated customer service center has now closed, and TxDOT said it resolved 90% of complaints from people who used it and is currently working to resolve the rest. “I’m one of the people that had trouble with their TxTag, and it’s just amazing how fast it was all fixed,” one woman said in a voicemail left for KXAN regarding the impact our investigation had on the agency’s response time.Cha...