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Surfside commission approve luxury condo plan at Champlain Towers collapse site

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

The Surfside commission voted 3-1 in favor of approving a luxury condo site plan for the location once occupied by the ill-fated Champlain Towers South. The contentious meeting saw intense exchanges between Commissioner Nelly Velasquez and Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger, who has been accused of voicing racially insensitive comments towards Velasquez. Emotions ran high as former and current commissioners, Surfside residents, and the families of the victims turned out to protest the proposal. They gathered outside the chambers, voicing their concerns and demanding respect in the wake of the devastating tragedy that claimed 98 lives on June 24th, 2021.On Wednesday evening, developers presented detailed modifications to their plan, emphasizing compliance. According to the new proposal, trash collection would be relocated to the basement of the new building, with trucks still coming up on Collins Avenue to the intersection of 88th Street, where a memorial will be built.The loading dock ...

EU told to act now on farm reform or risk blowing Ukraine’s accession

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

PARIS — The European Union has “no vision” for farming and urgently needs to reform its massive subsidy scheme — the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) — to prepare for the accession of farming powerhouse Ukraine.That was the tough message from former agriculture commissioner and European lawmaker Dacian Cioloș at POLITICO’s Future of Food & Farming Summit on Thursday, taking place against the backdrop of a fight between Kyiv and the bloc’s eastern member countries over a glut of Ukrainian grain.“We have a short-term challenge now to manage the transition of the export of cereals from Ukraine. In my opinion, there is no vision in the Commission on how to solve this,” Cioloș told a panel discussion on the future of CAP. “My impression is that we wait for problems and then try to solve them.”With the Commission’s mandate due to end next year, the next proposal to overhaul the CAP — which accounts for a third of the EU budget — is not due to land until the second half of 2025. T...

Column: Chicago Cubs need to rebound from 2 straight blown leads with time running out in the wild-card race

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

It was merely a coincidence the song “Loser” played over the speakers in the visitors clubhouse at Truist Park on Wednesday afternoon, a day after the Chicago Cubs’ heartbreaking loss to the Atlanta Braves.Someone just liked the catchy ’90s song and put it on the playlist.The Cubs had no choice but to pick up the pieces from a game lost Tuesday night after Seiya Suzuki’s gaffe in right field, a moment that conjured one of the greatest examples of the so-called Cubs curse — Brant Brown’s dropped fly ball during the final days of the 1998 wild-card chase.But they fell apart at the seams for a second straight night, blowing leads in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings in a heartbreaking 6-5, 10-inning loss. Ozzie Albies’ run-scoring single off Daniel Palencia was the fatal blow.“It’s just a relentless lineup,” center fielder Cody Bellinger said. “We know we’ve played baseball and came out on the s...

Michael Gambon, actor who played Prof. Dumbledore in 6 ‘Harry Potter’ movies, dies at age 82

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Veteran actor Michael Gambon, who was known to many for his portrayal of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight “Harry Potter” films, has died, his publicist said Thursday. He was 82.A statement by his family, issued by his publicist, said he died following “a bout of pneumonia.”“We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon. Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside,” his family said.No matter what role he took on in a career that lasted more than five decades, Gambon was always instantly recognizable by the deep and drawling tones of his voice. He was cast as the much-loved Dumbledore after the death of his predecessor, Richard Harris, in 2002.The Associated Press

The Turkish government withdraws from a film festival after a documentary was reinstated

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — The Turkish government on Thursday withdrew its support for the country’s oldest film festival after organizers reversed a decision to exclude a politically sensitive documentary.The Culture and Tourism Ministry said it was backing out of the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival following the reinstatement of “Kanun Hukmu,” or “The Decree.”The film focuses on a teacher and doctor dismissed from their jobs under the state of emergency imposed in Turkey following an attempted coup in July 2016.“It is extremely sad that in such an important festival, the power of art is used to be used to make propaganda for the FETO terrorist organization through the perception of victimhood,” the ministry said in a statement.FETO is the acronym applied to the Gulenist movement, held by Ankara to be responsible for the failed coup and led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who denies any involvement.More than 130,000 alleged Gulenists were fired from their jobs through emergency decr...

Biden to send disaster assistance to Louisiana, as salt water threatens the state’s drinking water

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that federal disaster assistance is available for Louisiana, which is working to slow a mass inflow of salt water creeping up the Mississippi River and threatening drinking water supplies in the southern part of the state. Biden’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate all disaster relief efforts, according to a news release from the White House. Additionally, the declaration will allow for more equipment, resources and federal money to address the saltwater intrusion.“I’m grateful to the Biden administration for making this request a priority and responding quickly to help the people of South Louisiana,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a news release Wednesday. For the second year in a row, salt water from the Gulf of Mexico has moved further up the Mississippi, threatening drinking water in communities that rely on the river for fre...

US guitarist Al Di Meola suffers a heart attack on stage in Romania but is now in a stable condition

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The award-winning U.S. guitarist Al Di Meola suffered a heart attack during a performance in Romania’s capital but is currently in a stable condition and receiving treatment, a hospital spokesperson said on Thursday.Di Meola, 69, began playing a concert at a venue in Bucharest at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night. Dragos Cristescu, a photographer who attended the concert, told The Associated Press that he saw Di Meola clasp his chest during the performance and that the guitarist struggled to walk off stage. The other two members of Di Meola’s trio continued to play for several minutes until they announced the show would be cut short.In a statement, the Bagdasar-Arseni emergency hospital said Di Meola was admitted to a cardiology ward where he is being treated for a segment elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI.According to the health care website Cleveland Clinic, a STEMI mainly affects the heart’s lower chambers and “tend(s) to be more severe and dangero...

6 women are rescued from a refrigerated truck in France after making distress call to a BBC reporter

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Six female migrants trapped inside a refrigerated food truck were rescued by French police after one of the women made a distress call to a reporter, the BBC reported Thursday.The women — four Vietnamese and two Iraqis — hid for hours in a truck loaded with boxes of bananas in northern France, believing the vehicle was on its way to the U.K. or Ireland. When they realized that the truck was going the opposite way, they started to panic in the cold and cramped, dark space. One of them managed to reach a BBC reporter in London, who then helped the women alert French police Wednesday.The broadcaster reported that the woman was able to send text messages, the truck’s GPS location and short videos showing the conditions inside the truck. The women were shown sitting in a tight space on the floor, surrounded by boxes of fruit, panicking and struggling to breathe, according to the BBC.French police soon tracked them down and managed to intercept the truck on a highway, ...

Winning ticket for historic $68M lotto jackpot was sold in Toronto

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

A Torontonian is waking up $68 million richer after the winning ticket for a record-breaking lottery prize was sold somewhere in the city.The Gold Ball jackpot drawn on Wednesday night was the largest in Lotto 649 history with just one guaranteed winner after 30 draws without the gold ball dropping.There were also a number of other life-changing prizes won across the province with the recent draw, including $100,000 Encore tickets in Toronto, Sarnia and Windsor.The previous largest Lotto 649 jackpot win was in April 2023 when a $64 million ticket was sold in New Brunswick. A $64 million jackpot was also won in 2015 by a Mississauga resident.The most recent Gold Ball jackpot was won back on June 14, 2023, when a ticket sold in Niagara Falls collected $42 million.The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) is reminding everyone who bought a ticket to make sure they check and see if they won. In June, a $70 million OLG Lotto Max ticket went unclaimed in Scarborough after a June 28...

Thai police say drug bust nets methamphetamine, crystal meth and heroin worth $8.2 million

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:54 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Police in Thailand said Thursday they made one of the country’s biggest ever seizures of illicit drugs, a haul including methamphetamine, crystal meth and heroin, with a total estimated street value of about 300 million baht ($8.2 million).The police said the drugs were seized during a Wednesday night raid on a house in Nakhon Pathom, west of Bangkok, in which four men were arrested for possession of illegal drugs. They allegedly confessed to renting the house to stash the drugs before distributing them to dealers in the greater Bangkok area.The seized drugs included 15 million methamphetamine tablets, 443 wrapped packages of heroin, 420 kilograms (926 pounds) of crystal meth and a quantity of drugs often used for partying, including “happy water” — a powder comprising several psychoactive substances to be made into a drink — and “five-five,” a strong sedative with the pharmaceutical name Nimetazepam, police said. The drugs were displayed to the media at a news confer...