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Olaf Scholz’s plane evacuated on runway following rocket attack in Israel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s plane had to be evacuated at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday evening due to rocket attacks.Pictures and videos posted on social media show how aides and journalists traveling with the German leader had to hastily leave the plane and take cover by lying down on the runway, while Scholz was reportedly evacuated to a shelter.“I personally saw explosions in the sky as the Israeli Iron Dome [air defense system] intercepted two missiles,” Robin Alexander, deputy editor-in-chief of German daily Welt, which, like POLITICO, is owned by Axel Springer, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, referring to rockets intercepted by the Iron Dome.Scholz and those flying with him were able to board the plane a few minutes later, following an additional security check, according to Bild.The chancellor was visiting Israel on Tuesday to express his solidarity with the country following Hamas’ brutal terror attack and to de-escalate tensions in t...

Gaza hospital strike: Attacks on civilian infrastructure are against the law, says Charles Michel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

European Council President Charles Michel said Tuesday that attacking civilian infrastructure is against international law after Israel was accused of bombing a hospital in Gaza. A massive blast rocked a Gaza City hospital packed with Palestinians on Tuesday, killing at least 500 people, the Hamas-run health ministry said. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, but the Israeli military denied it was responsible and said the hospital was hit by a rocket misfired by Palestinian militants.“We got this information when we were together during this virtual meeting with leaders,” Michel said, speaking after a video conference of EU leaders to coordinate the bloc’s line on the Israel-Hamas conflict. The attack “seems to be confirmed,” he added, without naming the perpetrators. “An attack against a civilian infrastructure is not in line with the international law.” The EU leaders issued a joint statement on the topic on Sunday after a week of conflicting messages, for examp...

Police: Hit-and-run driver caught on camera hitting child on bicycle in East Bridgewater

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

An investigation continued Tuesday after police said an 11-year-old girl on a bicycle was struck in a hit-and-run crash in East Bridgewater over the weekend. East Bridgewater police said the crash happened on Sunday around 5 p.m. near Bedford Street. Once on scene, police said, an initial investigation indicated the girl was hit while riding through a small path that leads from Bedford Street to the rear parking lot of Central Elementary School. Police said paramedics evaluated the girl on scene. The child’s mother also responded to the scene, according to police, and declined medical transportation for her daughter.Police released video of the crash on Tuesday. In an attached statement, police said investigators determined a blue SUV, possibly a 2023-2024 blue Lexus NX entered the Central School parking lot from Central Street and tried to use the parking lot as a cut-through to Bedford Street. Police said the car then turned around and traveled back toward the ...

Suspect in Holloway disappearance to appear in federal court for extortion case; plea deal possible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — An attorney for the mother of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba, said a possible plea deal with a suspect in an extortion case is contingent upon his disclosing details about her death.Joran van der Sloot, long considered the chief suspect in Holloway’s 2005 disappearance, is scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday morning in Birmingham, Alabama, for a plea and sentencing hearing for a case in which he is accused of trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s mother in 2010 to reveal the location of her body. John Q. Kelly, an attorney who represented Holloway’s mother during the alleged extortion, told The Associated Press Tuesday that a potential plea deal is contingent upon him revealing information about what happened to Holloway. Kelly first made the comments on NBC’s “Today” show. Emails sent to van der Sloot’s attorney and a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors were not immed...

San Diego takes top spot in ranking of most expensive places to live in U.S.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- It is no secret that San Diego can be pretty pricy for residents, but cost of living has catapulted the city to the top spot in a U.S. News & World Report ranking of most expensive places to live in the country.On one of the magazine's real estate rankings for 2023-2024, America's Finest City was deemed the most unaffordable metro area in the country to live, earning a "value score" of 3.3 in their data analysis to help figure out the best cities to settle down.According to the magazine, the Value Index measures how comfortably the average resident of a metro area can afford to live within their means. Specifically, it looks at housing affordability, as well as federal data on the parity between regional prices and national averages. New home construction to be accelerated in San Diego with SANDAG funds Home prices were one of the factors that pushed San Diego up on the ranking, given that average prices are considerably higher than the national rate. In August, t...

At least 189 bodies found decaying at a Colorado funeral home, up from 115, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The remains of at least 189 decaying bodies were found and removed from a Colorado funeral home, up from about 115 reported when the bodies were discovered two weeks ago, officials said Tuesday.The remains were found by authorities responding to a report of a foul odor at the Return to Nature Funeral Home inside a decrepit building in the small town of Penrose, Colorado.Efforts to identify the remains began last week with help from an FBI team that gets deployed to mass casualty events like airline crashes. Fremont Sheriff Allen Cooper described the scene as “horrific.”The discovery came after the owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home missed tax payments in recent months, got evicted from one of their properties and sued for unpaid bills by a crematory that quit doing business with them almost a year ago.Colorado has some of the weakest rules for funeral homes in the nation with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral home operators.The A...

Pentagon releases footage of hundreds of ‘highly concerning’ aircraft intercepts by Chinese planes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has released footage of some of the more than 180 intercepts of U.S. warplanes by Chinese aircraft that have occurred in the last two years — more than the total amount over the previous decade and part of a trend U.S. military officials called concerning. The photos and video were released in advance of a soon-to-be issued annual report by the Pentagon on the China’s military power and the security threats it may pose to partners in the Indo-Pacific.The Pentagon has tried for years to posture itself to be ready for a potential conflict with China over Taiwan even as it now finds itself supporting allies in two hot wars, Ukraine in Europe and Israel in the Middle East.Admiral John Acquilino, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said at a Pentagon press briefing Tuesday that despite the U.S. surging carrier strike groups and amphibious ships to support Israel, and now almost 20 months of war in Ukraine, the command has what it needs to deter China.“I have...

North Carolina’s governor sues lawmakers for a measure that eliminates his elections board authority

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper sued state Republican lawmakers on Tuesday over a measure that eliminates his authority to pick elections board members, while voting rights groups filed yet another lawsuit challenging provisions of a law that they contend will discourage young people from voting.Both measures became law last week, when the GOP-controlled General Assembly overrode Cooper’s vetoes of them. The governor’s lawsuit, filed in state court against House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, challenges a measure that would transfer his power over the elections board to legislative leaders. Cooper said the board changes, which would take effect Jan. 1, run counter to the state constitution and state Supreme Court rulings in the 2010s that demand a governor have control over executive agencies to carry out laws. State voters also rejected a 2018 referendum that would have given lawmakers more say over the elections board’s ...

Wisconsin Senate gives final approval to bill banning gender-affirming surgery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gender-affirming surgery for minors would be banned in Wisconsin under a Republican-sponsored bill that won final approval in the GOP-controlled Legislature on Tuesday.Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vowed to veto the measure that drew dozens of people in opposition to a hearing at the Capitol earlier this month. The Assembly passed the rapidly moving bill last week and the Senate passed it Tuesday. Democrats were united against it in both the Assembly and Senate, but didn’t have the votes to stop it. “This bill is nothing short of cruel,” Democratic Sen. Mark Spreitzer said during debate. He questioned why the Senate was taking it up given Evers’ vow to veto it. “Stop hurting LGBTQ kids.”Democrats and other bill opponents, including those representing the LGBTQ+ community, argue that introducing the ban adds to mental health challenges that transgender and nonbinary youth already face.“We’re talking about kids,” Spreitzer said before debate. “K...

Kari Lake’s lawsuit over metro Phoenix’s electronic voting machines has been tossed out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:19 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — A federal appeals court tossed out a lawsuit brought by former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake that was previously dismissed, challenging use of electronic voting machines and sought to ban them in last year’s midterm elections.Lake and failed Arizona Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem, both Republicans, filed a lawsuit in April 2022 that alleged the ballot tabulation machines were not trustworthy.The former Phoenix TV anchor wound up losing her race by more than 17,000 votes while Finchem lost by over 120,000 votes.In the ruling Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said their claims didn’t show “a plausible inference that their individual votes in future elections will be adversely affected by the use of electronic tabulation, particularly given the robust safeguards in Arizona law, the use of paper ballots, and the post-tabulation retention of those ballots.”The challenge focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling ...