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Serbia: Guns, grenades and rocket launchers among 13,500 weapons surrendered after mass shootings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Authorities in Serbia on Sunday displayed stacks of guns and cartons of hand grenades from the thousands of weapons, including anti-tank rocket launchers, that they said people handed over since back-to-back mass shootings stunned the Balkan nation. The government declared a one-month amnesty period for citizens to surrender unregistered weapons as part of a crackdown on guns following the two shootings in two days this month that left 17 people dead, many of them children. Populist President Aleksandar Vucic, whose government has faced public pressure in the wake of the separate shootings at a Belgrade school and in two villages, accompanied top police officials to view the assortment of arms arrayed near the town of Smederevo, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital.Officials said residents had turned over about 13,500 items since the amnesty opened on May 8.Photos from the scene showed lines of rifles, automatic weapons and pistols stacked neatl...

Poland’s ruling party leader promises voters more benefits ahead of fall election

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The leader of Poland’s conservative ruling party promised voters Sunday a range of new benefits, including a large increase in a popular cash benefit for families with children. Poland is due to hold a parliamentary election this fall. A date has not been set yet, but the vote is expected to be held in October or early November at the latest. Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said at a party convention that he intends to raise the 500 zlotys ($120) that parents receive monthly for each child under 18 to 800 zlotys ($192) starting in January. Kaczynski also said Law and Justice would provide free medication for people age 65 and above and for young people until the age of 18. He also said he seeks do away with tolls for passenger cars — on state highways as soon as possible, and on private motorways in the future.The party has governed Poland for eight years, and spending on social benefits has helped boost its popularity.Some Poles, includin...

Johnny Joey Jones, Marine Corps bomb tech and Fox Nation host, to publish ‘Unbroken Bonds’ book

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Combat veteran and Fox Nation host Johnny Joey Jones has a book coming out in June about serving with the Marines Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan and the friendships he formed. Fox News Books, Fox News Media’s publishing imprint, announced Sunday that Jones’ “Unbroken Bonds of Battle,” will come out June 27. Jones, 36, was a bomb technician who served eight years with the Marines before a devastating explosion in Afghanistan in 2010 — he stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device) — cost him both of his legs.“For years people have asked me to write a book about ‘my story,'” Jones said in a statement released Sunday by Fox Books. “However, I’ve always known all along that the most important part of my story is the amazing collection of people and warriors who’ve become a part of my life. Each of them with inspiring and heroic stories of their own.”Jones, 36, was a bomb technician who served eight years with the Marines before a devastating explosion in A...

Voters to choose MPs in four federal byelections across country next month

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

Voters in four federal ridings will go to the polls next month.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the four byelections will be held June 19 to fill seats in three provinces.In the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg South Centre, Liberal candidate Ben Carr is looking to win the seat held by his father, longtime MP and former cabinet minister Jim Carr, who died in December.The southern Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar was left vacant when Conservative MP and former interim party leader Candice Bergen resigned in February.Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Marc Garneau, the former astronaut who held the Quebec riding Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount, resigned in March after 15 years in politics.Dave MacKenzie, Conservative MP for the southwestern Ontario riding of Oxford, stepped down in January.

Thailand’s opposition takes early lead in vote count in general election

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s main opposition party took an early lead in a vote count from Sunday’s general election, touted as a pivotal chance for change nine years after incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha first came to power in a 2014 coup. With 20% of the vote counted, Pheu Thai Party was leading with 22% in the direct race for the House of Representatives, and a 21% share of seats in a separate nationwide ballot for the 100 members elected by proportional representation. The junior opposition Move Forward Party was running second. Prayuth’s United Thai Nation Party held the fifth spot in the constituency vote with 7% of the total, but third in the party preference total with 8%.Pheu Thai, headed by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, had been widely predicted to win at least a healthy plurality of the seats in the 500-member lower House, where 400 lawmakers are elected directly. But who heads the next government won’t by decided by Sunday’s vote alone. Th...

Law school graduates turn their backs on NYC mayor during commencement address

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

(The Hill) – Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) in protest against him as he gave their commencement address on Friday. Video posted on social media showed many of the graduates standing silently and facing the back of the room as Adams spoke. The mayor also received some boos and shouting. “We have a lot of challenges, a lot of things that it needs discipline. And just as you see these graduates here, I know what it is to protest,” he said, which was followed by some yells back at him. Adams has faced some controversy in the past week for his response to the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old mentally ill homeless man who was killed in a subway station earlier this month by Marine veteran Daniel Penny. Penny put Neely in a chokehold, causing him to lose consciousness. Neely was later pronounced dead in a hospital, and an autopsy ruled his death was a homicide. Penny this ...

Social Security COLA to drop significantly in 2024, senior group predicts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Social Security recipients shouldn’t expect 2024’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to be as significant as 2023’s, despite warnings that beneficiaries are losing their purchasing power.“The 2024 COLA could be around 3.1%,” Mary Johnson, the Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League, said in a news release issued last week.The Senior Citizen’s League (TSCL), a nonpartisan senior advocacy group, has for years based its estimations of upcoming COLA increases on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and specifically its Consumer Price Indexes — the same data which is ultimately used by the Social Security Administration to determine its annual COLA increases.The 2023 increase, at 8.7%, was the largest COLA increase in over four decades, partially thanks to supply-chain disruptions which fueled soaring inflation amid the pandemic. But analysts with TSCL are worried that cooling inflation — or at least the appearance of cooling inflation — ...

Sunday Brunch: Luella's Southern Kitchen

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

CHICAGO — Darnell Reed, the chef and owner of Luella's Southern Kitchen in Lincoln Square, joined WGN Weekend Morning News for Sunday Brunch.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter. You can watch the latest Sunday Brunch segment in the player above.

Fire at former South Glens Falls McDonald's under investigation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A structure fire at a former McDonald's building, located at 22 Main Street in South Glens Falls, is currently under investigation. The fire took place at 4:34 Sunday morning. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office says the fire spread from the building to another building that hosts a laundromat and chocolate store. Deputies say there were no injuries and the buildings were not occupied at the time. The origin of the fire is currently unknown and under investigation.

Denver weather: Clouds and rain for Mother’s Day

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:58:58 GMT

Denver will see cloudy skies and damp weather for Mother’s Day Sunday, according to the National Weather Service at Boulder.City residents can expect cool, gloomy weather, with highs in the mid-50s and patchy fog before noon. Drizzly wet weather is expected throughout the day, according to the weather service, with forecasters seeing a 100% chance of precipitation.Monday’s weather will be partly cloudy ahead of expected sunny skies on Tuesday and Wednesday, before the rain returns later in the week.