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Republican debate live updates: Boisterous rivals brawl over China, economy, border

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

Republican presidential candidates jumped quickly to make an impression from the start of the second debate Wednesday in Simi Valley, Calif., talking over and taking jabs at one another through the evening.The debate started less than an hour after the 2024 front-runner headlined an event in Michigan.Seven candidates, all polling well behind former President Trump, met the Republican National Committee criteria to participate: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.Trump, meanwhile, again did not join the debate. Instead, he headlined an event of autoworkers near Detroit, amid the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.Find out how to watch the debate here.And follow along here through the night fo...

Hollywood actors to resume negotiations with studios next week, as protracted writers strike ends

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — With the Hollywood writers strike over, actors will now get a shot at cutting their own deal with studios and streaming services.The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists announced Wednesday night that strike negotiations with studios would resume Monday. The guild said several studio executives will attend, much as they did during marathon sessions last week that helped bring the nearly five-month writers strike to an end.Monday is the same day that network late-night hosts will return to the air. Bill Maher led the charge back to work by announcing early Wednesday that his HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher” would be back on the air Friday. By mid-morning, the hosts of NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS had announced they’d also return, all by Monday. “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver was slated to ret...

Blue Jays shutout as Yankees expose potential playoff flaws

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

What a service the New York Yankees have provided for the post-season clubs that may run into the Toronto Blue Jays, should they get there as expected, during the past week.Sure, not every team can run out two starters the calibre of Michael King and the clear American League Cy Young favourite in Gerrit Cole, who punctuated his brilliant year with a two-hit shutout.But there’s lots from their outings for, say, the scouting staff and analytics department of the Minnesota Twins to pull from as they gameplan how Sonny Gray and Pablo Lopez might attack the Blue Jays. And while there are no secrets between the Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays, the latter is always on the hunt for any little edge to deploy with the likes of Tyler Glasnow and Zach Eflin.So, as much as Wednesday night’s 6-0 loss was an immediate setback that again pushed back their clinching of a post-season berth, it was also a portent of things to come, both this weekend when the Rays arrive to close out the regular seas...

Gang violence in Haiti is escalating and spreading with a significant increase in killings, UN says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Gang violence in Haiti is escalating and spreading from the capital Port-au-Prince through the center of the country to its two other major cities, Gonaives and Cap-Hatien, with a significant increase in killings, kidnappings and rapes in the past few months, the U.N. chief said in a report circulated Wednesday.Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the new report to the U.N. Security Council that 2,728 intentional killings were recorded between October 2022 and June 2023 including 247 women, 58 boys and 20 girls.The continuing rise in homicides is attributed to the emergence of a vigilante movement, known as “Bwa Kale,” in the capital in April which has gone after the gangs, he said. The U.N. chief also reported an increase in kidnappings for ransom during that time with 1,472 reported, though he said the actual number is almost certainly higher because families often do not report missing members to authorities out of fear for the victims’ safety.Gang mem...

Teen testifies about boy’s death and firearms training at New Mexico compound

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — With his hand placed on his son’s neck, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj recited verses of the Quran as part of a ritual meant to rid the toddler of evil spirits that Wahhaj and members of his extended family believed were causing the boy’s ailments. The ritual known as ruqyah had been done countless times on the boy. But this time was different. It ended with the child foaming from the mouth until he stopped breathing. He had gone without needed medication after being taken without his mother’s permission.There were no calls to 911 or attempts to rush him to the nearest hospital. Nor was he given any medication that December day in 2017 at a remote desert encampment in northern New Mexico. Details about the last moments of Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj’s life were laid out in testimony Wednesday in the case of the boy’s father and three other family members, including two of his aunts. They are facing kidnapping or terrorism charges, or both, that stem from an...

Two restaurants added to Toronto’s Michelin Star Guide for 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

Two Toronto restaurants have been added to the Michelin Star Guide for 2023.Kappo Sato and Restaurant 20 Victoria join a list of 13 other restaurants who have received at least one-star from the famously anonymous Guide inspectors. Yorkville’s Sushi Masaki Saito, which charges $680 per person for its omakase dinner, is the only two star restaurant in the Guide. The remaining 12 restaurants – Aburi Hana, Alo, Alobar Yorkville, Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto, Edulis, Enigma Yorkville, Frilu, Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto, Osteria Giulia, Quetzal, Shoushin, and Yukashi – all retained the single stars they earned a year ago. Four new restaurants joined 17 others with Bib Gourmand designations, which recognizes eateries for great food at a great value: BB’s, Sunnys Chinese, Tiflisi and White Lily Diner.Frilu and White Lily Diner also earned the city’s first Michelin Green Stars in recognition for their leadership in sustainable gastronomy.Seven restaurants were added to the Guide...

Trading of shares of heavily indebted property developer China Evergrande suspended in Hong Kong

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Share trading of heavily indebted Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group was suspended in Hong Kong on Thursday, according to a notice on the Hong Kong stock exchange.The suspension comes after Bloomberg News reported that the chairman of Evergrande, Hui Ka Yan, had been taken away earlier this month and placed under police watch according to people with knowledge of the matter. Shares of Evergrande closed at 32 Hong Kong cents on Wednesday. The company had resumed trading on Aug. 28 after a 17-month hiatus.Evergrande is the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer and is at the center of a property market crisis that is dragging on China’s economic growth.Last week, Evergrande said in a filing that it had to delay a proposed debt restructuring meeting with creditors as “sales of the group have not been as expected by the company.”The group is undergoing a restructuring plan, including offloading assets, to avoid defaulting on $340 billion in d...

Suburban English teacher helps students grow through writing, seeking truth

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

LANSING, Ill. — School is back in session and our first teacher of the month is an English teacher and the newspaper advisor at a south suburban high school.Students say Christopher Jones brings an encouraging presence to the classroom helping them grow through writing, reading and seeking truth.Jones is the first to tell you, he’s not a man of many spoken words.“I never thought I had it in me to be a teacher because I don’t like speaking in public,” he said.But written words? That’s another story. His background in writing and a desire to give back brought him to Thornton Fractional South High School in Lansing.“I always tell my students in my classes that every little thing you do — newspaper, yearbook, chess — might be an opening to a job,” he said.And he says he wants them to know if he can do it, so can they.“I was a very average student and if I made it, that there’s opportunity for them,” he said.He’s now is his 16TH year as an English teacher and an advisor for the student n...

Christie takes swipe at Jill Biden during debate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

(The Hill) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) took a swipe at first lady Jill Biden's status as a teachers union member at the GOP debate Wednesday. "This public school system is no longer run by the public. It is run by the teachers unions in this country," Christie said. "Randi Weingarten and her crew, they are absolutely strangling — they are taking the worst of their members and defending them rather than advocating for our kids." "And when you have the president of the United States sleeping with a member of the teachers unions, there is no chance that you can take the stranglehold away from the teachers union every day. They have an advocate inside the White House every day for the worst of their teachers, not for their students to be the best they can be." "A president of the United States has to take on the teachers union. I did it in New Jersey, and I will do it as president of the United States." The comments came during a portion of the debate that...

Pence calls for expedited death penalty for perpetrators of mass shootings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:47:07 GMT

(The Hill) — Former Vice President Mike Pence during Wednesday night’s second GOP debate called for an expedited federal death penalty as punishment for the perpetrators of mass shootings. “I’m someone that believes that justice delayed is justice denied. ... As a grandfather of three beautiful little girls, I’m sick and tired of the mass shootings happening in the United States of America," Pence said from his podium on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library stage in Simi Valley, Calif.  Ramaswamy: Kids 16 and under shouldn’t use ‘addictive’ social media “And if I’m president of the United States, I’m going to go to the Congress of the United States, and we’re going to pass a federal expedited death penalty for anyone involved in a mass shooting, so they will meet their fate in months, not years," Pence said.  The former vice president said it’s "unconscionable” that the perpetrator of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman-Douglas ...