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Hawaii’s governor wants to make it easier for travelers from Japan to visit the islands

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii leaders want to make it easier for tourists from Japan to visit the U.S. state by creating a pre-clearance program allowing travelers from the country to save time at the Honolulu airport by completing immigration, customs and agricultural inspections before departure.Gov. Josh Green and other state officials proposed the idea during a recent visit to Tokyo. Green hopes the program will help boost tourism to the islands, Hawaii News Now reported Tuesday.Tourism from Japan, Hawaii’s top international visitor market, has been sluggish since the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawaii is keen on bringing more travelers from Japan back because “that’s the tourist that knows how to carry themselves in Hawaii and how to care for our aina and so on,” Green said, using the Hawaiian word for land.A pre-clearance program, which has been discussed for many years, could open direct routes to other islands, including Maui, Green said. Soon after a deadly wildfire wiped out m...

Shadowy Hamas leader in Gaza is at top of Israel’s hit list after last month’s deadly attack

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

The mastermind of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the worst Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed in generations is a secretive figure, feared on both sides of the battle lines.In Gaza, no figure looms larger in determining the future trajectory of the war than Yehya Sinwar. Obsessive, disciplined and dictatorial, he is Hamas’ top leader inside the Palestinian territory, a rarely seen veteran militant who learned fluent Hebrew during years in Israeli prisons and carefully studied his enemy.Israeli officials have vowed to kill him and crush the militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007. But seven weeks into the war, the 61-year-old Sinwar remains alive, in hiding and at the helm of Hamas’ fighters as they battle Israeli forces. He also controls the group’s negotiations over the fate of nearly 240 hostages that militants captured during the Oct. 7 attack.With the devastating toll from Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion, Sinwar’s political fate may now depend on how the war...

Lawsuit blaming Tesla’s Autopilot for driver’s death can go to trial, judge rules

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A jury should decide whether Tesla and Elon Musk oversold the capabilities of the electric car company’s Autopilot system and caused the fatal crash of a software engineer who engaged it, took his hands off the steering wheel and seconds later slammed into a truck, a Florida judge has ruled. Circuit Judge Reid Scott rejected Tesla’s motion to summarily dismiss Kim Banner’s lawsuit accusing the company of causing her husband Jeremy Banner’s death in 2019. In a 23-page ruling, Scott found that Kim Banner’s attorneys presented sufficient evidence to let the case proceed to trial sometime next year. Scott also found that Banner can seek punitive damages from the company that, if awarded, could reach millions of dollars. Scott, citing other fatal crashes involving Autopilot, wrote last week that there is a “genuine dispute” over whether Tesla “created a foreseeable zone of risk that posed a general threat of harm to others.” Auto...

Argentina’s president-elect is racing against the clock to remake the government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina ’s President-elect Javier Milei has called for the wholesale reinvention of the government but he has precious little time.And with less than three weeks until his Dec. 10 inauguration, Milei has no executive experience and few allies in his bullpen.From the moment of the wild-haired outsider ’s decisive victory on Sunday night, the clock started ticking. Argentina’s presidential transition period is one of the shortest in Latin America; it lasts at least six weeks in Colombia and two months in Brazil. Next year’s election in Mexico will feature a six-month handover. Milei “is new to politics, leads a minor political party and has not built an experienced team. He could use more time to prepare his agenda, recruit advisers and senior officials, and build coalitions in the new Congress,” Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told The Associated Press. “This is especially important because ...

The latest on the deadly explosion at the Canada-U. S. border crossing in New York

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Four of the busiest border crossing points between Canada and the United States were abruptly closed Wednesday after a vehicle exploded at a U.S. checkpoint in Niagara Falls. The FBI is investigating the blast, which took place on the U.S. side of the Rainbow Bridge crossing in Upstate New York.Here are the latest developments (all times are ET):—5:30 p.m.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says there is no evidence at this time that terrorist activity was behind the deadly explosion at the border crossing at Niagara.The governor says it’s not clear whether the driver was intentionally heading for the Rainbow Bridge across the Niagara River when the vehicle hit a median and flew into the air.United States Customs and Border Protection says three border crossings in the Niagara region have reopened to traffic.The border crossing at the Rainbow Bridge, which spans the Niagara River, remains closed.—5:30 p.m.A Toronto woman says she was in a building at t...

'Adopt-a-Sailor' program helps welcome Navy members into local homes for Thanksgiving

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. — It is a tradition that has been going on for longer than most can remember — local families quietly stepping up to include a Great Lakes sailor at their Thanksgiving table.Donna Francis, a Great Lakes Navy training instructor, had just finished boot camp the first year she took part in the 'Adopt a Sailor' program."I vividly remember the warmth and kindness from the family," Francis said. "They introduced me to their children, their grandparents, and took me as a member of their own family."For participants in the program, it is an opportunity to step away from the barracks and get a little taste of home.For sailors like Roman Navarro, who's from San Antonio, Texas, going through the Navy's boot camp also brings about the first holiday he's spent away from loved ones."Even though you're not physically at home, it feels like home" Navarro said. "[But] oh man, I've missed my family. I've missed being home for homecooked meals."For more information on the Adopt a ...

Early lung cancer detection: The lifesaving scan many smokers skip

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

If lung cancer is caught before it spreads, the five-year survival rate can be as high as 92%. So why aren’t more smokers – past and present – taking advantage of an effective diagnostic tool? Doctors who treat lung cancer are seeking to ensure that they do.But for Linda Swieboda, it was a diagnosis and – and a test – she wanted to avoid. “(I was) walking, active. I didn’t have any shortness of breath. No cough. I had no symptoms, but I went for the screening and poof, there it was,” Swieboda said.  Doctors found an early-stage tumor, nearly three centimeters in size, in Swieboda, a smoker for 50 years.“The past two years, my primary care physician had brought it up, but I thought, Nah, I don’t want to know,” she said. “ I kind of feared it.”  More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch It’s just one challenge doctors hope to overcome regarding lung cancer screening. “The patients do not know that it does exist,” said Dr. Alex Cedeno. Called a low-dose CT because i...

3 in custody following SWAT response outside liquor store in Midlothian

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. — Three suspects are in custody after an attempted armed robbery at a Midlothian-area liquor store Wednesday morning prompted the response of a SWAT team. No injuries were reported after authorities were called to Emporium Liquors just before 11 a.m. near 147th Street and Springfield Avenue.SkyCam9 captured a large police and SWAT presence outside the southwest suburban liquor store, which remained active for several hours. SWAT team specialists with a south suburban emergency response team eventually took two people into custody. According to police, several hostages were barricaded with one of the suspects inside the store.For a short while, another suspect managed to flee the scene before being taken into custody in Englewood, according to Midlothian Police Chief Daniel Delaney."The individual that fled, officers chased him to Chicago, Illinois where he was ultimately taken into custody after a short on-foot pursuit once the vehicle pursuit ended," Delaney said.E...

Guns N' Roses frontman accused of violent 1989 sexual assault

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

(KRON) — A former Penthouse magazine model has filed a sexual assault lawsuit in New York against Axl Rose, the frontman of rock band Guns N' Roses.Model Sheila Kennedy, who was once named "Pet Of The Year" by Penthouse, said the incident happened on the same night she first met Rose inside a New York City nightclub in 1989, according to the lawsuit. Kennedy was 26 years old at the time.The lawsuit was filed in court Wednesday and was first reported by Rolling Stone magazine. Daryl Hall files for restraining order against John Oates amid lawsuit Kennedy, who previously discussed her encounter with Rose in a 2016 memoir, accused Rose of dragging her "like a caveman" into his hotel room, tying her up, and raping her in a "sexual, volatile rage." "He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure. Kennedy did not consent and felt overpowered. She felt she had no escape or exit. She believed Rose would physically attack her, or worse, if she said no or attempted to push...

2 more lawsuits filed against CTA following Yellow Line crash that injured 38

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:43 GMT

CHICAGO — Two more lawsuits have been filed against the Chicago Transit Authority following Thursday's Yellow Line train crash that injured 38 people. One day before Thanksgiving, attorneys with Clifford Law Offices filed the cases on behalf of Alishan Zaidi, who was seated in the first car and Zubair Hussain, who was hospitalized for three days. Lawyers said Hussain struck his head amid the collision, rendering him unconscious at the scene.Wednesday's announcement is the fourth lawsuit filed in connection with the crash. Last week, a 52-year-old man named Cleon Hawkins, aboard the second train, filed the first lawsuit against the CTA hours after the collision. Lawyers said Hawkins was seated in the second car of the Yellow Line train when the wreck sent him flying into one of the metal poles in the car, injuring his shoulder and leg. The following day, a Skokie man sitting in the first row of the train car also filed suit. The CTA has not yet responded to the lawsuits.The National ...