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Hope dims for missing migrants amid questions about Greece’s actions in deadly sinking

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and NICHOLAS PAPHITIS (Associated Press)KALAMATA, Greece (AP) — Nine survivors of a migrant boat sinking were arrested Thursday on suspicion of smuggling as hope faded for hundreds of other passengers who were missing and attention turned to Greece’s failure to act before the overcrowded ship capsized.The trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers, including women and children who were likely trapped in the hold as the vessel overturned and went down early Wednesday. That could make the sinking one of the deadliest ever in the central Mediterranean Sea.A huge search-and-rescue operation initially recovered 78 bodies and picked up 104 survivors — all men and boys. But no more have been found.Meanwhile, Greek authorities were criticized for not acting to rescue the migrants, even though a coast guard vessel escorted the trawler for hours and watched helplessly as it sank in minutes. Greek officials argued that the migrants repeatedly refus...

Accused military secrets leaker Jack Teixeira formally indicted on the charges

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of sharing highly classified military secrets with gaming buddies online, has been formally indicted on the charges.Teixeira, 21, of North Dighton, was on April 13 arrested and charged by criminal complaint with retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or materials. U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy on May 19 formally ordered Teixeira held.Now, on Thursday, a federal grand jury has indicted Teixeira with six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense.“The unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified information jeopardizes our nation’s security. Individuals granted access to classified materials have a fundamental duty to safeguard the information for the safety of the United States, our active service members, its citizens and its allies,” sa...

Conor McGregor accused of raping woman at NBA finals game

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Miami after an NBA game where he earlier sent a mascot to the hospital with a swift combination of punches.McGregor denies he “violently” attacked the alleged victim on June 9, according to TMZ. His accuser told police the incident occurred in a men’s bathroom at the Kaseya Center, shortly after the Denver Nuggets defeated the hometown Miami Heat.A lawyer for McGregor’s accuser claims the fighter’s security team helped keep the alleged victim in the stadium bathroom, refusing to “let [the woman] exit or allow anyone else, including her friend, inside the bathroom” as the 34-year-old fighter forced himself on her.McGregor “shoved his tongue in the victim’s mouth and aggressively kissed her,” the woman’s attorney claims.The woman stalled McGregor by telling him she had to urinate, her legal letter claims. He’s accused of then fo...

Bud Light is no longer America’s top beer following anti-LGBTQ+ pushback

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

By DEE-ANN DURBIN (AP Business Writer)After more than two decades as America’s best-selling beer, Bud Light has slipped into second place.Modelo Especial, a Mexican lager, overtook Bud Light in U.S. retail dollar sales in the month ending June 3, according to Nielsen data analyzed by Bump Williams Consulting. Modelo controlled 8.4% of U.S. grocery, convenience and liquor store sales; Bud Light fell to 7.3%. Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewer, is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the same parent company of Bud Light.It’s a milestone in Bud Light’s months-long sales decline since early April, when critics who were angered by the brewer sending a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney vowed to boycott the brand. Bud Light has also faced backlash from Mulvaney’s fans, who think the brand didn’t do enough to support her.Dave William, Bump Williams’ vice president of analytics and insights, said Bud Light has been the top-selling U.S. bee...

Ticker: Jobless claims up, again; FDA panel recommends COVID vax update

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits remained elevated last week, a possible sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes over the past year may taking hold in what’s proved to be a resilient job market.U.S. applications for jobless claims were 262,000 for the week ending June 10, the Labor Department reported Thursday, more than analysts were expecting. This week’s number mirrors last week’s, which was revised up by 1,000. The claims numbers for the past two weeks are the highest since October of 2021.The four-week moving average of claims, which flattens some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose by by more than 9,000 to 246,750. That’s the highest level since November of 2021.U.S. employers have added jobs at a furious rate since more than 20 million jobs disappeared during the pandemic purge in the spring of 2020. Americans have enjoyed unusual job security, despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to coo...

MLB to start months-long approval process for Oakland Athletics’ move to Las Vegas

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball will start a months-long approval process for Oakland Athletics’ proposed move to Las Vegas, which appears set to become the second shift of a franchise in the last half-century.A day after the Nevada Legislature approved $380 million in public financing for a ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred bemoaned the team’s inability to obtain a new stadium in Oakland and defended A’s owner John Fisher, who has maintained public silence.“I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland. I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do,” Manfred said Thursday during a news conference following an owners meeting. “I think that the real question is what is it that Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. They never got to the point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site.”Manfred said the team must submit a relocation application explaining its efforts in Oakland and...

Jury weighs dozens of charges against gunman who massacred 11 at Pittsburgh synagogue

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A jury on Thursday began sifting through a mountain of evidence against the truck driver who burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 congregants, a guilty verdict all but assured after the defendant’s own lawyers acknowledged he carried out the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.Robert Bowers was motivated by his hatred of Jewish people when he turned a sacred house of worship into a “hunting ground,” a federal prosecutor told the jury before the start of deliberations. Jurors spent about two hours weighing dozens of criminal counts against the 50-year-old before going home for the day.Deliberations were set to resume Friday morning. The government is seeking a death sentence.“There can be no forgiveness,” said a statement released by New Light Congregation, one of three Jewish congregations that came under attack in the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. “Forgiveness requires two components: that it is offered by the person who commits the wrong a...

Former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw dies at 84

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Warren McGraw, a former West Virginia Supreme Court justice who spent five decades in public service, has died at age 84, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Thursday. Court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy said McGraw died Wednesday. Blue Ridge Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens in Beckley said it was in charge of funeral arrangements, which were incomplete.McGraw had retired as a county circuit judge in 2021, citing the physical impairments due to Parkinson’s disease.Mike Pushkin, the state Democratic Party chairman and a member of the House of Delegates, said Warren was “a tireless advocate for working people and those who are too often left behind.””Warren McGraw never forgot that a society is measured by how it treats its weakest members. From the school board to the legislature, to the halls of the supreme court, he fought with every ounce of his ability to improve the lives of the poor and those struggling to make a better life for themselves and for th...

Evacuation ends in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., as resident recalls terror when fire loomed

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

Tumbler Ridge resident Joline Couture feared the worst last week as she prepared to pack up and leave under an evacuation order as wildfires loomed outside the small community in British Columbia’s northeast. “It was absolutely terrifying,” Couture said. As a Canadian Ranger, Couture was also waiting on orders to go door to door to tell people to leave as winds whipped up the flames and pushed them toward the town. “We were told it’s not a matter of if the fire was gonna hit Tumbler Ridge, it was a matter of when it was gonna hit, so that was pretty terrifying, to know that I was going to be knocking at doors and telling people to pack everything that they could because they might not have a place to come home to,” she said. “And there were some people that said that they didn’t want to leave.”But now the imminent risk to the town has lifted.Thanks to recent rain and favourable winds, Tumbler Ridge’s roughly 2,000 residents...

Most of 108 drowning victims in Nigeria boat accident were women and children

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:18:54 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Most of the 108 people who drowned after a boat broke apart in north-central Nigeria were women and their children, survivors and local authorities told The Associated Press on Thursday as search efforts ended. The wooden boat was carrying more than 250 people across the Niger River in Kwara state as they returned home from a late-night wedding when the craft hit a log and split early Monday, survivors said.“We took some little children to the ground, but some of the women did not want to leave their children behind and they drowned,” said Ibrahim Mohammed, who survived the accident on the Niger River, one of Africa’s largest, stretching about 4,100 kilometers (2,500 miles). “Most of the women in that boat had children, (and a) majority of the people dead are women and small children,” Mohammed said. He said he rescued three children but lost nine child relatives.Villagers ended the search operation Thursday afternoon, with the victims all buried near the river...