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Why is Israel’s judicial overhaul so divisive?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — For seven months, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul the judiciary and weaken the Supreme Court.On Monday, the first piece of that legislative package passed: Lawmakers approved a measure that prevents judges from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are “unreasonable.”Here’s a look at what the overhaul is — and why it has drawn the most sustained and intense demonstrations the country has ever seen.WHAT’S IN THE OVERHAUL?The overhaul calls for sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary.The proposals include a bill that would allow a simple majority in parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions. Another would give parliament the final say in selecting judges.Netanyahu’s ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox religious allies say the package is meant to restore power to elected officials — and reduce the powers of unel...

Excavator seen digging in backyard of man charged in Gilgo Beach killings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Investigators have been digging in the yard at the Long Island home of Rex Heuermann, who was charged earlier this month with killing at least three women and burying their remains on a remote stretch of beach highway.A yellow excavator that had been seen scooping dirt in the backyard Sunday was still at the house Monday morning. In Associated Press drone footage, a man could also be seen operating a piece of equipment that can be used to scan for buried objects.Over the weekend, police dismantled a wooden deck at the house. “They yelled ‘lift’ and brought it up in one big piece, as if it was a cover,” a neighbor, Barry Auslander told the AP.The porch has been replaced by a white tent, with a state medical examiner’s truck parked nearby.Investigators with shovels could be seen scraping through the freshly upturned earth in Heuermann’s yard.Investigators are trying to determine whether any of the killings happened inside the Massapequa Park ho...

Flooding in Nova Scotia washes out CN Rail track, disrupting train traffic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

MONTREAL — Canadian National Railway Co. says a major washout has halted traffic along part of its main line in Nova Scotia after torrential rain and flooding struck the province over the weekend.A washed-out culvert left a stretch of track sagging unsupported over a massive ditch some 90 kilometres north of Halifax on the key rail connection for freight and passengers between the city and the rest of the country.Via Rail has also issued a travel warning, with no bookings available until Friday between Halifax and Moncton, N.B., after three months’ worth of rain deluged Nova Scotia in 24 hours.CN says crews have restored other damaged infrastructure around the province, but some repairs will be delayed until the floodwaters recede.The provincewide state of emergency declared by Nova Scotia on Saturday is set to remain in effect until Aug. 5.Yesterday, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair approved a request from the province for continued assistance.This report by...

Abortion messaging roils debate over Ohio ballot initiative. Backers said it wasn’t about that

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The fraught politics of abortion have helped turn an August ballot question in Ohio that would make it harder to change the state constitution into a cauldron of misinformation and fear-mongering. State Issue 1, the sole question on the ballot, calls for raising the threshold for passing future changes to the Ohio Constitution from a simple majority to 60%. Starting next year, it also would double the number of counties where signatures must be gathered, from 44 to all 88, and do away with the 10-day grace period for closing gaps in the total valid signatures submitted.Republican state lawmakers and the GOP elections chief who urgently advanced the measure said it had nothing to do with thwarting an abortion rights questionworking toward the ballot this fall. However, early summer messaging on social media and in churches has consistently urged a yes vote on the August amendment “to protect life” — and that’s just one example of the loaded messages confro...

One of Libya’s rival prime ministers returns to Tripoli on 1st commercial flight from Italy in years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — One of Libya’s rival primer ministers on Monday returned to the capital of Tripoli from Italy on a charter flight by a commercial airliner, the first direct flight between the two countries in a decade.Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, who heads the Tripoli-based government, boarded the flight from Fiumicino airport in Rome. Flight AZ894 is operated by Italy’s national airline, ITA Airways.“From Rome to Tripoli through the Italian airways, ITA,” Dbeibah wrote on Twitter attaching a photo of the flight ticket. The flight landed in Mitiga airport, the only functioning airport in the Libyan capital.Dbeibah said Monday that Libyans would be able to book direct flights to Italy in September after the Italian government agreed earlier this month to lift a 10-year-long ban on civil aviation in the North African nation.He said Sunday that flights between Libya and Italy would help pave the way for the opening of airspace with other countries. Dbeibah said his government would work to resume...

Criminal trial for ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizer Pat King trial to begin in November

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

OTTAWA — “Freedom Convoy” organizer Pat King has been scheduled to stand trial beginning Nov. 27, and he says he wants to be judged by a jury of his peers.King was an influential figure in the convoy movement that occupied the streets of downtown Ottawa for three weeks in 2022 to protest COVID-19 public health measures and the Liberal government. He has been charged with mischief, counselling to commit mischief, counselling to disobey a court order and counselling to obstruct police in connection to his actions during the protest. He was also charged with perjury and obstruction of justice after taking the stand at his bail hearing.King requested that his trial be moved out of Ottawa, because he said he feels an Ottawa judge and jury would be too biased to offer him a fair hearing.Ontario Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland is expected to hear arguments on Aug. 21 from the Crown and King’s lawyer, Natasha Calvino, about the trial’s location and whether a ...

Japanese novelist Seiichi Morimura, known for trilogy about wartime army unit’s atrocities, dies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Renowned Japanese mystery writer Seiichi Morimura, whose nonfiction trilogy “The Devil’s Gluttony” exposed human medical experiments conducted by a secret Japanese army unit during World War II, died Monday. He was 90.His official website and publisher, Kadokawa, said Morimura died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital.“Akuma no Hoshoku,” or “The Devil’s Gluttony,” which began as a newspaper series in 1981, became a bestseller and created a sensation across the country over atrocities committed by Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731 in China.From its base in Japanese-controlled Harbin in China, Unit 731 and related units injected war prisoners with typhus, cholera and other diseases as research into germ warfare, according to historians and former unit members. Unit 731 is also believed to have performed vivisections and frozen prisoners to death in tests of endurance.Morimura began contributing articles to magazines while working in hotels. He won the prestigious Edogawa Rampo ...

Woman in grave condition after house fire in Logan Square

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Fire Department is investigating the cause of a house fire in Logan Square that has left a woman in grave condition.Fire crews dispatched to a home in the 2500 block of North Harding Avenue and found a 36-year-old woman unconscious inside the basement of a home. Officials said she suffered cardiac arrest and was rushed to the hospital in grave condition. Suburban fire department warns of sofa recall after blaze Crews also found a dog on the scene. There was no other information provided and police are investigating the incident.

Free Red Line rides offered Tuesday after Cubs-Sox game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

CHICAGO — Free Red Line rides are being offered after Tuesday Night's Cubs and White Sox game.The free rides will take place from Molson Coors' Vizzy Hard Seltzer Free Rides program. The free rides program began in 1988.Rides will be free at the 35th Street station for two hours after the game.“CTA is the most convenient and affordable way to get to and from the Crosstown Series games, and this partnership with Molson Coors makes it even easier to enjoy this great sports tradition,” said CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. “We encourage fans to celebrate responsibly by taking advantage of the free rides being offered through this partnership.” Evergreen Park native Brad Guzan prepares to face Messi on Tuesday The Cubs take on the White Sox at 7:10 p.m. at Guaranteed Rate Field.

One Bears player won't start training camp practice this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:26 GMT

LAKE FOREST — One of the players that many Bears fans are curious to see in 2023 will not be on the field to start training camp this week.The Bears have confirmed that wide receiver Chase Claypool will begin training camp on the PUP list..@WGNNews pic.twitter.com/s5cWAsoL9G— Larry Hawley (@HawleySports) July 23, 2023The team has placed wide receiver Chase Claypool on the Physically Unable to Perform list as they get ready to start workouts for the 2023 season at Halas Hall. Players will report to training camp on Tuesday in Lake Forest before the first official practice on Wednesday. Claypool missed part of the OTA and all of the mandatory minicamp in June with what were described as minor injuries. He had been seen on social media going through workouts with Bears quarterback Justin Fields outside of team facilities over the last month and was expected to be ready to go for training camp. But that won't happen as Claypool will not be allowed to take part in the workouts on t...