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Niger’s junta shuts airspace, accuses nations of plans to invade as regional deadline passes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s mutinous soldiers closed the country’s airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack, as the junta defied a deadline to restore the ousted president and said any attempt to fly over the country will be met with “an energetic and immediate response.”Niger’s state television announced the move Sunday night, hours before West African regional bloc ECOWAS had demanded that the coup leaders reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum or face military force.A spokesman for the coup leaders, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, warned of “the threat of intervention being prepared in a neighbouring country” and said Niger’s airspace is closed until further notice. The junta asserted that two central African countries have joined preparations for an invasion, but did not say which ones, and called on the country’s population to defend it. It was not immediately clear what ECOWAS will do now that the deadline has passed. Thousands of people in Niger’s...

Heavy weekend rains; temps to return to the 80s, trending to drier weather

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

Check out the rainfall with the T-STORM COMPLEX—that group of organized t-storms which swept the area Saturday and into the overnight hours. What a range in rainfalls—as is so typical of warm season precipitation systems.Rainfall was minimal north of Chicago totaling only 0.01" in north suburban Woodstock and Antioch and just 0.02" near Lake Zurich. NO RAIN was reported at Harvard, Belvidere, Kenosha, Twin Lakes WI, Beloit and Lake Geneva.The spread in totals across the city was dramatic. O'Hare picked up 0.13" Saturday and today (Sunday)--while veteran NWS observer Frank Wachowski reports Midway Airport on the South Side received 0.64".Farther south--including across Chicago's southern suburbs, all across northern Indiana and in other areas south of Chicago, rain totals picked up dramatically.Not A Beach Day! A BEACH HAZARDS statement has been issued through Monday evening.This is the view as of 11:30am CDT Sunday morning off Chicago's North Side Edgewater Beach neighborhood. The b...

Suspect in custody after APD officer shot in southeast Austin, officer stable

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The suspect in a shooting involving Austin Police officers was taken into custody just before midnight Sunday, according to APD. That suspect was taken to the hospital in an unknown condition. Sunday night, multiple sources told KXAN an Austin police officer was shot in a southeast Austin neighborhood and was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. That information was confirmed by Police Chief Joseph Chacon in a briefing early Monday morning. According to Chacon, two officers showed up to the suspect's home to conduct a welfare check. When they didn't hear from the person inside, they made entry into the front door and were confronted by someone with a gun, Chacon said.That suspect then followed the officers as they retreated outside and fired shots. One officer announced on the radio that they were shot, according to Chacon. Both Austin Police officers fired back, Chacon said. The suspect then went back into the home and SWAT was called out....

How many EU people can afford an internet connection?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

In 2022, 2.4% of the EU population were unable to afford an internet connection. On the other hand, the share for people at risk of poverty was higher at 7.6%.  Compared with 2021, the situation improved by 0.3 percentage points (pp) (2.7%) for total population and by 0.8 pp (8.4%) for people at risk of poverty.In 2022, the difference between total and at-risk-of-poverty population in terms of capacity to afford an internet connection was also visible across EU countries: the highest share of people at risk of poverty unable to afford an internet connection was recorded in Romania (25.0%), followed by Bulgaria (20.5%) and Hungary (16.5%). On the other hand, the lowest shares were recorded in Denmark and Finland (both 1.0%), followed by Cyprus and Luxembourg (both 1.5%).Source dataset: ilc_mddu07aThis news item marks the World Wide Web Day, celebrated every year on 1 August. Would you like to learn more?The capacity to afford internet connection for personal use is among the items ob...

Keira Walsh set to start for England in Women’s World Cup knockout game against Nigeria

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Keira Walsh recovered from a knee injury in time to make England’s starting lineup for Monday’s round of 16 match against Nigeria at the Women’s World Cup.The influential midfielder practiced with the squad on Sunday and team officials said Walsh’s fitness would be assessed on game day.Walsh sustained a knee injury in England’s 1-0 win against Denmark in the group stage. She was carried from the field on a stretcher amid concerns the injury could be tournament-ending, but later scans showed Walsh avoided damage to her ACL. England head coach Sarina Wiegman told a pre-match news conference on Sunday that Walsh was recovering well.Walsh joined Barcelona from Manchester City last year for a reported fee of 400,000 pounds ($513,000), a record for women’s soccer. ___More AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cupSource

3 killed as firefighting helicopters collide mid-air in Riverside County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

Three people were killed after two firefighting helicopters crashed mid-air while responding to a brush fire in Riverside County on Sunday night.The crash happened in a remote area near Pipeline Road and Apache Trail in Cabazon around 7:30 p.m., according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. The Morongo Casino Resort & Spa is located about a mile away from the crash site.The three victims included a CAL FIRE division chief, a CAL FIRE fire captain, and a contract pilot, authorities confirmed in a Sunday night press conference. Their names and ages were not released.During the mid-air crash, one helicopter was able to safely land without injuries while the second helicopter crashed, killing all passengers onboard.The collision caused an additional four-acre brush fire which was later extinguished, officials said.A firefighter helicopter crashed while responding to a brush fire in Riverside County on August 6, 2023. (OnScene.TV)A firefighter helicopter crashed while respo...

Niger’s junta shuts airspace and accuses neighboring nations of plan to invade as deadline passes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s mutinous soldiers closed the country’s airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack, as the junta defied a deadline to restore the ousted president and said any attempt to fly over the country will be met with “an energetic and immediate response.”Niger’s state television announced the move Sunday night, hours before a deadline set by West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which demanded the coup leaders reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum or face military force.A spokesman for the coup leaders, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, warned of “the threat of intervention being prepared in a neighbouring country,” and said Niger’s airspace will be closed until further notice. The junta asserted that two central African countries are preparing for an invasion, but did not say which ones, and called on the country’s population to defend it. Regional tensions have mounted since mutinous soldiers overthrew Niger’s democratically elected president ne...

Suicide bomber prematurely detonates explosives in northwest Pakistan, killing a husband and wife

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber apparently detonated his explosives-laden vehicle prematurely in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban on Monday, killing a married couple in a nearby car, officials said.A local administration official, Rehmant Ullah, said the bombing happened in North Waziristan, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakisan, bordering Afghanistan. He said a team from the bomb disposal unit was also present nearby when the blast took place but they escaped unharmed. “We suspect that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives either by mistake or prematurely, but it killed a man and his wife whose car was near the vehicle of the bomber at the time of the blast,” he said.It is unclear who dispatched the car bomber to the area, but suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and who have stepped up attacks on security forces since last year. TTP is a separate...

Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco reports $30B in Q2 profits, down nearly 40% from last year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Aramco made $30 billion in profit in the second quarter, a nearly 40% decline from the same period the previous year, which it attributed to lower crude oil prices.Total sales stood at just over 400 billion riyals (about $106 billion), down from 562 billion riyals ($150 billion in the second quarter of 2022. In an earnings report filed with the Saudi stock exchange Monday, Aramco said the decrease “mainly reflected the impact of lower crude oil prices and weakening refining and chemicals margins.”Last week, Fortune magazine ranked Aramco, officially known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the second biggest company in the world by revenue, behind only Walmart and ahead of Amazon and Apple. That came after the oil company reported a profit of over $160 billion in 2022, the largest ever recorded by a publicly traded firm.Those kinds of earnings will come under heightened scrutiny later this year when the United Ar...

From Killer Mike to Fat Joe, hip-hop stars talk about how first rap song resonated with them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:57:37 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Remember the first rap song you heard? Some of your favorite rappers and DJs do. While hip-hop celebrates 50 years of life, The Associated Press asked some of the genre’s most popular artists — including Killer Mike, JT of City Girls, King Combs and Fat Joe — to recall their first memory of hearing a rap song and how it resonated with them. In the second installment of a two part series, the AP highlights the stars who connected with rap music through a song other than “Rapper’s Delight,” the 1979 hit that was the entry point for Chuck D, DJ Jazzy Jeff and many other artists. For some, the rap song that hooked them was the work of Run D.M.C., Tupac Shakur, the performance of a close family member and even (pre-Oscars) Will Smith.Here are the stories of 14 hip-hop legends and young stars talking about how they initially got hooked on rap.FAT JOEFat Joe remembers the first time Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s song “ The Message ” went viral. He’...