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Democratic Sen. Menendez rejects calls to resign and says cash found in home was not bribe proceeds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

By DEEPTI HAJELA and MIKE CATALINI (Associated Press)UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey defiantly pushed back against federal corruption charges on Monday, saying nearly half a million dollars in cash authorities found in his home was from his personal savings, not from bribes, and was on hand for emergencies.Rejecting rising calls for him to resign, the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he believed he’d be cleared of charges that he took cash and gold in illegal exchange for helping Egypt and New Jersey business associates.“I recognize this will be the biggest fight yet, but as I have stated throughout this whole process, I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator,” Menendez said at Hudson County Community College’s campus in Union City, where he grew up.He did not respond to questions ...

3 teenagers were fatally shot in South Carolina, and a schoolmate has been arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two people showed up at an abandoned house where four teenagers were hanging out and opened fire, killing three of them and wounding the fourth in an escalation of an old quibble over a burglary, authorities said Monday in Columbia, South Carolina.A 17-year-old Eau Claire High School student was arrested on three counts of murder, one of attempted murder and possessing a weapon during a violent crime, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Monday at a news conference. Officials are still looking for “some other people,” he said.The teenagers who were killed also attended Eau Claire High School, according to a statement from Craig Witherspoon, the district superintendent. The lone survivor attended a nearby middle school.The district provided additional counseling and security at the high school Monday in response to the “unimaginable tragedy,” which Witherspoon decried as “senseless gun violence.”Sheriff’s deputies responded to the shooting in Columbia, the sta...

Head of Alta commission on Rocky Mountain coal mining concerned over new applications

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

At least two members of the group that recommended a pause on coal mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains are concerned the province’s regulator appears to have accepted applications to renew a project that has already been denied.Last week, the Australia-based company Northback Holdings resurrected a proposal for the Grassy Mountain steelmaking coal mine in southern Alberta, applying for three licences from the Alberta Energy Regulator.That’s despite the project being denied by both Alberta and Ottawa, as well as a provincial order that forbids any coal activity on those lands. Ron Wallace and Bill Trafford, both members of the committee that recommended the pause to the government, are concerned those applications violate both the spirit and letter of the order that enacted that moratorium. Trafford says he can’t see how the regulator can accept the applications and move forward on them without violating government policy.Wallace, who headed the commission in ...

Security forces rescue 14 students abducted from Nigerian university

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Security forces rescued 14 out of at least 20 students abducted from a university in northwestern Nigeria and were searching for the remaining captives, school authorities said MondayGunmen attacked the school in the hard-hit Zamfara state’s Bungudu district last week and fled with the students and some workers in the first mass school abduction in the West African nation since President Bola Tinubu took office in May.Such abductions of students from schools are common in Nigeria’s northwest and central regions where armed groups often take people hostage in exchange for huge ransoms which analysts have said help them to buy guns and sustain their operations.The 14 students from the Federal University Gusau were rescued alongside two other people, a statement from the university said, without further details about when they were freed or the nature of the rescue operation. “The sad and unfortunate incident has indeed thrown the University community into serious...

JJ Johnson’s recipe for Collard Greens and Rice Soup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

Chef JJ Johnson created this soup so that he could incorporate some of the most basic ingredients he loves in one pot. Potlikker is the term for the juice left from cooking seasoned collard greens, and that’s what he used here to build the broth. Revered in Southern cooking, potlikker is super-flavorful and packed with vitamins and minerals. It was originally eaten for its nutritional value by enslaved people on Southern plantations, and to this day some people drink it straight.The paprika adds a hint of smokiness, and finishing it with sherry vinegar gives the soup a bit of tang. You can find bunches of collard greens at the grocery store or farmers’ market, or buy it pre-cut in a bag to make this simple recipe even quicker. After you add the collards and rice, the soup becomes thicker and less brothy. Any leftovers freeze well for future meals.COLLARD GREENS AND RICE SOUPActive Cook Time: 50 minutesServes: 4INGREDIENTS¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil1 medium white onion, finely chopp...

Lahaina residents begin returning to sites of homes destroyed by deadly wildfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Some Lahaina residents returned to their devastated properties Monday for the first time since the Hawaii town was destroyed by wildfire nearly seven weeks ago.Authorities allowed residents into the first area to be cleared for reentry — a zone of about two dozen parcels in the northern part of Lahaina — between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.The Aug. 8 wildfire killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, most of them homes. Officials urged residents not to sift through the ashes for fear of raising toxic dust.The prospect of returning has stirred strong emotions in residents who fled in vehicles or on foot as the wind-whipped flames raced across Lahaina, the historic capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom, and overcame people stuck in traffic trying to escape. Some survivors jumped over a sea wall and sheltered in the waves as hot black smoke blotted out the sun. From a National Guard blockade near the burn zone, Jes Claydon has been able to see the ...

Chef JJ Johnson’s new cookbook celebrates rice, the humble grain that feeds the world

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Chef JJ Johnson uses rice at home in many different ways — making crepes with his kids, using leftover rice for his wife’s salad and frying it for dinner multiple ways. “Rice is a Swiss army knife. It can do so much for you,” he says.This fall he’s tried to prove that with the cookbook “The Simple Art of Rice,” an embrace of how the world has used the humble grain in everything from Seafood Paella to Thai Sticky Rice.“I wanted people to realize that rice isn’t just a side dish, ” he says. “You can have it for breakfast and dessert. It’s a salad. It could be a side, it could be a magnificent side, and it could be a complete dish.”Johnson, who co-authored with food writer Danica Novgorodoff for Flatiron Books, begins with tips on mastering the basics — they endorse the washing of rice, for instance — as well as exploring the different kinds of grains you might encounter, like Carolina Gold, Jefferson Red and Thai Red Cargo.Then it’s off to...

With Ford deal approved, Unifor sets sights on GM for next round of auto talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s largest private sector union says it will turn to negotiations with General Motors after members voted to accept its labour agreement with Ford Motor Co. of Canada.Unifor says the talks will begin Tuesday.Workers at Ford voted 54 per cent in favour of a new three-year collective agreement over the weekend. The ratification stands in sharp contrast to the 81 per cent support their previous contract received.The narrow vote of support by Unifor members for the proposed contract with Ford has experts saying that reaching deals with General Motors and Stellantis could prove more challenging.The union has said the Ford deal will set the pattern for contract talks at GM and Stellantis, but Steven Tufts, a labour expert at York University, said the relatively low support raises the question of whether workers will accept the template.Unifor’s negotiations with GM cover approximately 4,300 workers at the St. Catharines Powertrain Plant, Oshawa Assembly Complex and W...

Unifor sets sights on GM for next round of auto talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

Canada’s largest private sector union says it will turn to negotiations with General Motors after members voted to accept its labour agreement with Ford Motor Co. of Canada.Unifor says the talks will begin on Tuesday.Workers at Ford voted 54 per cent in favour of a new three-year collective agreement over the weekend. The ratification stands in sharp contrast to the 81 per cent support their previous contract received.The narrow vote of support by Unifor members for the proposed contract with Ford has experts saying that reaching deals with General Motors and Stellantis could prove more challenging.The union has said the Ford deal will set the pattern for contract talks at GM and Stellantis, but Steven Tufts, a labour expert at York University, said the relatively low support raises the question of whether workers will accept the template.Unifor’s negotiations with GM cover approximately 4,300 workers at the St. Catharines Powertrain Plant, Oshawa Assembly Complex and Woodstoc...

Former environment minister in Albania sentenced to prison in bribery case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:26:46 GMT

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — A former Albanian environment minister, seven other officials and four businessmen were sentenced Monday to prison terms in connection with bribery over a contract to build an incinerator in western Albania, court officials said.The Special Court on Corruption and Organized Crime in the Albanian capital, Tirana, sentenced former Environment Minister Lefter Koka to six years and eight months imprisonment on charges of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering. He also was barred from holding public posts for five years.Koka, 59, who was environment minister from 2013 to 2017, also served as a lawmaker and before that as mayor of the western port city of Durres, had been accused of accepting a bribe of 3.7 million euros (then $4.1 million) for the incinerator contract in the western city of Fier. Koka will appeal the verdict.The court also sentenced seven other officials and four businessmen to prison terms ranging from two to eight years on similar charge...