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New Scottish leader will challenge UK over gender law veto

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

LONDON (AP) — New Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf said Wednesday he will follow through with his predecessor’s plan to challenge the British government over its decision to block a law that makes it easier for people in Scotland to change their gender on official documents. “A legal challenge is now our only means of defending our Parliament’s democracy from the Westminster veto,” Yousaf said. “If unchallenged, it sends a signal that the U.K. Government can veto any legislation they disagree with, at a whim.”Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s vow to defend the legislation was left in question after her abrupt resignation created a bitter battle last month to replace her as leader of the Scottish National Party. Yousaf, a close Sturgeon ally, was pitted against two rivals who opposed the gender bill. Yousaf did not commit to challenging the veto in court when asked Tuesday, saying he was considering legal advice.Passage of the bill in December was hailed by transgender righ...

US, UK aim sanctions at Russian oligarchs’ finance networks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Britain announced new sanctions Wednesday aimed at Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Roman Abramovich, targeting the financial networks of two of Moscow’s wealthiest businessmen who are close allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.Usmanov has been subject to U.S. and European Union sanctions since shortly after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Abramovich, who amassed a fortune in Russia’s oil and aluminum industries following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, was forced to sell the Chelsea football club after he was cited last year.U.S. officials said the new designations, which were coordinated with the British government, aim to reinforce existing penalties and further disrupt Russia’s importation of critical technologies used in its war against Ukraine. The departments of State and Treasury announced sanctions on 120 entities and individuals, across more than 20 countries and jurisdictions, connected to R...

Interest rate hold could add heat to real estate markets: mortgage experts

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

TORONTO — Mortgage experts expect the Bank of Canada’s decision to hold its key interest rate to add heat to the country’s real estate markets.They say the second consecutive hold since rates started climbing in March 2022 will likely give buyers and sellers more confidence to make a purchase soon.Victor Tran of mortgage rate comparison website Ratesdotca says he thinks the overnight rate’s hold at 4.5 per cent will send a strong signal to buyers and sellers that rates have hit their peak, which would prompt more sales.Leah Zlatkin of rival rates comparison site LowestRates.ca foresees the housing market heating up in densely populated regions such as Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area.Their predictions come after buyers have sat on the sidelines of most markets for months, even as prices dropped, because rising interest rates are making borrowing more costly.However, when some real estate boards, like Toronto and Vancouver, reported March sales figures recentl...

MLB teams extend beer sales after pitch clock shortens games

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Thanks to the pitch clock, the action is moving much faster at Major League Baseball games. It also means a little less time for fans to enjoy a frosty adult beverage.To combat that time crunch, at least four teams — the Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers — have extended alcohol sales through the eighth inning this season. Others, like the Miami Marlins and New York Mets, still have seventh-inning cutoffs, but haven’t ruled out changes.“Totally makes sense to me,” said Tom Lienhardt, who was sipping on a beer Tuesday night before the Brewers-Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. “Since the games are shorter, you’ve got to adjust.”Teams historically have stopped selling alcohol after the seventh.At least one team, the Baltimore Orioles, already sold alcohol through the eighth inning, or until 3 1/2 hours after first pitch, whichever came first. MLB games have been considerably shorter this season, largely thanks to a series of ...

Conservatives ask Twitter to label CBC accounts as ‘government-funded’ media

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

OTTAWA — The Opposition Conservatives are asking Twitter to apply a “government-funded” label on accounts associated with the CBC, even as other broadcasters decry the tag for not making clear their editorial independence. On Tuesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tweeted a copy of a letter addressed to the company that made that request.In the letter, Poilievre asked that the label be applied to CBC’s English “news-related” accounts. But he did not mention Radio-Canada, the broadcaster’s French-language arm.The “government-funded” label appears above every tweet from accounts that are tagged with the description. Twitter added the descriptor to BBC and National Public Radio accounts last week after initially labelling them as “state-affiliated” —a term usually reserved for government-run propaganda outlets in countries such as Russia and China. The social-media giant currently defines “government-funded”...

Metallica returns with ’72 Seasons’; band not slowing down

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Zoom has been credited for keeping students and teachers connected, the judicial system working and fitness classes jumping. You can add a Metallica album to that list.The hard rockers met weekly over their computers to stay connected during the pandemic, a standing get-together that eventually became a songwriting factory. The first step was an acoustic version of their song “Blackened.”“It proved to us that, yes, we can at least do something remotely while we’re all still separated,” says guitarist Kirk Hammett. “That grew into trying to get riffs together for the new album though Zoom.”Six or seven of those song sketches ended up on “72 Seasons,” the band’s 12th full-length album, out Friday. It’s the sound of a band not slowing down, despite singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich turning 60 this year and Hammett already on the other side of that milestone. Bassist Robert Trujillo is the baby, at just 58.“It ended up working...

White House wants rule to protect abortion patients’ records

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Wednesday proposed a new federal rule to limit how law enforcement and state officials collect medical records if they investigate women who flee their home states to seek abortions elsewhere.The proposal, prompted by a string of blows to abortion access across the country, follows a federal judge’s ruling on Friday that threatens to pull the most commonly used abortion pill, mifepristone, off the market. The White House’s proposed rule would prohibit health care organizations from sharing personal medical records with authorities for investigations related to reproductive care in states where a woman legally obtained an abortion. While medical records are protected by federal privacy laws, health providers and insurers can be compelled to turn over medical records with a court order.Doctors around the country have voiced concerns about protecting that medical information from law enforcement officials, said Melanie Fontes Rainer, the direc...

Japan park where Babe Ruth played subject of climate battle

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A historic baseball stadium in Tokyo where Babe Ruth played could be demolished, part of a disputed redevelopment plan harshly criticized by environmentalists.Ruth played at the Meiji Jingu Stadium in 1934 on a barnstorming tour with other American stars that included Lou Gehrig, Lefty Gomez and Jimmie Foxx. Ruth homered several times before 60,000 fans in games at the stadium, which is still home to the Japanese league champion Yakult Swallows.Only three other major ballparks remain where Ruth played: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and the Koshien Stadium in Kobe, Japan. Wrigley and Fenway have been renovated, but plans to save Meiji Jingu have been dismissed by developers and politicians.The stadium was opened in 1926 in an area known as Meiji Gaien, a green patch in central Tokyo that’s famous for an avenue lined with about 150 ginko trees. Plans call for razing the ballpark and a neighboring rugby stadium and rebuilding them in different spots in the reconfigured ...

Chip component plant to get $300M expansion in Pennsylvania

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The electronics subsidiary of German multinational health care company Merck KGaA said Wednesday it will spend $300 million to expand its specialty gas production facility in eastern Pennsylvania in a step that state officials hope will help boost the area’s appeal to the fast-growing semiconductor industry.The subsidiary, EMD Electronics, said the expansion will create the world’s largest integrated specialty gases facility as part of its program to invest over $3.5 billion on projects by 2025, including at sites in Arizona, Texas and California.Company officials say the site houses a research center and synthesizes materials that form core building blocks of transistors, a component of microchips.Gov. Josh Shapiro, who attended the announcement at the site in Schuylkill County, pledged more than $1 million in state grants for the expansion.“This industry is huge and its growth potential is enormous, and it is key to our economy and to our national secu...

Man, 18, charged with killing CPD Officer Andres Vásquez Lasso pleads not guilty

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:52 GMT

CHICAGO — The man accused of killing a Chicago cop last month entered a not guilty plea Wednesday.Steven Montano, 18, answered a few "yes or no" questions during the court hearing, before his public defender entered the plea of not guilty.Montano is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of police Officer Andres Vásquez Lasso. He is also facing a number of additional felony charges.Montano is being held without bond.On March 1, Vásquez Lasso was investigating a domestic-related call in the 5200 block of South Spaulding and saw Montano running from the scene with a gun.Court records say Officer Vásquez Lasso started chasing him, and the two men exchanged gunfire. The officer was shot several times and was killed. Bodycam video released from Louisville bank shooting Montano was shot and transported to a hospital in critical condition, but has since been released and is currently in Cook County Jail.Dozens of police officers were inside and outside of the courtroom We...