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San Diego City Council expected to vote on homeless encampment ban

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego City Council is expected to vote on an unsafe camping ordinance, or homeless encampment ban, which has drawn polarized opinions. A majority of the 220 people who signed up to give their public comment on the ordinance spoke out against it. Council chambers were packed and two overflow rooms were also filed as Tuesday's afternoon meeting began at 1 p.m.However, city leaders including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, who brought the ordinance to council, have been vocal in their support of the ordinance. “How can the city proceed with criminalizing the homeless when we don’t have enough beds," one person said during public comment.“Encampments are unsafe and unsanitary, we cannot allow them to proliferate, period," Gloria said.Gloria held a press conference with several city leaders, downtown residents, business owners and others to voice their support on the ordinance before the City Council meeting began Tuesday.If passed, the ...

Reckless driver arrested after high-speed pursuit in Los Angeles County

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

A man wanted for reckless driving was arrested following a high-speed pursuit through Los Angeles County on Tuesday night.The suspect was also considered armed and dangerous at the time, according to the California Highway Patrol.The driver was seen traveling at speeds of over 100 miles per hour on the freeway while weaving in and out of heavy traffic as patrol cars trailed closely behind.A man wanted for reckless driving was arrested following a high-speed pursuit through Los Angeles County on June 13, 2023. (KTLA)A man wanted for reckless driving was arrested following a high-speed pursuit through Los Angeles County on June 13, 2023. (KTLA)A man wanted for reckless driving was arrested following a high-speed pursuit through Los Angeles County on June 13, 2023. (KTLA)A man wanted for reckless driving was arrested following a high-speed pursuit through Los Angeles County on June 13, 2023. (KTLA)A man wanted for reckless driving was arrested following a high-speed pursuit through Los...

Prosecutors: Weapons expert in Alec Baldwin case was hungover on set; defense calls case mishandled

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The weapons supervisor on the film set where Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the filming of “Rust,” prosecutors are accusing, saying she was likely hungover when she loaded a live bullet into the revolver that the actor used. They leveled the accusations Friday in response to a motion filed last month by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys that seeks to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter charge. The prosecutors accused her of having a history of reckless conduct and argued that it would be in the public interest for her to “finally be held accountable.”Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, said Tuesday that the prosecution has mishandled the case.“The case is so weak that they now have chosen to resort to character assassination claims about Hannah,” Bowles told The Associated Press. “The prosecution has abandoned the idea of doing justice and getting to the actual truth apparently.”...

Stock market today: Asian stocks follow Wall St higher as US inflation cools

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday after a cooler reading on U.S. inflation fueled hopes the Federal Reserve will postpone a possible interest rate hike.Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney rose. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.7% to a 14-month high after government data Tuesday showed U.S. consumer inflation eased to 4% over a year earlier in May from the previous month’s 4.9%. It was less than half last June’s peak of 9.1% but still double the Fed’s 2% target.That reinforced hopes the Fed will avoid announcing another rate hike when its monthly meeting ends Wednesday. Two Fed board members said previously the U.S. central bank should put off another hike while it studies the impact of previous increases.“The Fed will see this as a window of opportunity to pause,” said Clifford Bennett of ACY Securities in a report.The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3% to 3,243.66 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo advan...

Golden Knights beat Panthers to win first Stanley Cup

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

Mark Stone had a hat trick as the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Florida Panthers in five games on Tuesday to win the organization’s first Stanley Cup in its six years of existence.Established in 2017-18, the Golden Knights are the first expansion team to be crowned Stanley Cup champions since the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.Vegas was powered by the clutch performances of a few key players, notably Jonathan Marchessault, Jack Eichel and team captain Mark Stone, who all registered over 20 points during the team’s Stanley Cup run.Stone was particularly brilliant on Tuesday, scoring a hat trick for Vegas in a 9-3 win.If we had an #ExpressiveMarkStone ranking this would be at the top. pic.twitter.com/msPBJFZEUP— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 14, 2023Eichel, in his second season with the Golden Knights, capped off a fantastic postseason and had three assists, while Marchessault added one assist. Winger Reilly Smith had two points, including a goal and an assist, while defe...

Iran president rails against US sanctions during visit to Nicaragua

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In his first visit to Latin America, Iran’s hardline president met Tuesday with his Nicaraguan counterpart and railed against a theme both leaders have in common: U.S. sanctions.President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Nicaragua is his second stop, after Venezuela. He is also scheduled to visit Cuba, Iran’s other ally in the region.Raisi spoke at a joint appearance in Managua with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.“The United States wanted to paralyze our people with threats and sanctions, but it hasn’t been able to do it,” Raisi said.Many top figures in Ortega’s government also face U.S. sanctions for crushing dissent and imprisoning or exiling opponents.On Monday , Raisi visited President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, which is also under U.S. economic sanctions.His tour of allied nations in Latin America comes amid rising tensions with the administration of President Joe Biden.The U.S. has accused Iran of providing Russia with materials to build a drone ma...

Founder of sexuality-focused women’s wellness company pleads not guilty in forced labor case

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — An entrepreneur who promoted group “orgasmic meditation” as a road to women’s well-being turned herself in and pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of manipulating traumatized people into debt, undesired sex and underpaid work. Nicole Daedone, who founded the sex-centric wellness company OneTaste, faces a federal forced labor conspiracy case that was unveiled last week. She was released Tuesday on $1 million bond, secured by her mother, her mother’s partner, and a OneTaste ally; the friend put up a sprawling property in Northern California’s Mendocino County.“The idea that this woman, at this company, engaged in forced labor is as far from the truth and reality as one could comprehend,” defense lawyer Julia Gatto said outside court. She called Daedone “a ceiling-shattering feminist entrepreneur” who created a unique business around women’s sexuality and empowerment.Prosecutors, however, say Daedone and former sales chief Rachel Cherwitz schemed to draw in peo...

Japanese soldier arrested after allegedly firing at colleagues on army base, 3 wounded

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese soldier was arrested Wednesday after allegedly shooting and wounding three colleagues at an army base, a top government official said.Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroakazu Matsuno told reporters that the shooting occurred at a firing range at a base in Gifu prefecture in central Japan.NHK public television, quoting investigative officials, said the suspect is a teenage male. One of the wounded was in serious condition, NHK said.No other details, including a possible motive, were immediately available. The Associated Press

Microsoft’s planned Activision Blizzard merger temporarily blocked by US judge

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft’s planned $69 billion purchase of video game company Activision Blizzard was blocked by a federal judge Tuesday, giving more time for an antitrust review of the deal. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco ruled in support of a temporary restraining order sought by the Federal Trade Commission that will stop Microsoft from closing the deal. In a court filing Monday, the commission had sought both a restraining order and injunction to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of the California company behind hit games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush Saga.Microsoft, maker of the Xbox game system, has spent months trying to win worldwide approval for the merger. While a number of countries have approved the acquisition, regulators for two important economies — the U.S. and the U.K. — have taken action to stop it, arguing it could suppress competition in the video game market.The judge said her order temporarily block...

Putin threatens to seize more of Ukraine to block attacks on border regions

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Tuesday that he could order his troops to try to seize more land in Ukraine to protect bordering Russian territory — a threat with questionable credibility because the Kremlin lacks full control over areas it already annexed.In some of his most detailed remarks about the war in months, the Russian leader also asserted that Ukrainian forces had suffered “catastrophic” losses in a new counteroffensive, and he said he was not contemplating a new troop mobilization, as many Russians have feared. But he did not rule out another troop call-up later. And he reiterated Russia’s claim that Ukraine was responsible for blowing up a Dnieper River dam that caused vast flooding on both sides of the front line last week in the country’s south.Putin’s comments at an open meeting with military journalists and bloggers followed Kyiv’s claims that Ukrainian troops had captured a handful of villages in the early stages of...