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Americans detained for years in Iran arrive in US after their release, US official says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans detained for years in Iran arrived home Tuesday after being freed as part of a politically risky deal that saw President Joe Biden agree to the release of nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets.The successful negotiations for the Americans’ freedom brought Biden profuse thanks from their families but heat from Republican presidential rivals and other opponents for the monetary arrangement with one of America’s top adversaries.“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” Biden said in a statement released as the plane carrying the group from Tehran landed in Doha, Qatar, on Monday.In the early hours of Tuesday, a plane carrying the Americans landed in the United States, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, on hand for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, sugg...

Foreign firms in China say vague rules and tensions with Washington hurting business, surveys show

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

Foreign companies operating in China say tensions with Washington over technology, trade and other issues and uncertainty over Chinese policies are damaging the business environment and causing some to reassess their plans for investing in the giant market. The results of surveys released Tuesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China largely concurred in appealing for greater certainty and clarity over China’s stance toward foreign businesses. “For decades, European companies thrived in China, benefitting from a stable and efficient business environment. However, after the turbulent past three years, many have reevaluated their basic assumptions about the Chinese market,” Jens Eskelund, the EU Chamber’s president said, in a letter that accompanied the report. Eskelund said that predictability and reliability had been undermined by “erratic policy shifts,” hurting confidence in China’s growth prospects.“At t...

China tells foreign consulates in Hong Kong to provide personal data of all local staff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s Foreign Ministry has asked all foreign consulates in Hong Kong to provide the personal details of their locally employed staff, as Beijing tightens its control over the semi-autonomous city.The Commissioner’s Office of the Foreign Ministry, in a letter seen by The Associated Press, asked the consulates to provide staffers’ names, job titles, residential addresses, identity card numbers and travel document numbers “in line with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and general international practice.”The letter, dated Monday and addressed to all consulate posts and the Office of the European Union, stated that they should comply with the request by Oct. 18, and that the details of staffers who are employed in the future should be furnished within 15 days.It wasn’t clear whether China furnishes details of its staff in foreign missions to other countries.The request comes as Beijing has tightened control over Hong Kong in recent years followin...

Network of ancient American Indian earthworks in Ohio named to list of UNESCO World Heritage sites

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A network of ancient American Indian ceremonial and burial mounds in Ohio described as “part cathedral, part cemetery and part astronomical observatory” was added Tuesday to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Preservationists, led by the Ohio History Connection, and indigenous tribes, many with ancestral ties to the state, pushed to recognize the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks for their good condition, distinct style and cultural significance — describing them as “masterpieces of human genius.” UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee approved the application during a meeting in Saudi Arabia. The massive earthworks join a list of famed sites that includes Greece’s Acropolis, Peru’s Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China.Constructed by American Indians between 2,000 and 1,600 years ago along central tributaries of the Ohio River, the earthworks were host to ceremonies that drew people from across the continent, based on archeological discoveries of raw material...

Israeli military sentences commander to 10 days in prison over shooting of Palestinian motorist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Tuesday sentenced an army commander in the occupied West Bank to 10 days in military prison after an investigation into his shooting last week of a Palestinian motorist who was found to be innocent.The Israeli military said that security forces stationed at the Israeli settlement of Rimonim, east of Jerusalem, had received reports of gunshots in the area and, sometime later, spotted a Palestinian vehicle fleeing the scene that they believed to be behind the shooting. The forces opened fire at the Palestinian man’s car, the military said, hitting and wounding the driver. The army arrested him and took him to a hospital for treatment before releasing him the next day. An Israeli military investigation determined the army’s shooting was the result of mistaken identity. “This is a serious incident in which the force acted contrary to procedures,” the army said, announcing that the force’s commander had been sentenced to 10 days in military pr...

Ukraine intercepts 27 of 30 Russian Shahed drones, sparking inferno at Lviv warehouse and killing 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a massive drone attack on the western city of Lviv early Tuesday, damaging a warehouse facility in a fiery blaze and killing one man, Ukrainian authorities said.Ukraine intercepted 27 of 30 Shahed drones overnight, the Air Force said. But drones that got through air defense systems sparked an inferno at the industrial storage facility that was not used for military purposes, Gov. Maksym Kozytsky said. An artillery strike in Kherson in the south struck a bus, killing a police sergeant and wounding two men, said Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs. That strike also set a warehouse on fire. The developments in the war front came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in New York to address the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council before going to Washington on Thursday to meet with lawmakers and President Joe Biden.Zelenskyy has continued to drum up funding and support for new weapons as the counteroffensive Ukra...

Rudy Giuliani sued by former lawyer over $1.36 million in legal bills

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani's former lawyer sued him Monday, alleging the ex-New York City mayor has paid only a fraction of nearly $1.6 million in legal fees he's racked up from investigations into his efforts to keep Donald Trump in the White House.Robert Costello and his law firm, Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, say Giuliani has paid them just $214,000 and still has a $1.36 million tab. Giuliani’s last payment, according to the lawsuit, was $10,000 on Sept. 14 — about a week after Trump hosted a $100,000-a-plate fundraiser for Giuliani at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club.Costello and the firm say Giuliani, once celebrated as “America’s mayor” for his leadership after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, breached his retainer agreement by failing to pay invoices in full in a timely fashion. The lawsuit, filed in state court in Manhattan, seeks full payment of Giuliani’s unpaid bills, as well as costs and fees from their efforts to get him to pay up.“I can’t express how personall...

No winner for Powerball; jackpot climbs to $672 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Better luck next time. No one won Monday night's Powerball jackpot, and the total has climbed to $672 million.There were no $2 million winners, and a $1 million ticket was sold in Massachusetts.Monday's numbers were: 2, 21, 26, 40, 42, and red Powerball 9. The Power Play was 3X. The next Powerball drawing will be Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. ET.At that size, this jackpot ranks as the 10th-largest in Powerball history. It’s also the third-largest of 2023. In February, there was a $754.6 million jackpot won by a ticket in Washington, and in July, a California ticket landed a $1.08 billion prize. Both of those prizes rank among the largest in the game’s history.Here are the 10 largest Powerball jackpots on record:$2.04 billion: Nov. 7, 2022 (California)$1.586 billion: Jan. 13, 2016 (California, Florida, Tennessee)$1.08 billion: July 19, 2023 (California) $768.4 million: March 27, 2019 (Wisconsin)$758.7 million: Aug. 23, 2017 (Massachusetts)$754.6 million: Feb. 6, 2023 (Wash...

Heating up into the upper 90s

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As we count down the final days of summer, Mother Nature throws one more punch with hotter than normal temperatures expected through the weekend.The majority of us stay dry under a mainly clear sky overnight allowing for great visibility of tomorrow morning's celestial event - Venus' peak brilliancy! Venus will be at its brightest Tuesday morning from 4AM-sunrise. Look to the east for "Earth's twin" to be outshining many of it's outer space counterparts.Venus to be a peak brightness Tuesday morningMoving forward, the unseasonable heat becomes the main story. Afternoon highs will warm well into the 90s each day through the start of the upcoming weekend. Mainly sunny skies, increasing humidity and uncomfortable late-summer temperatures can be expected areawide. Feels-like temperatures into the triple digits will return beginning Wednesday.Not until late weekend do we see hope for change. Our first cold front of the fall season looks to get pushed through Central Texas...

Agents bust alleged homemade booze maker near DFW

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:51:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Agents with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission seized an illegal still at a home in north-central Texas on Sept. 1, according to the agency.The agents found the still at a Johnson County home after getting an anonymous tip, the TABC said in Sept. 13 release. Agents from the agency's Arlington Regional Office led the operation. The still could be used to make illicit alcohol in violation of state law, the TABC said. A person living at the home admitted to agents that they owned the still, according to the agency. Possession of illicit distillation equipment is a misdemeanor and the agency said it can be punishable by a fine between $100–$1,000. “This operation exemplifies TABC’s commitment to properly enforcing the law and ensuring the safety and integrity of the alcoholic beverage industry in Texas,” TABC Executive Director Thomas Graham said. “Not only does illicit alcohol risk the health and safety of anyone who consumes it, but it also undermines the efforts ...