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Hong Kong detains 8 people on eve of Tiananmen Square anniversary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police detained eight people, including activists and artists, on the eve of the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, a move that signals the city’s shrinking freedom of expression.Police said in a statement late Saturday that four people have been arrested for allegedly disrupting order in public spaces or carrying out acts with seditious intent. Four others were taken away for investigation on suspicion of breaching public peace. Authorities did not immediately responded to an email seeking comment late Saturday.For decades, tens of thousands of Hong Kongers held a candlelight vigil in Victoria Park on June 4 to commemorate the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, in which tanks rolled into the heart of Beijing and hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed.During the pandemic, protests in Hong Kong were rare due to COVID-19 restrictions. In addition, many activists there have been silenced or jailed after Beijing impos...

Key suspect in Natalee Holloway’s case moved to new prison ahead of extradition tot US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The chief suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway is being transferred to a prison near Peru’s capital ahead of his pending extradition to the United States to face charges linked to her vanishing, officials said Saturday. The government of Peru, where Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot was serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of a Peruvian woman, authorized his extradition to the U.S. in May. Máximo Altez, van del Sloot’s lawyer, said his client was being taken by land from the Challapalca prison in Peru’s southern Andes to the Piedras Gordas prison on the outskirts of Lima.“In the coming days, the INPE (National Penitentiary Institute) will hand over the condemned man to Interpol Peru with the goal of handing him over to U.S. authorities from the FBI,” said a statement from the INPE released Saturday. Altez said that once the bureaucratic procedures are completed and van der Sloot is given a medical exam, hi...

Cardinal performs rite to restore Vatican altar desecrated by man’s naked protest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The head of St. Peter’s Basilica performed a special rite Saturday after a man stripped naked and hopped on the main altar with the words “Save children of Ukraina” written on his back.Cardinal Mauro Gambetti performed the penitential rite following the desecration of the altar with other priests and members of the faithful.According to Vatican News, a Polish man approached the basilica’s high altar on Thursday at closing time, undressed and jumped up on the marble altar. Photos of the incident showed the bald man in just black socks and sneakers with his back to the pews.The man didn’t resist when gendarmes approached and took him to the Vatican police station. He was handed over to Italian police, who issued an expulsion order requiring him to leave Italy, Vatican News reported.It was the latest incident of disturbances at the Vatican in recent months. Last summer, climate activists glued their hands to a statue in the Vatican Museums to draw attention to...

Official: 1 dead, 14 rescued after overloaded boat capsizes near southern Haiti

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — One person died and 14 others were rescued after an overloaded boat traveling without authorization capsized near Haiti’s southern coast, authorities said Saturday.Among the survivors is a person who was hospitalized in critical condition, according to Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency. It said authorities are still looking for an undetermined number of people.The boat departed late Friday from the town of Anse-a-Pitres near the border that Haiti and the Dominican Republic share. It capsized as it traveled west to the southern coastal town of Marigot, said Auguste Sony, an inspector with Haiti’s Maritime and Navigation Service.He told The Associated Press that the boat was laden with 600 sacks of flour and more than 15 people, so he did not authorize it to leave the port given its heavy load and reported the situation to his superiors.Sony said the captain ignored his orders and set off, insisting that he ferry people to Marigot.“It’s very sad that t...

Does Medicare cover Ozempic?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

(NerdWallet) - Ozempic, a medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes, has gone viral as a weight loss drug.The #ozempic hashtag has over a billion views on TikTok, and more people are searching the web for Ozempic than for insulin, Viagra or Tylenol, according to Google Trends data for May 2023.Medicare beneficiaries interested in the drug might be surprised to see that it’s often covered by Medicare Part D. It’s one of the prescription drugs on which Medicare, the federal health care program for people age 65 and older and for younger people with certain disabilities, spends the most money each year.But Medicare doesn’t cover Ozempic for weight loss — only for diabetes. Nor does Medicare cover Wegovy, a weight loss drug that uses the same active ingredient as Ozempic.In fact, Medicare doesn’t cover any prescription drugs for weight loss. And because of legal barriers and cost concerns, that might not change any time soon.Here’s what to know about Medicare coverage of Ozempic and othe...

Cement-filled toilets and dead fish: NC school district bars more than 80 seniors from graduation over 'pranks'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

(WGHP) – Some students call it a senior prank. Law enforcement officials call it vandalism.   In North Carolina, the school districts are filing charges.Over the last month, multiple school districts in the state have filed charges against students in connection with so-called pranks that, they say, are anything but harmless.The Burlington Police Department, for instance, recently announced that charges had been filed against seven students who were reportedly involved in an incident at Walter M. Williams High School, during which they poured cement mix into eight toilets and six urinals after breaking in. The incident, which made national headlines, was extremely destructive, school officials said.“That alone was the cost of around $4,000,” said Les Atkins, spokesperson for the Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS).That’s not counting labor.  “We had about 17 maintenance workers here."It wasn’t just the cement. Baby powder was all over the gym, inappropriate signs...

Costco shoppers shifting away from specific item; CFO says it's indicator of recession

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Costco’s shoppers were less often choosing to purchase beef or steaks from the stores’ meat departments in recent months — a trend indicative of a recession or at least “concern” for a recession, according to CFO Richard Galanti.Galanti, speaking with investors in a third-quarter earnings call last week, said more shoppers were choosing less expensive cuts of meat instead.“Historically, we've always seen, like within fresh protein, we've always seen when there's a recession, whether it was '99, '00 or '08, '09, '10, we would see some sales penetration shift from beef to poultry and pork,” Galanti said in a third-quarter earnings call last week. “We've seen some of that now.” Costco CFO addresses future of $1.50 hot dog-and-soda deal on earnings call He also said he had heard from a fellow executive that Costco was seeing “some switch even to some canned products, like canned chicken and canned tuna and things like that.”Products from Kirkland Signature — Costco’s priva...

Chicago Tap Theater celebrates 20th year anniversary with milestone performance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

Sterling Harris, choreographer of the Chicago Tap Teater, joins WGN Weekend Morning News to talk about the 20th anniversary of the dance company and how he was able to choreograph it. With a background in Neuroscience, Harris was able to combine his passion of music and dance with science in the milestone performance to take place next week.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

'Just Majority' campaign makes stops in Austin, pushing for more balanced Supreme Court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN)—A group of diverse advocates are traveling in a bus around the country, pushing for change within the U.S.'s highest court. It's called the 'Just Majority,' campaign. The message?: ‘Democracy Demands A Fair And Ethical Court,' as seen in bold letters on the campaign's tour bus. A group made up of reproductive, gun violence prevention, civil rights and racial justice advocates are spreading awareness about the Judiciary Act."The Judiciary Act would put new Supreme Court justices onto the court," Representative for Texas District 35, Greg Casar said. "We would be adding four justices to the court. And there have been multiple times in American history and many times that the Congress has changed the number of justices on the court."It's a conversation Casar and his fellow advocates say has more urgency now, than ever. That's why they want to talk about it to anyone who will listen.The Supreme Court's decision to reverse Roe. V. Wade may have added more fuel to the group'...

UT Austin preps to educate thousands with new AI program

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:50:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The University of Texas at Austin this week opened applications for its first-ever online master's degree in artificial intelligence. The first of its kind in the nation, the program debuts next spring.UT estimates there will be 97 million new AI-related jobs globally over the next two years. The university told KXAN it received roughly 10,000 inquiries about its new program."Organizations, companies are in dire need of people with these skills. But there aren't enough people out there to hire," said Eric Busch, UT's Managing Director of Computer and Data Science Online.Busch said the online program has been scaled to educate thousands of students at once and has been priced at about $10,000."[The pricing] is a game changer for a lot of folks," Busch told KXAN.Computer science professor Adam Klivans will lead some of the AI courses. He said students are expected to have some base knowledge in computer science, statistics, or electrical engineering."They're learning s...