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Czech court cancels lower court ruling that acquitted former PM Babis of fraud charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Prague’s High Court cancelled a lower court ruling that acquitted former Prime Minister Andrej Babis of fraud charges in a $2 million case involving European Union subsidies.The court returned the case for retrial to Prague’s Municipal Court, according information published in a database of court documents on Friday.The High Court issued the verdict a day earlier but didn’t make it immediately public.The Babis case involved a farm known as the Stork’s Nest, which received EU subsidies after its ownership was transferred from the Babis-owned Agrofert conglomerate of around 250 companies to Babis’ family members. Later, Agrofert again took ownership of the farm.The subsidies were meant for medium- and small-sized businesses, and Agrofert wouldn’t have been eligible for them. Agrofert later returned the subsidy.Prague’s Municipal Court also acquitted in January his former associate, Jana Nagyova, who signed the subsidy request. Babis pleaded not guilty and repeatedly said...

Apple will update iPhone 12 in France after regulators said it emitted too much radiation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Apple has agreed to install updates for the iPhone 12 in France after French regulators ordered the company to stop selling the model because it emits electromagnetic radiation levels that exceed European Union standards.The company, which just unveiled its newest generation of iPhones, insists the 12 model is safe and the phones have been certified in countries around the world since its introduction in 2020. It says the problem raised by the French government agency that manages wireless communications frequencies is “related to a specific testing protocol.”The French agency said the iPhone 12 recently failed one of two types of tests for electromagnetic waves capable of being absorbed by the body. On Tuesday, France’s government ordered a halt to sales of the iPhone 12 and told Apple to issue a software update to address the problem or face a recall.Apple said in a statement Friday that it “will issue a software update for users in France to accommodate the protocol ...

AP Election Brief | What to expect in Pennsylvania’s special election

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the third time in less than eight months, a special election will decide control of the narrowly divided Pennsylvania House of Representatives and provide political reinforcements to either the commonwealth’s Democratic governor or its Republican-controlled Senate.On Tuesday, voters in the heavily Democratic 21st legislative district will choose a replacement for former state Rep. Sara Innamorato, who stepped down in July to focus on her bid to be Allegheny County’s next county executive. Her resignation bumped Democrats from a one-vote majority in the chamber to a 101-101 tie with Republicans.The Democratic nominee is Lindsay Powell, director of Workforce Strategies for InnovatePGH, an economic development nonprofit, and a former aide to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and former Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto. She faces GOP nominee Erin Connolly Autenreith, a real estate agent and chairwoman of the Shale...

Bus with migrants crashes as Italy transfers new arrivals to relieve pressure on Lampedusa island

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

ROME (AP) — A bus reportedly transporting recently arrived migrants slammed into a truck north of Rome early Friday, killing the two drivers, as Italy accelerated the transfers of migrants north to try to relieve pressure on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.Ten people were also injured in the crash on the A1 highway near Fiano Romano, Italy’s fire rescue service said. Italian media said the bus had been transporting the migrants north to Piedmont after they arrived in recent days on Lampedusa and were ferried to the Italian mainland.Lampedusa, which is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland, has been overwhelmed this week by thousands of people hoping to reach Europe from Tunisia, which has replaced Libya as the main base of operations for migrant smuggling operations in the Mediterranean.The Italian Red Cross said some 700 new arrivals had been transferred off Lampedusa on Thursday and 2,500 more transfers were planned for Friday to try to relieve pressure on the island’s refug...

Daughter of long-detained activist in Bahrain prepares to travel to island kingdom on Friday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A daughter of a long-detained human rights activist in Bahrain plans to return to the island kingdom Friday to press for the release of her father, even as she faces imprisonment herself. Maryam al-Khawaja will be accompanied by a phalanx of other activists including the secretary-general of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, seeking to prevent authorities from immediately detaining her. Her trip comes as her father, 62-year-old Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, has resumed a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his yearslong imprisonment on internationally criticized charges stemming from him leading 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations in Bahrain. The trip also renews pressure on Denmark, where both al-Khawajas have citizenship, and the U.S., which signed a new defense understanding with Bahrain this week during a trip to Washington by its crown prince. “So I’m on my way,” Maryam al-Khawaja said in a video posted online. “I want to thank the peop...

Workers are on strike at all 3 Detroit auto makers for the first time in their union's history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — About 13,000 U.S. auto workers stopped making vehicles and went on strike Friday after their leaders couldn’t bridge a giant gap between union demands in contract talks and what Detroit’s three automakers are willing to pay. Members of the United Auto Workers union began picketing at a General Motors assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri; a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit; and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.It was the first time in the union’s 88-year history that it walked out on all three companies simultaneously as four-year contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.The strikes will likely chart the future of the union and of America’s homegrown auto industry at a time when U.S. labor is flexing its might and the companies face a historic transition from building internal combustion automobiles to making electric vehicles.If they last a long time, dealers could run short of vehicles and prices could rise, impacting a U.S. economy already unde...

Hurricane Lee now threatens New England after heavy rain, flooding and tornadoes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — After a deluge of rain, flooding, sinkholes and tornadoes this week, New England is about to face Hurricane Lee.As the Category 1 system impacted Bermuda, Maine was under its first hurricane watch in 15 years and a state of emergency declared Thursday by Gov. Janet Mills. The water-logged region prepared for 20-foot waves offshore and wind gusts up to 80 mph,, along with more rain.The hurricane watch applied to eastern Maine, while the rest of the state and an area extending south through Massachusetts was under a tropical storm warning. Powerful winds and coastal flooding were expected to arrive Friday afternoon in southern New England and spread north.Although Lee did not contribute to the flooding that hit New England earlier in the week, it threatened to exacerbate conditions in a region that is already waterlogged.This Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, 7:51 a.m. EDT satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hu...

What's at stake as workers go on strike at major auto makers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — About 13,000 auto workers have walked off the job at three targeted factories after their union leaders couldn't reach a deal with Detroit's automakers.The United Auto Workers union is seeking big raises and better benefits from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. They want to get back concessions that the workers made years ago, when the companies were in financial trouble. UAW on strike after union negotiations with Big Three fail A small percentage of the union’s 146,000 members walked off the job at a GM assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri; a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit; and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.Shawn Fain, the combative president of the UAW, says the targeted strikes will give the union leverage in contract talks and keep the auto companies guessing about its next move.It could also make the union’s $825 million strike fund last much longer.A United Auto Workers member strikes...

Deadly multi-vehicle crash closes I-35 northbound in Buda Friday morning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

BUDA, Texas (KXAN) -- Part of Interstate 35 northbound in Buda was shut down early Friday morning after a deadly crash involving three vehicles. The Buda Police Department said the interstate was shut down near exit 220/Main Street. The department posted about the incident on social media at 4:31 a.m. REAL-TIME TRAFFIC MAPS According to BPD, three vehicles were involved in the crash. It's not clear how many people were killed in the crash, or the exact cause, but police said it was potentially due to a driver going the wrong way. Police asked drivers to use alternate routes and plan for delays. The department was not able to provide a timeline on when the interstate would be reopened.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Movie review: Branagh’s rueful ‘A Haunting in Venice’ may prove his best Christie adaptation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:44:53 GMT

Heard this one before? A detective, a mystery writer and a medium walk into a Halloween party — who’ll come out the winner? The rest of the party include a soprano, a doctor, a nun, a chef, a bodyguard and a very serious little boy. This is the setup for Kenneth Branagh’s “A Haunting in Venice,” loosely based on Agatha Christie’s 1969 novel “Hallowe’en Party.” It’s Branagh’s third outing as the prodigiously mustachioed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, in the trilogy of Christie adaptations he also directs.It’s 1947, 10 years after “Death on the Nile,” and Poirot has sunk into an easy retirement in Venice, Italy, with a bodyguard (Riccardo Scamarcio), a former policeman, to shoo away the locals clamoring for his detecting skills. There’s only one person who can get past his guard, and that’s the fast-talking authoress Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey, in full gal Friday mode), who talks him into ...