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Forest fire out of control near Chapais in northern Quebec

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

MONTREAL — Authorities say a forest fire is out of control in Chapais in northern Quebec.On Wednesday evening, the community near Chibougamau announced that residents in the southern part of the town had to evacuate.There are about a dozen active fires in the province, with the Chapais one and another near Sept-Îles on Quebec’s north shore considered out of control.Meanwhile authorities say the situation is improving in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region, about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City, where two fires were declared under control and a third was contained.The province’s Natural Resources and Public Security departments issued a notice today asking people to avoid travelling in the province’s forests as much as possible due to the high flammability hazard.This week, authorities issued a ban on fires in or near forests across the province.Quebec’s forest fire prevention agency says the high temperatures and dry conditions enveloping the province, couple...

3 residents of partially collapsed Iowa building still unaccounted for, police say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Three residents of an Iowa apartment building that partially collapsed on Sunday are still unaccounted for, according to police. Earlier this week, authorities said five people were missing, but Davenport Police Chief Jeff Bladel said during a media briefing Thursday morning that two of them have since been accounted for and are safe. One moved out of the building a month ago and was found in Texas, and the other was found locally. The six-story building partially collapsed shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday. The city has since released documents, including structural engineering reports, that show the building’s owner was warned that the parts of the building was unstable. An engineer’s report dated May 24, just days before the collapse, suggested patches in the west side of the building’s brick façade “appear ready to fall imminently” and could be a safety hazard to cars or passersby.The engineer’s report also detailed that window openings, some filled and ...

Store owner charged with murder in teen’s shooting has shot at suspected shoplifters before

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A store owner in South Carolina charged with murder this week after shooting a teen he wrongly thought stole water has shot at suspected shoplifters two other times in the past eight years and not faced charges, authorities said.In 2018, Richard Chow confronted a shoplifter at his Xpress Mart Shell station in Columbia and the man attacked him, Richland County deputies said. Chow fired two shots and wounded the man, who plead guilty to charges in the case, in the leg. investigators said.In 2015, Chow fired several shots at a vehicle after he tried to stop someone he suspected of shoplifting, and the suspect got into the vehicle and threatened to shoot Chow, deputies said. No one was hurt.In both cases, authorities said Chow’s actions were not criminal. Self-defense law in South Carolina requires the shooter doesn’t instigate the incident, believes he is in imminent danger and has no way to avoid that danger.Deputies decided that was not the case Sunday, wh...

Authorities in western Mexico find 45 bags with human remains

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in northern Mexican have found 45 bags containing human remains in a gorge on the outskirts of Guadalajara and are trying to determine how many bodies are there.The bags found at a forest overlook contained remains of men and women, the state prosecutor’s office in the western state of Jalisco said in a statement Wednesday night. Firefighters and civil defense worked with a helicopter to recover remains from the gorge and planned to continue during the coming days.Authorities had been looking for seven young people who had been reported missing last week when they found the site, but it was still unknown if they were among the remains found. The state prosecutor’s office said it investigated the site after receiving a report of possible body parts there.There are more than 110,000 missing people in Mexico, and Jalisco is the state with the highest number, at 15,000, according to federal government data. There are also thousands of unidentified re...

US to open northernmost diplomatic post in Norway; only mission above Arctic Circle

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

OSLO, Norway (AP) — The United States will soon open a small diplomatic mission in Norway that will be its northernmost in the world and only such facility above the Arctic Circle, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday.The move, which Blinken announced at a news conference in Oslo after attending a NATO foreign ministers meeting, comes as competition over the high north’s resources with Russia intensifies. Blinken said the U.S. would open what is known as an “American Presence Post” in Tromsoe, which sits 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. The post will open later this year and be staffed by a single U.S. diplomat with the title of “consul.” “We’re here to work with like-minded allies to advance our vision of a peaceful, stable and cooperative Arctic,” Blinken said before meeting Norway’s foreign minister whose country is preparing to assume the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which is headquartered in Tromsoe.Norway will take ...

Saudi Arabia executes Nepal man after conviction for stabbing Saudi to death

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Thursday executed a Nepali national after his conviction for stabbing a Saudi to death. The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported the execution of Santa Bahadur Pune, saying it took place in the kingdom’s Al-Jawf region. It did not say how Pune had been killed. However, Saudi Arabia typically carries out executions by beheadings. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top executioners. It occasionally executes foreigners. The Associated Press

Pakistan’s police arrest top ally of former premier Imran Khan amid crackdown

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s police on Thursday arrested a top official in former premier Imran Khan’s political party as authorities move to rein in the outspoken politician’s supporters and allies. Pervez Elahi, who is the president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was arrested in a raid in the eastern city of Lahore. Khan is head of the party, as chairman.The latest police raid that netted Elahi was quickly denounced by Khan’s party. Amir Mir, who is information minister for the Punjab province, said Elahi was nabbed in a corruption case.The latest development comes a day after former British Cabinet ministers, senior law officers, renowned journalists and legal rights organizations issued an appeal for the release of Murad Akbar, the brother of attorney Shahzad Akbar, a rights lawyer linked with Khan.Khan himself was detained last month, sparking violent protests. Since then, police have detained thousands of Khan’s followers for alleged involvement in t...

Heather Mack to plead guilty at mother's murder hearing, attorney says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Heather Mack plans to plead guilty to charges related to the murder of her mother in Bali, Mack's attorney confirmed to WGN News Thursday.Mack has been awaiting trial for conspiring to murder her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, of Oak Park. The hearing is set for June 15.The body of Wiese-Mack was found badly beaten inside the trunk of a taxi parked at a hotel in Bali in August 2014. Mack, who was almost 19 and a few weeks pregnant at the time, and her then-21-year-old boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, were arrested a day later. Chicago judge orders Heather Mack to stay in jail as she awaits trial in mother’s Bali murder Mack spent seven years in prison in Indonesia before she was deported. She was arrested in 2021 shortly after returning to the the U.S. In November of 2022, Mack lost custody of her daughter whom she gave birth to while in prision in Indonesia. A Cook County judge ordered that the child be placed with a maternal cousin in Colorado.Schaefer remains in pri...

FBI offer $5K for info on 'Stuffed Bear Bandit' in armed bank robbery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police are in pursuit of a man who held stuffed animals during an armed robbery incident at a bank on the South Side earlier this year. Police are searching for a man in connection to a robbery of a PNC bank in the 8700 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue on March 6. Police said he entered the bank three times. The first time, he was clutching two stuffed animals, which what police believed to be a Winnie the Pooh plush and a Dalmation plush. The FBI has named him the "Stuffed Bear Bandit." Police reported that he entered the bank a second time without the stuffed animals and finally a third time when he violently robbed the bank. The man threw decorative rocks at the teller window before threating the life of an employee, demanding money while displaying a firearm.Police reports described the man between the ages of 40-50, 5'6''-5'8" tall and a medium build. He was seen wearing a black skull cap, black sunglasses, a black face mask, a black hooded jacket, blu...

'Just want a chance': Man with autism starting alternative baseball league in suburbs

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:00 GMT

NORTHBROOK, Ill. — A man from Georgia is expanding the baseball league he started to the Chicago area to give those with disabilities a chance to play America's pastime.Taylor Duncan, 27, was diagnosed with autism at the age of four and grew up absolutely loving baseball.Duncan said as he got older, there were fewer opportunities to play the sport he loved with coaches deeming his disability as a safety issue.Taylor as youngsterTaylor being honored at a Braves game"I really had the desire to give back to others like myself," Duncan told WGN News. "Baseball provides valuable lessons like character, becoming a team player and learning how to communicate."So in 2016, Duncan got to work because he knew from his own experiences that these types of positive experiences for people with disabilities can become harder to find after high school."Once those with disabilities graduate out of high school, (opportunities) can completely fall off the cliff," Duncan said. "There's got to be more se...