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EU lawmakers green-light visa free travel for Kosovo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union lawmakers on Tuesday gave the green light for citizens from Kosovo to travel freely in Europe without visas from next year.The move means that Kosovo’s citizens will be able to travel in the 27-nation Schengen passport free area, which includes most EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, for periods of up to 90 days every six months.Citizens in the Schengen countries will be able to visit Kosovo without visas too. The former Serbian territory was the last country in the Western Balkans region not to have such travel arrangements with the EU.Dutch Socialist lawmaker Thijs Reuten, who chaperoned the process through the European Parliament, said the move “finally enables the people of Kosovo to easily travel, visit relatives and do business in the EU.”“But it is more than that,” he added in a statement, as the assembly met in Strasbourg France. “This milestone is also an important foundation for the future and ever-closer cooper...

Peacemaker George Mitchell makes poignant Belfast return

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The first time George Mitchell came to Belfast, it was a war-scarred city of bomb damage and barbed wire.This week the former U.S. senator returned, perhaps for the last time, to a city at peace — a peace he was crucial to forging.Now 89 and being treated for leukemia, Mitchell has not attended a major public event for three years. But he was determined to be in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 peace accord he helped to bring about.“I love Northern Ireland. I love the people. I love the place. They’ve been extraordinarily generous and hospitable to me and my wife, my family,” Mitchell told The Associated Press on Tuesday at Queen’s University Belfast. “The fact that it might be my last time makes it especially meaningful for me.”With a political crisis that has toppled Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government clouding the peace commemorations, Mitchell said the Good Friday Agreement has been “a rema...

A Canadian astronaut on planning his trip to the moon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, if all goes according to plan, Col. Jeremy Hansen will soon become the first Canadian to travel to the moon. As a member of the four-person Artemis II crew, he will leave low Earth orbit next year and swing out and around the moon before returning to splashdown in the ocean.Jeremy talks to us about being chosen for the team, what this mission will accomplish, its margin for error, and how it feels to be one of the four people charged with taking some of the first steps towards travelling past the moon, to Mars and beyond.“Artemis Is just one more example of how we can do incredible things when we set big goals, we have good intentions, we attract people to come and work collaboratively. We can essentially accomplish the impossible, and it gives me a lot of hope,” he said.You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.

‘Pressure is a privilege’: Maple Leafs look to turn the page on past playoff woes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

Toronto Maple Leafs playoff hockey is back.The blue and white will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night in game one of their first round playoff series — the team and its fans once again hoping to make it past the first round for the first time in nearly 20 years.A tailgate party will be held in Maple Leafs Square and it’s also ‘Blue and White Day’ in the city with fans being encouraged to show up to work or school with their Maple Leafs gear.Puck drop is just after 7:30 p.m. on Sportsnet.Playoff rematch with Tampa BaySame opponent, different result. That’s what Leafs fans are hoping for.Many pundits have Toronto finally getting over the hump in this year’s playoff rematch with the Lightning — the same team that came back from 3-2 series deficit and bounced them in seven games last year.The Lightning have represented the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup final the last three years, winning the cup in 2020 ...

Pakistan court jails Chinese national charged with blasphemy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court has ruled that a Chinese national arrested on blasphemy charges be held in jail for two weeks, pending trial, a police officer said Tuesday. Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, anyone convicted of blasphemy can be sentenced to death. The Chinese man, identified by police only as Tian, was arrested on Sunday night, hours after hundreds of residents and laborers working on a dam project in the town of Komela in northwestern Pakistan blocked a key highway and rallied demanding his arrest. Tian was part of a group of Chinese working on the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan. He was accused by Pakistani laborers of blasphemy after criticizing two drivers working on the project of taking too much time to pray during work hours. Tian was whisked away from northwestern Pakistan and brought before a court in the city of Abottabad, where he on Monday pleaded not guilty. He also insisted that he did not insult Islam or th...

6-month-old dies after crash involving stolen vehicle on West Side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

CHICAGO — A 6-month-old boy has died after a crash involving a stolen vehicle on the city's West Side.Police said the crash happened around 5 p.m. Sunday in the 4400 block of West Washington. A stolen Hyundai was traveling westbound on Washington when it struck a pickup truck.According to police, there were multiple hospitalizations in this crash — including a 6-month-old boy who died from his injuries. The medical examiner has identified the baby as Cristian Uvidia. ‘We’re so scared right now’: Indiana couple caught in downtown Chicago violence Two offenders from the Hyundai were taken into custody, police said. Charges are pending.Area detectives are investigating the fatal crash.

White Castle offering 20% off on 4/20

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio — White Castle is offering a discount Thursday to celebrate the unofficial holiday of marijuana — 4/20.Anyone who orders online with the code "CRAVINGS" will receive a 20% off discount."This Thursday -- 4/20 -- a lot of people are going to be craving White Castle even more than usual, if you know what I mean," the company said in a press release. 4/20: Origins of marijuana holiday explained Locally, White Castle was recently in the news after one of their historic stores, an 88-year-old White Castle in Whiting, Indiana, announced they are going to remodel.

Patrick Wisdom has historic power for Cubs early in 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

OAKLAND — Power has always been a bit part of his hitting profile while in Chicago, but it's been even more so early in 2023 for Patrick Wisdom.That's because the third baseman and designated hitter's start to the season when it comes to home runs have been historic for the Cubs.Wisdom hit two more homers late Monday night in a 10-1 win over the Athletics in Oakland that improves the team to 9-6 on the season. That brings the third baseman up to eight home runs on the season through just 15 games - and that puts him in some elite company in franchise history. Per the Cubs, Wisdom has become the fourth member of the club to have that amount of homers in that span to start the season since 1901, and the first to do so in 65 years.Lee Walls was the last to do it in 1958 with Hank Sauer pulling it off four years earlier in 1954. Gabby Hartnett was the first member of the Cubs to pull it off in the 1925 season.Wisdom joined that club by knocking a solo homer out of the park in the second...

Indiana public health expansion clears key legislative vote

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana lawmakers gave a key sign of support Monday for the governor’s proposal that would broadly expand the state’s support for county-level public health programs toward improving the state's poor national rankings in areas such as smoking, obesity and life expectancy.Indiana House members voted 78-21 in favor of the bill, with opposition coming from among the most conservative Republican members. Those votes against the proposal came despite changes to specify that elected county officials can opt out of the state program at any time since the Republican-dominated Senate endorsed the bill in February.House Public Health Committee Chairman Brad Barrett urged support for the proposal, saying that county health programs are “strapped” for resources and those troubles were magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic.“It only brought to light the fact that this was uncoordinated and poorly funded,” said Barrett, a Republican from Richmond.The bill ...

How are animal shelters addressing their overpopulation issues?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:21:26 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic trickled down into multiple aspects of our lives, and the lives of our pets. Around March 2021, animal shelters in Austin and surrounding areas felt the reality of people going back to work, realizing they had less time to take care of their pets. Overcrowding of animal shelters, though, goes deeper than people returning “pandemic pets.” In talking to shelters around the community, many found, for some owners, the financial stress became too much to provide their pet the best care. In other cases, there was a lack of available housing that would accommodate their pet’s breed and weight.At the core of it, though, shelters in Austin, San Marcos, Williamson County, Bastrop and Houston said they are feeling the effects of overcrowding from a lack of spayed and neutered animals. Second to that are people returning their pets due to finances, housing conflicts or not having enough time to care for them.Misty Valenta, animal servic...