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Toxic gas leak in South Africa kills 16 people, including three children, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and GERALD IMRAY (Associated Press)JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least 16 people, including three children, died when toxic gas leaked from a cyclinder near Johannesburg, South African police said Wednesday.Emergency services said that as many as 24 people might be dead. It wasn’t immediately clear why there was a discrepancy in the death toll.Search and rescue teams were still working through the area trying to ascertain the extent of the casualties.The incident happened in an informal settlement in the city of Boksburg on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg, the South African Police Services said. Emergency services spokesman William Ntladi said the deaths were caused by a leak from a gas cylinder being kept in a shack in the Angelo settlement. He said the leak had stopped and teams were searching a 100-meter (100-yard) radius around the cyclinder to check for more casualties.The bodies were still lying on the ground “in and around the area,”...

Police reflect on rescuing Stoughton woman from mud at Easton’s Borderland State Park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

Stars aligned during the days-long rescue mission of the missing Stoughton woman who was reportedly stuck in mud for at least three days at an Easton state park.Easton and Stoughton emergency responders on Wednesday reflected on the “tremendous team effort” that rescued 31-year-old Emma Tetewsky from thick mud at Borderland State Park on Monday.“This is the outcome that we had hoped for, and ultimately this is a great story for everyone that she’s safe and was rescued,” Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara told reporters outside the Easton Police Department.Stoughton police invested a “significant amount of time” into the search, McNamara said, with her department and the  Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (METRO-LEC) Search and Rescue team starting to look for Tetewsky on June 28.Tetewsky was reported missing by her family two days earlier.The search culminated Monday when hikers at Borderland heard a woman screaming for help in a swamp-like area, unable to reach her. A trio of...

Meta takes aim at Twitter with the launch of rival app Threads

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

By KELVIN CHAN (AP Business Writer)LONDON (AP) — Meta unveiled an app to rival Twitter on Thursday, appearing to target users looking for an alternative to the social media platform owned — and frequently changed — by Elon Musk.Called Threads, the new offering is billed as a text-based version of Meta’s photo-sharing app Instagram that the company says provides “a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations.” The app is live in Apple and Google Android app stores in more than 100 countries including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. Users will get a Twitter-like microblogging experience, according to screenshots provided to media, suggesting that Meta Platforms has been gearing up to directly challenge the platform after Musk’s tumultuous ownership has resulted in a series of unpopular changes that have turned off users and advertisers. There are buttons to like, repost, reply to or quote a “thread,...

Orioles call up 2021 first-round pick Colton Cowser; outfielder makes major league debut vs. Yankees

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

The Orioles’ strong start to the season came with a pair of prospects pounding on the door to make their respective debuts. In a little more than a week’s time, both have arrived in the majors.Nine days after calling up infielder Jordan Westburg, the Orioles promoted outfielder Colton Cowser, their No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America, to the majors ahead of Wednesday night’s game at the New York Yankees. Drafted fifth overall in 2021, the 23-year-old Cowser was hitting .330/.459/.537 in 56 games with Triple-A Norfolk.“This year, I came in with some goals I wanted to achieve,” Cowser said. “I didn’t get off to the greatest start, but ultimately, I think turning that around and then really starting to hit my stride was something that I wanted to do. Have some struggles, how quickly can you combat that, and ultimately, I think that I did.”The Orioles opened space for Cowser on their active and 40-man rosters with a flurry of rost...

Elgin News Digest: Cubs organist to host sing-a-long at Dundee Library; gun buyback and safety event in Elgin this Saturday; Northern Illinois Food Bank holding Saturday pop-up mobile market at ECC

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

Cubs organist to host sing-a-long at Dundee LibraryJohn Benedeck, who plays the organ for Chicago Cubs home games at Wrigley Field, will be hosting a sing-a-long music lesson Friday, July 7.The free event for children and families is set for 4 to 4:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the library at 555 Barrington Ave. in East Dundee.Benedeck, a radio producer who graduated from McHenry County College and Western Illinois University, landed the Cubs job in 2020.To register, go to www.frvpld.info/events/upcoming.Gun buyback and safety event in Elgin this SaturdayThe Elgin Police Department and the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office are holding a gun buyback and safety event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 8, at Elgin City Hall, 150 Dexter Court.Each person who turns in a gun will receive $100 for every weapon or weapons, police officials said on a Facebook post. Guns must be unloaded and transported in a case, box or bag or inside a vehicle trunk.Be SMART for Kids w...

First woman athlete diagnosed with CTE, Australian organization determines

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — A former Australian rules football player has been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a landmark finding for female professional athletes.The Concussion Legacy Foundation said Heather Anderson, who played for Adelaide in the Australian Football League Women’s competition, is the first female athlete diagnosed with CTE, the degenerative brain disease linked to concussions.Researchers at the Australian Sports Brain Bank, established in 2018 and co-founded by the Concussion Legacy Foundation, diagnosed Anderson as having had low-stage CTE and three lesions in her brain.CTE, which can only be diagnosed posthumously, can cause memory loss, depression and violent mood swings in athletes, combat veterans and others who sustain repeated head trauma. Anderson died last November at age 28.“There were multiple CTE lesions as well as abnormalities nearly everywhere I looked in her cortex. It was indistinguishable from the dozens of male cases I’ve seen...

Victims of fatal 2021 B.C. library stabbing describe shattered lives at sentencing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Victims of a stabbing spree and their relatives have told a sentencing hearing how their lives were shattered two years ago by the deadly attack in and around the Lynn Valley Library in North Vancouver, B.C.Yannick Bandaogo, 30, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and several attempted murder charges earlier this year.Several victims spoke before Justice Geoffrey R.J. Gaul of the B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday, including the mother of the lone victim killed in the attack.The woman said her daughter was “fearless” and “gentle,” and her death had destroyed the family.“We’re left merely to exist,” the woman told the court.The victim’s father held his wife throughout the testimony, occasionally glaring at Bandaogo who was seated in the back of the courtroom.Neither the young woman who died in the attack nor her relatives can be identified due to a publication ban on the victim’s name.Another victim, Emma H...

Toby Keith’s shows at his Oklahoma music venue mark return to stage after revealing cancer diagnosis

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Country music star Toby Keith was back on stage over the Fourth of July weekend with his first shows since revealing last summer that he had been fighting stomach cancer. Hundreds attended the native Oklahoman’s pop-up concerts Friday and Saturday night in Norman, where he lives, The Oklahoman reports. He performed at Hollywood Corners, a 1920s roadhouse and service station that he bought and converted into a deli, bar and music venue. Norman resident Joanna Hall, who attended Friday’s show, told the newspaper that Keith put on a great performance and was “very thankful for everybody who showed up.”“He seemed a little taken aback that that many people were there,” Hall said. “He was like, ‘This was supposed to be a secret. … This was a bigger secret than what I intended.’ ”Keith’s publicist confirmed that Keith and his Easy Money Band played for about two and a half hours both nights. Last June, Keith said that he had been battling stomac...

El Salvadoran ex-President Mauricio Funes sentenced to 6 years for tax evasion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — An El Salvador court sentenced former President Mauricio Funes Wednesday to six years in prison for tax evasion, the second time in barely more than a month that a court has sentenced the ex-leader in absentia.Prosecutors had asked for an eight-year sentence against Funes, who lives in Nicaragua.In late May, another tribunal sentenced Funes to 14 years in prison for negotiating with the country’s powerful street gangs during his administration.El Salvador has pursued Funes, 64, who governed from 2009 to 2014, for other alleged crimes in at least a half dozen cases. Nicaragua gave him citizenship in 2019.Funes is the second former Salvadoran president sentenced to prison for illegal activity during his administration. In 2018, former President Tony Saca was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to diverting more than $300 million in state funds. He was Funes’ predecessor, governing from 2004 to 2009.El Salvador changed its laws last ye...

Manitoba government says searching landfill for remains of Indigenous women too risky

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:52 GMT

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government says a proposed search for the remains of two slain Indigenous women believed to be in a landfill north of Winnipeg is too risky.Premier Heather Stefanson says the province cannot knowingly risk workers’ health and safety for a search with no guarantee that the remains will be found.Stefanson made the comments in a written statement after meeting with relatives of some of the women believed to have been killed before ending up in the Prairie Green landfill.Her office later clarified that the province would not stop a search if the federal government supports one and can provide sufficient safeguards around the risks.Cambria Harris, a daughter of one of the victims, posted on social media that Stefanson is retraumatizing the family and being disrespectful.Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are believed to have been killed last year.Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in their deaths as well as the deaths of Rebecca Contois,...