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EU envoy in surprise visit to Kosovo to push for further steps in normalization talks with Serbia

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The European Union’s envoy for the western Balkans began a surprise two-day visit to Kosovo on Monday to talk with its leaders on further steps in normalization talks with Serbia.Miroslav Lajcak met with Kosovar Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, who is Kosovo’s main negotiator in the EU-facilitated talks with Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008 nearly a decade after they fought a bloody war.The visit is “to follow up on the recent meeting with European leaders in Brussels and the need for full implementation of the Agreement on the Path to Normalization without delay or preconditions,” Lajcak said on X, the former Twitter. “We also agreed on next steps,” he wrote, without giving any details. Lajcak also planned to meet with Prime Minister Albin Kurti and opposition leaders.During a trip to the region last week, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Kosovo to establish an association of its Serb majority towns and pushed Ser...

Jury convicts Florida dentist in murder-for-hire plot in 2014 slaying of law professor

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

TALLAHASSES, Fla. (AP) — A jury has convicted a Florida dentist in a 2014 murder-for-hire plot in death of a law professor that followed a custody battle with a relative. The jurors signaled Monday in returning a verdict that they believed prosecutors’ contention that Charles Adelson paid to have Florida State University professor Dan Markel killed. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that jurors found Adelson guilty on all counts in the death of his former brother-in-law. Markel was shot and killed in his car outside his home that year after Adelson’s sister lost a bitter custody battle over their two children.The Associated Press

2nd police officer acquitted in death of Elijah McClain, who was put in a neck hold, given ketamine

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) — A second Denver-area police officer was acquitted Monday in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who was put in a neck hold and injected with ketamine after being stopped by police as he walked home from a convenience store.The jury found Aurora officer Nathan Woodyard not guilty of homicide and manslaughter following a weekslong trial in state district court. He faced years in prison if convicted.McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain, who was in the courtroom, wiped tears from her eyes after the verdict was read.Defense lawyer Megan Downing said, “We believe it was the right verdict, not an easy one.”The case received little attention until protests over the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked renewed outrage over McClain’s death. The 23-year-old Black man’s pleading words captured on police body camera video, “I’m an introvert and I’m different,” struck a chord.An earlier trial against two other officers resulted in split verdict, with one con...

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sued by book publisher for breach of contract

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is being sued by his publisher for contradicting his book’s claim about the the 2020 election. All Seasons Press alleges that sworn testimony by Meadows undermined “The Chief’s Chief,” in which he wrote that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.In a breach of contract lawsuit filed Friday in Florida, All Seasons cited media reports from last month alleging that Meadows knew Trump had lost to Democrat Joe Biden.“Meadows’ reported statements to the Special Prosecutor and/or his staff and his reported grand jury testimony squarely contradict the statements” in “The Chief’s Chief,” according to the lawsuit, filed in Sarasota, Florida. A central theme of Meadows’ book is that “President Trump was the true winner of the 2020 Presidential Election and that election was ‘stolen’ and ‘rigged’ with the help from ‘allies in the liberal media,’” the court papers read in part. Meado...

Man, 23, arrested in slaying of grandmother found decapitated in California home

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — Police have arrested a 23-year-old man suspected in the slaying of his grandmother who was found decapitated at a home in Northern California, authorities said.Officers responding to reports of a possible homicide last Thursday discovered the headless body of the 64-year-old woman in Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco, according to police.Investigators identified the suspect as the victim’s grandson, who authorities said was seen leaving the crime scene on foot. Detectives believe the man “took the victim’s head with him when he left the residence,” a police statement said.The man was arrested without incident Saturday morning in San Francisco by a patrol officer who recognized him from law enforcement bulletins, officials said. The victim’s head was found Saturday evening on the south bank of the Santa Rosa Creek, police said Monday.The suspect was held without bail on suspicion of murder at Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility. He is du...

MEG Energy sees third-quarter earnings, bitumen production rise

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

MEG Energy Corp. says it earned $249 million in the third quarter, up from $156 million a year earlier.The Calgary-based energy company says earnings per diluted share were 86 cents, up from 51 cents during the same quarter last year.Revenues were $1.4 billion, down from $1.6 billion a year earlier. CEO Derek Evans says increased bitumen production and strong bitumen realizations resulted in over $400 million in free cash flow, allowing the company to advance its debt reduction. The company says it paid down US$68 million in debt, or approximately $92 million in Canadian dollars, during the third quarter. Bitumen production rose to 103,726 barrels to day, up from 101,983 a year earlier.  This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:MEG)The Canadian Press

Mexican governor says 1 child died and 3 others were exposed to fentanyl, but downplays the issue

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A one-year-old child died and a four-year-old has recovered after being exposed to the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl in the drug-plagued northern Mexico state of Sinaloa, authorities said Monday. The state’s governor acknowledged that so far this year, a total of four children have been treated for exposure to fentanyl in Sinaloa, Mexico’s best-known drug-trafficking state and home to the cartel of the same name.But Gov. Ruben Rocha sought to downplay the issue at a news conference Monday, saying that so far “only one child has died, the other three didn’t.” He also at one point claimed there was no fentanyl in his state, despite its reputation for being a major producer.Rocha said the kids may have been exposed through contact with an addict or someone who worked in a clandestine fentanyl pill-pressing workshop, which are common in the state and which press fentanyl powder into fake pills made to look like Oxycontin, Valium, Xanax or other medicati...

Workers at Freedom Mobile unionize, ink first collective agreement

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

LAVAL, Que. — Teamsters Canada says retail and call centre workers at Freedom Mobile across the country have unionized after a six-month organizing drive and negotiated their first collective agreement. Teamsters national president François Laporte says the union negotiated an immediate two-per-cent bonus for all members and ensured four-per-cent annual pay increases for the next four years. In May this year, Teamsters said the Freedom Mobile workers had expressed interest in unionizing after Shaw Communications Inc. agreed to sell Freedom Mobile to Quebecor’s Videotron.The sale was a condition of the merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw. In a news release Monday, Laporte says the employer did not oppose its organizing campaign, taking “a more progressive approach to labour relations.” He says there has never been more interest in joining a union in the aftermath of the pandemic and in the face of rising inflation.“This is a clear sign that the tides are shifting, and ...

Teachers in Portland, Oregon, strike for a 4th day amid impasse with school district

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Schools remained closed in Portland, Oregon, on Monday as a teacher’s strike entered its fourth day, prompting state lawmakers to increasingly weigh in and call on the district to negotiate in good faith.At a news conference with a Portland teachers union leader, state legislators representing the Portland area said they were frustrated by the district’s claim of a lack of funding. The Legislature this year approved a record $10.2 billion budget for K-12 schools. But Portland Public Schools has said the money isn’t enough to meet the union’s demands of higher pay for educators.“It feels a little disingenuous to have them come back and say, “Actually, we can’t do it because you didn’t give us enough money,’” state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner said of the district. “We did everything that schools asked us for and then some.”In a letter to Portland Public Schools last week, Portland-area legislators including Steiner called on t...

Hundreds of thousands still in the dark three days after violent storm rakes Brazil’s biggest city

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:40:55 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — At least 400,000 customers in Brazil’s biggest city still had no electricity Monday, three days after a violent storm plunged millions into darkness around Sao Paulo, the power distribution company Enel said.The storm, with winds of up to 100 kph (62 mph), caused at least seven deaths, authorities said, and uprooted many large trees, some of which fell on power lines, blacking out entire neighborhoods. At one point on Friday, 4.2 million residents had no power, the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported. In some apartment buildings, condo associations delivered bottles of drinking water to older residents.José Eraudo Júnior, administrator of a 15-floor building in Sao Paulo’s Butanta neighborhood that didn’t get power back until Monday evening, said electricity went out for all 430 apartments Friday night.Water in the roof tanks ran out by Saturday evening, while underground reserves could not be tapped because there was no power to run the pump...