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Wildfires across Algeria have killed 25 people, including 10 soldiers who were battling the flames

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Wildfires raging across Algeria have killed 25 people, including 10 soldiers trying to get the flames under control in the face of high winds and scorching summer temperatures, government ministries said Monday.At least 1,500 people were evacuated, the Interior Ministry said, without providing details.The Interior Ministry announced 15 deaths and 24 injuries. In addition, the Defense Ministry later announced 10 soldiers were killed and 25 injured as they fought fires in the resort area of Beni Ksila east of the capital Algiers.It wasn’t immediately clear over what period of time the casualties happened, but the fires have been burning for several days. Wildfires, some spread by strong winds, moved across forests and agricultural areas in 16 regions causing 97 blazes in the north African country. The largest and deadliest fires ravaged parts of Bejaia and Jijel — in the Kabyle region east of Algiers — and Bouira, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast...

Seiichi Morimura, who exposed the atrocities committed by the Japanese army’s Unit 731, dies at 90

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Renowned Japanese mystery writer Seiichi Morimura, whose nonfiction trilogy “The Devil’s Gluttony” exposed human medical experiments conducted by a secret Japanese army unit during World War II, died Monday. He was 90.His official website and publisher, Kadokawa, said Morimura died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital.“Akuma no Hoshoku,” or “The Devil’s Gluttony,” which began as a newspaper series in 1981, became a bestseller and created a sensation across the country over atrocities committed by Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731 in China.From its base in Japanese-controlled Harbin in China, Unit 731 and related units injected war prisoners with typhus, cholera and other diseases as research into germ warfare, according to historians and former unit members. Unit 731 is also believed to have performed vivisections and frozen prisoners to death in tests of endurance.Morimura began contributing articles to magazines while working in hotels. He won the prestigious Edogawa Rampo ...

In ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ smash success, audiences send message to Hollywood: Give us something new

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — In the massive movie weekend of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” there were many winners. Greta Gerwig, who made history for female directors. Christopher Nolan, who set a non-Batman career high. Movie theaters, more crowded than anytime post-pandemic. Lovers of unlikely double features. The color pink. Matchbox Twenty.But one of the most important triumphs in the moviegoing monsoon of “Barbenheimer” was originality. Here are two movies that are neither sequels nor reboots pushing the box office to highs not seen in years. “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” became a meme because of their worlds-apart differences but they’re each indelibly the work of those filmmakers.“Barbie,” based on the Mattel doll, had some extremely well-known intellectual property going for it. And the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb comes from no small moment in history. Nolan is himself a brand, too. But Hollywood’s biggest zeitgeist in years was propelled by a pair of movies with...

CPD: Officer in hospital after Englewood shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago Police Department officer is in the hospital after a shooting in the Englewood neighborhood Monday evening, department officials say.According to police, an officer-involved shooting took place in the 5600 block of South Shields Avenue, where the officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center.According to the Chicago Fire Department, the injured officer was shot in the hand.No other information is available at this time.Stay with WGN News as this story will be updated as more information becomes available.

19-year-old charged with 1st degree murder in connection to Chatham fatal shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A 19-year-old man has been charged with first degree murder after being arrested in connection to a Chatham homicide that happened during the first week of June, according to the Chicago Police Department.Gebron James Clark, 19, who was charged with first degree murder in connection to a Chatham homicide on June 3, 2023.Police said 19-year-old Chicago resident Gebron James Clark was charged with one felony count of first degree murder after he was arrested by CPD officers in the 0-100 block of West 110th Place Sunday. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 19 people shot, 3 dead in overnight violence on the South Side Beforehand, Clark was identified as the offender who fatally shot a 40-year-old man on June 3 in the 8300 block of South Ingleside Avenue.Clark is due back in bond court on Tuesday.No other information is available at this time.

Keeler: How can Sean Payton turn Russell Wilson around? By making him earn every snap for Broncos Country.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

Give Russell Wilson an inch, he’ll take a sack.No more hugs. No more kid gloves. No more coddling. If I’m Sean Payton, I treat Big Russ like every other stiff in the offensive meeting rooms. Think you deserve to start? Prove it. Think you deserve to skip some preseason starts? Prove it. Think you deserve your own office? Prove it.Privileges are earned here, man. Not promised.Broncos veterans are slated to report to training camp Tuesday, when some of the seeds that would doom 2022 got planted and watered.Payton’s predecessor, Nathaniel “Huggy Bear” Hackett, deferred to Russ on everything but his Star Wars collection. A first-year, first-time head coach got run over by a $245 million smile and a 50-cent shoulder.Wilson is many things. But cripes, is he a lousy front-runner. No. 3 works best when he’s got an edge, something to prove. Or something to chase. Hackett’s decision to give Wilson the run of Dove Valley was, in hindsight, disastRuss.If I’m Payton, I talk up No. 2 QB Jarrett S...

Colorado officer who put woman in police car hit by train didn’t know it was on the tracks, defense says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

DENVER — A Colorado police officer accused of putting a handcuffed woman in a parked police car that was hit by a freight train did not know the car was parked on the tracks, the officer’s lawyer said in court Monday.While evidence will show Officer Jordan Steinke stood on the railroad tracks during a night traffic stop on Sept. 16, 2022, she did not know that an officer she was assisting had parked his patrol car on the tracks, defense lawyer Mallory Revel said in opening statements in state court in Greeley. The woman inside, Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, suffered extensive injuries, including a traumatic brain injury.The tracks were completely flush with the road, nothing to trip over, and there were no illuminated crossing signs or gates at the railroad crossing in the rural area, just two reflective signs on either side of the tracks, Revel said.Prosecutors will not be able to prove that she acted recklessly by leaving the woman in the patrol car, Revel said.“You cannot disregard...

L.A. Metro adds services for upcoming Taylor Swift concert 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

The Los Angeles Metro is providing special transportation services to help Taylor Swift fans, also known as Swifities, make it to the pop star’s L.A. tour stop at Sofi Stadium August 3-9. “Hey @taylorswift13 fans...Look What You Made Us Do 👇🏾 We're adding service to help #Swifties get to the upcoming shows at @SoFiStadium!” the company tweeted.For the upcoming L.A. shows of The Eras Tour, Metro is providing service to all six shows, including late night service, free shuttles from the C and K lines to the stadium, and $3.50 round trip fare on other buses and trains. “We’re enchanted that Taylor Swift fans have given a big boost to public transit across the United States this year  and we’re looking forward to spending our midnights with many of you very soon,” the company wrote. Swift announced her tour in November 2022, with the first leg beginning in March in the U.S. and international dates beginning February 2024 in Tokyo.“I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swif...

3 suspects arrested in connection to Irvine smash and grab 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

Three suspects were arrested on Saturday after they allegedly robbed a jewelry store in Irvine. Around 7 p.m., the suspects ran into the Kay Jewelers in Irvine, smashed the display cases and grabbed jewelry before running back out of the store and fleeing in a gray Honda, according to the Irvine Police Department. Authorities located the robbers off of the 5-freeway at Jamboree, and all three suspects,  21-year-old Keonte Blockmon of Moreno Valley and two juveniles, were arrested.Police recovered more than $55,000 worth of jewelry after robbery in Irvine. (Source: Irvine Police Department) Police recovered more than $55,000 worth of jewelry and returned it to the merchant.

NASA employee admits to defrauding COVID-19 programs to fund illegal weed operation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:52 GMT

An employee at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has admitted to defrauding pandemic-era protection programs aimed to help business and individuals survive the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.Armen Hovanesian, 32, of Glendale, agreed to plead guilty to defrauding a government sponsored loan plan in 2020, admitting to using some of the fraudulently obtained cash to fund an illegal marijuana cultivation operation. Woman who murdered mother sentenced for running COVID scam behind bars Hovanesian works as a cost-control and budget-planning resource analyst for the JPL, which is a federally funded research lab for NASA, according to the United States Department of Justice.From June 2020 to October 2020, Hovanesian submitted three loan applications to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program for businesses he operated. The program provided low-interest financing to small businesses, renters and homeowners affected by disasters, including the coronavirus pandemic.As par...