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Local Armenian community rallies to raise awareness of Artsakh, hate speech found at Watertown church

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

A rally from the Armenian community in downtown Boston Saturday brought awareness to a decades-long war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over land known as Artsakh. Supporters said they want to shed light on a conflict that isn’t getting enough attention. “They are unheard now, and they are not being supported by all the voices politically that are out there,” said Artvine Torossian, Armenian Relief Society of Easter USA, Ralliers also stood in solidarity against hate speech after a note was found outside Saint Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown earlier this week that read “Artsakh is dead.” “I think that’s despicable. We stand up to hate for every community and now the Armenians are getting hit with hate.” said Anthony Barsamian, co-chair of the Armenian Assembly of America.“We’re especially concerned that their community is being targeted at this time,” Rev. Laura Everett said. “We want to make sure that the Armenian community, especially at this moment,...

Pennsylvania governor’s voter registration change draws Trump’s ire in echo of 2020 election clashes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Donald Trump has a familiar target in his sights: Pennsylvania’s voting rules.He never stopped attacking court decisions on mail-in ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic, falsely claiming it as a reason for his 2020 loss in the crucial battleground state. Now, the former Republican president is seizing on a decision by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro to bypass the Legislature and start automatic voter registration.The blowback has echoes of the 2020 election, when Trump and his allies relentlessly criticized decisions by the state’s Democratic-majority Supreme Court. That included extending the deadline to receive mail-in ballots over warnings that the pandemic had slowed postal service deliveries.Republicans have joined Trump in railing against Shapiro’s action, saying there are not enough safeguards to prevent minors or undocumented immigrants from registering. The Shapiro administration disputes that.“THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO STEAL PENNSYLVANIA AGAIN B...

Azerbaijan issues arrest warrant for former separatist Nagorno-Karabakh leader

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Azerbaijan issued an arrest warrant for former Nagorno-Karabakh separatist leader Arayik Harutyunyan, the country’s prosecutor general said Sunday.Harutyunyan led the breakaway region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but largely populated by ethnic Armenians, between May 2020 and last month, when the separatist government said it would dissolve itself by the end of the year after a three-decade bid for independence.Azerbaijani police arrested one of Harutyunyan’s former prime ministers, Ruben Vardanyan, on Wednesday as he tried to cross into Armenia along with tens of thousands of others who have fled following Baku’s 24-hour blitz last week to reclaim control of Nagorno-Karabakh.Harutyunyan and the enclave’s former military commander, Jalal Harutyunyan, are accused of firing missiles on Azerbaijan’s third-largest city, Ganja, during a 44-day war in late 2020, local media reported. The clash between the Azerbaijani milita...

The death toll in a collapsed gold mine in Zimbabwe expected to rise to 13, vice president says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The death toll from a shaft collapse at a disused gold mine in Zimbabwe was expected to rise to 13, the vice president said, according to state media.State-run newspaper The Sunday Mail quoted Vice President Constantino Chiwenga as saying “we believe we have lost about 13” in the mine disaster, which happened on Friday in the gold-rich town of Chegutu, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of the capital, Harare.He said 21 out of 34 miners believed to be underground at the time of the collapse had been rescued. Eight have been confirmed dead, with three bodies removed from the mine and five located but not yet removed, Chiwenga said. The remaining five people were presumed dead.Chiwenga was speaking Saturday at a meeting of the ruling ZANU-PF party, The Sunday Mail reported. Chiwenga said the collapse happened at a disused German-owned mine that had not been properly sealed off, allowing unofficial artisanal miners to find their way in to search for any deposi...

One suffers serious injuries due to stabbing near Kensington Market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

One person has been transported to hospital following a stabbing in the Queen Street West and Vanauley Street area on Sunday morning.Police responded to a call at approximately 12:35 a.m. that the victim, and adult male, got into an argument with a group of males and the victim was then stabbed.The victim was transported to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.The suspects fled the scene and there are unknown suspect descriptions at this time.

Trump is returning to Iowa to campaign Sunday in an area he flipped from Democrats in 2016

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump heads to southeast Iowa Sunday in the middle of a fall campaign push aimed at locking in supporters with large organizing events.As he has with his other recent travels to the leadoff caucus state, Trump will campaign in an area that formerly supported Democrats but has embraced him.Trump was planning to headline an afternoon event in Ottumwa, where his campaign was expecting more than 1,000 potential supporters. The small city is a hub in eastern Iowa and the seat of Wapello County, one of 31 counties Trump carried in 2016 that Democrat Barack Obama had won four years earlier.Trump, the first Republican to capture the county since the Eisenhower administration, campaigned the week before in northeast Iowa. There, he drew about 1,400 to rural Jackson County along the Mississippi River and almost 2,000 to Dubuque County to the north. Like Wapello, Dubuque County had been a Democratic stronghold for decades before 2016.Though aides...

Environmental groups increasingly using competition law to fight fossil fuel sector

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

CALGARY — Splashed across billboards and city buses, onnewspaper spreads and Facebook feeds, the “Let’s Clear the Air” ad campaign by the Pathways Alliance group of oilsands companies is a multi-million-dollar public relations blitz by an industry keen to show it’s committed to helping fight climate change.It’s also the target of the latest strategy by Canada’s environmental movement, which has expanded its war against the fossil fuel industry to a new battleground: the federal Competition Bureau.In the last year, Canadian green groups have lodged at least four formal complaints with the bureau, the independent law enforcement agency tasked with protecting consumers by fostering a competitive marketplace.The complaints allege false or misleading environmental claims by fossil fuel companies or — in the case of a complaint against RBC — those who finance them.Under Canada’s Competition Act, it only takes six signatories to a deceptive adverti...

The Supreme Court’s new term starts Monday. Here’s what you need to know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seems a bit quieter than in recent years, as the justices begin a new term.Major cases await, as they always do, including several challenges to regulatory agencies and efforts to regulate social media platforms.But nothing yet seems on par with conservative-driven decisions overturning Roe v. Wade’s right to an abortion and expanding gun rights in June 2022, then ending affirmative action in higher education and killing the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan last June.That could change, especially if issues related to the prosecution of former President Donald Trump or efforts to keep him off the ballot in some states reach the justices.Ethical issues also are hovering over the court, with the possibility that the justices could adopt a first-ever code of conduct. But it’s unclear when that might happen.Some things to know about the Supreme Court’s new term:GUNS AND ABORTION, REDUXThe justices’ decision i...

Sunday Forecast: Sunny and warm, mid 80s

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

Sunday: Sunny & warm. Cooler by the lake.  SSE 0-5 mph. Air quality Good to Moderate around Chicagoland. High: 85Sunday Night: Clear skies & mild for the season. Patchy fog after midnight. SE 0-5 mph. Low near 60 in the city. 50s suburbs. Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Monday: Sunny & continued warm. Cooler lakeside. SSW 5-10 mph. High mid 80s. Extended outlook calls for more sun & unseasonably warm weather to continue into Tues. Wednesday warm in the low 80s with increasing clouds and a chance of showers/thunderstorms later in the day. High temps back to normal on Thu with highs near 70 and some rain at times and iso. thunderstorms. A few showers on Friday and a high in the upper 60s.Next weekend looks to have some temps that feel a bit more like fall than summer. 

Man killed after hit and run in Logan Sqaure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:58 GMT

CHICAGO -- A man is dead after he was killed in a hit and run crash in Logan Square overnight. Police said a 42-year-old man was riding motor scooter near the 3900 block of West Fullerton Avenue around 2:20 a.m. when the driver of a silver Honda struck a red light and struck the man near the intersection.According to police, the man was pronounced dead on the scene and the driver fled. There is no one in custody. Armed robbery attempt leads to shootout at River North gas station Police are investigating the incident and WGN will update as more information is available.