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19 suspects go on trial in Paris in deaths of 39 migrants who suffocated in a truck in 2019

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A trial opened in Paris on Tuesday of 19 people suspected of playing critical roles in a smuggling operation that went awry and sent 39 Vietnamese migrants to their deaths four years ago when they were locked inside a stifling hot truck trailer. Courts in Britain, where the truck was found on Oct. 23, 2019, and in Belgium, where the truck boarded an English Channel ferry, have already tried and convicted 23 people.Most of those facing justice in Paris are French helpers in a highly structured network who face charges including aiding the illegal entry into France of the migrants and criminal association. Four of the 19, all Vietnamese, are also charged with manslaughter. The defendants risk 10 years in prison.Among the 19 are taxi drivers, apartment landlords in the Paris suburbs who housed the migrants and organizers who considered the travelers “like chickens that you stack up,” according to the investigating magistrates’ file.“The arguments advanced by the Vietnamese...

General Motors delays electric pickup truck production at plant near Detroit as US EV demand slows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will delay electric pickup truck production at a factory near Detroit due to slowing U.S. demand for electric vehicles, to better manage its capital investments, and to make some engineering changes.The company said in a statement Tuesday that the factory in Orion Township, Michigan, will instead start making electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups in late 2025. Originally the company had planned to start production sometime next year.GM spokesman Kevin Kelly said the change has nothing to do with the ongoing four-week partial strike by members of the United Auto Workers union. “What’s happening in the marketplace does play a factor,” said Kelly, who added that the company wants to make engineering changes that will improve the trucks’ profitability.About 1,000 workers at the Orion plant will keep building the Chevrolet Bolt hatchback small electric car and Bolt electric utility vehicle through the end of this year as planned, th...

Arlington tops list of ‘most educated’ cities (DC is close behind)

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

Rosslyn Virginia skyline viewed from Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC(Getty Images/iStockphoto/f11photo) Rosslyn Virginia skyline viewed from Memorial Bridge, Washington, DC(Getty Images/iStockphoto/f11photo) Forbes Advisor’s new rankings of “The Most Educated Cities in the U.S.” puts Arlington, Virginia, at the top and the District at No. 3.The rankings count college degrees among populations, but it also factors in high school dropout rates and racial disparities. Cities with smaller gender gaps in education also ranked higher.Forbes Advisor said Arlington boasts a sky-high bachelor’s degree completion rate of over 76% among residents 25 years and older. Nearly 42% of adults there hold a graduat...

Defending champion LSU is No. 1 in women’s preseason AP Top 25 for first time. UConn, Iowa next

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

Defending champion LSU is ranked No. 1 in the women’s preseason AP Top 25 college basketball poll for the first time in school history.LSU, which won its first NCAA title last April behind star player Angel Reese and Co., received 35 first-place votes from a 36-member national media panel in the poll released Tuesday. UConn received the other top vote. The second-ranked Huskies have now been ranked in the AP poll for 565 consecutive weeks, tying Tennessee’s record.Caitlin Clark and national runner-up Iowa was third. It’s the same spot the Hawkeyes held last year in the preseason poll. UCLA and Utah round out the top five.The Tigers were ranked second in 1977 and third twice in 2004 and 2005 in the preseason poll, but never No. 1 until this year. There is a lot of optimism around LSU as they return a stellar group, including Reese, along with two talented transfers in Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow.“We appreciate the recognition of being the No. 1 ranked team going into the...

Could this October be one of the driest in Denver history?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- After May and June ranked as some of the wettest months in Denver history, October's going the opposite way with one of the driest Octobers so far. Since the significant rainfall in May and June of this year Denver's rainfall has gone from above average to below average, according to FOX31's Pinpoint Weather Meteorologist Travis Michels. July, August and September tallied below-average levels. In the past two and a half months, Denver's only received 1.61 inches of rain.To put that into perspective, Denver had about a foot of rain in May and June.According to the National Weather Service, there was only slightly more than trace amounts of rain in October so far this year. Fall leaves set to be more colorful than usual There were trace amounts of rain on Oct. 2 and Oct. 12. The only rain that was recorded other than the trace amounts was on Oct. 11 which tallied 0.01 inches, the lowest amount the NWS can record. According to Michels, it goes beyond that with that ...

Photos: Cirque Du Soleil on ice is coming to Denver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Cirque du Soleil’s CRYSTAL is coming to Denver in 2024. The performance is just like any Cirque du Soleil show, except this time it's on ice.CRYSTAL started in 2017 as the company’s very first acrobatic experience on the ice. In six years, the show has toured 135 cities in 15 different countries worldwide. Most popular unique names in Colorado The show includes Cirque du Soleil's circus favorites like hand-to-hand, Banquine, aerial straps, hand-to-trapeze, juggling and hand balancing, all on ice.Cirque du Soleil 2019. Costumes : Marie Chantale Vaillancourt . Photos : Matt Baker and Olivier BrajonCirque du Soleil 2019. Costumes : Marie Chantale Vaillancourt . Photos : Matt Baker and Olivier BrajonCirque du Soleil 2019. Costumes : Marie Chantale Vaillancourt . Photos : Matt Baker and Olivier BrajonCirque du Soleil 2019. Costumes : Marie Chantale Vaillancourt . Photos : Matt Baker and Olivier BrajonCirque du Soleil 2019. Costumes : Marie Chantale Vaillancou...

Lockdown lifted at Boyd Anderson High School on lockdown after report of person armed on campus

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

The lockdown has been lifted at Boyd Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes following reports of an armed individual on campus, Tuesday afternoon.7Skyforce hovered over the scene, located at 3050 NW 41st St., around 12:30 p.m., where heavy police presence was visible. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a search and the suspect was located and detained in a classroom in Building 6.According to BSO, there was no weapon on campus. No injuries have been reported at this time. Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

Hamas admits Israel killed a top commander

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

Hamas’ military wing said Tuesday an Israeli airstrike on the central Gaza Strip killed one of its top militant commanders. Ayman Nofal, known by his nom de guerre Abu Ahmad, was a member of the general military council of Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades in charge of the Central Gaza area, Hamas said in the statement. Nofal is the most high-profile Hamas militant to have been killed so far in the Israeli bombardment on Gaza. The Israeli military confirmed Nofal’s killing, describing him as “one of the most dominant figures” in the organization, in a statement on X. Earlier on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) announced that ISA intelligence and IDF fighter jets operated in the Gaza Strip, killing Billal Al Kedra, “the Nukhba commander of the forces in southern Khan Yunis, who was responsible for the Kibbutz Nirim massacre,” adding that “Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror operatives were also killed.”Israel’s killing of No...

Socialists and conservatives trade barbs over EU response to Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

STRASBOURG — European parliamentarians on the right and left of its political center sparred over the European Union’s response to Israel’s war against Hamas, fanning an ongoing dispute over the EU’s disjointed foreign policy messaging. EU leaders are meeting via videoconference on Tuesday evening to get a grip on a common stance. The informal summit follows a chaotic week where the EU struggled to coordinate geopolitical pronouncements related to the killing of 1,300 people in Israel by Hamas gunmen, and Israel’s response in Gaza which has killed more than 2,800 Palestinians. The European Commission quashed an apparently unilateral decision by Hungarian Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi to suspend Palestinian aid. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen then faced criticism for a perceived pro-Israel bias during a last-minute a trip to the Middle Eastern country on Friday.“When you travel to countries in conflict, you have to go with an objective, and the goal can...

Israel floods social media to shape opinion around the war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:29 GMT

BRUSSELS — A photo with a bloody dead baby whose face is blurred has been circulating on X for the last four days. “This is the most difficult image we’ve ever posted. As we are writing this we are shaking,” the accompanying message says. The footage is not from a reporter covering the conflict in Israel and Gaza, or from one of the countless accounts sharing horrifying videos of the atrocities. It’s a paid message from the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry.Since Hamas attacked thousands of its citizens last week, the Israeli government has started a sweeping social media campaign in key Western countries to drum up support for its military response against the group. Part of its strategy: pushing dozens of ads containing brutal and emotional imagery of the deadly militant violence in Israel across platforms such as X and YouTube, according to data reviewed by POLITICO.Israel’s attempt to win the online information war is part of a growing trend of governments around t...