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US court denies woman’s appeal of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2010 hush-money settlement in Vegas rape case

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A U.S. appeals court sided Tuesday with Cristiano Ronaldo, rejecting an appeal by the lawyer for a woman trying to force the international soccer star to pay millions more than the $375,000 in hush money he paid her after she accused him of raping her in 2009.Kathryn Mayorga’s lawyer had asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s dismissal of the case in Las Vegas in June 2022 and reopen the civil lawsuit she filed in 2018.They argued U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey should not have rejected Mayorga’s attempts to unseal and make public the confidentiality agreement she signed in 2010 in accepting payments from Ronaldo.A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based appellate court disagreed. It also rejected their argument that the judge abused her discretion by dismissing the case with prejudice, which prevented Mayorga from refiling the case, and took the unusual step of levying a $335,000 fine against her lawyer, Les...

Pilot killed as small plane crashes and burns on doorstep of shopping center in Plano, Texas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

PLANO, Texas (AP) — A small plane crashed and burned Tuesday on the doorstep of a strip mall in Texas, killing the pilot and causing a nearby car to catch fire, but nobody on the ground was injured, authorities said.The single-engine Mooney M20, with just the pilot aboard, went down at about 6 p.m. north of Air Park-Dallas Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.Photos from the scene showed the wreckage in a parking space next to a nail salon and diner just outside of the shopping center in the Dallas suburb of Plano.The crash caused a parked car to catch fire, but nobody was inside the vehicle, authorities said.Police confirmed the pilot died at the scene.The cause of the crash was under investigation. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the plane was taking off or trying to land at the small suburban airport, which has a single runway.The Associated Press

Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Sunil Kumar watched helplessly in July as his home and 14 others were washed away by intense monsoon rains lashing the Indian Himalayas.“All my life’s work vanished in an instant. Starting over feels impossible, especially with my three children relying on me,” said Kumar, a waste collector in the village of Bhiuli, in the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh.This year’s monsoon season in India was devastating, with local governments estimating 428 deaths and more than $1.42 billion in property damage in the region. But India was just one of many developing nations to suffer from extreme weather made worse or more likely by climate change, caused largely by greenhouse gas emissions that result from the burning of fossil fuels. Tropical storm Daniel hammered Libya with massive flooding in September, and Cyclone Freddy battered several African nations early in the year. Activists say all three disasters show how poorer nations, which historically have contribut...

Israel approves temporary cease-fire deal, in exchange for hostage release

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

Israeli Cabinet says it has approved a temporary cease-fire deal in a war that has been going on for more than a month.It says in exchange for a four-day truce, Hamas is to release at least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages that are being held in the Gaza Strip.The government said it would extend the lull by an additional day for every 10 hostages released.Ahead of today’s cabinet vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would resume its offensive against Hamas after the cease-fire expires.It’s not clear at this point when the truce will go into effect.-With files from The Canadian Press and Associated Press

Kai Thomas on the ‘surreality’ of winning the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for debut

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

TORONTO — Debut novelist Kai Thomas said he was struck by “surreality” when Margaret Atwood announced he had won the top fiction prize at the Writers’ Trust Awards on Tuesday evening.Thomas, who is from Ottawa, won the $60,000 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for “In the Upper Country,” published by Penguin Canada, at a ceremony in Toronto.The book tells the story of two Black women at the northern end of the Underground Railroad.“It’s all new to me,” Thomas said after the ceremony. “To be able to step into this career and have the work be recognized on this stage is wild. I just feel very, very honoured.”In his acceptance speech, Thomas thanked his family, his editors and his publisher.“I’ve obviously never done this before and having guides like you all is fantastic,” he said. Thomas’s wife and their two young children were in the audience, along with his parents and their partners,...

Influential Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats endorses Ron DeSantis

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Iowa evangelical leader, endorsed Ron DeSantis for president Tuesday, boosting the Florida governor as he goes all in on the leadoff caucus state in an effort to trip up Republican front-runner Donald Trump.Vander Plaats is the second major backer DeSantis has picked up in Iowa this month, joining popular Gov. Kim Reynolds. Evangelicals are a crucial voting bloc in Iowa’s Republican caucuses. Vander Plaats, president of the Family Leader, has endorsed the eventual winner in every GOP caucus since 2008 and is potentially jeopardizing his streak by picking DeSantis, who trails far behind Trump in polls. His decision will test his sway among Iowa evangelicals, many of whom continue to support Trump.If Trump wins Iowa, he’ll probably go on to be the nominee, “but I don’t think America is going to elect him president again,” Vander Plaats told Fox News host Bret Baier. “I think America would be well served to have a choice, and I ...

Opinion: The Chicago Bears lack vision – literally and metaphorically

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

Every week I’ve watched the Chicago Bears, there has been something about them that just left a nagging feeling in my stomach. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, until I saw a post on X from a former Bears pro-bowler Monday.Set aside their gut-wrenching loss Sunday and hear me out. Last Week: The clock is ticking on the Tyson Bagent Express I have dedicated a lot of time toward trying to break down what is wrong with Chicago’s pro football team this year.I’ve compared them to their much more successful NFC North counterparts this season – the Detroit Lions – and suggested them as a template for the Bears to take inspiration from. Opinion: The Lions are the template, and the Bears should follow suit I’ve accepted their losing ways as regularly scheduled programming, an inevitable product of general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus having to deal with an insurmountable lack of talent to win with amid year two of a rebuild. Opinion: Loss to Vikings, Justin Fields inj...

Biden orders US flags lowered in memory of former first lady Rosalynn Carter

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — President Joe Biden has ordered that U.S. flags on federal government buildings and property will be lowered to half staff for five days in recognition of former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 96. Biden's order calls for flags to fly half-staff from Saturday through sunset on Wednesday, Nov. 29, the day Carter will be buried in Plains, Georgia, the hometown she shared with former President Jimmy Carter. PHOTOS: Rosalynn Carter through the years The order applies to flags at the White House, all other federal buildings and grounds, and all military and naval posts, including navy vessels, in the U.S. and its territories, along with all U.S. diplomatic, military and naval outposts abroad.Such orders are common when major federal government figures die, including first ladies. Presidential spouses, though, do not receive state funerals.Rosalynn Carter will be honored with public events beginning Monday in Sum...

Red Wing moves dog park off Indigenous burial ground

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

RED WING, Minn. — The city of Red Wing is moving its longtime dog park from A.P. Anderson Park to a new location after learning the place for dogs to play sat on a Native American burial ground.“We don’t let dogs in our cemeteries,” said Red Wing Mayor Mark Wilson. “But we didn’t know.”Wilson said it was a matter of being educated.A city committee holds quarterly meetings with representatives of the Prairie Island Indian Community, which once owned and occupied the land on which the city of Red Wing sits. During a recent meeting, Wilson said, PIIC representatives shared the news.In a letter dated Nov. 1, 2023, Noah White, tribal historic preservation officer for PIIC, said the tribe brought its concerns to the city in a meeting last August. The letter noted that records of effigy mounds at the site date back to an 1885 survey. While many mounds on the site have been disturbed and/or destroyed, the site — which encompasses much of the overall park space — stil...

University of Minnesota launches Cannabis Research Center

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:37 GMT

The University of Minnesota School of Public Health has launched a new Cannabis Research Center.The center will conduct research aimed at assessing the health impacts of the state’s recent legalization of recreational cannabis for adults, and help inform future policies and practices as the new law is rolled out.When state lawmakers made Minnesota the 23rd state in the nation to legalize recreational cannabis use in May, they set aside $2.5 million in annual funding — to come from a cannabis sales tax — to fund the center in order to better understand how cannabis use affects different Minnesota populations and communities.University officials said the new center will focus on work to better understand how cannabis use interacts with substances such as opioids and alcohol, as well as the health effects of cannabis on underage users.“For young people, their brain is still developing. And so there’s some concerns about the effects of cannabis on brain development,” said public health ...