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Moscow adds Meta spokesperson to criminal wanted list: Report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

Russia’s interior ministry has added the spokesperson of U.S. tech giant Meta Andy Stone to its wanted list, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported. Stone “is wanted under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” the agency reported, citing the ministry’s database. The reason Stone was added to the list was not indicated, according to the report. In 2022, following Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, Moscow officially designated the American tech company — which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — as a “terrorist and extremist” organization. That opened the door to heavier legal proceedings against its users in the country.Western social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) were banned from Russia and are only accessible in the country through VPNs. On Sunday, Russian authorities also said they downed 24 Ukrainian drones. The day before, Russia had launched the larg...

Amid fragile truce, Israel and Hamas prepare to exchange more hostages, prisoners

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

Israel and Hamas are expected to go through a third round of hostage-prisoner swap on Sunday amid a fragile truce in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has received a list of the names of the hostages set to be freed and has informed the families, Israeli media reported on Sunday. According to Haaretz, at least one of the hostages expected to be released is Russian and part of a deal between Hamas and Moscow. The exchanges are part of a four-day truce agreement brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. that started on Friday. Overall, Hamas is set to free 50 hostages in exchange for Israel releasing 150 Palestinian prisoners. On October 7, Hamas’ armed wing led an attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping about 240 more. In retaliation, the Israeli armed forces relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and launched a ground operation, leveling entire neighborhoods and killing over 14,000 Palestinians. About 1.7 million Gazans ha...

Holiday travelers warned to prepare for historic crowds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

Travelers taking to the skies on Sunday are expected to be part of a historic travel day across the United States.At Logan Airport, lines were moving smoothly Sunday morning with no major delays to report.TSA predicted it would be the busiest day of the holiday season, with some 2.9 million people expected to fly. Extra security agents will be on hand today in anticipation of the extra volume.Travelers are being warned to expect longer lines at security checkpoints and to leave plenty of time to make your flight.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Timing out rain and wind

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

Good morning! It’s off to a cold start. Temperatures this afternoon will feel a bit more mild compared to yesterday in the 40s. Clouds will thicken through the day but our daylight hours are dry.We’re watching a storm bringing snow and rain to the Midwest and South. That will interact with an area of low pressure that’s off the Mid-Atlantic coast. Temperatures won’t be cold enough for snow in our region, so we’ll get rain.Showers arrive past 8 pm. Rain fills in between 10 pm and midnight. The heaviest rain will be during the overnight the overnight hours. The wind will also get gusty out of the southeast. There’s a Wind Advisory for the Cape and Islands. Wind could gust 40-50 mph causing some isolated tree damage. Rain will taper by the height of the morning commute.Overnight temperatures will stay in the upper 30s/low 40s. Tomorrow highs will make it into the upper 40s/low 50s. We could see more breaks in the cloud cover closer to sunset.-Meteoro...

Pope Francis says he has a lung inflammation but will go to Dubai this week for climate conference

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday revealed that he has a lung inflammation but will go later this week to Dubai to address the climate change conference.Francis skipped his weekly Sunday appearance at a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, a day after the Vatican said he was suffering from a mild flu. Instead, Francis gave the traditional noon blessing in an appearance televised live from the chapel in the Vatican hotel where he lives.“Brothers and sisters, happy Sunday. Today I cannot appear at the window because I have this problem of inflammation of the lungs,” Francis said. The pontiff, whose 87th birthday is next month, added that a priest, sitting beside him, would read out his day’s reflections for him.In those comments, Francis said he was going to the United Arab Emirates for the COP28 gathering on climate change and that he would deliver his speech, as scheduled, on Saturday to the participants.“Besides war, our world is threate...

With a bump from Chicago Bears, girls flag football taking hold at area high schools — including a playoff run at Stagg

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

The girls flag football team from Stagg High School in Palos Hills made it to the playoffs in its first year of competition.And a crowd of zero came to Lake Forest to watch the Chargers quarterfinals game Oct. 28, which ended in a 22-0 loss to Resurrection.That’s not a misprint. Zero.The games were held in the Walter Payton Center at Halas Hall where the Chicago Bears practice and no fans were allowed.But that didn’t bother the Chargers. They still considered it a big-time event.“There weren’t fans but there was still that energy and that pressure,” Stagg senior quarterback Eve Tobin said.The Bears have been championing flag football for three years with its Illinois Girls Flag Football State Championship, leading to much appreciation among the athletes and coaches for getting the ball rolling.But it might be time for the Illinois High School Association to step in and sponsor the sport, which would mean a state tournament with fans.Stagg coach Saja Aln...

Column: Finishing touch proves elusive for Matt Eberflus’ Chicago Bears — and it will define them until they buck the trend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

The Detroit Lions have been one of the best stories in the NFL this season, but they have some fine-tuning to do before they’re taken seriously as a contender to make a deep postseason run.The Lions scored two touchdowns in 2 minutes, 30 seconds Sunday, rallying from a 12-point deficit to defeat the Chicago Bears 31-26 at Ford Field. It was their biggest comeback since a 14-point rally to top the Bears 31-30 at Soldier Field on Nov. 13, 2022.In fact, the last four times the Lions have rallied from 10 or more down to win have come against the Bears, including a 34-30 win on Dec. 6, 2020, at Soldier Field and a 27-24 victory on Nov. 19, 2017, at Ford Field.The Lions’ knack for late heroics ran out Thursday when they fell behind by 17 at halftime against the Green Bay Packers and lost 29-22 after failing to recover an onside kick with 41 seconds remaining. The Lions needed a furious rally to nip the last-place Bears and were thoroughly manhandled up front in a loss to the t...

Terry Venables, the former England, Tottenham and Barcelona coach, has died at 80

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Terry Venables, a former England soccer player who led the national team to the semifinals of the European Championship as a coach, has died. He was 80.The death of Venables was announced on Sunday in a statement by his family to British media, saying he died on Saturday after a long illness.The English Football Association and Tottenham, one of the clubs he coached, were among those sending tributes to Venables. Former England captain Gary Lineker called him “the best, most innovative coach that I had the privilege and pleasure of playing for.”Charming and popular, Venables, who was born just outside London, played for Chelsea, Tottenham, Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace — all clubs in the capital — in a 16-year senior career that included two caps for England.Palace and QPR were the first teams he managed before spells in charge of Barcelona from 1984-87 and Tottenham from 1987-91.Venables then turned to international management, coaching England from 1994-96, ...

No Frills workers at 17 Ontario stores ratify deal with wage gains, full-time jobs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

TORONTO — Unifor says No Frills workers at 17 stores in Ontario have ratified their new collective agreement.The agreement, which covers almost 1,300 workers, will see wages rise between $3.20 and $4.50 an hour over the duration of the agreement. The agreement also includes a new benefits program for part-time workers, and creates 30 new full-time positions to be hired within a year. No Frills is the discount grocery banner owned by Loblaw Cos. Ltd., the largest grocery company in Canada.The workers reached a tentative agreement last Sunday as a strike deadline approached. After a five-week strike over the summer by Metro workers in the Greater Toronto Area resulted in significant gains, Unifor was seeking a similar win for the No Frills employees. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:L)The Canadian Press

Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter were not only a global power couple but also best friends and life mates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:04 GMT

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — In spring 1955, Rosalynn Carter was doing what she had sworn to avoid when she married an ambitious Naval officer: keeping house and raising children in the same tiny town where they grew up. Then Jimmy Carter called for help from his family’s peanut farming warehouse. The future U.S. president couldn’t manage on his own, and they had no money to hire employees. So his wife gathered their sons and went to answer the company phone. Soon she was managing finances and handling customers.Before long, “I knew more on paper about the business than he did, and he would take my advice about things,” Rosalynn Carter told The Associated Press ahead of their 75th anniversary in 2021. Their marriage was almost a decade old when she went to the warehouse, but that was perhaps the true beginning of a partnership that won the Georgia governor’s office in 1970, the White House in 1976 and then propelled the Carters through four decades as global humanitarians. Undergirding ...