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Bowie man sentenced to 50 years for 2020 killing of woman shot in home while reading Bible

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

A Maryland man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the 2020 New Year’s Day killing of a woman in her home who was reading her Bible at the time.On Friday, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy announced that 27-year-old Sammie Warren was sentenced for the Jan. 1, 2020, killing of 56-year-old Filomena Vasquez while she was sitting in the kitchen of her Hyattsville home and reading her Bible in preparation for a sermon on the radio.Around 11:30 p.m. that night, Warren walked up to the front of Vazquez’s house in the 7400 block of Varnum Street and fired into a window, a wall and a vehicle. Vazquez was struck by several rounds and died at the scene, officials said.“He went to Filomena’s house and shot it up over a car,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Brenna Bush in a statement. “This is the type of gun wielding, emotional person the defendant is. He goes from zero to one hundred using deadly violence.”Former county police chief Hank Stawinski said...

Slovenia prime minister estimates flood damage at over €500M

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

Two-thirds of Slovenia has been affected by flash floods in the last several days, with the resulting damage likely to exceed half a billion euros, the country’s Prime Minister Robert Golob said on Saturday.He has called the flooding the “worst natural disaster” in the country’s history, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported.The flooding, which started Thursday evening, has resulted in landslides and at least three deaths as of Friday, according to the Associated Press. Houses have been swept away, bridges and roads have been destroyed and water supply has been cut off in some parts of the country.Golob will not be declaring an emergency for now, according to STA.“Heartbreaking to follow the devastation caused by colossal floods in Slovenia,” tweeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “The EU is by the side of the Slovenian people. We will mobilize support as needed.”EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lena...

Steve Kerr says Nets’ Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson are ‘huge components’ to Team USA

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

USA men’s basketball head coach Steve Kerr said Nets cornerstones Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson will play an integral role for Team USA in this summer’s upcoming FIBA World Cup.Both Bridges and Johnson were selected for the U.S. squad this offseason, as well as Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and forward Josh Hart.After the team’s second practice in Las Vegas on Friday, Kerr lauded the pair of Brooklyn wings for their maturity on the court. He had a lengthy experience as Golden State Warriors head coach battling both in the Western Conference when they played for the Phoenix Suns prior to the Kevin Durant trade, but said he learned something new about “The Twins” this summer in Vegas.“I already knew what kind of players they were from coaching against them, but they’re so mature: There’s a calming sense from both guys,” Kerr said on Friday. “And they’re also modern-day basketball players: shoot the three, guard multiple po...

A Florida shooting puts 2 officers in the hospital; the suspect is later killed in hotel shootout

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The suspect in the shooting of two Florida police officers Saturday was fatally shot by SWAT team members several hours later after he barricaded himself in a hotel in Orlando’s tourist district, culminating a manhunt across central Florida, police officials said.The Orlando Police Department officers stopped a vehicle around 11 p.m. Friday as part of an investigation of a Miami homicide and were shot by the suspect in the car, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said during a press conference early Saturday. The officers, who were not immediately identified, were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center. Hospital officials said Saturday afternoon that the officers were expected to fully recover.“This is a sad day for our department,” Smith said. “These officers are out here every day protecting our community.”The suspect carjacked another vehicle and police pursued, but did not immediately catch the suspect. About seven hours later, officers tracked the...

Mexico finds 491 migrants being held at vacant lot, almost all are from Guatemala

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s immigration agency said late Friday it found 491 migrants being held at a compound by the side of a highway east of Mexico City. All but six of the migrants were from Guatemala; the others are Hondurans.There were 277 children and adolescents among the migrants, most of whom were traveling with relatives. But there were also 52 unaccompanied minors.The migrants were being held in a walled compound near the city of Puebla, along a route frequently used by migrant smugglers. The migrants were taken to offices of the National Immigration Institute.Smugglers in Mexico frequently hide migrants at such compounds until they can be taken aboard buses or trucks to the U.S. border.The Associated Press

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan arrested after corruption conviction

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested Saturday after a court handed him a three-year jail sentence for corruption, a development that could end his future in politics.The court ruled that Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts. Police moved quickly to take the former cricket star from his home in the eastern city of Lahore to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, senior police officer Ali Nasir Rizvi said. Efforts to put the divisive politician behind bars have stepped up ahead of general elections this year because his popularity and large support base, combined with his ability to mobilize massive crowds, pose a threat to the ruling coalition and its backers in Pakistan’s powerful military that has been the final arbiter of the country’s politics since independence from BritainThis is the second time this year that Khan has b...

Recalling a wild ride with a robotaxi named Peaches as regulators mull San Francisco expansion plan

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — I won’t forget the first time I took a ride in a car without anyone sitting in the driver’s seat.It happened one night last September when a Chevy Bolt named Peaches picked me up outside a San Francisco bar. Our ensuing half-hour ride together produced, at first, a titillating display of technology’s promise. Then an unexpected twist made me worry that the encounter had turned into a mistake I would regret.Peaches and I were getting along great for most of our time together, as the car deftly navigated through hilly San Francisco streets similar to those Steve McQueen careened through during the famous chase scene in the 1968 film “Bullitt.” Unlike McQueen, Peaches never exceeded 30 mph (48 kph) because of restrictions imposed by state regulators on a ride-hailing service operated by Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, since it won approval to transport fare-paying passengers last year.It was all going so smoothly that I was starting to buy into the vision of C...

Tugboat sinks in Suez Canal after colliding with tanker

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A tugboat sank Saturday in Egypt’s Suez Canal after it collided with a Hong Kong-flagged tanker, the waterway’s authorities said.In a statement, the Suez Canal Authority, which oversees the operation of the key water passage, said its teams were working to recover the tugboat after it launched an operation to save the seven-person crew. It did not mention whether the movement of other ships transporting through the canal had been affected.The canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas, sees periodic groundings of mega-large transport ships that go through it, many of them traveling between China and Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Tugboats help guide ships passing through.The tanker involved in Saturday’s collision, the authority said, was the Hong Kong-flagged tanker Chinagas Legend, which it said was now waiting in Port Said.In March 2021 a skyscraper-sized container ship, the Panama-flagged Ever Given, ran aground in a single-lane stretch of ...

Turkmenistan Airlines suspends Moscow flights over safety concerns

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Turkmenistan’s flagship carrier, Turkmenistan Airlines, announced Saturday it would extend its suspension of flights to Moscow until the end of October, citing safety concerns after an increase in drone attacks on the Russian capital.The suspension of flights between the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat and Moscow would be in place until Oct. 28 “due to the situation in the Moscow air zone, and based on a risk assessment in order to ensure flight safety,” the airline said in a statement.The suspension of flights, first announced on Wednesday, was initially planned until Aug. 22.The airline’s Saturday statement said that flights between Ashgabat and Moscow would instead fly to the city of Kazan, located, over 700 kilometers (435 miles) from Moscow.A drone attacked a skyscraper in central Moscow early Tuesday for the second time in around 48 hours, damaging the building’s facade and further underscoring the Russian capital’s vulnerability. Russian authorities accused Uk...

Syrian baby born under earthquake rubble turns 6 months, happily surrounded by her adopted family

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:24:47 GMT

JINDERIS, Syria (AP) — A baby girl who was born under the rubble of her family home destroyed by the deadly earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria six months ago is in good health, loves her adopted family and likes to smile even to strangers.The dark-haired baby Afraa survived 10 hours under the rubble after the Feb. 6 earthquake crushed to death her parents and four siblings in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis. When she was found, her umbilical cord was still connected to her mother.Her story captivated the world at the time, and people from all over offered to adopt her.After spending days at a hospital in north Syria, Afraa was released and handed over to her paternal aunt and her husband, who adopted her and are raising her along with their five daughters and two sons. Afraa was handed over to her aunt’s family days after a DNA test was conducted to make sure the girl and her aunt are biologically related, her adopted father, Khalil al-Sawadi, said.On Saturday, baby Afraa was...