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Sweden vows to crack down on criminal networks as number of lethal shootings soars

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — As many as 30,000 people in Sweden are involved in criminal networks, the country’s justice minister said Thursday, describing the figure as “breathtaking” and vowing to introduce new legislation to fight organized crime.“Lethal firearm violence has increased dramatically and Sweden is in an extraordinarily serious situation,” said Gunnar Strommer, who added that an official investigation set to begin later this year would look into ways to convict more criminals. The probe should be completed by September 2024, he said.Criminal gangs have become a growing problem in Sweden, a country of 10 million that has experienced an increase in drive-by shootings, bombings and grenade attacks. Most of the violence occurs in Sweden’s three largest cities: Stockholm, Goteborg and Malmo.The center-right government has vowed to tackle gang-related crime by tightening laws.Through May, there have been 144 shootings this year, with 18 fatalities, according to Swedish police. S...

Veteran Sherpa guides to compete next season for Everest ascent record

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The race for the record to have successfully scaled Mount Everest the most number of times is still on. Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa, 48, plans to climb the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak next year in an attempt to again match the record set by a fellow Sherpa guide.“I will continue to climb (Everest) as long as my body can as there are people over 60 years who have climbed it,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday. “But that does not mean I will climb until I am 60 years old, but as long as I am able to.”Pasang Dawa reached Everest’s peak twice this spring. On May 14, he equaled the record of 26 successful ascents set by Kami Rita, who went on to reach the top of the mountain a 27th time. Pasang Dawa’s matched the new record on May 23, but Kami Rita regained his title with a 28th climb that same day.Kami Rita, 53, has said he would head to the peak again during the 2024 climbing season, when Pasang Dawa also will be at the mountain to guide forei...

Australian opposition party expels senator over sexual misconduct allegations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s main opposition party expelled a senator on Thursday after a female senator accused him of sexual assault in the latest evidence of a toxic culture in Parliament House that is hostile to women.Opposition leader Peter Dutton said he expelled Sen. David Van from the conservative Liberal Party following allegations made in Parliament on Wednesday night by independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe of harassment and sexual assault. Van remains a senator, but no longer represents the Liberal Party.Van denied the allegations, which were made under parliamentary privilege, under which no one can be sued for defamation over anything said in the Senate.Political leaders apologized last year to staffers who have endured decades of bullying, harassment and sexual assault inside Parliament House which were exposed by an investigation by the national sex discrimination commissioner.The investigation was triggered by a staffer’s allegation that she was raped ...

Biden targets junk fees with executives from Live Nation, SeatGeek and Airbnb

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting executives from Live Nation, Airbnb and other companies at the White House on Thursday to highlight his administration’s push to end so-called junk fees that surprise consumers.Biden prioritized the effort to combat surprise or undisclosed fees in his State of the Union address and has called for legislation, regulation and private sector action to end them. Biden, at Thursday’s event, was set to announce actions by companies that have eliminated or plan to eliminate those surprise fees. The consumer advocacy push is part of the Democratic president’s pitch to voters ahead of his 2024 reelection bid that government can help improve their lives in big and small ways. At the White House, Live Nation, which is based in Beverly Hills, California, is announcing that it will provide customers with upfront all-in pricing for its owned venues by September and that Ticketmaster will give consumers the option to view all-in pr...

Police file charges of sexual harassment against president of Indian wrestling federation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — New Delhi police filed charges Thursday of sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of six female athletes by Indian wrestling federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at the end of their investigation.If convicted, Singh faces a maximum of five years in prison. He denies the allegations.In a separate report, police sought the cancellation of a complaint of sexual harassment filed by a minor wrestler against Singh for lack of evidence, police spokesperson Suman Nalwa said.Under Indian laws, an accused is formally charged or discharged by a court after going through a report filed at the end of the police investigation in the case. The court will decide whether to put Singh under arrest if it decides to put him on trial.Two separate courts are expected to start hearing the cases within weeks.The minor wrestler’s case was filed under a special act that protects children from offenses of sexual assault and harassment, Nalwa said.The wrestlers began prote...

Scathing report finds Boris Johnson deliberately misled UK Parliament over ‘partygate’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown-flouting parties that undermined his credibility and contributed to his downfall, a committee of lawmakers said Thursday after a year-long investigation.A scathing report from the House of Commons Privileges Committee found that Johnson’s actions and his response to the committee were such a flagrant violation of the rules that they warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament. While a condemning indictment of the former prime minister’s conduct, the recommendation is largely symbolic because Johnson angrily quit as a lawmaker Friday after the committee informed him of its conclusions. “We have concluded above that in deliberately misleading the House, Mr Johnson committed a serious contempt,” the committee’s report said. “The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government. There is no pre...

Kosovo tightens border security after saying 3 police officers ‘kidnapped’ by Serbian forces

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s prime minister on Thursday said border security would be tightened following what he described as Serbia’s role in the “kidnapping of three police officers.”Prime Minister Albin Kurti also criticized NATO-led international peacekeepers for not providing an official explanation of what happened to the three border police officers. Kurti says they were “kidnapped inside Kosovo’s territory” while Belgrade says they were “arrested” in Serbian territory.Kurti, speaking at a news conference, showed maps of where the incident allegedly occurred, saying that Serbia’s special police and army units had entered deep into Kosovo territory.After a meeting of Kosovo’s top security council, the prime minister said border checks would increase and traffic from Serbia would be limited, but he added they were not “commercial steps,” suggesting goods would continue to move freely across the border.“What surprises us is the silence and tolerance of int...

Bill Cosby sued by 9 more women in Nevada over alleged decades-old sexual assaults

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nine more women are accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault in a lawsuit that alleges he used his “enormous power, fame and prestige" to victimize them.A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Nevada alleges that the women were individually drugged and assaulted between approximately 1979 and 1992 in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe homes, dressing rooms and hotels.One woman alleges that Cosby, claiming to be her acting mentor, lured her from New York to Nevada, where he drugged her in a hotel room with what he had claimed to be non-alcoholic sparkling cider and then raped her. 9 women file lawsuit in Las Vegas accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault The 85-year-old former “Cosby Show” star has now been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women. He has denied all allegations involving sex crimes. He was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era — and spent nearly three years at a state prison near Philadel...

Small Bites Review: With hefty empanadas and juicy arepas, Montebello is a great skyway lunch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

Montebello is only open three hours a day.Thankfully, though, those hours are 11 to 2 on Tuesdays through Fridays, so if you’re downtown and need lunch, the skyway-level empanada and arepa shop is just what you’re looking for.The business started as a food truck, a converted school bus that still makes its way to breweries around the Twin Cities. But thanks to the Downtown Alliance’s Grow Downtown program, which provides free short-term leases for vacant storefronts, Montebello opened a casual counter-service restaurant late last year, too.The menu downtown is different from the food truck, and they’re pulling inspiration from a variety of culinary traditions.South American empanadas make up about half the menu. The “big beef” empanada, also listed as an empanada de pino, is your classic Chilean hand pie. Ground beef with hard-boiled egg, chopped olives, and a few raisins. The “big chicken” is inspired by the Peruvian dish lomo saltado and features chicken stir-fried with vegetables...

Patrick Horan: Why we don’t need to tolerate higher inflation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:50 GMT

Inflation is finally falling. Although the year-over-year inflation rate is still over 4%, well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, much of that reflects especially large price increases from last summer. As those unusual months cycle out of the data, the rate will likely keep dropping.With inflation trending down, but not yet at target, some notable economists including Nobel laureate Paul Krugman and Moody’s Analytics’ Mark Zandi have questioned whether the Fed should even worry about the target. In their view, getting all the way down to 2% could threaten the strong labor market. This is not a new perspective. Over the years, many economists have argued that a slightly higher inflation target could actually be a good thing.We should reject these arguments. A higher target is harmful and unnecessary for the Fed to do its job of promoting full employment and price stability.The idea that higher inflation would be good might sound strange. Why would some economi...