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Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition defeats a no-confidence motion against the health minister

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition on Friday defeated a no-confidence motion against the country’s health minister who has been accused of allegedly failing to secure enough essential drugs and laboratory equipment that some say resulted in preventable deaths in hospitals. The motion was initiated by opposition lawmakers who claimed Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella’s actions had ruined the health sector. The parliament debated for three days before defeating the motion in a 113-73 vote on Friday in the 225-member house.Sri Lanka provides free health service through state-run hospitals but they have suffered from a shortage of medicines and health workers, especially doctors, as a result of an economic crisis after the government suspended repayment of foreign loans. Rambukwella has rejected the opposition’s allegations against him.Several patients have died or suffered impairments, including blindness, during treatment at state-run hospitals...

Water hookups come to Alaska Yup’ik village, and residents are thrilled to ditch their honey buckets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

AKIACHAK, Alaska (AP) — Sanitation workers Thomas Noatak and Joseph Moses start every workday riding a four-wheeler along the muddy roads of this small Yup’ik village on southwestern Alaska’s vast Kuskokwim River, looking for human waste.They’re checking honey bucket bins — large steel containers where residents dump their waste at neighborhood collection points. When they find a bin full enough to warrant a trip to the dump site just outside town, they load it up and haul it nearly a mile over deeply potholed and rutted streets, hoping to do it without splashing.Many Alaska villages don’t have running water and flushing toilets. Instead of using a bathroom, people retire to a room in a house, pull a curtain and use a honey bucket — typically a 5-gallon bucket with a toilet seat on top and a plastic bag inside. Instead of showers, they rely on steam baths or sponge baths. Water for drinking and washing has to be hauled in.All that’s changing in Akiachak, where most of th...

Indonesia says China has pledged $21B in new investment to strengthen ties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Visiting Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday pledged $21.7 billion in new Chinese investment in Indonesia to strengthen the countries’ economic and political ties, an official said.Li arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday to attend the three-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and meet with Indonesian leaders.President Joko Widodo hosted Li at the colonial-style Merdeka palace in Jakarta on Friday and discussed ways to expand trade and investment. He sought China’s help in plans to move Indonesia’s capital from congested and polluted Jakarta on the main island of Java to Nusantara on Borneo island.After the meeting, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi announced the new Chinese investment pledge, which follows a previous $44.89 billion investment commitment made when Widodo met Chinese President Xi Jinping in July. Details of the new investment weren’t announced.Marsudi said Widodo asked China, Indonesia’s largest trade a...

For rave-ready electronic duo the Chemical Brothers, a 10th studio album is a feat and a challenge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Beloved British electronic duo the Chemical Brothers released their 10th album on Friday, more than three decades into their career. But does it get any easier with time?Not according to one-half of the outfit, Tom Rowlands.“I think it’s just more complicated” he said, speaking via Zoom from his studio in the U.K. “Everyone’s got a new theory on how to do it.”Prior to the album’s release, Rowlands and Ed Simons shared four singles from the forthcoming album, “For That Beautiful Feeling” — including their second collaboration with Beck, the track “Feels like I’m Dreaming.” They previously worked with the singer on the 2015 track “Wide Open.”They also made it a point to test the tracks out on dance floors and festival fields prior to the album — “playing them (live) as we write them,” as Rowlands explains — which, in turn, influenced their studio decisions.“I don’t know if it’s the right way to release an album,” he smiled. “I can’t quite keep up with what is...

Israel says it will reopen the main cargo crossing to Gaza on Sunday, a relief for Gazan producers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel will reopen the main commercial crossing to Gaza after Israeli authorities closed it earlier this week, saying they had found explosives headed out of the embattled territory. The closure was a severe economic blow to producers across the coastal strip.The Kerem Shalom crossing was closed on Monday after authorities said explosives were found hidden in a clothing shipment bound for the occupied West Bank — one of the main markets for Gaza’s tiny export sector — and feared they were intended for militants in the territory.After an investigation and “necessary adjustments,” the crossing was safe to reopen, Israel said, without elaborating further on the explosives found. Palestinian fishermen, businessmen and rights advocates said the closure marked a form of collective punishment against Gaza’s 2 million people, including tens of thousands of laborers who heavily depend on exports to Israel and the West Bank to stay afloat. Nearly all the goods that ente...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts at the open, on track for a losing week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting, keeping Wall Street on track to close out its first losing week in the last three. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% early Friday. The Dow was flat and the Nasdaq composite edged up 0.3%. Stocks have been under pressure this week because of worries that a too-warm economy will push the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer. Those worries have pushed yields higher in the bond market, which hurts stock prices. Traders have called off some bets for the Fed to cut rates next year, after reports showed the U.S. economy remains resilient.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street inched lower before the market open Friday, threatening to cap a holiday-shortened week with its fourth straight loss.Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials each ticked down about 0.2% before the bell.With earnings season mostly winding down and few major government economic reports, stocks have wobbled this wee...

UK police call in bomb squad to check ‘suspicious vehicle’ near Channel Tunnel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British Army bomb-disposal experts were examining a vehicle that was stopped by police near the entrance to the Channel Tunnel on Friday, authorities said.The Kent Police force said one man had been arrested. It said the incident was not linked to the hunt for Daniel Abed Khalife, who escaped from a London prison on Wednesday while awaiting trial on terrorism charges.“Explosives experts from the British Army have been called to the scene and a cordon has been put in place for the safety of the public. This is currently having an effect on traffic approaching the terminal,” police said.Le Shuttle, which operates trains that carry vehicles through the tunnel between England and France, said access to its terminal was suspended and services were likely to be severely disrupted.The Associated Press

Latest sighting of fugitive killer in Pennsylvania spurs closure of popular botanical garden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — One of the country’s top botanical gardens has been closed indefinitely after reports that an escaped murderer on the run in southeast Pennsylvania may have once again been spotted on the property.When Longwood Gardens closed Thursday night, people who remained on the property were told to shelter in place as law officers searched part of the site for fugitive Danelo Souza Cavalcante. The 34-year-old Brazilian man escaped from the Chester County Prison on Aug. 31 by scaling a wall, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof.There was a possible sighting of Cavalcante on Thursday night that was being investigated, state police said, but further details about the sighting and who reported it were not disclosed. It came hours after another person reported seeing Cavalcante in another area of the vast botanical garden. On Monday night, a surveillance camera on a trail had captured him walking through its grounds.Cavalcante has so far eluded hundreds of law...

"Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones"

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

Dan Buettner spent the past two decades traveling to five longevity hot spots around the globe to figure out what makes some communities of people live on average about a decade longer than others while maintaining their good health."The Blue Zones Secrets for Living Longer: Lessons From the Healthiest Places on Earth""Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones"Streaming Now on Netflixdanbuettner.com@danbuettnerLove the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

NJ investigators solve 4-decade-old 'Baby Mary' cold case, charging mother: officials

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:58 GMT

MENDHAM TOWNSHIP, N.J. (WPIX) – Investigators have solved a nearly 40-year-old cold case involving the death of "Baby Mary," a newborn whose body was found in a wooded area in New Jersey in 1984, authorities said.The baby girl's body was found in Mendham Township on Christmas Eve in 1984. She was less than a day old when she was abandoned in the remote area, her umbilical cord still attached, according to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.The baby girl, whose identity was unknown, was baptized by the Rev. Michael Drury, of St. Joseph Church. Drury, the Mendham Township Police Department chaplain, named the baby "Mary."The identity of Baby Mary's parents remained a mystery for nearly four decades — until this year when the infant’s mother was identified and charged in the case, law enforcement officials announced Thursday."Using new technology, law enforcement networking in three states, and old-fashioned police work, investigators were recently able to identify Baby Mary's biolo...