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Spain election repeat more likely after expat vote leaves left-right tie in parliament

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

Spain’s already complicated electoral landscape just got a lot more complex.On Saturday, the count of the 233,688 ballots deposited by Spaniards living abroad — which are tallied five days after the in-person vote is held — led to the redistribution of seats in the Spanish parliament. As a result, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party lost one of the spots it was allocated in Madrid, which will now go to the center-right Popular Party.The Popular Party is now set to have 137 MPs in the next legislature; together with the far-right Vox party’s 33 MPs and the single MP belonging to the affiliated Navarrese People’s Union (UPN), the right-wing bloc is set to control at least 171 seats — the same number as Sánchez and his preferred partners. Should the Canarian Coalition revise its stated position, which is against backing any government that includes Vox, the conservative bloc could add another seat to its tally.Those numbers do not ...

Patriots extra points: Bill Belichick touts rookie WR, Matt Judon explains red sleeves

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

FOXBORO — According to Bill Belichick, Demario Douglas is like most of the other Patriots’ rookies.He’s hard-working, versatile and taking on new roles during training camp. Except, unlike any other rookie, Douglas has seen regular snaps with the starting offense in all three practices to date. The 5-foot-8, 192-pounder out of Liberty has impressed with his quickness, especially out of the slot He caught four passes during team drills Friday.Douglas has also tried his hand at returning, working as one of three kick returners to work in full-team kickoff drills in the Pats’ last practice.“Demario’s working at returns and offensively inside and outside, so it’s a big jump for him from a competition level in college, but he seems to be transitioning pretty well,” Belichick said. “He’s a smart kid. He picks things up well, learns quickly, so all things that work in his favor, but we’ll see how it goes when things get more competitive next week.&...

Triston Casas, Kutter Crawford lead Red Sox past Giants 3-2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

Triston Casas went down in a heap. The big Red Sox first baseman had just fouled a pitch right off his shin, and while it undoubtedly hurt like crazy Casas was able to gather himself and step back into the box.Then he sent the next pitch he saw 435 feet into the center field bleachers.One of the hottest hitters in baseball since the All-Star break, Casas kept things going with another huge game to power the Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants to kick off their latest west coast trip. He went 2 for 4 with two RBI, crushing the solo home run along with a run-scoring ground rule double, and starting pitcher Kutter Crawford earned the win after delivering one of his best outings of the season.Casas started the scoring in the top of the second after Adam Duvall doubled down the left field line, bringing him in with a bomb to straightaway center that bounced off the warning track and into the outfield stands. He then homered his next time up to lead off the fifth, prompting...

Some 3,700 Metro grocery workers from Toronto to Brantford on strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

Grocery store workers at 27 Metro locations from Toronto to Brantford have hit the picket lines after rejecting a tentative deal reached last week.Some 3,700 full and part-time store clerks in all departments, including cashiers, department managers, pharmacy, and Starbucks staff at stores in Toronto, Brantford, Orangeville, Milton, Oakville, Brampton, North York, Islington, Willowdale, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Newmarket and Scarborough are affected by the strike.Metro Ontario Inc., a subsidiary of Metro Inc., said in a statement that it is “extremely disappointed” that employees voted 100 per cent in favour of strike action even though the union bargaining committee unanimously recommended it to its members.Metro Ontario said the following stores will be closed for the duration of the strike, but pharmacies will remain open.180 Sandalwood Pkw., Brampton, ON371 St. Paul Ave., Brantford, ON201 Lloyd Manor, Etobicoke, ON1500 Royal York Rd., Etobicoke, ON1050 Kennedy Circle,...

Indian opposition lawmakers visit violence-wracked state in bid to pressure Modi’s government

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A group of Indian opposition lawmakers on Saturday visited a remote northeastern state where deadly ethnic clashes have killed at least 130 people, in a bid to pressure the government to take action against the violence which began in May. The delegation of 20 lawmakers from 15 political parties, who are part of a new opposition alliance called INDIA, arrived in Manipur state for a two-day visit to assess the situation on the ground as the ongoing violence and bloodshed have displaced tens of thousands in recent months. The conflict in Manipur has become a global issue due to the scale of violence, said Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, a lawmaker belonging to the opposition Congress party. “Our delegation is here to express solidarity with the people of Manipur in this time of distress. The top priority now is to restore normalcy as soon as possible,” he added.Tucked in the mountains on the border with Myanmar, Manipur is on the brink of a civil war. Mobs have rampaged throu...

A rebounding Pope Francis adds an overnight visit to France to his busy travel schedule

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis will make a two-day trip to Marseille, France, in late September, adding to a flurry of trips the 86-year-old pontiff will soon be making only weeks after leaving hospital following abdominal surgery. Early this year, Francis had said that he would go to the port city to participate in a meeting of Mediterranean-area Catholic bishops, but until the Vatican released his schedule on Saturday for the Sept. 22-23 pilgrimage, it wasn’t clear how long he would stay. On his second day in Marseille, Francis will meet with the bishops and in late afternoon preside at Mass in the city’s soccer stadium. Francis heads on Aug. 2 to Lisbon, Portugal, on a five-day trip centered around a Catholic youth jamboree. While in Portugal, he’ll make a helicopter trip to Fatima, site of a popular shrine to the Virgin Mary. Then on Aug. 31, he is scheduled to fly to Mongolia for the first-ever visit by a pontiff to that Asian country, which has a tiny Catholic community. Three...

An explosion at a firecracker factory in southern India kills 8 people, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — An explosion ripped through a firecracker factory in southern India on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding several others, police said. There was no immediate word as to what had caused the explosion in the district of Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu state. Houses and shops nearby were also damaged, authorities told the Press Trust of India news agency. Rescuers, police and firefighters rushed to the site. India has a huge demand for firecrackers, which are used in religious festivals and weddings. There are fatal accidents nearly every year as people work in makeshift factories in the absence of proper safety standards.In 2018, a massive fire at a firecracker factory in capital of New Delhi killed 17 workers. A year earlier, 23 workers were killed when a blast occurred while they were making firecrackers in a village in Madhya Pradesh state in central India.Factories start manufacturing firecrackers months before the nation’s biggest Hindu festivals, when people ...

US pledges to help Australia manufacture guided missiles by 2025

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The United States will expand its military industrial base by helping Australia manufacture guided missiles and rockets for both countries within two years, the allies announced on Saturday as they ramped up defense cooperation to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.The new cooperation on guided weapon production follows a trilateral partnership announcement in March that will see Britain provide Australia with a fleet of eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology.The greater integration of U.S. and Australian militaries was announced after annual talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Australian counterparts, Defense Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.They agreed to cooperate on Australia producing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems by 2025, a communique said.U.S. companies Raytheon and Lockheed Martin only established an Australian enterprise to ...

Montreal program letting residents plant sidewalk gardens provides numerous benefits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

MONTREAL — On a quiet residential corner of Montreal’s St-Henri neighbourhood, plots of dirt carved out of the sidewalk, each hosting a solitary tree, have become verdant oases along the city block.Through a free borough-run program that allows residents to adopt sidewalk tree plantings, local tenants have turned several of the roughly two-square-metre parcels into their own small gardens, some of them now bursting with daisies and hosta. Just in its second year of operation, the program has been a catalyst for numerous social, environmental and commercial benefits, residents say.And its popularity is growing. In 2022, Montreal’s Southwest borough, which includes St-Henri, counted 253 participants and 407 adopted squares. So far in 2023, there are 411 participants caring for 613 squares, according to Marie-Joëlle Fluet, the borough official who co-ordinates the program.“It’s a nice way to participate in my neighbourhood,” Geneviève Laplante, who adopted...

Severe weather causes damage in Chicagoland area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:54 GMT

Severe weather moved through the Chicago area Friday night, prompting watches and warnings including a Tornado Warning for a portion of the night just before midnight, also leaving a sizable amount of damage. The storm took down several large trees and branches and caused a number of ppwoer outages. There have been no reports of injuries yet. ComEd is currently reporting about 34,000 customers without power. Latest warnings and watches from the National Weather Service.It was a hot, steamy Friday with high temps which made it into the low and mid 90s—with dew points as high as 80-deg at a number of locations. Powerhouse t-storms erupt Friday night The Chicago area was at a Level 3 risk of severe weather on the storm prediction center's 5-tier risk scale and also the risk of excessive rainfall. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here There is potential for t-storms to train---i.e. fire repeatedly over some areas---thus producing potential flooding. It appears the pe...