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H&M workers strike for higher pay across Spain, shutting down stores

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Hundreds of retail workers on Monday walked off the job across Spain in a new round of strikes against the fashion giant H&M Group, extending a series of store closures in the middle of the summer sales season.More than 4,000 Spanish employees at the Swedish multinational’s brands including H&M, Other Stories and Cos are seeking pay rises in line with the higher cost of living and are protesting increased workloads linked to layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.Monday’s walkout was the third day of strikes by H&M Group employees this month. Flagship stores in Madrid have closed, with hundreds of workers gathering in front of the city’s largest H&M location to demand better conditions as online sales increasingly fracture the retail industry.Union leader Ángeles Rodríguez Bonillo told The Associated Press that workers had lived with “salaries that have been frozen for many, many years” but now have found their situation untenable “with ...

Hollywood mogul acknowledges gifts to Netanyahu may have been ‘excessive’ in 2nd day of testimony

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A billionaire Hollywood mogul took the stand for a second day on Monday in Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial, acknowledging that the long list of champagne, cigars and jewelry he systematically gave to the Israeli prime minister may have been excessive.Arnon Milchan, whose production credits include “Pretty Woman,” “12 Years a Slave,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is a key witness in one of three cases brought against Netanyahu. Prosecutors are trying to prove that Netanyahu committed fraud and breach of trust. Milchan, 78, has been testifying by videoconference from Brighton, England, which is near where he is based. Prosecutors hope his testimony, which began Sunday and is expected to last some two weeks, will provide details about the abundance of gifts given to Netanyahu and his wife. The gifts, the prosecutors maintain, led to favors from Netanyahu that advanced Milchan’s interests. Netanyahu’s lawyers have said Milchan’s gifts were frien...

Fukushima nuclear plant operator says equipment to release treated wastewater into sea is complete

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — All equipment needed for the release into the sea of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has been completed and will be ready for a safety inspection by Japanese regulators this week, the plant operator said Monday, as opposition to the plan continues in and outside Japan over safety concerns.Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said it installed the last piece of an undersea tunnel dug to release the water offshore, completing the construction of the necessary equipment that began last August.A mandatory safety inspection of the equipment will begin Wednesday, said Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shinichi Yamanaka, who visited the Fukushima Daiichi plant last week.If everything goes well, TEPCO is expected to receive a safety permit for the release about a week after the inspection ends, officials said. Discharge of the treated water is expected to begin this summer, although the exact date has not been set.The plan has faced ...

Chaos in Russia is morale booster for Ukraine as it pushes on with early stages of counteroffensive

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The armed rebellion against the Russian military may have been over in less than 24 hours, but the disarray within the enemy’s ranks was an unexpected gift and timely morale booster for Ukrainian troopsThe spectacle of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny in the critical military command and control hub in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, and later Russia’s scramble to fortify Moscow as troops marched to upend the country’s military leadership was greeted “with applause” by commanders of Ukraine’s Eastern Group of Forces, said its spokesperson, Serhii Cherevatiy.“Soldiers at the front lines are positive about it,” he said. “Any chaos and disorder on the enemy’s side benefits us.”A video of well-known Ukrainian drone commander “Magyar” watching the revolt while eating enormous amounts of popcorn went viral. A plethora of gleeful memes mocking Russian leader Vladimir Putin inundated social media, and statement after statement from Ukraine’s top brass described the t...

Netherlands and Belgium join international probe into crimes against Yazidis in Syria and Iraq

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands and Belgium have joined an international investigation into atrocities committed against the Yazidi minority in Syria and Iraq, the European Union’s judicial cooperation agency said Monday.The Joint Investigation Team was established by France and Sweden in October 2021 and supported by The Hague-based Eurojust to identify and prosecute foreign extremists who targeted Yazidis during the armed conflict in Syria and Iraq.Eurojust said the teamwork already has borne fruit, including in France, where a Yazidi victim of a French jihadist couple was identified. That led to to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity being added to an existing case.The joint investigation team is part of a broader international effort to mete out justice for atrocities targeting Yazidis, a minority considered heretics by the Islamic State militant group.A United Nations probe concluded in 2021 that crimes committed against Yazidis by Islamic State...

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says it shot down an Israeli drone near the southern border

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said its fighters shot down on Monday an Israeli drone that was flying near the border and over southern Lebanon. The group gave no further details about the type of the drone that it claimed was downed near the village of Zibqine just north of the border with Israel. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The incident comes after weeks of tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border, mainly in a disputed area known as Chebaa Farms. Earlier this month, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse scores of Lebanese protesters who pelted the troops with stones along the border. Some of the demonstrators and Lebanese troops suffered breathing problems.The protest took place on the edge of Kfar Chouba hills, which Beirut says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel. The hills and the nearby Chebaa Farms, are areas captured by Israel during the 1967 Mideast War and claimed by Lebanon.Israeli media reported earlier this month that Hezbollah ha...

Liz Weston: Safer ways to raid your retirement, if you have to

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

Raiding your retirement accounts can be expensive. Withdrawing money before age 59 1/2 typically triggers income taxes, a 10% federal penalty and — worst of all — the loss of future tax-deferred compounded returns. A 30-year-old who withdraws $1,000 from an individual retirement account or 401(k) could lose more than $11,000 in future retirement money, assuming 7% average annual returns.In the past, there were a few ways you could avoid the penalty. Congress recently added several more, and some of those exceptions allow you to repay the money within three years. That would allow you to get a refund of the taxes you paid and — best of all — allow the money to start growing again, tax deferred, for your future.You’re still better off leaving retirement funds alone for retirement, says Erin Itkoe, director of financial planning at Tarbox Family Office, a wealth management firm in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you can’t, though, you could at least limit the damage from taking the money out e...

Severe storms leave 1 person dead in southern Indiana

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

MARTIN COUNTY, Ind. -- A person is dead after severe storms rolled through Martin County in southern Indiana Sunday evening. Cameron Wolf, the Martin County EMA director, said that a home on Windom Road was hit by a tornado, killing one of the occupants and injuring the other. The area surrounding the home is described as rural and is surrounded by multiple trees that have been brought down by the high winds. No other information on the extent of the damage in the Martin County was immediately available.

Cloudy, cooler with showers possible

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

Gloomy conditions start out Monday with humidity. Showers are likely throughout the day. Humidity and mugginess may help fuel thunderstorms later Monday afternoon.Breezy and slightly cooler conditions also Monday. High of 74 Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Calmer conditions overnight Monday into Tuesday.More comfortable weather returns Tuesday and for the middle of the week. High of 76 Tuesday.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog The rest of the week is set to see a return to the 80s.

Does your state have a trans bathroom law? It may not know how to enforce it

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:42 GMT

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — When North Dakota restricted what bathrooms transgender students can use in public schools and universities this year, the school district in the state's largest city promised to ignore the new rules. A Republican legislator then called for confiscating its state funding, but the law doesn't include that possibility.The defiance in Fargo shows that it's not exactly clear how bathroom laws will play out in local communities after being enacted in at least 10 states with Republican-controlled legislatures.Kansas' GOP attorney general planned to discuss his state's law Monday, five days before it was to take effect. His view is likely to be challenged.Even Florida's law, allowing the state to threaten the licenses of educators who don't comply, says a transgender student or staffer must first be asked to leave a restroom and refuse.Some schools already have gender-neutral bathrooms and changing spaces or allow trans students to use staff restrooms. In others, tran...