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Rights groups call for probe into shooting of Lao activist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Human rights groups on Wednesday called for an investigation into the shooting of a political and social activist in Laos whose posts on Facebook criticized the Southeast Asian nation’s communist government.It wasn’t immediately clear whether Anousa Luangsuphom, 25, was killed in the attack Saturday night at a coffee shop in Vientiane, the capital.Amnesty International said in a statement calling for an investigation of the shooting that it had not been able to independently verify whether Anousa had died.Video from security cameras uploaded onto a state media website and then circulated on social media shows a gunman in a cap and mask make a tentative entrance into the cafe, step out, walk back in again, and brush past a woman to fire two shots from a handgun into the sitting victim. Another video released online shows paramedics attending to him.Reports in Lao media and from fellow activists said Anousa later died. But a Lao activist in exile in Paris who knew...

Texas Democrat Allred says he’ll run against Cruz for Senate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas said Wednesday he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2024, becoming an early challenger to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred, a three-term congressman and former NFL player, enters the race a heavy underdog. No Democrat has won statewide office in Texas in nearly 30 years, although Cruz only narrowly beat Beto O’Rourke in 2018 during what was a strong midterm election cycle nationally for Democrats. “Some people say a Democrat can’t win in Texas,” Allred said in a campaign launch video. “Well, someone like me was never supposed to get this far.”Democrats currently hold a narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate and face a tough electoral map in 2024, when their party will be defending 23 seats compared with Republicans’ 10. Three of those Democratic seats are in states that then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, won in the 2020 election.Allred doesn’t have a large profile in Texas beyond his Dallas district. He ...

Critics say huge coronation security operation goes too far

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The coronation of King Charles III involves one of the most important and complex security operations in U.K. history, Britain’s security minister said Wednesday, as rights groups accused the authorities of stifling civil liberties in their attempt to ensure events run smoothly.Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said the coronation involves “one of the most important security operations that the country has put into plan,” with scores of foreign royals, dignitaries and heads of state expected to attend Saturday’s Westminster Abbey service.“This is an enormously important moment for the country,” Tugendhat told Times Radio. “The police are, to put it mildly, all over it, and our intelligence and other security forces are extremely aware of the challenges that we face and ready to deal with them — as the police did quite brilliantly yesterday.”As thousands of police began to be deployed across London, officers arrested a man and blew up a suspicious bag outside ...

Allardyce after joining Leeds: ‘There’s nobody ahead of me’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

Sam Allardyce has built a managerial career largely out of being a survival specialist in the Premier League.At 68 years old, he is back — somewhat surprisingly — in England’s top division with one of his toughest assignments yet.The former England coach was hired by Leeds on Wednesday until the end of the season as a replacement for Javi Gracia, who was fired with the team in fourth-to-last place in the standings and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference with four games remaining.Allardyce’s last coaching role was at West Bromwich Albion for the second half of the 2020-21 season, when he failed in his short-term mission to keep the team in the Premier League.That hasn’t stopped Leeds from turning to one of English soccer’s most charismatic managers, with Allardyce saying he was “shocked” to get the opportunity of being the club’s fourth manager in 15 months.“I never thought at this stage of the season there would be jobs offered,” he said, “R...

Goochland’s Greenswell Growers seeing ‘exceptional growth’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

After taking the time to develop a new product, Goochland indoor farming company Greenswell Growers is seeing “exceptional growth,” according to President Carl Gupton.The company grows lettuce and other leafy greens in a greenhouse operation. Greenswell launched a co-branded product last month with Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods. That product is available at around 90 Kroger stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, and Gutpon said the company is about to make a Greenswell-only branded product available in two more grocery chains in the next month or so.“We are at such a front end of this industry,” Gupton said. “By being located centrally in the Mid-Atlantic, we can hit 70% of the U.S. population within a day’s drive.”Chuck Metzgar, John May and Doug Pick founded the company after looking into ways to provide healthy, locally sourced food to people who were food insecure. During his research, Pick, the president and CEO of Central Virginia nonprofit FeedMore, saw how efficient…Read the full stor...

Man killed after altercation at Tesla charging station near Edgewater Public Market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Police are investigating a deadly shooting near the Edgewater Public Market at the Tesla charging station.The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said the shooting occurred in the 5500 block of West 20th Avenue just west of Sloan's Lake. FOX31's Lisa D'Souza is on scene and said an altercation took place between two men who were at the Tesla charging station. Colorado woman dead after plunge from Manhattan hotel roof: police sources The suspect shot the other man and the victim was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. JCSO they are now investigating the case as a homicide. Authorities said the suspect called 911 and turned himself in and is now in custody. Police are working to determine if the two men knew each other.There is no longer a threat to the public.

1 killed, 3 injured in Atlanta 'active' shooting; suspect at large, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

ATLANTA (NEXSTAR) — One person was killed and three people were injured Wednesday in “active shooter situation” in a building in Atlanta's Midtown neighborhood, police said.The Atlanta Police Department said on Twitter that the shooter was inside a building on West Peachtree Street, between 12th and 13th Streets. No suspect was in custody.At 1:30 p.m., police said they were aware of four victims: three who were being treated for injuries and one who had been pronounced dead at the scene. The department also said no more shots had been fired since the "initial incident unfolded."The department released photos of the alleged suspect, who they described as "at large.""The suspect is believed to be armed and dangerous and should not be approached," police said on Twitter.Photos shared by the Atlanta Police Department show the suspect, the department said. (Photo: Atlanta Police Department)Photos shared by the Atlanta Police Department show the suspect, the department said. (Photo: Atlan...

‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ closes the book on Marvel’s unlikeliest family

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

(CNN) — In hindsight, the most unlikely hit among Marvel’s parade of them was all about the unlikeliest of families. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” drives home that point, with a boisterous and often emotional sequel that feels very much like a true conclusion, fueled in no small part by writer-director James Gunn having migrated his talents over to rival DC.Building franchises around more obscure heroes always represented the biggest risk in Marvel’s cinematic plans, which made the success of “Guardians” in 2014 and its less-satisfying sequel a minor miracle. As evidence look no further than “Eternals,” another super-team that (while meriting an asterisk due to the pandemic) didn’t fare nearly as well.The key to Gunn’s earlier movies relied on a mix of abundant visual energy, distinctive characters, cleverly incorporated songs and no small amount of sheer goofiness. All of that is on full display in “Vol. 3,&...

Shooting inside Atlanta building leaves 1 dead, 4 injured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — One person was fatally shot and at least four others injured Wednesday in a shooting in a Midtown Atlanta building, police said.Atlanta police said there had been no additional shots fired since the initial shooting unfolded inside a building on West Peachtree Street, between 12th and 13th Streets, a commercial area with many office towers and high-rise apartments. No suspect was in custody and police said in an email just after 1 p.m. that it was an “active, fluid situation.”Police said in an email that they were actively searching for the suspect and any additional victims. The four injured people were taken to a hospital for treatment and the fourth person was pronounced dead at the scene.https://twitter.com/Atlanta_Police/status/1653800971384881155?s=20The shooting comes as cities around the U.S. have been wracked by gun violence and mass shootings in 2023.Police sent out a photo of the person believed ...

Didn’t see that coming! Suspected coup plotter employed fortune-teller in German parliament

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:26:31 GMT

BERLIN — A far-right former German lawmaker and judge — who was part of a group accused of trying to violently overthrow the German government — employed a fortune-teller in her Bundestag office, according to local media.Birgit Malsack-Winkemann of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) employed the fortune-teller as a part-time clerk, Zeit reported, and paid her around €11,800 in salary between July and October 2021.The news came to light as both Malsack-Winkemann and the fortune-teller are defendants in a court case against a group called the Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich), which refuses to recognize the modern German state and aims to replace it with an authoritarian new system. The German state dubs the Reichsbürger a terrorist organization. Malsack-Winkemann served as a lawmaker for the AfD between 2017 and 2021 before leaving to return to her previous work in Berlin’s judicial service in March 2022. She was removed from judicial office in March 2023 and is cur...