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Australia and New Zealand leaders seek closer defense ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia and New Zealand leaders agreed Wednesday to seek closer defense ties as the latter considers sharing advanced military technologies with the United States and Britain through the so-called AUKUS partnership.New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made Australia the destination of his first overseas visit since forming a coalition government following his election in October. Luxon said he and his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, agreed at their meeting in Sydney the two countries’ defense and foreign ministers would meet in early 2024 to ensure their plans were “aligned and coordinated.”“We know we’re facing a more challenging and complex world. Close security and defense relationships we have with our only ally, Australia, is very foundational for New Zealand,” Luxon told reporters.“New Zealand is committed to doing our share of the heavy lifting in the alliance and I’m determined that New Zealand will continue to be alongside Aust...

China’s Alibaba names CEO Eddie Wu to head its e-commerce business as its growth falters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s Alibaba Group says its CEO Eddie Wu will head its core e-commerce business, as the company seeks to drive growth and fend off fast-growing online shopping rivals like Pinduoduo. Wu is replacing Trudy Dai, a longtime Alibaba executive who was one of the founding employees of the company. Alibaba’s chairman Joe Tsai said in an internal letter dated Wednesday that Dai will help set up an asset management company aimed at improving returns on capital and “enhance shareholder value.” The reshuffle came after PDD Holdings Inc., which operates online shopping platform Pinduoduo and U.S.-focused e-commerce site Temu, surpassed Alibaba in market value in the past month.As of Tuesday, PDD’s market capitalization of its U.S.-listed stock was $199.41 billion. Alibaba’s was $191.75 billion.Alibaba founder Jack Ma earlier this month praised PDD for having managed to grow bigger than his Hangzhou-based company, which had for years been China’s biggest e-commerce play...

Violence against US postal carriers climbs, data shows

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

CHICAGO — Bad weather and biting dogs used to rank among the biggest challenges for letter carriers. Now, those concerns have given way to something more serious: The threat of violence.Attacks against letter carriers have soared in recent years, both in Chicago and nationally, according to data obtained by WGN Investigates.So, what’s being done to protect them? Not enough, according to the Postal Police Officers Association.“We received a directive that we were only allowed to patrol real postal property,” said Marlon Barber, a postal police officer and association member.That U. S. Postal Service issued that directive in August 2020. Up until then, postal police patrolled the streets and helped protect carriers on their routes. Related: USPS touts crackdown on postal crime, carrier robberies, with hundreds of arrests Now, that is no longer permitted.As a result, the association believes carriers have been left unprotected.Data shows that in 2019, when patrols were still all...

Prosecutors drop all charges against Chicago man wrongfully convicted of 2011 murder; Darien Harris walks free

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

CHICAGO — A Chicago man whose murder conviction was recently vacated walked free on Tuesday after spending more than 12 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.In 2011, Darien Harris was an 18-year-old high school senior with no criminal record when Rondell Moore was murdered and another man wounded at a South Side gas station, in the Woodlawn neighborhood.Harris was arrested, charged and then convicted in 2014 for the murder of Moore. He was sentenced to 76 years in prison, but Harris' family always maintained his innocence, saying he was at home watching the NBA playoffs when Moore was murdered.On Tuesday morning, more than 12 years after he was arrested, Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges against Harris, now 30 years old and married.Harris' wife, mom, other family members, supporters and his Exoneration Project attorney, Lauren Myerscough-Mueller, were elated Tuesday as they awaited Harris' pending release from Cook County Jail."I feel like I’m dreaming, it doesn’...

Temps rebound after a 2-day arctic chill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

Temps to build toward unseasonably mild 50s Sunday and Monday; Christmas rain likelyWGN WEATHER HEADLINESIT WAS DECEMBER'S COLDEST MORNING TO DATE ACROSS THE CHICAGO AREAWith low temps of 18 at O’Hare and 19 at Midway and even colder in areas surrounding, the Winter Solstice, the astronomical start to the winter season, occurs in the northern hemisphere this Thursday, December 21 at 9:27 PM CST Chicago time — our shortest day of the yearNo morning's been colder this month than the readings which greeted us Tuesday morning. In fact, this morning's upper teen low temps were the coldest to occur in the city since a 14-degree minimum temp the morning of November 28th.But temps are to bounce back in coming days, resuming the ABOVE NORMAL TEMP TREND which has dominated the month. Until Monday, EVERY DECEMBER 2023 DAY HAS POSTED A TEMP SURPLUS.CHICAGO AND THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE'S SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR TAKES PLACE THURSDAYChicagoans will see only 9.1 hours of daylight (548 mins) versus ...

Campaign Context: What the data says about Sen. Cruz's illegal immigration claims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz is looking for reelection next year. On his podcast recently, Cruz once again criticized President Joe Biden on the topic of the border and said, "When Biden came into power, he inherited the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years."Cruz has said this many times over the last few years. The wording he uses is "lowest rate of illegal immigration," which is vague. There is no one metric that could measure his specific claim.The data most related to Cruz's claim is the number of apprehensions at the border, which seem to line up with what he is saying, for the most part.According to a customs and border protection table chart, in Fiscal Year 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 405,000 apprehensions by U.S. Border Patrol agents. Fiscal Year 2020 is the year Cruz has cited, and it was the last period before the start of the Biden administration. The last time there were fewer apprehensions that that was in ...

Fleury magnificent as Wild battle back in Boston for overtime victory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

BOSTON — The Wild have earned some impressive victories since ending a seven-game losing streak and beginning play under new coach John Hynes last month.Right out of the gate, they drilled four straight opponents for their first four-game winning streak of the season. They shut out Seattle on the road, and earned back-to-back shootout victories over Calgary and Vancouver without two injured blue line leaders.But Tuesday’s 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden might have been their most impressive performance since Hynes began coaching the team on Nov. 28.Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, tying the game early in the third, then winning it in overtime, and Marc-Andre Fleury was magnificent as Minnesota rallied from a third-period deficit to beat the Atlantic Division leaders.“Nobody panicked,” said Fleury, who stopped 40 shots in what might have been his last appearance in Boston. “Maybe if it was earlier in the season, we might have tensed up a little bit. But it was good. Ther...

LGBTQ community rallies around south city bar following crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

ST. LOUIS - St. Louis’s LGBTQ community showed its support for a south city bar after a city police car slammed into it early Monday morning and one of the bar’s owners was arrested. Current and former city leaders, along with LGBTQ community advocates, were on hand for the event.People on hand Tuesday said the bar's reopening so quickly shows the community’s resilience. But they said the entire ordeal also shows their fight for police transparency and fairness toward the LGBTQ community is far from over.Around 7:30 p.m., Bar:PM owners James Pence and Chad Morris thanked a packed crowd for their support as Morris fought to get released from jail and the business acted quickly to seal the building and clean up the mess left behind from the crash.“It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, mentally and physically,” Morris said. Charges reduced for Bar:PM owner arrested after police crash “Something does have to change,” Pence said. “They do have to be more accountable.”People at the reop...

Kucherov has 2 goals, Vasilevskiy makes 28 saves as Lightning beat Blues 6-1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had two goals, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the St. Louis Blues 6-1 on Tuesday night.Michael Eyssimont, Tyler Motte, Haydn Fleury and Nicholas Paul also scored for the Lightning, who have won five of 12. Steven Stamkos had three assists to move past Theo Fleury (1,088) into 67th place on the career points list with 1,090.“When we get in trouble, sometimes is we try to make the extra play, and it results in a turnover,” said Paul, who had two assists. “I think a big message for us before the game was just simplify the game. Work hard, win battles, and pucks to the net.”Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 23 shots. He had a 5-0 shutout against Tampa Bay in the previous meeting between the teams on Nov. 14.St. Louis interim coach Drew Bannister lost in his first road game following a pair of home victories after taking over when Craig Berube ...

Clayco selected to build electric vehicle manufacturing plant for Rivian

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:33 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - The Rivian SUV isn’t just parked outside Clayco for easy product placement. The two companies are now business partners.“We’re really excited to forge this new partnership with Rivian,” Clayco’s Tony Mezines said.Rivian selected Clayco to build a cutting-edge electric vehicle manufacturing plant about an hour east of Atlanta, Georgia.“We really have the best, brightest and most creative employees working here at Clayco, and it allows us to take on these highly complex projects,” Mezines said.Mezines says the Rivian project furthers the advanced manufacturing work that Clayco’s been involved in for the last two decades.“Over the past year, we’ve really seen a large uptick in sustainable energy projects. Whether it’s lithium-ion batteries, solar manufacturing, or now, with the announcement of Rivian, electric vehicle manufacturing,” Mezines said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe No...