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Paris police look at gas leak as possible cause of explosion and fire that injured 24

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

By ANGELA CHARLTON and ALEX TURNBULL (Associated Press)PARIS (AP) — A strong explosion rocked a building in Paris’ Left Bank on Wednesday, injuring at least 24 people, igniting a fire that sent smoke soaring over the French capital’s monuments and prompting an evacuation of other properties, authorities said. Police were investigating suspicions that a gas leak caused the blast.The facade of the building in the 5th arrondissement collapsed. Emergency services were searching for two people who might be trapped inside, the district’d mayor said. The explosion happened near the historic Val de Grace military hospital, in one of the most upscale neighborhoods of the French capital.Some 270 firefighters were involved in putting out the flames and 70 emergency vehicles were sent to the scene. The fire was contained Wednesday evening but not yet extinguished as Paris bars and restaurants celebrated the summer solstice with a citywide annual music festival.Sirens wai...

Missing OceanGate Expeditions Titanic sub updates: Navy sends salvage equipment, rescuers hear underwater ‘banging’ noises

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

The rescuers searching for the missing OceanGate Expeditions sub with five people on board have heard underwater “banging” noises in the search area, some “cause for hope” with limited time left to find the sub that explores the Titanic wreck site.Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy on Wednesday was reportedly sending salvage equipment to the North Atlantic Ocean to lift the 20,000-pound sub if it’s found. The Navy’s Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System can lift up to 60,000 pounds.The U.S. Coast Guard out of Boston and partner agencies have been desperately searching for the missing 21-foot submersible research vessel.The sub on Sunday morning lost contact during a dive, about 900 miles east of Cape Cod. Thursday is when the 96-hour oxygen supply is expected to end for the five people on board.Early Wednesday morning, the Coast Guard shared that some underwater noises have been heard in the remote area of the North Atlantic Ocean.“Yesterday, the Canadian...

Henrik Lundqvist, Caroline Ouellette among Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

Henrik Lundqvist and Caroline Ouellette headline the Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2023.Lundqvist, a former star goaltender for the New York Rangers, got the nod in his first year of eligibility.Ouellette, who won four Olympic gold medals with Canada’s women’s team, will enter after being passed over last year.Also set to be inducted in the player category are two other former NHLer netminders, Tom Barrasso and Mike Vernon, while Pierre Turgeon also goes in as part of a seven-member class.Former NHL head coach Ken Hitchcock and former agent/general manager Pierre Lacroix, who died in 2020, will go in as builders at the induction ceremony on Nov. 13 in Toronto.Lundqvist won the Vézina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie in 2012 and ranks sixth in league history in wins (459), ninth in games played (887) and 17th in shutouts (64). The Swede’s 459 victories are the most by a European netminder.He backstopped the Rangers to the 2014 Stanley Cup final and led Ne...

Tel Aviv University removes Sackler family, makers of OxyContin, from medical school’s full name

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Tel Aviv University announced on Wednesday that it has removed the Sackler family from the full name of its medical school after decades of donations from the makers of OxyContin.The move came after years of petitions to pull the longtime donors’ name from the campus while the Sacklers faced extensive lawsuits for their role in the opioid epidemic. Last month an American court approved a plan for the maker of OxyContin to settle thousands of legal claims connected to the opioid epidemic while shielding the billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, from additional lawsuits. The university said that “the Sackler family has kindly agreed to remove their name from the Faculty of Medicine” in order to allow new donors a chance to put their name on it, while it “gratefully acknowledges the multi-decade contributions of the Sackler family.”The Sacklers have been donors to the university for 50 years, it said. According to an Associated Press investigat...

What someone who lives in a Toronto encampment wants to see in their new mayor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

Almost 90 people have been living in tents in Allan Gardens Park, some for almost two years. As Toronto prepares to welcome a new mayor, CityNews asked some of those living in encampments what they would like to see from the new person in charge.Lynn Walker, a 63-year-old woman, has been living in the park in the city’s east end for the last 21 months.“This is a community, and it’s also a family,” Walker said, adding that the park has become home for her and many others.“Mom, mayor, sister, friends. They’re all family to me. I have friends, I never had friends before.”Walker maintains most people in the park would leave if they had housing.“They need a place to live. They shouldn’t have to live in a park,” shared Walker.While Walker said she does feel safe, there are many issues with living in a park. There is no running water, no bathrooms, and rats burrow under the tents. There are also fights, stealing, and drug issues.S...

3 hurt when Google critic crashes car into building near company’s NYC headquarters, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who has claimed for years that Google was torturing users with flashing lights crashed a car into a building near the company’s New York City headquarters, injuring three pedestrians, authorities said.The man, 34, drove onto the sidewalk and crashed his Ford Fusion into a building on West 15th Street and 10th Avenue in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, police said.A 12-year-old girl and two women ages 50 and 47 were hit by the car, a police spokesperson said. They were hospitalized in stable condition.The driver was arrested on charges including assault and attempted assault, police said. He had not yet been arraigned as of Wednesday and it was not clear if he had an attorney who could speak for him.Images posted on social media show a homemade sign that says “Google Tortured Me!” and what appears to be a gasoline can at the crash scene, which is about a block from Google’s 15-story New York headquarters.The man, who ...

New York lawmakers OK bill removing medical debt from credit reports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Hospitals and other health care providers in New York would be banned from reporting medical debt to credit agencies under a bill passed this week by the state’s legislature — a measure intended to limit the damage that illness and injury can do to someone’s financial health.If signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the law would make New York the second state, after Colorado, to prohibit medical debt from being collected by credit reporting agencies or included in a credit report.National credit reporting agencies had already voluntarily agreed to not report medical debts under $500, but advocates say additional protections are needed.A bad credit report often means difficulty renting a house, buying a car, or securing a loan. And unlike someone whose credit is damaged by reckless spending or a bad investment, people often find themselves hit with huge, unexpected medical bills simply because they’ve suffered from disease or injury.“Medical debt is diffe...

Live updates | Specialized vessel flown to Canada, to be used to search sea floor for Titan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

Follow along for live updates on the submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. ____SPECAILIZED UNDERWATER VESSEL FLOWN FOR SEA FLOOR SEARCHThe daunting search and rescue effort for the Titan is rushing experts and specialized underwater equipment together by land, by air and by sea to find the submersible before its oxygen runs out.A remotely operated vehicle that can scan the sea floor, known as an ROV, was flown to Canada on Tuesday and is expected to arrive at the Titanic site on Thursday morning.“The equipment that is onsite and coming is the most sophisticated in the world and certainly capable of reaching those depths,” said Sean Leet, chief executive of Canadian Horizon Maritime company.The company and the Mi’kmaq band co-own the Polar Prince, which is the research vessel that launched the Titan.“We are praying for our friends onboard the Titan submersible,” said Miawpukek First Nation Chief Mi’sel Joe. “We want them to come home saf...

Israeli settlers storm into Palestinian town in West Bank as Israeli airstrike escalates crackdown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

TURMUS AYYA, West Bank (AP) — Hundreds of Israeli settlers stormed into a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, setting fire to dozens of cars and homes to avenge the deaths of four Israelis killed by Palestinian gunmen the previous day, residents said. Palestinians said one man was killed in the violence.After nightfall, Israel carried out a rare airstrike on a car carrying suspected Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank. The drone strike, believed to be the first in the area in nearly 20 years, marked a major escalation by Israel in a more than year-long campaign against militants in the area. Palestinian media reported three were killed in the strike. The fighting further raised tensions heightened this week by a daylong Israeli military raid that killed seven people, including a 15-year-old girl, in a militant stronghold, and Tuesday’s mass shooting, whose victims included a 17-year-old Israeli boy.Wednesday’s settler rampage came as the Israeli mili...

North Carolina prosecutor won’t charge officers involved in death of man during arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:21:25 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A local prosecutor revealed Wednesday that she won’t seek charges against officers in North Carolina’s capital city who repeatedly used stun guns on a man who subsequently died, saying evidence reviewed fails to show the use of force was unreasonable.Several Raleigh police officers were placed on administrative leave following the Jan. 17 death of 32-year-old Darryl Tyree Williams. They were trying to arrest Williams around 2 a.m. for possession of a controlled substance in a parking lot where a sweepstakes parlor and several closed businesses were located.The State Bureau of Investigation looked into what happened and forwarded its findings to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman. In her summary report, Freeman determined “it has been concluded that the officers’ actions were not a violation of the law.”“In a criminal prosecution of a law enforcement officer for a use of force, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force w...