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Unlikely nationalist kingmaker sees his moment in Turkey election runoff

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s presidential candidates suddenly want to talk to Sinan Oğan, a little-known nationalist politician who came third in Sunday’s election and has turned into a potential kingmaker overnight.Ahead of a second round on May 28, Oğan wants to secure a ministry, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu want the backing of his 2.8 million voters, who made up about 5.2 percent of Sunday’s vote. Kılıçdaroğlu’s team said Monday their early talks with Oğan suggested there was room to cooperate. Islamist populist Erdoğan won the first round of Turkey’s election on Sunday with 49.5 percent (27.1 million votes) but the race will now head into a runoff because he failed to secure the 50 percent needed for outright victory. His main rival Kılıçdaroğlu, who will face him in two weeks, won 44.9 percent (24.6 million).   This impending showdown has given a strong hand to Oğan and his “Ancestral Alliance,” as both Erdoğan and Kı...

‘Please help’: Search continues for missing 4-year-old boy on Castle Island as dive teams scour surrounding waters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

A massive search operation resumed on Castle Island Monday morning as authorities continued to search for a missing 4-year-old South Boston boy, who officials say has autism and is nonverbal.The distraught mother of Mohamed Abou Fofana (initially reported by authorities as “Mohemed Fofena”) made a desperate plea to anyone who may know where her son is, who was last seen playing at a park on Castle Island Sunday evening around 7 p.m.“Please help me,” Matenjay Fofana said to the media members gathered as police officers nearby prepared to resume their search.“My father called me he said, … ‘I’m not seeing Mohamed, I checked everywhere, I’m not seeing Mohamed,'” she said while recalling the moment her father called her at work, telling her that he had lost sight of the 4 year old and was calling 911 for help.Mohamed was last seen wearing blue shoes, blue pants, and a gray hooded sweatshirt, according to Massachusetts...

Son of former Mass. Governor Charlie Baker faces OUI charge, appears in court after weekend arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

The son of former Governor Charlie Baker is facing an OUI charge after being accused of driving drunk over the weekend.Andrew ‘A.J.’ Baker, 29, appeared before a judge in Peabody District Court Monday morning, where a “not guilty” plea was entered.Baker was answering to a drunk driving charge following his arrest by Massachusetts State Police on Route 128 in Lynnfield early Saturday night.Prosecutors say Baker told police he was driving home from Salem, where he had been golfing and drinking. He later underwent a field sobriety test in a breakdown lane and was then arrested.https://twitter.com/scooperon7/status/1658133673135276034?s=20Peabody police initially pulled the 29 year old over after their department received reports that he had been driving erratically. Police said they have obtained dash cam video of Baker behind the wheel before he was stopped, as well.According to a police report, Baker’s blood alcohol content was .15 – nearly t...

Turkey’s longtime president to face down main rival in runoff as uncertainty looms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

By SUZAN FRASER and ZEYNEP BILGINSOY (Associated Press)ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Conservative Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces a runoff with his main rival in two weeks that will decide who leads a country struggling with sky-high inflation and hosting Syrian refugees as it plays a key role in the Middle East and in NATO expansion.Election officials said Monday that the May 28 second round will allow Turks to decide if their nation remains under the increasingly authoritarian president’s firm grip for a third decade, or if it can embark on the more democratic course that Kemal Kilicdaroglu has claimed he can deliver.The vote shows how Turkey has become extremely polarized, some voters commented. “I am not happy at all,” voter Suzan Devletsah said. “I worry about the future of Turkey.” Erdogan faced electoral headwinds due to a cost-of-living crisis and criticism over the government’s response to a devastating February earthquake. But...

What to watch: Clues about voter sentiment could emerge from Kentucky, Pennsylvania primaries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

By Bruce Schreiner, Associated PressLOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Off-year elections on Tuesday in Kentucky and Pennsylvania could send early signals about the mood of voters ahead of next year’s races for the White House and Congress.The Kentucky governor’s race is a table-setter for what should be a bruising general election contest. Republican voters will settle on a nominee to challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who has enjoyed high approval ratings but will have to fend off a GOP challenge in a state Republicans usually dominate. Two candidates with ties to former President Donald Trump are contenders in a 12-candidate field.A special legislative race in the Philadelphia suburbs could determine whether Democrats retain a one-vote majority in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, and the outcome could demonstrate how voters are feeling in a crucial region of a swing presidential state. Both parties will choose nominees for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and Philadelph...

Elementary teachers union says violence ‘normalized’ in schools, blames Ford government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

The union representing elementary school teachers in Ontario says violence is being “normalized” in schools and it’s not shy about playing the blame game — pointing the finger directly at Doug Ford’s government for the deteriorating situation.That message from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) came on the heels of a disturbing survey released Monday that revealed 77 per cent of ETFO members have experienced or witnessed violence against another staff member.The survey was conducted in February and March, 2023.According to ETFO, the escalating violence is a direct result of chronic underfunding by the Ford government.“Learning is being disrupted and violence is being normalized in schools because the Ford government refuses to adequately invest in public education,” ETFO President Karen Brown said in a release.“The system is suffering from chronic underfunding, under-resourcing, and understaffing, creating environmen...

Sheriff: 2 dead, 4 injured in shooting at Georgia motorcycle club event

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Two people were killed and four were injured when more than 150 shots were fired in a gun fight between rival motorcycle clubs in a Georgia city, a sheriff said Monday.The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office charged 12 people with murder and aggravated assault in the gunfight in Augusta on Saturday night, including the four injured people, Sheriff Richard Roundtree said.The violence erupted at a clubhouse of one of the motorcycle groups in a largely residential area, the sheriff said. Deputies recovered more than 150 spent shell casings, he said, some of them found a block away.“With the amount of firepower and carnage we saw at the scene, this could have been a much more horrific event,” Roundtree said during a news conference Monday.Investigators believe the gunfight stemmed from a prior confrontation between members of the two rival clubs in Florida, said Roundtree, who declined to provide details.Of the 12 people arrested, he said, 11 came from out o...

Luxury brand Cartier criticized for using images of Amazon tribe devastated by gold mining

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

BOA VISTA, Brazil (AP) — Until two months ago, Cartier’s website showed Yanomami children playing in a green field.The French luxury jewelry brand said it was working to promote the culture of the Indigenous people and protect the rainforest where they live, in a vast territory straddling Brazil and Venezuela. But the project that the site described protecting the Amazon never took place. And Cartier published the photo without the approval of Yanomami leadership, violating the beliefs of a people who had been living in almost total isolation until they were contacted by outsiders in the 1970s.Some of the Yanomami and their defenders praise Cartier’s promotion of Yanomami causes. However, advertising by one of the world’s biggest jewelers with images of an Indigenous people devastated by illegal gold mining has some complaining of greenwashing, a corporation promoting its own image by supporting a cause.“How can a gold jewelry company, which we, the Yanomami people, are against, use...

New beverage fee rollout delayed, but retail group says producers should absorb fee

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

TORONTO — Grocery industry advocates say new rules to make companies pay to recycle packaging they put into the market in Ontario could simply shift costs from communities to consumers in the coming months. They say beverage companies have issued notices to retailers about a new container recycling fee on products ranging from milk and yogurt to juice and pop. The fee, about three cents a bottle on average, was expected to take effect June 1.But an independent grocers’ group says the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association has now delayed passing the fee on to grocers — which they say would raise retail prices — until at least July 31.Gary Sands, senior vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, says beverage companies should be absorbing the costs themselves and not passing it on to consumers. Still, he welcomes the delay given the ongoing high inflation on food in Canada. “It’s not just this fee. It’s these myriad other pric...

Eyeing new global record, Nigerian chef cooks for nearly 100 hours

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:24:27 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian chef on Monday continued her quest to set a new global record for the longest hours of nonstop cooking as she cooked for nearly 100 hours, surpassing the current record.Hilda Baci has been cooking since last week Thursday when she set out to beat the Guinness World Record of 87 hours and 45 minutes set in 2019 by Lata Tondon, an Indian chef.By 15:00 GMT on Monday, Baci had cooked for more than 97 hours in the Lekki area of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, to become a national sensation in the West African nation. Many at the scene and online cheered her on to reach the 100-hour mark.No one from Guinness World Records was present at the scene but the organization tweeted it was aware of the chef’s attempt to break the cooking record. “We need to review all the evidence first before officially confirming a record,” the global brand said.By attempting to beat the record, the Nigerian chef said Thursday she wanted to show how hardworking and determ...