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German airline Lufthansa signs deal for minority stake in Italy’s struggling ITA Airways

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

MILAN (AP) — German airline Lufthansa on Thursday signed a deal with the Italian government for a 41-percent minority share in the long-struggling ITA Airways, formerly Alitalia.The deal calls for investments of 575 million euros in capital increases, 325 million euros from Lufthansa and the rest from the Italian Finance Ministry, providing capital for growth. Lufthansa will also have the option of buying the remaining shares at a later date. Lufthansa’s industrial plan for the Italian carrier calls for revenues of 2.5 billion euros ($2.68 billion) this year, growing to 4.1 billion euros in 2027, the Italian Finance Ministry said in a statement. During that period, Lufthansa plans to expand the ITA fleet from 71 aircraft to 94 and bring the workforce to 5,500 employees, from the current 4,000. Once the deal is completed, ITA Airways would be Lufthansa Group’s fifth carrier.Under the strategy, Rome’s Fiumicino airport will become one of the Lufthansa Group’s hubs, as ITA Airway...

2 North Carolina state legislators lose leadership roles after remarks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Two North Carolina state House Republicans have lost their caucus leadership positions after recent comments directed at Democratic colleagues questioning their educational attainment and religion.Reps. Keith Kidwell and Jeff McNeely have resigned as deputy majority whips after the GOP leadership team asked them to step down, House Majority Leader John Bell said in a news release on Thursday. “As elected officials, we must serve by example and be accountable for our actions, especially as leaders in the caucus,” Bell said. “While apologies have been made and accepted, we believe this is an appropriate action and step forward.”Neither McNeely nor Kidwell, both of whom are white, responded immediately Thursday to phone messages left at their legislative offices seeking comment. They remain sitting legislators. Deputy whips are tasked with helping corral votes on issues important to members of their party. The Democrats who were the subjects of the comments are bot...

Ex-NFL player Damon Arnette pleads not guilty in 2022 Vegas Strip hotel valet gun case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former NFL cornerback Damon Arnette has pleaded not guilty in Nevada to felony charges and his lawyer is challenging his indictment alleging he displayed a handgun during an argument with Las Vegas Strip casino valets in January 2022.“He never brandished a gun. He never pointed a gun,” defense attorney Ross Goodman said Thursday of Arnette. The former player appeared in court Wednesday and remains free pending trial in October on assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed firearm charges.Prosecutor Jory Scarborough declined to comment.Arnette, 26, a first-round draft pick of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, played college football at Ohio State and lives in Boynton Beach, Florida.He is accused of holding a .45-caliber handgun and threatening two hotel valets during an argument about a receipt for parking his Mercedes SUV at the Park MGM hotel.Las Vegas police who stopped and arrested Arnette and a passenger in the vehicle a short distance away reported find...

Economic headwinds weigh on bank results as more money set aside for bad loans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

TORONTO — The effects of heightened inflation and central bank efforts to rein it in by slowing the economy are showing in the second-quarter results from Canada’s big banks.Four out of the Big Five banks have reported earnings that missed expectations as they set aside more money for bad loans and struggle to contain rising costs, and several see their revenue take a hit from slower loan growth.CIBC was the lone outlier as its results Thursday came in better than analysts had expected.While Canadian mortgage loan growth has slowed to a trickle, with several banks reporting flat results from the previous quarter, much of the focus these days is on what’s going on with the banks’ U.S. operations following several high-profile bank failures.Several bank executives have noted the more challenging economic conditions, while TD Bank Group warned of tougher days ahead as it said it no longer expects to meet its medium-term earnings growth target. The recent collapse of T...

GOP field in Pennsylvania Senate race still wide open as candidates consider jumping in

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The GOP primary field in Pennsylvania to challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Casey remains wide open, with the hopes of top party officials hanging on the potential entry of a high-profile candidate in a top-tier battleground state contest that could help define the Republican Party’s path forward in 2024.Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick is the favorite of party leaders and has drawn pledges of financial support from top Republican officials — should he decide to run. Meanwhile, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a hard-right lawmaker who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump in last year’s race for governor but lost in a landslide, has said he will announce Thursday night whether he will run for Senate. McCormick is facing a complicated decision, with Trump seeking the party’s nomination for president. A Mastriano candidacy could further complicate McCormick’s path.At the very least, it will “force McCormick to go spend millions to defend him...

Quebec will require economic immigrants to speak French before arriving: Legault

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

Quebec Premier François Legault says the province will require that the vast majority of economic immigrants to Quebec speak French before they arrive. Sixty-five per cent of immigrants to Quebec come through the economic immigration stream, which is controlled by the province.Legault says his government is also considering increasing the number of immigrants it accepts every year to 60,000 people from 50,000 people, by 2027. He says the rise in immigration would come from people arriving through the economic stream, adding that his government is not considering increasing the number of people who immigrate through the family reunification program or as refugees.Legault had said during the province’s fall election campaign that accepting more than 50,000 immigrants a year would be “suicidal” for Quebec.Now he says that if immigrants speak French they wouldn’t threaten the province’s culture and language.This report by The Canadian Press was first publis...

Prosecutors widen child sex abuse case in polygamous sect, adding child pornography charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Prosecutors have widened their case against members of a small polygamous group that resides near the Utah-Arizona border, detailing its leader’s sexual encounters with children he took as wives in new charges filed earlier this month.A grand jury accuses Sam Bateman of child pornography in a superseding indictment filed recently and adds new counts to charges filed last year for kidnapping and impeding an investigation. The May 18 document provides new details about how Bateman — with the help of followers — took wives as young as 9 years old and created a sprawling network spanning at least four states as he attempted to start an offshoot group of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.The FLDS is itself a breakaway sect of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The sect is known because its leader, Warren Jeffs, is serving a life sentence in federal prison in Texas. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the ma...

Chicago cardinal defends compensation plan, urges info on abusers after Illinois abuse report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

ROME (AP) — The archbishop of Chicago urged the Illinois attorney general on Thursday to provide information about newly uncovered cases of clergy sexual abuse that were included in a statewide investigative report, saying he would gladly add the names on his list of credibly accused priests if the claims were substantiated.In his first interview since the report was released Tuesday, Cardinal Blase Cupich expressed surprise that the 125 new cases involved some priests he had never heard of. He voiced dismay that the attorney general’s office hadn’t forwarded the new claims to the archdiocese to look into, as it had done during the five-year investigation.“We thought we had that kind of relationship with the attorney general and so are disappointed that we’re hearing these for the first time,” Cupich said.He spoke to The Associated Press during one of his periodic visits to the Vatican, where he sits on church committees and serves as a close adviser to Pope Francis.In the report, i...

Man fatally shot by police after approaching officers with axe in Des Plaines: authorities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

DES PLAINES, Ill — A man was fatally shot by police after he threatened officers with an axe, according to Des Plaines police. The shooting happened around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at an apartment complex in the 1400 block of Thacker Street.Police said a 55-year-old man, identified as Scott MacDonald, was suffering a "psychotic breakdown" and was armed with an axe, the police department confirmed.According to authorities, MacDonald approached officers in a threatening manner at the time of the shooting.Police said that information has been confirmed through officers' body-camera footage.MacDonald was pronounced dead at an area hospital. Police arrest gunman who shot and wounded officer in Romeoville The officer involved in the shooting has been employed by the Des Plaines Police Department for just over two years, and has been placed on paid administrative leave.An investigation is being conducted by the Major Case Assistance Team.

WATCH LIVE | Chicago's new leaders' Memorial Day weekend public safety plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:49:07 GMT

CHICAGO — Memorial Day marks the first holiday weekend in leadership for Chicago's new mayor and his interim top cop.Mayor Brandon Johnson will join Chicago Police Department Interim Superintendent Fred Waller Thursday afternoon to share the city's public safety plan in advance of the unofficial start to summer. Bleeding control kits at wall stations in Wrigley Field The two are expected to be joined by Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt, Alderman Desmon Yancy, Alderman Lamont Robinson, Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities Executive Director Esther Franco-Payne, along with other city and community leaders.WGN plans to livestream the press conference in its entirety within this story beginning at approximately 1:30 p.m. It will then be update later today with details of the plan and reaction.