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‘Home is like a jail’: Afghan soldier weathers injuries, uncertainty in US asylum bid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — The April visit to a Houston clinic was just one of a never-ending assembly line of medical appointments Abdul Wasi Safi has had since his January release from an immigration detention center.The former Afghan soldier, called Wasi by family and friends, sat in a dental chair and conversed in Pashto with his older brother Sami as Carrie Underwood’s “Cowboy Casanova” played in the background. It was a scene thousands of miles from the places he’d been the past two years.After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, fear of retribution from the Taliban for sharing information with American soldiers while he was an intelligence officer drove Wasi Safi to flee to Brazil. The goal? Reaching the U.S. and applying for asylum.He eventually made it after crossing 10 countries, but the journey came at a high cost. A brutal beating by police officers in Panama severely damaged his teeth and jaw and left him with permanent hearing loss.Wasi Safi didn’t appear ne...

Stock market today: Asian stocks mixed as Wall St inches toward bull market

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Wednesday after a day of listless trading on Wall Street in the absence of market-moving data.China reported its exports fell 7.5% from a year earlier in May and imports were down 4.5%, adding to signs of a slowing of its economic recovery following the lifting in December of anti-virus controls that disrupted travel and commerce.The decline in exports was the first year-on-year drop in in three months, with export volumes falling below their levels at the start of the year. “And with the worst yet to come for many developed economies, we think exports will decline further before bottoming out later this year,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary. The Shanghai Composite index was nearly unchanged at 3,195.88 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1% to 19,285.10. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8% to 32,234.21. In Seoul, the Kospi added 0.3% to 2,623.20 while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.2% highe...

Virginia regulators expected to vote on Youngkin plan to withdraw from climate initiative

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia regulators are expected to take a final vote Wednesday on whether to advance Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s plan to withdraw from a multistate carbon cap-and-trade program.Virginia spent years under Democratic administrations moving toward participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which environmental advocates say is a proven tool to help reduce pollution and address climate change. But that has been thrown into reverse since Youngkin, a Republican who says the program has functioned as a regressive tax on electricity users, took office in January 2022. A final decision to repeal by the state Air Pollution Control Board — which is controlled by Youngkin appointees and backed withdrawal in a previous vote by 4-1 with two abstentions — would clear one of the last remaining hurdles to the governor’s proposal, though it is ultimately expected to face a legal challenge.The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, is an effort by 12 mid-...

Leaders gather in Paris to accelerate wringing more out of every ounce of fuel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

As 30 energy environment and trade ministers plus 50 CEOs assemble in Paris for the 8th international conference on energy efficiency, the International Energy Agency is urgently calling for greater investment in energy efficiency for factories, cars and appliances to meet international climate goals.The agency touted recent global progress: A report released Wednesday says that demand for energy is growing, yet emissions are not growing as fast. Efficiency is increasing every year as technology improves, and last year that increase was twice the average of the previous five years. “We’re at a real juncture where more efficient, more clean, more affordable technology is starting to dominate,” said Brian Motherway, chief of energy efficiency at the IEA, during a press conference Tuesday.Eliminating wasted energy is the most affordable way to bring goods and services to the people who need them — while slowing greenhouse gas emissions — the main driver of global warming, energy expert...

Plea change set for man accused of backing plot to kidnap Michigan governor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

BELLAIRE, Mich. (AP) — A man prosecutors describe as an anti-government extremist who backed a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer plans to change his plea from not guilty, court records show.Shawn Michael Fix is one of five men charged with providing material support for an act of terrorism in the scheme to abduct the Democratic governor in 2020 at her northern Michigan vacation home. Police broke up the plan and Whitmer was not physically harmed.Fix, 40, of Belleville, was scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in Antrim County Circuit Court in Bellaire. He also is charged with possessing a firearm while committing a felony.His lawyer and the state attorney general’s office, which is prosecuting the case, did not respond to phone and email messages Tuesday.Another man, Brian Higgins, pleaded guilty in March to the lesser charge of attempting to provide material support for terrorism. Three others — Eric Molitor and brothers Michael and William Null — await trial in Augu...

The pause on student loan payments is ending. Can borrowers find room in their budgets?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a good month, Celina Chanthanouvong has about $200 left after rent, groceries and car insurance. That doesn’t factor in her student loans, which have been on hold since the start of the pandemic and are estimated to cost $300 a month. The pause in repayment has been a lifeline keeping the 25-year-old afloat.“I don’t even know where I would begin to budget that money,” said Chanthanouvong, who works in marketing in San Francisco.Now, after more than three years, the lifeline is being pulled away.More than 40 million Americans will be on the hook for federal student loan payments starting in late August under the terms of a debt ceiling deal approved by Congress last week. The Biden administration has been targeting that timeline for months, but the deal ends any hope of a further extension of the pause, which has been prolonged while the Supreme Court decides the president’s debt cancellation.Without cancellation, the Education Department predicts borrowers will ...

Catalytic converter thieves target auto dealership in Cerritos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

Video captured the moment catalytic converter thieves threw car parts at a car dealership security guard in Cerritos.  The incident happened at around 6 a.m. on Sunday at the Cerritos Mitsubishi dealer and service center located at 10944 South Street in Cerritos.  The night guard, Jaero Barba, spotted the suspects, and after calling police, he drove around the lot in his car, honking his horn to distract them, he told KTLA. That’s when the men can be seen getting aggressive.  Video shows the suspects throwing side mirrors they had broken off customer vehicles that were at the guard’s car. Then, one of the suspects threw a catalytic converter at his car and shattered the window.  The dealership’s service director, Rigo LaFontaine, said the thefts are an ongoing problem. “This year alone we’ve been hit three, maybe four times and last year, I want to say at least another four times,” he tells KTLA.  LaFontaine said the thieves are quick too, able to steal four catalytic...

VIDEO: Family-owned Redwood City bike shop has $50K in inventory stolen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (KRON) – A small, family-owned Redwood City business lost $50,000 worth of inventory after an early morning break-in. Video from early Thursday morning shows several men walking up to Chain Reaction Bicycles, located at 1680 El Camino Real, and using a crowbar to break open the front door.“It was just absolutely crazy. We’ve never seen anything like this, and we’ve been in business for 40 years,” said Becky Jacoubowsky. Becky and Kevin Jacoubowsky are sales managers at the shop that is owned by their father and uncle. They say they grew up in the store and they call the place their home. Prison sentence announced for man who sold deadly batch of fentanyl They say there have been some minor break-ins over the past four decades, but nothing like this.“We had six e-bikes and one high-end road bike and that totaled over 50 thousand dollars,” Kevin said. The men are seen in the security video wheeling out the bikes. They put them in a rented U-haul truck ...

SF leaders consider pause on cannabis shop applications

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – San Francisco supervisors are considering a pause on applications for new cannabis shops for the next three years. The ordinance passed its first reading unanimously on Tuesday afternoon.KRON4 spoke with three men who own separate companies in the cannabis industry in San Francisco. Those in favor of the pause say this would give the shops already open a chance to survive."Yeah, I think there needs to be a pause,” said California Street Cannabis Co. Partner Duncan Ley. “We need to support the businesses that have been there and give them an opportunity to succeed." Novato police searching for bank robbery suspect “I think the general cannabis market has experienced a downward trend,” said Ali Jamalian, who is on the San Francisco Department of Cannabis Control Advisory Committee and founded Sunset Connect. “We have a ton of applications in the pipeline that are already going to be able to serve neighborhoods.""I think some of those owners are trying to monop...

Mariners beat Padres 4-1 to snap a 3-game losing streak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:30:44 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Logan Gilbert pitched seven strong innings, Teoscar Hernández and Julio Rodriguez homered and the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres 4-1 on Tuesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.“Awesome outing. He was on top of them all night long,” Servais said about Gilbert. “It starts with the fastball. When you are commanding it early in the game you get respect from the other team with your fastball and that is what he did tonight.”Gilbert (4-3) allowed one run and three hits and had six strikeouts to help the Mariners win for only the second time in seven games.“They (Padres) have good names all throughout the order, so you can’t really let your guard down,” Gilbert said. “Just trying to execute and make those big pitches when I needed to and I felt like tonight I did a pretty good job of that.”Hernández hit a solo home run to center in the sixth off reliever Brent Honeywell (2-3) to give Seattle a 2-1 lead. Rodriguez hit a sol...