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Belgian army will be throwing ‘stones’ within hours of a war starting, laments ex-general

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

The Belgian military is so short of ammunition and funding that soldiers will “have to throw stones” shortly after the start of any conflict, said Marc Thys, a former top general. Thys, who recently retired from the Belgian army with the rank of lieutenant general, said Tuesday on public broadcaster VRT that securing reserves of ammunition to fend off any attack lasting up to two months would take investment of “€5 to €7 billion,” which is far more than the government currently provides. “I had €15 million a year to buy ammunition, but that has now been increased to €150 million,” said Thys.“If war breaks out here, we will have to throw stones after just a few hours due to a shortage of ammunition,” Thys added. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western governments have been funneling ammunition to Kyiv to help it fend off Moscow’s attacks and bolster its defense.However, the bloc’s arms produ...

With 40 days until Iowa caucuses, these Trump voters are looking for alternatives

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

Cedar Rapids, Iowa (CNN) — Sally Hofmann has been thinking and praying about the Republican presidential race.“I pray for the candidates,” said Hofmann, a conservative Christian who for months has been watching the GOP contenders with an open mind. “I think it’s just so important who gets in office and the direction they lead this country.”The voting at the Iowa caucuses takes place on January 15, when Republicans gather in neighborhood precincts across the state. But December is when many undecided voters will make their choices, fueling a sense of urgency for the campaigns of Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and others, who have only 40 days left to make their case.Hofmann, who twice voted for Trump and was considering him this fall, has settled on a new choice.“I’m leaning towards DeSantis. I think I’ll go that direction,” Hofmann said in an interview in the living room of her farmhouse outside Cedar Rapids. “I’m thankful for what Trump d...

LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirms meeting with Shohei Ohtani as secretive race to sign two-time MVP heats up

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

(CNN) — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts surprised everyone – including his own bosses – by confirming the team had met with two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani at Dodger Stadium last week.“Clearly, Shohei’s our top priority,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “I would like to be honest. Yeah, we met with Shohei, we talked and I think it went well. I think it went well.“But at the end of the day, he’s his own man and he’s going to do what’s best for himself, where he feels most comfortable.”Roberts told reporters he felt the meeting went well, but joked he couldn’t tell if the feeling was mutual as Ohtani has “a very good poker face.”“I think he was smiling inside. But I was just happy to spend some time with him. We all were.”Roberts’ candor is a departure from a so far secretive free agency, during which very few details have emerged around Ohtani’s meetings with potential suitors.Writing for MLB.com, Anthony Castrovince called the admission of a meeting “a stu...

Cost of lead poisoning drug jumps from $3,500 to $32,000, making it hard for hospitals to stock

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

(CNN) — In August, the US Food and Drug Administration greenlit a new maker of an old drug used for the most severe cases of lead poisoning, ending a shortage and stopping the need for importation of the medicine from France.The only problem: The new version costs almost 10 times as much as the imported version, about $32,000 per course of treatment.“What we run up against with this pricing is that the hospitals are just not able to stock this drug,” said Dr. Diane Calello, executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center.And though it’s rare these days for a child in the US to have blood lead levels that are high enough to require this medicine, called calcium disodium edetate or EDTA, it does happen, she said; at that stage, they could have seizures, coma and brain swelling known as encephalopathy.When a hospital doesn’t have the antidote in supply, “then we’ve got sometimes two or three days trying to find or source this drug,” Calel...

Callahan: The Steelers are who the Patriots should have been

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

FOXBORO — Thursday night should be the Spider-Man Meme Bowl.Two defensive teams standing across the line of scrimmage pointing at spitting images of themselves on an icy Pittsburgh night. Two backup quarterbacks simply trying to survive in prime time. Two of the league’s best head coaches, future Hall of Famers with sparkling defensive resumes, facing off for perhaps the final time as rivals.Instead, one team is 7-5, and the other is the Patriots.The Pats stink. They’re a bad team, a sad team. And injuries or no injuries, the Patriots should have been better than this.How much better? They should have been the Steelers. Or at least in their neighborhood, with a preseason over-under win total one game lower than Pittsburgh’s 8.5; a team with postseason hopes that weren’t buried more than a month ago.Even at 7-5, the Steelers are no world-beaters. They’ve been outscored by 39 points on the season. They’ve also been blown out twice, the same number a...

Slovakia’s new government closes prosecutor’s office that deals with corruption and serious crimes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s new government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico approved on Wednesday an amendment to the country’s penal code to close the special prosecutor’s office that deals with the most serious crimes and corruption.President Zuzana Caputova, the opposition and nongovernmental organizations protested the move, saying it will harm the rule of law in the country.Caputova called the government’s plans for the legal system “unfortunate and dangerous.” The draft expects the special prosecutor’s office to cease operations by Jan 15. The prosecutors should move to work under the office of the prosecutor general while regional offices take over unfinished cases.The legislation needs parliamentary and presidential approval. The three-party coalition has a majority in Parliament. President Caputova could veto the changes or challenge them at the Constitutional Court, but the coalition can override her veto by a simple majority.Fico returne...

Activists say their voices are stifled by increasing rules and restrictions at COP28 climate talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — This year’s United Nations climate talks may have seen record numbers registered to attend, but activists who have spent years demonstrating at the annual event say their space to voice their demands is shrinking year on year.Held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates — where broad laws tightly restrict speech — climate activists have been protesting at COP28’s Blue Zone, which is considered international territory. Demonstrators say there have always been strict regulations for protests at COPs, but they say actions this year have been further limited in terms of the number of people allowed to participate and which climate issues they’re allowed to address on any given day. It’s a stark contrast, activists say, to the growing presence of the fossil fuel industry, where those linked to the industry number around 1,400, according to an Associated Press analysis. “There’s always been a lot of restriction on civic space inside ...

Man suffers serious injuries in stabbing near Queen and Ossington

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

A man in his 30 has serious injuries after he was stabbed in Toronto’s west end.Police and paramedics responded to the area of Queen Street West and Ossington Avenue around 5 a.m. on Wednesday and found a man with stab wounds.He was rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.There is no word on suspects.No further details have been released.

QPAREB says Montreal home sales in November edged down from year ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

MONTREAL — The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales in November edged down one per cent compared with the same month last year.The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,664, down from 2,700 in November 2022.Single-family home sales totalled 1,329, down from 1,451 a year earlier, while condominium sales amounted to 1,051, up from 1,040 in the same month last year.Plex sales rose to 282 for November, compared with 208 sales of the small income properties a year earlier.Active listings for November rose 11 per cent compared with a year ago to 17,715, while new listings rose three per cent to 4,787.The association says the median price of a single family home was $539,700, up from $520,000 a year ago, while the median price for a condominium was $395,275, up from $380,000. The median price for a plex was $731,250, up from $715,000 in November 2022.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2023.The Canadia...

Suspect in custody after 6 dead and 3 injured in series of attacks in Texas, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:51 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A daylong series of attacks in Austin has left four people dead and at least three injured, and a man believed to be connected to them and the deaths of two people near San Antonio was taken into custody, Texas authorities said.The dead were found in several homes. The injured included two police officers and a bicyclist, police said.The man, who is in his 30s, was charged with capital murder, Robin Henderson, Austin interim police chief, said at a news conference Tuesday night. His name has not been released. “We strongly believe one suspect is responsible for all of the incidents,” Henderson said of the Austin attacks. She said that police “did not determine that these incidents were connected until the last incident occurred” Tuesday night.Henderson provided a timeline, saying an Austin independent school district police officer was shot and injured about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday. Then about noon, a man and a woman were found dead in a home. Another shooting ...