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ASEAN leaders to agree to cooperate in fighting cyber scams

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian leaders have agreed to tighten border controls and law enforcement and improve public education to fight criminal syndicates that are trafficking workers to other nations, where they are forced to participate in online fraud, according to a draft statement to be issued Thursday at the end of a regional summit.The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who are meeting in the Indonesian town of Labuan Bajo, will express concern “about the increasing abuse of technology in facilitating trafficking in persons in Southeast Asia and globally, proliferated through the use and abuse of social media and other online platforms,” according to a draft of their statement obtained by The Associated Press.The use of social media and other platforms by cybercrime syndicates has “complicated anti-trafficking in persons efforts, as well as multiplied the number and scale of the cases,” it says.Cybercrime scams have become a major issue in ...

Moscow hosts landmark Turkey-Syria rapprochement talks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister on Wednesday hosted his counterparts from Turkey, Syria and Iran for talks that marked the highest-level contact between Ankara and Damascus since the start of the Syrian civil war over a decade ago.In his opening speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed hope that the meeting would pave the way to drafting a road map for normalizing Turkish-Syrian relations. Lavrov said he sees Moscow’s task as “not only in consolidating politically the progress that has been made, but also in determining general guidelines for further movement.”Russia has spent years trying to help Syrian President Bashar Assad rebuild ties with Turkey and other countries that were fractured in the war, which killed nearly 500,000 people and displaced half of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million.Russia intervened militarily in Syria starting in September 2015, teaming up with Iran to help Assad’s government to reclaim most of the country. Moscow has m...

Can you afford to age in place?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

Most older adults ages 50 to 80 say it’s important to stay in their homes for as long as they can, according to the 2022 National Poll on Healthy Aging from the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan. But only 1 in 3 said their home “definitely” has the features needed to allow them to age in place.Aging in place isn’t as simple as just staying home — you must consider the costs, including those for age-related home renovations, home maintenance and caregiving. Some costs may be covered by Medicare if you meet certain requirements, but most will be fully out of pocket.“We know that about 90% of aging individuals want to age in place, but there are a number of aspects they have to consider,” says Jill McNamara, senior director of enterprise operations at Care.com. From grab bars to yard upkeep, here’s what you must evaluate.CAN YOU RENOVATE?Staying in your home usually means making modifications so you can live in it safely. Many homes in the U.S...

Tim Hortons signs deal to start opening locations in South Korea later this year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

TORONTO — Tim Hortons says the coffee and doughnut chain has signed a deal to open locations in South Korea starting later this year.The company says it has signed a master franchise agreement with BKR Co. Ltd. Financial terms of the agreement were not immediately available.BKR is the company that operates Burger King, which is also owned by Tim Hortons parent company Restaurant Brands International Inc., in South Korea.Tim Hortons has about 5,600 restaurants across 15 countries.In addition to Tim Hortons and Burger King, Restaurant Brands’ other banners include Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Firehouse Subs.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:QSR)The Canadian Press

Woman in custody in connection with 6 baseball bat attacks on Northwest Side: police

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police have arrested a woman in connection with six baseball bat attacks since Saturday.In the latest incident, two women were attacked with a bat Tuesday morning in the city's Albany Park neighborhood in an assault captured on video.Police confirm a battery incident occurred in the 4500 block of N. Mozart St. in Chicago's Albany Park just before 11:30 a.m. Concerned citizen intervenes during attempted child luring in Rogers Park Video obtained by WGN News shows a woman swinging what appears to be a metal bat multiple times, striking another woman as she held onto a nearby stroller. When the woman lets go of the stroller, she is attacked again by the offender.According to police, the attacker was driving a white sedan on Mozart. She exited the vehicle, approached the two women and began striking them with the baseball bat. The woman then got into her car and fled the area, police added. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesPolice did not say what led to the a...

Wednesday Forecast: Temps in upper 70s with mostly sunny conditions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

CHICAGO — Mostly sunny Wednesday with warm conditions and temperatures in the upper 70s. High: 78, Lakeside: 63. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Tonight: Mostly clear tonight. Low:  54.Thursday Forecast:  Increasing clouds. High: 81, Lakeside: 67.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

No international trip for the Bears in 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

LAKE FOREST — As it turns out, the Bears won't play a game overseas in 2023. After months of speculation that the team would face the Chiefs in Germany during the regular season, the NFL has had a change of heart, and will instead have the Dolphins face the reigning champs in Europe.That contest will be played Sunday, November 5 at 8:30 a.m. central time at Frankfurt Stadium and is one of five international games for the NFL this season. Earlier this week, Peter King of NBC reported that the Chiefs requested not to have the Bears' game be the one home game played in Germany. This is scheduled to be the NFC team's first visit to Arrowhead Stadium since the 2015 season. The rest of the Bears & 2023 NFL scheduled is scheduled to be released in full on Thursday at 7 p.m. central time. Going overseas has become an annual tradition for the NFL with the exception of the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. The Bears last trip overseas was in 2019 when they lost to the Raiders 21-17 at Tott...

White House looks to move past COVID emergency

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

The White House is signaling that it wants to close the book on the COVID-19 pandemic once the public health emergency expires Thursday. But even as the administration and the public look to move on, experts say the virus won't go away. Hundreds of people still die every day from COVID-19, and more are being hospitalized. The current situation is precarious and could backslide in the fall.The administration also faces a challenge in filling leadership roles across key health positions, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and a new White House pandemic response office.CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said she will step down effective June 30, and her replacement likely will be the last person a president can appoint to the job without Senate confirmation. The government funding bill passed at the end of last year will make the CDC director subject to confi...

Trump returning to CNN: 5 things to watch

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

(The Hill) -- An explosive piece of political theater is set for Wednesday evening when former President Donald Trump appears at a town hall event televised by CNN — a day after he was found liable in a civil trial of sexual abuse.Trump and the network have been fierce foes in recent years. Trump even went so far, while president, to send a tweet featuring a modified image of him body-slamming a person with the CNN logo superimposed on their head. Separately, he retweeted a cartoon of a train hitting a CNN reporter.The network, for its part, was seen by some as having damaged its brand with gratuitously petty attacks on Trump or vainglorious performances from some of its reporters and pundits.Wednesday evening’s broadcast is virtually guaranteed to draw a large audience, especially with the attention on Tuesday’s verdict. Beyond that, what are the big things to watch?What will Trump say about the E. Jean Carroll verdict?As if the town hall was not set to be dramatic enough, it ...

Democrats have sinking feeling Trump could beat Biden 

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:03 GMT

(The Hill) -- Democrats are getting a sinking feeling when it comes to Donald Trump: They can see him winning again.  A New York jury in a civil trial on Tuesday found the former president liable for sexual assault and defamation, but a number of Democrats say their party is underestimating Trump, who, despite a series of scandals, is the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination.  “There is a concern from a lot of people like me, for sure,” said one prominent Democratic strategist. “There’s a disconnect between the consultant class of our party and the voters. They think they can just run a bunch of ads talking about how crazy Donald Trump is [and] that will be enough. That’s just not the case.” Another strategist warned others in his party: “Be very f---ing worried.”  For a part of the party, it seems unfathomable that Trump could regain the office he left in 2017 — just weeks after a mob of his supporters forced the evacuation of Congress and interf...