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Nicholas Lloyd Webber, son of famed composer, dies at 43

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Nicholas Lloyd Webber, the Grammy-nominated composer, record producer and eldest son of Andrew Lloyd Webber, died Saturday in England after a protracted battle with gastric cancer and pneumonia. He was 43.“His whole family is gathered together and we are all totally bereft,” the 75-year-old Webber said in a statement emailed by a representative. “Thank you for all your thoughts during this difficult time.”Nicholas died at a hospital in the south-central English town of Basingstoke, his father said. Webber, the famed composer, missed the Broadway opening Thursday of his “Bad Cinderella” to be at his son’s side with other loved ones.Nicholas is best known for his work on the BBC One’s “Love, Lies and Records,” which was based on the book “The Little Prince.” He also worked on his father’s 2021 “Cinderella,” earning a Grammy nod for best musical theater album.Nicholas is Webber’s son with his first wife, Sarah Hugill, also the mother of his older sister, Imo...

Ex-Navy swimmer tried to drown security guard, officials say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A former Navy rescue swimmer is charged with attempted murder after Florida authorities say he almost drowned a security guard in a condominium’s swimming pool. Okaloosa County sheriff’s investigators say late Friday the security guard told Seth Beavers, 33, of Mount Sterling, Illinois, that the pool at the Panhandle condo was closed and he would have to leave. The security guard told investigators that Beavers attacked him, wrapped his leg around him and dragged him into the pool, saying he would drown him. Beavers then held the guard’s head underwater before the guard was able to break free and get to the side of the pool, authorities said. But Beavers put him in a headlock and again pulled him underwater before he was finally freed. The victim told investigators he cannot swim, and he feared he was going to be killed. His name was not released. Investigators say that as a Navy swimmer, Beavers received extensive training in how to ...

After tornado, harrowing tales of survival in Mississippi

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

SILVER CITY, Miss. (AP) — Nothing remained of William Barnes’ home in the tiny western Mississippi town of Silver City after a killer tornado tore it off its foundations. He stood in disbelief Saturday as he surveyed the lot where he’d lived for 20 years, twisted debris of cinder blocks and mangled wood siding scattered across where his home once stood.“We lost everything but got out alive,” he said, holding his young granddaughter in his arms.Throughout the town of just over 200 people, the stories were similar — utter destruction, incredible survival and tragic deaths from Friday’s twister that killed at least 23 as it surged nearly 170 miles (274 kilometers) across the Deep South.A child’s Shrek doll lay face down in the dirt next to a pile of broken plywood and branches, feet from a busted-up refrigerator with its back torn clean off. Limbs from several fallen trees blocked an abandoned school bus. Outside the wall of what used to be a house, a bike lay strewn upside down ...

Court bars Robinho from leaving Brazil

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Former soccer star Robinho was ordered to hand over his passport while Brazilian judicial authorities determine whether he should serve his nine-year sentence for rape in Brazil.Robinho was convicted in Italy in 2017 for his part in the group sexual assault in Milan that took place four years previously, when he was playing for Serie A team AC Milan. Italy’s top court upheld the Brazilian’s sentence in 2022, after which Italian prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant.Judge Francisco Falcão “prohibited the sportsman from leaving the country. He has to deliver his passport to the court within five days,” a statement from a Brazilian court said Friday.Brazil does not extradite its own citizens when they are sentenced in other countries, and Italy has asked that Robinho serve his sentence in his home country. There is no deadline for a decision of Brazil’s superior court of justice to decide whether he will serve his sentence in Brazil.The 39-year-...

Protests erupt in NYC – not for Trump but for ‘The Joker’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Throngs of protesters gathered at the courthouse steps, chanting for freedom for their embattled hero. Police kept watch as passions flared and voices roared. Squad cars and television trucks encircled the commotion.It’s a scene New York City authorities have been bracing for as prosecutors consider an indictment against former President Donald Trump, who has invited followers to rally on his behalf. But on Saturday, it was just a movie shoot — for the “Joker” sequel to be precise.The roars faded and the crowds dispersed — on command — when the director yelled, “Cut!”The New York City shoot for the upcoming “Joker” sequel had been planned for months; but in recent days, production crews wrestled with the possibility that filming could be disrupted by real-life protests over the Trump case — none of which have so far materialized. In the end, film workers forged ahead, said Leo Maniscalchi, a production assistant, who was taking a break at a nearby coffee house.“They ...

Venezuela: 21 officials, businessmen arrested in oil scheme

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s attorney general said Saturday that 21 people, including senior officials in the government of President Nicolás Maduro and business leaders, have been arrested in connection with a corruption scheme involving international oil sales.Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said the alleged scheme involved selling Venezuelan oil through the country’s cryptocurrency oversight agency in parallel to the state-run Petróleos de Venezuela SA. The oversight agency allegedly signed contracts for the loading of crude on ships “without any type of administrative control or guarantees,” violating legal regulations, Saab said, without mentioning the amounts involved. Once the oil was marketed, “the corresponding payments were not made” to the state oil company. The attorney general’s statement comes five days after Venezuela’s once-powerful oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, resigned amid allegations of corruption against some of his closest associates. El Aissami said ...

Mexico sanctioned for not protecting endangered porpoise

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico acknowledged Saturday it faces sanctions from the international wildlife body known as CITES for not doing enough to protect the vaquita marina, a small porpoise that is the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The sanctions have not yet been announced, but they could make it difficult for Mexico to export some regulated animal and plant products like crocodile or snake skins, orchids and cactuses. Commercial seafood species like shrimp would not be affected, but the ruling sets a precedent and some groups are pushing for seafood import bans.“While no one relishes economically painful sanctions, all other efforts to prompt Mexico to save the vaquita have failed,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We hope these strong measures wake up the Mexican government.”Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said in a statement that CITES had ruled that Mexico’s protection plan for the vaquita was insuffi...

Why Hawaii might release millions of mosquitos in Maui

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

HONOLULU (KHON) – Millions of mosquitoes could soon be released on the Hawaiian island of Maui to prevent several native bird species from going extinct. On Thursday, National Park Service officials announced they would move forward with a plan to reduce the transmission of avian malaria to threatened and endangered forest birds by suppressing invasive mosquito populations. As NPS explained, the idea is to use an incompatible insect technique (IIT) which consists of repeatedly releasing incompatible male mosquitoes into the wild to reduce the reproductive potential of female mosquitoes in the project area.   Why are some people mosquito magnets and others unbothered? The environmental assessment for the project was available for public review between Dec. 6, 2022, and Jan. 23, 2023, with a total of 853 pieces of correspondence received.On Friday, the state's Board of Land and Natural Resources heard emotional testimony, and unanimously voted to move forward wit...

Florida babysitter accused of putting lit marijuana cigarette in 1 year-old's mouth: deputies

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT

LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida teenager was arrested on a felony child abuse charge Friday after she allegedly recorded herself putting a marijuana cigarette in a child's mouth, according to deputies.The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said the teenager, of Largo, was babysitting a 1 year-old belonging to a 16 year-old friend of hers. These are the hardest to find state quarters: Where does yours fall? Deputies said when they responded to a report of child abuse at the teen's home in unincorporated Largo, the 17 year-old admitted to smoking marijuana around the child but denied giving the child the cigarette.However, according to the sheriff's office, detectives were able to find a video that the babysitter recorded showing her putting the cigarette in the 1 year-old's mouth."The victim then inhales while the lit marijuana cigarette is in their mouth, and the embers begin to glow brighter," a release from the sheriff's office states. "[The teen] then takes the marijuana cigarette...

Politicians Use “Yes or No” Questions To Bully Witnesses And Score Political Points

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:13:06 GMT