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The UN secretary-general invoked ‘Article 99’ to push for a Gaza ceasefire. What exactly is it?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

It’s called “Article 99.” And it hasn’t been used for decades. Until this week. With an intensifying Israeli offensive and escalating civilian casualties, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked a rarely exercised power this week to warn the Security Council of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza. He urged members to demand an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.Guterres invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter — last used over half a century ago — which says the secretary-general may inform the council of matters he believes threaten international peace and security. Here, Edith M. Lederer, longtime chief U.N. correspondent for The Associated Press, breaks down what this could mean.WHAT IS ARTICLE 99 AND WHY IS GUTERRES INVOKING IT? It’s a provision of the United Nations Charter, the U.N. constitution. It states that the secretary-general — the U.N.’s top diplomat — may bring to the attention of the Security Council “any matter which, in his ...

Hong Kong’s new election law thins the candidate pool, giving voters little option in Sunday’s polls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — One of the Hong Kong’s longest-serving pro-democracy council members is organizing a farewell party with her residents in late December. Another democratic council member isn’t running for reelection to the post that has come to define him in recent years.As more obstacles are placed in front of candidates, the pool is thinning and becoming less politically diverse, leaving mostly “patriots,” those loyal to mainland China, in the running. And with such slim options, some voters say they won’t participate.Sunday’s district council elections will be absent of pro-democracy candidates for the first time in about four decades. Some of them chose to opt out, while others were unable to gather the requisite nominations to qualify — a hurdle that proved difficult to clear even for some pro-government politicians.During her 38-year tenure, Winnie Poon made history as the first popularly elected female council member in Kwun Tong district and witnessed the counci...

Inside Ibrahim Ali’s murder trial: threats, hallucinations, a dead witness and delays

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

VANCOUVER — Ibrahim Ali’s lawyers had a problem. They couldn’t get him to understand a key point — that he was still on trial for the first-degree murder of a 13-year-old girl.“He’s useless to us,” defence lawyer Kevin McCullough told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lance Bernard on July 24. “We might as well have a hologram of the man sitting there. He thinks he’s been found not guilty.”It was one of many conversations the jury didn’t hear in a trial delayed by months, as the court and lawyers grappled with the mental and physical health struggles of a defendant who is unable to read or write in any language. There was also the death of an expert witness before she could complete her testimony, cases of COVID-19 and other illness among jurors, and violent threats against Ali’s lawyers.Jury members are now sequestered, debating their verdict on the death of the girl, whose body was found in a Burnaby’s Central Park in July...

Jury retires in Ibrahim Ali’s marathon B.C. murder trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court jury has retired to deliberate in the first-degree murder trial of Ibrahim Ali, more than eight months after he pleaded not guilty to killing a 13-year-old girl in a Metro Vancouver park in 2017.Justice Lance Bernard told the jurors they must consider all the evidence presented since the trial began last April and determine whether the Crown had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Ali sexually assaulted the girl and killed her in the course of the attack.He said the Crown’s case is circumstantial, requiring the jury to infer that the only reasonable conclusion is that Ali forced the girl off a path and into a wooded area in Burnaby’s Central Park, where he raped and fatally strangled her.Bernard said Ali’s lawyers had meanwhile argued that semen inside the girl’s body that matched Ali’s DNA could have been the result of an earlier encounter with an “innocent explanation” and Ali isn’t the person who killed her an...

Mother of Florida boy accused of football practice shooting now charged with felony

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

APOPKA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman whose 11-year-old is accused of shooting two teenagers at a football practice in October was charged with a felony Thursday after authorities say she left a loaded gun in a worn and tattered cardboard box in her car.Sharelle Johnson, 33, did not have the box secured and it was easily opened, according to a news release issued by the state attorney’s office. Investigators say Johnson’s son took the gun from the car and shot two teens following an argument at football practice.She was charged with negligence by leaving a loaded firearm within easy access of a child. A conviction carries up to five years in prison. A lawyer representing the family didn’t immediately return a phone message left with his office.A report from the Apopka Police Department said the child had been chased and attacked by the shooting victims, with a witness telling detectives one of the shooting victims had slapped him in the face.Surveillance video showed...

Privacy concerns persist in transgender sports case after Utah judge seals only some health records

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Transgender teenagers who are challenging a Utah law banning trans girls from playing on girls’ sports teams can keep portions of their mental health records confidential after a state judge ruled Thursday that some details are irrelevant to the case. Two student-athletes whose families sued over the 2022 state law were ordered in September by Judge Keith Kelly to give state attorneys access to the last seven years of their mental health records, as well as all documents related to medical transition and puberty.Kelly temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the ban, which took effect last year after the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto, while the court continues to assess its legality. Cox drew national attention as one of the few Republican governors who pushed back against state lawmakers’ restrictions on transgender youth, warning that such bans target kids already at a high risk for suicide. Utah is one of more t...

Hunter Biden indicted on tax charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

(The Hill) — Hunter Biden has been charged with tax crimes in California, his second indictment from Special Counsel David Weiss as he faces mounting scrutiny over his financial dealings.Hunter Biden will face three felony tax charges in relation to tax evasion and filing a false return, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019. “Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns,” prosecutors wrote in a Thursday night press release.Together, the charges carry up to 17 years in prison upon conviction and come as Hunter Biden is facing congressional scrutiny over his business dealings and a subpoena for a deposition next week in connection with their impeachment inquiry.The charges follow the evaporation of a plea deal earlier this year in which...

Two-thirds of Americans think they'll be better off financially in 2024: survey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

(The Hill) — Most Americans are optimistic about what the next year will bring for them financially, with two-thirds saying they believe they’ll be better off in 2024, according to a new survey from Fidelity Investments.Younger generations were more likely to say they’ll be better off financially next year. Just over three-quarters of Generation Z respondents and 79 percent Millennials said as much, compared to 64 percent of Generation X and 52 percent of Baby Boomers.However, over one-third of Americans in the survey said they are currently in a worse financial situation compared to the same time last year, with the majority attributing the decline to inflation and cost of living increases.Inflation was the top reason that Americans said they were not able to meet their financial goals this year, and it remains one of their top financial concerns for 2024, the Fidelity survey found.Some 40 percent said that inflation’s impact on their day-to-day expenses and saving was their primar...

Central Texas shooting spree suspect cut off ankle monitor in 2022, Bexar County officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

Editor’s note: In the video above, Senator Joan Huffman is referred to as a Dallas-area lawmaker. Sen. Huffman represents Texas Senate District 17, which covers the Houston area. We apologize for the error.AUSTIN (KXAN) – Bexar County officials revealed the man accused of a shooting spree across Central Texas was already facing previous criminal charges in that jurisdiction, including an incident where he cut off his ankle monitor.Shane James, 34, was booked into jail on capital murder charges on Wednesday. He is accused of shooting and killing six people and wounding three others in different locations across Austin, as well as at his family home in San Antonio. BACKGROUND: Texas Senate passes bill on harsher penalties for tampering with ankle monitors In a news conference on Wednesday, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar detailed previous interactions his office had with James, stemming from an assault involving family in January 2022. Salazar explained, after conversations with...

HHSC whistleblowers on Medicaid, SNAP delays: 'We need resources' | 100K dropped from Medicaid improperly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:24:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Days after a local congressman asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to investigate months-long delays in Texas, potentially impacting millions of low-income and vulnerable people in the state, the agency is responding.CMS said in August it required Texas to reinstate Medicaid coverage for around 100,000 people who were improperly disenrolled due to 'systems issues,' which it required the state to fix."Any person being improperly disenrolled from health care coverage is unacceptable to this administration," a U.S. Health and Human Services spokesperson said. "HHS' top priority is people maintaining coverage, whether that is through Medicaid, Medicare, the Marketplace, or employer-sponsored insurance."CMS, which is part of HHS, said it will respond directly to U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. Doggett sent the agency a letter on Monday calling for it to put the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on a corrective action plan following lengthy de...