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Thousands of US health care workers go on strike in multiple states over wages and staff shortages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Picketing began Wednesday morning at Kaiser Permanente hospitals as some 75,000 health care workers go on strike in Virginia, California and three other states over wages and staffing shortages, marking the latest major labor unrest in the United States.Kaiser Permanente is one of the country’s larger insurers and health care system operators, with 39 hospitals nationwide. The non-profit company, based in Oakland, California, provides health coverage for nearly 13 million people, sending customers to clinics and hospitals it runs or contracts with to provide care.The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing about 85,000 of the health system’s employees nationally, approved a strike for three days in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, and for one day in Virginia and Washington, D.C.The strikers include licensed vocational nurses, home health aides and ultrasound sonographers, as well as technicians in radiology, X-ray, surgical, pharmacy ...

Shares in Scandinavian Airlines plunge to become almost worthless after rescue deal announced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Shares in Scandinavian Airlines dropped more than 90% on Wednesday after the ailing carrier announced new shareholders in a restructuring scheme that will see the company delisted and existing ownership stakes erased.The rescue deal involving airline alliance Air France-KLM and private equity firms Castlelake and Lind Invest, which became investors alongside the Danish state, was presented late Tuesday.The deal means that SAS will receive $475 million in new equity and $700 million in convertible debt. Scandinavian Airlines will be taken off the stock exchange in the second quarter of 2024 and no payment will be made to current shareholders. Castlelake will become the biggest shareholder with a 32% stake, while Air France-KLM will hold 20%. The Danish government will hold 26% of the shares. Lind Invest will control 8.6% and the remaining shares will “most likely … be distributed among and held by certain creditors who may receive recovery in equity,”...

Greece wants European Union to sanction countries that refuse deported migrants, minister says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece is urging other European Union member states to adopt a proposed plan to sanction countries that refuse to accept migrants deported by the bloc.Dimitris Kairidis, the Greek minister for asylum and migration, said existing bilateral agreements for returning migrants between individual EU member states and non-member countries had proved to be ineffective.“Europe must demand that these countries take back their citizens. Otherwise, there would be sanctions and no financial aid. Europe has the authority to impose its will on this issue,” Kairidis told state television late Tuesday.He said the sanctions proposal is being discussed in the final stages of negotiations for a new EU-wide overhaul of migration rules. Failure to implement a viable deportation policy, the Greek minister argued, would “make Europe a laughingstock over its asylum process.”Greece and nearby Italy are currently dealing with a spike in migrant arrivals that has renewed pressure within t...

A bus plummeted 50 feet from an elevated road in Venice, killing 21 people in a fiery crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

VENICE (AP) — A bus carrying dozens of people plummeted 15 meters (50 feet) from an elevated road in Venice, causing a fiery crash that killed 21 people and injured at least 15, mostly foreign tourists returning to a nearby campsite. Those who died in the Tuesday night crash included at least four Ukrainians and a German citizen, according to Venice prefecture. At least two of the dead were children, Venice prefect Michele Di Bari said, adding that many of the people involved in the accident were “young.” Firefighters worked until dawn Wednesday to clear the wreckage. Later in the morning, traffic was slowly passing the spot where the bus burst through a guardrail and a rusted fence.The accident scene drew the attention of passersby. A couple of locals said that the overpass was more than 60 years old and that nothing similar had ever happened there, while a man wearing a biker jacket stopped his motorcycle to tie to a post a bouquet of plastic flowers.The bus was carrying foreign t...

5 civilians killed and more than 20 Indian soldiers are missing after flash floods hit Sikkim state

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A sudden heavy rainfall triggered flash floods in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim, killing five civilians and leaving 23 army soldiers missing Wednesday, the army and news reports said.The flooding occurred along the Teesta River in the Lachen Valley, an army statement said, adding that some army camps and vehicles were submerged under mud and that search efforts were underway. The army said water released from a nearby dam also caused water levels to rise.Five bodies of civilians were recovered from the Golitar and Singtam regions, the Press Trust of India news agency cited Magistrate Mahendra Chettri as saying.Defense authorities said that 80 residents have been safely evacuated. The agency reported that a bridge over the Teesta River was also washed away in the floods early on Wednesday. Several towns, including Dikchu, Singtam and Rangpo in the Teesta basin, were flooded. Schools in four districts have been shut for four days, the state education departm...

Serbia releases from custody a Kosovo Serb leader suspected of a role in ambush of Kosovo policemen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A court in Serbia on Wednesday released from a brief detention a Kosovo Serb leader who has been linked to a clash with Kosovo security forces in which four people died, sending tensions soaring in the volatile region.Milan Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and President Aleksandar Vucic, was detained in Belgrade on Tuesday. He’s suspected of leading a group of some 30 heavily armed Serb insurgents who on Sept. 24 ambushed and killed a Kosovo policeman, triggering a gunfight in a northern Kosovo village that also left three paramilitaries dead.Kosovo has accused Serbia of orchestrating the “act of aggression” against its former province whose 2008 declaration of independence Belgrade doesn’t recognize. Serbia has denied this, saying that Radoicic and his group acted on their own.A Belgrade judge on Wednesday ignored public prosecutor’s call that Radoicic be kept in custody because he could flee, a...

How Disney turned Halloween into a money-making machine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

For devoted Disney fans, there’s often no better treat than spending Halloween at its theme parks — and more specifically, at its after-hours parties, where visitors can trick-or-treat through Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room and watch a Halloween-exclusive parade, among other experiences.But tickets are neither cheap nor easy to acquire. The parties are held on multiple nights throughout the season, and the version at Disney’s California resort, the “Oogie Boogie Bash,” is so popular that the 2023 event sold out the first day tickets went on sale. Fans reported trouble with virtual queues and website crashes.Florida’s version is Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and it’s so in demand that the first night of the 38-night 2023 party was held on Aug. 11. That date is closer to July Fourth than to Halloween.Tickets to Disneyland’s California party went for as much as $189, while tickets to the Florida version at Walt Disney World can cost about $210 on some nights.Holding a party...

16-year-old girl stabbed to death following altercation in Loop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

CHICAGO — An investigation is underway after a 16-year-old girl was fatally stabbed in the Loop.The stabbing happened around 11:28 p.m. Tuesday in the 0-100 block of West Van Buren. Police said the teen was in a physical altercation with another female, who then took out a knife and stabbed the victim twice in the chest. The female offender fled the scene.The 16-year-old was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition, where she was pronounced dead a short time later. The medical examiner has identified the teen as Heaven Taylor.No one is in custody. Area Three Detectives are investigating.

Wednesday Forecast: Temps in low 80s with isolated showers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

CHICAGO — It will be mostly cloudy Wednesday with a slight chance for some isolated showers. Breezy south, southwest winds help push highs into the lower 80s this afternoon.  Interactive Radar: Track showers and storms here Showers become likely overnight, and some thunderstorms are possible as temperatures fall into the lower 60s.  Thursday Forecast: Showers are likely Thursday, especially in the morning hours. Highs in the lower 70s are expected, under mostly cloudy skies tomorrow afternoon.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Need to return a package? Uber drivers will now mail it for you

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:24:50 GMT

Uber is adding a new task to its list of services: mailing consumers' return packages.The ride-hailing and delivery company said Wednesday that its drivers will collect up to five prepaid and sealed packages and drop them off at a local post office or at UPS or FedEx stores. Uber will charge a flat fee of $5 for the service or $3 for its Uber One members.The San Francisco-based company said the service will be available in nearly 5,000 U.S. cities to start. Uber Eats to accept SNAP benefits for grocery deliveries in 2024 Uber said customers will be able to choose package drop-off locations within its app. Only locations open for at least the next hour will be listed. Drivers will provide visual confirmation once a package has been dropped off.While the service is expected to be used primarily to return packages, Uber drivers will also mail new packages that are sealed and have prepaid labels.The new service opens up a potentially vast market for Uber. According to Pitney Bowes, a ...