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Mega Millions winner could net $1.25 billion as top lottery prize is still up for grabs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

By The Associated PressThe Mega Millions jackpot increased to an estimated $1.25 billion after no one beat the odds Tuesday night and won the massive lottery prize.The winning numbers drawn were: 8, 24, 30, 45, 61 and the yellow ball: 12.No one has won the Mega Millions jackpot since April 18, allowing it to grow larger and larger. The $1.25 billion prize for Friday’s drawing is one of the largest in U.S. history. Tuesday night’s drawing for $1.1 billion was the 30th straight without a winner.The lottery drought is due to a combination of poor luck and terrible odds, as the chance of winning the Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 302.6 million. The odds of winning smaller prizes, ranging from $2 to $1 million, are significantly better.The new $1.25 billion jackpot is for a sole winner who chooses to collect through an annuity, with annual payments over 30 years. A sole winner who opts for a lump sum payment would receive an estimated $625.3 million.Winners also would be subject to federa...

Column: Chicago Cubs and White Sox head in different directions after trade deadline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

Major League Baseball’s trade deadline ended at 5 p.m. Tuesday with the Chicago Cubs and White Sox going in opposite directions.One man’s white flag is another man’s white pocket square. The Cubs went from potential sellers to buyers with a late-July push to the .500 mark, while the Sox unofficially ended their much-heralded window of contention by becoming sellers.We won’t know for a few months whether the Sox’s decision to unload several pitchers and slugger Jake Burger while keeping Tim Anderson and Dylan Cease was a good sign for ’24, or whether the Cubs’ decision to keep Cody Bellinger and Marcus Stroman and acquire Jeimer Candelario while designating Trey Mancini for assignment means they’re playoff worthy in ’23.But after a couple of months of speculation, fueled by two underachieving teams trying to contend in bad divisions, the Cubs and Sox can now go back to their regularly scheduled seasons, already in progress.Cubs Pr...

Police dog killed in 'violent shooting'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A police dog was killed in what the San Diego Police Officers Association (SDPOA) described as a "violent shooting" Wednesday morning.In a tweet at 4:57 a.m., authorities noted the police dog "saved the lives of the officers and citizens" in the area of San Diego Mesa College in Clairemont. Body found in search for missing hiker on El Cajon Mountain SDPOA says the suspect is no longer a threat. Additionally, the officers and innocent victims involved in the shooting were reported to be uninjured.FOX 5 is at the scene on Mesa College Circle and Armstrong Road. The area is being blocked off and the streets are closed to traffic.Police say the shooting incident came to an end in this area and a white Tesla -- possibly the suspect's vehicle -- was at the scene."There was a radio call involving something reporting a gun, some sort of shooting," said Lt. Adam Sharki with the San Diego Police Department. "Officers responded to that. In the course of their investigation, the...

Two killed in Bay Terraces collision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Two passengers were killed in a two-vehicle collision that occurred in the Bay Terraces neighborhood Tuesday, authorities said.According to the San Diego Police Department, a 24-year-old man was driving a 2007 Honda Civic southbound in the far left lane of S. Woodman Avenue around 9:24 p.m. Police dog killed in ‘violent shooting’ At that same time, authorities say a 56-year-old man was driving a 2006 Kia Sedona northbound on S. Woodman Avenue when he attempted to turn westbound onto Jamie Avenue and did not yield the right-of-way.The vehicles collided in the intersection and the rear passengers in the Honda Civic were not seat belted, according to SDPD. One passenger was ejected and pronounced deceased at the scene and the other was transported to a local hospital with "non-survivable injuries," police explained. The identities of the victims are being withheld pending notification of family.Authorities say all other passengers had minor injuries. Anyone with informat...

Nervous NATO nations are beefing up security due to Wagner fighters across their borders in Belarus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO allies located along the alliance’s eastern front are growing increasingly worried about the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus, where some have been deployed since a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June.Poland, Lithuania and Latvia — members of NATO and the European Union which border Belarus — had already been on alert since large numbers of migrants and refugees began arriving at their borders from Belarus two years ago. They have accused Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia, of opening the migration route in an act of “hybrid warfare” aimed at creating instability in the West.Now concerns have grown further since the Wagner troops began arriving in Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on the weekend that some 100 Wagner fighters in Belarus had approached the border with Poland, specifically a strategically sensitive area known as the Suwalki...

Russian drone strikes hit Ukrainian port on Romania’s border that is key to grain exports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drones on Wednesday hit a Ukrainian port city along the border with Romania, causing significant damage and a huge fire at facilities that are key to Ukrainian grain exports. The attacks followed the end of a deal with Russia that had allowed Ukrainian shipments to world markets from the Black Sea port of Odesa. Since scrapping the deal, Russia has hammered the country’s ports with strikes, compounding the blow to the key industry. In the past two weeks, dozens of drones and missile attacks have targeted the port of Odesa and the region’s river ports, which are being used as alternative routes.The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, said the city of Izmail was hit in the strikes. Izmail is on the Danube River that forms part of the Ukraine-Romania border.Video obtained by The Associated Press showed explosions and a large fire in the distance on the Danube, captured by fishermen in Romania, a NATO member, on the oth...

Prepare to flick off your incandescent bulbs for good under new US rules that kicked in this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Get ready to say goodbye to the once ubiquitous incandescent light bulb, pioneered by Thomas Edison more than a century ago. You can thank — or blame — new federal energy efficiency regulations that went into full effect Tuesday. Quite possibly without you even noticing. The Energy Department rules, which date back to the Obama administration, have been whipsawed in the political process for years. Some conservatives and Republican lawmakers long denounced them for interfering with consumer choice and placing undue burdens on business. Under former President Donald Trump, the Energy Department scrapped them in 2019; the Biden administration subsequently revived them.Yet by the time Aug. 1 rolled around, the critics had gone quiet, possibly because companies and consumers have already started voting for better lighting efficiency with their wallets. Here’s what you need to know.WHAT CHANGES UNDER THE NEW RULES?The rules establish strict new efficiency stand...

Russia launches Baltic naval drills, ratcheting up tensions with European neighbors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it began begun live-fire naval exercises in the Baltic Se a on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions with nearby European nations that are already high over NATO and Ukraine.Russia last carried out mass military exercises in the Baltic Sea in June, two months after Finland became NATO’s newest member. The drills took place at the same time NATO was holding its own Baltic Sea exercises.The Russian exercises announced Wednesday will involve more personnel and aircraft than the last round and will feature the use of live weapons. The Russian defense ministry said the navy’s commander-in-chief, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, will oversee the drills, which were designed to test “the navy’s readiness to protect the national interests of the Russian Federation in an operationally important area.”The Ocean Shield-2023 exercises will involve forces practicing how to “protect sea lanes, transport troops and military cargo, as well as defend the coastline,” ...

European militaries evacuate foreign nationals from Niger as regional tensions rise after coup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Foreign nationals lined up outside an airport in Niger’s capital on Wednesday morning to wait for a French military evacuation flight, while a regional bloc continued talks about its response to the military coup that took place last week.France, Italy and Spain all announced evacuations for their citizens and other Europeans in the capital, Niamey, following concerns that they could become trapped after soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum and seized power. The Biden administration has yet to announce any decision on evacuation for American forces, diplomats, aid workers and other U.S. citizens in Niger, an important counter-terror base for the United States in the Sahel. Some Americans, however, have left with the help of the Europeans.France’s first two flights evacuated more than 350 French nationals, as well as people from Niger and at least 10 other countries, the French Foreign Ministry said. The Paris airport authority said two more evacuatio...

Stock market today: Wall Street falls, and its big rally loses some more momentum

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:03 GMT

TOKYO — Stocks are falling, as Wall Street loses some more momentum following its torrid run so far this year. The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower Wednesday, on track for a second straight losing day after hitting a 16-month high. The Dow was down 125 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% lower shortly after the open of trading. Yields were mixed in the bond market after Fitch Ratings cut the credit rating of the U.S. government. The downgrade strikes at the core of the global financial system, but the market’s reaction has so far been more muted than after a similar downgrade in 2011.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street was poised to open lower Wednesday after the United States government’s credit rating was cut for just the second time in history.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials slipped 0.3% before the bell and futures for the S&P 500 tumbled 0.5%.Investor optimism was hurt by Fitch Ratings downgrading the U.S. government’s ...