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Britney Spears’ book ‘The Woman In Me’ makes private details public, and public events personal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears’ highly anticipated memoir “The Woman in Me” will be released Tuesday, revealing the pop superstar’s personal take on events that have played out publicly in her decades as one of the most scrutinized figures in American life, along with private moments that she previously kept under wraps. The book, which The Associated Press obtained a copy of Thursday, details her childhood and rise to stardom, along with her marriages, her nearly-14-year court conservatorship and even a brief mention of a July incident where she was hit in the face by security for NBA player Victor Wembanyama.Much of “The Woman in Me” focuses on the father and sons, the husbands and boyfriends, who have dominated her life, for better and for worse. Several chapters are devoted to her relationship with Justin Timberlake, including deeply personal details about a pregnancy, abortion and painful breakup. In others she chronicles her custody fight with ex-husband Kevin F...

Chicago-area man charged with hate crimes for threatening Muslim men

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

WHEATON, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man has been charged with two hate crimes for allegedly verbally abusing and threatening to shoot two Muslim men, a prosecutor said Thursday.Larry York, 46, of Lombard, was denied pretrial release during a court hearing Thursday, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said.York confronted the victims and cursed at them Tuesday night at an apartment complex, where one of the victims had gone to meet a friend, Berlin said. While one man was seated in his car waiting for his friend, York initially approached him and asked the victim what he was doing there and began swearing at him and telling him he didn’t belong in this country and to leave, Berlin said. York punched the man’s car window and walked to the lobby of the building, where the second victim was leaving an elevator. York began swearing at the second man and threatened to beat him, Berlin said. A short time later, while one of the men sat on a bench outside the building, Yo...

2 injured in fire at downtown Toronto apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

Two people were hospitalized following a two-alarm fire at a downtown Toronto apartment building.Toronto police were notified of a fire on the sixth floor of a residential building around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the Jarvis Street and Dundas Street East area. Toronto Fire officials located two people inside the building. They were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.It’s unclear what caused the fire.There are road closures and delays in the area.Jarvis is blocked both ways north of Dundas due to a fire investigation. https://t.co/phMOON9oef pic.twitter.com/Jw95GBDBY5— CityNews Toronto Traffic & Weather (@citynews680) October 19, 2023

Major water main break impacts thousands, prompts state of emergency in a northern New York county

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — A state of emergency was issued Thursday in a northern New York county, where the Fort Drum U.S. Army base is located, following a major water main break that has left tens of thousands without water. Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado said 32,000 gallons (121,000 liters) of drinking water from six of the state’s regional stockpiles, as well as 11 water tankers, an incident management team and other staff, were being deployed to Watertown, a community of more than 24,500 people located more than 170 miles (275 kilometers) northwest of Albany. Smaller nearby communities have also been affected by the water shortage. Officials said a total of more than 45,000 people have been impacted.“We’re here with you and we’re going to do everything we can moving forward to ensure that we resolve this as fast as we can,” Delgado said during an evening news briefing. He was joined by other state and local leaders, as well as officials from Fort Drum, which has provided thousands of ga...

Female driver wanted in hit-and-run involving motorcyclist

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a female driver after a motorcyclist was struck and injured in a hit-and-run northwest of the city. Officers were called to the Steeles Avenue West and Islington Avenue West area in the Humber Summit neighbourhood just before 8 p.m. on Thursday. Police said a driver struck a motorcyclist and fled the scene. The suspect vehicle is believed to be a silver sedan with a female driver behind the wheel last seen travelling westbound on Steeles Avenue.The motorcyclist suffered non-life-threatening injuries.There are delays and road closures in the area.COLLISION:(UPDATE)Steeles Ave W & Islington Ave W– male cyclist transported to hospital with non life-threatening injuries– N/B Islington Ave blocked to W/B Steeles Ave W– S/B Islington Ave blocked to E/B Steeles Ave E– consider alternate routes#GO2432294^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) October 20, 2023

Marte hits walk-off single in ninth, D-backs beat Phillies 2-1 and close to 2-1 in NLCS

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — More than 15 minutes after the game, Ketel Marte stood at his clubhouse locker, gulping water while trying to finally catch his breath after delivering the Arizona Diamondbacks’ latest clutch postseason moment.“After my hit, I sprinted so hard,” Marte said, shaking his head.Marte capped a three-hit afternoon with a walk-off single in the ninth, rookie Brandon Pfaadt pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the Diamondbacks rallied to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Thursday and close to 2-1 in the NL Championship Series.On the verge of falling behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven matchup, Arizona tied the score on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI double in the seventh.Gurriel opened the ninth with a leadoff walk off Craig Kimbrel, stole second and took third on Pavin Smith’s infield single.Gurriel was thrown out at the plate by shortstop Trea Turner on Emmanuel Rivera’s hard-hit grounder as the Phillies played the infield in. Geraldo Perdomo walked after fallin...

How Raptors rookie Gradey Dick made his music video debut alongside Drake

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

In his first-ever NBA pre-season, forward Gradey Dick promised himself to put in long hours at the Toronto Raptors’ training facilities and do whatever his coaches asked of him.That dedication quickly paid dividends as it led to him appearing in a music video with famous Toronto rapper Drake.Dick had returned to the OVO Athletic Centre, the Raptors facility in downtown Toronto, after the team’s training camp in Vancouver because he had left some things in his locker.“I just saw people running around with cameras and I was like ‘What’s going on?'” said the 19-year-old Dick on Thursday after practice. “It was Drake filming a video with his son.“I had plans to meet Drake when he came back to Toronto but we happened to just be there randomly but he was like ‘Hey, why don’t you hop in for a little cameo?'”Although Drake is in the video, it’s actually a song by his six-year-old son Adonis called “My Man Freestyl...

Niger junta says it thwarted an escape attempt by detained president Bazoum ousted in July coup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

Niger’s ruling junta said late Thursday it had thwarted an overnight attempt by deposed President Mohamed Bazoum to escape detention with his family nearly three months after he was detained in the wake of a military coup.In a communique, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane said that Bazoum tried to reach a waiting vehicle at around 3 a.m. that was to take him to the outskirts of the capital, Niamey, along with his family, two cooks and his security personnel.From there, they were to be flown to Nigeria aboard “two helicopters belonging to a foreign power,” Abdramane said.“This plan to destabilize our country was thwarted,” Abdramane said, adding that the main perpetrators had been arrested and an investigation has already been opened by the public prosecutor.Bazoum has been under house arrest with his wife and son since being ousted in July, and has refused to resign. The junta had cut off his electricity and water.The United States has formally declared that the ousting of Bazoum was...

Woman whose body was found in a car’s trunk in US had left South Korea to start anew, detective says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A woman whose body was found in the trunk of a car in Georgia had come from South Korea to start anew and ease her depression, but instead was subjected to beatings and ice baths while being initiated into a religious group, police said Thursday.Sehee Cho, 33, tried to leave the group, but one of the defendants charged with her murder told investigators that once the initiation process started, there was no getting out, Gwinnett County police homicide Det. Angela Carter said.Carter testified in court at a preliminary hearing for five of the seven defendants facing murder charges in Cho’s death. Police discovered the woman’s decaying body in September in a car parked outside a popular spa in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth.At least some of the defendants referred to themselves as members of the group called “Soldiers of Christ,” according to police. Investigators who searched the home where Cho was held found clothing with the initials “SOC” on it, ...

300-year-old painting stolen by an American soldier during World War II returned to German museum

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:53 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — After a stopover in the U.S. that lasted the better part of a century, a baroque landscape painting that went missing during World War II was returned to Germany on Thursday. The FBI handed over the artwork by 18th century Austrian artist Johann Franz Nepomuk Lauterer to a German museum representative in a brief ceremony at the German Consulate in Chicago, where the pastoral piece showing an Italian countryside was on display. Art Recovery International, a company focused on locating and recovering stolen and looted art, tracked down the elusive painting after a person in Chicago reached out last year claiming to possess a “stolen or looted painting” that their uncle brought back to the U.S. after serving in World War II.The painting has been missing since 1945 and was first reported stolen from the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Munich, Germany. It was added to the database of the German Lost Art Foundation in 2012, according to a statement from the art recov...