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World Bank offers dim outlook for the global economy in face of higher interest rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The global economy is likely slowing sharply this year, hobbled by high interest rates, the repercussions of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic.That’s the latest outlook of the World Bank, a 189-country anti-poverty agency, which estimates that the international economy will expand just 2.1% in 2023 after growing 3.1% in 2022. Still, the bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report, which it issued Tuesday, marks an upgrade from its previous forecast in January. That estimate had envisioned worldwide growth of just 1.7% this year.The Federal Reserve and other major central banks have been aggressively raising interest rates to combat a resurgence of inflation, set off by a stronger-than-expected rebound from the pandemic recession, persistent supply shortages and energy and food price shocks caused by the Ukraine war.But the global economy has proved surprisingly resilient in the face of higher borrowing...

Plane that crashed in Virginia lost contact with air traffic controllers during ascent, feds say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Only minutes into a doomed journey that ended on a remote Virginia mountain, the pilot of a business jet was not responding to air traffic control instructions and the situation was soon reported to a network that includes military, security and law enforcement agencies, according to federal aviation officials.Despite being out of contact on its ascent Sunday afternoon, the jet that had just taken off from a Tennessee airport continued toward its intended destination on Long Island, then turning to fly back to Virginia where it slammed into a mountain, killing the four people aboard.Family and friends identified two of the victims as an entrepreneur known in New York real-estate circles and her 2-year-old daughter.Fighter jet pilots sent to intercept the business jet reported that its pilot appeared slumped over and unresponsive, three U.S. officials said Monday. The officials had been briefed on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disc...

Movie Review: Who let the beasts out? New ‘Transformers’ tries but fails to energize the saga

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

With the “Transformers” franchise clearly at a crossroads, its latest protectors have turned to their deep bench of characters. But just adding more robots won’t transform this tired series.“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” returns the franchise to its galaxy-wide self-importance after taking a nice detour with 2018’s smaller “Bumblebee.” We have a new cast of animal robots and a very evil enemy in the planet-eating Unicron, but they’re not used right and the movie limps from fight to fight.The key to the film is actually a key, some sort of ancient glowing shaft that will open a portal in space and time. Everyone wants it — to go home, to kill planets or to save planets. The audience may also want to use it to beam into a more interesting movie.Directed by Steven Caple Jr. — using a screenplay by Darnell Metayer, Erich Hoeber, Jon Hoeber and Josh Peters based on a story by Joby Harold — “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is a big swing that seems to portend a mul...

Supreme Court tossed out heart of Voting Rights Act a decade ago, prompting wave of new voting rules

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Within hours of a U.S. Supreme Court decision dismantling a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Texas lawmakers announced plans to implement a strict voter ID law that had been blocked by a federal court. Lawmakers in Alabama said they would press forward with a similar law that had been on hold.The ruling continues to reverberate across the country a decade later, as Republican-led states pass voting restrictions that, in several cases, would have been subject to federal review had the conservative-leaning court left the provision intact. At the same time, the justices have continued to take other cases challenging elements of the landmark 1965 law that was born from the sometimes violent struggle for the right of Black Americans to cast ballots.The justices are expected to rule in the coming weeks in a new case out of Alabama that could make it much more difficult for minority groups to sue over gerrymandered political maps that dilute their representation.“At t...

Lawyer: Health of Gadhafi’s son, detained in Lebanon, deteriorating 3 days into hunger strike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — The health of a son of Libya’s late leader Moammar Gadhafi was deteriorating three days into a hunger strike to protest his detention in Lebanon without trial, his lawyer said Tuesday. Hannibal Gadhafi was suffering from headaches, muscle pain and difficulties moving around, his lawyer Paul Romanos said. He started his hunger strike Saturday.He has been detained in Lebanon since 2015 after he was briefly kidnapped from neighboring Syria, where he had been living as a political refugee. He was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information on the whereabouts of prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa al-Sadr who went missing in Libya 45 years ago.Lebanese police later announced it had collected Hannibal from the northeastern city of Baalbek where he was being held. He has been detained in a Beirut jail without trial since then.Romanos said Gadhafi was also suffering from back pain due to being held in a small room where he cannot move freely or exercise.“He ...

LGBTQ+ ‘State of emergency’ declared, ‘Americans Fight Back’ guidebook released

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. on Tuesday and a released a guidebook summarizing what it calls discriminatory laws in each state, along with “know your rights” information and health and safety resources.Sounding the alarm about the current political environment, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans said advisories warning against travel to dangerous places aren’t enough to help people already living in so-called hostile states. The campaign said it’s taking action in response to unprecedented and dangerous spike in discriminatory legislation sweeping state houses this year, with more than 70 anti-LGBTQ+ bills signed into law so far in 2023 — more than double last year’s number. In a report called “LGBTQ+ Americans Under Attack,” it says the new laws are a result of coordinated Republican efforts, supported by “well-...

Woman found dead in Logan Square apartment, just a block from where missing woman lives

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A woman was found dead inside an apartment on the city's Northwest Side, just a block away from where a woman who went missing last Friday lives.Police were seen going in and out of an apartment on the 2000 block of North Kimball in Logan Square Monday night, collecting evidence after the body was discovered.Officials have not announced the identity of the person, but did declare her death a homicide.Just after 10 p.m. Monday, the brother of 33-year-old Brittany Battaglia, who has been missing since last Friday, posted to social media that police said the woman who was found in the apartment was his sister. ‘It’s really odd’: Family pleads for information about missing Logan Square woman (Family photo: 33-year-old Brittany Battaglia)Brittany Battaglia resides in the 1900 block of N Kimball Avenue, just a block from where the deceased woman was discovered.Brittany's roommate alerted her brother that she hadn't come back to their apartment after going to her boyfriend's ho...

WGN Morning News' Robin Baumgarten is married; officially Mrs. X!

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

CHICAGO — Well, it's official. WGN Morning News' Robin Baumgarten is now "Mrs. X!"Robin announced during Tuesday's Courtesy Desk segment that she and Mr. X were married in Las Vegas at the Little White Wedding Chapel. She said they then celebrated with a dinner accompanied by close friends and family.The love birds then honeymooned in Hawaii.Robin said that she will still refer to him because he enjoying his anonymity.The two got engaged in June of last year after dating a couple of years.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

Bicyclist struck in Logan Square; critical condition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A bicyclist was struck late Monday night in Logan Square.Just after 11:30 p.m., officers responded to the 2600 block of North Pulaski on the report of a man struck.A 43-year-old man on a bicyclist rode through a red light and was struck in the intersection, police said.He sustained blunt force trauma to the head and body. The bicyclist was transported to Illinois Masonic in critical condition. 59-year-old woman dies after Bensenville crash The driver of the vehicle was not cited.

Man fatally shot during exchange of gunfire with person inside vehicle on South Side: police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A 32-year-old man was fatally shot during an exchange of gunfire with a person inside a vehicle on the city's South Side.The shooting happened around 11:45 p.m. Monday in the 5100 block of South Dorchester. Police said the man was walking when an unknown vehicle approached and someone inside fired shots at the man. Woman found dead in Logan Square apartment, just a block from where missing woman lives According to police, the man returned fire and was shot in the stomach. He was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, where he later died.No one is in custody. Area One detectives are investigating.