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The Eiffel Tower is closed while workers strike on the 100th anniversary of its founder’s death

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The Eiffel Tower was shut down to visitors Wednesday because of a strike over contract negotiations, the day the Paris monument marks 100 years since the death of its creator, Gustave Eiffel.Tourists can still access the glass-enclosed esplanade beneath the tower, but access to the 300-meter (984-foot) landmark itself is closed until further notice, according to an Eiffel Tower spokesperson.The strike was declared ahead of contract negotiations with the city of Paris, which owns the 134-year-old monument, the spokesperson said. Union representatives did not immediately respond for comment, and it was unclear how long the strike would last.One of the world’s most-visited sites, the Eiffel Tower is typically open 365 days a year — though it sees occasional strikes — and is expected to play a central role in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The attraction normally sees about 20,000 visitors per day this time of year, said the spokesperson, who was not authorized to be publicly nam...

Morant has quickly gotten the Memphis Grizzlies rolling, and oozing optimism

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ja Morant’s return to NBA play has the Memphis Grizzlies facing a new set of questions.Namely, could they have reasonably expected their All-Star guard to be so productive, so soon?Or, did they suspect that having Morant back in the lineup would make winning — and contending — look so achievable for a club that managed just six victories in its first 25 games?“You have a player like that, he makes everybody better, from our top guys to our role-playing guys,” Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane said. “So you can’t overestimate how good he is and how much impact he has.”Morant has averaged 28.8 points through his first four games since returning from an NBA suspension that stemmed from his antics with guns on social media. Memphis has won all four of those games to improve to 10-19, leaving them just 4 1/2 games out of a Western Conference play-in spot with 53 games to play.“I don’t really look at where we’re at in the standings right now with all the...

Turkey hits 70 sites linked to Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for soldiers’ deaths

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has hit more than 70 sites allegedly linked to Kurdish groups in Syria and northern Iraq during airstrikes launched this week in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers in Iraq, the defense minister said Wednesday.At least 59 Kurdish militants were killed in the strikes as well as in land clashes, Yasar Guler said in a video message to top military officials which was posted on X, formerly Twitter.“Our pain is great, but our determination is complete,” Guler said. “We avenged (the deaths) of our precious children and we will continue to do so.”There was no immediately statement from Kurdish groups and the 59 deaths could not be independently verified.On Friday, militants affiliated with the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, attempted to infiltrate a Turkish base in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Turkish officials said. Six Turkish soldiers were killed in the ensuing firefight. The following day, six more Turkish so...

Police find woman shot dead after responding to auto accident on city's West Side

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police found a woman shot dead after responding to an auto accident Tuesday night in the Austin neighborhood on the city's West Side.Officers arrived to the scene in the 4800 block of W. Thomas St. just before 9 p.m. Tuesday and found that a vehicle had struck two unoccupied parked vehicles. Officers also found an unidentified female victim, approximately 30 years old, in the driver's seat of the vehicle that struck the parked cars with a gunshot wound to the head.The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Two bodies found inside home in Avondale neighborhood; Chicago police investigating According to police, a witness told officers they observed an unidentified male and female flee from the vehicle after the crash occurred. Police say there is nobody in custody, and Area Four Detectives are investigating.

Wednesday Forecast: Temps in low 40s with mostly cloudy conditions

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

CHICAGO — It will be mostly cloudy, but dry Wednesday with warmer than average temperatures as highs reach the lower 40s.  Interactive Radar: Track showers and storms here Mostly cloudy tonight with a slight chance of rain or snow as lows fall into the low to mid-30s. THURSDAY FORECAST: Rain showers become likely Thursday and some snow is expected away from the city. Despite the wet weather, temperatures are expected to top out in the lower 40s once again.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Online retailer Zulily says it will go into liquidation, surprising customers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — The U.S. online retailer Zulily is closing down, surprising customers and laying off hundreds of workers after efforts to salvage the business failed.The Seattle-based company said in a notice on its website that it had tried to fill all pending orders and expected to manage that within the coming two weeks. Zulily said it was trying to ensure that orders that could not be filled were cancelled and refunded and offered a contact for customers who did not get their orders or refunds.“This decision was not easy nor was it entered into lightly. However, given the challenging business environment in which Zulily operated, and the corresponding financial instability, Zulily decided to take immediate and swift action," said the notice, signed by Ryan C. Baker, vice president at management consultant Douglas Wilson Companies, which is handling the receivership for the company. Apple fights ban on Apple Watch imports: Here’s what happens next Founded in 2010 by Da...

South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun of 'Parasite' found dead in car

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Lee Sun-kyun, a popular South Korean actor best known for his role in the Oscar-winning movie “Parasite,” was found dead in a car in Seoul on Wednesday, authorities said, after weeks of an intense police investigation into his alleged drug use.Police and emergency officers initially found Lee in what they believed was an unconscious state in the car parked on a street in northern Seoul. Emergency officers later confirmed he was dead, according to Seoul’s Seongbuk police station.Police had been searching for Lee, 48, after receiving a report that he was missing.They refused to provide further details including whether they had determined Lee killed himself. But South Korean media outlets including Yonhap news agency said that Lee’s family earlier Wednesday reported to police that he left home after leaving a message similar to a suicide note.Lee appeared in “Parasite,” which won Oscars for best picture and three other categories in 2020. The class ...

Chief's Run features 25 APD cadets graduating next week

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Twenty-five cadets from the Austin Police Department's 149th Cadet Class will be featured in the Chief's Run Wednesday morning. The cadets are joining the run ahead of being commissioned during their Jan. 5 graduation ceremony. Interim Chief of Police Robin Henderson, along with APD’s Assistant Chiefs, will join the cadets on the run. Henderson will address the class at the end of the run. The run starts at the south end of the Congress Avenue Bridge and ends at the Texas State Capitol Peace Officers Memorial. According to the police department, the Chief's Run focuses on unity within the community and the department.

From the winter storm to robot shoes: KXAN's most-viewed YouTube videos of 2023

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- From the 88th regular Legislative Session to another winter freeze to trials, Texas has seen a lot happen this year. One way KXAN shares news updates is through YouTube videos. We've compiled a list of the 15 most-viewed videos of the year, detailed below. (Data was tracked from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 5, 2023.) No. 15: Robot shoes can help you walk 3x faster; how do they work?Designed by Austin-based Shift Robotics, "Moonwalkers" initially look like roller skates, but motors and artificial intelligence allow users wearing these “robot shoes” to walk three times faster than they normally would.KXAN's Eric Henrikson spoke to the CEO of Austin-based Shift Robotics, the company behind the shoes. Read the story here. KXAN's Eric Henrikson tests out Moonwalkers. (Credit: Tim Holcomb/KXAN)No. 14: Austin Energy discusses how linemen stay warm while repairing damaged power linesDuring a winter storm in late January and early February, thousands of Austinites were without...

Ross Douthat: The anti-democratic quest to save democracy from Trump

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

Let’s consider a counterfactual. In the autumn of 2016, with American liberalism reeling from the election of Donald Trump, a shattered Hillary Clinton embraces the effort to pin all the blame on Vladimir Putin.She barnstorms the country arguing that the election was fundamentally illegitimate because of foreign interference. She endorses every attempt to prove that Russian disinformation warped the result. She touts conspiracy theories that supposedly prove that voting machines in Wisconsin were successfully hacked. She argues that her opponent should not be allowed to take office, that he’s a possible Manchurian candidate, a Russian cat’s paw. And she urges Democrats in Congress and Vice President Joe Biden to refuse to certify the election — suggesting that it could somehow be rerun or even that patriotic legislators could use their constitutional authority to make her, the popular-vote winner, president instead.Her crusade summons up a mass movement — youthful, multiracial and l...