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IRS plans limited rollout of free e-file tax return system with invitations to select taxpayers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS plans to invite select taxpayers across 13 states to try out the agency’s pilot electronic free file tax return system beginning in January. The agency estimates that hundreds of thousands of taxpayers will participate in the limited rollout of the program for the 2024 filing season. The IRS faces intense blowback from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software. The introduction of a government-run option could upend the industry and fundamentally change the way taxpayers interact with IRS. All eyes are on the agency to get it right — and avoid a roll-out reminiscent of the disastrous healthcare.gov website rollout a decade ago, when many users encountered challenges accessing and using the website. “The plan is to roll it out in increments that get larger and larger, consistent with how products like this are rolled out in the private sector,” IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said on a call with...

Ukraine claims a major strike on Russian airfields and thanks US for providing long-range missiles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Tuesday claimed to have carried out one of the most destructive attacks on Russian air assets since the beginning of the war, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the assault used longer-range ballistic missiles donated by the United States.Zelenskyy’s announcement came hours after a U.S. official revealed that the longer-range ballistic missiles sought for months by Kyiv and promised by President Joe Biden had been delivered quietly and are in battlefield use.Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces claimed it destroyed nine Russian helicopters at two airfields in Russia-occupied regions in a nighttime attack on targets in eastern and southern Ukraine.It also hit military equipment, an air-defense system, ammunition warehouses and runways, a statement said. Dozens of Russian military personnel were injured in the attack codenamed Operation Dragonfly, it said.Several U.S. officials said that Washington provided Ukraine with a small num...

Parks Canada signs agreement with First Nations, opens door to harvesting in Jasper

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

Parks Canada and two First Nations have signed an agreement that points to a stronger Indigenous voice in parks management and opens the door to harvesting in Jasper National Park in western Alberta.The agreement, which renews an age-old treaty between the Stoney Nation in Alberta and Simpcw First Nation in British Columbia, is to be marked later this month in a ceremony, which will involve the hunting of a small number of elk, deer and mountain sheep. Parks Canada spokesman Mark Young says the agreement is part of a larger move within the agency to reopen lands to First Nations from which they were removed when the parks were created.He says it will help recreate the kind of ecology that existed for thousands of years.Chief George Lampreau of the Simpcw says his people were stewards of that land for centuries and are deeply committed to keeping it healthy.The ceremony will also renew an ancient treaty between the Simpcw and the Stoneys under which the two First Nations agreed to sh...

Live updates | Jordan loses 20 Republicans in speaker’s vote, creating uphill climb to win gavel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Jim Jordan lost 20 Republican votes Tuesday in his first round of balloting for House speaker, creating an uphill climb to win the gavel.Another vote is expected, although the timing of that is unclear.What to knowJim Jordan’s rapid rise has been cheered by Trump and the far rightHow the vote for a new speaker worksScalise ends bid to become speaker as holdouts refuse to back himMcCarthy was an early architect of the GOP majority that became his downfallSpeaker McCarthy ousted in historic House voteJordan holdouts face ‘meat grinder’ of pressureRep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and Jordan ally who has resisted party leadership in the past, said the holdouts on the House speaker vote would now be put through a “meat grinder” of pressure.He predicted they would cave and support Jordan by the end of the week after pressure from conservative voters who are being told to call member offices and close friends.“I don’t think any of these 20 have the stomach f...

2 foreign tourists and their Ugandan guide killed in attack near Uganda’s popular national park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Two foreign tourists and their Ugandan guide were killed when assailants attacked their vehicle near a national park in southwestern Uganda, a wildlife official and the police said Tuesday.Bashir Hangi, spokesman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority, said the attackers set on fire the vehicle in which the group was traveling just outside Queen Elizabeth National Park. The security agencies are working “to establish who could have carried out this heinous act,” he told the AP. Fred Enanga, a police spokesman, said in a statement that extremist rebels usually based in eastern Congo had carried out the “cowardly terrorist attack,” adding that the security forces “responded immediately upon receiving the information and are aggressively pursuing the suspected ADF rebels.” The ADF, or Allied Democratic Forces, is a shadowy rebel group that originated in Uganda but whose fighters now operate in a lawless part of eastern Congo. The group has established ties with ...

BlackBerry aiming for June IPO for Internet of Things business: CEO

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

The head of BlackBerry Ltd. says he’s hoping for June timing on the initial public offering the company has planned for its Internet of Things business.The forthcoming IPO will carve BlackBerry into two business units, dividing its cybersecurity operations from its internet of things offerings.The Waterloo, Ont.-based technology company has been evaluating a range of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value since May.The company lost US$42 million in the second quarter of its 2024 fiscal year as revenue from Internet of Things rose four per cent while cybersecurity revenue was down 40 per cent.Speaking at an investors briefing, John Chen said he was aiming for June because he wants to avoid a summer IPO, when people are on holidays.He also wants to steer clear of September, which he considers a bad month for the stock market because people are coming back from vacation with a different mindset.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2023.Compa...

Congressional draft report in Brazil recommends charges for Bolsonaro over Jan. 8 insurrection

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A draft congressional report on Brazil’s Jan. 8 riots on Tuesday accused ex-President Jair Bolsonaro of being the insurrection’s mastermind and recommended he be criminally charged with attempting to stage a coup.The report by Sen. Eliziane Gama followed months of hearings by a committee investigating the uprising in Brasilia, and cited evidence including phone records. It proposed charges against Bolsonaro including the violent overthrow of democratic rule. Bolsonaro, who lost his reelection bid last fall, has denied any involvement in the rioting, which took place after he had quietly left the country to stay in Florida while refusing to attend the inauguration of incoming President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.A full panel of 32 lawmakers — most of whom are allied with Lula — are scheduled to vote on the inquiry report Wednesday and are seen as likely to adopt the measure, which would serve as a recommendation to prosecutors.On Jan. 8, one week afte...

Stellantis cancels presentation at Las Vegas technology show due to UAW strike impact

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Stellantis, the multinational maker of Jeep and Ram, said Tuesday that it is canceling its participation in next year’s CES technology show in Las Vegas citing the “mounting” costs of the ongoing auto workers strike in North America.The Europe-based company said its focus is on measures “to mitigate financial impacts and preserve capital,” during the ongoing negotiations with the United Auto Workers union. It said it would “demonstrate its transformation into a mobility tech company through other means” than participation in CES 2024.CES has increasingly become a forum for car news, as automotive and tech companies increase their cooperation. The next edition will be held Jan. 9-12.The strike by the United Auto Workers union has entered its fifth week with no end in sight. The union has targeted specific plants from each U.S. automaker, including Stellantis, General Motors and Ford. About 34,000 autoworkers are on strike against the three companies, and the union has th...

Putin meets with Hungary’s prime minister in rare in-person talks with an EU leader

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks on Tuesday with Vladimir Putin in a rare in-person meeting for the Russian president with a leader of a European Union country.Orbán and Putin met in Beijing before an international forum on one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature policies, the Belt and Road Initiative. Their meeting focused on Hungary’s access to Russian energy. EU and other Western leaders have largely eschewed contact with Putin over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in February. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer met with Putin in person in April 2022.“Hungary never wanted to confront Russia. Hungary always has been eager to expand contacts,” Orbán told Putin, according to a Russian translation of his remarks broadcast on Russian state television.Bilateral ties between the two countries have suffered because of EU sanctions against Moscow, he said.Hungary’s stance on the war has confounded its European partners and led ...

Eviscerated goat found in passenger's baggage at O'Hare Airport

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:42:57 GMT

WARNING: Photos below are extremely graphic and may be upsetting to some readers. Viewer discretion is advised.CHICAGO — A passenger's luggage was confiscated and destroyed at O'Hare International Airport after an inspection found 15 pounds of raw goat organs, among other items, inside of it.U.S. Customs and Border Protection said two passengers arrived to O'Hare from the Democratic Republic of Congo on Oct. 10, and were referred to agriculture specialists for inspection.According to a release, CBPAS (U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agriculture Specialists) found one pound of unknown meat, 2 pounds of garden eggs, and 15 pounds of raw goat viscera —including the trachea, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and entire digestive system. The luggage was seized and destroyed "to keep livestock diseases and plant pests out of the United States," according to CBP.“There are real dangers these items can have if they are introduced in the U.S. economy,” said LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, CBP Di...