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Russia throws more soldiers into Bakhmut meat grinder ahead of Putin’s Victory Day parade

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

KYIV — After missing multiple self-imposed deadlines for capturing Bakhmut, Russia continues to throw more of its soldiers into the grinding battle in the Donetsk region in a desperate bid for something to tout during next week’s Victory Day parade in Moscow.Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II every year on May 9, and President Vladimir Putin has used the holiday to boost his image as a strongman over the course of his decades in power. But this year’s celebrations will be somewhat muted, with Putin canceling parades in Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, which border Ukraine, and in Russian-occupied Crimea, citing security concerns. With Moscow now in the second year of its full-scale war on Ukraine and no sign of imminent victory, Putin is pushing to win a battle to sell to Russians on May 9.But with the U.S. estimating that 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since December and a further 80,000 injured, Kyiv is...

Woman taken to hospital after heavy equipment falls at Harvard MBTA station

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

A woman was taken to a local hospital Monday after a heavy piece of electrical equipment fell at the Harvard MBTA station, said Cambridge Fire Chief Thomas Cahill. Cahill said the incident happened Monday afternoon when the approximately 200 pound piece of equipment fell on the station’s Red Line inbound platform.The equipment had been suspended from a pole within the station and hit a woman in her late 20s as it came down, Cahill said. Cahill said the woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The scene was clear as of around 5:15 p.m., though debris could still be seen on a Red Line platform roped off with caution tape. Debris had been removed as of 9 p.m.In a separate statement, MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said the equipment slid to the bottom of the column where it was attached.“A supporting brace made contact with a customer who was standing on the platform, next to the column,” Pesaturo said.Pesaturo said Red Line service was not imp...

Before Deonte Banks became Edgewood’s first NFL draft pick, he was ‘a man amongst boys’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

Charles Johnson was coaching at Joppatowne when, at an offseason seven-on-seven camp at Edgewood, then-Rams coach John Siemsen told him to keep an eye out for Deonte Banks.“I wasn’t really concerned about some ninth grader at the time,” Johnson, who later took over Edgewood’s program before Banks’ junior season, remembers thinking. “But he told me [Banks] could be the program’s next high Division I guy or professional football player.”Edgewood hasn’t been known as a pipeline for top football players, but Banks became the program’s first graduate to be drafted to the NFL on Thursday when the cornerback out of the University of Maryland was taken by the New York Giants with the 24th pick in the first round.Siemsen saw the potential early on when Banks transferred in from St. Frances midway through his freshman year. He saw a quiet confidence and perpetual hunger that would transform into the uber-physical defensive back bound...

Unclear who would help Taiwan in a war: foreign minister

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Taiwan intends to fight for itself in any armed conflict with China and is unclear as to what countries might stand beside it, the self-governing island’s foreign minister said. China claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary, and concerns are rising about a possible armed conflict. In an interview last Friday with Sky News Australia, Joseph Wu said Taiwan, with a population of 23 million compared to China’s 1.4 billion, has to defend itself and is not asking other countries to fight for it. However, asked who might fight alongside Taiwan in the event of a war with China, Wu answered, “This is a very good question.” “A lot of people are debating strategic ambiguity or strategic clarity, but to us, we know our own responsibility,” Wu told the news channel from Taipei.“Taiwan has to defend itself, the people have to defend Taiwan, this country, and we are determined to defend ourselves and we are no...

Loneliness poses risks as deadly as smoking: surgeon general

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic.About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in an 81-page report from his office.“We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It’s like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that’s not right. That’s why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing.” The declaration is intended to raise awareness around loneliness but won’t unlock federal funding or programming devoted to combatting the issue. Rese...

Inflation inches up in Europe ahead of interes rate decision

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s painful inflation inched higher last month, extending the squeeze on households and keeping pressure on the European Central Bank to unleash another large interest rate increase.Consumer prices in the 20 countries using the euro currency jumped 7% in April from a year earlier, just down from the annual rate of 6.9% in March, the European Union statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday. Food prices eased a little, falling to an annual 13.6% from March’s 15.5%, while energy prices rose a more modest 2.5%.Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and fuel, slowed slightly but was still high at 5.6%, underlining the expectation that the ECB will press ahead with its campaign to beat inflation into submission with rate hikes. The question is: How quickly will the bank go? Analysts say the ECB’s meeting Thursday in Frankfurt could end in an increase of a quarter- or a half-percentage point. A quarter-point hike would be a moderation in the b...

Stock market today: Global stocks mixed after bank failure

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were trading mixed Tuesday with some markets closed or anticipating holidays and investors showing muted reaction to the latest U.S. banking failure.France’s CAC 40 lost 0.4% in early trading to 7,459.14. Germany’s DAX fell nearly 0.4% to 15,866.12. Britain’s FTSE 100 inched down nearly 0.1% to 7,864.44. U.S. shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures slipping 0.2% to 34,090.00. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.2% to 4,179.50. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.9% to 7,267.40, after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by a quarter-percentage point, an unexpected move that signaled further tightening might be ahead. “We think that the RBA has done more than enough and we have reached the peak in rates. Continuing to raise rates from here adds to the rising risk of plunging the economy into a recession,” said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP in Sydney. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.9% to 2,524.39. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng...

Kenyan police clash with anti-government protesters

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya clashed with anti-government protesters in the capital, Nairobi, in a fresh round of demonstrations called by the opposition leader.Protesters who turned up early Tuesday morning to erect barricades on major roads around the city threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas. A bus was torched.Business was paralyzed in Kisumu County, an opposition stronghold, as police clashed with protesters.The opposition is calling for action to tackle the cost of living and reforms to the electoral commission that oversaw last year’s election that was won by President William Ruto.Opposition leader Raila Odinga rejected the government’s position that the Tuesday protests are illegal and urged his supporters to turn up in large numbers.Odinga said the protests will be peaceful. The police chief had banned the protests, citing previous violent protests that led to businesses being looted and Kenyans being robbed.Ruto on Monday warned opposition supporter...

Who will replace Tucker Carlson at Fox News? Here are some top contenders

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

(The Hill) - Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News, which means the network now has a massive hole to fill in its formidable prime-time lineup.It’s a high-profile job that promises to make whoever gets it more famous and powerful, and the network is buzzing a week after Carlson’s surprise exit over who might get the position.Here are some of the names most likely to be in the conversation.Jesse Watters Watters is the odds-on favorite to replace Carlson at 8 p.m.Waters, a star who has risen through the network’s ranks over the past several years, hosts a show in the hour preceding Carlson and is a leading panelist of the network’s top-rated debate show “The Five.” A sharp-tongued conservative who, like Carlson, has proven willing to attack Republicans and Democrats, Watters would be a consistent successor to the former Fox star, providing an audience with tested populist takes and quirky nonpolitical segments.The only downside to putting Watters at 8 p.m., from Fox’s point of v...

Hollywood writers go on strike, slam 'gig economy'

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:52:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Television and movie writers declared late Monday that they will launch a strike for the first time in 15 years, as Hollywood girded for a walkout with potentially widespread ramifications in a fight over fair pay in the streaming era.The Writers Guild of America said that its 11,500 unionized screenwriters will head to the picket lines on Tuesday. Negotiations between studios and the writers, which began in March, failed to reach a new contract before the writers’ current deal expired just after midnight, at 12:01 a.m. PDT Tuesday. All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members.The board of directors for the WGA, which includes both a West and an East branch, voted unanimously to call for a strike, effective at the stroke of midnight. Writers, they said, are facing an “existential crisis.” Hollywood writers to go on strike Tuesday after negotiations fail “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workfor...