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US, EU allies scold Kosovo for escalating tensions with Serbia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

Europe’s largest economies and the U.S. slammed Kosovo for escalating tensions with Serbia after Pristina used force to secure access to municipal buildings in the north of the Balkan country near the Serbian border.Police used tear gas in the town of Zvecan to disband a crowd of ethnic Serbs on Friday who were trying to block a newly elected Albanian mayor from entering his office building.The violence triggered an immediate backlash from Serbia, whose President Aleksandr Vučić placed his army on full combat alert and told military units to move closer to the border with Kosovo.Washington was quick to condemn Pristina for using violence and worsening relations with Serbia. Tensions between the two countries persist since the brutal Balkan war in the late 1990s after Kosovo’s bid to break away from Serbia. Kosovo secured its independence in 2008, but many Serbs in the northern regions of the country still see Belgrade as their home capital, complicating relations between t...

Soccer legend Briana Scurry offers words of encouragement to UMass Amherst grads

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

Hall of fame soccer player Briana Scurry returned to her alma mater University of Massachusetts Amherst to speak at graduation on Friday. She encouraged students to draw strength from life’s hardships.Scurry, a trailblazer for Black women in sports, retired from soccer due to concussions but has since advocated for concussion awareness. The goalkeeper is considered one of the first Black women and openly-gay professional women’s soccer players and appeared 173 times internationally for Team USA. Scurry received an honorary doctorate from UMass Amherst.

Fantastic Memorial Day Weekend forecast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

7Weather – We lucked out with a beautiful weekend to ring in the unofficial start to summer! It’ll be dry, sunny and warm – especially away from the coast line.High pressure is in control of our forecast. There’s an area of low pressure spinning to our south along the Carolina coast. That system is packing a punch bringing heavy rain, gusty wind, strong surf and rip currents to the southeast. That will stay to our south.Bright sunshine today with a light northwest wind. Temperatures inland rebound to the upper 70s/low 80s. Sea breezes will develop this afternoon so it will be cooler along the coast.A blanket on the sand will be better than getting in the water if you’re heading to the beach. Water temperatures are still around 55-60°, so it’s cold! Nice sailing weather with more of a breeze this afternoon.Tomorrow will be the warmest day of our Memorial Day Weekend. Warmer air above us, plenty of sun and a southwest breeze will boost temperatures ...

Mike Lupica: Even with all the hype over Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, this is still a Giants town

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

It is always worth noting, and remembering, that the Giants remain the big game in town when it comes to pro football and sometimes everything else. That means even when Aaron Rodgers is playing for the other team in town, even though “town” really means Jersey.There have been times, you bet, when the Giants have been the Other Team. But not many, and not for long. It was that way, of course, for the brief, shining moment of Joe Namath. And it felt that way when Rex Ryan got the Jets, and got them to two straight AFC championship games, as close as that all was to the Giants not letting the Patriots get to 19-0 that night in Glendale, Ariz.It’s also worth nothing, and remembering, that after the second Super Bowl win against the Patriots, the Giants showed that they could drive straight into a ditch as well as the Jets could. Then both of them felt like the Other Team, one dreary losing season after another.But all of that was before Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll arr...

Ukraine claims Russia is plotting ‘a provocation’ at nuclear plant, offers no evidence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed, without offering evidence, that Russia is plotting a “large-scale provocation” at a nuclear power plant it occupies in the southeast of the country with the aim of disrupting a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive. A statement released Friday by the intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces would strike the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, and then report a radioactive leak in order to trigger an international probe that would pause the hostilities and give the Russian forces the respite they need to regroup ahead of the counteroffensive. In order to make that happen, Russia “disrupted the rotation of personnel of the permanent monitoring mission” of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency that was scheduled for Saturday, the statement said. It didn’t offer evidence to back up any of the claims. The IAEA said in an emailed res...

Quebec toddler dies after falling into grain mixer in farm accident

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

SAINT-LIN-LAURENTIDES, Que. — Quebec provincial police say a two-year-old girl has died after falling into a grain mixer on a farm north of Montreal.They say the accident occurred Friday at a family farm in St-Lin-Laurentides, about 85 kilometres from the city. Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau says emergency services were called at about 3:30 p.m. after the child fell into an industrial mixer.The girl’s parents also intervened quickly but she had already died.The young victims relatives were transported to hospital to be treated for shock.Police are investigating the death as is the case when a child is involved, but authorities say there is no indication of negligence.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2023.The Canadian Press

Clashes between Senegal’s police and supporters of opposition leader leave one dead, others hurt

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Clashes between police and supporters of the opposition leader in Senegal left one person dead and several injured, friends of the victim told The Associated Press on Saturday. Aliou Bodian was killed Friday in the city of Kolda in the country’s south, said friend Boubacar Balde. “It’s a sad atmosphere that has overtaken the family,” he said. Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko had called on his supporters to follow him in a “freedom caravan” from his hometown of Ziguinchor, in the south and where he is the mayor, to the capital, Dakar — some 750 kilometers (465 miles) away — where a verdict is expected next week on the charges that he is facing. Sonko is being tried for rape and death threats against a woman working at a massage parlor, and could face up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, he would would be barred from running in next year’s presidential elections. Sonko did not attend the trial last week and was judged in absentia. He said he is prot...

Biden: Debt deal ‘very close’ even as two sides far apart on work requirements for food aid

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Work requirements for federal food aid recipients have emerged as a final sticking point in negotiations over the looming debt crisis, even as President Joe Biden said a deal is “very close.”Biden’s optimism, in comments to reporters as he left the White House on Friday evening, came as the deadline for a potentially catastrophic default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans over raising the debt ceiling into another frustrating week. House negotiators departed the Capitol after 2 a.m. Saturday without a deal. They were expected to return hours later in hopes of reaching agreement with the White House over the holiday weekend.Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to expand existing work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal that Democrats have strenuously opposed.Even as they came closer to a framework on spe...

Iran exchanges heavy gunfire with Taliban on Afghan border, escalating tensions over water rights

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, sharply escalating rising tensions between the two nations amid a dispute over water rights. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country’s deputy police chief, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire first Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. IRNA said Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious damage.” Taliban-controlled media in Afghanistan did not acknowledge the fighting. The advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues affecting the Baluch people in the predominately Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents in the area saying the fighting took place near the Kang district of Nimroz. It said some people in the area had fled the violence. Videos posted online, purportedly from the area, included the c...

Cracks emerging in Europe’s united front to battle climate change

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:39:23 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has been at the forefront of the fight against climate change and the protection of nature for years. But it now finds itself under pressure from within to pause new environmental efforts amid fears they will hurt the economy.With the next European Parliament elections set for 2024, some leaders and lawmakers are concerned about antagonizing workers and voters with new binding legislation and restrictive measures and are urging the 27-nation bloc to hit the brakes.Since Ursula von der Leyen took the helm of the powerful European Commission back in 2019, environmental policies have topped the EU agenda. EU nations have endorsed plans to become climate neutral by 2050 and adopted a wide range of measures, from reducing energy consumption to sharply cutting transport emissions and reforming the EU’s trading system for greenhouse gases.But cracks in the European united front against climate change have emerged in recent months. The first sign was earli...