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Wagner is off the battlefield, Ukraine’s spy chief says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

The Wagner paramilitary group, now in disarray after an aborted mutiny forced its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin into exile in Belarus, will no longer fight in Ukraine, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence said Thursday.“Wagner will no longer participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine,” Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate, told Ukrainska Pravda, without providing details about how he had obtained that information.“And this is the most effective Russian unit, which was able to achieve success at any cost,” said Budanov. Under Prigozhin’s leadership, the Wagner Group has been been involved in some of the bloodiest fighting of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted for the first time that the Wagner Group was funded by the Kremlin, just days after facing the biggest threat to his rule in his 23 years in power.The private militia is now...

Supreme Court rules that colleges must stop considering the race of applicants for admission

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.The court’s conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”Justice Clarence Thomas, the nation’s second Black justice who had long called for an end to affirmative action, wrote separately that the decision “sees the universities’ admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their enterin...

The Worst-Case Scenario: An immersive survival experience at Balboa Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Put your survival skills and escape tactics to the test in this new immersive experience at Balboa Park. Based on the internationally acclaimed Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series, this interactive affair at the Fleet Science Center is intended to equip participants with essential skills for unexpected real-life scenarios.Called The Worst-Case Scenario, this experience includes mind-pending puzzles and thrilling challenges that will require those involved to work under pressure while using both logic and creativity. How the drying Salton Sea could be fending off California’s next ‘big one’ This family-friendly activity includes 13 challenges like jumping off a moving train to survive an avalanche and scaling a tricky ledge on a wall to escape a flood, among other things."Everyone has their own worse-case scenario, whether that's going to a meeting and speaking in front of a bunch of people or, you know, whether that's landing a plane without a pilot," says G...

In affirmative action and student loan cases, advocates fear losses for racial equality

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a Black student who was raised by a single mother, Makia Green believes she benefited from a program that gave preference to students of color from economically disadvantaged backgrounds when she was admitted over a decade ago to the University of Rochester.As a borrower who still owes just over $20,000 on her undergraduate student loans, she has been counting on President Joe Biden’s promised debt relief to wipe nearly all of that away.Now, the student loan cancellation plan could be dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions. Both policies disproportionately help Black students. To Green and many other people of color, the efforts to roll them back reflect a larger backlash to racial progress in higher education.“I feel like working people have been through enough — I have been through enough,” said Green, a community organizer. “From a pandemic, an uprising, a recession, the cost of livin...

Paris to shut down public transportation early in bid to avoid violence triggered by police shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

NANTERRE, France (AP) — The head of the Paris region said that bus and tram services will shut down early on Thursday evening, at 9 p.m., to safeguard transportation workers and passengers from urban violence triggered by a fatal police shooting. The official, Valerie Pecresse, tweeted: “Our transports are not targets for thugs and vandals!” She said the decision was taken together with the Paris police chief and Paris-region transport operators.France’s government says it would deploy 40,000 police officers and take a zero-tolerance approach in neighborhoods where buildings and vehicles were torched. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.France’s government vowed to restore order Thursday after two nights of urban violence triggered by the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old, announcing it would deploy tens of thousands more officers and crack down on neighborhoods where buildings and vehicles were torched. Ministers fanned out to areas scarred by the...

Sexual assault laws inspired by Larry Nassar’s abuse are signed by Michigan’s governor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Long-sought sexual assault measures in Michigan first introduced in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal will soon be implemented after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation Thursday. The package will create stricter punishments for sexual assault under the guise of medical treatment and will protect students who report it. It will also require the creation and distribution of comprehensive training materials for people who are required to report suspected child abuse and neglect. “These long overdue measures will protect and empower sexual assault survivors, prevent others from being victimized, and hold offenders accountable,” Angela Povilaitis, a lead prosecutor in the Nassar trials, said in a statement. Nassar, a former sports doctor, is serving decades in prison for convictions in state and federal courts. He admitted sexually assaulting athletes when he worked at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. Separately, Na...

3 charged in insider trading case related to taking ex-President Donald Trump’s media company public

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Three Florida men were arrested Thursday and charged with illegally making over $22 million by insider trading ahead of the public announcement that a special purpose acquisition corporation was going to take a media company owned by former President Donald Trump public.The charges were outlined in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.According to the indictment, the men were invited to invest in Digital World Acquisition Corp. and were provided confidential information that a potential target of DWAC and another acquisition corporation, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., was Trump Media & Technology Group.Authorities said the defendants bought millions of dollars of DWAC securities on the open market before news of the Trump media business was made public.After the public announcement, the men were accused of dumping their securities for a significant profit, according to the court papers.The men who were arrested were identified as Michael Shvart...

Quebec wildfires: Montreal fireworks festival cancels event over air quality concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

Montreal amusement park La Ronde has cancelled the first night of an international fireworks festival because of concerns over air quality stemming from forest fires in northern Quebec.La Ronde owner Six Flags Entertainment Corporation says it cancelled tonight’s show based on a recommendation from public health officials.The company says the date cannot be rescheduled but it hopes the next show, presented by Ukraine on July 6, will be able to proceed as planned. Environment Canada has issued a smog warning for the Montreal and Laval areas due to fine particulate matter from forest fires burning across northern Quebec.The department says the smog will continue for several days but conditions will be less severe than Sunday’s smog event.There are currently 108 fires burning in Quebec despite recent rain that has reduced the intensity of several of the blazes.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2023.The Canadian Press

Hiroshima peace park, Pearl Harbor memorial park forge sister park deal to promote peace

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor, two symbols of World War II animosity between Japan and the United States, are now promoting peace and friendship through a sister park arrangement.U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui signed a sister park agreement on Thursday for Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial of Hawaii.“Nobody can go to Pearl Harbor, and nobody can go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and enter the front door, walk out the exit door and be the same person,” Emanuel said at the signing ceremony at the American Embassy in Tokyo. “I think the hope here is that we inspire people from all over the United States and all over Japan to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial and to visit Pearl Harbor so they can learn the spirit of reconciliation,” Emanuel said.Under the sister park arrangement, the two parks will promote exchanges and share experiences in restoring historic structures and landscapes, the use of virtu...

Connecticut lawmaker is attacked after attending Muslim prayer service

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:50:00 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut state lawmaker was attacked as she left a Muslim prayer service, and a fellow worshiper chased and held the man until police arrived, authorities said.Rep. Mayram Khan was with her sister and her children Wednesday morning outside the XL Center, an arena in downtown Hartford, where they had attended the service, along with about 4,000 other people, marking Eid al-Adha, the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage by Muslims to Mecca.The man made obscene remarks, grabbed Khan, hit her and threw her to the ground, said Farhan Memon, the chair of the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She suffered minor cuts and bruises. Andrey Desmond, 30, of New Britain, was detained by another worshiper until police came. He was charged with assault, unlawful restraint, breach of peace and interfering with police. It isn’t yet clear whether he knew Khan was a legislator. Police said more charges could be filed.Desmond was being ...