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Russia ‘largely stalled’ in Bakhmut, shifting focus, UK says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The top commander of Ukraine’s military said Saturday that his forces were pushing back against Russian troops in the long and grinding battle for the town of Bakhmut, and British military intelligence says Russia appears to be moving to a defensive strategy in eastern Ukraine.“The Bakhmut direction is the most difficult. Thanks to the titanic efforts of the defense forces, the situation is being stabilized,” Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in a post on Telegram giving a synopsis of a telephone call with Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, Britain’s chief of defense staff.The seven-month fight for Bakhmut, where Russian forces have closed in on three sides, is the longest battle of the war, with Russia deploying both regular soldiers and fighters of the mercenary Wagner Group. Russian forces must go through Bakhmut to push deeper into parts of the eastern Donbas region, though Western officials say the capture of the city would have limited impact on the course of th...

Mexican kid’s comic Xavier López, ‘Chabelo,’ dies at 88

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Xavier López, a Mexican children’s comic better known by his stage name “Chabelo,” has died at 88, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote Saturday. López’s best-known work, the Sunday variety show “En Familia con Chabelo”, ran for an astonishing 48 years from 1967 to 2015. The Mexican president wrote in his Twitter account that his own eldest son, José Ramón, “woke up early to see him (on television) more than 40 years ago.” López, who was no relation to the president, usually performed dressed in kid’s clothing well into his 80s. He helped found a genre of adult comics dressed as kids that became a staple for decades on Mexican television.His longevity — he performed in a child’s raspy squeak throughout his career — led to joking speculation he would outlive everyone else in show business. López’s agent, Jessica Nevilley, said he died Saturday morning, and that funeral plans would be announced later.A U.S. citizen — he was born in Chicago t...

Brazil’s Lula cancels trip to China because of pneumonia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has canceled his trip to China after contracting pneumonia, the presidential palace said on Saturday.Lula, 77, was admitted to a hospital in the capital of Brasilia with flu-like symptoms and was diagnosed with “bacterial and viral bronchopneumonia due to influenza A,” the palace said in a statement, quoting a medical note signed by Dr. Ana Helena Germoglio.The leftist leader’s health was reassessed on Saturday and, despite improvement, he was advised to “postpone the trip to China until the cycle of viral transmission ends,” the medical note said. His press office later confirmed that the trip had been canceled. Chinese authorities have been informed, “with the reiteration of the desire to schedule the visit on a new date,” the palace said.Lula had been expected to leave for China on a multi-day visit on Friday or Saturday, but the trip was pushed back on Friday.A delegation composed of ministers, senators, lawmaker...

Frank Leo officially installed as new Archbishop of Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

The largest archdiocese in Canada’s Catholic Church has a new man at the helm as of today.About 1,200 people attended the mass of installation for Frank Leo, who now serves as Archbishop of Toronto.The installation ceremony at St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica in downtown Toronto took place about six weeks after Pope Francis formally named Leo to the post.Leo succeeds Cardinal Thomas Collins, who offered his resignation on his 75th birthday in January 2022 in compliance with a rule stating all bishops must offer to step down when they reach that age.Leo was first named a Bishop in July 2022, making him one of Canada’s newest appointees to such a role, and he was installed as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Montreal two months later.He said his Toronto appointment came as a surprise, but a welcome one.“I look forward to giving the rest of my life as, as the spiritual leader here from a symbolic and spiritual perspective. When you become a bishop, you get a rin...

Two-thirds of Canadians favour speeding fines tied to driver’s income: poll

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

Two-thirds of Canadians asked say they would be in favour of a system which ties fines for speeding to the individual income of the offender. A poll conducted by Research Co. finds 65 per cent of Canadians support what’s known as “progressive punishment” for speeding tickets, a system that is already in place in Finland and Switzerland. Under the Finnish model, fines are based on the disposable income of the driver and how much the driver is over the speed limit. Support for such a system is highest in British Columbia and Quebec, with seven-in-10 in favour of it, while 63 per cent of Ontarians support “progressive punishment.” Not surprising, the poll found that those in the highest income bracket were against the measure. “Opposition to this course of action among Canadians who live in households earning more than $100,000 a year reaches 34 per cent, 10 points higher than the national average,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co....

Emil Bocek, last Czech RAF pilot during WWII, dies at 100

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Emil Bocek, the last living Czech pilot who fought the Nazis while serving with Britain’s Royal Air Force during World War II, has died at age 100.A community center for war veterans in the Czech Republic city of Brno, his hometown, said Bocek died on Saturday. The Czech Defense Ministry confirmed his death. No further details were given. “General Bocek was fighting for our country to be democratic, free and independent,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala said.Born Feb 25, 1923, Bocek fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 at age 16 following the country’s occupation by Germany.He fought the Nazis in France and then moved to Britain, where he served as a technician in the air force’s No. 312 Squadron before joining the RAF’s No. 310 Squadron as a pilot in 1944. Both fighter squadrons had Czechoslovak pilots.“A Spitfire … it was a carriage,” Bocek told Czech public radio about the iconic British combat aircraft in 2016. “An unbelievable plane, a perfect plane.”Bocek made...

UN nuclear watchdog says missing Libya uranium found

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — U.N. inspectors visiting southern Libya found drums containing natural uranium reported missing earlier this month in the chaos-stricken country, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Saturday.The International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier this month that some 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored at a site in the southern town of Sabha had gone missing. Forces of the Libyan commander Khalifa Hifter said they found the missing material close to the storage site.In a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday, the Vienna-based agency said U.N. inspectors visited the area on March 21 and saw the material being transferred to the storage site.U.N. inspectors found that a “relatively small amount of UOC (Uranium ore concentrate) was still unaccounted for,” it said.The IAEA said, however, there was no immediate radiological risk at the location.The statement said investigations were still underway on the matter including reconciling the quantities of natural uranium at the sit...

'There's nothing left': Mississippi tornadoes kill 23

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — A powerful tornado cut a devastating path of at least 170 miles (274 kilometers) through parts of the Deep South on Friday night, killing at least 23 people in Mississippi and obliterating dozens of buildings as it stayed on the ground for more than an hour. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in a Twitter post that search and rescue teams from local and state agencies were deployed to help victims impacted by the tornadoes. The agency confirmed early Saturday that 23 people had died, four were missing and dozens were injured. A few minutes later, the agency warned the casualty toll could go higher, tweeting: “Unfortunately, these numbers are expected to change.”Throughout Saturday morning, people walked around dazed and in shock as they broke through debris and fallen trees with chain saws, searching for survivors. Power lines were pinned under decades-old oaks, their roots torn from the ground. Wonder Bolden was holding her granddaughter, Jo...

Explosion at Pennsylvania chocolate plant leaves multiple people dead, several others missing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT

WEST READING, Pa. (AP) — An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed two people and left five people missing, authorities said. One person was pulled from the rubble overnight.Rescue crews using dogs and imaging equipment continued to search through the rubble Saturday — hours after the blast that erupted just before 5 p.m. Friday at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in the borough of West Reading, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.West Reading officials said Saturday they could confirm only two fatalities. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency had earlier said there were five fatalities, citing county emergency management officials, but after an update from the county also indicated that two had died and five were missing. 2 Illinois teens die in Colorado sledding accident Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the rescue of one person from the rubble “provides hope that others still may be found.” Rescue workers were continuing a thoroug...

Prioritizing Africa’s Debt For Cancellation Is A Humanitarian Issue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:39:41 GMT