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Inside Russia’s penal colonies: A look at life for political prisoners caught in Putin’s crackdowns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Alexei Navalny turns 47 on Sunday, he’ll wake up in a bare concrete cell with hardly any natural light.He won’t be able to see or talk to any of his loved ones. Phone calls and visits are banned for those in “punishment isolation” cells, a 2-by-3-meter (6 1/2-by-10-foot) space. Guards usually blast patriotic songs and speeches by President Vladimir Putin at him.“Guess who is the champion of listening to Putin’s speeches? Who listens to them for hours and falls asleep to them?” Navalny said recently in a typically sardonic social media post via his attorneys from Penal Colony No. 6 in the Vladimir region east of Moscow.He is serving a nine-year term due to end in 2030 on charges widely seen as trumped up, and is facing another trial on new charges that could keep him locked up for another two decades. Rallies have been called for Sunday in Russia to support him.Navalny has become Russia’s most famous political prisoner — and not just because o...

Weekend Gardening with Tim Joyce: Transplanting, invasive garlic mustard and more

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

Check out today's weekend gardening with Tim Joyce for tips on transplanting, invasive garlic mustard and more.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

Hundreds dead in India train crash, the nation's worst rail disaster in decades

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

BALASORE, India (AP) — Rescuers found no more survivors in the overturned and mangled wreckage of two passenger trains that derailed in eastern India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds in one of the country's deadliest rail crashes in decades, officials said Saturday.Chaotic scenes erupted after the derailment on Friday night about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata, as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches.The death toll rose steadily throughout the night. Scores of bodies, covered by white sheets, lay on the ground near the tracks while locals and rescuers raced to free the hundreds of people trapped in the rail cars under the twisted metal and broken glass. Army soldiers and air force helicopters joined the effort.An Associated Press photographer saw bodies still entangled in a badly mangled coach, as rescuers struggled to retrieve them working under the oppressive heat with temperatures reachi...

Do airline gate agents have an incentive to say your bag is too big?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – It can be infuriating to score a cheap flight, then watch the savings melt away thanks to a carry-on baggage fee – but do airline gate agents have an incentive to charge you?In the case of at least one U.S. airline, the answer is yes. In the wake of multiple TikTok videos claiming that customers were forced to pay fees despite having items that fit in the personal baggage checker, Frontier confirmed to Nexstar in a statement that agents do receive a commission, but only to incentivize team members "to ensure compliance with the bag size requirements to ensure all customers are treated fairly, including the majority who comply with the rules.”Frontier, like other low-cost airlines, offers ticket prices that are often substantially lower than other airlines but makes up that money with limited amenities and fees for anything other than a personal item.As for the strict carry-on policies of low-cost airlines, some see them as a good thing. "Good for Frontier! I wish all air...

ATCEMS: 1 taken to the hospital with serious injuries after vehicle rescue in east Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin-Travis County EMS responded to a vehicle rescue call early Saturday morning in east Austin.Officials said the incident occurred near the 200-240 blocks of Bastrop Highway at 2:19 a.m.Medics took an adult patient from this incident as a Trauma Alert. ATCEMS said the patient has serious injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening.As of 3 a.m., ATCEMS said it was no longer on the scene, and no other information was available.

Pride Month 2023: Ways to celebrate in Central Texas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- In the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village, and aggressively pulled members of the LGBTQ+ out of their safe haven and into the streets. It was not uncommon for police at this time to raid bars where lesbians and gay men were known to visit, but on this night, some decided to fight back. LGBTQ+ people had been protesting before this event, but the Stonewall uprising -- as it would later be known -- took the gay rights movement from the fringes to the mainstream, per the Library of Congress. One year after the riot in 1970, the first-ever Pride march was held in New York City. 53 years after the Stonewall riots, LGBTQ+ people around the world continue to celebrate how far they have come and acknowledge that the fight for LGBTQ+ rights is far from over. Though Austin's "official" Pride celebration isn't until August, there are several events, some for all ages and others for adults, being held across Centra...

Woodbury residents lawn watering restricted to two days a week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

Woodbury has announced that residents may now water their lawns only two days a week.Restrictions on watering were lifted in late April, according to the city’s website.According to the city, residents can water their lawns once during the week and once on the weekend. Commercial properties can water on Friday. Residents can enter their address into the interactive irrigation zone map to find out their designated watering days.Lawn watering is prohibited between noon and 5 p.m. each day.The city already had the two day restrictions in place for emergencies, such as when there was a drought warning in 2021.“The city estimates that implementation of the policy reduced water use by at least 120 million gallons between when the elevated restrictions were implemented” from July to September that year.“This change is simply the right thing to do and now is the right time,” explained Mayor Anne Burt. “Residents and irrigation system management companies should reprogram t...

A study on the repression of political dissent in Lebanon: The Omar Harfouch case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

The Security and Intelligence European Center affiliated with the European Union has prepared a detailed report on the leader of the Third Lebanese Republic initiative, Omar Harfouch, and what the latter is facing from the attempts of the Lebanese system to undermine him and prevent him from completing his project to fight corruption. The report stated that on March 29, Harfouch attended a conference in the European Parliament on the topic of "fighting terrorism," where Mr. Harfouch spoke briefly for about three minutes about the issue of corruption in Lebanon. In the days that followed, he was violently attacked in Beirut by some media, Hezbollah, and the Lebanese authorities, who accused him of "contacting an enemy state" (Israel). The daily newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is reputed to be close to Hezbollah, was particularly fierce against it. Then the military justice system opened proceedings against Omar Harfouch on charges of "treason", and later an arrest warrant was issued for h...

Amazon truck crash on 210 Freeway in Monrovia hospitalizes 2; packages possibly stolen 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

Hundreds of packages were scattered on and around the 210 Freeway in Monrovia after an Amazon semi-truck crashed into a side wall. According to CHP, the crash occurred around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning on the westbound side of the 210 Freeway at Myrtle Avenue. The female driver of the Amazon truck was ejected into the carpool lane because of the crash, and the debris in the lanes caused two other vehicles to collide into each other. The truck driver was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition, with the other drivers’ conditions unknown. Video shows the side wall of the freeway demolished with hundreds of packages and large chunks of debris scattered down the hillside towards homes on Evergreen Avenue. According to CHP, the crash occurred around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning on the westbound side of the 210 Freeway at Myrtle Avenue. Hundreds of packages were scattered on the 210 Freeway in Monrovia after an Amazon semi-truck crashed into a si...

Amsterdam-style cannabis ‘coffee shops’ could be coming to California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:18 GMT

A bill that would allow local governments across the State of California to license Amsterdam-style cannabis "coffee shops" has been passed in the State Assembly. The bill, AB 374, which was proposed by Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, passed with broad bipartisan support, receiving a 64 to 9 vote."Cannabis cafes in the Netherlands capitalize on the social experience of cannabis by offering coffee, food, and live music, all of those opportunities are currently illegal under California law," read a press release from Haney's office. "AB 374 will allow struggling cannabis businesses to diversity away from the marijuana-only 'dispensary' model and bring much-needed tourist dollars into empty downtowns."“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” said Haney. “And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a scone, or listening to music. There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health, or safety standpoint that the state sho...