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Putin meets with African leaders in Russia to discuss Ukraine peace plan, but no visible progress

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday met with a group of leaders of African countries who traveled to Russia on a self-styled “peace mission” the day after they went to Ukraine, but the meeting ended with no visible progress.The seven African leaders — the presidents of Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, as well as Egypt’s prime minister and top envoys from the Republic of Congo and Uganda — visited Ukraine on Friday to try to help end the nearly 16-month-old war. The African leaders then traveled to St. Petersburg on Saturday to meet with Putin who was attending Russia’s showpiece international economic forum. Details about the delegation’s proposals were thin.Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after the three-hour meeting that the Africans’ peace plan consisted of 10 elements, but “was not formulated on paper.” “The peace initiative proposed by African countries is very difficult to implement, difficult to compare positions,”...

Spain’s Socialists have won the Barcelona mayor’s office after getting help from conservative rivals

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists received an unexpected boost from its main rival in next month’s national election on Saturday when his party won the mayor’s office of Barcelona following a tight vote at city hall.Sánchez’s Socialists, or PSOE, took a beating in local and regional elections in May when the conservative Popular Party routed leftist mayors and regional chiefs in votes across the country.The situation in Barcelona, however, was different. A party in favor of the Catalonia region seceding from the rest of Spain won the most votes by a slim margin over the Socialists. That left the Popular Party, which polled poorly in Barcelona, with the dilemma of either letting separatists rule the Catalan capital or helping the Socialists — PP’s leading opponent nationally.Xavier Trias of the pro-independence Together for Catalonia party said that he arrived to Saturday’s investiture vote believing he had the support n...

All but one person injured in B.C. bus crash discharged from hospital

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — All but one of the 18 people injured after a bus carrying pipeline workers crashed north of Prince George, B.C., have been released from hospital. TC Energy, the company behind the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, says 30 people were aboard the bus when it crashed on Friday.It initially said 17 people were injured and brought to the hospital but corrected that number to 18 Friday night, adding 17 of them have since been discharged.Northern Health spokesperson Eryn Collins says all of the patients were assessed as being in “good or fair condition” when they arrived at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George.She says the last person remains in hospital under observation. Horizon North, which runs a number of camps for pipeline workers in northern B.C., said in a Facebook post that the bus was transporting the company’s employees to a work site when it crashed and it has begun an investigation into the cause of the incident.Thi...

Arkansas city honors enslaved man who fled to Canada and was later extradited

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — An enslaved man who fled Arkansas in 1841 seeking freedom in Canada, only to be forcibly returned to the U.S., has been honored with a historical marker and a new street sign in the city where he once labored.The unprecedented 1842 extradition of Nelson Hackett from Canada on a theft charge sparked an uproar in the British colony, which had long been viewed as a safe haven for escaped slaves. Months later, the British government enacted policies that “made similar extraditions extremely difficult,” according to the Nelson Hackett Project, a digital work of public scholarship helmed by the University of Arkansas Humanities Center. Canada never sent another fugitive from slavery back to the U.S., researchers said.A marker honoring Hackett and his impact was installed Friday in Fayetteville’s downtown square, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.Archibald Yell Boulevard is being renamed Nelson Hackett Boulevard, the newspaper reported, an esp...

Stones frontman Jagger, girlfriend have Florida house up for sale

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) — Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and his dancer girlfriend Melanie Hamrick have put their Florida home up for sale.A listing on realtor.com says the lakefront home with four bedrooms and 5.5 baths is listed at $3.499 million — and it looks like the Jagger connection is a key selling point.“You can’t always get what you want but this house is definitely what you need!” the listing overview says, quoting part of the famous Stones song written by Jagger and Keith Richards. “This magnificent, custom-built Rutenberg home in the premier gated community of The Lake Club was designed with privacy in mind.”Jagger and Hamrick bought the home in the Lakewood Ranch area east of Bradenton along the Gulf coast for a little over $1.9 million in October 2020. The property was registered to Hamrick and was chosen mainly because her family lives in the area. Its original purchase price was $1.2 million in 2010.The overview says the home covers more than 5,700 square fe...

Canadian Forces investigates sexual misconduct allegation against Snowbirds pilot

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — The Royal Canadian Air Force says it is investigating a sexual misconduct allegation against a Snowbirds pilot.The commanders of 1 and 2 Canadian Air Divisions issued a statement on Saturday saying the allegation has been made against a member of 431 Squadron, which is based in Moose Jaw, Sask., and the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service is investigating.Department of National Defence spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande says the member is a pilot with the aerial acrobatics team, but she notes no charges have been laid.Lamirande says the department isn’t releasing where or when the alleged misconduct occurred.The department’s news release says the person affected by the alleged misconduct is also a member of the military.It says the Snowbirds will perform air displays as an eight-aircraft team, instead of nine, for the foreseeable future.“The pilots do a number of training exercises before the show year begins,” Lamirande explained abo...

Thousands have protested against Serbia’s president and pledged to ‘radicalize’ gatherings

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters on Saturday staged marches in Belgrade and other Serbian cities against President Aleksandar Vucic, pledging to “radicalize” weeks of peaceful gatherings that have already shaken his populist rule.The demonstrators in Belgrade blocked the main highway that leads through the capital and chanted slogans for Vucic to resign, something that he has repeatedly rejected over the past seven weeks of protests.The protest initially erupted in response to two back-to-back mass shootings in early May that left 18 people dead and 20 others wounded, many of them pupils from a Belgrade elementary school.The protesters have been demanding the resignations of top Serbian security officials and the revoking of broadcasting licenses for pro-government media and tabloids that regularly air violent content and host crime figures and war criminals.The protesters consider that the state-controlled media is responsible for the culture ...

BCE cuts raise questions about future CTV news strategy, highlight tech pressures

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

TORONTO — The strain facing traditional TV news organizations is well-established but a swath of layoffs that cut several of CTV’s best-known news personalities was a surprise to many, including national reporter Joyce Napier.Until last week, Napier served as reporter and Ottawa bureau chief for “CTV National News,” but suddenly found herself jobless when parent BCE Inc. announced Wednesday it was shedding 1,300 positions throughout the company, consolidating media operations and closing foreign bureaus.The cuts raised immediate questions about how the strategy will affect the quality of news coverage and what’s in store for CTV’s flagship evening newscast.Reached in Toronto after the announcement, a pragmatic Napier said she’s “philosophical” about the end of a seven-year run with the media giant, which like many companies faces a prolonged advertising slump, fracturing audiences for traditional TV news and expanding tech rivals.While staff expected “a restructuring” wa...

Greek leader blasts critics of rescue effort for sunken migrant vessel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities continued to search Saturday for victims and survivors of a trawler that sank off the coast of Greece with as many as 750 migrants on board, as conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis blasted critics of the rescue operation.Naysayers, Mitsotakis said at a campaign stop in the town of Sparta, should turn their ire against traffickers he called “human scum.” The vessel sank on Wednesday.The Greek coast guard announced Saturday that one Greek Navy frigate and four other vessels were operating 47 nautical miles (54 miles; 87 kilometers) southwest of the town of Pylos in Greece’s southwest. Earlier, two helicopters from the navy and coast guard joined the operation, the coast guard said.The rescue operation is taking place in rough seas, with near gale-force winds, and in some of the Mediterranean Sea’s deepest waters. at over 5,000 meters (3 miles). To date, 104 survivors have been rescued and 78 bodies have been recovered. The trawler carried as ...

'Go Away Green': The color Disney paints things it doesn't want you to see at its parks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:11 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — You've seen this color even if you don't remember seeing it. That's actually its whole point for existing. The slightly gray, cool shade of green goes by many different names but is widely known as "Go Away Green."Over the years, guests of Disney's parks have noticed (or not noticed) the color on items like fencing, fire hydrants, pipes and trash receptacles. It can also be seen on non-park, business-type buildings that keep the "fun" places running. Thousands protest Dodgers’ Pride night event honoring LGBTQ+ ‘nun’ group "It's a grayish green that is designed to blend into its surroundings," explains one of the hosts of Lifetime's Design Spaces' TikTok channel. "The goal of this color is to cause objects to fade into your color spectrum so that your eye misses it completely."The "Go Away Green" paint color can be seen on the waste bins and light pole at Disneyland in California. The shade is also evident along the fencing and awning of the attraction in the background...