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Piastri is back at an Australian GP in a far different role

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Oscar Piastri is hoping his debut Formula One drive on home soil at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday will be more successful than the first time he stood on the grid in Melbourne.The first-season driver, who grew up in a nearby suburb to the Albert Park circuit, was chosen as a flag holder for Toro Rosso Ferrari driver Daniil Kyvat in Melbourne in 2016.But, to his disappointment, a chance to meet the Russian driver did not eventuate because Kyvat experienced electrical difficulties on the formation lap. “I was holding Daniil Kyvat’s flag and he broke down on the lap to the grid, so I never actually got to see him,” Piastri said. “(It will be) pretty special to have someone holding my flag this time.”The 21-year-old Piastri, who replaced popular compatriot Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren for the 2023 season, grew up a 15-minute drive from the circuit but has never driven a race around it. The track encircling a lake is in a sporting precinct and is surround...

Asia stocks mostly rise after Wall St rally, bank fears ease

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday following a rally on Wall Street as worries over banks following the collapses of several lenders in recent weeks receded. Forceful actions by regulators have helped to calm markets as investors have turned their focus to how central banks might adjust their interest rate policies to reflect persisting worries over how higher rates might affect lenders. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.5% to 27,740.58. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.0% to 7,122.30. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7% to 2,459.73. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4% to 20,266.96, while the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.6% to 3,259.64 after China’s new No. 2 leader, Premier Li Qiang, said the recovery from a long slowdown picked up pace in March. The economy showed “encouraging momentum of rebounding” in January and February, Li said at the Boao Forum for Asia, a gathering of businesspeople and politicians on the southern island of Hai...

Climate change helps breed springtime wildfires in Spain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In his more than a decade battling wildfires, firefighter Manuel Rubio had never seen a blaze like the one that raged for the past week in eastern Spain. Not this early in the year. The forest fire that that broke out last Thursday near the village of Villanueva de Viver surprised Rubio and fire experts by displaying an unusual ferocity for spring, when in previous years lower temperatures helped keep fires manageable. That doesn’t bode well for a country that led Europe in burned land during a record-hot 2022.“I was expecting a fire like the ones we normally see in March, which can consume 100, 200 hectares, not the more than 4,300 hectares (11,600 acres) that this one has burned,” Rubio, 39, told The Associated Press hours before going back into the fray. “We are dealing with weather conditions appropriate for the summer and have a fire that is behaving like a summertime fire.”The Mediterranean region is warming faster than the global average due to c...

China’s No. 2 leader says economy improved in March

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

BO’AO, China (AP) — China’s new No. 2 leader said Thursday its economic recovery improved in March and tried to reassure foreign companies the country is committed to opening to the world.Premier Li Qiang spoke before an international audience of businesspeople and politicians as the government tries to revive business and consumer confidence after anti-virus controls that isolated China were abruptly dropped in December.The economy showed “encouraging momentum of rebounding” in January and February, Li said at the Boao Forum for Asia on the southern island of Hainan. “The situation in March is even better,” Li said. He said consumption and investment picked up and “market expectations improved.”Chinese retail sales rose 3.5% over a year earlier in January and February, recovering from December’s 1.8% contraction, government data showed earlier. Spending on restaurants rose 9.2%. Growth in investment in real estate and other fixed assets accelerated to 5.5% from December’s 5.1...

Israel’s Palestinians mostly sit out democracy protests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

HAIFA, Israel (AP) — Amal Oraby is usually a fixture at street protests. But as tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated for months against a contentious government plan to overhaul the judiciary, Oraby is sitting this one out.An activist and lawyer, Oraby is one of the many Palestinian citizens of Israel who have stayed on the sidelines of some of the country’s largest and most sustained demonstrations — a glaring absence in a movement that says it aims to preserve the country’s democratic ideals.“I don’t see myself there,” Oraby said.As minorities long plagued by systemic discrimination, Palestinian Israelis have potentially the most to lose if the plan, which would likely weaken the judiciary’s independence, is implemented.But the community harbors a deep sense that the system is already rigged against it and always has been — and sees the demonstrations as an exclusively Jewish movement unwilling to include issues that matter to Palestinians and blind to the l...

Russian whose daughter drew anti-war picture gets two years jail

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

A Russian who was investigated by police after his daughter drew an anti-war picture at school was sentenced on Tuesday (28 March) to two years in a penal colony on charges of discrediting the armed forces.But the whereabouts of the convicted man, Alexei Moskalyov (pictured), were unclear. The court said in an official posting on VKontakte, similar to Facebook, that he had fled from house arrest.Moskalyov has been separated from his 13-year-old daughter Masha since he was placed under house arrest at the start of this month and she was moved to a children's home in their hometown of Yefremov, south of Moscow.The case has provoked an outcry among Russian human rights activists and sparked an online campaign to reunite father and daughter.Moskalyov's lawyer Vladimir Biliyenko said he had not seen his client since Monday and did not know whether Moskalyov had fled, as he had only the spokesperson's statement to go by."At the moment, to be honest, I'm in a state of shock," he said.He ad...

Clashes as French protesters rally against Macron's pension bill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

Police in Paris were confronted by black-clad groups that set fire to garbage containers and threw projectiles at them. They also charged at them and used teargas to disperse protestors against President Emmanuel Macron's deeply unpopular pension bill.On Tuesday (28 March), clashes broke out at rallies similar to those in Rennes, Bordeaux, and Toulouse. A bank branch was set on fire in Nantes.Although public anger has morphed into more anti-Macron sentiments, violence was much lower than last week. Rally attendees were generally peaceful.Live footage from BFM TV shows that one man was lying motionless on the ground following a Paris police officer's charge. The same footage went viral on social networks. The man was rescued by police who stopped to help him but didn't respond to a request to comment.The government refused to suspend and rethink the pension law, which raised retirement age by two years to 64. This angered labour leaders, who demanded that the government find a way to...

Southern California mother fights for her life after pursuit suspect crashes into her

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

A mother of three is fighting for her life after a suspected DUI driver crashed into her car during a police pursuit in South Los Angeles.Yolanda Reyna, 43, remains in a coma after she was violently struck by suspect Dashawn Sutton, 43, as he was speeding away from police on Feb. 16, 2023.Yolanda was on her way to a concert when her vehicle was hit near Main Street and Florence Avenue, leaving her unconscious and fighting for her life.Her family is devastated as they remain by their mother’s side, hoping she will wake up soon."I can never take her place but I am trying,” said Julisa Mercado Reyna, 25, the victim’s daughter. Julisa says she sits with her mother in the hospital every day while speaking to her and praying."I’m constantly just trying to stimulate her brain so she wakes up faster,” said Julisa. “It is heartbreaking. I want to hear my mom’s voice.”Yolanda Reyna in a family photo.Yolanda Reyna and her daughter Julisa as she remains in critical condition in the hospita...

Protesters claim Burbank school district mishandling allegations of sexual misconduct

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

Dozens gathered outside Burbank and John Burroughs High Schools Wednesday to call for changes in how the district handles sexual misconduct allegations.  The demonstrations comes on the heels of social media posts that have been critical of the district’s response to sexual assault accusations against staff members and other students.  “Personally, I’ve had sexual comments made at me. I’ve reported those. They do nothing,” Burroughs High School senior Geneva Gisella said.  Burbank resident Ani Chaglasian, with the group, Protect Kids Not Abusers, and an organizer of Wednesday's demonstration, told KTLA that dozens of students have reached out with their stories and have not been heard by officials at Burbank Unified School District.  “We have 78 students who have publicly reached out to us and written impact statements about how their stories have not been heard by either BUSD, Burroughs High School, Burbank High School," said Chaglasian.Former Burbank High School stu...

Antioch: Eight additional officers on leave for racist and homophobic texts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:27 GMT

ANTIOCH — As a grand jury continues to weigh potential criminal charges against at least eight Antioch police officers, an additional eight cops have been placed on leave for allegedly sending offensive text messages to each other, this news organization has learned.The officers, who have not been publicly named, were placed on leave this week for violating department policies by texting or receiving racist and homophobic messages, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The revelations are not criminal in nature but surfaced during the FBI’s investigation of other Antioch police officers suspected of a range of alleged crimes.Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe is expected to announce the personnel changes at a news conference set for 11 a.m. Thursday.The move comes as Antioch continues to grapple with police staffing levels, resulting in a controversy over a lengthy response time to crimes including commercial burglaries, and competing statements from City Hall ...