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US intelligence assessment shows intentionally caused explosion crashed Wagner chief’s plane

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

By EMMA BURROWS and AAMER MADHANI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment has found that the plane crash presumed to have killed Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was intentionally caused by an explosion, according to U.S. and Western officials.One of the officials, who were not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the explosion falls in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “long history of trying to silence his critics.”The officials did not offer any details on what caused the explosion that was believed to have killed Prigozhin and several of his lieutenants to avenge a mutiny that challenged the Russian leader’s authority.Details of the U.S. assessment surfaced as Putin on Thursday expressed his condolences to the families of those who were reported to be aboard the jet and referred to “serious mistakes” by Prigozhin. The White House declined to comment.The ...

Quebec universities oppose suggestion by federal minister to cap student visas

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec university administrators, professors and students are rejecting an idea by the federal housing minister that Canada could cap the number of international study permits it issues as a way to ease the country’s housing shortage. They say that limiting the number of international students will do little to address the housing crunch and would instead hurt university research and deprive Quebec of skilled immigrants.Daniel Jutras, the rector of Université de Montréal, says Canada’s housing crisis is not the result of the rise in international students to the country.“The (housing) problem is real, the problem is serious, but it’s a problem that’s been developing over the past two decades as a result of structural issues that I think are not related directly to the influx of international students,” Jutras said.On Monday, federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser suggested that capping the explosive growth in the number of international s...

North Carolina governor to veto election bill, sparking override showdown with GOP supermajority

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Thursday that he would veto a sweeping Republican elections bill that would end a grace period for voting by mail and make new allowances for partisan poll observers.In a video message, the Democratic governor accused legislative Republicans of using their slim veto-proof majorities to execute “an all-out assault on the right to vote,” which he said has nothing to do with election security and everything to do with their party keeping and gaining power. The bill would make voting more difficult for young and nonwhite voters who are are more likely to vote absentee and less likely to elect Republicans, he said.“They’re making it harder for you to vote, hoping that you won’t bother,” he said, urging North Carolinians to contact their representatives and demand they uphold his veto.Cooper, who is term-limited and cannot run for reelection in 2024, successfully blocked several components of the bill during past sessions. But ...

REVIEW: Golda depicts a world leader in a terrifying crisis

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

Israel is a very young nation, it was formed less than a century ago. It’s been part of many conflicts in the Middle East, but from an Israeli perspective one of the most important was the Yom Kippur War. Israel was surrounded by a coalition between Egypt and Syria, and there was brutal conflict between the three nations for 19 days. It became a defining moment for the nation, as it ended with both Egypt and Syria recognizing the official statehood of Israel, as well as becoming an attempt at beginning the process of peace for Palestinians and Israelis.Helen Mirren and Liev Schreiber as Prime Minister Golda Meir and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Golda, courtesy of Elevation Pictures.Golda is a film that depicts this brutal conflict through the perspective of one of its most important players, Israel’s first and only female Prime Minister Golda Meir (played by Helen Mirren from the Queen). The film depicts both her experiences during the war, including her initial...

New York Police: Sergeant suspended after throwing object at fleeing motorcyclist who crashed, died

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A man fleeing a New York City drug bust crashed his motorcycle and died Wednesday after a police sergeant threw an object at him in an attempt to stop him, police said.The sergeant, Erik Duran, was suspended without pay following the man’s death in the University Heights section of the Bronx, police said.New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which has jurisdiction to probe deaths involving police, is investigating. The NYPD said it is cooperating.“The NYPD is committed to ensuring that there will be a full, thorough, and transparent investigation of this incident to determine the facts and to take the appropriate steps forward,” the department said in a statement.A message seeking comment was left with Duran’s union.According to a preliminary report, the man lost control of his motorcycle, struck a parked vehicle and fell to the ground after Duran threw an object at him.Police didn’t identify the object. The Daily News, which first reported the...

Fran Drescher says actors strike she’s leading is an ‘inflection point’ that goes beyond Hollywood

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fran Drescher believes that the walkouts that have shut down Hollywood are about something much bigger than the actors union she leads, or the writers striking alongside them, or the entertainment industry.Drescher told The Associated Press the moment is about the entire world of work, and a larger stand against corporate leaders who value shareholders over the people who create their product.“At some point you have to say no more,” Drescher, the former “Nanny” star who is now president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, said in an interview at the union’s headquarters Wednesday. “I think that it’s taken on a bigger scope, it’s greater than the sum of its parts. I think it’s a conversation now about the culture of big business, and how it treats everybody up and down the ladder in the name of profit.”Drescher, 65, has been president of the actors guild since September of 2021, when she defeated “Stranger Things” a...

Judge orders new trial in 1993 murder, but discredits theory that prison escapee was the killer

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

A judge has ordered new trials for two men convicted of murdering a woman in 1993 inside her home near Buffalo, New York, but who have always maintained their innocence.Additional DNA analysis and the fact that the original prosecutors withheld evidence that could’ve helped the defense means the convictions of Brian Scott Lorenz and James Pugh should be overturned, the judge ruled Wednesday.However, Erie County state Supreme Court Justice Paul Wojtaszek did not credit a sensational claim made during a reexamination of the case: that the real killer was Richard Matt, a convicted murderer who escaped from an upstate New York prison in 2015 and was fatally shot by a federal agent.Deborah Meindl, 33-year-old a nursing student and mother of two, was stabbed dozens of times and strangled inside her home in Tonawanda.Her husband Donald Meindl, who had a $50,000 life insurance policy on his wife and who was carrying on a relationship with a 17-year-old employee at the Taco Bell he man...

Police arrest two men in suspected torching of British pub cherished for its lopsided walls

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Two men were arrested Thursday on suspicion of torching an historic British pub in central England that was famous for its lopsided walls and sagging foundation, police said.The suspects were being questioned by Staffordshire Police about the Aug. 5 blaze that gutted the 18th century Crooked House pub in the village of Himley, 110 miles (180 kilometers) northwest of London.Locals mourning the loss of the tavern, which had recently been sold, were doubly devastated when it’s charred skeletal remains were bulldozed two days later before the cause of the fire had been determined and before local authorities had granted permission to demolish it.Fans of the pub dubbed “Britain’s wonkiest” for its slumping foundation and sloping walls had hoped it would be restored and many are now pushing for it to be rebuilt brick by brick.A 66-year-old man from Dudley, and 33-year-old from Milton Keynes were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, police said.T...

Nigeria’s unemployment rate falls to 4.1%, using new methodology. Analysts say it’s an undercount

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s statistics agency on Thursday reported the country’s unemployment rate as 4.1%, the lowest in many years, but one analysts said was an undercount because of the agency’s new methodology.The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) now classifies the employed in Nigeria as those working for at least one hour a week, as against the 20-hour-a-week parameter it had been using.In its new labor force report, the bureau said about three in four working-age Nigerians aged at least 15 were employed in the first quarter of 2023.Analysts said the unemployment statistics with the updated methodology do not reflect the true number of jobless people in Africa’s most populous country, where many have lost their jobs as a result of surging inflation and where the government has struggled to create enough jobs.The true unemployment rate in Nigeria might be more than the 33% recorded in 2020 when the NBS last released the labor data, said Akintunde Ogunsola, an Abuja-...

India’s Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agree on efforts to de-escalate border tensions

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:00:52 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s prime minister and China’s leader agreed Thursday to intensify efforts to de-escalate tensions at the disputed border between them and bring home thousands of their troops deployed there, according to an official from India’s foreign ministry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of a Johannesburg summit where the BRICS bloc of developing economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — invited six other countries to join the group, including Saudi Arabia and Iran. ,India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told Indian reporters that Modi, in an impromptu meeting with Xi, highlighted India’s concerns about their unresolved border issues. The disputed boundary has led to a three-year standoff between tens of thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Ladakh area. A clash three years ago in the region killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese.Kwatra said the two leaders agreed to inten...