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Putin gives his account of post-mutiny Prigozhin meeting, insists ‘PMC Wagner does not exist’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given his own account of a June 29 meeting with Wagner mutineer Yevgeny Prigozhin and his men in the Kremlin after the paramilitary group’s aborted mutiny, claiming he gave the fighters an opportunity to continue fighting in Ukraine. Speaking to a reporter from Russia’s state-controlled Kommersant newspaper on Thursday, Putin said 35 Wagner fighters accompanied Prigozhin to the three-hour meeting in the Kremlin last month. The Russian president said he offered Wagner troops several options, including continuing to operate under the command of someone he identified by the call sign “Sedoy,” meaning “Gray-haired,” whom they had served under for 16 months. “All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve,” Putin said, “and nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who has been their real commander all this time.” “Many people nodded...

3 takeaways from the Chicago White Sox’s 2023 MLB draft, including how Downers Grove North’s George Wolkow stood out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

The 2023 Major League Baseball draft for the Chicago White Sox included players spanning the globe from Downers Grove to Pineuilh, France and Osaka, Japan.The Sox selected 10 pitchers (seven right-handers and three left-handers), five infielders, three outfielders and two catchers.Sox director of amateur scouting Mike Shirley mentioned the “security of some of the skills of some of the guys we drafted on the first day” as a highlight while talking with reporters in a conference call Tuesday.Here are three takeaways from the three-day draft.1. The Sox were thrilled to get Jacob Gonzalez at No. 15.Jacob Gonzalez is from Glendora, Calif., and grew up rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers.Gonzalez said he’s visited Camelback Ranch — the spring training home in Glendale, Ariz., for both the Dodgers and Sox — “my whole life.”That was his most immediate connection with the Sox until Sunday when they selected the Mississippi shortstop with the No. 15 ...

China executes kindergarten teacher who poisoned 25 of her students, killing 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

A court in central China said on Friday a Chinese kindergarten teacher who poisoned 25 of her students, killing one, has been executed. A notice posted outside the No. 1 Intermediate Court in the Henan province city of Jiaozuo said Wang Yun’s sentence had been carried out on Thursday. Wang, 40, was convicted of putting toxic sodium nitrite in porridge served to children at Mengmeng Pre-school Education on March 27, 2019, following an argument with a colleague identified only by the surname Sun over “student management.” While other students recovered fairly quickly, one student, identified only by the surname Wang, died from multiple organ failure after 10 months of treatment, the notice said. A high-school dropout, Wang had previously poisoned her husband with the same substance bought online two years ago. He survived with mild injuries. While Wang’s motivation was presented as revenge, it wasn’t clear if she had intended to kill or merely sicken her husband and the st...

Striking actors will begin picketing alongside writers in fight over the future of Hollywood

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Striking screen actors will begin picketing alongside writers in New York and Los Angeles on Friday in what has become the biggest Hollywood labor fight in decades.The double-barreled strike will shut down the small number of productions that continued shooting in the two months since screenwriters stopped working. Many actors made a show of solidarity on the writers’ picket lines, including Fran Drescher, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists president and former star of “The Nanny.” The union’s 65,000-member actors’ branch will now formally join them as fellow strikers.The two guilds have similar issues with studios and streaming services. They are concerned about contracts keeping up with inflation, residual payments in the streaming era and putting up guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence mimicking their work on film and television shows. The famous faces of Oscar and Emmy winners will lik...

BC Wildfire Service crew member dies near Revelstoke while responding to wildfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

VICTORIA — The B.C. government is confirming the death of a firefighter who was responding to a wildfire near Revelstoke.A statement from Premier David Eby issued late Thursday offers his condolences.Calling it a “tremendous loss for everyone involved with the BC Wildfire Service at an already challenging time,” the statement goes on to say the tragedy serves as a heartbreaking reminder that firefighters are often putting their lives on the line to keep people and communities safe.The statement offers condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the unidentified crew member on behalf of all British Columbians.The death comes as the province puts out a call for national and international help to fight the 350 or so fires burning across B.C.Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma says the province has requested 1,000 additional foreign firefighters to join 160 from Mexico and the United States already in B.C., as well as more federal resources...

Central Asia, a large region of nearly 80 million people, is at a crossroads surrounded by significant opportunities as well as risks.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development projects that the economies of the five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – will grow by at least 5.2 % on average in 2023 and 5.4 % in 2024. This trajectory has been in place for two decades, which is undoubtedly welcome news.Over the past 20 years, Central Asian countries’ GDP has grown more than sevenfold at an average rate of 6.2%, which is faster than in most developing countries and more than twice as fast as the world as a whole.The region is also taking full advantage of its transit potential. The total foreign trade turnover of the Central Asian states over the last six years has exceeded $200 billion. Last year, Kazakhstan’s trade turnover broke a historical record, reaching $134.4 billion, exceeding the pre-pandemic level of $97.8 billion in 2019. Mutual trade between Central Asian countries is growing even faster than their total foreign trade.Despite these posit...

India busca conquistar la Luna con su histórica misión Chandrayaan-3

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

(CNN) — India aspira a convertirse en el cuarto país en realizar un aterrizaje controlado en la Luna con el lanzamiento de su misión Chandrayaan-3 previsto para este viernes.Se espera que Chandrayaan, que significa “vehículo lunar” en sánscrito, despegue del Centro Espacial Satish Dhawan en Sriharikota, en el estado sureño de Andhra Pradesh, a las 2:30 p.m. hora local (5 a.m. hora de Miami).Es el segundo intento de India de realizar un aterrizaje suave, después de que fracasara su anterior esfuerzo con el Chandrayaan-2 en 2019. Su primera sonda lunar, la Chandrayaan-1, orbitó la Luna y luego se estrelló deliberadamente en la superficie lunar en 2008.Chandrayaan-3, desarrollada por la Organización de Investigación Espacial de la India (ISRO), consta de un módulo de aterrizaje, un módulo de propulsión y un vehículo explorador. Su objetivo es aterrizar con seguridad en la superficie lunar, recoger datos y realizar una serie de experimentos científicos para conocer mej...

89-year-old woman reported missing in Little Havana found safe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

Police have found an elderly woman who was reported missing in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.According to City of Miami Police, 89-year-old Gilse Sanchez Ramos was located at a nearby hospital. Officials wanted to thank all who assisted in her search.

‘Hour of the patriots has arrived.’ Meloni urges far-right allies in Spain to help her change the EU

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

MADRID — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backed Spain’s far-right Vox party on Thursday night, telling its hard-liners that their success in Spain’s July 23 elections would usher in “a change in the politics of Europe.”“It is crucial that a conservative, patriotic alternative be established,” Meloni said during a televised appearance at a Vox rally in Valencia. “Europe needs to become aware of its role and influence again to be a political giant instead of a bureaucratic one.”The Italian prime minister spoke at length about her government’s achievements and said that while many had tried to “isolate” her, she had strengthened her country’s position in Europe by firmly backing Ukraine and pitching Italy as an alternative gas hub amid the bloc’s energy crisis. “Now we are preparing to chair the G7 in 2024,” she added.Meloni also trumpeted her country’s tough migration policies, w...

WHO: Aspartame safe to consume despite weak cancer link

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:48:24 GMT

The common artificial sweetener aspartame is safe to consume despite some weak evidence linking it to a common type of liver cancer, according to two separate reports previewed by World Health Organization (WHO)-affiliated researchers on Friday.Aspartame is commonly used to replace sugar in food and drink products such as diet soda or chewing gum.Both assessments, one of which found there were no new health risk linked to aspartame and the other found a possible cancer link, are based on reviews of existing scientific literature and don’t include new research. The WHO only presented the summaries of the reports, with the full evaluations to be published within six months, the health authority said.While the WHO reiterated that the sweetener is safe, the organization’s head of food safety department said quantity was key.“We’re not advising companies to withdraw products nor we are advising consumers to stop consuming altogether. We’re just advising for ...