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Russian official: Drone causes fire at Crimea oil reservoir

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A massive fire erupted at an oil reservoir in Crimea after it was hit by a drone, a Russia-appointed official there reported Saturday. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the Black Sea peninsula’s port city of Sevastopol, posted videos and photos of the blaze on his Telegram channel. Razvozhayev said the fire was assigned the highest ranking in terms of how complicated it will be to extinguish. He did not say whether the drone he cited as causing the fire was Ukrainian. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country is seeking to reclaim the peninsula during Russia’s current full-scale invasion. The incident comes a day after Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine, killing at least 23 people. Almost all of the victims died when two missiles slammed into an apartment building. Three children were am...

A veto and a switch: Kansas to see no big tax cuts this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — No big tax cuts are coming for Kansas residents even though the state treasury is bulging with surplus cash and the Democratic governor and top Republican lawmakers both said over and over that families need relief from inflation.Republican leaders went into the final days of the GOP-controlled Legislature’s annual session hoping to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill cutting taxes nearly $1.4 billion over the next three years. Instead, a Republican senator helped kill the GOP bill after voting for it the day before — and promptly lost his committee chairmanship.Legislators adjourned Friday night without overturning Kelly’s veto or passing another bill. The state now expects to have a surplus of nearly $2.6 billion at the end of June 2024, on top of $1.6 billion socked away in a separate rainy day fund, when annual tax collections are roughly $10 billion. “Everybody’s going to be frustrated — business owners, families, households,” ...

México se rinde ante Rosalía en concierto masivo; la española agradece el apoyo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO – Rosalía se mostró eufórica y agradecida este viernes en la Ciudad de México ante una plaza del Zócalo llena, donde tocó sin cobrar pese la polémica electoral que envolvió al concierto.“Esta ciudad es preciosa, estoy feliz de cantaros, de estar aquí. ‌Me siento realmente muy agradecida”, dijo la artista española entre canciones y encima del enorme escenario en el que fue uno de sus conciertos más multitudinario.Rosalía, conocida también como “Motomami” por el título de su más reciente disco, también recordó que México es uno de los países donde tiene seguidores más fieles desde los inicios de su carrera.“México, quiero que sepas que estoy muy agradecida del cariño que me habéis dado desde el inicio de mi carrera. Y que sepáis que hay mucha inspiración desde hace muchos años, estudié canciones como “La llorona”. A ver si cojo el tono…”, dijo la cantante de temas como “Con Altura” o “Bizcoc...

Bendicen la mampara que dará privacidad a Carlos III cuando sea ungido

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

LONDRES – La mampara de tela bordada con ángeles y un árbol dedicado a los países de la Commonwealth, tras la cual será ungido Carlos III antes de ser coronado, fue bendecida en la Capilla Real del Palacio de St James, anunció este viernes el Palacio de Buckingham.La bendición se produjo después de que Carlos y su esposa Camila, que también será coronada en la abadía de Westminster el 6 de mayo, visitaran la Real Escuela de Costura en Londres, que se ha ocupado de coser los adornos, señala en un comunicado.La pantalla de 2.6 por 2.2 metros (8.5 por 7.2 pies), montada sobre un marco de madera con postes coronados con águilas de bronce acabadas con pan de oro, pretende ofrecer privacidad al nuevo monarca cuando es ungido con aceite consagrado en las manos, pecho y frente por el arzobispo de Canterbury, primado de la Iglesia Anglicana.Posteriormente, Carlos III y Camila serán coronados ante los más de 2,000 invitados al servicio religioso en el templo londinense, antes de salir e...

Philippe Falardeau confronts rail industry with docuseries on Lac-Mégantic tragedy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

TORONTO — Quebec filmmaker Philippe Falardeau says that through the four-year process of making his new docuseries about the Lac-Mégantic trail derailment disaster he had to be talked down from abandoning the project more than once. “I often thought about quitting if I’m being honest, because maybe I’m a sponge…if someone is hurt I’m suffering,” said Falardeau. “It took a toll on me, but the people from Lac-Mégantic told me not to quit and my co-writers told me not to quit, and they were right.”Drawing on the harrowing first hand-accounts of victims as well as interviews with railway and town officials, “Lac-Mégantic — This Is Not an Accident” traces how the small town in eastern Quebec became the site of one of Canada’s worst rail disaster on July 6, 2013. The series is screening Saturday at Hot Docs festival in Toronto and will premiere Tuesday on Videotron’s French-language video-on-demand service Vrai.Members of the Lac-Mégantic community detail the decisions and con...

‘Phenomenal’ logjam in the Canadian Arctic stores millions of tonnes of carbon: study

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

YELLOWKNIFE — Researchers say they have mapped the world’s largest known cumulative logjam in the Canadian Arctic and it holds millions of tonnes of carbon, representing an important but understudied part of the carbon cycle. A study published in Geophysical Research Letters earlier this month describes how the scientists mapped almost 415,000 individual deposits of wood in the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories, with the pileup stretching nearly 52 square kilometres. The authors calculated the logs collectively store more than three million tonnes of carbon, equivalent to emissions from 2.5 million cars a year.The single largest deposit covers 112,600 square metres, or around 20 American football fields in area, and stores nearly 6,700 tonnes of carbon. “That’s the minimum,” said lead author Alicia Sendrowski, a research engineer with Michigan Technology University who led the study while working at Colorado State University. “(That) do...

TikTokers making six-figure incomes via app worried about potential ban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

VANCOUVER — Ssonia Ong had no idea that a 25-second video she posted miming to music the story of her college love, her wedding, then her four children would go viral on TikTok. Three years later, with 9.2 million followers, Ong isn’t sure what she would do without it. She is one of several Canadian “influencers” on the video-hosting service who depend on the app who are voicing their concerns about a growing call worldwide to ban TikTok over the possibility its Chinese owner may allow sensitive user data to be handed over to China’s government. Lawmakers from Canada, the United States, Europe, India, New Zealand and others have banned the app from government devices, despite assurances from the short-form video app’s owner, ByteDance, that the information would not be used by the Chinese government or promote pro-Beijing propaganda.Ong, who lives in Vancouver, said in an interview she understands that data security and safety concerns are important, bu...

Daily horoscope for April 29, 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

Moon Alert: Avoid shopping or important decisions from 6:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. EDT today (3:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. PDT). After that, the Moon moves from Leo into Virgo.Happy Birthday for Saturday, April 29, 2023:You are a loving, supportive and generous person. You are also private and guarded. You’re careful. Simplicity is the key to life this year. Take charge of your health. You will work hard to build something — an external structure or an internal one.ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★Today you might do something different at home, or you might challenge a family member in a new way because you’re feeling a bit cocky and you want to test the waters. Make sure you know what it is you’re trying to prove. Easy does it. Tonight: Relax.TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★This could be an accident-prone day if you’re not in charge of what you’re doing. Unusual impulses might encourage you to do something different. You want to break free of your daily routine in a ...

Amid global challenges, Kazakh President says his country’s freedom and independence are indestructible.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has celebrated both ethnic diversity and national unity in a major speech. He told the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan that “the independence and territorial integrity of our country are above all”, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.President Tokayev’s speech to the body that brings together all of Kazakhstan’s ethnic groups gave an insight into what gave him the confidence to press ahead with major constitutional reforms. He has carried out a political transformation in the aftermath of domestic unrest and in the midst of geopolitical upheaval.“The importance of protecting sovereignty and preserving national identity has increased for states”, he told the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan. He went on to stress that national civil identity does not reject ethnic characteristics. “Each ethnic group in Kazakhstan has had and will have the opportunity to develop its own traditions, culture, language”.Kazakhstan’s multiethnic makeup is a consequ...

Brussels must deliver for CEE farmers to reduce inequalities and preempt the populist wave

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:37 GMT

With the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal hanging in the balance amid Russia’s threats to pull out ahead of the 18 May extension deadline, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has set out his vision for its preservation in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, has poured cold water on breakthrough hopes, deeming progress towards meeting its agricultural export demands “not very noticeable,” after meeting with Guterres on 24 April.Concerningly, the deal’s potential collapse comes at a time when patience within the EU’s central and eastern European (CEE) countries is running out over the torrents of Ukrainian grain exports entering the bloc via its ‘solidarity lanes’ scheme, which has left local farmers in dire straits and fueled protests. Considering the region’s upcoming general elections and their farmers’ significant electoral weight, Brussels must seize the opportunity to adapt its often out-of-touch, unfair agri-food policies to...