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Ukraine orders evacuations from liberated city, as Russians creep closer again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

(CNN) — The artillery fire gets worse at night, so Liuba and her husband hold hands. It keeps them safe, she says with a sad nod of her head. She’s standing in what’s left of her garden after it was hit during a particularly bad night a month ago.The shelling destroyed their neighbor’s home, throwing Liuba and her husband to the floor of their kitchen. Serhei, she says, landed with the fridge on top of him, thankfully more shaken than physically injured. Still, they will not go.“This is our home,” Liuba told CNN. “Not the Russians’. Besides it’s getting warmer and with the rainwater we collect from buckets, we will survive.”Liuba and Serhei, who gave only their first names for security reasons, are among the last remaining 2,500 residents of Kupiansk, a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region from which the front line has never strayed too far and to which the Ukrainian authorities fear it may be retur...

Guregian: Taking a closer look at the Patriots re-signing Jonathan Jones

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

With the legal tampering period opening Monday, the Patriots didn’t have the most exciting first day, but they did make a few good moves.Being able to unload disappointing tight end Jonnu Smith and his bloated contract was huge. It’ll be even better if the Patriots turn that cap space into landing a more impactful player in the days and weeks to come, be it in free agency, the draft or via trade.Re-signing defensive back Jonathan Jones was another plus on several fronts. Granted, there was no major splash, but there’s still time for the Patriots to upgrade the roster with much-needed talent.Being in wait-and-see mode isn’t much fun, but it’s way too early to make any sweeping conclusions about what the Patriots did, or didn’t do after just one day.So let’s take a closer look at one of the early moves that should help the cause going forward.Re-signing Jones on a two-year deal worth a maximum of $20 million, with $13 million guaranteed spoke volumes.For the Patriots to lock up Jones ...

Analysis: Is the play-in tournament still realistic for the Magic?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

When it comes to trying to qualify for the NBA’s play-in tournament, the Orlando Magic have been caught in a holding pattern.The Magic (28-40) enter Tuesday’s matchup at San Antonio (17-50) at 13th in the Eastern Conference standings — a spot they’ve been stuck at since the beginning of 2023. Having missed out on opportunities to close the gap is part of the reason they’re multiple games back in the play-in race.Seeds 7-10 in each conference compete in the play-in tournament for the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds in the playoffs.Entering Jan. 1, the Magic were 13-24 and:4½ games behind Atlanta for the No. 9 spot3½ games behind Chicago for No. 103½ games behind Toronto for No. 113 games behind Washington for No. 12.At the All-Star break, they were 24-35 and:4½ games behind Washington for No. 94 games behind Toronto for No. 102 games behind Chicago for No. 111½ games behind Indiana for No. 12.Tuesday they were:4 games behind Toronto for No. 9...

Orioles’ and Nationals’ attorneys will argue in critical MASN appeal in New York; $100 million waits in escrow

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

While the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals play separate spring training exhibition games Tuesday, their attorneys will face off in a pivotal financial dispute worth more than either team’s 2023 payroll.More than 1,000 miles north of the teams’ training camps in Florida, the New York Court of Appeals — the highest in that state — will hear arguments in the most recent installment of a yearslong dispute over what the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) owes the Nationals for television rights fees.At the crux of Tuesday afternoon’s arguments will be the idea of a fair arbitration. Hanging in the balance — or waiting in escrow, rather — is $100 million.MASN, the regional sports network, has aired both Orioles’ and Nationals’ games since 2005. It’s co-owned by the two clubs, with the Orioles controlling a majority stake. More than a decade ago — in late 2011 — the teams could not agree on how much in TV ri...

China says AUKUS on ‘dangerous path’ with nuclear subs deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom are traveling “further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest,” China’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, responding to an agreement under which Australia will purchase nuclear-powered attack submarines from the U.S. to modernize its fleet. Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the arrangement, given the acronym AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States — arises from the “typical Cold War mentality which will only motivate an arms race, damage the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, and harm regional stability and peace.” “The latest joint statement issued by the U.S., U.K., and Australia shows that the three countries have gone further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest, completely ignoring the concerns of the international community,” Wang told reporters at a daily briefing. U.S. President Joe Biden flew to...

Biden expected to sign new executive order on gun control

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday aiming to increase the number of background checks to buy guns, promote better and more secure firearms storage and ensure U.S. law enforcement agencies are getting the most out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer. The Democratic president plans to unveil his latest efforts at curbing gun violence in a speech from Monterey Park, California, said a senior White House official, who discussed the order ahead of its signing on the condition of anonymity. In January, a gunman stormed a dance hall in the community near Los Angeles and shot 20 people, killing 11, following a Lunar New Year celebration. Biden’s rhetoric has only grown stronger around guns — he calls for banning so-called assault weapons routinely in his speeches — and Democrats didn’t push such a vocal anti-gun platform even during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president. But Biden has been emboldened by th...

Biden seeks to show stability in bid to avert banking chaos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2016, Vice President Joe Biden warned against efforts to unravel banking regulations that Democrats had fought to implement following the nation’s financial crisis, just as the emerging Trump administration was determined to loosen those strict banking rules.Biden argued that without the far-reaching 2010 banking overhaul known as Dodd-Frank, financial institutions would continue to gamble with consumers’ cash and ultimately hurt the middle class. “We can’t go back to the days when financial companies take massive risks with the knowledge that a taxpayer bailout is around the corner when they fail,” Biden said in a speech at Georgetown University in the waning days of the Obama administration. Now there’s a banking crisis on his watch as president, and Biden is moving aggressively to assure the public that it is contained, bank executives will be fired, deposits are safe and taxpayers aren’t on the hook — measures also designed to calm jittery ...

Army, resistance trade accusations over Myanmar killings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has denied reports of a new mass killing of civilians by its troops, instead blaming pro-democracy resistance groups for the deaths of more than 20 people, including three Buddhist monks and a woman.Members of armed resistance groups opposed to the military government have said the bodies of 22 people were found late Saturday in the compound of the Buddhist monastery in Nam Nein village, in the southern part of Shan State in eastern Myanmar. They blamed the army for the deaths.No independent witnesses have emerged. The military government’s tight restrictions on travel and information make it virtually impossible to verify details of such incidents.The village is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of the capital, Naypyitaw. The area is part of the Self-Administered Zone of the Pa-O ethnic minority. It is governed by the Pa-O National Organization, or PNO, which is allied with the military government. Other Pa-O support the resistan...

One woman dead after fire in Dundonald and Church streets area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

One woman is dead after a fire in the Dundonald Street and Church Street area on Tuesday morning.I am responding to the fire scene on Dundonald Street @Toronto_Fire— Matthew Pegg (@ChiefPeggTFS) March 14, 2023Emergency services responded to a call just after 4:00 a.m. about a fire, and Toronto paramedics say one woman was pronounced dead on scene.The fire was contained to one unit and most occupants have returned to their units in the building.Church Street was initially closed from Dundonald Street to Wellesley Street East, but lanes closed have reopened.

Author Mark Nutter receives national recognition through the Independent Press Award

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT