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No cease-fire while Ukraine is on the offensive, Putin says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Vladimir Putin said he does not reject the idea of peace talks over Ukraine, but the Russian president added that there could be no cease-fire while Ukrainian forces are “on the offensive.”Speaking after meeting with African leaders in St. Petersburg, Putin told a press conference that African and Chinese peace initiatives could serve as a basis for ending the war in Ukraine, but are “impossible to implement” at the moment. “The Ukrainian army is on the offensive, they are attacking, they are implementing a large-scale strategic offensive operation,” Putin said, according to media reports. “We cannot cease fire when we are under attack,” he said. “We did not reject them,” Putin said, referring to the peace initiatives. “In order for this process to begin, there needs to be agreement on both sides,” the Russian leader said of the possibility of peace talks. African leaders meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg la...

Drones hit Moscow city center in latest attack blamed on Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Several drones attacked the center of Moscow in the early hours of Sunday morning, in the latest assault on Russian territory that the city’s mayor blamed on Kyiv. The drones hit two high-rise buildings in an area called Moscow City, a posh business district in the center of the Russian capital, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a Telegram statement on Sunday.“Ukrainian drones attacked tonight. The facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged. There are no victims or injured,” Sobyanin said.Russian media reported that a 50-story building in Moscow City was evacuated. And Russian social media users posted videos of blasts.Russian media channel Astra reported that one of the drones damaged the 10th floor of an office building in Moscow City, where at least three Russian ministries have their offices — the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Digital Development.Ukraine did not officially take responsibility for the attack. “We...

Comfortable temperatures here for awhile

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

It’s refreshing as you step outside this morning! Our morning low temperatures fell to the upper 50s/low 60s. It’s a crisp feel with dew points that have fallen into the 50s. We won’t have to talk about the heat or humidity today! Overnight you might want to leave the windows open! It’ll feel nice. Tomorrow most of the day is dry with some sun. A cold front drops in late bringing the chance for isolated thunderstorms.The heat will stay away for the work week. Scattered storms return to the forecast by the end of the week as it starts to feel muggy again.As for yesterday’s storms, National Weather Service crews will survey damage today in Connecticut and southeast Massachusetts. NWS confirmed a tornado on radar in Windham County, Connecticut and will survey damage from Chaplin to Killingly. They’ll also look at damage between Easton to West Bridgewater, MA. Damage took down trees and powerlines. They’ll survey that damage to confirm whether a...

Local fashion designer showcases adaptive fashion at Miami Swim Week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Adaptive fashion is strutting on the runways, and a local designer is behind the progress.Cambridge-native Keisha Greaves founded Girls Chronically Rock, an adaptive fashion company. “I always had a passion for fashion,” she said. “I wanted to create something to help inspire and motivate others in the disability community” Greaves was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy in her 20s, but she let her love for fashion empower her.“I wanted to create something with different sayings and words of going through my journey of living with MD,” she said.Greaves said adaptive fashion can be a game-changer for people living with a disability. “So adaptive fashion is the next best thing. It makes our life easier when getting dressed,” Greaves said. “Even when my caregivers…see a difference with helping me get dressed on a daily basis.”Greaves’s clothing line made history at a Miami Swim Week, marking the first time adaptive fashion swimwear...

A bomb at a political rally in northwest Pakistan kills 10 people and wounds more than 50

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A powerful bomb ripped through a rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader in the country’s northwestern Bajur district that borders Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 10 people and wounding more than 50, police said.Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the workers convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place.He said some of the wounded were taken to the city’s main hospital in critical condition and the death toll could increase. Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. It is not known whether Rehman was present. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the coming elections. ___Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan contributed to this report. Anwarullah Khan And Riaz Khan, The Associated Press

Summer McIntosh wins second gold medal at world championships

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

Canada’s Summer McIntosh won the gold medal in the women’s 400-metre individual medley for the second year in a row at the world aquatics championships on Sunday in Fukuoka, Japan.McIntosh, the world record holder in the event, captured her third medal of the event after taking gold in the 200-metre butterfly and bronze in the 200-metre freestyle last week.McIntosh finished in four minutes, 27.11 seconds, more than four seconds ahead of runner-up Katie Grimes of the United States.The 16-year-old Toronto native also won the 400 IM at last year’s world championshipsMcIntosh now has seven career medals at the worlds, all in the last two years.

Joe Biden, America’s oldest sitting president, needs young voters to win again. Will his age matter?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

At 24, Alberto Rodriguez has grandparents younger than Joe Biden. But he’s more interested in the 80-year-old president’s accomplishments than his age. “People as young as me, we’re all focusing on our day-to-day lives and he has done things to help us through that,” Rodriguez, a cook at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, said of Biden’s support among young voters. Rodriguez pointed specifically to federal COVID-19 relief payments and government spending increases on infrastructure and other social programs.Voters like him were a key piece of Biden’s winning 2020 coalition, which included majorities of young people as well as college graduates, women, urban and suburban voters and Black Americans. Maintaining their support will be critical in closely contested states such as Nevada, where even small declines could prove consequential to Biden’s reelection bid. His 2024 campaign plans to emphasize messages that could especially resonate w...

Four women whose lives ended in a drainage ditch outside Atlantic City

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The four women whose bodies were found in a drainage ditch just outside Atlantic City in November 2006, in the order that they were identified:KIM RAFFO, 35. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she met her future husband, Hugh Auslander, when they were both teenagers living there. They got married and moved to a four-bedroom home Florida in the 1990s, and had two kids. She led what relatives said appeared to be a tranquil domestic life with her husband, who worked as a carpenter. A sister described her as a “mom of the year”-type. She volunteered with the Girl Scouts and PTA. A relative said Raffo “was like Martha Stewart” before growing bored with life as a housewife. She enrolled in a cooking class at a technical school, and met a drug user who introduced her to cocaine and heroin. Her husband took the kids and left; Raffo and her boyfriend settled in Atlantic City, where she worked as a waitress before turning to prostitution. She was clad in a Hard Rock Cafe t...

Breakthrough in Long Island serial killings shines light on the many unsolved murders of sex workers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The discovery of four dead women in a drainage ditch just outside Atlantic City was shocking news in 2006.International media flocked to the seaside gambling resort. More than 100 detectives and prosecutors were assigned to investigate. Casino guests worried about safety, and the victims’ fellow sex workers began carrying hidden knives.But as the years passed, the public’s attention and fear faded, and the case of the “Eastbound Strangler” – so named for the direction the victims’ heads were facing – remained unsolved.The arrest earlier this month of a man charged with killing three women whose remains were found on a Long Island beach in 2010 has breathed fresh life into another long-dormant case with obvious parallels; the Gilgo Beach serial killings involve a total of 11 victims, most of whom were young, female sex workers. Yet the recent breakthrough, and the rekindling of public interest, only highlights a painful truth: Many similar cases – like the ...

The French embassy in Niger is attacked as protesters waving Russian flags march through the capital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:42:00 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Thousands of supporters of the junta that took over Niger in a coup earlier this week marched through the streets of the capital, Niamey, on Sunday waving Russian flags, chanting the name of the Russian president and forcefully denouncing former colonial power France. The protesters marched through the city to the French Embassy, where a door was lit on fire, according to someone who was at the embassy when it happened and videos seen by The AP. Black smoke could be seen rising from across the city. The Nigerien army broke up the crowd of the protesters. Russian mercenary group Wagner is already operating in neighboring Mali, and Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to expand his country’s influence in the region. However, it is unclear yet whether the new junta leaders will move toward Moscow or stick with Niger’s Western partners. Days after the coup, uncertainty is mounting about Niger’s future, with some calling out the junta’s...