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Syrian President Bashar Assad arrives in China on first visit since the beginning of war in Syria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad has arrived in China on his first visit to the country since the start of Syria’s 12-year conflict during which Beijing has been one of his main backers, state media reported Thursday.The Associated Press

The Asian Games: larger than the Olympics and with an array of regional and global sports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

The Asian Games are an attention grabber. For starters, they involve more participants than the Summer Olympics. Organizers say more than 12,000 will be entered when the opening ceremony takes place Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. This is more than the 10,500 expected for next year’s Paris Olympics.The giant numbers are partly due to the staggering array of events with many regional specialties, sports, and games you won’t find in the Olympics. And there’s also cricket, which appears headed to the Olympics as soon as 2028 in Los Angeles, and certainly for 2032 in Brisbane, Australia.And there’s squash, which has tried several times for Olympic recognition.The regional fare includes dragon boat racing, sepaktakraw — sometimes called “kick volleyball — wushu, a Chinese martial art, and kabaddi, a popular contact sport on the Indian subcontinent. There is also the non-Olympic martial art of ju-jitsu, and kurash, a form of wrestling popula...

First private US passenger rail line in 100 years is about to link Miami and Orlando at high speed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — The first big test of whether privately owned high-speed passenger train service can prosper in the United States will launch Friday when Florida’s Brightline begins running trains between Miami and Orlando, reaching speeds of 125 mph (200 kph). It’s a $5 billion bet Brightline’s owner, Fortress Investment Group, is making, believing that eventually 8 million people annually will take the 3.5-hour, 235-mile (378-kilometer) trip between the state’s biggest tourist hubs. The company is charging single riders $158 round-trip for business class and $298 for first-class, with families and groups able to buy four round-trip tickets for $398. Thirty-two trains will run daily. Brightline, which began running its neon-yellow trains the 70 miles (112 kilometers) between Miami and West Palm Beach in 2018, is the first private intercity passenger service to begin U.S. operations in a century. It’s also building a line connecting Southern California and...

Lotto 649 winning numbers for Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

TORONTO — The winning numbers in Wednesday’s Lotto 649 draw for an estimated $5 million: 10, 14, 17, 22, 25 & 38.Bonus: 24The winning number for the guaranteed $1 million: 44684443-02In the event of any discrepancy between this list and the official winning numbers, the latter shall prevail. The Canadian Press

Outdated headline sparks vicious online hate campaign directed at Las Vegas newspaper

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A Las Vegas newspaper is being viciously attacked online for its coverage of an alleged murder of a retired police chief, either because of a misunderstanding or a deliberate attempt to mislead.The “firehose of hatred” has led the Las Vegas Review-Journal to sift through email directed at one of its reporters to protect her from the worst of it, the paper’s executive editor, Glenn Cook, said on Wednesday.On Aug. 18, four days after a 64-year-old former California police chief, Andreas Probst, was killed when he was struck by a hit-and-run motorist while riding his bike in Las Vegas, Review-Journal reporter Sabrina Schnur interviewed his family for a story.The headline: “Retired police chief killed in bike crash remembered for laugh, love of coffee.”Then the story took a sinister turn.Video emerged, apparently taken by a teenage passenger in the car that hit Probst, showing that it was no accident. Charges against the 17-year-old driver were upgraded to murder o...

Japanese crown prince begins Vietnam visit, marking 50 years of diplomatic relations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Japanese Crown Prince Akishino, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito, met Vietnamese Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan on Thursday as he started his visit to Hanoi marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.The visit by Akishino and his wife, Crown Princess Kiko, comes at a time when Tokyo is pushing to deepen ties with Southeast Asia and other emerging nations to tackle regional and global challenges.Akishino stressed the importance of ties between the two nations at a news conference in Japan last week and said, “I hope we can contribute as part of an effort to promote friendly relations between the two countries.”The couple also laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Vietnam’s first president, Ho Chi Minh, and are scheduled to meet President Vo Van Thuong before traveling to Hoi An in central Vietnam.The trip is Akishino’s third to Vietnam after earlier visits in 1999 and 2012.Bilateral trade between the two countries was n...

Kari Lake’s 3rd trial to begin after unsuccessful lawsuit challenging her loss in governor’s race

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Kari Lake, the Republican who unsuccessfully challenged her defeat in the 2022 Arizona governor’s race, is headed to another trial Thursday in a separate lawsuit, this time asking to review ballot envelopes signed by approximately 1.3 million early voters in the state’s most populous county.The former TV anchor has already lost two trials that challenged her loss to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes. In the second trial, a judge rejected a misconduct claim Lake made about ballot signature-verification efforts in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and where more than 60% of the state’s voters live.Lake’s latest case doesn’t challenge her defeat but instead is a public records lawsuit that asks to review all early ballot envelopes with voter signatures in Maricopa County, where officials had denied her request for those documents.She is among the most vocal of last year’s Republican candidates promoting former President Donald Trump’s election li...

Asian Games offer a few sports you may not recognize. How about kabaddi, sepaktakraw, and wushu?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

If you’re bored with day-in, day-out sports like basketball or swimming or volleyball, then check out the Asian Games when they open officially on Saturday in Hangzhou, China.Of course, the games will have the regular Olympic menu of events with some offering qualifying spot for next year’s Paris Olympics.But much of the focus will be on sports that are popular in a region that represents 45 nations and territories. About 12,500 are participating, more than the Summer Olympics.Some of the regional sports specialties include kabaddi, sepaktakraw, wushu, and kurash. The Asian Games will also feature so-called “mind sports” that include bridge, chess, xiangqi (known as Chinese chess) and several others.Esports, offered as a demonstration sport five years ago at the games in Indonesia, is official this time and should be a big hit.KABADDI This homegrown sport from the Indian subcontinent is so popular that the area hosts a professional league that draws millions of viewers. ...

PLAYOFF-BOUND! St. Louis CITY SC clinches big milestone in inaugural season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

ST. LOUIS - An inaugural season for the ages. St. Louis CITY SC is officially playoff bound. St. Louis earned a spot after Wednesday's draw and some help from other MLS opponents. CITY SC would have clinched outright with a win on Wednesday, but settled for a scoreless draw against a tough LAFC squad. But with Austin FC settling for a draw and Minnesota United FC losing their west-coast matchup, CITY SC has enough points and tiebreakers to officially compete in the big dance. CITY SC improved to 15-5-10 and 50 points with Wednesday's draw, not only securing a playoff spot but also giving them a stronger cushion to fight for the top seed in the Western Conference. The inaugural season started off in record-breaking fashion. CITY SC became the first MLS expansion team to win its first five games in franchise history. The City Boys have played around the .500 mark since then, but with key head-to-head wins and some late heroics to earn draws, they've piled on points at a very steady p...

Libya floods: EU releases €5.2 million and channels further civil protection assistance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:53 GMT

As needs in Libya are dramatically rising, the EU is strengthening its support to the country by releasing €5.2 million in humanitarian funding.The funding will be channelled through EU humanitarian partners active in the country, enabling them to strengthen assistance with a focus on shelter, health, food, water, sanitation and hygiene, and protection.From the total amount, €200,000 are for the Disaster Response Emergency Fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in support of the Libya Red Crescent Society.This new release brings total humanitarian funding allocated for the emergency to over €5.7 million.Furthermore, the European Union continues to provide in-kind assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. So far, eight EU member states have offered assistance to Libya (Germany, Romania, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, with a new offer from Austria) via the Mechanism.The Emergency Response Coordination Centre h...