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Russia expels at least 20 German diplomats

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

The Russian government is kicking several German diplomats out of the country in an alleged tit-for-tat move, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.“The German authorities have decided on yet another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany. We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations,” the ministry said in a statement, arguing that Germany’s actions were “hostile.”The foreign affairs ministry did not specify how many diplomats it would expel, although ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state-run television Zvezda that Moscow had decided to expel “more than 20,” according to AFP.Russia said it took the decision in response to Germany ordering a “mass expulsion” of Russian diplomats, without specifying further details. The German foreign ministry confirmed to German outlet Deutschlandfunk only that it had been in ...

Volunteers to collect thousands of pounds of trash along Charles River during Earth Day cleanup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

Volunteers are estimated to collect over 57,000 pounds of trash in one of the largest cleanups in the country. Around 3,000 will work at about 80 sites, including parks, forests, playgrounds and paths along the Charles River watershed throughout Massachusetts. The 24th annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup — hosted by the Charles River Conservancy, Charles River Watershed Association, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Esplanade Association, and Waltham Land Trust — is just one of multiple opportunities to volunteer across the Commonwealth.DCR officials are still looking for Park Serve Day volunteers at some sites, including Castle Island and Whitehall State Park. Collecting trash can be more than a single day’s effort. Emily Norton, the executive director of the CRWA, said this day is inspiring.“People really do make a difference, they make a demonstrable difference,” Norton said. “After spending two hours and seeing the pi...

Family of man shot and killed by US Park Police officers reaches $5 million settlement with US government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

(CNN) — The federal government has agreed to pay $5 million to the family of a man who died after he left the scene of a minor traffic accident and was shot in his vehicle by officers in Virginia in 2017, according to court documents.According to an amended complaint his family filed in US District Court, 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar, who was unarmed, was shot by two officers of the United States Park Police, a unit of the National Park Service.Dashcam footage of the incident from a Fairfax County, Virginia, police officer, showed Ghaisar stopped twice during a vehicle pursuit before a third stop resulted in shots fired by officers. The US government has denied liability for the shooting, arguing in court documents that “as sad as this case is,” Ghaisar was not shot until “he drove his vehicle” at one of the officers involved, CNN previously reported.Ghaisar was taken to a hospital after being shot, where he spent 10 days in a coma before dy...

Lacrosse notebook: Henry Hasselbeck’s tough choice

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

WESTWOOD – There’s a buzz around Xaverian’s lacrosse program.A formidable junior class and the recent arrival of midfielder Henry Hasselbeck has lifted a Hawk team that won five straight after a season-opening loss to defending Div. 1 champion St. John’s Prep.Hasselbeck has played baseball and hockey, but older sisters Annabelle and Mallory picked up lacrosse, and he was intrigued.“I lived in Indiana at the time,” said Hasselbeck, who has verbally committed to Maryland. “My sisters both played lacrosse, but I was a baseball player all through my elementary school years. My mom ended up coaching my sisters, and they needed someone to warm up the goalies. So, I’d be shooting with a girls’ lacrosse stick, warming up my sisters’ lacrosse team. Through that, I got a feeling for the sport, even though no one really played in Indiana at that time. I think that was the origin for me. But once I moved up to Massachusetts in fifth grade, I joined a club team, joined Gorilla ...

Bill Madden: Oakland A’s continue to be an embarrassment to MLB, but so do a half-dozen other teams

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

The sorry plight of the Oakland Athletics, which came to a head this week with the announcement the team will be pulling up stakes and heading to a new ballpark in Las Vegas, is the most glaring example of the bigger problem vexing baseball — the lack of competitiveness on and off the field — that was clearly not sufficiently addressed in the most recent collective bargaining agreement.In at least a half-dozen cities, they are charging major league prices to see what are essentially minor league baseball teams.Going into the weekend, the hapless A’s along with the Royals, Rockies, Reds, Nationals and Tigers had a combined run differential of minus-261. At the same time, the A’s, Marlins, Royals, Reds and Pirates were all averaging under 17,000 fans per game. Any way you look at it, this is not a good look for baseball.But nothing has been more of a black eye for baseball this year than the A’s with their dilapidated stadium and disaster of an owner in J...

3 San Diego craft breweries are among the most popular in the US: data

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego's craft beer culture has been buzzing through Southern California, but new data shows "The Capital of Craft" has an influence throughout the entire country.With more than 150 brewery locations throughout the county, according to the San Diego Brewers Guild, it's no surprise that some of best local brews have taken the nation by storm one pint at a time. These San Diego breweries won medals at the 2023 Brewers Cup of California In fact, there are three particular San Diego craft breweries that are considered to be among the most popular in the U.S., according to new data from the American Brewers Association.The group released its 2022 list of the top 50 producing craft brewing companies on Tuesday, which is based on national beer sales volume.The Brewers Association says the number of operating craft breweries climbed last year, reaching an all-time high of 9,552. This included 2,035 microbreweries, 3,418 brewpubs, 3,838 taproom breweries and 261 regional cr...

After Russia bombs own city, explosive found at same site

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

Seventeen apartment buildings were evacuated Saturday in a Russian city near the Ukrainian border after an explosive device was found at the site where a bomb accidentally dropped by a Russian warplane caused a powerful blast this week, authorities said.The bomb blast late Thursday rocked part of Belgorod, leaving a large crater and three people injured. The Russian Defense Ministry quickly acknowledged that a weapon accidentally released by one of its own Su-34 bombers caused the explosion. The ministry said an investigation was underway but did not elaborate on the details of the weapon, which military experts said likely was a powerful 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) bomb.The governor of Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported Saturday that sappers examining the site of Thursday’s blast found and decided to detonate what he called an “explosive object” that was “in the immediate vicinity of residential buildings.” The precautionary evacuations ended later in the day, acc...

Heat wave in Thailand prompts warning to stay indoors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Extreme heat that has sent temperatures soaring in Thailand as authorities warned people to stay indoors. The Meteorological Department’s forecast on Saturday said the highest temperature in the next 24 hours could reach 43 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in country’s north and could hit 40 C (104 F) in the capital, Bangkok. The highest temperature on Saturday was in the northern province of Phetchabun at 42.5 C (109 F).“Even if I turn the air conditioning to 20 degrees, I still sweat,” said 37-year-old Supichaya Jittaleela, who attended an outdoor political rally despite the heat. People should be wary of extremely high temperatures as well as sudden summer storms until at least next week, the weather department said. A police officer directing traffic in Samut Prakarn, a province just south of Bangkok, collapsed and died of heart stroke, media reported this week.Saturday’s highest heat index — which measures what the temperature feels like due t...

Oklahoma county worried about fallout from racist recording

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

IDABEL, Okla. (AP) — So many residents of northern Texas cross the border into McCurtain County in far southeast Oklahoma each week that the area has earned the nickname of the “Dallas-Fort Worth Hamptons.”With its clean rivers and lakes, these forested foothills of the Ouchita Mountains have become dotted with luxury cabins, and a tourism boom over the last two decades has fueled a renaissance in the region. Jobs are no longer limited to the timber industry or the chicken processing plant, and parents are more optimistic that their children won’t have to leave the community to find work.But the growing optimism about the county’s future took a gut punch last week when the local newspaper identified several county officials, including Sheriff Kevin Clardy and a county commissioner, who were caught on tape discussing killing journalists and lynching Black people. One commissioner has already resigned, and elected officials, including the mayor of Idabel and Republican Gov...

Rape lawsuit trial puts spotlight back on Trump and women

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s behavior toward women, long a source of flashpoints in his political career, now faces a new level of scrutiny: a trial in a lawsuit accusing him of rape.Jury selection is set to start Tuesday in the case filed by former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in a luxury New York department store dressing room in the 1990s.Trump, who is unlikely to attend the trial, has called the accusations “a complete con job.” Carroll, who is seeking unspecified damages, casts the case as a #MeToo-inspired quest for accountability from the epitome of prominent men.“I’m filing this lawsuit not just for myself but for every woman in America who has been grabbed, groped, harassed, sexually assaulted and has spoken up and still has been disgraced, shamed or fired,” Carroll said early on.The lawsuit is putting Trump’s history with women under a microscope as he runs to return to the White House. But if a trial over a rape accus...