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Victor Wembanyama hype slapped to reality in rocky Summer League debut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

LAS VEGAS — The game was drawing near, the moment and player everybody in Vegas came to witness.Behind the basket, a Hornets staffer, awaiting his team’s showdown against Victor Wembanyama, spoke to a colleague.“He slapped an American princess,” the staffer said. “She’s royalty.”It was dripping with sarcasm, to be sure. Britney Spears might’ve been a pop sensation in 1999, but she long ago descended into something else. Plus, Wembanyama never slapped Spears. It was Spurs security who connected on the infamous backhand.But the sentiment from the Hornets executive was easy to interpret. For the opposition, Wembanyama is a 7-5 French target. He’s getting all the hype. Sucking up all the attention. ESPN labeled him “the greatest prospect in the history of team sports.” It reached the level of supernatural, as if Wembanyama would emerge in a UFO and evaporate all basketball norms.And for what? Averaging 21 points in the Fr...

Police say 22 officers have been injured during unrest at Eritrean festival in Germany

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German police said at least 22 officers were injured and dozens of people were detained Saturday during unrest at an Eritrean cultural event in the western city of Giessen.Police said bottles were thrown and smoke bombs were ignited as groups of Eritreans opposed to the African nation’s autocratic ruler tried to force their way to the venue.About 1,000 officers, a water cannon and helicopters are deployed in the city, which is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Frankfurt. Police spokesman Christopher Pfaff urged the public to avoid the center of Giessen while the operation is ongoing.Authorities had tried to ban the festival after similar unrest occurred there last year, but a court overturned the order.The event was organized by a group considered close to the government of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. Tens of thousands of people have fled Eritrea for Europe, many alleging they were mistreated by Afwerki’s government.The Associated Press

Biden is heading to Europe. A king and a war are on his agenda

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden leaves on Sunday for Europe, where he will spend four days in three nations tending to alliances that have been tested by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The first stop is London, where Biden will meet with King Charles III for the first time since he was crowned. After that is the centerpiece of the trip, the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Alliance leaders will debate the war and revise plans for dealing with Russian aggression. The final stop is in Helsinki, where Biden is expected to celebrate the expanding alliance, with Finland as the newest member of NATO. His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the trip would “showcase the president’s leadership on the world stage.”A look at Biden’s agenda and the issues he will face:LondonBiden arrives in London on Sunday night is expected to have a full schedule of meetings Monday.“There’s always a lot to talk about with the U.K.,” said Max Bergmann, a former State Departme...

Latvia’s foreign minister, an ardent backer of Ukraine, is sworn in as the new president

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — Latvia’s long-serving foreign minister, known for his tough line on neighboring Russia and strong support for Ukraine, was sworn in on Saturday as the Baltic nation’s president for a four-year term. Edgars Rinkevics, who had served as Latvia’s top diplomat since 2011, took the oath of office in ceremonies at an extraordinary session of the Parliament, or Saeima, in the capital, Riga. He succeeds Egils Levits, who didn’t seek reelection.Rinkevics, 49, was elected by lawmakers in late May in a race against two other candidates. He ran as the candidate of his and Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins’ New Unity party.He is the seventh president of Latvia, a nation of 1.8 million that is a member of the European Union and NATO, since it regained its independence in 1991. Latvia’s presidency is largely a ceremonial post and the head of state acts mainly as an opinion leader and uniting figure in the country, where almost one-third of residents speak Russian. The president repre...

Uzbekistan’s leader poised for landslide victory in presidential election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Uzbekistan holds a snap presidential election on Sunday, a vote that follows a constitutional referendum that extended the incumbent’s term from five to seven years.President Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected in 2021 to a second five-year term, the limit allowed by the constitution. But the amendments approved in April’s plebiscite allowed him to begin the count of terms anew and run for two more, raising the possibility that he could stay in office until 2037.The 65-year-old Mirziyoyev is set to win the vote by landslide against three token rivals. “The political landscape has remained unchanged, and none of the parliamentary political parties stand in open opposition to the president’s policies and agenda,” the elections observer arm of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a pre-voting report.Since coming to power in 2016 after the death of longtime dictatorial leader Islam Karimov, Mirziyoyev has introduced a slew of political and...

Activists seek to disqualify Trump from ballot in key states under 14th Amendment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

(The Hill) – Two civil rights organizations are launching a campaign to pressure state governments to disqualify former President Trump from appearing on ballots in 2024.The groups say secretaries of state are empowered by the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from running for office because of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.Starting Sunday, Mi Familia Vota and Free Speech for People will stage a week of rallies and banner drops outside the offices of the secretaries of state of California, Oregon, Colorado and Georgia.The groups also penned a letter to Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar last month, calling on him to block Trump under what's known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause."We're really focusing on Nevada and California and [Oregon, Colorado and Georgia] to make sure that they are taking a stand by disqualifying Trump in those spaces, which is something that the secretary of state can do," said Héctor Sánchez, executive director of Mi Familia Vota.The gro...

Is more casual dress on flights tied to a rise in unruly passenger behavior?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

(WJZY) – When you board a flight, are you one of those passengers who looks like they just rolled out of bed? Do you arrive wearing sweats or PJs? Or are you donned in Daisy Dukes and crop tops?  We’ve all seen those passengers — and in some cases, we may have been those passengers. Others, meanwhile, prefer to dress less casually on flights.But does it make any difference what we wear? And does it have any bearing on how we're viewed, or how we behave during the flight? Will TSA stop you for marijuana in your luggage? One thing is certain, though: Gone are the days passengers would dress up to take a flight. Business suits, ties, jackets and dresses used to be the norm in the early days of commercial air travel. Back then, airline customers wore dress shoes — no sneakers or flip-flops. Septuagenarian Carol Quinn remembers those days well. “Since then, the whole world has gone casual, so you can’t really blame passengers for dressing the way they do today,...

Working Strategies: Self-employment for people with disabilities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

Amy LindgrenSecond Sunday Series – Editor’s Note: This is the eleventh of 12 columns on work and disability appearing over 12 months — one on each second Sunday of the month, from September through August. Previous columns discussed becoming unexpectedly disabled; whether to work with a disability, the subminimum wage, promotions for workers with disabilities, higher education decisions, self-advocating, career tips for family caretakers, testing limits as a worker with disabilities, the dilemma of revealing disabilities during job search, and overall concepts of disability in the workplace. Here’s an interesting statistic: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with disabilities in the labor force had a higher self-employment rate in 2021 than people who are not disabled. The numbers were 9.6% compared with 6.4% — or nearly half again as many more people, as a percentage of the population, with disabilities were working for themselves than those not reporti...

Four dead in Voorheesville house fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Albany County Sheriff's Office is investigating a fatal house fire in Voorheesville. Police confirmed that four people have died, including a 5-year-old girl. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The sheriff's office announced that a 14-year-old boy is the only survivor of the fire. Police stated the boy escaped out of a window on the second floor, and is currently being treated for minor cuts and bruises at Albany Medical Center. Fire crews are currently active on the scene. The sheriff's office announced there will be road closures in the areas of Krumkill Road, Normanskill Road and Wormer Road. Death investigation underway in Rotterdam Drivers were advised to use caution on Route 155 as fire crews haul water to the area. Stay with NEWS10 as this story continues to develop.

The ‘Bengal Tiger’ economy of Bangladesh 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:08 GMT

Talk of the Bengal Tiger might make you think about big cats or cricket but what’s really roaring is the economy of Bangladesh. A conference held at the European Institute for Asian Studies in Brussels on 05 July 2023 heard how a country that’s long benefited from EU aid and trade preferences has become an important partner with much to offer Europe’s exporters and investors. It’s time for a new Partnership and Co-operation Agreement, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.In his opening address to the conference, Bangladesh’s Ambassador to the European Union, Mahbub Hassan Saleh, looked forward to “a great leap forward” in his country’s relationship with the EU by concluding the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that both sides have agreed to negotiate. Bangladesh wanted a long-term strategic partnership, which would offer EU member states so much, not least through business opportunities to participate in a rap...