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Putin welcomes Kim Jong Un with tour of rocket launch center

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The leaders of Russia and North Korea met at a remote Siberian rocket launch facility for a summit that underscores how the two leaders’ interests are aligning in the face of their separate, intensifying confrontations with the United States.The two men began their meeting with a tour of a Soyuz-2 space rocket launch facility, at which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un peppered a Russian space official with questions about the rockets.The meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin came hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles toward the sea, extending a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons testing since the start of 2022, as Kim used the distraction caused by Putin’s war on Ukraine to accelerate his weapons development.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately say how far the North Korean missiles flew. Japan’s Coast Guard, citing Tokyo’s Defense Ministry, said the missiles have likely already landed but still urged vesse...

NSYNC reunites, Taylor Swift wins as VMAs celebrate hip hop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

Taylor Swift took home the top prize at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards for her “Anti-Hero” music video on a night full of surprises.“This is unbelievable. The fact that this is a fan-voted award means so much to me,” Swift said in her acceptance speech. “I can’t believe it was a year ago that I announced the ‘Midnights’ album.”The show, held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, was Swift’s from nearly the beginning. The night’s first presenters were none other than NSYNC, who reunited to hand the best pop video award to Swift.In coordinating suits, Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick and JC Chasez shared the stage with Swift. Bass handed her a friendship bracelet, just as fans do at the superstar’s shows. “You’re pop personified,” she told the group.The night’s top nominee later returned to the stage to pick up the song of the year trophy for “Anti-Hero” and also the best direction award.Swift took home nine of the 11 awards sh...

Olson ties team homer mark, Braves beat Phillies 7-6 in 10 innings to move to brink of NL East title

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matt Olson could have picked any number of milestones that stood out as his favorite in a season where his 51 homers matched the best in Braves’ history. Olson even considered Atlanta’s 281 total homers — a number stretched when the Braves hit three more against the Phillies — the most in a season for any team in National League history.But the most impressive feat?For Olson, make it 95 wins for the Braves — and put the champagne on ice.Olson matched Andruw Jones for the Braves’ season home run record with 51 and Atlanta moved to the cusp of the NL East title, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 7-6 in 10 innings Tuesday night.The Braves can wrap up their sixth straight division crown with a win Wednesday over the Phillies.“That’s why we play this game,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s an exciting time of year and everybody’s aware of it. It’s kind of special that you get to experience that. Heck yeah, they should enjoy ...

Mariners snap 4-game losing streak and gain ground in playoff race by blanking Angels 8-0

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — After struggling on their last road trip and losing in extra innings when they returned home, the Seattle Mariners needed an easy night at the ballpark. J.P. Crawford hit a three-run double that broke open the game, Eugenio Suárez homered and had an early RBI single, and the Mariners scored seven runs with two outs in an 8-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday.The Mariners snapped a four-game losing streak and took advantage of Houston’s loss to last-place Oakland to pull within 1½ games of the AL West-leading Astros. Seattle also tied Toronto for the third and final AL wild card.“You go through the highs, you go through the lows and once you learn how to maintain that evenness of that you just keep going day by day, you keep grinding and things are going to go our way eventually,” Crawford said. A night after losing to the Angels in part because of their failure to get two-out hitting, the Mariners put together two big innings centered around clutch hits with ...

Concern raised over mental health provider swap at Grossmont Union High School District

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. -- People in the Grossmont Union High School District community are upset after the school board abruptly ended a decades-long relationship with San Diego Youth Services. Parents and students are now questioning why the sudden switch was made, which has led to more questions about if the district truly supports its LGBTQ population as well.“They canceled the contract after one meeting without doing any diligence in my opinion,” Krysta Henningsen said.At a July 20 board meeting, public comment included some concern over the provider offering gender affirming care. Though board members haven’t given a clear reason why they ended the relationship with San Diego Youth Services, board member Dr. Gary Woods said “we need to look for alternatives that best reflect East County values,” before voting to cancel the contract.“The comments made at that meeting were enough to raise serious concern among many members of our community regarding the true motives of the GUHSD board ...

Australia’s highest court finds Qantas illegally fired 1,700 ground staff during pandemic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Qantas Airways lost its challenge to a court ruling on Wednesday that the Australian flag carrier had illegally fired 1,700 baggage handlers, cleaners and other ground staff at the height of pandemic travel disruptions.Seven High Court judges unanimously rejected Qantas’ appeal against a Federal Court full-bench decision. That court upheld a Federal Court judge’s ruling that the sacking of Qantas staff at 10 Australian airports in 2020 was illegal.The ruling is another major blow for the airline, which Australia’s consumer watchdog is suing for more than 250 million Australian dollars ($160 million) for allegedly selling thousands of tickets mid-2022 for flights that had already been canceled.Australian Competition and Consumer Commission initiated the Federal Court lawsuit two weeks ago for what it considers Australia’s most serious-ever breach of consumer law.That prompted Qantas former chief executive Alan Joyce to retire last week two months ahead of s...

A fire that burned in a 9-story apartment building in Vietnam’s capital has killed about 12 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A fire in a nine-story apartment building in Vietnam’s capital killed about 12 people and injured more than 50, state media reported Wednesday.The fire has been extinguished and rescue operations were continuing, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. Authorities have not confirmed an exact death toll.The fire was believed to have started late Tuesday and rescuers struggled to reach the building on a narrow lane in south Hanoi. It wasn’t immediately clear how much of the building had burned. It was home to 150 residents, and 54 of the 70 people rescued from the fire were hospitalized for their injuries, state media said.Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.A deadly fire at a karaoke parlor in southern Vietnam’s Binh Duong province killed 32 people last year.The Associated Press

Kim offers Putin and Russia North Korea’s full support and refers to Moscow’s ‘sacred fight’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that his country offers its “full and unconditional support” for Russia’s “sacred fight” to defend its security interests, in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine, and said Pyongyang will always stand with Moscow on the “anti-imperialist” front.Through a translator, Kim called North Korea’s relations with Russia “the first priority.” Putin in his opening remarks welcomed Kim to Russia and said he was glad to see him. Putin listed economic cooperation, humanitarian issues and the “situation in the region” among the agenda items for their talks.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un began on Wednesday at the Vostochny cosmodrome, Russian state news agency Tass reported. The talks, which included their delegations, began shortly after Putin and Kim toured various f...

Autoworkers strike would test Biden’s ‘most pro-union president in US history’ assertion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The prospect of an auto workers strike could test Joe Biden ‘s treasured assertion that he’s the most pro-union president in U.S. history. The United Auto Workers is threatening to strike against the nation’s big three automakers, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, if tentative contact agreements aren’t reached by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. That could reshape the political landscape in the battleground state of Michigan and potentially unleash economic shockwaves nationwide. The auto industry accounts for about 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product and as many as 146,000 workers may walk off their jobs. While the effects would be most immediate in Michigan and other states with high concentrations of auto jobs, such as Ohio and Indiana, a prolonged strike could trigger car shortages and layoffs in auto-supply industries and other sectors. “Anything that goes beyond a week, you’re going to start feeling the pain,” said Marick Mas...

2023 Venice Film Festival: Five EU-supported works won six awards

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:31:14 GMT

The winners of the 80th Venice International Film Festival were announced during the Award Ceremony held on 9 September 2023 - among them are five EU-funded projects: in the official competition, Matteo Garrone took home the Silver Lion award for Best Director for the film Io Capitano, while Seydou Sarr won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actorfor the same title. The Orizzonti competition awarded Mika Gustafson as Best Director for Paradiset Brinner (Paradise is Burning) and Tergel Bold-Erdene as Best Actorin the film Ser Ser Salhi (City of Wind) by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir.EU-funded nominations in the Venice Immersive and Giornate degli Autori categories also won awards – the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize and the Europa Cinema Labels Award – for Empereur by Marion Burger and Ilan Cohen, and Photophobia by Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík respectively.Overall, out of 11 EU-supported works at this year's Venice Film Festival, five titles won a total of six awar...