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Syria and China announce strategic partnership as Asian Games diplomacy kicks off

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China and Syria announced the formation of a strategic partnership on Friday as Chinese leader Xi Jinping kicked off a series of diplomatic meetings ahead of the upcoming Asian Games.Xi met Syrian President Bashar Assad in the southern Chinese city of Hangzhou, which is hosting the 15-day sports competition. “In the face of the unstable and uncertain international situation, China is willing to work with Syria to firmly support each other … and jointly safeguard international fairness and justice,” Xi said in a video clip posted online by state broadcaster CCTV.Assad’s visit parallels in some ways that of Russian President Vladimir Putin last year for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Both leaders are virtual pariahs in the West but welcomed by China as it tries to expand its global influence and promote an alternative to the U.S.-led international order.The Syrian leader will attend the Asian Games opening ceremony on Saturday night alo...

Gases from Philippine volcano sicken dozens of children, prompting school closures in nearby towns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Smog containing gases from a restive Philippine volcano sickened dozens of students and prompted 25 towns and cities to shut their schools on Friday as a health precaution, officials said.There was no imminent threat of a major eruption of Taal Volcano, which authorities said remains at a low level of unrest in Batangas province south of Manila. But they said its emission of sulfur dioxide-laden steam in recent days caused skin, throat and eye irritation for at least 45 students in nearby towns.Classes were suspended in 25 towns and cities in Batangas to keep students safely at home. Some schools resumed online classes and home learning that were in wide use at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.Smog has also been reported in Manila north of Taal in recent days, but the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it was largely caused by vehicle emissions and not the volcano.Taal, one of the world’s smallest volcanoes, is am...

Double shooting at Scarborough plaza leaves two men injured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

Two men are in hospital with serious injuries following an overnight shooting in a Scarborough parking lot on Friday.Officers responded to a plaza parking lot on Birchmount Road near Vauxhall Drive, south of Ellesmere Road, around 1:30 a.m.Paramedics tell CityNews two men were rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.No suspect information has been made available.The investigation is ongoing.

India’s Parliament passes law that will reserve a third of legislature seats for women from 2029

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s Parliament has approved landmark legislation that reserves one-third of the seats in its powerful lower house and in state legislatures for women to ensure more equal representation, ending a 27-year impasse over the bill amid a lack of consensus among political parties.But the wait is still not over, as the new law will not apply to next year’s national elections.It will be implemented in the 2029 national elections following a new census and adjustment of voting districts after next year’s polls, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during a debate in the upper house of India’s Parliament on Thursday night.The lower house of Parliament approved the legislation on Wednesday with a 454-2 vote, and the upper house passed it unanimously, 214-0, late Thursday.India’s once-a-decade census was to be held in 2021 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All opposition parties supported the bill and said the delay in its implementation is an injustice to w...

BTS member Suga begins alternative military service in South Korea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Suga, a member of K-pop supergroup BTS, began fulfilling his mandatory military duty Friday as a social service agent, an alternative form of military service in the country.Suga, 30, became the group’s third member to start carrying out their military duties. The two others, Jin and J-Hope, are already performing active service at army bases. “I’ll faithfully serve and come back … Please stay healthy and let’s meet all again in 2025!” Suga wrote in a message posted on the online fan platform Weverse.BTS’s management agency, Big Hit Music, said that Suga later began commuting to a workplace designated under the country’s alternative military service system.In South Korea, all able-bodied men must serve in the army, navy or air force for 18-21 months under a conscription system established due to threats from rival North Korea. Individuals with physical and mental issues can instead carry out their duties at non-military facilities such as welfare centers, c...

Weekend need to know: Nuit Blanche, Just for Laughs, Halloween Haunt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

Art installations are taking over Toronto streets and parks for the return of Nuit Blanche this weekend.Comedy lovers can check out their favourite stand-up comics for the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. Plus, Halloween Haunt is back at Canada’s Wonderland.There will also be another party to say goodbye to the TTC Line 3 Scarborough RT since it permanently closed, shortly after the train derailed back in July, injuring five people.There are no scheduled subway closures this weekend, but road closures for events and construction remain. Scroll below for more details.Here’s what’s going on for the first weekend of fall:Top eventsNuit BlancheMuch of Toronto’s streets, parks, and alleyways will be filled with people checking out art installations for Nuit Blanche 2023.People can explore different neighbourhoods across the city and enjoy art projects by local, national and international artists for free.This year’s theme is called Breaking Ground. The theme is meant to invite arti...

Massachusetts has a huge waitlist for state-funded housing. So why are 2,300 units vacant?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

Deb Libby is running out of time to find a place to live.Libby, 56, moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, four years ago, in part to be closer to the doctors treating her for pancreatic cancer.But the landlord wants her out by the end of the month and she can’t find anything else she can afford. She earns only a little more than minimum wage at a hardware store and often has to take unpaid time off because of health problems.Libby thought she found a potential solution nearly a year ago: She applied for state public housing, a type of subsidized housing that’s almost unique to Massachusetts. But she’s heard nothing since.“It’s frightening,” she said. “I seriously don’t know what to do. It’s like the system’s broken.”In Massachusetts, which has some of the country’s most expensive real estate, Libby is among the 184,000 people on a waitlist for the state’s 41,500 subsidized apartments. Yet a WBUR and ProPublica investigation found that nobody is living in nearly 2,300 state-funded apart...

With the future of AM unclear, a look back at the powerful role radio plays in baseball history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Growing up in the Boston suburbs, Suzyn Waldman fell madly in love with two things: baseball and Broadway shows.During the 1950s and ’60s, the long arm of AM radio brought both into her home.“I can still hear Ned Martin of the Red Sox reciting poetry about the mountains in Anaheim,” said Waldman, the pioneer announcer and former star of musical stage who’s been calling New York Yankees games for decades. “I can still hear Curt Gowdy with that Wyoming twang.“Not everyone can remember who their first television broadcasters were — but everyone knows who the radio team was. Everyone.”Like many fans, especially older ones, Waldman originally got hooked by America’s pastime listening to ballgames on an AM signal. In fact, next month will mark the 100th anniversary of the first World Series broadcast to a national radio audience, when Graham McNamee and Ford Frick were among those who called the 1923 Fall Classic between the Giants and Yankees on NB...

Microsoft’s revamped $69 billion deal for Activision is on the cusp of going through

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British competition regulators gave preliminary approval Friday to Microsoft’s restructured $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, easing a final global hurdle that paves the way for one of the largest tech transactions in history to go through.The Competition and Markets Authority said the revamped proposal “substantially addresses previous concerns” about stifling competition in the fast-growing cloud gaming market, which frees players from buying expensive consoles and gaming computers by streaming to tablets, phones and other devices.The updated offer “opens the door to the deal being cleared,” the watchdog said, though there are lingering concerns. Microsoft has offered remedies that the watchdog provisionally decided will resolve those issues, and regulators are now getting feedback from “interested parties” before making a final decision.The announcement shows the U.K. watchdog is close to reversing its earlier decision to block Microsoft ...

Thousands of teachers protest in Nepal against education bill, shutting schools across the country

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:27 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Schools for millions of students in Nepal were closed Friday as tens of thousands of teachers protested in the capital against an education reform bill in parliament.Teachers have been demonstrating in Kathmandu since Wednesday against the School Education Bill while teachers’ groups negotiate with government leaders over changes to the legislation. The teachers oppose provisions that would shift government-run schools to local control, saying it would lower their status, and that would scrap many temporary teacher positions. The teachers blocked the main street leading from the parliament building to key government ministries, disrupting traffic in the heart of the capital. Hundreds of police in riot gear blocked the road leading to parliament with barbed-wire barricades. The teachers have threatened to bring more protesters to Kathmandu if their demands are not addressed.“Our key demand is we teachers should be kept under the central government like a...