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Explosion in Paris building leaves 16 injured, police chief says – fire contained but not extinguished

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Explosion in Paris building leaves 16 injured, police chief says – fire contained but not extinguished.Source

NCAA panel imposes a 3-game suspension for Memphis’ Penny Hardaway for recruiting violations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

An NCAA infractions panel has imposed a three-game suspension on Memphis coach Penny Hardaway for recruiting violations tied to two in-home visits with a prospect two years ago.The panel issued its ruling Wednesday, which follows a negotiated resolution in December that allowed the school to resolve the case and begin probation while one individual challenged the allegations.That turned out to be Hardaway, who was charged under the rules governing head-coach responsibility for conduct within their programs.An assistant coach first visited the prospect in September 2021 at his home, followed by Hardaway roughly two weeks later. But NCAA rules prohibited in-home visits for juniors until April of that year, with those visits supposed to instead take place at the prospect’s current school.Hardaway, a former Memphis and NBA star, had told the NCAA he was unaware of the rule.“Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse,” the panel said. “The head coach’s inattentiveness to compliance — ...

Leading Hong Kong pollster plans to limit surveys on sensitive topics, including Tiananmen crackdown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — One of Hong Kong’s most reputable sources of public opinion data is limiting the scope of its surveys, including on sensitive topics such as Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. The change, following a contact from a government agency, is likely to restrict the availability of information about the opinions of Hong Kong residents.The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute announced Tuesday it has tentatively decided to cancel about one-fourth of its regular survey questions and limit about one-third of the remaining ones to internal use, academic research and commissioned services, instead of releasing those results to the public. The announcement came two weeks after it canceled its planned release of a survey conducted on the anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy protests at the advice of the government agency. The institute’s CEO, Robert Chung, said in an email Tuesday night that the govern...

Fuerte explosión en edificio de París provoca incendio, deja 4 heridos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

PARÍS — Una fuerte explosión en un edificio de París dejó cuatro personas heridas este miércoles y provocó un incendio que lanzó espesas columnas de humo sobre el famoso Panteón y llevó a la evacuación de edificios cercanos, informó la policía.De momento, se desconoce la causa del estallido.La fachada del edificio en el Quinto Arrondissement (distrito) colapsó y los cuerpos de emergencia tratan de averiguar si hay alguien adentro, informó un funcionario policial parisino. Atacante suicida detona sus explosivos y mata a 13 en un funeral en Afganistán Aviones de combate causan boom sónico por el DMV tras despegar para vigilar a un piloto incapacitado Florence Berthout, alcaldesa del distrito, indicó que cuatro personas están en condición de “emergencia total”.“La explosión fue sumamente violenta”, dijo Berthout al describir cómo trozos de vidrio salieron por los aires.Las autoridades acordonaron el vecindario y gran cantidad de per...

Denver ranked one of worst-run cities in the country

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Denver spends more city money than it's worth, according to a new report.Financial adviser site WalletHub analyzed 149 of the largest cities in the U.S. to see which are the best run. The study asks the question of return on investment - how well do city services operate compared to how much the city spends? The study drew from a wealth of public data on each city's financial stability, education, health, safety, economy, infrastructure and pollution. There were 36 relevant metrics overall, each of which was graded from one to 100. Each was given a weight and the final results ranked from one to 149. Denver ranks in top 10 places people looking to leave The results said Denver is one of the worst-run cities in the country, ranking 135 out of 149 cities, sandwiched between Philadelphia and Memphis. San Francisco is dead last, while Nampa, Idaho is first. It isn't the quality of Denver's city services that causes it to rank so low - they rank 63 - but rather the amo...

Fort Lauderdale sets ups 3 sandbag distribution sites as Tropical Storm Bret gains strength

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

As Tropical Storm Bret gains strength as it makes its way westward across the Atlantic Ocean, in an abundance of caution, the City of Fort Lauderdale will distribute sandbags to residents.The free sandbag distribution will take place on June 24 and 25 starting at 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.The locations where residents can pick up their sandbags include the following:Floyd Hull Stadium, located at 2800 SW 8th Ave.Mills Pond Park, located at 2201 NW 9th Ave.Shirley Small Park, lactated at 1230 SW 34th Ave.To receive free sandbags, residents must show proof of residency.

A 33-year-old man fell 4,000 feet to his death from the Grand Canyon Skywalk in Arizona, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

(CNN) — A man fell 4,000 feet to his death from a popular tourist attraction walkway in the Grand Canyon, according to authorities in Arizona.The man, only identified as a 33-year-old male, was on the Skywalk at Grand Canyon West before he went over the edge, plunging into the canyon below, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post.On June 5, a technical rope rescue team responded to the Skywalk – a horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that extends 70 feet out over the canyon’s rim – after a report of someone going over the edge.Two rope specialists “responded with (a) Kingman (Department of Public Safety) Ranger helicopter to the scene and determined the man was deceased,” the post read. The sheriff’s office said it is investigating the incident.The man’s body was later transferred to the Hualapai Nation, a federally recognized Indian Tribe located in northwestern Arizona, the sheriff’s office reported.Located outside of Grand Ca...

Ballsy EU Commission moves to make Russia pay for Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

LONDON — The European Commission has a plan to help pay for the reconstruction of war-torn Ukraine using Russian state assets. It’s a daring move and a sign of a shift toward something that once looked impossible.It would be an unprecedented legal feat, one strongly advocated by Ukraine and its allies but which is already kicking up a storm among governments. The EU executive’s intention to throw its weight behind such a move — confirmed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday —  will require some delicate politics over the next few months.The plan is fraught with political, legal and economic risks. It has consequences for the role of foreign reserves in stabilizing currencies, as well as for the international protection of state property — and potentially could be endlessly litigated in court. The idea of making the aggressor pay for war damages isn’t new, but to go after foreign reserves frozen under Western sanctions would be. “On one hand, it&#...

West eyes Romania as possible F-16 training site for Ukrainian pilots

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

A coalition of Western countries is eyeing Romania as a possible location to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, according to a current and a former Defense Department official with knowledge of the effort.Specifically, the group is working to negotiate a contract to conduct the aircraft training at a site in Romania, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the contours of an agreement that has not yet been finalized. It’s likely that Lockheed Martin, which builds the F-16, would conduct the training, the people said.Details about the training program have been slow to emerge since President Joe Biden lent his support to the effort last month. The Netherlands and Denmark are leading the multinational training effort, but the partners have not yet settled the question of which countries would provide the aircraft required for training.European officials would neither confirm nor deny that the proposal to train Ukrainian pilots in Romania is under disc...

The US Coast Guard is bringing in more ships, vessels to search for lost Titanic tourist submersible

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:05:36 GMT

A Canadian surveillance vessel has detected underwater noises in the area where rescuers are searching for a submersible that went missing in the North Atlantic while bringing five people down to the wreck of the Titanic, authorities said Wednesday.Coast Guard officials were bringing in more ships and other vessels to search the more narrowly defined area, though the exact location and source of the sounds has not yet been determined. The full scope of the search was twice the size of Connecticut in waters 2 1/2 miles deep, said Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District.“This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” Frederick said. “When you’re in the middle of a search and rescue case, you always have hope.”But even those who expressed some optimism warned that many obstacles remain: from pinpointing the vessel’s location, to reaching it with rescue equipment, to bringing it to the surface — assuming it’s still intact — before the passe...