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Monday’s Sports In Brief

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

COLLEGE BASKETBALLSEATTLE (AP) — Elizabeth Kitley scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Georgia Amoore added 24 points and top-seeded Virginia Tech advanced to the Final Four for the first time in school history with an 84-74 win over No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Seattle 3 Regional final.For the seventh time in the past 10 Final Fours there will be a first-time participant and it’s the champions of the ACC, adding another accomplishment to the best season in school history.Playing in its first regional final, Virginia Tech (31-4) won its 15th straight game and will head to the Final Four having not lost in more than two months. The Hokies will face LSU in the national semifinals on Friday in Dallas.Kitley, the Hokies 6-foot-6 center and leading scorer this season, took over on the interior in the second half. She scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and her three-point play gave Virginia Tech a 70-60 lead.Amoore hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game to push the lea...

Mas de 30 muertos en incendio en centro de migración de Ciudad Juárez, México

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

(CNN) — La gobernación del estado de Chihuahua, en México, informó este martes a través de un comunicado que se registran por el momento 37 muertos tras un incendio en el Instituto Nacional de Migración de México, en Ciudad Juárez.Las autoridades añadieron en el comunicado que el incendio se produjo después de que las autoridades recogieran a cerca de 71 migrantes que estaban en las calles de la ciudad.La gobernación no ha informado por el momento si hay heridos tras el incendio.Hasta el momento las autoridades federales no se han pronunciado tras este incidente en Ciudad Juarez.Noticia en desarrollo.— Omar Astorga contribuyó con información a esta nota.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.Source

Masked intruder breaks into Olaf Scholz’s apartment complex

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

While German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was busy trying to keep his coalition together, someone wearing a Halloween mask tried to break into his home.On Sunday evening, an individual wearing gloves, a hoodie, a mask and a headlamp gained access to an apartment complex in Potsdam (a city located on the Berlin outskirts), where Scholz lives, German magazine Der Spiegel reported Monday, quoting security officials and publishing a screenshot from the building’s surveillance footage.The person tried to break into an apartment, and then fled the scene after being noticed, according to Der Spiegel. They did not have access to the building where the German chancellor’s apartment is located.Scholz was not home at the time of the break-in. He had his hands full trying to maintain the unity of his coalition — made up of his center-left Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal FDP — in a meeting that lasted around 20 hours, and ended without an agreement on several outstanding issue...

Russian body armor on the battlefield in Ukraine has links to China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

A Russian body armor manufacturer is importing Chinese components for its vests — some of which are being used on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to trade data, photographs and Ukrainians who say they’ve recovered the vests from the front lines.In 2022, multiple Chinese companies, including one linked to the government in Beijing, sent parts for body armor manufacturing to Klass, a Russian manufacturer of body armor with ties to the country’s national guard and law enforcement, according to customs and trade data obtained by POLITICO from Import Genius, a customs data aggregator.Armored vests produced by the company are being used by Russian troops in Ukraine, according to photos and videos posted online, and Ukrainians who are selling the vests on eBay say they took them from the battlefield.While it’s unclear if the Russian military’s use of the Klass vests is widespread, it is the first confirmation that Chinese-made protective equipment is being us...

US wants allies to line up against China. Europe is starting to listen.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

China and the U.S. are in a race to build up their world power blocs, and both are using the same pressure point: the war in Ukraine.Last week, China’s leader Xi Jinping spent three days in Russia, solidifying his “no limits” partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden kicks off his second Summit for Democracy — aiming to rally world leaders around principles of freedom, rule of law and human rights.The not-so-subtle subtext: the world needs to unite against China and Russia.In Biden’s alliance of democracies, Europe has been at best ambivalent on China. Some of the most important countries, such as France and Germany, have worried that decoupling from China would cause too much economic pain.Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Europeans are starting to pay more attention to Biden’s message about the dangers of dependence on dictatorships. With urgency like never before, they are restricting exports ...

Police in Belgium arrest 8 people in counterterrorism raids

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Police officers in Belgium have arrested eight people during counterterrorism raids across the country as part of operations aimed at thwarting possible attacks, the federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.Antwerp police carried out five searches in Merksem, Borgerhout, Deurne, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek and Eupen on Monday night at the request of an investigating judge. The prosecutor’s office said five people were arrested, but it didn’t give details about what was found.“At least two of the people involved are suspected of planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Belgium. The target of the attack has not yet been determined,” prosecutors said. Meanwhile, Brussels police carried out raids in the nearby localities of Zaventem, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean and Schaerbeek as part of a separate case, and arrested three people.“These people are also suspected of planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Belgium,” the office said. “There are links between the tw...

Greek prime minister calls general election for May 21

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s center-right Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday called a general election on May 21, in the aftermath of a train disaster that has reduced his party’s long-standing majority in opinion polls.The Feb. 28 train crash in northern Greece left 57 people dead. The disaster stirred public anger, cutting a lead by the conservative New Democracy party by about half to 4 points over its left-wing main rival, Syriza.“The country needs clear skies … our work continues more boldly and with fewer compromises,” Mitsotakis said during a televised Cabinet meeting.Mitsotakis, the 55-year-old son of the late former prime minister Constantine Mitsotakis, has remained popular throughout his four-year term. But more recently his reputation has been dented by allegations of wiretapping by state security services, as well as the government’s failure to protect rail network safety.The election is unlikely to produce a new government.The Associated Press

UN says Afghan girls’ education activist arrested in Kabul

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — An Afghan rights activist who has campaigned for girls’ education has been arrested in Kabul, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said Matiullah Wesa, founder and president of Pen Path — a local nongovernmental group that travels across Afghanistan with a mobile school and library — was arrested in Kabul on Monday. Local reports said Taliban security forces detained Wesa after his return from a trip to Europe. The U.N. urged authorities in Kabul to clarify Wesa’s whereabouts, reasons for his arrest and ensure his access to legal representation and contact with family. There was no immediate word from the Taliban on the arrest.Since their takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed restrictions on women’s and minority rights. Girls are barred from school beyond the sixth grade and last year, the Taliban banned women from going to university. Wesa has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to s...

Freeland set to table federal budget : In The News for Mar. 28

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Mar. 28 …What we are watching in Canada …Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is set to table a federal budget in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon, which a federal source says will include plans to go after predatory lending and more details on dental care as part of a pitch to make life more affordable.The government official, who was granted anonymity to discuss matters that will not be public until the budget is released, said the federal Liberals intend to amend the Criminal Code to lower the amount of interest legally allowed to be charged.Predatory lending often involves short-term loans at sky-high high interest rates. Often marketed to people in financially precarious situations, they can create a cycle of debt tough to escape.The Criminal Code currently caps the legal interest rate at 60 per cent e...

Lawmakers vote on Paris Olympic law with surveillance fears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:39 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A proposed French law for the 2024 Paris Olympics that critics contend will open the door for privacy-busting video surveillance technology in France and elsewhere in Europe faces an important hurdle on Tuesday with lawmakers set to vote on it. The bill would legalize the temporary use of so-called intelligent surveillance systems to safeguard the Paris Games, which run next year from July 26-Aug. 11, and the Paralympics that follow. The systems combine cameras with artificial intelligence software to flag potential security concerns, such as abandoned packages or crowd surges. Human operators would decide whether action is needed.French authorities insist the surveillance wouldn’t involve facial recognition. Supporters of the bill argue that the technology could help avert disasters like the deadly crowd crush that killed nearly 160 people during Halloween festivities in South Korea in October.“It’s not about recognizing ‘Mr. X’ in a crowd,” Interior Minister Gér...