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Congo’s presidential election spotlights the deadly crisis in the east that has displaced millions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Elisha Manishimwe longs to return to his village in eastern Congo to vote in this month’s presidential election. But for two years he has lived in a displacement camp with thousands of others after fleeing for his life. His fatigue is compounded by despair.Many of the displaced do not even have voter’s cards. The cards’ poor quality is another concern: printed with thermal ink, they are quickly becoming illegible.Hopes are fading, too.“The authorities we’ve always voted for are no use to us,” said Manishimwe, a father of five. “They promised us that they would end the war before the elections, but that hasn’t been the case. If they want us to go to the elections, they should end the war so that we can go home and vote.”As Congo prepares to hold elections on Dec. 20, a record 6.9 million people are displaced across the vast Central African nation, according to the United Nations. In the east, fighting between the military and M23 rebels has displaced hundreds...

St. Louis Blues fire head coach Craig Berube

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Blues are parting ways with head coach Craig Berube, the only coach to lead the franchise to a Stanley Cup title in its half-century-plus history. The Blues announced late Tuesday evening that Berube was relieved of duties, just hours after the team's 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings that extended a losing steak to four games. St. Louis has named Drew Bannister as the interim head coach. He had been serving as the head coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds, the AHL affiliate of the Blues. Berube spent parts of six seasons with the Blues, a tenure that ended with a 206-132-44 record in St. Louis. He replaced Mike Yeo as the interim head coach in November 2018, working with a team that was dead last nearly halfway through that season and eventually securing the team's first and only Stanley Cup title seven months later. Berube coached the Blues to four consecutive playoff berths from 2019-2022, but has weathered through some tougher times since then. Last se...

President Tokayev signs Action Plan on human rights ahead of World Human Rights Day

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed on 8 December a new presidential decree setting out the country’s action plan on human rights and the rule of law. “This action plan aims to promote gender equality, combat any forms of domestic violence, enhance the performance of the criminal justice system, and prevent torture and ill-treatment,” wrote Tokayev. According to him, the new decree envisions the establishment of robust mechanisms dedicated to ensuring freedom of association, safeguarding workers’ rights, and uplifting vulnerable groups within the country. 10 December is celebrated worldwide as Human Rights Day. This year, it also marks the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nation’s (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Astana hosted an international conference on 7-8 December discussing human rights progress in Kazakhstan.

2 SoCal suspects accused of stealing millions from elderly victims

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

Two L.A. County residents are accused of stealing over $2 million through “grandparent scams."The suspects were identified as James Wesley Jackson III, aka “Imperial,” 42, and Christopher Fagon, 45, who used several aliases, mostly variations of “Christopher Broker," according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.“Grandparent scams” typically involve convincing elderly victims to send money to help their relatives. Oftentimes, the victims are told their grandchildren are in legal trouble.Victims are told to send the money to bank accounts, business entities and addresses provided by the scammers through interstate wires and cashier’s checks, according to court documents.The stolen money is then handled by “money mules” who allow their addresses or bank accounts to be used to receive or negotiate cashier’s checks.Fagon was allegedly a manager of money mules, including Jackson, who then recruited his own money mules, officials said. Fagon is accused of creating businesses and opening bank ac...

Kurtenbach: Draymond Green is going to be suspended (again) and it raises some serious questions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

Five, 10, 15, or 20 games — no matter how long Draymond Green’s upcoming suspension is, it’ll be justified.For the second time in less than a month, Green was ejected for on-court pugilism Tuesday.In November, Green put Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in an impressive headlock, resulting in a five-game suspension.At least that came amid a fracas.Tuesday, Green punched Suns center Jusuf Nurkić amid some routine jostling in the post.He wasn’t coming to the aid of his teammate. He wasn’t countering another dirty play.Green’s spinning hook punch was dumb, churlish, and exceptionally unnecessary. It was a cheap shot — indefensible, even for those like me who have gone to bat for Green time and time again.Green claimed he was merely trying to “sell” a foul. He blamed instant replay for how it looked. He agreed with the ejection, but claimed it wasn’t his intention to hit Nurkić.He said he isn’t sure the hit is worthy of a suspension.Al...

Goaltending, special teams come up huge for Sharks in win over Winnipeg Jets

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

SAN JOSE – William Eklund scored a power-play goal with 4:51 left in regulation time to help lift the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday at SAP Center.Eklund took a pass from Mikael Granlund and ripped a one-timer past Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit for his seventh goal of the season. Granlund’s assist extended his point streak to six games as the Sharks improved to 4-1-1 this month.Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 36 saves, including eight while shorthanded as the Sharks were 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, which included killing off penalties to Henry Thrun and Mike Hoffman in the third period.The Sharks had given up a power-play goal in five of their previous six games and entered Tuesday with the 31st-ranked penalty-killing unit in the NHL at 71.9 percent.The Sharks went 3-2-1 on their road trip that started Nov. 30 and ended Sunday with a shootout loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.Center Nico Sturm was injured in the third period ...

Meeting held over smelly air and chemical release in Richmond

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

RICHMOND, Calif. (KRON) – The Richmond City Council spent hours questioning the Veolia Water company Tuesday night about a hydrogen sulfide emission at the water treatment plant. The odor was released from Dec. 4-6 and led to complaints by people living in Point Richmond.Tensions were high at the special council meeting. The community heard from executives with Veolia Water North America about the hydrogen sulfide odor emitted from the water treatment plant. SF tech exec forced assistant to sign sex ‘slave contract,’ lawsuit alleges The odor emission began the night of Dec. 4 after everyone had left the plant for the night.“That really sharp acrid smell of manure, that’s what it is. It’s like living on a manure pile. It is embarrassing,” said Edie Alderette-Sellers, who lives in the Port Richmond area. “I woke up the next morning spitting up blood because I have coughed so hard in my sleep that my tonsils started bleeding.”Representatives from the plant say there was a dip in the ...

COP28 ends with call to move away from fossil fuels

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Nearly 200 nations sealed an agreement Wednesday urging countries to begin “transitioning away from fossil fuels” — a hard-fought deal that makes this the first-ever climate accord to address the primary driver of warming temperatures.The outcome drew a standing ovation in the packed plenary hall, a sharp turn from two days of tense, round-the-clock negotiations pitting advocates of aggressive climate action against fossil fuel producers such as Saudi Arabia. The talks also featured complaints from developing countries that rich nations such as the United States were not doing enough to help them shift to cleaner energy sources.The deal is the first time any of the nearly three decades of annual U.N. climate summits has agreed to language explicitly curtailing fossil fuels.“We have delivered a paradigm shift that has the potential to redefine our economies,” summit president Sultan al-Jaber, the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned o...

Appreciation: A paperboy curiosity that lasted a lifetime

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

My dad would stop and scan the headlines while delivering the Boston Herald and his local Lowell Sun along his paper route in the factory city as the world tore itself apart.He told me about being fascinated by the evacuation of Dunkirk like it was yesterday. That memory was from late May of 1940 when he was 12 years old.He volunteered during the Korean War to rush wounded soldiers off helicopters flown in from M*A*S*H units at the hospital in Yokohama, Japan, where he was stationed. His college business courses kept him off the front lines. He never said much about it, but he was determined to help.He was a high school teacher, a professor, an author, a veteran, and a counselor ready with sage advice. He let us all stay up late while he was studying at the University of Illinois to watch the moon landing in July of 1969. It was a teachable moment I’ll never forget.Roland “Al” Dwinell died last Thursday night while in hospice care. His funeral will be held on his 95th birthday...

Chula Vista City Council moves forward with reopening plan at Harborside Park

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:59:28 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- Chula Vista City Council members were able to come to a unanimous consensus to move forward with a plan to reopen Harborside Park on the city's west side.Harborside Park had been closed since August 2022. The park, which sits near an elementary school, shops, and a trolley station, had become overrun with homeless individuals who continue to reside at the park even after it’s closure."Exponential growth of those camps and those areas are putting business owners in danger and just citizens that work in that area or they do shopping," said Roberto Ramirez, owner of nearby Strong Base Jiu Jitsu.On Tuesday night, city council was faced with the options of directing city staff to move forward with a re-opening plan or declaring Harborside “surplus land," which would open up the more than five acres of land for potential housing development and a recreation center."We don’t need that additional housing there. We’ve already exceeded what’s expected of the city, are w...