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Russia warns Armenia not to join International Criminal Court

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

KORNIDZOR, Armenia — Armenia’s plans to sign up to the International Criminal Court would worsen a growing rift with Moscow, the Kremlin has warned, given the decision would oblige the former Soviet republic to arrest President Vladimir Putin if he were to ever visit the country again.Speaking to reporters Thursday, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that in light of the ICC warrant for Putin’s arrest on war crimes charges, joining the international legal pact would be seen as “extremely hostile” toward Russia.“Armenia knows very well that we are not parties to the [Rome Statute], and Armenia is well aware of the difficult decision adopted on the basis of this statute,” he cautioned.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has sought closer ties with the West in a bid to end dependence on Moscow in recent months, has said he is confident the country’s parliament will ratify the Rome Statute and acknowledge the jurisdiction of the ICC. He has insisted that joining the cou...

How JuJu Smith-Schuster feels about role on Patriots through slow start to season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

FOXBORO — There were high hopes for wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster this season coming out of training camp, but the first three games of his Patriots career have gone anything but smooth.The veteran wide receiver has 10 catches on 16 targets for just 66 yards. Of 161 qualified pass catchers, Smith-Schuster ranks 127th in yards after catch per attempt, 115th in yards per route run, 111th in average depth of target and 112th in drop rate.He had a smile on his face while talking about his place on the team Wednesday in the Patriots’ locker room, however.“Yeah, it’s going well,” Smith-Schuster said. “Honestly, I feel like the role that I’m playing is pretty big. Doing my part in trying to contribute to this team and help the team as much as possible where I’m needed. I think it’s all coming along. I’ve played in this league for so long that you kind of learn to learn how to adapt and do things that the team needs. And I feel like me being here, I love my...

Michael Gambon, actor who played Prof. Dumbledore in 6 'Harry Potter' movies, dies at age 82

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Veteran actor Michael Gambon, who was known to many for his portrayal of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight “Harry Potter” films, has died, his publicist said Thursday. He was 82.A statement by his family, issued by his publicist, said he died following “a bout of pneumonia.”“We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon. Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside,” his family said.No matter what role he took on in a career that lasted more than five decades, Gambon was always instantly recognizable by the deep and drawling tones of his voice. He was cast as the much-loved Dumbledore after the death of his predecessor, Richard Harris, in 2002.He once acknowledged not having read any of J. K. Rowling’s best-selling books, arguing that it was safer to follow the script rather than be too influenced by the books. That didn't prevent him from embodying the spirit of P...

Slightly fewer number of Americans apply for jobless benefits as layoffs remain rare

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits inched up modestly this week after reaching their lowest level in eight months the previous week, as the labor market continues to defy the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes meant to cool it.Filings for jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 204,000 for the week ending Sept. 23, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Last week’s figure was the lowest since January.Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.The four-week moving average of claims, which quiets some of the week-to-week noise, fell by 6,250 to 211,000.Though the Federal Reserve opted to leave its benchmark borrowing rate alone last week, it is well into the second year of its battle to squelch four-decade high inflation. Part of the Fed’s goal in that fight has been to cool the labor market and bring down wages, but so far that hasn’t happened.The whopping 11 interest rate hikes since March of last year ...

NY Attorney General Letitia James has a long history of fighting Trump and other powerful targets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Letitia James fixated on Donald Trump as she campaigned for New York attorney general, branding the then-president a “con man” and ″carnival barker” and pledging to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.”Five years later, James is on the verge of disrupting Trump’s real estate empire after a judge ruled Tuesday that he defrauded banks, insurers and others by exaggerating the value of assets on paperwork used for deals and securing loans.The ruling shifts control of some of Trump’s companies to a court-appointed receiver, meaning he could lose control of prized properties like Trump Tower, a sprawling suburban estate, office buildings and more.For James, a Democrat, it’s just the latest joust with a powerful foe.Here’s a look at her political background and some of her biggest cases:LAWSUITS AGAINST TRUMPJames began investigating Trump just about as soon as she took office as attorney general in 2019. She launched several lawsuit...

US government estimates last quarter’s economic growth was 2.1%, unchanged from previous estimate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.The second-quarter expansion of the nation’s gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — marked a modest deceleration from revised 2.2% annual growth from January through March. Consumer spending, business investment and state and local governments drove the second-quarter economic expansion.The economy and job market have shown surprising resilience even though the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates to combat inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since mid-March 2022, leading to concerns that ever-higher borrowing rates will trigger a recession. So far, though, inflation has eased without causing much economic pain, leading to hope the central bank can...

NATO’s secretary-general meets with Zelenskyy to discuss battlefield and ammunition needs in Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the status of the war and needs of troops on Thursday, the day after Russia accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.Zelenskyy said that Stoltenberg agreed to make efforts to get NATO members to help provide additional air defense systems to protect Ukraine’s power plants and energy infrastructure that were badly damaged in relentless and deadly attacks by Russia last winter. He also reminded the secretary-general of the persistent attacks that often strike civilian areas, including 40 drone attacks overnight. “In the face of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, our ports, which are crucial for global food security, we need a corresponding intensity of pressure on Russia and a strengthening of our air defense,” Zelenskyy said. “...

Hurricane Juan: the most powerful and deadly storm to hit Atlantic Canada in 50 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

HALIFAX — Chris Fogarty remembers the moment 20 years ago when he transmitted a weather bulletin warning that hurricane Juan would make landfall near Halifax, churning out gusts at 140 kilometres per hour.With the storm’s arrival only 36 hours away, the meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Centre was worried the alert would be ignored.“We had gone through almost two decades of very little hurricane impact in Canada,” Fogarty said in a recent interview, recalling how Juan would become the most powerful and deadly storm to hit Atlantic Canada in almost 50 years.“People didn’t really have any memory of recent hurricanes …. There was still a sense that we didn’t get hurricanes in Eastern Canada.”That sense of complacency stands in sharp contrast to today. In the two decades since Juan made landfall on the morning of Sept. 29, 2003, the East Coast has been lashed by several intense tropical storms, including Igor in 2010, Arthur in 201...

Inspired by llamas, the desert and Mother Earth, these craftswomen weave sacred textiles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

COLCHANE, Chile (AP) — In northern Chile, Teófila Challapa learned to weave surrounded by the hills and sandy roads of the Atacama Desert.“Spin the threads, girl,” her grandmother told her a half a century ago.Aymara women like Challapa, now 59, become acquainted with wool threads under blue skies and air so thin that outsiders struggle to breathe. While herding llamas and alpacas through scarce grasslands 11,500 feet above sea level, they create their first textiles.“We had no clothes or money, so we needed to learn how to dress with our own hands,” said Challapa, sitting next to fluffy alpacas outside her humble home in Cariquima, a town with fewer than 500 inhabitants near the Chile-Bolivia border. The knowledge of her craft passes on from one generation to another, securing Aymara families’ bond with their land.Challapa prays before beginning her work: “Mother Earth, give me strength, because you’re the one who will produce, not me.”Among the 3 million Aymaras ...

How Canada created an international incident through sheer incompetence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:11 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, somehow, nobody involved in the now-infamous affair clued into the fact that a man who was fighting against the Russians in 1943 would have been fighting with the Nazis. That’s at the core of last week’s House of Commons’ screwup that has made international waves, become a hyper-partisan blame game in Ottawa and has many people speed running the history of the Second World War.David Moscrop, an author, podcaster and political commentator is on today’s episode.“This is an international and historical incident of some considerable concern. This is not just a mistake in the House of Commons in Canada. It is now bound up with world history, with the history of the Second World War, with geopolitics in Europe, and with the Russian-Ukraine war,” said Moscrop.But who’s really to blame for this failure? Why will the blame land at the feet of the Liberals and Justin Trudeau regardless of the answer? And what do these frequent misste...