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Russia says top UN court should dismiss Ukraine’s case over Crimea and terrorism funding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Russia urged judges at the United Nations’ highest court on Thursday to throw out a case brought by Ukraine against Moscow over the 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the arming of rebels in eastern Ukraine before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.“We appear before you today in order to demonstrate that Ukraine’s application must be dismissed because it is without any legal foundation. Nor does it have any factual evidence to back it,” Russian Ambassador to the Netherlands Alexander Shulgin told judges at the International Court of Justice.Lawyers for Ukraine said as hearings in the case opened Tuesday that Russia bankrolled a “campaign of intimidation and terror” by rebels in eastern Ukraine starting in 2014 and sought to replace Crimea’s multiethnic community with “discriminatory Russian nationalism.”Ukraine filed the case in 2017, asking the world court to order Moscow to pay reparations for attacks and crimes such as the ...

No homecomeming for Messi as Barcelona again fails to do enough to attract him back

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Once again, Barcelona couldn’t do enough to entice Lionel Messi.Nearly two years after the club was forced to let Messi go against his will because of its financial struggles, Barcelona again missed out on a chance to bring the World Cup winner back.The 35-year-old Messi announced Wednesday he would not return to Spain and instead said he was going to join Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.There had been hopes of a reunion between the Argentina great and the Spanish club where he thrived for nearly two decades before leaving to join Paris Saint-Germain, but in the end there was only more disappointment for both sides.Again, Barcelona’s finances kept the club from luring Messi back.The Argentine apparently wanted to return but didn’t want to go through the ordeal of not knowing whether the Catalan club would be able to sign him. He said he was told the club would have to either sell other players or lower salaries, and he didn’t want that to happen.“I reall...

Prosecutors will get to see report on how Loudoun Co. schools handled sexual assaults, but public won’t

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

Loudoun County Public Schools said it will turn over a report on how it handled two in-school sexual assaults by the same student in 2021 to prosecutors, but the Virginia school system doesn’t intend to make it public.In a statement Wednesday, the school system said it doesn’t plan to appeal a Circuit Court judge’s ruling last week that the report be shared with prosecutors within seven days. That’s “because the B&K Report will remain confidential and can only be seen by the individuals involved” in former Superintendent Scott Ziegler’s case, the statement said.Law firm Blankingship & Keith put together the report.“Board members also believe it is better for the Loudoun County community if it does not contest this matter further,” the statement said.A majority of the school board disagreed with last week’s ruling.In April 2022, the school system said a different Loudoun County Circuit Court judge ruled that the repo...

Nigeria’s president defends end to fuel subsidy as hardship bites harder

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday defended the West African nation’s decision last week to stop subsidizing fuel, a move that has pushed up prices for transportation and commodities.Tinubu appealed for patience as millions of citizens face additional economic hardship. The money saved by ending the decades-old subsidy will help the government’s efforts to fight poverty and implement other initiatives, he told governors in a meeting in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja.“We can see the effects of poverty on the faces of our people. Poverty is not hereditary, it is from society. Our position is to eliminate poverty,’’ a statement from the Nigerian presidency quoted Tinubu as saying. The governors supported the subsidy’s removal and promised to work together in implementing it, the presidency’s statement said.Though Nigeria is an oil-producing nation, it depends on imported refined petroleum products, and the government has subsi...

Reportan varias personas heridas, entre ellas varios niños, por un individuo armado con un cuchillo en Francia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

(CNN) — Al menos ocho personas, entre ellas niños, resultaron heridas este jueves por un individuo armado con un cuchillo en la ciudad francesa de Annecy, según informó el ministro del Interior de Francia, Gérald Darmanin, en su cuenta oficial de Twitter.“Varias personas, entre ellas niños, han resultado heridas por un individuo armado con un cuchillo en una plaza de Annecy. El individuo fue detenido gracias a la rápida intervención de la policía”, dijo.El sospechoso detenido en relación con el ataque con arma blanca es un varón, según informó la Prefectura de Alta Saboya.El Ministerio del Interior de Francia informó que la primera ministra del país, Elisabeth Borne, viajará este jueves a la ciudad de Annecy con el ministro del Interior, Gérald Darmanin.El ministro de Sanidad de Francia, François Braun, ha tuiteado que sus pensamientos están con las víctimas del ataque con arma blanca en la ciudad francesa de Annecy.“Todos mis pensamientos van inmediatamente ...

‘Code Red’ air quality alert as impact of Canadian wildfires sweeps through DC area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

Poor air quality will continue through Friday in the D.C. region courtesy of the smoke from the wildfire ravaging parts of Canada. With “unsafe” and “unhealthy” air posing a threat, here’s what you need to know.Listen to WTOP online and on the radio at 103.5 FM or 107.7 FM.Current traffic conditionsWeather forecastClosings and DelaysSign up for WTOP alertsHealth experts and meteorologists urge everyone, especially people with asthma, heart disease and respiratory issues, as well as older adults, to stay indoors.In Northern Virginia, Thursday’s air quality index, or AQI, is forecast at an unhealthy level — 156 — the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said. The D.C. Department of Energy and Environment predicts the same unhealthy levels for Thursday.A Code Red Air Quality Alert has also been issued for Maryland’s suburbs to the north of D.C.AQI describes how clean the air is and what health effects may be expected. A satisfactory AQI...

Preserving our blue planet: UN World Oceans Day spotlights urgent need for action

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

Thursday marks World Oceans Day, a United Nations program focused on raising awareness of one of our planet’s most important resources. Whether we live in the ocean or not, we are all bound to the salty water of the sea.“Our survival depends on a healthy ocean,” said Cassandra Brooks with the University of Colorado. On this year’s World Ocean Day, the UN is calling attention to human impact on the ocean, how to protect the aqueous ecosystem’s health, and how to defend its organisms. “Oceans are critically threatened by not just climate change but also habitat degradation and overfishing,” said Brooks.According to the UN, the oceans generate roughly 50% of the world’s oxygen. Fish are a main source of protein for more than 1 billion people.By 2030, about 40 million people will work in fields that revolve around the ocean, like shipbuilding, fishing and transportation. Experts say our oceans are under attack and state that by 2050, the a...

An iconic Taco Bell menu item is going vegan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

New York (CNN) — One of Taco Bell’s most recognizable menu items is going vegan.The chain is testing a vegan Crunchwrap, marking the first time that Taco Bell has sold a fully vegan entree.Similar to a traditional Crunchwrap, the vegan version uses a “proprietary, boldly seasoned” plant-based protein created by the company, and is then topped with two vegan sauces: a blanco sauce (similar to sour cream) and a vegan nacho sauce. Then it’s all wrapped in a crunchy tostada shell.However, it’s not going nationwide just yet: A total of three Taco Bell locations — one each in New York City, Hollywood and Orlando — will sell the vegan Crunchwrap beginning June 8 until supplies last. Those cities were selected because they have “notable vegan populations,” the company said. The vegan version is priced the same as a traditional wrap, which ranges from $4.99 to $6.79 depending on the city.Although the menu item can be classified as vegan since it doesn’t contain any animal ingredients, it mig...

EU to Zuckerberg: Explain yourself over Instagram pedophile network

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wants Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to explain and take “immediate” action over a recently exposed large pedophile network on Instagram. Instagram has been letting a vast network of accounts promoting and purchasing child sexual abuse material flourish on its platform, according to investigations by the Wall Street Journal and researchers released on June 7. The social media platform lets users search for explicit hashtags, and has offenders exploit its recommendation algorithms to promote illicit content.“Meta’s voluntary code on child protection seems not to work,” Breton wrote Thursday on Twitter. “Mark Zuckerberg must now explain & take immediate action.”Breton said he will discuss the issue with Zuckerberg at the Meta headquarters on June 23 during a trip to the U.S. The politician will travel later this month to see how social media companies including Twitter are preparing to comply wi...

How Seville won the World’s Fair

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:53 GMT

How Seville won the World’s FairGlitzy international expositions can be money losers — but the Andalusian city proved they don’t have to be.By Aitor Hernández-MoralesPhoto courtesy of STP CartujaThis article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Sign up here.Cities enter into a devil’s bargain when they agree to host an international exposition.They bask in the global spotlight while the event lasts — but once the fair shutters and visitors leave, locals are left dealing with a fat bill and empty grounds.When it hosted Expo ‘92, Seville attempted to avoid that fate by designing its World’s Fair grounds to be reused as an innovation campus immediately after the event ended.Just months later, those plans collapsed when Spain’s deep economic recession drove off the businesses that were meant to move in.Improbably, today Seville’s former fairgrounds are a succ...