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Demolition of historic minaret in southern Iraq’s Basra sparks outcry

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

BASRA, Iraq (AP) — For three centuries, the al-Siraji Mosque, with its minaret fashioned from weathered bricks and its pinnacle inlaid with blue ceramic tiles, was a distinctive feature of the city of Basra in southern Iraq. In recent years, it was one of the few tourist attractions in the oil-rich but neglected city, although locals complained that the minaret jutted out into the street, snarling traffic.In the early hours Friday morning, the 11-meter-high (33-foot-high) minaret was razed to the ground, with the governor of Basra attending the demolition, igniting a wave of social media backlash among advocates for the preservation of Iraq’s cultural heritage.Heritage sites in Iraq, home to multiple civilizations going back more than six millennia, have been hard hit by looting and damage over the decades of conflict before and after the U.S. invasion of 2003. Most notoriously, the militant Islamic State group demolished numerous ancient sites in northern Iraq, including Islamic sh...

Ukraine says fighting in east has intensified

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has "somewhat intensified" as Ukrainian and Russian forces clash in at least three areas on the eastern front, a senior Ukrainian defence official said on Sunday (16 July).Kyiv launched a counteroffensive last month in a bid to retake Russian-occupied territory and seize the initiative in Russia's full-scale invasion, now in its 17th month.Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram that Russian forces have been attacking in the direction of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region for two successive days."We are on the defensive," Maliar wrote. "There are fierce battles, the positions of both sides change dynamically several times a day."Maliar also said the two armies were pummelling one another around the ruined city of Bakhmut but that Ukrainian forces were "gradually moving forward" along its southern flank.She added that Kyiv's troops were also fending off Russian attacks near Avdiivka and Maryinka.A spokesman for the military's southern command sai...

Last ship leaves Ukraine port ahead of Black Sea grain-deal deadline

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

The last ship to travel under a UN-brokered deal that allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa early on Sunday (16 July) ahead of a deadline to extend the agreement, according to MarineTraffic.com.Russia has not agreed to register any new ships since 27 June and the initiative will expire on Monday unless Moscow agrees to extend it.A United Nations spokesman said on Friday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was waiting for a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin on a proposal to extend the deal.Putin told South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in a phone call on Saturday (15 July) that commitments to remove obstacles to Russian food and fertiliser exports had yet to be fulfilled, the Kremlin said.Russia has repeatedly threatened to quit the deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It had been previously extended for two months on 17 May.Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on ...

Santa Monica city councilman attacked by homeless man on 3rd Street Promenade

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

A homeless man was captured on video attacking a city councilman at a popular shopping district in Santa Monica.The attack happened on July 16 while Santa Monica city councilmember Phil Brock was walking with his girlfriend on 3rd Street Promenade, a busy shopping and dining area.Brock said he saw the suspect, Sawyer Walden Allee, 20, ripping signs off storefronts when he approached him to ask that he properly dispose of the signs instead of littering.Moments later as Brock was speaking with local police officers, he said Allee came after him and attacked him.“I saw a gentleman on the 1300 block of the promenade tearing signs off a storefront,” Brock recalled. “He was throwing them on the ground. As I walked by, I said, ‘Hey, can you put those in the trash can?’”When Brock began cleaning up and throwing the signs away, that’s when he said Allee approached him and began shouting obscenities.A homeless man was captured on video attacking a Santa Monica city councilman at Third Street ...

Britain’s MI6 intelligence chief says AI won’t replace human spies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Artificial intelligence will change the world of espionage, but it won’t replace human spies, the head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency says in prepared remarks released Wednesday. Richard Moore, director of the U.K.’s foreign intelligence agency, is set to speak in Prague on evolving threats to the West from Russia and Iran, and argue that the “human factor” will remain crucial in an era of rapidly evolving machine learning.“AI is going to make information infinitely more accessible and some have asked whether it will put intelligence services like mine out of business,” he says in extracts released in advance by the U.K. government.“In fact, the opposite is likely to be true,” he adds. “As AI trawls the ocean of open source, there will be even greater value in landing, with a well-cast fly, the secrets that lie beyond the reach of its nets.”Moore, who has previously warned that the West was falling behind rivals in the AI race, will argue that “the un...

Legisladores buscan eliminar cojines tras muertes de bebés

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

Dos miembros del Congreso están pidiendo al gobierno federal que tome medidas sobre los para bebés con forma de almohada después de que una investigación de NBC News revelara que ha habido muchas más muertes relacionadas con los productos que las anunciadas previamente por los funcionarios.En una carta enviada el viernes a la Comisión de Seguridad de Productos del Consumidor (CPSC), el senador Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., y la representante Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., describieron los cojines como “productos innecesarios” que ponían en peligro la vida de los bebés.“Es esencial una regla estricta que elimine las tumbonas tipo almohada y otros productos similares que inviten a los padres a usarlos creyendo que estos productos son seguros para el sueño de los bebés”, dijeron Blumenthal y Schakowsky en la carta.Al menos 25 muertes se han relacionado con las tumbonas para bebés desde 2015, informó NBC News este año. En septiembre de 2021, el gobierno federal retiró del mercado más de 3 millo...

Alex Kirilloff has his third consecutive multihit game as Twins beat Mariners 10-3

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Alex Kirilloff was a double shy of the cycle, Bailey Ober was sharp after a difficult first inning, and the Minnesota Twins defeated the Seattle Mariners 10-3 on Tuesday night.Minnesota (49-47) stays 1 1/2 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central standings, winning its last four of five. Seattle (47-47) has dropped three of five since the All-Star break.Ober (6-4) allowed three runs on six hits in the first inning alone, including a two-run homer, but was efficient for the final five innings, allowing just one more hit.“To go six innings after having a first inning like that is a pretty spectacular thing that he was able to do for us,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s a big reason why we won, they (Seattle) didn’t really do anything after the first inning.”Ober struck out five while walking none and now has six consecutive quality starts.“I feel like my first inning I was leaving a lot of stuff in the middle of the plate,” Ober said. “The only ...

Top US economist quits EU job after Macron speaks out

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

American economist Fiona Scott Morton won’t take up a job she was offered as the European Commission’s chief competition economist after a political backlash culminating in criticism from French President Emmanuel Macron about the choice of a non-EU candidate for the role.“Given the controversy that has arisen because of the selection of a non-European to fill this position, and the importance that the Directorate General has the full backing of the European Union as it enforces, I have determined that the best course of action is for me to withdraw and not take up the Chief Economist position,” Scott Morton said in a letter published by European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager on Twitter Wednesday morning.Scott Morton’s decision to withdraw comes as the College of Commissioners was due to discuss her appointment on Wednesday, after five commissioners raised concerns about Vestager and President Ursula von der Leyen’s pick for the ...

Finally, UK inflation comes off the boil

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

Inflation in the U.K. finally came off the boil in June, bringing relief to consumers, the government — and to the Bank of England. The consumer price index rose 0.1 percent on the month and was up 7.9 percent from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. That was down from a headline rate of 8.7 percent in May and, crucially, the first time in five months the numbers had not exceeded market expectations.Although falling energy prices contributed most to the improved picture, the slowdown in price increases was broad-based, with the ONS reporting no major gains in prices for specific goods or services. Food prices, which have become the focal point of popular anger at the highest inflation in over 40 years, inched higher, but their annual gain slowed to 17.4 percent from 18.4 percent in May. The ONS’ measure of core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy elements, fell more moderately, to 6.9 percent from 7.1 percent in May. However, lea...

Russia launches intense night attacks across Ukraine and targets the southern port city of Odesa

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:41 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched an intense series of nighttime air attacks sending drones and missiles toward places across Ukraine, targeting the southern port city of Odesa for a second night in a row, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian emergency officials in Crimea said that over 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages because of a fire at a military facility. The fire also caused the closure of an important highway, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed head of the region, which was annexed in 2014. He did not specific a cause for the fire at the facility in Kirovsky district, which came two days after an attack on a bridge linking Russia to the peninsula that the Kremlin has blamed on Ukraine. “A difficult night of air attacks for all of Ukraine,” Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said in a statement on Telegram. Ukrainian authorities reported more drones and missiles sent against more parts of Ukraine than...