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Russia stages Victory Day concert for Estonian Russians

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

After Estonia banned Soviet Victory Day celebrations, several hundred people in the Russian-speaking town of Narva watched celebrations across the river which separates it from Russia.A large stage and a screen was set up near the river in Russia, 200 meters (219 yards) away from the river promenade where people gathered with binoculars and flowers and clapped to the music.Thousands would gather in Narva each year on May 9, when Russia celebrates Soviet Victory Day to mark the end of World War Two in Europe, but the events were banned after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, and Soviet war monuments were removed from the town.Governments in Estonia, like the other Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania, see the Soviet victory in 1945 as a renewal of the brutal occupation of their lands, which were annexed into Soviet Union in 1940. Now members of NATO and the European Union, they are among the staunchest supporters of Ukraine and critics of Russia.Organised public gatherings were bann...

AFP video journalist killed in eastern Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

Arman Soldin was a 32-year old video journalist working for Agence France Presse in Ukraine. He was killed by Grad rockets on Tuesday near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine. AFP confirmed this on Twitter citing AFP co-workers who were present at the time.AFP said that the attack took place in the town's outskirts, close to Bakhmut. Bakhmut has been the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine over the past few months.Soldin was with his four colleagues who were all uninjured. They were with Ukrainian troops during the attack, AFP tweeted.AFP reported that "all of our thoughts are with his family and friends".

Sex? Sexual intercourse? Neither? Teens weigh in on evolving definitions — and habits

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Situationships. “Sneaky links.” The “talking stage,” the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phase — typically done via text — that can lead to a hookup.High school students are having less sexual intercourse. That’s what the studies say. But that doesn’t mean they’re having less sex.The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say.For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago, when more than half of teens reported having sex.The Associated Press took the findings to teenagers and experts around the country to ask for their in...

Hundreds of thousands to be evacuated as Bangladesh and Myanmar brace for severe cyclone threat

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people Friday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as a severe cyclonic storm called Mocha churned in the Bay of Bengal.The storm is expected to roar in on Sunday with a wind speed of up to 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), gusting to 175 kph (110 mph) between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, India’s Meteorological Department said.Bangladesh is a delta nation of more than 160 million people and is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. Evacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to start Saturday with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those moved from their homes along a vast coast, said Bangladesh government administrator Muhammad Shaheen Imran. “This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year,” said Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, a senior scientist at the Indian Meteorological Dep...

Greece’s prime minister tells AP he will extend ‘hand of friendship’ to rival Turkey if reelected

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

VOLOS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister tells AP he will extend ‘hand of friendship’ to rival Turkey if reelected.Source

AP PHOTOS: In quake-devastated Turkey, voting in presidential election is no simple task

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — For many voters from southern Turkey, casting ballots in Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections will be an uphill battle.The elections are taking place just three months after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake — the deadliest quake in the country’s modern history — struck the region, killing more than 50,000 people and leaving millions of others homeless and living in temporary accommodation — including tents.Of the estimated 3 million people that have left the quake zone, only 133,000 have registered to vote at their new locations, officials say. Political parties and nongovernmental organizations plan to bus voters back to their hometowns to allow them to vote, which is no easy task.“How will we transport 100,000 or 150,000 people to this city in one day?” said Akin Parlakyildiz, a local opposition party official in Antakya, the Hatay province city that suffered the worst devastation. “How will these people be transported through the narrow, ...

Copetti leads Charlotte FC against Atlanta United

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

Charlotte FC (3-5-3, ninth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Atlanta United FC (5-3-3, third in the Eastern Conference)Atlanta; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. EDTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLS LINE: Atlanta United FC -175, Charlotte FC +425, Draw +321; over/under is 2.5 goalsBOTTOM LINE: Enzo Copetti leads Charlotte FC into a matchup with Atlanta United after scoring two goals against New York City FC.United is 3-2-3 in conference play. United is 2-0-1 when it scores two goals.Charlotte is 3-3-2 in Eastern Conference games. Copetti paces the eighth-ranked scoring team in the Eastern Conference with four goals. Charlotte has scored 13.Saturday’s game is the second time these teams match up this season. United won the last meeting 3-0.TOP PERFORMERS: Giorgos Giakoumakis has scored five goals for United. Caleb Wiley has three goals and two assists over the last 10 games.Copetti has four goals for Charlotte. Kamil Jozwiak has two goals and two assists over the past 10 games.LAST 10 GAMES: United: 4-3-3...

Greek PM seeks ‘innovative’ solution to decades-old Parthenon Sculpture dispute with British Museum

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

VOLOS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister says his government is exploring a “win-win” solution to one of the world’s most intractable cultural heritage disputes: The fate of the Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum. But he rules out any deal that would include the word “loan.”“We will never recognize that these sculptures are owned, legally owned by the British Museum,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told The Associated Press in an interview during an election campaign stop in the central Greek city of Volos on Thursday evening. “But again, we have to be constructive and we have to be innovative if a solution is to be found.” Mitsotakis’ government has been in talks over the ancient sculptures, which form a key part of the British Museum’s collections. In February, the museum’s chair said the talks had been “constructive” and that the U.K. and Greece were working on a deal that would have the sculptures displayed in both London and Athens.“I wouldn’t ...

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue even as hopes for a cease-fire grow

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes against Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip continued for a third day Friday. The Palestinian death toll rose to 30, authorities said, as foreign mediators pressed ahead with efforts to reach a cease-fire. After the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group fired longer-range rockets toward Israel Thursday — sending shrapnel slicing through apartments that killed one person — the Israeli military said its warplanes struck Islamic Jihad rocket launchers. Gaza residents reported explosions in farms near the southern city of Rafah. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Despite those sporadic Israeli strikes, the situation early Friday was relatively calm. Islamic Jihad held its rocket fire overnight, raising hopes that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations would be able to broker a cease-fire.The cross-border exchanges this week have pitted Israel against Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the ...

The AP Interview: Mitsotakis hopes for better relations with Turkey if reelected as Greek premier

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:59 GMT

VOLOS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister says he will extend “a hand of friendship” to the winner of upcoming elections in the country’s neighbor and longtime regional rival Turkey — but adds that he hopes the next government will “reconsider its approach toward the West.”Kyriakos Mitsotakis, himself facing an election in just over a week, said he is willing to speak to whomever emerges victorious from Sunday’s polls in Turkey. “But I’m not naive,” he told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview while on the campaign trail in central Greece on Thursday evening. “I know that foreign policies of countries don’t change from one day to the next.”Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led his country as prime minister and president since 2003, faces his most challenging election. Amid a faltering economy, Erdogan has lost some ground to his main rival, the secular, center-left Kemal Kilicdaroglu.Although not to the same ...