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Many who struggled against Poland’s communist system feel they are fighting for democracy once again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Dariusz Stola began working with Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity movement in 1983. He was just 19 but already appalled by the way the regime imposed its harsh censorship, not just on political thought but culture as well.A member of his church choir would give him a stack of 200 opposition newspapers with uncensored texts on culture and history for distribution to locations where flowers in windows or other signs signaled that it was safe.Now a historian specializing in the communist era, he sees strong parallels with the current populist government, particularly the way it spreads “systematic lies” and propaganda against its political opponents, using taxpayer-funded public media.“I have déjà vu,” Stola said in an interview from his home in Warsaw. “I recognize the patterns which I remember from communist Poland.”Since the Law and Justice party came to power in 2015, it has sought to imprint its nationalistic, ultra-conservative viewpoint on the country, th...

Stock market today: Asian markets slip as rising yields in the bond market pressure stocks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian markets slipped on Friday following a decline on Wall Street driven by mounting pressure from rising bond market yields.U.S. futures rose slightly, and oil prices gained.China’s consumer prices in September remained flat compared to the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday, indicating persistent deflationary pressures and weak domestic demand. Meanwhile, China’s producer price index, which measures prices that factories charge wholesalers for their products, declined for the 12th straight month.The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 2% to 17,875.33 from a five-week high, and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.6% to 3,087.88.Singapore’s economy expanded faster than expected in the third quarter, according to the preliminary government data on Friday. The central bank decided to maintain its current monetary policy settings for the second consecutive meeting, as core inflation remains low and concerns about economic growth per...

Shooting at Philadelphia International Airport garage kills 1 police officer and wounds another

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed and a second officer was wounded Thursday night when they confronted people breaking into cars at Philadelphia International Airport, police said.A person who was brought to a hospital privately and died there may have been involved in the shooting but investigators haven’t confirmed that, interim Police Commissioner John Stanford said at a late-night news conference.Stanford said the officers were heading to work when they saw several people breaking into a vehicle in the parking garage area.As the officers approached, “the suspects opened fire,” hitting one officer several times in the upper body and the other in the arm, Stanford said.One officer died shortly after 11:30 p.m. at a hospital. His name wasn’t released but he was 50 years old and had 22 years with the force, Stanford said.The married officer had one child, Stanford said. “They are here at the hospital, as you can imagine, heartbroken,” Stanfo...

Man charged with stealing ‘Wizard of Oz’ slippers from Minnesota museum expected to plead guilty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man charged with the museum heist of a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the “The Wizard of Oz” was expected to change his plea to guilty in court Friday, pulling back the curtain on a whodunnit mystery dating back 18 years. Terry Jon Martin, 76, was indicted in May on one count of theft of a major artwork. The shoes from the film were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the actress’ hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and recovered in 2018 by the FBI. No one was arrested in the case until Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, was charged earlier this year. Martin’s attorney, Dane DeKrey, said his client, who is in poor health, has been cooperative with authorities.“I think Terry is facing his own mortality and I think when people are reaching that point in their life, they cut through the pleasantries and talk turkey,” DeKrey said in an interview ahead of Friday’s scheduled hearing.The one-page indictment gave no details of th...

How all three phases, “boneheaded mistake” from Broncos coach Sean Payton before halftime conspired to make comeback vs. Chiefs even more difficult

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Beating the Chiefs here any time is difficult enough.Thursday night or Sunday afternoon. October or January. Pristine weather, persistent wind or pelting snow.The job becomes essentially impossible if a visitor fails in all three phases of the game.That’s exactly what happened for the Broncos at the end of the first half in a 19-8 loss Thursday night.Overall, the defense played well, the offense stunk and the special teams checked in somewhere in between. But they all had a hand in allowing Harrison Butker’s 60-yard field goal to end the half. And head coach Sean Payton played a key role, too.Consider this: The Broncos started their final possession of the half with just 47 seconds left on the clock.Russell Wilson followed an ideal drive-starter — a 15-yard screen to running back Samaje Perine out to the Denver 39-yard line — with an incompletion and a low throw to Courtland Sutton that prompted Payton to take his first timeout.On third-and-5 from his own 44...

New call worth €96.6 million for doctoral training and postdoctoral fellowship programmes thanks to Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

The Commission opened a new call of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions' (MSCA) co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND). With a budget of €96.6 million, this call will co-finance doctoral training programmes and post-doctoral fellowship programmes of outstanding quality. Through MSCA COFUND, any kind of organization, including universities, research centres, companies, or regional or national authorities can receive funding to develop and support their own training programmes, which can have a regional, national or international component, to attract international talent and increase their research and innovation capacities. Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Commissioner Iliana Ivanova, said: “Thanks to this initiative, European organizations that perform, fund or support research have an excellent opportunity to receive co-funding for their new or existing programmes on training, career development and mobility of researchers. This wil...

Long Beach man sentenced to 17 years for attempted burglary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

A Long Beach man was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Wednesday for attempted residential burglary earlier this year. On January 9 at approximately 2:15 a.m., Simi Valley police responded to a report of an attempted break-in on Township Avenue. Shawn Hernandez, 31, of Long Beach and other unidentified co-conspirators shattered a rear glass sliding door in an attempt to burglarize a home. When officers arrived, the driver of a Dodge Charger, later identified as co-defendant Karenga Williams, fled the neighborhood, leaving Hernandez and others at the scene and leading police on a short, high-speed pursuit before he crashed the car. Authorities recovered personal identifying information that belonged to Hernandez after searching the car. They also found evidence at several residences surrounding the victim’s home, including a black ski mask, sweatshirt, gloves, and a bag in a neighbor’s backyard.Detectives identified Hernandez as a possible participant after they discovered his DNA m...

Golden Knights’ second-period goals deflate Sharks in season-opener

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks game on Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights carried with it all the pomp and circumstance — and the hope – that’s usually associated with a season-opener.But with the Sharks in the depths of a rebuild, and the Golden Knights seeking a second straight Stanley Cup, perhaps it was only a matter of time before the game started to tilt in a certain direction.The Sharks gave up goals to Nicolas Hague and Nicolas Roy in the final 89 seconds of the second-period in what became a 4-1 loss to the Golden Knights before an announced sellout crowd of 17,435 at SAP Center.The two teams were tied 1-1 when a shot by Hague got through Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen’s legs at the 18:31 mark of the second-period. Roy added another goal 53 seconds later, putting the Sharks in a hole they couldn’t escape.“I thought that really deflated us,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “I thought we played a good period for 18 minutes. They had two scori...

Don't leave 'love locks' on fences, Grand Canyon says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

(KRON) -- Some people demonstrate their love for their significant other by leaving a padlock -- or a "love lock" -- on a fence. The Grand Canyon says you should not do that. People who leave love locks often carve the couple's initials into the lock before throwing the key away. This is where the danger lies. These Bay Area cities were once the capitals of California — some of them might surprise you Rare and endangered condors inhabit the Grand Canyon, and they are drawn to shiny things. When lovebirds chuck their key into the canyon after leaving the lock on a fence, a real bird might swallow it. "Condors love shiny things. They will spot a coin, a wrapper, or a shiny piece of metal, like a key from a padlock that has been tossed into the canyon and eat it. Condors are not meant to digest metal and many times cannot pass these objects," the National Park posted on Facebook. The post included an X-ray of coins lodged in a condor's digestive tract. The park said that the bird ha...

What to know on the seventh day of the latest Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:33:37 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has ordered the evacuation of some 1.1 million people in northern Gaza as the latest Israel-Hamas war entered its seventh day, the United Nations said Friday. The order could signal an impending ground offensive, though the military said Thursday that while it was preparing, a decision had not yet been made.The Israeli military pulverized the Hamas -ruled Gaza Strip with airstrikes and blocked deliveries of food, water, fuel and electricity ahead of a possible ground invasion as Palestinians tried to stock up on supplies.International aid groups warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis after Israel prevented entry of supplies from Egypt to Gaza’s 2.3 million people. The Israel-Hamas war has claimed at least 2,800 lives on both sides since Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Oct. 7.Some key takeaways from the war:WILL ISRAEL LAUNCH A GROUND ASSAULT?Israel has ordered the evacuation of 1.1 million people in northern Gaza, and directed hundreds o...