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China’s Xi meets Central Asian leaders, calls for trade, energy development

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised to build more railway and other trade links with Central Asia and proposed jointly developing oil and gas sources at a meeting Friday with the region’s leaders that highlighted Beijing’s growing influence.The two-day China-Central Asia Summit in the western city of Xi’an came as President Joe Biden and other leaders of the Group of Seven major economies met in Japan. It reflected Beijing’s efforts to develop trade and security centered on China, which resents U.S. domination of global affairs.China is making economic inroads into Central Asia, including with its Belt and Road Initiative to build railways and other trade-related infrastructure. That has rattled Russia, which sees the former Soviet republics as its sphere of influence, but their governments look to the world’s second-largest economy as an important market and a source of investment.“We need to expand economic and trade ties,” Xi said in a speech to leaders ...

New Zealand police lower hostel fire death toll to 5; man held in jail on arson charges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand police on Friday lowered the confirmed death toll from a Wellington hostel fire from six people to five, although they said they still haven’t finished searching the dangerous four-story building.And in another development, a man charged with two counts of arson in connection with the fire made his first court appearance. He was not required to enter a plea and was ordered held in jail until his next court appearance on June 19.If found guilty, the man faces a maximum 14 years in prison on the charges. Police said they’re treating the case as a homicide investigation and could add more serious charges later.Police Inspector Dion Bennett did not offer an explanation for why authorities had downgraded the death toll after they had put it at six since Tuesday, hours after the fire ripped through Loafers Lodge.But he did say police have still not been able to search all areas of the building after parts of a roof and a floor collaps...

At graduations, Native American students seek acceptance of tribal regalia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

When Kamryn Yanchick graduated, she hoped to decorate her cap with a beaded pattern in honor of her Indigenous heritage. Whether she could was up to her Oklahoma high school. Administrators told her no.Yanchick settled for beaded earrings to represent her Native American identity at her 2018 graduation.A bill vetoed earlier this month by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, would have allowed public school students to wear feathers, beaded caps, stoles or other objects of cultural and religious significance. Yanchick, a citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and descendent of the Muscogee Nation, said she hopes the legislature tries again.Being able to “unapologetically express yourself and take pride in your culture at a celebration without having to ask a non-Native person for permission to do so is really significant,” said Yanchick, who now works for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma.For Native American students, tribal regalia is often passed down through g...

CP NewsAlert: WestJet, pilots reach 11th-hour deal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

WestJet and its pilots union say they have reached a last-minute deal, averting a strike ahead of the May long weekend.More to come…This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2023.The Canadian Press

Austrian actor Helmut Berger, movie star in the 1960s and ’70s, dies at 78

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian-born actor Helmut Berger, a European movie star in the 1960s and 1970s who rose to prominence with roles in films by Italian director Luchino Visconti, died Thursday, his agent said. He was 78.Berger died “peacefully but nevertheless unexpectedly” early Thursday in his home city of Salzburg, agent Helmut Werner wrote on his management company’s website.Berger was born in Bad Ischl, Austria on May 29, 1944. In 1964, he worked as a film extra in Rome before being discovered by Visconti, who would later become his partner and in 1966 gave him his first role. He played prominent roles in Visconti’s “The Damned,” “Ludwig” and “Conversation Piece.”Berger’s credits also included appearances in Vittorio De Sica’s “The Garden of the Finzi-Continis,” Massimo Dallamano’s “Dorian Gray,” and, later, in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather Part III.”After a string of health problems, Berger announced the end of his acting career in Novem...

With G20 event, India seeks to project normalcy in disputed Kashmir

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — As India prepares to host a meeting of tourism officials from the Group of 20 in the disputed region of Kashmir, authorities have deployed elite commandos and stepped up security in the region’s largest city. The meeting will be the first significant international event in Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the Muslim-majority region of semi-autonomy in 2019. Indian authorities are hoping the meeting will show that the controversial changes have brought “peace and prosperity” to the region.Since the 2019 changes, the city, known for rolling Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, has become a major domestic tourist destination. Hotels have been mostly booked out for months. Kashmir has also drawn millions of visitors, who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. For the G20 meeting, the city has spruced up its commercial center and roads leading to the convention center on Da...

South Korea to send 21-member team to Japan to review discharge plans at Fukushima nuclear plant

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea will send a 21-member team of government experts to Japan next week to visit the Fukushima nuclear power plant where they will review contentious Japanese plans to release treated but slightly radioactive water into the sea.The six-day visit starting Sunday will focus on examining the plant’s processing system, which reduces radioactive materials from contaminated water, and whether the treated water would be safe enough to be diluted and discharged into the ocean, officials said Friday.The safety of the water for years has been a sensitive issue between the U.S. allies, who are now working to repair long-strained ties to address joint challenges like the North Korean nuclear threat and China’s assertive foreign policy.After a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol this month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that his government had agreed to host a team of South Korean experts at Fukushima to calm South Korean concerns ...

Nuggets’ Jamal Murray: Meditation fueled historic 23-point fourth quarter

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

For three quarters Thursday night, Jamal Murray was pedestrian.He short-armed shots he normally buries and bypassed teammates with better looks.For three quarters, the Lakers’ clever wrinkle — deploying length with Jarred Vanderbilt or LeBron James on him — appeared to work.When the Lakers double-teamed Nikola Jokic, Murray wasn’t making them pay like the Nuggets needed. But by the fourth quarter of Game 2, having mentally reset, Murray turned into a flamethrower.He saved 23 of his 37 points for the fourth quarter to forge a 2-0 lead in this Western Conference Finals and protect Denver’s homecourt advantage yet again. The Nuggets improved to 8-0 in Ball Arena with their 108-103 win, looking and acting like the No. 1 seed they earned throughout a dominant regular season.As if his scoring wasn’t enough, Murray added 10 boards and five assists to his sterling line.When he nailed a pull-up jumper with 2:10 left in the third quarter, that bucket served as his portal to a space only...

LeBron James on Lakers facing 2-0 series deficit to Nuggets: “This is not the NCAA Tournament.”

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

The King was allowed to skip college ball back in the day, but he must be getting more acquainted with March Madness now that his son is USC-bound.Young LeBron James went straight to the NBA, where the postseason allows him to make mistakes then redeem himself. A graying, wizened LeBron now faces a 2-0 series deficit for the third time in his 12 career conference finals appearances.The other two times he trailed 2-0? He got the last laugh in both of those series.“What you take out of it is the fact that this is not the NCAA tournament,” James said after the Nuggets took a 2-0 lead with a 108-103 win Thursday night at Ball Arena. “The first team to four wins.”Wise words that reflect the headspace of the Lakers as they return home to Los Angeles after two losses that were both attainable in the final minute.“Until a team beats you four times, you always have an opportunity to come out of it,” James preached. “So that’s the confidence tha...

Seal Beach residents brace for second night of possible flooding

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:43 GMT

While many residents along Southern California’s coastline are bracing for a second night of high tides and possible flooding, some people in Seal Beach spent the afternoon cleaning up the mess caused by rising waters Wednesday night.  A combination of high tide and high surf has created concern along south facing beaches in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties. Sand berms have been built in an effort to keep the water away from beachfront homes and businesses.  In Seal Beach, high tides rolled in last night, flooding streets and creating a muddy mess along the boardwalk, beach parking lots and homeowner’s properties.  “It started in the afternoon yesterday and we could see it coming across the beach,” resident Ron Larson told KTLA. “The waves aren’t big waves that overwhelm us...(but) they come one after another for hours and slowly but surely, it accumulates here and got into my garage over here by about 3 inches.”  Jim Cockrill, who lives a block inland fr...