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Milwaukee school bus engulfed in flames after driver safely evacuates 37 students

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A school bus driver in Milwaukee safely evacuated 37 students from her bus just before it became engulfed in flames.The bus was just blocks from their destination at the Milwaukee Academy of Science Wednesday morning when Imunek Williams smelled something burning, WISN-TV reported.Williams had been driving the bus for two hours by then, and had kindergartners to high schoolers onboard. She initially thought the smell was coming from another vehicle.“But then as I started to drive more, the smell and the smoke started to get thicker,” she told the television station for a story Thursday.“I just told the kids, ‘Let’s get off,’” Williams said. “I evacuated the bus, made sure everyone was off, and made them line up against a gate. And as soon as we stepped off the bus, I turned around and the bus was just — in flames.”Firefighters put out the blaze and Williams, who is due to give birth in August, was taken to a hospital as a precaution. What caused th...

Claressa Shields and her winning committee

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

She is America’s most decorated boxer, amateur or pro, male or female. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, an undefeated, unified champion in not one, but two divisions.Claressa Maria “T-Rex” Shields is preparing for her seventh total title defense against Maricela Cornejo (16-5 with six knockouts) from Prosser, Washington on June 3 in Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, home to the NBA Pistons and NHL Red Wings and streaming on DAZN.Cornejo replaces Hanna Gabriels who flunked a pre-fight drug test this month.The 28-year-old Shields (13-0 with two kayos), headlines the card less than 70 miles from where she grew up.Behind her in-the-ring greatness are two members of her team on the outside pushing all the right buttons: manager Mark Taffet, a former HBO executive and former boxer turned promoter Dmitriy Salita, an orthodox Jew from Ukraine.THE CHAMPIONShe is the WGOAT.Just ask her.“I am the greatest,” she says, though not as loud as the original author,...

Warsaw City Hall: Half a million people turn out to protest Poland’s right-wing government

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — An enormous anti-government march took place in Poland’s capital Sunday, with citizens traveling from across the country to voice their anger at a right-wing administration that has eroded democratic norms and created fears the nation is following Hungary and Turkey down the path to autocracy.The local government in Warsaw estimated that 500,000 people joined the march, which was led by the opposition party to which the city’s mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, belongs. It was not possible to verify that figure.Large crowds gathered in Krakow and other cities across the nation of 38 million, showing frustration with a government that critics accuse of violating the constitution and eroding fundamental rights in Poland, a country long hailed as model of peaceful and democratic change.Former President Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity movement that played a historic role in toppling communism in Poland, stood on a stage with the leader of the oppositio...

Two men wanted in violent early morning assault in downtown Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

The search is underway for two men wanted in connection with a violent early morning assault in the downtown core. Police say the suspects assaulted another person in the area of King Street West and Blue Jays Way just after 3:30 a.m. Saturday. There was no word on the severity of the injuries sustained by the victim.The first suspect is described as being six foot one, 170 pounds with short brown hair. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, grey pants, a black cross-body bag and black sneakers.The second suspect is described as being six foot one, 170 pounds with short brown hair and a goatee. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, and light blue ripped skinny jeans and was also sporting a black cross-body bag. Police said the pair should be considered “violent.”

Iran’s top leader defends hard-line approach toward West, blames protests on ‘thugs and villains’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday defended his tough approach to the West, saying compromise would only invite further hostility from Iran’s enemies and blaming recent anti-government protests on “thugs and villains.”Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks come amid an intensifying standoff with Western countries over Iran’s nuclear program, which has made major advances in the five years since then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from an international accord that restricted it.Trump restored crippling sanctions on Iran that have contributed to a severe economic crisis without forcing any concessions from its leaders. Iran has also lent support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supplying armed drones that have wreaked havoc on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.“Some people are mistaken to think if we back down from our stances in certain cases that will cause the enmity of the U.S, the global arrogance, or Israel toward us to...

Biden’s 2024 pitch highlights pragmatism over Trump’s pugilism

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden promised voters in 2020 that he knew how to get things done in Washington and could bring stability to the capital. It seemed like a message out of step with the more combative era brought on by Donald Trump.But Biden prevailed, by more than 7 million votes, and as he seeks a second term, he is again trying to frame the race as a referendum on competence and governance, pointing to the bipartisan debt limit and budget legislation he signed on Saturday as another exemplar of the success of his approach.The agreement the Democratic president negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans averted the catastrophe of a U.S. government default — and forestalled another threat until after the 2024 election — while largely protecting the domestic agenda that formed the backbone of what he hopes will form his legacy.His approach, favoring pragmatism over Trumpian pugilism, will be tested as never before in the coming campaign, with hi...

Sri Lanka’s LGBTQ+ community holds Pride march, demands end to discrimination

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Hundreds of members of Sri Lanka’s LGBTQ+ community paraded through the streets of the capital Colombo on Sunday to mark the Pride month and demand an end to discrimination. The marchers carried rainbow flags and placards calling for a ban of so-called conversion therapies, an end of police harassment of the LGBTQ+ community and equal treatment. Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist nation holding conservative values and it is rare for people with different sexual orientation to voice their demands in public. Even though there have been similar parades in previous years, last year’s anti-government protests amid an unprecedented economic crisis have helped the LGBTQ+ communities to come out stronger, organizers said. Sri Lanka’s laws still consider homosexuality a crime and a bill is pending before Parliament to decriminalize homosexuality.The Associated Press

Navalny supporters hold demonstrations to mark Russian opposition leader’s 47th birthday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Alexei Navalny voiced hope for a better future in Russia as his supporters held pickets and demonstrations to mark the imprisoned opposition leader’s 47th birthday on Sunday.Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence for fraud and contempt of court, charges he says were trumped up to punish him for his work to expose official corruption and organizing anti-Kremlin protests. He is facing a new trial on extremism charges that could keep him in prison for decades. Kremlin critics view the case as another Russian government attempt to isolate President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent foe.Navalny’s associates called for demonstrations to show support for him in Russia and abroad on Sunday.Risking their own prison terms, some Navalny supporters in Russia marked his birthday by holding individual pickets, while others painted graffiti. At least 45 people were detained, according to the OVD-Info group that monitors political arrests.Police beefed up their presence in ...

Russia’s most famous icon handed over from museum to church despite protests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Orthodox believers celebrated Trinity Sunday with Russia’s most famous icon transferred from a museum to Moscow’s main cathedral despite the keepers’ vociferous protests.The Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev, which was kept in Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery since the 1920s, was moved to Christ the Savior Cathedral before the holiday on President Vladimir Putin’s personal order.Putin’s abrupt decision to hand over the 15th-century icon to the church came despite a strong opposition from the Tretyakov keepers, who warned that the icon was too fragile to move and requires constant care to avoid a drastic deterioraton in its condition.Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill responded by dismissing a senior priest who sided with the museum keepers in advising to keep the icon at the Tretyakov Gallery.Kirill led a liturgy in the cathedral on Sunday, which was attended by hundreds of believers, including some officials.The controversy over the ic...

Christopher Nolan breaks down the best ways to watch a movie, ahead of his ‘Oppenheimer’ release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:23:50 GMT

It’s no secret that Christopher Nolan made “Oppenheimer” to be seen on the big screen. But not all big screens are created equal.That’s part of the reason why Universal Pictures has made “Oppenheimer” tickets available early for over a thousand “premium large format” (or PLF) screens, with options including IMAX 70mm, 70mm, IMAX digital, 35mm, Dolby Cinema and more.Knowing that even those words can get overwhelming and technical, Nolan went a step further: In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, he offered a guide to his favorite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don’t feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theater.“You rarely get the chance to really talk to moviegoers directly about why you love a particular format and why if they can find an IMAX screen to see the film on that’s great,” Nolan said. “We put a lot of effort into shooting the film in a way that we ca...