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Building collapses, gas blasts, mine cave-ins and more. Deadly accidents are commonplace in China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — At least 31 people were killed and seven injured when cooking gas exploded at a restaurant in Yinchuan in northwestern China. It was the latest in China’s long history of deadly industrial accidents, which occur regularly despite government pledges to clamp down on lax standards, poor oversight and corruption frequently blamed for the collapse of buildings, mine cave-ins, explosions and other disasters. Here is a look at some of the worst in recent years.2023:— Open-pit mine collapses in February in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region, burying dozens under rubble and killing 53. The company running the mine was fined the previous year for multiple safety violations.— A massive explosion at a chemical plant in northeastern China killed at least 13 people in January. Some 35 other people were injured in the blast in the outskirts of the city of Panjin east of the capital, Beijing.2022:— A fire caused by welding sparks that ignited cotton cloth...

Al menos 3 muertos en Texas tras las fuertes tormentas que provocaron tornados y granizo del tamaño de pelotas de tenis en el centro y oeste de EE.UU.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

(CNN) — Al menos tres personas murieron en un pueblo del noroeste de Texas tras el paso de un tornado este miércoles, informó un funcionario, en medio de las tormentas que azotaron partes del oeste y centro de EE.UU. y que provocaron al menos 11 informes de tornados en cuatro estados.Un tornado azotó este miércoles por la noche Matador, una localidad de unos cientos de habitantes situada a unos 280 kilómetros al noroeste de Dallas, Texas, según informó la oficina del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional en Lubbock.El alcalde de Matador, Pat Smith, declaró que se habían producido tres muertes. El número de víctimas incluye a una anciana que murió en su casa, dijo a CNN la alcaldesa pro tempore Dvonna Grundy; no se dispuso de inmediato de detalles sobre cuántos heridos hubo.El tornado destruyó la casa de Grundy —dejándola sin ropa ni medicinas— y dispersó o mató gran parte del ganado que tenía en su propiedad, dijo.“Ha desaparecido por completo”, dijo Grundy de su casa, a...

Virginia Gov. Youngkin’s PAC looks to general election with unified GOP

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is seen in October 2022.(TNS/Virginian Pilot) Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is seen in October 2022.(TNS/Virginian Pilot) All 10 candidates backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin dominated their primary races last night in the Virginia primary election, showing what the Republican party hopes will be a unified GOP front as the commonwealth heads toward the closely-watched state contests in November.Some of the seats where Youngkin’s endorsement weighed most heavily will be crucial to determining which party will control the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate. Both parties nationally look toward Virginia’s off-year elections as a bellwether for the next year’s elections, wit...

MS-13 gang leader, 22 members indicted for ‘cold-blooded’ murders

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged an alleged leader national leader and 22 members of the MS-13 gang with murder and other acts of violence.The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced a 48-count superseding indictment against Edenilson Velasquez Larin, “allegedly a national leader of the MS-13 and the Fulton Locos Salvatruchas (Fulton) clique, for his leadership role in allegedly ordering murders, drug distribution, and money laundering for the MS-13.”The indictment detailed a number of murders and attempted murders carried out by the gang against rival gang members as well as their own, often using guns and machetes.Prosecutors said that starting in late 2019 alleged Fulton clique leaders Velasquez Larin and Espinoza Sanchez ordered alleged MS-13 members, including Jose Arevalo Iraheta, Oscar Hernandez Baires, and Erick Zavala Hernandez, to scour the Elmont, New York, neighborhood in search of rival 18th Street members to kill for encr...

Nearly 40% of Marylanders can’t afford basic needs, study finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

Many Marylanders are struggling to support their families and a new study looked at just how widespread the problem is across the state.United Way of Central Maryland compiled the numbers from the latest data available in 2021. It measures what the nonprofit calls ALICE — asset limited, income constrained and employed — people who earn more than the federal poverty level, but not enough to afford the basics where they live.The study also looked at the cost of living, health care, housing and other necessities.The study identified households that are above the federal poverty line but below a survival budget, defined as about $91,000 a year to support a family of four in Maryland.The report showed 10% of Marylanders were below the poverty line in 2021, and 28% were below the ALICE survival budget, compared to 25% in 2014. The study points out that while many households work hard, there is a major disparity between what jobs pay and the cost of living.In Baltimore City, 53% of househo...

Tito’s is trolling canned cocktails with a $200 empty keg

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

New York (CNN) — Tito’s Handmade Vodka is elevating its war against canned cocktails.For $200, the vodka maker is selling a “Tito’s in a Big Can,” which is a 128-ounce empty mini-keg that encourages drinkers to make their own cocktails rather than giving into the “canformity” (their word) of canned cocktails.“Last year, we drew a line in the sand while giving consumers the opportunity to make cocktails the way they like them, for themselves,” Taylor Berry, vice president of brand marketing for Tito’s, exclusively told CNN.This tongue-in-cheek stunt is a follow-up to its previous troll — called “Tito’s in a Can” — when it sold $20 refillable cans aimed at spurring people’s inner mixologists.The refillable mini-keg is now on sale for a limited time at Tito’s online store with net proceeds benefiting charity.Customers have been asking Tito’s to enter the canned cocktail space, Berry told CNN. It has resisted because Tito’s would rather focus on making vodka.“Tito’s was built on the ide...

Macron? No way! Russia doesn’t want French leader at summit with China and allies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

The Kremlin isn’t impressed with French President Emmanuel Macron’s bid to crash the BRICS summit in South Africa later this summer.“We sent a signal that, with all due respect to the prerogatives of the host country, inviting certain guests should be based on the fact that BRICS is an association of states that, in principle, reject unilateral sanctions as a method of solving foreign policy problems,” Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Thursday according to state-owned news agency TASS. “Considering this, the inappropriateness of the appearance of representatives of the collective West there is simply obvious,” Ryabkov added. South Africa will host the next summit of BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, all of which remain close to Moscow despite the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — in Johannesburg on August 22-24.The BRICS group of large emerging economies is the Global South’s...

Somerville school to remain closed next school year amid structural concerns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

The Winter Hill Community Innovation School in Somerville will remain closed for the upcoming school year, officials announced months after a section of concrete fell into a stairwell inside the building. Officials said the concrete fell outside school operating hours, while the school was unoccupied. The incident prompted a safety review of the building that prompted school officials to move classes elsewhere for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year.Students will continue with off-site classes next year while repairs are made.The Winter Hill School serves about 400 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It has programs for autistic children and children who are learning English as a second language. 

German leader defends deal to stop migrants at EU borders, says old system was ‘dysfunctional’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday defended a deal to stop migrants from entering the European Union until their chances of getting asylum have been reviewed, arguing that the bloc’s existing arrangement is “completely dysfunctional.”Speaking to lawmakers in Berlin, he said the compromise reached earlier this month by the EU’s 27 member states after years of negotiations was a “historic agreement.” Human rights groups have criticized the deal, saying migrants, including families with children, will be held in camps while authorities check whether they are likely to be granted refugee protection inside the EU. The details are still to be worked out in negotiations with the European Parliament, which must approve the change to EU migration rules.“I know that the agreement isn’t without controversy in this house,” Scholz told parliament. “Everyone had to make compromises, including Germany.”“But it was the right thing to do in the interest of Euro...

Climate change leads to growing risk of mosquito-borne viral diseases, EU agency says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:02:32 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — European Union officials warned Thursday there is a growing risk of mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue and chikungunya in Europe due to climate change.The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said that because Europe is experiencing a warming trend, with heat waves and flooding becoming more frequent and severe, and summers getting longer and warmer, the conditions are more favorable for invasive mosquito species such as Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti.The Stockholm-based agency said in a report that Aedes albopictus is a known vector of chikungunya and dengue viruses and has been establishing itself farther north and west in Europe. The other mosquito, Aedes aegypti, known to transmit dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, zika and West Nile viruses, has been established in Cyprus since 2022 and may spread to other European countries.A decade ago, the Aedes albopictus mosquito was established in eight European countries, with 114 re...