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Paris votes to ban shared e-scooters

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

The city of Paris on Sunday voted overwhelmingly to ban shared e-scooters — becoming the first European capital to do so.“Parisians have massively expressed themselves against keeping shared e-scooters,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said. “They have given us a very clear roadmap, and we are going to abide by their decision.”Eighty-nine percent voted to ban the scooters, but the landmark referendum was marked by sky-high abstention rates, with only around 8 percent of registered Parisian voters casting ballots.The streets of Paris will be cleared from shared e-scooters by September 1, the mayor said. That’s the date by which the contract expires which currently allows three companies — Dott, Tier and Lime — to each operate 5,000 e-scooters in Paris.Paris welcomed e-scooters in 2018, under the leadership of Hidalgo. But the scooters soon caused security concerns, at least in part due to careless riding, as well as over their true environmental footprint and t...

Palestinians say 2 killed in Israeli army raid in West Bank

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli troops in an army raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, the latest in a year-long spike of violence that shows no sign of abating. The Israeli military said that troops arrested two people suspected of assisting a gunman who shot two soldiers in the occupied West Bank town of Hawara last month. The army said its soldiers came under fire during the raid and shot back, confirming “hits.” Violence has surged in recent months in the West Bank and east Jerusalem amid near-daily Israeli arrest raids in Palestinian-controlled areas and a string of Palestinian attacks.The U.S. has tried to broker talks between Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians to try to defuse tensions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, now in its second week. At least 88 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli or settler gunfire this year, according to an Associated Press tally. Palestinian a...

Zelenskyy to visit Warsaw to meet with Poles, Ukrainians

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will pay a visit to Warsaw this week that will include a visit with regular Ukrainians and Poles, the Polish president’s office announced on Monday.The visit is scheduled for Wednesday and will begin with an official meeting between Zelenskyy and his host, Polish President Andrzej Duda, and be followed by a meeting with the public, according to an announcement on the presidential website in Warsaw.Marcin Przydacz, the head of Duda’s international office, told radio broadcaster RMF FM that Zelenskyy will meet with Ukrainians and Poles at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, and that Zelenskyy says he wants to thank Poles for helping Ukrainians.Poland, a NATO and European Union nation on Ukraine’s western border, was the first stop for many of the refugees who fled war at home. Many chose to remain, with more than 1.5 million registering with the government.The Associated Press

Jewish school principal in Australia guilty of sexual abuse

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The former principal of a Jewish girls school in Australia was found guilty Monday of sexually abusing two students. Malka Leifer, 56, a Tel Aviv-born mother of eight, was convicted on 18 counts and acquitted of nine other charges, including five that related to a third student. The three former students are all sisters.Leifer sat with her head tilted, watching the jury, and did not react as the verdicts were read. The two former students she was convicted of abusing were in court for the verdicts. Leifer had earlier pleaded not guilty to all 27 counts.Prosecutors claimed Leifer had abused the students between 2003 and 2007 at the Adass Israel School, an ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne where she was head of religion and later principal, as well as at her Melbourne home and at rural school camps.After allegations were first raised against Leifer in 2008, she fled to Israel. When she was charged in 2014 it triggered a yearslong tussle over whether she wo...

Suspect in Russian military blogger’s killing on wanted list

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

Russian police on Monday were searching for a woman suspected of delivering a bomb that killed a well-known military blogger who fervently supported Moscow’s war in Ukraine.Russian officials said Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, was killed Sunday as he was leading a discussion at a cafe on the banks of the Neva River in the historic heart of St. Petersburg. Over 30 people were wounded by the blast, and 10 of them remain in grave condition, according to the authorities.Russian news reports said the bomb was hidden in a bust of the blogger that the suspect had given to him as a gift just before the explosion.The Russian Interior Ministry identified the suspect as Darya Tryopova, a 26-year-old St. Petersburg resident who had been previously detained for taking part in anti-war rallies. The Interfax news agency reported her arrest late Sunday, but later said that she was on the run while her mother and sister were summoned for questioning.The Interior Ministry put Tryopova on the wanted list...

Pension protests raise tension between police, demonstrators

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French authorities see the police as protectors who are ensuring that citizens can peacefully protest President Emmanuel Macron’s contentious retirement age increase. But to human rights advocates and demonstrators who were clubbed or tear-gassed, officers have overstepped their mission.In the months since mass protests against the proposed pension changes began roiling France, some law enforcement officers have been accused of resorting to gratuitous violence. A man in Paris lost a testicle to an officer’s club, and a police grenade took the thumb of a woman in Rouen. A railroad worker hit by grenade fragments lost an eye.“Where is your humanity?” a woman shouted at officers who knocked an apparently homeless man to the ground in Paris, kicked him and used vulgar language while ordering him to get up and go. In a video posted on Twitter, another passerby helped the man to his feet at the scene last month near the Place de la Bastille.The violence adds to the ange...

In Germany, King Charles honours victims of WWII allied bombings

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

King Charles laid a wreath to remember the victims of the allied bombardment in World War Two while visiting Hamburg's St Nikolai Memorial, which is the site of a damaged church from Germany's northern port.This gesture was made on Charles' last day of his three-day German state visit, his first since ascending to the British throne last January. It was intended to strengthen bilateral and European relations.This comes just before the 80th anniversary the allied bombardment of Hamburg in July, also known as "Operation Gomorrah", which killed around 40,000 people and decimated large swathes of the city.The Allies dropped 1.9 million tonnes of bombs against Germany as a response to Nazi air attacks on civilian targets in Poland, London and elsewhere. Some 500,000 people were killed in the allied attacks.Charles paid his respects earlier at the memorial for the Kindertransporte. This rescue mission allowed approximately 10,000 Jewish children to flee Nazi-occupied Europe between 1930 a...

Sale closed in San Jose: $3.4 million for a five-bedroom home

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

6969 Calabazas Creek Circle – Google Street ViewA 3,209-square-foot house built in 1993 has changed hands. The new owners acquired the property in the 6900 block of Calabazas Creek Circle on March 14, 2023. A 3,209-square-foot house built in 1993 has changed hands. The spacious property located in the 6900 block of Calabazas Creek Circle in San Jose was sold on March 14, 2023, for $3,350,000, or $1,044 per square foot. The property features five bedrooms, three baths, a garage, and two parking spaces. It sits on a 5,795-square-foot lot, which also has a pool.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:A 2,707-square-foot home on the 1500 block of Hummingbird Place in San Jose sold in September 2022, for $2,690,000, a price per square foot of $994. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On Dartmoor Way, San Jose, in August 2022, a 1,783-square-foot home was sold for $2,350,000, a price per square foot of $1,318. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In October 2022, a 1,3...

Reds host the Cubs in first of 3-game series

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

Chicago Cubs (1-2) vs. Cincinnati Reds (2-1)Cincinnati; Monday, 6:40 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Cubs: Drew Smyly (0-0); Reds: Connor Overton (0-0)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cubs -124, Reds +105; over/under is 8 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Cincinnati Reds host the Chicago Cubs on Monday to open a three-game series.Cincinnati had a 62-100 record overall and a 33-48 record at home last season. The Reds averaged 7.8 hits per game last season while batting a collective .235 and slugging .372.Chicago had a 74-88 record overall and a 37-44 record on the road last season. The Cubs pitching staff had a collective 4.01 ERA while averaging 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings in the 2022 season.INJURIES: Reds: Joey Votto: 10-Day IL (bicep/shoulder), Nick Senzel: 10-Day IL (toe), Tony Santillan: 15-Day IL (back), Justin Dunn: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Tejay Antone: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lucas Sims: 15-Day IL (back), Luke Weaver: 15-Day IL (forearm), Vladimir Gutierrez: 60-Day IL (elbow)Cubs: Brandon Hughes...

Braves visit the Cardinals to begin 3-game series

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:43:00 GMT

Atlanta Braves (2-1) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (2-1)St. Louis; Monday, 7:45 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Braves: Charlie Morton (0-0); Cardinals: Jake Woodford (0-0)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Braves -132, Cardinals +111; over/under is 8 runsBOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the Atlanta Braves to begin a three-game series.St. Louis had a 93-69 record overall and a 53-28 record at home last season. The Cardinals averaged 8.5 hits per game in the 2022 season with 3.1 extra base hits per game.Atlanta had a 101-61 record overall and a 46-35 record in road games last season. The Braves scored 4.9 runs per game while giving up 3.8 in the 2022 season.INJURIES: Cardinals: Giovanny Gallegos: day-to-day (back), Lars Nootbaar: day-to-day (thumb), Paul DeJong: 10-Day IL (back), Wilking Rodriguez: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Adam Wainwright: 15-Day IL (groin)Braves: Max Fried: day-to-day (hamstring), Huascar Ynoa: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kolby Allard: 60-Day IL (oblique), Tyler Matzek: 60-Day IL (elb...