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Seychelles declares an emergency after deadly flooding and a blast at an explosives depot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

VICTORIA, Seychelles (AP) — The Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles declared a state of emergency Thursday after flooding killed three people and a huge blast at an explosives depot near the capital injured scores of others.The explosion caused mostly minor injuries to 178 people, the health ministry said. It took place around 2 a.m. Thursday and came after hours of heavy rain and flooding starting Wednesday evening, mostly in the north of the main island of Mahe, though authorities did not link the blast to the weather.Waters from the rains flooded houses, washed away parts of roads and caused landslides in some areas. Two of the people who died in the flooding were trapped in their home, authorities said.The explosion took place in the industrial area of Providence, around 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) southeast of the capital, Victoria, the country’s president said. The blast destroyed buildings, flattened trees and left a large crater. National TV showed people at hospital...

Defending champion Argentina opens Copa América against Canada or Trinidad. US starts with Bolivia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Defending champion Argentina opens next year’s Copa América on June 20 in Atlanta against the winner of a Canada-Trinidad and Tobago playoff, and the U.S. starts vs. Bolivia three days later at Arlington, Texas.Argentina also faces Chile at East Rutherford, New Jersey, on June 25 in a repeat of the 2016 final at MetLife Stadium and closes Group A four days later against Peru at Miami Gardens, Florida, also site of the final on July 14.The U.S. was matched up to play Panama at Atlanta on June 27 and finishes Group C against Uruguay at Kansas City, Missouri, on July 1, according to the draw Thursday night.Brazil heads Group D of the 16-nation tournament and faces the Costa Rica-Honduras playoff winner at Inglewood, California, on June 24, Paraguay at Las Vegas four days later and Colombia at Santa Clara, California, on July 2.Mexico is seeded in Group B and plays Jamaica at Houston on June 22, Venezuela at Inglewood four days later and Ecuador at Glendale, Arizona, on Jun...

Homeless encampment has Uptown residents prepared to break leases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- When a homeless encampment appeared at 18th Avenue and North Marion Street near Saint Joseph Hospital on Oct. 4, neighbors hoped it would be short-lived.Instead, residents from the upscale Kendrick apartment buildings told the Problem Solvers it's been a downward spiral of safety concerns. Homelessness in Denver up 58% since 2016 "Drug dealers are coming by. Drug deals are happening, open drug use, there's needles and human waste everywhere. We've had residents report that they found people in stairwells doing fentanyl," said Corrine, a recent transplant from Phoenix.The 36-year-old is one of three Kendrick residents who spoke to FOX31 but requested we not use their last names because of safety concerns.Residents describe security concerns"I feel unsafe in my own home scenario because I can't go outside without a new thing happening. We're right next to a hospital. We thought we were going to be safe living near here," said Connie, a 33-year-old transplant from C...

Longmont horse therapy program needs property donation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

LONGMONT, Colo. (KDVR) — A place where horses are changing the lives of children coping with disabilities is in danger of shutting down.The Horses Make Miracles program must find a new location within the next few months because the existing property is being sold. That means children and seniors along the Front Range will no longer have a place to receive therapy that is improving their quality of life. Photos: Bighorn sheep stuck on roof in Boulder Founder Linda Raulino has been providing horse therapy to children and adults for nearly 40 years.“They are very sentimental and sensitive beings, and I know having horses all my life, I went through a rough patch, and they saved me,” Raulino told FOX31.Gabe Villarreal, 8, and Sam Villarreal, 9, participate in the program. They demonstrated their grooming skills while pampering their best friends, horses Dakota and Tony.“I like to get the circle brush and brush in circles," Gabe said.Their mother told FOX31 that her children have trul...

North Miami-Dade liquor store employee injured in shooting during attempted robbery; gunman at large

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

Rescue crews rushed an employee at a liquor store in North Miami-Dade to the hospital after, police said, he came under fire during an attempted robbery, triggering an ongoing search for the gunman responsible.Miami-Dade Police and City of Miami Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the shooting at the Jensen’s Liquors just north of 79th Street along North Miami Avenue, near the city of Miami, Thursday evening.According to investigators, the subject walked into the business just before 6 p.m. and demanded some sort of refund.When the clerk refused, police said, the subject grabbed a bottle of liquor off the counter and walked out.Detectives said the employee, who is 66 years old, followed after the subject, who pulled out a firearm when he was confronted.Police said a struggle ensued in the parking lot of the store, and moments later, the subject fell back, pointed his gun upwards and deliberately pulled the trigger, striking the victim in the abdomen.Paramedics transpor...

Christmas season fights: Man vs. Frog (and pigeons and geese)

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.It’s time for that most festive of traditions: Having a go at the French!More specifically, having a go at the French for what they eat at Christmas. The Great Foie Gras Battle has long raged, of course. Back in 2000, when France held the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, Jacques Chirac had his counterparts served foie gras and asked the room: “So, who doesn’t like it?” He then pulled back the heads of his fellow leaders and one by one force-fed them so that their livers became hyperfattened (probably).Anyway, something else that the French hold dear is now under attack — and no, we don’t mean the European Parliament’s monthly trips to Strasbourg! It’s cuisses de grenouilles (frog legs).Consumption of the delicacy peaks during Christmas season in France, with around 100 million frogs killed each year to feed demand, according to activists who have launched a campaign pointing to...

The second coming of Donald Tusk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

BRUSSELS — Welcome back, Donald Tusk! In all likelihood, it will be a very familiar, newly anointed Polish prime minister, who will return to his old office building at the European Council in Brussels next week, for what is set to be a bruising summit of EU leaders. For many Europeans, Tusk’s return to the EU’s top table promises to bring back the good old days before 2015, when Poland’s nationalist, conservative administration under the Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power and spent eight years throwing spanners into the EU’s machinery. But the new Tusk could be quite different from the old one. Rather than ruling a confident country coming into its own as a fast-rising European power, he’ll be nursing a deeply divided nation after eight years of populist rule that turned Poland into the bad boy of European politics.There’s palpable nostalgia for Tusk’s previous premiership — from 2007 to 2014 — when France, Germany and Poland co...

Spooked by Nigel Farage, Rishi Sunak goes hard on immigration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

LONDON — Conservative MPs fear another season of their Nigel Farage nightmare is looming. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is trying — and failing — to calm their nerves.Farage — once dubbed Mr. Brexit — is back in the British headlines as the star of primetime reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here.” But as the former MEP gallivants in the Australian jungle, dodging snakes and drinking blended goat testicles, the latest upstart political party he founded is fast gaining support. A recent BMG Research poll put Reform UK in third place behind Labour and the Tories, on 11 per cent — its best-ever performance in surveys by that company. Speculation is now growing that Farage will use his TV platform as a springboard for a triumphant return to the political scene next year, leading Reform UK into a general election expected by November 2024.Such a specter looms large in Conservative minds as Sunak battles through a nightmare spell in which the U.K. recorded the h...

Against antisemitism: Belgian and European Jews need your solidarity

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

Ariel Muzicant is the president of the European Jewish CongressWe are witnessing a period of intense animosity toward Jewish communities in Belgium, as we are across all of Europe.Threats — often violent — addressed to Jewish children are now a regular occurrence both online and on the streets of Antwerp and Brussels. And since the October 7 attacks in Israel, antisemitic incidents are now 10 times greater than the average recorded levels for equivalent periods.Students at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, a couple walking along the street in Antwerp, and a cemetery in Charleroi have all been targeted over the last few weeks for one reason, and one reason alone.All the targets were Jewish. Young Jews, old Jews — even dead Jews.This isn’t the first time that a mass antisemitic attack — in this case, a pogrom perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, resulting in more Jews murdered than in any single 24-hour period since the Shoah — has brought not reflection and solidarity, but more hate and ...

Qatargate: Where do we stand a year after the corruption scandal erupted?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:10:53 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Acast Amazon Music In this episode, we revisit the huge corruption scandal which shook the European Parliament and the EU bubble exactly one year ago.Host Sarah Wheaton talks to POLITICO colleagues Elisa Braun and Eddy Wax, who sifted through a massive trove of leaked police documents and, along ...