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Wagner boss Prigozhin spotted at Russia-Africa summit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been photographed at a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, appearing on the sidelines of the event hosted by President Vladimir Putin just a month after launching a failed mutiny. In two pictures circulated on social media Thursday, Prigozhin is shown wearing casual jeans and a white shirt, smiling as he presses the flesh with visiting officials.In the first picture, posted to Facebook by an Africa-based aide, Prigozhin shakes hands with a suited-up African delegate. According to the watchdog All Eyes on Wagner, the African official is chief of protocol to Faustin Touadera, the president of the Central African Republic. Hundreds of Wagner mercenaries arrived in the Central African Republic last week, according to local reports. The country is holding a constitutional referendum on Sunday that may abolish presidential term limits, therefore allowing Touadera to run again. In the second picture, Prigozhin is wearing the same outfit and shaki...

DeSantis will headline barbecue billed as the largest annual gathering of South Carolina Republicans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to headline next month a barbecue billed as South Carolina’s largest annual gathering of Republicans.This centerpiece appearance, in a state where success has historically been a catalyst for GOP presidential nominees, provides DeSantis with an opportunity to make his case in front of a large number of party activists, with whom former President Donald Trump, the GOP primary front-runner, remains popular.DeSantis will speak Aug. 28 at the Faith & Freedom BBQ in Anderson, event host Rep. Jeff Duncan told The Associated Press on Thursday.“I’ve had the privilege of knowing Ron for several years now,” said Duncan, who represents South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, adding that he and DeSantis were members of the House Freedom Caucus. “In Florida, I’ve admired his work to protect children, stand up to woke corporations, combat illegal immigration, and challenge the Biden administration.”Ac...

After bout with vertigo, Orioles’ Ryan Mountcastle finding form at plate: ‘I’m starting to get that confidence back’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

Vertigo presented a number of challenges for Ryan Mountcastle.First it was the strange feeling of dizziness in the field. Then the difficulty picking up the ball out of the pitcher’s hand at the plate. And, finally, an absence from the game, a month away from the big leagues as he managed the symptoms while on the injured list.But perhaps the most difficult part, he said, was when he began his minor league rehabilitation assignment with the Norfolk Tides. The first baseman was slumping at the plate before he began experiencing vertigo, and those struggles continued when he returned against minor league pitching. He went 0-for-12 with five strikeouts in his first three rehab games.“I was like, ‘It’s Triple-A, I should be able to kill it,’” Mountcastle recalls thinking. “I still was having symptoms, and I was like ‘Is this ever going to go away?”Those vertigo symptoms — the sensation that the environment around oneself is mov...

Gastronomical! Food for every palate at Lowell Folk Festival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

LOWELL — Last year, Delphina Acha ran out of food in the Cameroonian tent on JFK Plaza, next to City Hall on Arcand Drive. This year, she’s ready to feed festivalgoers some of her specialty dishes such as canda stew and grilled salmon over the entire three-day event.“JFK Plaza is a busy spot,” she said by phone on Wednesday, as she ran around picking up last-minute items for the festival’s opening on Friday. “Our most popular dish is canda stew, which is cow skin with tomato sauce. People really enjoy that.”The stew simmers on site in 100-quart pots set on propane burners, which Acha occasionally stirs with a large slotted spoon.Besides music, the Lowell Folk Festival is known for its variety of food offerings. This year’s tagline is “Food From Around the World,” and some of the vendors include traditional Cameroonian, Liberian, Greek, Filipino, Polish, Brazilian, Jamaican, Burmese, Middle Eastern and Asian food.This is Acha’s fourth year at the Folk Festival.“The first two years, I...

South Bay resident receives suspicious package containing 'white powdery substance'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- A woman in the South Bay received an envelope that contained a mysterious powder this week. She reached out to local police who confirmed that the substance found was an illegal drug. According to the Chula Vista Police Department, it's not a trend yet but it's a known drug dealing tactic: using someone else's name and address to send illicit drugs. In this case, it impacted a small business owner, wife, and mom of four.Ring camera video in one family-friendly Chula Vista neighborhood captured the moments one USPS employee dropped off what appeared to be an ordinary envelope at first glance for resident Graciela Arangure. Elderly man found dead near Rancho Bernardo trail Upon opening it, she said, "I kind of felt it and I was like okay, it could be three or four random latex balloons in here."That would be common, given she runs a home-based party decoration business called Creations by Chelyz. However, what was inside was anything but. "I saw this black Zi...

DeSantis will headline a barbecue billed as South Carolina Republicans’ largest annual gathering

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to headline next month a barbecue billed as South Carolina’s largest annual gathering of Republicans.This centerpiece appearance, in a state where success has historically been a catalyst for GOP presidential nominees, provides DeSantis with an opportunity to make his case in front of a large number of party activists, with whom former President Donald Trump, the GOP primary front-runner, remains popular. DeSantis will speak Aug. 28 at the Faith & Freedom BBQ in Anderson, event host Rep. Jeff Duncan told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I’ve had the privilege of knowing Ron for several years now,” said Duncan, who represents South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, adding that he and DeSantis were members of the House Freedom Caucus. “In Florida, I’ve admired his work to protect children, stand up to woke corporations, combat illegal immigration, and challenge the Biden administration.”According to Du...

Putin says fighting in southeastern Ukraine has intensified, with heavy losses for Kyiv’s forces

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Fierce fighting raged Thursday in southeastern Ukraine, where a Western official said Kyiv has launched a major push and Russian President Vladimir Putin said “hostilities have intensified significantly.”Battles in recent weeks have taken place on multiple points along the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons and Western-trained troops against Russian forces who invaded 17 months ago.Putin praised the “heroism” with which Russian soldiers were repelling attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region of the southeast, claiming Moscow’s troops not only destroyed Ukraine’s military equipment but also inflicted heavy losses to Kyiv’s forces.He insisted Ukraine’s push in the area “wasn’t successful,” although it was not possible to independently verify his report. A video of Putin’s remarks, made in St. Petersburg at a summit of African leaders, was posted on Telegram by a state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.Ukraine ...

European Central Bank hikes interest rates for ninth time to combat inflation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank raised interest rates for the ninth straight time in its yearlong campaign to stamp out painfully high inflation, coming as worries about recession fuel speculation that Thursday’s hike could be its last.ECB President Christine Lagarde had all but promised the quarter-percentage point increase, putting the focus at her post-meeting news conference on whether the bank will raise rates again at its September meeting or hold off after a record series of rate hikes.“Inflation continues to decline but is still expected to remain too high for too long,” the bank said in a statement. It added that it would keep rates high enough to restrict economic activity “for as long as necessary” to bring down inflation.Central banks around the world have been raising borrowing costs to combat inflation unleashed by higher energy prices after Russia invaded Ukraine and supply chain backups as the global economy recovered from the coronavirus pa...

US economy grew at a faster 2.4% rate in April-June quarter despite Fed rate hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy accelerated unexpectedly to a 2.4% annual growth rate from April through June, showing continued resilience in the face of steadily higher interest rates resulting from the Federal Reserve’s 16-month-long fight against inflation.Thursday’s estimate from the Commerce Department indicated that the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — picked up from the 2% growth rate in the January-March quarter.Consumer spending slowed to a 1.6% annual rate, from 4.2% in the first quarter of the year, a likely consequence of higher borrowing costs. But business investment and state and local government spending grew faster.In fighting inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high, the Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since March 2022, most recently on Wednesday. The resulting higher costs for a broad range of loans — from mortgages and credit cards to auto loans and business borrowing — have taken a toll on growth...

Weekly US applications for jobless benefits slide to lowest level in 5 months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:26 GMT

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits slid last week to its lowest level in five months, further evidence that the U.S. labor market continues to defy the Federal Reserve’s attempts to cool it off.U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell by 7,000 to 221,000 for the week ending July 22, from 228,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the fewest since February.The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell y 3,750 to 233,750.Jobless claim applications are broadly seen as a proxy for the number of layoffs in a given week.Overall, 1.69 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended July 15, about 59,000 fewer than the previous week and the fewest since January.Matt Ott, The Associated Press