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Anne Gobi leaving Senate to serve as rural affairs director in Healey administration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

Sen. Anne Gobi, a fifth-term state senator from Spencer, plans to leave her legislative position in June to serve as the director of rural affairs for Gov. Maura Healey, according to a source familiar with the search.Healey announced the new post in March, pitching it as a way to ensure that rural communities in Massachusetts are better represented in state government. The role will be housed under the Executive Office of Economic Development and responsible “for cultivating rural economic development.”Gobi plans to assume the new role on June 5 and step down from her Senate post the day before, according to the source.Filling Gobi’s seat at that point in the legislative session would require a special election for the Worcester and Hampshire Senate district. In her bid for reelection in November, Gobi beat out Republican challenger James Amorello by more than 5,000 votes.The Healey administration previously said the rural affairs director will be tasked with conducting a revi...

Fire razes school dormitory in Guyana, killing at least 19 children, many of them Indigenous

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A nighttime fire raced through a dormitory in Guyana early Monday, killing at least 19 students and injuring several others at a boarding school catering to remote, mostly Indigenous villages, authorities said.“This is a horrific incident. It’s tragic. It’s painful,” President Irfaan Ali said, adding that his government was mobilizing all possible resources to care for the children.The fire broke out shortly before midnight in the dormitory building of a secondary school in the southwestern border town of Mahdia, a gold and diamond mining community about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the capital, Georgetown, the government said in a statement.The government initially said 20 students were killed, but fire officials later revised the toll to 19, with several others injured“When firefighters arrived on the scene, the building was already completely engulfed in flames,” Guyana’s Fire Service said in a statement. “Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the re...

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen says he was attacked outside Florida hotel in March

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen says he was blindsided during an attack on him outside a South Florida hotel following a concert earlier this year.“I heard a couple of steps and then I just saw this (flash) and the next thing I knew was I was on the ground,” Allen, 59, told ABC’s “ Good Morning America ” in an interview broadcast Monday. “I landed on my backside — hit my head on the pavement.”Def Leppard was in Fort Lauderdale to perform at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino when he was attacked March 13 while taking a smoke break outside a hotel.Police arrested Max Hartley, a 19-year-old from Avon, Ohio, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of battery and four counts of criminal mischief, according to court records. Police said they haven’t determined a motive. “I don’t think he knew who I was, but he must have seen that I wasn’t a threat because, you know, I’ve only got one arm,” said Allen, who lost his left arm in a car accident i...

Erdogan wins endorsement for Turkish election runoff from third-place candidate Ogan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The third-placed contender in the Turkish presidential elections on Monday formally endorsed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the second-round runoff vote to be held on May 28th.The nationalist presidential candidate Sinan Ogan, 55, has emerged as a potential kingmaker after neither Erdogan nor his main challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, secured the majority needed for a first-round victory on May 14th. Ogan, a former academic who was backed by a far-right anti-migrant party, won 5.17% in the May 14 vote and could hold the key to victory in the runoff now that he’s out of the race.His endorsement of Erdogan came days after he held a surprise meeting with the Turkish leader in Istanbul on Friday. No statement was made following the one-hour meeting.Ogan had attracted votes from people who disapproved of Erdogan’s policies but didn’t want support Kilicdaroglu, who leads Turkey’s center-left, pro-secular main opposition party.Analysts say th...

Lebanese prosecutor summons central bank chief following Interpol warrant over corruption charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s public prosecutor Monday summoned the country’s embattled central bank governor for questioning following an international arrest warrant issued against him in France over corruption charges, judicial officials said.Riad Salameh is to answer the summons later this week, although no specific date was given.France, Germany and Luxembourg are investigating Salameh and his associates over myriad alleged financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and laundering of $330 million. A French investigative judge on May 16 issued an international arrest warrant, or Interpol red notice, for the 72-year-old Salameh after he failed to show up in Paris for questioning.Officials in Beirut said that Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat will formally ask France to hand over the governor’s case files to decide on future measures against Salameh.Asked whether it is possible to hand the former governor over to France, the officials — who spoke on condition of an...

South Korea, EU agree to boost pressure on Russia, condemn North Korean missile tests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Leaders of South Korea and the European Union agreed Monday to increase pressure on Russia over its war against Ukraine and condemn North Korea’s ballistic missile tests.South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Seoul, after the three leaders attended the weekend summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Hiroshima, Japan.“We agree to maintain and increase the collective pressure on Russia, particularly through effective implementation of the respective restrictive measures,” they said in a joint statement. “We are committed to support Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction and remain resolved to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”Michel said Russia’s continued attacks against Ukraine show that deeper cooperation between the EU and South Korea is “not a luxury. It’s a vital necessity.”The three leaders call...

Thailand’s victorious progressive Move Forward Party, 7 allies agree on coalition platform

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s opposition Move Forward Party. the top vote-getter in last week’s national election, signed an agreement with seven other parties on Monday on a joint platform they hope will lead to the formation of a coalition government in July.The 23-point agreement sidesteps several volatile issues while seeking to preserve most of the agenda that brought the progressive Move Forward Party its stunning May 14 victory, in which it captured 152 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives by promoting change after nine years of conservative army-backed rule.The most contentious issue, amendment of a harsh law against criticizing the monarchy, was not included in the pact.That proposal had been part of Move Forward’s campaign platform, and many younger Thais would like to see it considered along with other democratic reforms. However, the monarchy is considered a pillar of Thai national identity and conservatives oppose any changes to the law, which provides for penal...

Space station welcomes 2 Saudi visitors, including kingdom’s 1st female astronaut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International Space Station rolled out the welcome mat Monday for two Saudi visitors, including the kingdom’s first female astronaut.SpaceX’s chartered flight arrived at the orbiting lab less than 16 hours after blasting off from Florida. The four guests will spend just over a week there, before returning to Earth in their capsule.The 270-mile-high (430-kilometer-high) docking puts the space station population at 11, representing not only Saudi Arabia and the U.S., but the United Arab Emirates and Russia. .Saudi Arabia’s government is picking up the multimillion-dollar tab for its first female astronaut, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher, and fighter pilot Ali al-Qarni.John Shoffner, a Knoxville, Tennessee, businessman who started a car racing team, is paying his own way. Retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is their chaperone. She now works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that organized the 10-day trip, its second to the...

Germany rejects criticism it watered down language on gas at G7 summit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Monday rejected criticism that it pushed to weaken existing commitments for phasing out natural gas at a summit of leaders from the Group of Seven major industrialized democracies, saying the concluding statement is in line with international climate efforts.Environmental campaigners slammed the leaders’ decision in Japan to back the construction of new infrastructure for liquefied natural gas, a planet-warming fossil fuel. In their final text the G7 said that “investment in the sector can be appropriate in response to the current crisis and to address potential gas market shortfalls provoked” by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.“In the exceptional circumstance of accelerating the phase-out of our dependency on Russian energy, publicly supported investment in the gas sector can be appropriate as a temporary response,” the G7 said, adding that this must be done in a way that’s consistent with efforts to curb global warming.Tracy Cart...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 28-June 3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:32:35 GMT

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 28-June 3May 28: Actor Carroll Baker is 92. Singer Gladys Knight is 79. Singer Billy Vera is 79. Singer John Fogerty is 78. Musician Jerry Douglas of Alison Krauss and Union Station is 67. Actor Louis Mustillo (“Mike and Molly”) is 65. Actor Brandon Cruz (“The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) is 61. Actor Christa Miller (“Scrubs,” ″The Drew Carey Show”) is 59. Country singer Phil Vassar is 59. Singer Chris Ballew of Presidents of the United States of America is 58. Singer Kylie Minogue is 55. Rapper Chubb Rock is 55. Actor Justin Kirk (“Weeds”) is 54. Talk show host Elisabeth Hasselbeck (“Fox and Friends,” ″The View”) is 46. R&B singer Jaheim is 46. Actor Jake Johnson (“New Girl”) is 45. Actor Monica Keena (“Dawson’s Creek,” ″Undeclared”) is 44. Actor Alexa Davalos (“Clash of the Titans” ″The Chronicles of Riddick”) is 41. Actor Megalyn Echikunwoke (“24”) is 41. Singer Colbie Caillat is 38. Actor Carey Mulligan (“The Great Gatsby”) is 38.May ...