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Giant panda Fan Xing leaves a Dutch zoo for her home country China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

RHENEN, Netherlands (AP) — Giant panda Fan Xing began a long journey home on Wednesday — to a country she has never visited.The 3-year-old was given a ceremonial send off Wednesday from Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands, where she was born, for the first leg of her journey to China, where she will join a breeding program that is helping preserve the vulnerable species.Wouter Jurgens, director Asia and Oceania at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said he hoped the panda would be an ambassador for relations between the Netherlands and China.Those links have been strained in recent months by the Dutch decision to limit sales of advanced semiconductor processor chips. The government called the move “country neutral,” but it was seen as part of a U.S. policy aiming at restricting China’s access to materials used to make such chips, which can be used in military technology.Jurgens said Fan Xing represented “a sign of the special relationship between the Netherlands and China in the fi...

Christian Thielemann chosen to succeed Daniel Barenboim as music director of Berlin’s Staatsoper

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Christian Thielemann has been chosen as the new general music director of Berlin’s Staatsoper, months after Daniel Barenboim ended his three-decade reign, the city government said Wednesday.The 64-year-old German conductor will take the job at the Staatsoper, or State Opera, next year, Berlin state culture minister Joe Chialo announced. “With him, we are ensuring the highest musical excellence for our city,” he said.Thielemann trained as an assistant to Herbert von Karajan and Barenboim, worked in smaller German houses and was music director of Nuremberg’s State Theater from 1988–1992.He moved on to serve as music director of Berlin’s Deutsche Oper from 1997-2004 and of the Munich Philharmonic from 2004-11. He has been chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden since 2012-13, a role that already was scheduled to end after the 2023-24 season.Thielemann also has conducted over 150 Vienna Philharmonic concerts and led more than 180 performances at the ...

Russia accuses Ukraine’s Western allies of helping attack its Black Sea Fleet headquarters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in annexed Crimea.“There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, NATO satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon of the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. and its NATO allies have effectively become involved in the conflict by supplying weapons to Ukraine and providing it with intelligence information and helping plan attacks on Russian facilities.The accusation came the day after video appeared to show the fleet’s commander, Adm. Viktor Sokolov, was still alive despite Ukraine’s claims — without providing supporting evidence — that he was among 34 officers killed in F...

Race to replace Sen. Mitt Romney heats up as Republican Utah House speaker gets ready to enter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

Republican Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson is poised to formally announce at a Wednesday night rally that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mitt Romney, who recently announced he won’t run for reelection.Romney announced earlier this month that he won’t seek a second term, saying younger people needed to step forward. In so doing, he threw open a wider door for those seeking to enter the race and led to speculation about whether Utah voters will choose a politically moderate successor similar to him or a farther-right figure such as Utah’s other U.S. senator, Mike Lee, a Donald Trump supporter. Wilson would likely fall somewhere between Romney and Lee in that regard, said Damon Cann, head of Utah State University’s political science department.“I think most people are expecting Brad Wilson would govern somewhat more conservatively. I think he would be toward the political center from where Mike Lee’s at but I think he would be more conservative...

McIlroy says LIV defectors miss Ryder Cup more than Team Europe misses them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — LIV Golf defections have cut off European stalwarts from the Ryder Cup, some of them for the first time in three decades. Rory McIlroy said Wednesday they are missing the Ryder Cup more than Team Europe is missing them.Nowhere to be found at Marco Simone are Lee Westwood, who has been part of every Ryder Cup since his debut in 1997. Sergio Garcia, who began his seamless Ryder Cup career in 1999, made a made a last-ditch attempt to make good with the European tour and get to Rome.Ian Poulter and his passion. Graeme McDowell and his heroics. All are with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, all of them ineligible to take any role in this Ryder Cup. That includes Henrik Stenson, appointed European captain for this team until choosing to sign with LIV last summer.“It’s certainly a little strange not having them around,” McIlroy said. “But I think this week of all weeks, it’s going to hit home with them that they are not here. I think they are going to mis...

Edmunds: Suffering from gasoline price anxiety? These are the Top 5 hybrids of 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

Are high gas prices burning a hole in your wallet? Then maybe it’s a good time to consider a hybrid vehicle. Hybrids gain improved fuel efficiency thanks to specialized powertrains that combine a gas engine with at least one electric motor that’s powered by a battery pack that does not need to be plugged in. In many cases, the price difference between hybrid and non-hybrid models is small enough that the hybrid will pay for itself or save you money after just a few years of ownership. But which hybrid models are the best? To help you in your search for the top fuel sipper, Edmunds’ car experts highlighted five of their highest-ranking hybrids in a variety of prices and body styles. TOYOTA PRIUS This isn’t your parents’ Prius anymore. Unlike previous models, the redesigned 2023 Prius is one of the most attractive cars in Toyota’s lineup. It’s also more powerful and much better at getting up to highway speeds quickly. To top it off, it achieves an impressi...

Metrolinx to provide long-awaited Eglinton Crosstown LRT update today

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

Months after Metrolinx officials admitted there were hundreds of deficiencies that needed to be fixed on the 12-year Eglinton Crosstown LRT construction project, they’re set to provide a long-awaited update to the public Wednesday afternoon.The technical briefing will be given by the president and CEO of Metrolinx, the provincial transportation agency overseeing the private-sector consortium building the Eglinton Crosstown.Among the many lingering questions that reporters have tried to get answers on is what the timeframe projected for opening. Construction on the 19-kilometre, 25-station light rail transit line began under the previous Ontario Liberal government in 2011 and it was supposed to be finished by 2020. However, various financial, legal and technical challenges combined with the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in multiple delays.CityNews repeatedly posed questions over several months surround the project’s status without definitive information being released. ...

Philippines says it will remove any sea barrier China installs in the disputed South China Sea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipino forces would dismantle any floating barrier that China’s coast guard may install in the disputed South China Sea, a Philippine admiral said Wednesday after Manila infuriated China by removing one such obstruction in a contested shoal. Philippine officials strongly condemned the installation last week of a 300-meter (980-foot) -long barrier by Chinese coast guard vessels at the entrance to the lagoon of Scarborough Shoal as a violation of international law and the country’s sovereignty. The barrier has prevented a swarm of Filipino boats from entering the rich fishing area, they said. The shoal lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone just west of the main Luzon Island, but has been occupied by China since 2012 as part of a push by Beijing to lay claim to virtually the entire South China Sea. On Monday, the Philippine coast guard said it has complied with an order by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to launch a covert operation to r...

Deion Sanders’ impact at Colorado raises hopes other Black coaches will get opportunities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

Floyd Keith has waited half a century for a Black coach with Deion Sanders’ swagger and success to shake up college football.The fanfare and hoopla surrounding the Colorado program since Sanders’ arrival has been well documented, but Keith, who for more than a decade was executive director of the Black Coaches Association, hopes the spotlight leads to opportunities for more Black coaches.Even with a loss at Oregon on Saturday that knocked the Buffaloes out of the Top 25, Sanders has the football world’s attention. The 75-year-old Keith believes that includes decision-makers who typically have shied away from hiring Black coaches.“There was maybe this model that everybody (thought they) had to follow,” Keith said. “There was this blueprint of the way it’s done. Well, I think Deion shattered that.”While there is optimism there’s also a healthy dose of skepticism. Sanders is a unicorn in many ways, so it’s unclear if the whirlwind he has created will have coattails.Ke...

These 19 Senate Republicans voted against advancing short-term funding bill 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:56:06 GMT

(The Hill) - The Senate voted Tuesday to advance a short-term funding measure needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the week, though not every lawmaker in the upper chamber was in support. The vote was 77 to 19, with all 19 in opposition part of the Republican Party. The Senate Republicans who voted no include Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Katie Britt (Ala.), Ted Budd (N.C.) Ted Cruz (Texas), Steve Daines (Mont.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Rand Paul (Ky.) Pete Ricketts (Neb.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), and J.D. Vance (Ohio.) Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) chat before the resumption a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to move the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson out of committee on Monday, April 4, 2022. (...