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Ukraine war: Analysis shows Russia has lost nearly 50,000 soldiers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

By Erika Kinetz | Associated PressBRUSSELS — Nearly 50,000 Russian men have died in the war in Ukraine, according to the first independent statistical analysis of Russia’s war dead.Two independent Russian media outlets, Mediazona and Meduza, working with a data scientist from Germany’s Tübingen University, used Russian government data to shed light on one of Moscow’s closest-held secrets — the true human cost of its invasion of Ukraine.To do so, they relied on a statistical concept popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic called excess mortality. Drawing on inheritance records and official mortality data, they estimated how many more men under age 50 died between February 2022 and May 2023 than normal.Neither Moscow nor Kyiv gives timely data on military losses, and each is at pains to amplify the other side’s casualties. Russia has publicly acknowledged the deaths of just over 6,000 soldiers. Reports about military losses have been repressed in Russian media...

Comedian Sarah Silverman sues Bay Area tech firms over AI book capture

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

Comedian and author Sarah Silverman is suing social media giant Meta and ChatGPT pioneer OpenAI in a pair of related lawsuits accusing the high-profile Bay Area technology companies of breaking state and federal laws by using her memoir “The Bedwetter” as fodder for their artificial intelligence products.Silverman and two novelists claim Menlo Park-based Meta and San Francisco-based OpenAI violated copyright and other laws by ingesting their books — and those of thousands of other authors — to train their artificial intelligence software.Both companies copied works protected by copyright law, including books by Silverman, Pennsylvania author Richard Kadrey and Massachusetts writer Christopher Golden “without consent, without credit, and without compensation,” according to the lawsuits filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.OpenAI, which sells ChatGPT via subscription, and Meta, which according to Silverman’s lawsuit is planning...

San Francisco police union defends mass arrest at skateboard 'hill bomb' event

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- This summer's "Dolores Hill Bomb," an unsanctioned event where skateboarders take over a steep city street, escalated into a riot and mass arrest of more than 100 people.The counter-culture skateboarding event turned ugly. And in the wake of Saturday evening's melee, city leaders are sparring over who escalated the event into chaos. Mayor London Breed is backing police, stating, "No one at this event was arrested for skateboarding." Breed added, "This was an unpermitted event that has led to serious problems in the past, including property destruction and physical injury. The last time it was held, someone died." The San Francisco Police Department's chief and union are strongly defending tactics used by officers. Police officers had to take action to protect fearful residents in the Mission District neighborhood, according to SFPD, the chief, and the union. The San Francisco Police Officers Association wrote, "The violence and chaos on our streets had nothin...

Oakland tenants displaced from New Year's Eve flood protest at landlord's home

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

(BCN) -- A group of tenants who have been displaced for more than half a year from an East Oakland apartment complex protested at their landlord's Oakland home on Sunday morning. Tenants at Oakland's Coliseum Connections apartment building were displaced after a flood on New Year's Eve rendered it uninhabitable. Damage from the flood occurred mainly in the garage area, but the building also sustained damage to the electrical system. Tenants have been shuffled from hotel to hotel, with some families sharing one room without a kitchen, according to a press release from the Coliseum Connections Tenant Association, which works alongside the local tenants union Tenant and Neighborhood Councils. About two-thirds of the apartments' households have children. Family contracts COVID on board Ruby Princess cruise "We are not staying in hotel rooms for pleasure," said Faviola Abendano, a Coliseum Connections tenant in the press release. "There's only so much a 9-5 job can cover." Th...

Summer may be sizzling, but Maryland has already kicked off a back-to-school drive to help kids in need

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

School office supplies on board.(Getty Images/iStockphoto/targovcom) School office supplies on board.(Getty Images/iStockphoto/targovcom) School supplies may not be top of mind for families right now, but Maryland state agencies and a local nonprofit have come up with a back-to-school shopping list they hope residents will consider.Starting this week, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the State Board of Education are working with the Boys & Girls Club Maryland Alliance to collect school supplies for students across the state so they’ll be ready for the upcoming school year.From July 10 through July 28, school supplies can be dropped off at specified MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration branch office...

Review: On ‘Playa Saturno,’ Rauw Alejando’s futuristic reggaeton reaches new heights

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Playa Saturno” by Rauw Alejandro (Sony Music Latin/Duars Entertainment)Puerto Rican musician Rauw Alejandro has always had his eye on the future — taking familiar genres and contorting them into something novel.At the beginning of his career, that meant R&B-informed reggaeton when the rest of the industry leaned into “popetón,” a tried-and-true pop formula. Alejandro takes dem bow, the four-on-the-floor, three-beat percussive pattern that lays the foundation for many Urbano Latino genres (that’s the “boom-chk-boom-chk” to the untrained ear), and manages to stretch the sound into new, experimental heights. And maybe to the furthest corners of the galaxy, as his extraterrestrial concept album suggests.Released as a surprise spinoff to his 2022 album “Saturno”, Alejandro’s fourth full-length, “Playa Saturno,” is an idyllic soundtrack for a beach party in outer space, a collection of songs that demonstrate Alejandro’s keen ear and respect for those performers who...

Adultos de la tercera edad pueden aplicar para viviendas asequibles en el condado Fairfax

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

Pagar una renta hoy en día es difícil para todos, mucho más para las personas de la tercera edad que aún batallando con las limitadas oportunidades de empleo han tenido que adaptarse a seguir pagando altas sumas de dinero para poder tener un lugar donde vivir. En el condado Fairfax, hay una oportunidad para que ellos puedan beneficiarse de viviendas dignas a bajo costo.Aunque no puede ocultar su elegancia y ganas de seguir adelante, Paulina Máximo Pérez  es una de las residentes del DMV a la que pagar una vivienda digna se le ha hecho una tarea imposible. “No alcanza. Y ahorita me había enfermado mucho, mucho y se quedó mi trabajo”, dijo Máximo Pérez.La señora mexicana llegó a la región hace 17 años. Ahora tiene 74 años y está buscando empleo para poder costear sus gastos. Detalló que vive en una habitación en la que paga $800 mensuales–algo que considera elevado en relación a sus ingresos.“Me gustaría vivir mejor…mejor de la vida que tengo ahorita, porque ahorita pue...

Niña muere al atragantarse con comida en un Costco

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

KENNEWICK, Washington.- Una niña de 4 años murió en el hospital Kadlec después de atragantarse con lo que pareció ser un hot dog en la tienda Costco de esta comunidad, el domingo por la tarde. Según el forense del condado Benton, Bill Leach, la niña estaba a unos días de cumplir cinco años.El incidente de asfixia fue “fuertemente presenciado” en la tienda por múltiples testigos, según el forense Leach. Por esa razón no fue programada una autopsia. El personal de emergencia retiró un “tazón de comida” de la escena.Según Ben Shearer, del Departamento de Bomberos de Pasco, el Departamento de Bomberos de Kennewick respondió al incidente, pero hasta ahora no ha hecho ningún comentario o informe.NonStop Local contactó al Costco local para hacer comentarios, pero le dijeron que la tienda “no tiene comentarios en este momento”. Un representante de Costco Wholesale no estuvo disponible para hacer comentarios.La tienda cerró el domingo tras el incidente, pe...

Ella soñaba con defender Japón, pero fue víctima de agresiones sexuales en el Ejército. Esta es su historia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

Tokio, Japón (CNN) — Rina Gonoi es una luchadora.Como exsoldado, como practicante de judo y como mujer que lucha en nombre de todas las mujeres para que aquellos que la agredieron sexualmente se responsabilicen de sus actos.Durante su servicio en las Fuerzas de Autodefensa de Japón (JSDF, por sus siglas en inglés), Gonoi afirma que sufrió agresiones sexuales tanto físicas como verbales a diario durante más de un año, y prometió que a su salida del Ejército, en junio de 2022, tras dos años de servicio, llevaría a sus agresores ante la justicia.Peng Shuai niega haber hecho una acusación de agresión sexual contra el líder retirado del Partido Comunista, pero persisten las preocupaciones de la WTAAl principio, las autoridades no parecían dispuestas a creerle. Cuando denunció los supuestos abusos a las autoridades militares, se iniciaron dos investigaciones que se archivaron prontamente por falta de pruebas.Decidida a no darse por vencida, Gonoi acudió a las cadenas de televisión. ...

Woman dies after 500-foot fall in Rocky Mountain National Park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:14 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A 26-year-old woman died after falling while free climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday, the park said in a release Monday.The woman from Boulder was free-solo climbing on the Four Aces of Blitzen Ridge when she fell approximately 500 feet, according to the release. That ridge is located on Ypsilon Mountain on the east side of the park. Her 27-year-old climbing partner, also from Boulder, contacted park rangers after she fell, the release said. Young man dies after fall at a Rocky Mountain waterfall Due to the remoteness of the location, RMNP search and rescue teams requested assistance from the Colorado Air National Guard helicopter to get the surviving Boulder climber to safety. He was uninjured, the release said. Monday morning, search and rescue team members hiked back to the area to assist in the recovery of the Boulder woman's body. Her identity has not yet been released pending next of kin notification.The Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, the...