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Moscow raises troop levels, citing Ukraine war, NATO expansion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

Russia is boosting the number of troops in its military for the second time in 15 months, citing the war in Ukraine and the expansion of the NATO defense alliance.Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.3 million as the Ukraine war grinds on after 21 months. Putin’s decree, which entered into force immediately, brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to 2.2 million, including 1.3 million troops.The Russian defense ministry in a message posted on Telegram cited the war in Ukraine and NATO’s expansion — which was spurred by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — as the reasons for the increase in army personnel. Finland joined the Western defense alliance this past spring, and Sweden said this week that Turkey has promised it will ratify Stockholm’s bid “within weeks.” NATO’s “combined armed forces are being built up near Russia’s borde...

Start over? Stay the course? Ryan Poles is nearing a series of landmark decisions with the Chicago Bears’ QB and coaching future.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

Certainly Ryan Poles knows the cameras are everywhere, his every move being watched. Analyzed. Interpreted. Debated.Before Monday’s road matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Poles was doing his usual pregame speed-walk around the perimeter of the field when he crossed paths with Justin Fields, who was on his way to the locker room. Without breaking stride, Poles gave his quarterback a fist bump and, quite naturally, a Chicago television reporter caught the moment, delivering it promptly to Bears fans, including all the ravenous social media sleuths seeking clues on what the general manager might be considering.Was there possibly anything in Poles’ stride or Fields’ facial expression to decode?In the third quarter of the Bears’ 12-10 victory, the ESPN broadcast zoomed in on Poles, this time inside a U.S. Bank Stadium suite after a first down running play to Roschon Johnson. Briefly, the GM shook his head and circled his right index finger in a bit of a ̶...

Column: A potential Christmas Eve miracle, an edible bowl mascot and other sports topics to debate in December

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

I asked my local AI story generator to write a Sunday column on some of my favorite topics from the sports world, saving me from wasting several hours scouring the internet.But all it came back with was Pat McAfee-related gibberish, forcing me back to the drawing board with eight non-McAfee things to debate in December.1. The NFL could ring out the year with a special holiday treat. The return of New York Jets savior Aaron Rodgers from his torn left Achilles tendon could be Dec. 24 against the Washington Commanders. Rodgers reportedly has targeted that date, or so he told the aforementioned podcaster and wacky ESPN personality, assuming the quarterback is healthy and the Jets are still alive for a playoff spot.Christmas Eve seems like a perfect date for a “miracle” return that no doubt would be compared to a similar comeback story by you know who. As for all the Rodgers haters, it looks like Festivus for the rest of us.2. When an athlete apologizes without saying what he...

When will Shohei Ohtani make a decision? 3 questions facing the Chicago Cubs ahead of the winter meetings.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

Two months ago during the final week of the season, when the Chicago Cubs’ tenuous hold on a playoff spot had slipped away, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer looked across the field in Atlanta at the standard they were trying to reach.The Braves, winners of six consecutive division titles and a World Series championship in that span, have become an offensive force and are yearly becoming one of the teams to beat.“Whenever I see a great team like this, I actually look at it as inspirational, that’s the standard,” Hoyer said at the end of September. “And to get where you want to go, that’s where you have to get.”Reaching that level will take more than one offseason and require the Cubs return to the postseason for the first time in a full season since 2018. Hoyer and the Cubs certainly have multiple paths to building a playoff roster in the next two months, with Shohei Ohtani representing the marquee prize.Free-agent signings and trad...

1 person is dead and 11 missing after a landslide and flash floods hit Indonesia’s Sumatra island

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers recovered the body of a man buried under tons of mud and rocks from flash floods and a landslide that crashed onto a hilly village on Indonesia’s Sumatra island. Officials said Sunday that 11 people are still missing. Tons of mud, rocks and trees rolled down from a mountain late Friday triggered by torrential rain, reaching a river that burst its banks and tore through mountainside villages near the popular Lake Toba in North Sumatra province.Rescuers used excavators, dogs and sometimes their bare hands to shift the rubble in the worst-hit village as they searched for the dead and missing, said Sariman Sitorus, the spokesman of the local Search and Rescue Agency.They also deployed several divers equipped with sonar detection to detect possible victims swept into Lake Toba, Sitorus said.He said rescuers late Saturday pulled out a mud-caked body on the lakeside, about 500 meters (yards) from the devastated Senior Bakara Hotel. The man was identified as...

The fatal stabbing of a German tourist by a suspected radical puts sharp focus on the Paris Olympics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A bloodstain by a bridge over the Seine river was the only remaining sign on Sunday of a fatal knife attack 12 hours earlier on a German tourist, allegedly carried out by a young man under watch for suspected Islamic radicalization.The random attack near the Eiffel Tower has drawn special concern for the French capital less than a year before it hosts the Olympic Games, with the opening ceremony due to take place along the river in an unprecedented scenic start in the heart of Paris.After killing the tourist, the suspect crossed the bridge to the city’s Right Bank and wounded two people with a hammer, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday night. The suspect, who apparently cried “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), was arrested.Video circulating on the internet showed police officers, weapons drawn, cornering a man dressed in black, his face covered and what appeared to be a knife in his right hand. They twice tasered the suspect before arresting him, Darmanin said....

Jewish Canadians to celebrate Hanukkah publicly, even as antisemitism rises

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

While many Jewish Canadians prepare to light menorahs in celebration of Hanukkah starting Thursday, some say the Israel-Hamas war coupled with a rise in antisemitism may dim the festival of lights.Daniel Thau-Eleff, a Winnipeg-based playwright, is among those who will mark the holiday celebrating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BC, even as they mourn current events.“It’s a very happy and celebratory occasion and I’m finding it hard to be happy these days. It’ll probably be a challenge to just be happy and celebrate,” said Thau-Eleff.His grief is multi-faceted, he said. There is grief for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, who were pummelled by Israeli fire as the military sought to tamp out Hamas following an Oct. 7 attack. There is also grief for the Israelis who were killed and taken hostage, used as bargaining chips. And then there is the pain caused by a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia closer to home.“And there’s ...

Kyiv says Russian forces shot surrendering Ukrainian soldiers. If confirmed, it would be a war crime

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials on Sunday accused Russian forces of killing surrendering Ukrainian soldiers, a war crime if confirmed, after grainy footage on social media appeared to show two uniformed men being shot at close range after emerging from a dugout.The video shows the servicemen, one of them with his hands up, walking out at gunpoint and lying down on the ground before a group of Russian troops appears to open fire. It was not immediately possible to verify the video’s authenticity or the circumstances in which it was taken.The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office on Sunday launched a criminal investigation, hours after the Ukrainian military’s press office said in an online statement that the footage is genuine.“The video shows a group in Russian uniforms shooting, at point-blank range, two unarmed servicemen in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who were surrendering,” the prosecutor’s office said in a Telegram update on Sunday.Kyiv, its Western alli...

In US, some Muslim-Jewish interfaith initiatives are strained by Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

Shireen Quaizar was wracked with doubt. For years, the school psychologist has been active in Muslim-Jewish interfaith dialogue, but the Israel-Hamas war left her reeling.“What are we doing with talking to each other?” she recalled thinking, frustrated by a conversation about the exact number of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike. “This doesn’t work.”But she decided to fight that thought and tackle the hard discussions once again. Later, Quaizar, who is Muslim, met with women like Aviva Seltzer, the daughter of a rabbi and a Jewish school principal who was raised with the belief that “but for the existence of Israel, we’d all be dead.”The two had come together for a conference in New Brunswick, New Jersey, convened by the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an organization seeking to build trust and friendships between Muslim and Jewish women.  These conversations are becoming increasingly difficult, with the war and its polarizing reverberations in America testing and straining s...

Republicans had New Yorkers lead the way in expelling Santos. Will it help them keep the majority?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — George Santos is gone from the House, but his name is certain to pop up in key congressional races across New York next year. Democrats are targeting five seats held by first-term Republicans and looking to associate them with their former colleague in the state’s congressional delegation as often as they can.How successful Democrats are in that effort could help determine which party holds the majority in the House in 2025.The strategy of association was evident as Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York castigated Republicans in comments leading up to Santos’ expulsion on Friday.“Look, House Republicans knew a lot about George Santos before he was elected. And we have reason to believe either intentionally kept that information out of the public domain or willfully turned a blind eye,” Jeffries said. “And then, when the information exploded into the public domain, continue to coddle George Santos and play footsie with him for the better part of ...