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Vermont Niceness Is Not the Answer to the Shooting of Three Palestinians

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

People gather for a vigil, after three Palestinian American students were shot near the University of Vermont campus, in Pliny Park in Brattleboro, Vt., on Nov. 27, 2023.Photo: Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via APWhen a white man shot three Palestinian students in Burlington, Vermont, it struck much of America as the least likely place for the violence of Israel–Palestine to show its teeth. Vermont is peaceful. Vermont is civil. Vermont is tolerant. It had to be an aberration.In fact, it turned out that Jason Eaton — the man charged with shooting Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and Tahseen Ali Ahmad — is not a Vermonter. He’s from Syracuse, New York, just recently relocated to Burlington, where he bought the gun. He might not have had plans to stay. Yes, it had to be an aberration.I have lived half-time in Vermont for 32 years. The home my partner and I share is on a dirt road in a small town in the rural Northeast Kingdom, which is about as far as you can get, eco...

Amber Alert issued for 2-year-old girl from Virginia Beach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

An Amber Alert has been issued for 2-year-old Zury Dorsey of Virginia Beach, Va. (Courtesy Virginia Beach police) An Amber Alert has been issued for 2-year-old Zury Dorsey of Virginia Beach, Va. (Courtesy Virginia Beach police) An abducted Virginia toddler is believed to be in “extreme danger” after being taken from home, according to police.The Virginia Beach Police Department issued an Amber Alert for 2-year-old Zuri Dorsey after it said she was abducted around 7:15 a.m. Saturday.Police said the toddler is believed to have been taken by her 27-year-old estranged father, Deandre Alante Dorsey.The pair may be headed to Lewiston Woodville, North Carolina in a red 2016 Honda Accord with North Carolina pl...

Trump desestima las advertencias de que su victoria amenazaría la democracia y dice que Biden es la verdadera amenaza

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

(CNN) —  El expresidente Donald Trump calificó este sábado de “engaño” y de “desinformación demócrata” las advertencias de que su victoria en 2024 representaría una amenaza para la democracia.El expresidente, que enfrenta cargos federales y estatales derivados de sus esfuerzos por anular las elecciones de 2020, dijo en un discurso organizado por el Club de Jóvenes Republicanos de Nueva York que el presidente Joe Biden “es la verdadera amenaza a la democracia”.“¿Puedes creerlo? Esta es su nueva línea, ya sabes”, dijo Trump. “Aquí vamos de nuevo: ‘Rusia, Rusia, Rusia’, ‘Mueller, Mueller, Mueller’, ‘Ucrania, Ucrania, Ucrania’. Un engaño tras otro”.“Pero no, no soy una amenaza. Salvaré la democracia. La amenaza es el corrupto Joe Biden”, dijo Trump.Y añadió: “Y eso es lo que es, es un engaño. Ahora lo llamamos el engaño de la amenaza a la democracia, porque eso es lo que es”.Trump dijo más tarde que esos ataques fueron un “intento desesper...

Philippines says Chinese coast guard used water cannons against its vessels for a second day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Chinese coast guard targeted Philippine vessels with water cannon blasts Sunday and rammed one of them, causing damage and endangering Filipino crew members off a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, just a day after similar hostilities at another contested shoal, Philippine officials said.The Philippines and its treaty ally, the United States, immediately condemned the latest confrontation near the Second Thomas Shoal, where two Philippine navy-operated supply boats and two Philippine coast guard escort ships sailed to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces in a long-marooned navy ship that serves as a territorial outpost.“We condemn, once again, China’s latest unprovoked acts of coercion and dangerous maneuvers against a legitimate and routine Philippine rotation and resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal that has put the lives of our people at risk,” a Philippine government task force that deals with the territorial disputes said in a...

Filipinas y China se acusan mutuamente de incidentes ‘peligrosos’ que involucraron a varios buques en el Mar de China Meridional

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

(CNN) —  Filipinas y China se acusaron este domingo de maniobras peligrosas y de provocar una colisión en aguas en disputa en el Mar de China Meridional , el último de una serie de enfrentamientos marítimos entre los dos países que han aumentado las tensiones regionales.En una declaración compartida en X, el portavoz del Grupo de Trabajo Nacional para el Mar de Filipinas Occidental (NTF-WPS), Jay Tarriela, dijo que los buques de la Guardia Costera y la milicia marítima china habían “acosado, bloqueado y ejecutado maniobras peligrosas en buques de suministro civiles filipinos, en otro intento de impedir u obstruir ilegalmente una misión rutinaria de reabastecimiento y rotación” al Second Thomas Shoal.Sin embargo, la Guardia Costera china dijo que barcos filipinos habían “invadido ilegalmente” sus aguas y que estaba tomando “medidas de control contra los barcos filipinos de acuerdo con la ley”.También dijo que un barco filipino había “ignorado numerosas advertencias de China” y ...

Gibraltar airport key to Spain-Britain deal, says Spanish foreign minister 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

Joint use of Gibraltar’s airport has to be included in any agreement between Spain and Britain over the future of the territory, Spain’s foreign minister said.In an interview published Sunday in El País, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares made clear that the airport wouldn’t be left out of the deal, asking “what sense would it make to leave out an element as beneficial to the population as the airport?” The negotiations over the future of Gibraltar have dragged on post-Brexit, with a temporary agreement in place for the British Overseas Territory that sees Spain allow workers and tourists free border passage. Negotiations continue this week, following talks between Albares and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron on the sidelines of a NATO meeting. “To me, it seems like progress that flights can come from Spanish airports and other European countries, promoting tourism and relations. The airport has to be in the agreement, of course,” said Albares. He said that Spa...

Buonopane stars in debut, Archbishop Williams outlasts Bishop Feehan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

CANTON – Phenom goalie Evelyn Lacey left big skates to fill on the Archbishop Williams girls hockey team when she transferred after last year.In the Bishops’ season opener Saturday night, though, junior Bella Buonopane laced them up for a perfect fit.By stopping all 16 shots she faced in a frantic third period, in which No. 5 Archbishop Williams (1-0) needed to kill three separate penalties, Buonopane (32 saves) paired with a gritty defense and two first-period goals to stave off No. 6 Bishop Feehan for a 2-1 Catholic Central League win in her first career varsity start.One of those saves looked like the puck snuck in for the game-tying goal in the closing minutes, but officials ruled the play over before it crossed the line, and the Bishops eventually held on despite an onslaught of pressure.“It was kind of stressful because last year we had Evelyn Lacey and she was a beast,” Buonopane said. “But I know I can play, I’ve been playing for a few years. So I feel like I just played wit...

Indigenous services minister to table First Nations water bill as early as Monday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

OTTAWA — Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu is expected to table much-anticipated legislation to improve water quality in First Nations communities as early as Monday.The bill comes more than a year after Canada repealed previous legislation on safe drinking water for First Nations, and two years after a Federal Court ruling approved a massive $8-billion settlement related to drinking water advisories.Hajdu said in an interview with The Canadian Press this fall that the coming legislation is the closest the federal government has come to co-developing law with First Nations. But some First Nations chiefs are disputing that assertion.Hajdu’s office is not providing more information about what’s in the bill before it is tabled. In June 2022, the federal Liberals did away with the existing Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, which had been introduced by the previous Conservative government in 2013.The government at the time said the bill aimed to support the de...

‘People are confused’: Survey suggests Canadians need education on Charter rights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

OTTAWA — While one-third of Canadians say they have read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, many fail to distinguish between its text and that of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, a new survey suggests. There is also significant division when it comes to whether Canadians agree with the opening line of the Charter, which sets the tone for the rest of the document. “They feel they know it better than they actually do,” said Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, which commissioned the poll along with the Metropolis Institute.“We need more Charter education, if you’d like. Or more Charter literacy.” The results are based off of a web survey of 1,502 Canadians in September by the Leger polling firm. Online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they are not considered truly random samples. Jedwab’s association released the findings to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the United Nations adopting the Uni...

Skywatch: Jump out of bed for the Geminids

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:45 GMT

Stargazing will be worth losing sleep over this week as you bundle up to enjoy the annual Geminid meteor shower, one of the best of the year. It reaches its peak very late this coming Wednesday night into Thursday morning, Dec. 13 and 14.Meteor showers occur when the Earth runs into a debris trail of dust and small pebbles as it orbits around the sun. Most debris trails are left behind by passing comets that wander into our part of the solar system. The Geminids are unusual because the debris trail was left behind by a messy asteroid dubbed by astronomers as 3200 Phaethon. This asteroid was discovered in 1983 and may have a diameter of around three and a half miles. 3200 Phaethon is a real cosmic litterbug! That’s unusual for an asteroid. It has a highly elliptical orbit that swings it by our part of the solar system every year and a half. Each time it passes by, the debris trail is richly refreshed.All meteor showers are best seen from midnight to morning twilight, especially about...