url
stringlengths 77
195
| text
stringlengths 210
92.7k
| in_y0
bool 1
class | in_y1
bool 2
classes | category
stringclasses 2
values | publisher
stringclasses 1
value | crawl_date
stringclasses 172
values |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/recalls-baby-rattle-poses-choking-hazard-alarm-may-fail-to-alert-co-hazard/ASVOPGIHXZDG3BLDE5JEGSJQAQ/
|
A baby teether rattle, Bluetooth speaker, drug lockbox and a combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarm are the latest products under recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday.
Kid O Hudson Glow Rattle
PlayMonster has recalled its Kid O Hudson Glow Rattle, a motion-activated rattle shaped like a puppy that makes a soft rattling sound when shaken. The puppy is white with spots that can glow in red or green, and its legs are textured soft plastic for teething children.
The company received three reports of the rattle’s legs breaking off. This poses a choking hazard, but no injuries have been reported.
Consumers should immediately take the recalled rattles away and contact PlayMonster for instructions on receiving a $25 refund. PlayMonster will provide a prepaid shipping label to return the product.
For more information, visit the PlayMonster website, email hudsonglowrattlerecall@playmonster.com or call 1-800-469-7506.
Universal Security Instruments smoke & CO alarm
Universal Security Instruments has recalled its combination photoelectric smoke and carbon monoxide alarms because it can fail to alert consumers to the presence of a hazardous level of CO, which poses a risk of CO poisoning or death. CO is an odorless, colorless, poisonous gas.
Consumers should immediately contact Universal Security Instruments for a free replacement alarm but should keep using the recalled alarms until they install replacement alarms.
The recall is for models MPC322S with a manufacture date of June 9, 2017, and MPC122S with a manufacture date of June 2, 2017.
Consumers can visit the Universal Security Instruments website or call 1-800-220-0046 for more information.
Soundboks Bluetooth Speakers with Lithium-Ion batteries
Soundboks is recalling Bluetooth speakers with lithium-ion batteries because the speaker battery can overheat, posting a fire hazard.
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled speakers, remove the battery and contact the company to receive a new battery. Soundboks will provide free replacement lithium-ion batteries and a $100 credit toward purchases at Soundboks web shop, as well as instructions for properly disposing of lithium-ion batteries according to federal and state regulations.
Soundboks has notified all known users, but for more information consumers can visit their website or call 1-866-761-9472.
Helix Metal Lockable Drug Chests
Maped Helix USA has recalled its metal lockable drug chests because the locking mechanism can fail.
The failed mechanism allows access to the contents inside the chest, which could pose a risk of poisoning.
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled chests until repaired and should contact Maped Helix USA for a free consumer-installable repair kit.
For more information, visit the Maped Helix USA website, email contact@maped-helixusa.com or call 1-800-645-1421.
About the Author
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/amazon-workers-in-alabama-reject-union-final-result-unclear/2VNWRPPFPFFDBNK4QC4PK2A7RI/
|
“This is just the beginning and we will continue to fight,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is organizing the union drive in Bessemer, at a Thursday press conference. “Regardless of the final outcome, workers have shown what is possible. They have helped ignite a movement.”
Appelbaum said RWDSU will be filing objections to how Amazon handled the election but declined to be specific. He also took the opportunity to lash out at current labor laws, which he believes are rigged against unions and favor of corporations.
“It should not be so difficult to organize a union in the United States," he said.
If a majority of Amazon workers votes yes in either Bessemer or Staten Island, it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company's history. Organizers have faced an uphill battle against the nation’s second-largest private employer, which is making every effort to keep unions out.
In New York, the ALU has led the charge to form a union along with Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who now heads the fledging group. Turnout for the in-person election was unclear but Smalls was hopeful of victory.
“To be leading in Day One and be up a couple hundred against a trillion dollar company, this is the best feeling in the world,” Smalls said after the conclusion of Thursday’s counting.
While Smalls’ attention has been focused on securing victory in New York, similar efforts in Alabama also weighed heavily.
“I’m not too sure what’s going in Alabama right now, but I know that the sky’s the limit if you can organize any warehouse,” he said, noting that the vote in Alabama could well end up differently. “I hope that they’re successful. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but we know we show our support and solidarity with them.”
The warehouse in Staten Island employs more than 8,300 workers, who pack and ship supplies to customers based mostly in the Northeast. A labor win there was considered difficult, but organizers believe their grassroots approach is more relatable to workers and could help them overcome where established unions have failed in the past.
John Logan, director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University, said the early vote counts in New York has been “shocking.” ALU has no backing from an established union and is powered by former and current warehouse workers. The group had also filed for a union election after getting support from about 30% of the facility's workforce, a much lower percentage than what unions usually seek.
“I don’t think that many people thought that the Amazon Labor Union had much of a chance of winning at all,” Logan said. “And I think we’re likely to see more of those (approaches) going forward.”
Though RWDSU is currently lagging behind with challenged ballots outstanding, Logan said that election was also remarkable because the union has made a good effort narrowing its margin from last year’s election.
After a crushing defeat last year, when a majority of workers voted against forming a union, RWDSU is hoping for a different outcome in the Bessemer election, in which mail-in ballots were sent to 6,100 workers in early February. Federal labor officials scrapped the results of the first election there and ordered a re-do after ruling Amazon tainted the election process.
The RWDSU said election there had a turnout rate of about 39% this year, much smaller than last year. Appelbaum blamed the low numbers on high turnover — he believes thousands of people who worked for Amazon in January and were on the official list to be eligible to vote either quit or were fired. He also believes that an in-person election, which the RWDSU had asked for, would have made a difference
Amazon has pushed back hard in both elections. The retail giant held mandatory meetings, where workers were told unions are a bad idea. The company also launched an anti-union website targeting workers and placed English and Spanish posters across the Staten Island facility urging them to reject the union. In Bessemer, Amazon has made some changes to but still kept a controversial U.S. Postal Service mailbox that was key in the NLRB's decision to invalidate last year's vote.
Both labor fights faced unique challenges. Alabama, for instance, is a right-to-work state that prohibits a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.
The mostly Black workforce at the Amazon facility, which opened in 2020, mirrors the Bessemer population of more than 70% Black residents, according to the latest U.S. Census data.
Pro-union workers say they want better working conditions, longer breaks and higher wages. Regular full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least $15.80 an hour, higher than the estimated $14.55 per hour on average in the city. That figure is based on an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual median household income for Bessemer of $30,284, which could include more than one worker.
The ALU said they don’t have a demographic breakdown of the warehouse workers on Staten Island and Amazon declined to provide the information to The Associated Press, citing the union vote. Internal records leaked to The New York Times from 2019 showed more than 60% of the hourly associates at the facility were Black or Latino, while most of managers were white or Asian.
Amazon workers there are seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, up from a minimum of just over $18 per hour offered by the company. The estimated average wage for the borough is $41 per hour, according to a similar U.S. Census Bureau analysis of Staten Island’s $85,381 median household income.
A spokesperson for Amazon said the company invests in wages and benefits, such as health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition program to help grow workers’ careers.
“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
—-
Associated Press staff writers Tali Arbel and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York contributed to this report.
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Elijah Ramos stands outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Elijah Ramos stands outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Michelle Valentin Nieves stand outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Michelle Valentin Nieves stand outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Amazon worker Dale Wyatt talks about a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Amazon worker Dale Wyatt talks about a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Signs supporting the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union are shown near an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay reeves
Caption Signs supporting the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union are shown near an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay reeves
Credit: Jay reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire talks about her support for a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire talks about her support for a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire, right, talks with an unidentified union organizer in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the company's warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire, right, talks with an unidentified union organizer in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the company's warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) lead organizer Mat Cusick, second from right standing, watches a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) lead organizer Mat Cusick, second from right standing, watches a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) volunteers Tim Hunter, right, and Drisana Hughes, left, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) volunteers Tim Hunter, right, and Drisana Hughes, left, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, react while watching a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., , Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, react while watching a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., , Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, Brett Daniels, center, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, and Connor Spence, left, ALU Vice President for membership, check their phones during a watch party of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, Brett Daniels, center, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, and Connor Spence, left, ALU Vice President for membership, check their phones during a watch party of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/arizona-governor-wont-say-transgender-people-exist/A4X3WKECFNGJDH4SKJK2E46KKI/
|
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey refused to say Thursday if transgender people actually exist, twice dodging direct questions on the subject just a day after he signed legislation limiting transgender rights.
The Republican worked instead to defend his signatures on bills that bar transgender girls and women from playing on girls high school and women's college sports teams and barring gender affirming surgery for anyone under age 18.
When specifically asked if he believed that there “are really transgender people,” the governor paused for several seconds before answering.
“I’m going to ask you to read the legislation and to see that the legislation that we passed was in the spirit of fairness to protect girls sports in competitive situations,” Ducey said, referring to the new law that targets transgender girls who want to play on girls sports teams. “That’s what the legislation is intended to do, and that’s what it does.”
Asked again if he believed there are “actual transgender people,” he again answered slowly and carefully.
“I ... am going to respect everyone, and I’m going to respect everyone’s rights. And I’m going to protect female sports. And that’s what the legislation does,” Ducey said.
Ducey's response was “appalling,” according to the Arizona director of the Human Rights Campaign, a national civil rights group that advocates for equality for LGBTQ people. The organization worked to ensure families and transgender young people came to the Capitol to testify against the bills as the Republican-led House and Senate considered them this session.
“It's quite shocking that he can't even address trans people or even say that he thinks they exist,” Bridget Sharpe said.
Wednesday's signing of the two transgender bills and a third that bars abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and is currently unconstitutional put Ducey right in the middle of two top issues national Republicans are highlighting in the runup to November's midterm elections.
Ducey also signed election legislation that minority Democrats said amounted to voter suppression by requiring longtime Arizonans to be thrown off the voter rolls if they did not prove their citizenship and residence location.
The governor leads the Republican Governors Association, which is charged with helping elect GOP chief executives in U.S. states. He in is the last year of his second term as Arizona governor and term limits bar him from seeking reelection.
The top Democrat in the state House, Rep. Reginald Bolding, called Wednesday “probably one of the darkest days we've seen in the history of Arizona."
“With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Ducey has hurled Arizona backwards to its ugliest past,” Bolding said Wednesday. “And today, he put in jeopardy pregnant people, transgender youth in danger and curtailed voting rights for people of color.”
Social conservative groups and the Arizona Republican Party praised Ducey's action. The Center for Arizona Policy, whose president shepherded the abortion and women's sports bills through the Legislature, called it a victory.
"Thank you, Governor Ducey, for taking a bold stand for women athletes, vulnerable children, and the unborn by putting your signature on (the bills) in the face of intense opposition from activists," Center for Arizona Policy president Cathi Herrod said in a news release she posted on Twitter.
She said the legislation protects the unborn, ensures a level playing field for female athletes and shows that “Arizona will do everything it can to protect vulnerable children struggling with gender confusion” by enacting the surgery ban.
Ducey said the surgery ban protects children from irreversible decisions.
“These are permanent surgeries of reassignment that are irreversible, and those discussions can happen once adulthood is reached,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Association has vowed to sue over the surgery ban. U.S. Supreme Court precedent currently says women have a constitutional right to abortion until about 24 weeks of pregnancy, although it is considering whether to uphold a 15-week ban enacted in Mississippi and may overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision enshrining a woman's right to choose.
Arizona joins 13 other states in enacting laws preventing transgender girls and women from playing on girls teams. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed a transgender sports ban in his state, saying it would harm transgender girls, but the Legislature overrode the veto. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb also vetoed a sports bill, but lawmakers hope to override his action as well.
Credit: Ross D. Franklin
Credit: Ross D. Franklin
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/epa-upholds-trump-era-decision-not-to-regulate-contaminant/27A6VM3V3FCWBIVMVWOBM3OTLQ/
|
WASHINGTON (AP) — Upholding a Trump-era environmental policy, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it will not regulate a drinking water contaminant that has been linked to brain damage in infants.
The agency said the Trump administration's decision in 2020 not to regulate perchlorate in drinking water was made with the “best available peer reviewed science.” The chemical is used in rocket fuel and fireworks.
At the time, Trump's EPA said perchlorate was not found widely enough in drinking water or "at levels of public health concern" to warrant federal regulation. The decision was one of many Trump-era rollbacks or eliminations of existing or pending public health and environmental protections. The Biden administration ordered a review of that decision at the start of his term.
EPA Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox said the agency was “applying the right tools to support public health protections.”
Environmental groups slammed the Biden administration’s decision.
“The Trump EPA gave perchlorate a pass; it was a bad decision then, and it’s a bad decision now,” said Erik Olson of the Natural Resources Defense Council advocacy group. “Tap water across America will remain contaminated by this toxic chemical.”
Perchlorate from runoff contaminates the drinking water of as many as 16 million Americans, the Obama administration said in 2011 when it announced the EPA would for the first time set maximum limits for the chemical compound. It has been used in the U.S. for decades, particularly by the military and defense industries, and is commonly found in munitions, fireworks, matches and signal flares.
Exposure to the compound can damage the development of fetuses and children and cause measurable drops in IQ in newborns, the American Academy of Pediatrics said in 2019, when it called for stringent federal limits. It damages human development by disrupting the functioning of the thyroid gland.
In its 2020 review, the EPA said state-level regulations and cleanup activities at contaminated sites had lowered the health risks posed by the compound. Massachusetts and California, for example, limit perchlorate in drinking water to 2 parts per billion and 6 parts per billion, respectively.
“But the problem is that for the rest of the country the states have not set standards,” said Olson of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
In the Southwest, perchlorate has been detected in groundwater that entered Lake Mead in Nevada. Manufacturing activities in Henderson, Nevada, were thought to be the source of the chemical. The EPA said cleanup activities at two industrial sites near Las Vegas between 2002 and 2006 resulted in reduced levels of perchlorate in samples provided since then by Nevada environmental and water agencies.
The EPA said Thursday it was considering other steps besides a federal drinking water limit, such as setting standards at open burning and detonation sites of waste explosives, where severe perchlorate contamination is known to exist.
But environmental advocates said such measures fall short of what's needed.
“Simply put, toxic chemicals used in rocket fuel do not belong in our drinking water," said John Rumpler, senior attorney with Environment America.
___
AP reporter Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/environment
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/ex-minor-leaguer-ran-major-league-sports-betting-operation/7EHBZBBUZ5GW3KD4FNHUP5JANU/
|
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former minor league pitcher ran a major league illegal sports betting operation in California that used other former pro athletes to take bets and took wagers from players still in the game, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Wayne Nix, who threw for Oakland Athletics farm teams, used his connections to recruit three former Major League Baseball players and a former pro football player as fellow bookies, prosecutors said.
The MLB began looking into the matter when it learned of it Thursday, but was unaware any of those involved other than Nix, a spokesman said.
Court records offered no names of the players who worked for Nix or those who placed bets with his business, but they provide a glimpse of the kind of money being wagered, earned and lost.
A professional football player paid Nix $245,000 for gambling losses in 2016. An MLB coach paid $4,000 in losses that same year. It was not disclosed if either bet on their own games or their own sports.
MLB prohibits players from betting on baseball or gambling illegally on sports. They can bet on other sports if it’s legal. The National Football League policy bars all personnel from betting on football games.
A Los Angeles check cashing business that has agreed to plead guilty to failing to prevent money laundering in the scheme cashed over $18 million in checks from two single bettors, prosecutors said.
One client wagered $5 million on the Super Bowl but it was not revealed if that gambit paid off.
Sports betting is legal in 30 states, but not in California. However, voters will have a chance to legalize it at the polls in November.
Nix, 45, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to run an illegal gambling operation and faces up to eight years in prison. He also admitted he failed to report $1.4 million in income in 2017 and 2018. He has agreed to pay back taxes and interest of $1.25 million and forfeit $1.3 million seized from bank accounts.
Nix began the sports bookmaking business about 20 years ago after his six-year minor league career — with stops in Arizona, Texas and California — ended, prosecutors said.
His client list was created from contacts he had made in the sports world and included current and former pro athletes. The agents he hired helped expand that clientele.
The operation eventually began using a Costa Rican business, Sand Island Sports, to create accounts where bets could be placed and tracked and credit limits set, prosecutors said. Bets were placed online or through a call center, though Nix paid winners and kept most of the money from losing bets.
Those who exceeded credit limits were shut off, though exceptions were made, according to court documents.
A sports broadcaster's account was reactivated in February 2019 after he told Nix he was refinancing his home mortgage to pay off his gambling debts.
In September 2019, Nix increased the credit limit to a baseball player with debts so he could make additional bets.
In November, 2019, Nix's partner, Edon Kagasoff, told a business manager for a professional basketball player that he would increase the maximum wager he could place to $25,000 per NBA game.
Kagasoff, 44, faces the same conspiracy charge as Nix. He also agreed to plead guilty and forfeit over $3 million in funds seized from his home and bank accounts.
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/live-updates-last-russian-troops-leave-chernobyl-plant/FQ4CNF4OLBFEPH3GINNW2SBMBE/
|
The last Russian troops left the Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, according to the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone around the plant.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian troops who dug trenches in the forest were exposed to radiation, but that could not be confirmed.
The Ukrainian nuclear operator company Energoatom said Thursday that Russian troops were headed toward Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
Energoatom said that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.
___
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Heavy fighting rages near Kyiv as Russia appears to regroup
— Kremlin decree says foreign currency can still buy natural gas
— As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain
— Ukraine refugees encouraged to find work as exodus slows
— Ukrainians in US mobilize to help expected refugees
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LVIV, UKRAINE — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after Russian troops withdrew from the north and center of the country, the situation has been heating up in the southeast where Russian forces are building up for new powerful attacks.
In his nighttime video address to the nation Thursday, Zelenskyy said it was heartening for all Ukrainians to see Russian troops retreating from north of Kyiv, from around the northern town of Chernihiv and from Sumy in the northeast. By he urged Ukrainians not to let up, saying the withdrawal was just a Russian tactic.
“We know their intentions. We know what they are planning and what they are doing,” Zelenskyy said. ““We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us.
“We all want to win,” Zelenskyy added. “But there will be battles ahead. We still have to go through a very difficult path ahead to get everything we are striving for.”
Zelenskyy said he spoke Thursday with European Council President Charles Michel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while his adviser spoke with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
“We need more support from our partners right now when Russian troops are concentrating additional forces in certain areas,” Zelenskyy said.
__
WASHINGTON — The top-ranking Ukrainian Catholic cleric in the United States warned Thursday that religious minorities in the Eastern European country stand to be “crushed” if Moscow gains control, as fighting raged on more than a month after the Russian invasion began.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak said groups at risk include Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox who have broken away from the patriarch of Moscow.
Gudziak also cited reports that Russian forces have damaged two Holocaust memorials and Moscow’s false portrayal of Ukraine as a “Nazi” state although Ukraine overwhelmingly elected a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“What is at stake for the people of faith is their freedom to practice their faith,” Gudziak said during an online panel discussion on the war, hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
Gudziak is head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and president of Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. He also oversees external relations for the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
__
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance have reached Ukraine as part of the $800 million package of aid that President Joe Biden approved on March 16.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other material. He said the 100 Switchblade armed drones that Biden approved as part of the package have not yet been delivered.
Kirby said the $800 million in assistance is likely to be fully delivered within about two weeks. It also includes Mi-17 helicopters, small arms, ammunition, vehicles, secure communications systems, and satellite imagery and analysis capability.
Separately, Kirby said U.S. troops are not training Ukrainian troops in Poland but are acting as liaisons with Ukrainian personnel who cross the border into Poland to take possession of U.S. security assistance. He noted that the standard U.S. military training mission that had existed in Ukraine for years was suspended shortly before Russia invaded.
__
DOHA, Qatar — A video showing the head of Ukrainian soccer wearing an armored vest on the streets of Kyiv brought the impact of Russia’s war into the FIFA Congress.
Andriy Pavelko used a recorded message to the gathering in Qatar on Thursday to talk about the deaths of footballers even as the sport “has taken a back seat in our country.”
The gathering in Doha featured delegates from Russia, including Alexey Sorokin, the chief executive of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organizing committee.
Russia won’t be in the draw for the World Cup on Friday after being disqualified from playing internationally by FIFA over the war. Ukraine can still qualify but its playoff semifinal against Scotland has been postponed until June with the hope the team will be in a position to return to the field by then.
___
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s ombudsperson says that at least one person has been killed and four others have been wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova said those who came under the shelling on Thursday were volunteers accompanying a convoy of buses sent to the northern city of Chernihiv to evacuate residents.
She said that the Russian forces besieging Chernihiv have made it impossible to evacuate civilians from the city that has been cut from food, water and other supplies.
The Russian shelling continued two days after Moscow announced it would scale back military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
___
BERLIN — The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces which were in control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant have “in writing, transferred control” of the facility to Ukrainian personnel.
Ukraine said three convoys of Russian forces have already left the site toward Belarus, while the remaining troops were presumed to be preparing to leave, the agency said Thursday.
The IAEA added that it was in close consultations with Ukrainian authorities on sending a first assistance and support mission to Chernobyl in the next few days.
The agency said it has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while being inside the exclusion zone of the now-closed plant, but is seeking further information in order to provide an independent assessment of the situation.
___
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his offer to host a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders during a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A statement from Erdogan’s office said the Turkish president also told Zelenskyy Thursday that a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators who met in Istanbul earlier this week had given “a meaningful impetus” to efforts to end the fighting.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s delegation laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of nations, including Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a joint news conference with a top Turkish Cypriot official that Erdogan also is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
___
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said there’s “no clear evidence” that Vladimir Putin is scaling back military operations around Kyiv and suggested that the Russian president may have ordered some of his advisers fired or placed under house arrest.
Biden told reporters that “there’s some indication” that Putin has taken those steps against some of his advisers. He added, “But I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don’t have that much hard evidence.”
The White House on Wednesday released unclassified intelligence findings that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing.
The president made the comments after formally announcing that the U.S. would release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve in hopes of easing surging gasoline prices.
Biden also reiterated that his administration remains skeptical that Russia will scale back operations around Kyiv as Moscow announced earlier this week.
Russian forces continued to shell Kyiv suburbs Thursday, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv.
___
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine says the United Nations and its partners have delivered supplies for thousands of people in the country’s northeast but have been unable to reach some encircled cities in the south.
Osnat Lubrani said Thursday that food rations from the humanitarian organization People in Need and the U.N. World Food Program will benefit nearly 6,000 people in Sumy and areas including Trostianets and Okhtyrka.
In addition, she said, basic household items including blankets and kettles from the U.N. refugee agency will support 1,500 people and sanitation kits will help 6,000 people with hygiene and drinking water.
Lubrani said medical supplies and trauma kits from the U.N. World Health Organization will treat 150 patients needing intensive care for serious injuries while other medical supplies will support 10,000 people for three months.
Shei said the U.N.-facilitated humanitarian notification system with Ukraine and Russia enabled safe passage for the convoy to Sumy on Thursday “but this is clearly not enough.” Efforts over the past month to reach Mauripol, Kherson and other encircled cities in the south have been unsuccessful because of safety concerns.
___
BERLIN — The U.N. nuclear watchdog says its director-general has arrived in Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad for talks with senior Russian officials.
The International Atomic Energy Agency didn’t specify in a tweet whom exactly Rafael Mariano Grossi will meet on Friday or give further details of his agenda.
He arrived in Kaliningrad Thursday following a visit to Ukraine, where he visited a nuclear power plant and conferred with the energy minister and other officials on efforts to ensure the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
Ukraine has 15 active nuclear reactors at four plants -- one of which, at Zaporizhzhia, is under the Russian military’s control.
___
GENEVA — A team with the International Committee of the Red Cross has arrived in a Ukraine-held city where staff are preparing to take civilians out of the beleaguered port city of Mariupol.
Julien Lerisson, deputy director of operations for the ICRC, said Thursday that the team assembling in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, has medicines, food, water, hygiene items and other essentials.
He said the organization has high-level agreement for the mission but is focused on making sure “the order trickles down the chain of command,” allowing the team to enter and leave Mariupol safely.
The Russian military has said it committed to a cease-fire along the route from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian authorities have said 45 buses would be sent to collect citizens and provide resources to those who remain.
Lucile Marbeau, a staff member with the ICRC team hoping to enter Mariupol, said on Thursday: “We’re here because really, we hope to be able to facilitate safe passage for civilians desperately wanting to flee Mariupol.”
___
LONDON — Britain’s defense minister says Ukraine’s international allies have agreed to send more military equipment, including artillery ammunition and armored vehicles.
U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace held a conference call Thursday with defense ministers from more than 35 countries, including the United States, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.
Wallace said that as a result “there will be more lethal aid going into Ukraine.” He said that would include “more long-range artillery, ammunition predominantly,” to help counter Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s cities.
Wallace said Ukraine was “also looking for armoured vehicles of some types, not tanks necessarily, but certainly protective vehicles.”
He said allies were also “looking to see what more we can do” to help Ukraine defend its coastline.
___
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has sanctioned an employee of a state-affiliated Russian defense firm that developed malicious software that was used to target the energy sector.
The Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh. He was one of four Russians charged in Justice Department indictments unsealed last week that alleged the hacking by Russia of critical infrastructure around the globe, including in the U.S. energy and aviation sectors.
Among the thousands of computers targeted in some 135 countries were of a Saudi petro-chemical plant where the hackers overrode safety controls.
That hack is singled out in a Treasury Department release announcing sanctions against Gladikh and several other employees of the research firm. In total, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that it was designating 21 entities and 13 individuals, including in the aerospace, marine and electronics sectors.
___
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian troops were leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and heading towards Ukraine’s border with Belarus, the Ukrainian nuclear operator company said Thursday.
The operator, Energoatom, said that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.
Energoatom also said reports were confirmed that the Russians dug trenches in the Red Forest, the 10-square-kilometer (nearly four-square-mile) area surrounding the Chernobyl plant within the Exclusion Zone, and received “significant doses of radiation.”
The Russian troops “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began to prepare to leave, the operator said. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.
Energoatom said the Russians have signed a document confirming the handover of the Chernobyl plant and stating that the plant’s administration doesn’t have any complaints about the Russian troops who were “guarding” the facility.
___
LONDON — The head of Britain’s military says Russian President Vladimir Putin has “already lost” in Ukraine and is weaker than he was before the invasion.
Adm. Tony Radakin at a think-tank seminar Thursday in London said Moscow’s aim to “take the whole of Ukraine” fell apart. He added that the coming weeks “will continue to be very difficult” for Ukraine.
“But in many ways, Putin has already lost,” he said. “Far from being the far-sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, Putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgements.”
Radakin also said there was “disquiet” at all levels of Russia’s military about the campaign, from troops who were not told they were invading Ukraine up to senior commanders.
Western officials say Putin’s small inner circle is not giving him the true picture of the war, and his isolation may have contributed to miscalculating the strength of resistance Russian troops would meet.
___
BERLIN — The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed regret Thursday at Russia’s decision to veto the extension of its observer mission in Ukraine.
The OSCE’s special monitoring mission has been present in Ukraine since 2014, when fighting between Ukrainians and Russia-backed separatists broke out in the country’s eastern regions after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, who holds the OSCE rotating chair, said the observers had played a “crucial role by providing objective information on the security and humanitarian situation on the ground and relentlessly working to ease the effects of the conflict on the civilian population” in Ukraine for the past eight year.
The Vienna-based body’s secretary general, Helga Maria Schmid, expressed gratitude to the mission’s members, several of whom were wounded or killed over the years.
___
BERLIN — Germany’s economy minister says Europe should impose additional sanctions on Russia to prevent what he described as a “barbaric” war in Ukraine.
Robert Habeck said he discussed what further measures could be taken with his French counterpart during a bilateral meeting in Berlin on Thursday.
“The last package (of sanctions) doesn’t need to be the final one, it should not be the final one,” he told reporters, adding that he and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had “identified additional points that could be included in a (sanctions) package.”
Habeck declined to elaborate on what those points might be.
Speaking ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on new rules requiring countries to pay for Russia’s natural gas sales in rubles, Habeck insisted that contracts would be adhered to. These stipulate payment in euros or dollars.
___
BERLIN — The Austrian and German leaders have underlined their rejection of a halt to Russian energy deliveries at this point.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer noted that several central and eastern European countries depend to one extent or another on Russian gas deliveries.
He and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued that existing sanctions already are having a significant effect and said they need time to switch to new providers and renewable energy sources.
Nehammer said that “sanctions only make sense … when they hit those they are supposed to hit, and don’t weaken those who carry out sanctions.”
___
ROME — A Kremlin decree says “unfriendly countries” can continue to pay for natural gas in foreign currency through a Russian bank that will convert the money into rubles.
The decree published Thursday by state media came a day after the leaders of Italy and Germany said they received assurances from President Vladimir Putin.
Putin talked tougher, saying Russia will start accepting ruble payments starting Friday for Western countries that imposed sanctions over its conflict with Ukraine. He said contracts will be stopped if buyers don’t sign up to the new conditions, including opening ruble accounts in Russian banks.
European leaders had rejected paying for deliveries in rubles, saying it would undermine sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.
The decree Putin signed and published by state news agency RIA Novosti says a designated bank will open two accounts for each buyer, one in foreign currency and one in rubles. The buyers will pay in foreign currency and authorize the bank to sell that currency for rubles, which are placed in the second account, where the gas is formally purchased.
___
ROME — Italy’s leader is urging Europe to “cultivate all available land” as a partial remedy to reductions in agricultural imports, especially of Russian grain, due to the war in Ukraine.
Premier Mario Draghi told reporters on Thursday that under existing agricultural practices in the European Union 10% of land is purposely left fallow, but that must now change as European countries search for ways to reduce dependency on farm imports.
It’s not clear whether Ukraine, one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, might be able to salvage any of this planting season.
Meanwhile, Draghi noted that Western Europe will be looking to food producers like Canada, the United States and Argentina to help make up the shortfall of imports from Ukraine and Russia.
___
STOCKHOLM — The deputy director of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security agency says Russia has made “a strategic miscalculation when invading Ukraine.”
Daniel Olsson said the invasion of Ukraine “has shown that the Russian leadership is ready to take great risks, larger than previously taken.”
The government agency’s analysis suggested a likely “a western containment of Russia,” including reducing trade in Russian energy.
__
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Nariman El-Mofty
Credit: Nariman El-Mofty
Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Credit: Markus Schreiber
Credit: Markus Schreiber
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Martin Meissner
Credit: Martin Meissner
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/oscars-producer-says-police-offered-to-arrest-will-smith/23I2P5LNJVA6NJJPCPXZCZCI4Q/
|
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oscars producer Will Packer said Los Angeles police were ready to arrest Will Smith after Smith slapped Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage.
"They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment," Packer said in a clip released by ABC News Thursday night of an interview he gave to "Good Morning America." "They said we will go get him. We are prepared. We're prepared to get him right now. You can press charges, we can arrest him. They were laying out the options."
But Packer said Rock was “very dismissive” of the idea.
“He was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m fine,” Packer said. "And even to the point where I said, ‘Rock, let them finish.’ The LAPD officers finished laying out what his options were and they said, ‘Would you like us to take any action?’ And he said no.”
The LAPD said in a statement after Sunday night's ceremony that they were aware of the incident, and that Rock had declined to file a police report. The department declined comment Thursday on Packer's interview, a longer version of which will air on Friday morning.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences met Wednesday to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations against the group's standards of conduct. Smith could be suspended, expelled or otherwise sanctioned.
The academy said in a statement that “Mr. Smith’s actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television."
Without giving specifics, the academy said Smith was asked to leave the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre, but refused to do so.
Smith strode from his front row seat on to the stage and slapped Rock after a joke Rock made about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, when he was on stage to present the Oscar for best documentary.
On Monday, Smith issued an apology to Rock, the academy and to viewers, saying "I was out of line and I was wrong."
The academy said Smith has the opportunity to defend himself in a written response before the board meets again on April 18.
Rock publicly addressed the incident for the first time, but only briefly, at the beginning of a standup show Wednesday night in Boston, where he was greeted by a thunderous standing ovation. He said "I'm still kind of processing what happened."
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/russians-leave-chernobyl-site-as-fighting-rages-elsewhere/DKFWRLN7M5HZLPM4XXIV3JRHCY/
|
“There will be battles ahead,” he added.
Meanwhile, a convoy of 45 buses headed to Mariupol in another bid to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area. But Russian forces blocked the buses, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars, according to the Ukrainian government.
Twelve Ukrainian trucks were able to deliver humanitarian supplies to Mariupol, but they were all seized by Russian troops, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday.
The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands have managed to get out of Mariupol in the past few weeks by way of humanitarian corridors, reducing its population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 as of last week, but other relief efforts have been thwarted by continued Russian attacks.
A new round of talks was scheduled for Friday, five weeks into the war that has left thousands dead and driven 4 million Ukrainians from the country.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces at the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster had transferred control of it in writing to the Ukrainians.
The last Russian troops left the Chernobyl plant early Friday, the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone said.
Energoatom gave no details on the condition of the soldiers it said were exposed to radiation and did not say how many were affected. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, and the IAEA said it had not been able to confirm the reports of Russian troops receiving high doses. It said it was seeking more information.
Russian forces seized the Chernobyl site in the opening stages of the Feb. 24 invasion, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation. The workforce at the site oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the reactor that exploded in 1986.
Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said it “seems unlikely" a large number of troops would develop severe radiation illness, but it was impossible to know for sure without more details.
He said contaminated material was probably buried or covered with new topsoil during the cleanup of Chernobyl, and some soldiers may have been exposed to a “hot spot” of radiation while digging. Others may have assumed they were at risk too, he said.
Early this week, the Russians said they would significantly scale back military operations in areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to increase trust between the two sides and help negotiations along.
But in the Kyiv suburbs, regional governor Oleksandr Palviuk said on social media Thursday that Russian forces shelled Irpin and Makariv and that there were battles around Hostomel. Pavliuk said there were Ukrainian counterattacks and some Russian withdrawals around the suburb of Brovary to the east.
Chernihiv came under attack as well. At least one person was killed and four were wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy of buses sent to Chernihiv to evacuate residents cut off from food, water and other supplies, said Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova
Ukraine also reported Russian artillery barrages in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said intelligence indicates Russia is not scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead trying to regroup, resupply its forces and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas.
“Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions,” Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities, and “we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.”
The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said that its “main goal” now is gaining control of the Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Mariupol.
The top rebel leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, issued an order to set up a rival city government for Mariupol, according to Russian state news agencies, in a sign of Russian intent to hold and administer the city.
With talks set to resume between Ukraine and Russia via video, there seemed little faith that the two sides would resolve the conflict any time soon.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that conditions weren’t yet “ripe” for a cease-fire and that he wasn’t ready for a meeting with Zelenskyy until negotiators do more work, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said after a telephone conversation with the Russian leader.
In other developments, Ukraine’s emergency services said the death toll had risen to 20 in a Russian missile strike Tuesday on a government administration building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.
As Western officials search for clues about what Russia's next move might be, a top British intelligence official said demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft.
In a speech in Australia, Jeremy Fleming, head of the GCHQ electronic spy agency, said Putin had apparently “massively misjudged” the invasion.
The Pentagon reported Thursday that an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance from the U.S. have reached Ukraine as part of an $800 million aid package President Joe Biden approved this month.
The shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other materials, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the war is going because they are afraid to tell him the truth.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the U.S. is wrong and that “neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possesses the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.”
___
Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Caption People hide in a basement of a church which is used as a bomb shelter, after fleeing from nearby villages, that have been attacked by the Russian army, in the town of Bashtanka, Mykolaiv district, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 31, 2022. The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday as NATO Secretary-General says Russia does not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Credit: Petros Giannakouris
Credit: Petros Giannakouris
Caption People hide in a basement of a church which is used as a bomb shelter, after fleeing from nearby villages, that have been attacked by the Russian army, in the town of Bashtanka, Mykolaiv district, Ukraine, on Thursday, March 31, 2022. The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday as NATO Secretary-General says Russia does not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Credit: Petros Giannakouris
Credit: Petros Giannakouris
Caption Destroyed Russian armor vehicles are seen in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Russian forces shelled Kyiv suburbs, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption Destroyed Russian armor vehicles are seen in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Russian forces shelled Kyiv suburbs, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces over the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces over the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption Oleksandr, 81, rides a bicycle next to a destroyed Russian tank in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Russian forces shelled Kyiv suburbs, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption Oleksandr, 81, rides a bicycle next to a destroyed Russian tank in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Russian forces shelled Kyiv suburbs, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations.” (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption A Ukrainian soldier stands one top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption A Ukrainian soldier stands one top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption Ukrainian servicemen ride on an armored transporter driving through a Russian position overran by Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Caption Ukrainian servicemen ride on an armored transporter driving through a Russian position overran by Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Caption A Ukrainian soldier crosses the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption A Ukrainian soldier crosses the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces under the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces under the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption Private cars burnt by the Russian forces and left by refugees on the road outside Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption Private cars burnt by the Russian forces and left by refugees on the road outside Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption A Russian military hat lies on the pavement after Ukrainian forces overran a Russian position outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Caption A Russian military hat lies on the pavement after Ukrainian forces overran a Russian position outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Caption Ukrainian soldiers collect bodies of civilians killed by the Russian forces at the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption Ukrainian soldiers collect bodies of civilians killed by the Russian forces at the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption A machine gun of a Ukrainian soldier rests next to condiments for lunch in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption A machine gun of a Ukrainian soldier rests next to condiments for lunch in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Caption A Ukrainian soldier carries a dog saved from under the ruins of houses destroyed by the Russian forces in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption A Ukrainian soldier carries a dog saved from under the ruins of houses destroyed by the Russian forces in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Caption An elderly woman who was evacuated from Irpin, lies on a stretcher on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Caption An elderly woman who was evacuated from Irpin, lies on a stretcher on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Caption Ukrainians arrive at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday as NATO Secretary-General says Russia does not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Credit: Sergei Grits
Caption Ukrainians arrive at the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday as NATO Secretary-General says Russia does not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Credit: Sergei Grits
Credit: Sergei Grits
Caption Ukrainian servicemen ride on an armored transporter driving through a Russian position overran by Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Caption Ukrainian servicemen ride on an armored transporter driving through a Russian position overran by Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/wwf-report-says-online-wildlife-trade-on-rise-in-myanmar/UAH7JMF4CNB4ZDBMLGKNBFA7JA/
|
BANGKOK (AP) — A report by the World Wildlife Fund shows illegal purchases of wildlife online are growing in Myanmar in a threat both to public health and to endangered species.
The report released Friday found that enforcement of bans on such transactions has weakened amid political turmoil following a 2021 military takeover.
The number of such dealings rose 74% over a year earlier to 11,046, nearly all of them involving sales of live animals. For the 173 species traded, 54 are threatened with global extinction, the report said.
Researchers identified 639 Facebook accounts belonging to wildlife traders. The largest online trading group had more than 19,000 members and dozens of posts per week, it said.
The animals bought and sold included elephants, bears and gibbons, Tibetan antelope, critically endangered pangolins and an Asian giant tortoise. The most popular were various species of monkeys, often bought as pets.
Most of the animals advertised for sale were taken from the wild. They also included civets, which along with pangolins have been identified as potential vectors in the spread of diseases such as SARS and COVID-19.
Shaun Martin, who heads the WWF's Asia-Pacific regional cybercrime project, said monitoring of the online wildlife trade shows different species being kept close together, sometimes in the same cage.
“With Asia’s track record as a breeding ground for many recent zoonotic diseases, this sharp uptick in online trade of wildlife in Myanmar is extremely concerning,” he said.
The unregulated trade in wild species and resulting interactions between wild species and humans raise the risks of new and possibly vaccine-resistant mutations of illnesses such as the COVID-19 that could evolve undetected in non-human hosts into more dangerous variants of disease, experts say.
COVID-19 is one of many diseases traced back to animals. The killing and sale of what is known as bushmeat in Africa was thought to be a source for Ebola. Bird flu likely came from chickens at a market in Hong Kong in 1997. Measles is believed to have evolved from a virus that infected cattle.
“Illegal wildlife trade is a serious concern from the point of view of biodiversity preservation and conservation and its potential impact on health security," said Mary Elizabeth G. Miranda, an expert on zoonotic diseases and illness and CEO of the Field Epidemiology Training Program Alumni Foundation in the Philippines.
Social media and other online platforms have joined a worldwide effort to crack down on the thriving trade in birds, reptiles, mammals and animal parts. In Myanmar, much of the trade in wildlife is through Facebook, which as a member of the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking online has taken action to block or remove accounts of people engaged in such transactions.
But as is true elsewhere, new accounts often pop up just as soon as old ones are shut down, hindering enforcement, the report noted. Easy online access to the animals also is driving up demand, worsening the problem.
Discussions of purchases of protected species often took place in open Facebook groups, suggesting that such dealings remain “largely risk-free,” the report said. Since payments and deliveries often are done using messenger apps, controlling the problem is doubly difficult.
Highlighting the lack of enforcement, people in the illegal wildlife trade in Myanmar often use rudimentary methods of moving the animals and animal products around — with buses being the usual form of transport.
The study by WWF in Myanmar focused on trade online of animals and other creatures inside the country, though there were some imports from neighboring Thailand, mainly of birds such as hornbills and salmon crested cockatoos, and of crocodiles, to India.
Some deals might involve animals or parts being sent into China, it said.
The conservation group said it plans future studies to better understand Myanmar’s role in the global trade in endangered species.
Credit: James Morgan
Credit: James Morgan
Credit: Robert Patterson
Credit: Robert Patterson
Credit: James Morgan
Credit: James Morgan
Credit: Uncredited
Credit: Uncredited
Credit: Michele Depraz
Credit: Michele Depraz
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/musicals-walks-and-tours-among-events-around-clark-and-champaign-counties-this-weekend/DXKXHFSISJEAFLLRJTKP336L34/
|
Here are some events that will be going on in Clark and Champaign counties this weekend:
Mechanicsburg Blood Drive
A blood drive sponsored by Mechanicsburg Exempted Village Schools will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in the high school gymnasium, 60 High St.
To schedule an appointment, contact Elizabeth Porter.
Graham High School Musical
The Graham High School Music Department will present the musical, The Addams Family, at 7 p.m. today and Saturday in the Graham Middle School Auditeria.
There is full capacity seating and reserved seats are on sale. Tickets can be purchased by emailing Katie Setty at ghstickets@gmail.com or by calling GHS main office at 937-663-4127. All requests will be taken in order they are timestamped.
Due to the rising costs involved in producing a musical as well as the pandemic, the musical theater department is offering the opportunity to make additional contributions to assist with production costs and to help ensure the continuation of these performances. If you feel you want to help, fill out the form that can be found on the district’s website and social media accounts.
Tecumseh Walking Club
The Tecumseh Trailblazers Walking Club, a local club of the nonprofit national group American Volkssport Association (AVA), will host a walk to celebrate National Walking Week on Saturday starting at the Depot Coffee House, 644 Miami St. in Urbana.
The walk is free, but registration is required and will be held from 9 a.m. to noon and ends at 3 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Written directions will be offered for a 5K, 10K or 15K walk. Members of AVA can receive IVV achievement credit for $3. Parking is available across the street from the Depot Coffee House. The walk should be suitable for strollers and wagons but difficult for wheelchairs. Pets are welcome but not inside the Depot Coffee House.
For more information, email beacon811@yahoo.com or visit the Tecumseh Trailblazers on Facebook.
Kidney Disease Presentation
The Springfield Chapter of The Links, Incorporation will host a Chronic Kidney Disease Presentation via Zoom from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
The presenting physicians will be Dr. Annick Edon, DO Nephrologist and Dr. Denise Rodney, MD, Family Practice, with special guests Charles Sanders, a kidney transplant recipient. Registration is through Eventbrite. The Springfield Links have been collaborating with black K.A.R.E., Kidney awareness, resources, and education.
For more information about black K.A.R.E., visit www.pdempowers.com/black-kare.
Pennsylvania House Museum Tour
The Pennsylvania House Museum will be open for tours from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday. The cost is a donation of $10 for adults and $3 for children.
Graham Food Pantry
Graham Local School District’s Falconland Market, located in the second-grade pod at the elementary school, will be open from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Tunes-n-Tales Show
The Clark County Public Library and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra will present Tunes-n-Tales: The Frog Prince on Sunday in the Gaier Room of the Main Library, 201 S. Fountain Ave. in Springfield. Two performances will be held: a regular performance at 2 p.m. and a sensory friendly performance at 3:30 p.m. This performance is presented in the memory of Janet McCrosky.
The afternoon will include live music, the story featuring narration of Sonya Knisley, Children’s Librarian, and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director, Peter Stafford Wilson.
Tickets are free and available in the Lenski Children’s Center of the Main Library. Limit of five tickets per family. Tickets are required for entry to the program. For more information, call 937-328-6905.
About the Author
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/winning-numbers-drawn-in-pick-3-evening-game/NPIXMKEJLVGU5G3TRYUIKMCP6E/
|
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
9-7-3
(nine, seven, three)
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
9-7-3
(nine, seven, three)
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/winning-numbers-drawn-in-pick-4-evening-game/K5ZV2BQBZ5HPTI77FCZZLYY2VI/
|
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 4 Evening" game were:
1-7-5-6
(one, seven, five, six)
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 4 Evening" game were:
1-7-5-6
(one, seven, five, six)
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/winning-numbers-drawn-in-pick-5-evening-game/F3XK4UAY6BH7VD6YP6PGMZS6DY/
|
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 5 Evening" game were:
2-3-5-4-1
(two, three, five, four, one)
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Pick 5 Evening" game were:
2-3-5-4-1
(two, three, five, four, one)
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/winning-numbers-drawn-in-rolling-cash-5-game/NEZCRNDRVBDXJHWBA24HZNARJE/
|
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Rolling Cash 5" game were:
23-25-26-35-39
(twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six, thirty-five, thirty-nine)
Estimated jackpot: $245,000
CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Rolling Cash 5" game were:
23-25-26-35-39
(twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six, thirty-five, thirty-nine)
Estimated jackpot: $245,000
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/amazon-staff-reject-union-in-alabama-lean-toward-it-in-nyc/2VNWRPPFPFFDBNK4QC4PK2A7RI/
|
“This is just the beginning and we will continue to fight,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is organizing the union drive in Bessemer, at a Thursday press conference. “Regardless of the final outcome, workers have shown what is possible. They have helped ignite a movement.”
Appelbaum said RWDSU will be filing objections to how Amazon handled the election but declined to be specific. He also took the opportunity to lash out at current labor laws, which he believes are rigged against unions and favor corporations.
“It should not be so difficult to organize a union in the United States," he said.
If a majority of Amazon workers votes yes in either Bessemer or Staten Island, it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company's history. Organizers have faced an uphill battle against the nation’s second-largest private employer, which is making every effort to keep unions out.
In New York, the ALU has led the charge to form a union along with Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who now heads the fledging group. Turnout for the in-person election was unclear but Smalls was hopeful of victory.
“To be leading in Day One and be up a couple hundred against a trillion dollar company, this is the best feeling in the world,” Smalls said after the conclusion of Thursday’s counting.
While Smalls’ attention has been focused on securing victory in New York, similar efforts in Alabama also weighed heavily.
“I’m not too sure what’s going in Alabama right now, but I know that the sky’s the limit if you can organize any warehouse,” he said, noting that the vote in Alabama could well end up differently. “I hope that they’re successful. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but we know we show our support and solidarity with them.”
The warehouse in Staten Island employs more than 8,300 workers, who pack and ship supplies to customers based mostly in the Northeast. A labor win there was considered difficult, but organizers believe their grassroots approach is more relatable to workers and could help them overcome where established unions have failed in the past.
John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said the early vote counts in New York has been “shocking.” ALU has no backing from an established union and is powered by former and current warehouse workers. The group had also filed for a union election after getting support from about 30% of the facility's workforce, a much lower percentage than what unions usually seek.
“I don’t think that many people thought that the Amazon Labor Union had much of a chance of winning at all,” Logan said. “And I think we’re likely to see more of those (approaches) going forward.”
Though RWDSU is currently lagging behind with challenged ballots outstanding, Logan said that election was also remarkable because the union has made a good effort narrowing its margin from last year’s election.
After a crushing defeat last year, when a majority of workers voted against forming a union, RWDSU is hoping for a different outcome in the Bessemer election, in which mail-in ballots were sent to 6,100 workers in early February. Federal labor officials scrapped the results of the first election there and ordered a re-do after ruling Amazon tainted the election process.
The RWDSU said election there had a turnout rate of about 39% this year, much smaller than last year. Appelbaum blamed the low numbers on high turnover — he believes thousands of people who worked for Amazon in January and were on the official list to be eligible to vote either quit or were fired. He also believes that an in-person election, which the RWDSU had asked for, would have made a difference
Amazon has pushed back hard in both elections. The retail giant held mandatory meetings, where workers were told unions are a bad idea. The company also launched an anti-union website targeting workers and placed English and Spanish posters across the Staten Island facility urging them to reject the union. In Bessemer, Amazon has made some changes to but still kept a controversial U.S. Postal Service mailbox that was key in the NLRB's decision to invalidate last year's vote.
Both labor fights faced unique challenges. Alabama, for instance, is a right-to-work state that prohibits a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.
The mostly Black workforce at the Amazon facility, which opened in 2020, mirrors the Bessemer population of more than 70% Black residents, according to the latest U.S. Census data.
Pro-union workers say they want better working conditions, longer breaks and higher wages. Regular full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least $15.80 an hour, higher than the estimated $14.55 per hour on average in the city. That figure is based on an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual median household income for Bessemer of $30,284, which could include more than one worker.
The ALU said they don’t have a demographic breakdown of the warehouse workers on Staten Island and Amazon declined to provide the information to The Associated Press, citing the union vote. Internal records leaked to The New York Times from 2019 showed more than 60% of the hourly associates at the facility were Black or Latino, while most of managers were white or Asian.
Amazon workers there are seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, up from a minimum of just over $18 per hour offered by the company. The estimated average wage for the borough is $41 per hour, according to a similar U.S. Census Bureau analysis of Staten Island’s $85,381 median household income.
A spokesperson for Amazon said the company invests in wages and benefits, such as health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition program to help grow workers’ careers.
“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
—-
Associated Press staff writers Tali Arbel and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York contributed to this report.
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Elijah Ramos stands outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Elijah Ramos stands outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Michelle Valentin Nieves stand outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Michelle Valentin Nieves stand outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Signs are posted outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero)
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Credit: Haleluya Hadero
Caption Amazon worker Dale Wyatt talks about a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Amazon worker Dale Wyatt talks about a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Signs supporting the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union are shown near an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay reeves
Caption Signs supporting the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union are shown near an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay reeves
Credit: Jay reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire talks about her support for a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire talks about her support for a drive to unionize the company's fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala., during an interview in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the warehouse after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire, right, talks with an unidentified union organizer in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the company's warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Suspended Amazon employee Reyn McGuire, right, talks with an unidentified union organizer in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Workers are voting for a second time on a labor push at the company's warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., after the National Labor Relations Board ordered a do-over election upon determining that Amazon unfairly influenced an initial vote in 2021. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Credit: Jay Reeves
Credit: Jay Reeves
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) lead organizer Mat Cusick, second from right standing, watches a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) lead organizer Mat Cusick, second from right standing, watches a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) volunteers Tim Hunter, right, and Drisana Hughes, left, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Amazon Labor Union (ALU) volunteers Tim Hunter, right, and Drisana Hughes, left, watch a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday, March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, react while watching a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., , Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, and Brett Daniels, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, react while watching a zoom-cast of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., , Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, Brett Daniels, center, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, and Connor Spence, left, ALU Vice President for membership, check their phones during a watch party of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Caption Angelika Maldonado, right, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) chairwoman of workers committee at Staten Island Amazon warehouse, Brett Daniels, center, director of organizing for ALU workers committee, and Connor Spence, left, ALU Vice President for membership, check their phones during a watch party of vote counting to unionize Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, N.Y., Thursday March 31, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
Credit: Bebeto Matthews
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/kupcho-lee-share-lead-in-last-major-at-mission-hills/U7CW46O4NVCF3JAOEMEGJTI5IE/
|
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — Jennifer Kupcho shared the lead Thursday in The Chevron Championship in her second — and last — start at Mission Hills, the tree-lined layout she has quickly fallen in love with.
“Honestly, I think it’s just being comfortable on this golf course,” Kupcho said. “I get here and I just, I feel comfortable. I love this place."
Kupcho shot a 6-under 66 in sunny and calm morning conditions to join fellow early starter Minjee Lee atop the leaderboard after the first round of the final edition of the major championship at Mission Hills.
“I really like the layout of this golf course, the beautiful shape that it’s in every year,” Kupcho said. “It always is so fun to be here, so just taking advantage of how much I like the course and the atmosphere.”
Unable to find a sponsor willing to remain at Mission Hills, the tournament that started in 1972 as the Colgate-Dinah Shore Winner’s Circle and became a major in 1983 is shifting to Houston next year under a deal with Chevron.
“Definitely sad," Carolina Masson said after a 68. "I understand why we’re doing it, but I’m just trying to soak in every second being out here. The golf course is playing as good as ever."
Defending champion Patty Tavatanakit was a stroke back, finishing late in the afternoon in gusting wind.
“Really proud,” Tavatanakit said. “I feel like I really got my momentum going, was really present today.”
Kupcho birdied Nos. 11-14 to get to 8 under, then bogeyed the next two holes. She birdied four of the first five and finished with nine birdies and three bogeys.
“You really need to hit fairways on a major golf course, so that was like my biggest thing today, to hit a bunch of fairways,” Kupcho said. “That really set me up for all my birdies.”
Winless on the LPGA Tour, Kupcho won the 2018 NCAA individual title for Wake Forest and took the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur the following year after passing up a spot that week at Mission Hills.
The 24-year-old from Colorado arrived early in the desert after missing the cut Friday in Carlsbad. "I just used the two days that I did have on the weekend to come here and practice,” she said.
Lee birdied all four par 5s in a bogey-free round on the mountain-framed course.
“It was perfect,” Lee said. “Not like a breath of wind when we played. Maybe just a tiny bit. But conditions are great. Putting greens are rolling real nice. I don’t think you can get better than that.”
The 25-year-old Australian, ranked fourth in the world, won the Evian Championship last summer for her first major title and sixth LPGA Tour victory.
“I know I have one under my belt, but I do want a little bit more,” Lee said. “I just think I have a little bit more belief in myself and my game, so I can be a little bit more comfortable just hitting the shots."
Third-ranked Lydia Ko, the 2015 champion, was at 68 with Masson, Anna Nordqvist, Georgia Hall, Gabriela Ruffels and Pajaree Anannarukarn. Lexi Thompson, the 2014 winner, was another stroke back with Sarah Schmelzel, Annie Park, Lauren Stephenson, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and Hinako Shibuno.
Thompson marveled at course she first played as a 14-year-old amateur.
“I’ve never seen it this good," Thompson said. “It always surprises me every year. It’s always better. The greens are amazing. I’m one to putt and usually aim at things along the way, and there is just not an imperfection on greens to aim at. It’s a good problem.”
Schmelzel is making her fourth appearance.
“This place is really special,” Schmelzel said. “I feel like growing up watching the LPGA Tour, these are holes that I remember. These are holes that I wanted to be on one day.”
Park played as a single in the first group in the afternoon off the first tee.
“It was kind of weird the first couple holes just playing by myself,” Park said. “It was really peaceful."
Top-ranked Jin Young Ko, the 2019 winner, shot a 74 to end her under-par streak at 34 rounds. Her run of at least one birdie ended at 53 rounds.
“I was hitting lots of great shots, but my putting wasn’t good,” she said. “I couldn’t see the break as much or speed. Everything was wrong."
Ally Ewing and Moriya Jutanugarn had an eventful finish on the par-5 18th when the sprinklers on the green turned on at about 6 p.m. as Ewing was preparing for a 4-foot birdie putt. After a short delay, she holed out for a 70.
___
More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/live-updates-russian-forces-block-buses-leaving-mariupol/FQ4CNF4OLBFEPH3GINNW2SBMBE/
|
The Ukrainian government said Russian forces blocked 45 buses that had been sent to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday that 12 Ukrainian buses with humanitarian aid left Melitopol for Mariupol, but the Russian forces stopped the buses and seized the 14 tons of food and medicines.
According to Ukrainian officials, tens of thousands of people have made it out of Mariupol in recent weeks along humanitarian corridors, reducing the prewar population of 430,000 to about 100,000 by last week.
Vereshchuk said about 45,000 Mariupol residents have been forcefully deported to Russia and areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
___
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Heavy fighting rages near Kyiv as Russia appears to regroup
— Kremlin decree says foreign currency can still buy natural gas
— As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain
— Ukraine refugees encouraged to find work as exodus slows
— Ukrainians in US mobilize to help expected refugees
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LVIV, Ukraine — The last Russian troops left the Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, according to the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone around the plant.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian troops who dug trenches in the forest were exposed to radiation, but that could not be confirmed.
The Ukrainian nuclear operator company Energoatom said Thursday that Russian troops were headed toward Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
Energoatom said that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.
__
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after Russian troops withdrew from the north and center of the country, the situation has been heating up in the southeast where Russian forces are building up for new powerful attacks.
In his nighttime video address to the nation Thursday, Zelenskyy said it was heartening for all Ukrainians to see Russian troops retreating from north of Kyiv, from around the northern town of Chernihiv and from Sumy in the northeast. By he urged Ukrainians not to let up, saying the withdrawal was just a Russian tactic.
Zelenskyy said he spoke Thursday with European Council President Charles Michel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while his adviser spoke with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
“We need more support from our partners right now when Russian troops are concentrating additional forces in certain areas,” Zelenskyy said.
__
WASHINGTON — The top-ranking Ukrainian Catholic cleric in the United States warned Thursday that religious minorities in the Eastern European country stand to be “crushed” if Moscow gains control, as fighting raged on more than a month after the Russian invasion began.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak said groups at risk include Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox who have broken away from the patriarch of Moscow.
Gudziak also cited reports that Russian forces have damaged two Holocaust memorials and Moscow’s false portrayal of Ukraine as a “Nazi” state although Ukraine overwhelmingly elected a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“What is at stake for the people of faith is their freedom to practice their faith,” Gudziak said during an online panel discussion on the war, hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
Gudziak is head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and president of Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. He also oversees external relations for the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
__
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance have reached Ukraine as part of the $800 million package of aid that President Joe Biden approved on March 16.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other material. He said the 100 Switchblade armed drones that Biden approved as part of the package have not yet been delivered.
Kirby said the $800 million in assistance is likely to be fully delivered within about two weeks. It also includes Mi-17 helicopters, small arms, ammunition, vehicles, secure communications systems, and satellite imagery and analysis capability.
Separately, Kirby said U.S. troops are not training Ukrainian troops in Poland but are acting as liaisons with Ukrainian personnel who cross the border into Poland to take possession of U.S. security assistance. He noted that the standard U.S. military training mission that had existed in Ukraine for years was suspended shortly before Russia invaded.
__
DOHA, Qatar — A video showing the head of Ukrainian soccer wearing an armored vest on the streets of Kyiv brought the impact of Russia’s war into the FIFA Congress.
Andriy Pavelko used a recorded message to the gathering in Qatar on Thursday to talk about the deaths of footballers even as the sport “has taken a back seat in our country.”
The gathering in Doha featured delegates from Russia, including Alexey Sorokin, the chief executive of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organizing committee.
Russia won’t be in the draw for the World Cup on Friday after being disqualified from playing internationally by FIFA over the war. Ukraine can still qualify but its playoff semifinal against Scotland has been postponed until June with the hope the team will be in a position to return to the field by then.
___
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s ombudsperson says that at least one person has been killed and four others have been wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova said those who came under the shelling on Thursday were volunteers accompanying a convoy of buses sent to the northern city of Chernihiv to evacuate residents.
She said that the Russian forces besieging Chernihiv have made it impossible to evacuate civilians from the city that has been cut from food, water and other supplies.
The Russian shelling continued two days after Moscow announced it would scale back military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
___
BERLIN — The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces which were in control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant have “in writing, transferred control” of the facility to Ukrainian personnel.
Ukraine said three convoys of Russian forces have already left the site toward Belarus, while the remaining troops were presumed to be preparing to leave, the agency said Thursday.
The IAEA added that it was in close consultations with Ukrainian authorities on sending a first assistance and support mission to Chernobyl in the next few days.
The agency said it has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while being inside the exclusion zone of the now-closed plant, but is seeking further information in order to provide an independent assessment of the situation.
___
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his offer to host a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders during a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A statement from Erdogan’s office said the Turkish president also told Zelenskyy Thursday that a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators who met in Istanbul earlier this week had given “a meaningful impetus” to efforts to end the fighting.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s delegation laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of nations, including Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a joint news conference with a top Turkish Cypriot official that Erdogan also is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
___
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said there’s “no clear evidence” that Vladimir Putin is scaling back military operations around Kyiv and suggested that the Russian president may have ordered some of his advisers fired or placed under house arrest.
Biden told reporters that “there’s some indication” that Putin has taken those steps against some of his advisers. He added, “But I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don’t have that much hard evidence.”
The White House on Wednesday released unclassified intelligence findings that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing.
The president made the comments after formally announcing that the U.S. would release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve in hopes of easing surging gasoline prices.
Biden also reiterated that his administration remains skeptical that Russia will scale back operations around Kyiv as Moscow announced earlier this week.
Russian forces continued to shell Kyiv suburbs Thursday, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv.
___
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine says the United Nations and its partners have delivered supplies for thousands of people in the country’s northeast but have been unable to reach some encircled cities in the south.
Osnat Lubrani said Thursday that food rations from the humanitarian organization People in Need and the U.N. World Food Program will benefit nearly 6,000 people in Sumy and areas including Trostianets and Okhtyrka.
In addition, she said, basic household items including blankets and kettles from the U.N. refugee agency will support 1,500 people and sanitation kits will help 6,000 people with hygiene and drinking water.
Lubrani said medical supplies and trauma kits from the U.N. World Health Organization will treat 150 patients needing intensive care for serious injuries while other medical supplies will support 10,000 people for three months.
Shei said the U.N.-facilitated humanitarian notification system with Ukraine and Russia enabled safe passage for the convoy to Sumy on Thursday “but this is clearly not enough.” Efforts over the past month to reach Mauripol, Kherson and other encircled cities in the south have been unsuccessful because of safety concerns.
___
BERLIN — The U.N. nuclear watchdog says its director-general has arrived in Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad for talks with senior Russian officials.
The International Atomic Energy Agency didn’t specify in a tweet whom exactly Rafael Mariano Grossi will meet on Friday or give further details of his agenda.
He arrived in Kaliningrad Thursday following a visit to Ukraine, where he visited a nuclear power plant and conferred with the energy minister and other officials on efforts to ensure the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
Ukraine has 15 active nuclear reactors at four plants -- one of which, at Zaporizhzhia, is under the Russian military’s control.
___
GENEVA — A team with the International Committee of the Red Cross has arrived in a Ukraine-held city where staff are preparing to take civilians out of the beleaguered port city of Mariupol.
Julien Lerisson, deputy director of operations for the ICRC, said Thursday that the team assembling in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, has medicines, food, water, hygiene items and other essentials.
He said the organization has high-level agreement for the mission but is focused on making sure “the order trickles down the chain of command,” allowing the team to enter and leave Mariupol safely.
The Russian military has said it committed to a cease-fire along the route from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian authorities have said 45 buses would be sent to collect citizens and provide resources to those who remain.
Lucile Marbeau, a staff member with the ICRC team hoping to enter Mariupol, said on Thursday: “We’re here because really, we hope to be able to facilitate safe passage for civilians desperately wanting to flee Mariupol.”
___
LONDON — Britain’s defense minister says Ukraine’s international allies have agreed to send more military equipment, including artillery ammunition and armored vehicles.
U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace held a conference call Thursday with defense ministers from more than 35 countries, including the United States, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.
Wallace said that as a result “there will be more lethal aid going into Ukraine.” He said that would include “more long-range artillery, ammunition predominantly,” to help counter Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s cities.
Wallace said Ukraine was “also looking for armoured vehicles of some types, not tanks necessarily, but certainly protective vehicles.”
He said allies were also “looking to see what more we can do” to help Ukraine defend its coastline.
___
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has sanctioned an employee of a state-affiliated Russian defense firm that developed malicious software that was used to target the energy sector.
The Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh. He was one of four Russians charged in Justice Department indictments unsealed last week that alleged the hacking by Russia of critical infrastructure around the globe, including in the U.S. energy and aviation sectors.
Among the thousands of computers targeted in some 135 countries were of a Saudi petro-chemical plant where the hackers overrode safety controls.
That hack is singled out in a Treasury Department release announcing sanctions against Gladikh and several other employees of the research firm. In total, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that it was designating 21 entities and 13 individuals, including in the aerospace, marine and electronics sectors.
___
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian troops were leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and heading towards Ukraine’s border with Belarus, the Ukrainian nuclear operator company said Thursday.
The operator, Energoatom, said that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.
Energoatom also said reports were confirmed that the Russians dug trenches in the Red Forest, the 10-square-kilometer (nearly four-square-mile) area surrounding the Chernobyl plant within the Exclusion Zone, and received “significant doses of radiation.”
The Russian troops “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began to prepare to leave, the operator said. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.
Energoatom said the Russians have signed a document confirming the handover of the Chernobyl plant and stating that the plant’s administration doesn’t have any complaints about the Russian troops who were “guarding” the facility.
___
LONDON — The head of Britain’s military says Russian President Vladimir Putin has “already lost” in Ukraine and is weaker than he was before the invasion.
Adm. Tony Radakin at a think-tank seminar Thursday in London said Moscow’s aim to “take the whole of Ukraine” fell apart. He added that the coming weeks “will continue to be very difficult” for Ukraine.
“But in many ways, Putin has already lost,” he said. “Far from being the far-sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, Putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgements.”
Radakin also said there was “disquiet” at all levels of Russia’s military about the campaign, from troops who were not told they were invading Ukraine up to senior commanders.
Western officials say Putin’s small inner circle is not giving him the true picture of the war, and his isolation may have contributed to miscalculating the strength of resistance Russian troops would meet.
___
BERLIN — The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed regret Thursday at Russia’s decision to veto the extension of its observer mission in Ukraine.
The OSCE’s special monitoring mission has been present in Ukraine since 2014, when fighting between Ukrainians and Russia-backed separatists broke out in the country’s eastern regions after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, who holds the OSCE rotating chair, said the observers had played a “crucial role by providing objective information on the security and humanitarian situation on the ground and relentlessly working to ease the effects of the conflict on the civilian population” in Ukraine for the past eight year.
The Vienna-based body’s secretary general, Helga Maria Schmid, expressed gratitude to the mission’s members, several of whom were wounded or killed over the years.
___
BERLIN — Germany’s economy minister says Europe should impose additional sanctions on Russia to prevent what he described as a “barbaric” war in Ukraine.
Robert Habeck said he discussed what further measures could be taken with his French counterpart during a bilateral meeting in Berlin on Thursday.
“The last package (of sanctions) doesn’t need to be the final one, it should not be the final one,” he told reporters, adding that he and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had “identified additional points that could be included in a (sanctions) package.”
Habeck declined to elaborate on what those points might be.
Speaking ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on new rules requiring countries to pay for Russia’s natural gas sales in rubles, Habeck insisted that contracts would be adhered to. These stipulate payment in euros or dollars.
___
BERLIN — The Austrian and German leaders have underlined their rejection of a halt to Russian energy deliveries at this point.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer noted that several central and eastern European countries depend to one extent or another on Russian gas deliveries.
He and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued that existing sanctions already are having a significant effect and said they need time to switch to new providers and renewable energy sources.
Nehammer said that “sanctions only make sense … when they hit those they are supposed to hit, and don’t weaken those who carry out sanctions.”
___
ROME — A Kremlin decree says “unfriendly countries” can continue to pay for natural gas in foreign currency through a Russian bank that will convert the money into rubles.
The decree published Thursday by state media came a day after the leaders of Italy and Germany said they received assurances from President Vladimir Putin.
Putin talked tougher, saying Russia will start accepting ruble payments starting Friday for Western countries that imposed sanctions over its conflict with Ukraine. He said contracts will be stopped if buyers don’t sign up to the new conditions, including opening ruble accounts in Russian banks.
European leaders had rejected paying for deliveries in rubles, saying it would undermine sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.
The decree Putin signed and published by state news agency RIA Novosti says a designated bank will open two accounts for each buyer, one in foreign currency and one in rubles. The buyers will pay in foreign currency and authorize the bank to sell that currency for rubles, which are placed in the second account, where the gas is formally purchased.
___
ROME — Italy’s leader is urging Europe to “cultivate all available land” as a partial remedy to reductions in agricultural imports, especially of Russian grain, due to the war in Ukraine.
Premier Mario Draghi told reporters on Thursday that under existing agricultural practices in the European Union 10% of land is purposely left fallow, but that must now change as European countries search for ways to reduce dependency on farm imports.
It’s not clear whether Ukraine, one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, might be able to salvage any of this planting season.
Meanwhile, Draghi noted that Western Europe will be looking to food producers like Canada, the United States and Argentina to help make up the shortfall of imports from Ukraine and Russia.
___
STOCKHOLM — The deputy director of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security agency says Russia has made “a strategic miscalculation when invading Ukraine.”
Daniel Olsson said the invasion of Ukraine “has shown that the Russian leadership is ready to take great risks, larger than previously taken.”
The government agency’s analysis suggested a likely “a western containment of Russia,” including reducing trade in Russian energy.
__
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Nariman El-Mofty
Credit: Nariman El-Mofty
Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Credit: Markus Schreiber
Credit: Markus Schreiber
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Martin Meissner
Credit: Martin Meissner
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/oldest-us-active-park-ranger-retires-at-100/JT2PQ4XZ5NC4DLM2MZIGC6X3BQ/
|
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — The nation’s oldest active park ranger is hanging up her Smokey hat at the age of 100.
Betty Reid Soskin retired Thursday after more than 15 years at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, the National Park Service announced.
Soskin “spent her last day providing an interpretive program to the public and visiting with coworkers," a Park Service statement said.
She led tours at the park and museum honoring the women who worked in factories during wartime and shared her own experience as a Black woman during the conflict. She worked for the U.S. Air Force in 1942 but quit after learning that "she was employed only because her superiors believed she was white," according to a Park Service biography.
“Being a primary source in the sharing of that history – my history – and giving shape to a new national park has been exciting and fulfilling,” Soskin said in the Park Service statement. “It has proven to bring meaning to my final years.”
Soskin won a temporary Park Service position at the age of 84 and became a permanent Park Service employee in 2011. She celebrated her 100th birthday last September.
“Betty has made a profound impact on the National Park Service and the way we carry out our mission,” Director Chuck Sams said. “Her efforts remind us that we must seek out and give space for all perspectives so that we can tell a more full and inclusive history of our nation.”
Soskin was born Betty Charbonnet in Detroit in 1921 but recalled surviving the devastating Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 while living with her Creole family in New Orleans, according to the Park Service biography.
Her family then moved to Oakland, California, and Soskin remained in the San Francisco Bay Area, where in 1945 she and her first husband founded one of the first Black-owned record stores in the area, the biography said.
She also was a civil rights activist and took part in meetings to develop a general management plan for the Home Front park. She has received several honors.
She was named California Woman of the Year in 1995.
In 2015, Soskin received a presidential coin from President Barack Obama after she lit the National Christmas tree at the White House.
In June 2016, she was awakened in her home by a robber who punched her repeatedly in the face, dragged her out of her bedroom and beat her before making off with the coin and other items. Soskin, then 94, recovered and returned to work just weeks after the attack. The coin was replaced.
Soskin also was honored with entry into the Congressional Record. Glamour Magazine named her woman of the year in 2018.
Credit: Ben Margot
Credit: Ben Margot
Credit: Ben Margot
Credit: Ben Margot
Credit: Ben Margot
Credit: Ben Margot
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/osaka-rallies-tops-bencic-to-make-miami-open-womens-final/TC2F5BCMNFBCVD6LR3J6FQUQWQ/
|
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Naomi Osaka's eyes welled with tears when her match ended, an all-too-familiar scene for her in recent years.
These were of the happy variety.
For the former world No. 1, that's major progress.
The unseeded Osaka defeated No. 22 Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday in the Miami Open semifinals. She's in a championship match for the first time since the 2021 Australian Open, and will meet either No. 16 Jessica Pegula or No. 2 Iga Swiatek on Saturday.
“Damn, I'm almost crying," Osaka said.
Maybe not even almost. She hid her face in an orange towel a few times right after the match ended, at least one tear clearly making its way down her right cheek. Osaka entered this tournament ranked No. 77 in the world, will leave Miami no worse than 36th and would be back in the top 30 if she wins the title.
It has been a long, trying and often emotional ride for Osaka since her win in the 2018 U.S. Open final over Serena Williams. She was rattled during a loss at Indian Wells on March 12 following a derogatory shout from a spectator, withdrew from last year’s French Open to address her mental state and left last year’s U.S. Open in tears.
But in South Florida, one of the places she considers home, it's been all support from the fans.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you," Osaka told them in her on-court interview.
Pegula and Swiatek — who will replace the now-retired Ashleigh Barty as the No. 1-ranked women's player in the world next week — were meeting in the other women's semifinal on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev came into the tournament as the No. 2-ranked men's player in the world. Hubert Hurkacz ensured he will stay there.
Hurkacz — the No. 8 seed and defending Miami champion — wore down the top-seeded and cramp-riddled Medvedev 7-6 (7), 6-3 on Thursday in a men’s quarterfinal.
“Every muscle just went ‘cramp, cramp, cramp, cramp,'" Medvedev said.
Had Medvedev prevailed, he would have overtaken Novak Djokovic on Monday and returned to No. 1 in the world rankings. Instead, the Russian will stay No. 2 in the world and find out who wins the Miami title on Sunday like everyone else.
“For me, it was more important in a way just to win the match itself than to become No. 1,” Medvedev said. “Winning the match, I saw it more as a bonus.”
Hurkacz, who is from Poland, will next meet No. 14 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the semifinals. Alcaraz defeated unseeded Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5) on Thursday night in the last men's quarterfinal.
“I was returning pretty well, I was putting some pressure on his serves and that was helping my game,” Hurkacz said. “I was able to get some free points on my serve and that was pretty big.”
The other semifinal pits sixth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway against unseeded Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
Hurkacz has played Medvedev four times, and Medvedev has been ranked No. 2 in the world in each of those meetings — which they’ve now split. Hurkacz improved to 14-5 this year, and his record in Miami is 12-1 all-time.
“Coming here is so much fun,” Hurkacz said.
___
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
Credit: Rebecca Blackwell
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/solomon-islands-says-china-deal-wont-include-military-base/6OOVEXPITFA3XMQ5GED4CIVIIU/
|
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Seeking to counter international fears over its new security alliance with China, the Solomon Islands said Friday it won't allow China to build a military base there.
But that insistence will do little to ease concerns about the pact from the nation's traditional partners that include New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
The leader of neighboring Micronesia added his voice to those expressing trepidation by invoking the bloody battles of World War II and warning that the pact could again see the South Pacific region become a battleground for much larger powers.
The Solomon Islands government said Thursday a draft agreement of the new security pact had been initialed by representatives from the Solomons and China and would be "cleaned up" and signed.
In a statement Friday, the Solomon Islands government said that “contrary to the misinformation promoted by anti-government commentators” the agreement did not invite China to establish a military base.
“Government is conscious of the security ramification of hosting a military base, and it will not be careless to allow such initiative to take place under its watch,” the statement said.
The statement seemed to more emphatically rule out the possibility of a base after Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had earlier told parliament it had no intention of asking China to build a base.
Sogavare said his nation sought only peace and prosperity, citing its foreign policy mantra: “We are friends to all and enemies to none.” He said it wasn't a secret deal but a sovereign issue.
Under the terms of the draft agreement, China could send police, military personnel and other armed forces to the Solomon Islands “to assist in maintaining social order” and for a variety of other reasons. It could also send warships to the islands for stopovers and to replenish supplies, which had led to speculation about the possibility of China establishing a naval base on the South Pacific islands.
Micronesia President David Panuelo wrote a letter to Sogavare saying Micronesia had “grave security concerns” about the "novel and unprecedented" arrangement.
He said the two small nations had become battle grounds during World War II and that it could happen again as China, the U.S. and Australia asserted themselves in the region.
“And is it plausible that, once the spheres have been carved out, that our concerns about climate change — today’s problem — would manifest into all-too-real concerns about a war in our backyards, with our people, our islands, as the playground for children playing as adults?” Panuelo wrote to Sogavare.
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said Friday that while it respected the Solomons' sovereignty, the deal showed that China was acting aggressively in the region.
“We need to be very cautious here because the Chinese are incredibly aggressive, the tactics that they’re deploying into small island nations are quite remarkable,” he told Sky News.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this week described the possibility of Chinese military forces stationed on the Solomon Islands as “the potential militarization of the region.” And the U.S. State Department said Washington did not believe China’s security forces and methods needed to be exported.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Thursday that “relevant parties should see the China-Solomon Islands security cooperation objectively and rationally and stop making irresponsible remarks.”
“Attempts to provoke, obstruct and undermine China’s friendly relations with the island countries is not popular and will not succeed,” Wang told reporters at a daily briefing.
“China-Solomon Islands cooperation does not target any third party and is not in conflict with Solomon Islands’ cooperation with other countries. Instead, it complements the existing regional cooperation mechanisms in a positive way,” he added.
The Solomon Islands, home to about 700,000 people, switched its diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019 — a contributing factor to riots in November last year between residents of different islands within the country.
Australian police have been in the capital, Honiara, maintaining peace since then under a bilateral security treaty established in 2017. It provides a legal basis for the rapid deployment of Australian police, troops and associated civilians in the event of a major security challenge.
Chinese police are already on the islands conducting a training mission.
The Federated States of Micronesia is home to about 100,000 people. It has diplomatic relations and considers itself a “friend” of China, as well as having a close relationship with the U.S. under a compact of free association.
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/islanders-use-strong-third-period-to-top-blue-jackets-5-2/ZO2OWWCP6FA2LMNBS7VO24QWYU/
|
NEW YORK (AP) — Kyle Palmieri scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period to lift the New York Islanders to a 5-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Mathew Barzal had a goal and an assist, and Sebastian Aho, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ryan Pulock also scored as New York improved to 7-1 in their last eight home games dating to a 6-0 win against the Blue Jackets on March 10.
Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves in his second consecutive start and third straight appearance with Ilya Sorokin sidelined with an upper-body injury.
Emil Bemstrom and Justin Danforth scored for Columbus, which lost its fifth straight. Elvis Merzlikins made 31 saves.
Palmieri broke a 2-2 tie at 3:16 of the third period with his 12th goal of the season. The 31-year-old winger breezed by Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine and roofed a wrist shot to give New York a one-goal advantage. Merlikins was unable to close off the short side and Palmieri took advantage of the opening.
Barzal stretched the Islanders' lead to 4-2 with a pretty breakaway deke after he blew by two Blue Jackets defenders in the neutral zone at 9:52 of the third period.
Pulock added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
The Blue Jackets erased a two-goal deficit in a span of 1:39 midway through the second period. The Islanders left Bemstrom all alone at the top of the crease and he finished a pass from Eric Robinson at 8:47. Jake Bean also assisted on the play.
Danforth tied it at 2 with his fifth goal of the season. Yegor Chinakov skated into the offensive zone and found Vladislav Gavrikov in the slot after Islanders defenseman Zdeno Chara prevented the forward from getting behind him. Varlamov stopped the initial shot from Gavrikov, but was unable to hold onto the rebound and Danforth was able to capitalize.
The Islanders took a 2-0 lead with two goals in 11 seconds midway through the first period.
Aho opened the scoring when he stopped short and wired a wrist shot over the glove of Merzlikins at 8:39. Brock Nelson extended his point streak to six games with an assist on the play.
Wahlstrom extended the Islanders lead to 2-0 after he buried a feed from Zach Parise at 8:50. Barzal started the sequence with a floating backhand that Parise was able to corral in the offensive zone.
New York outshot Columbus 10-0 in the first half of the opening frame.
90 YEARS YOUNG
The Islanders honored hockey historian and veteran journalist Stan Fischler at the game to celebrate his 90th birthday. "The Hockey Maven” has been a hockey television personality in the northeast since the early 1970s and has authored over 100 books. He began his career with the New York Rangers in the 1950s, working in the team’s public relations department.
COVID IN COLUMBUS
Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen and assistant coach Steve McCarthy were placed in the COVID-19 protocols and each missed their second straight game. Associate coach Pascal Vincent led the team behind the bench. ... D Zach Weresnki missed his second straight game after he sustained a hit to the head late in the late first period of Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime loss against Minnesota.
MARCH MAYHEM
The Islanders closed out a hectic March schedule with a 10-6-1 record. The 17 games New York played in March are the most the franchise has played in a single month in franchise history.
DIVISION FOES
Nine of the final 16 games remaining in the Islanders' regular season are against division opponents. The Islanders are 8-2-1 against Metropolitan teams since returning from the holiday break.
UP NEXT
Blue Jackets: Visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
Islanders: Visit the New York Rangers on Friday night.
—
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
Credit: Frank Franklin II
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/xavier-rallies-past-texas-am-for-1st-nit-title-since-1958/3CIVSSQCZRBTTNEIFGULFOVVBI/
|
NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Nunge made the go-ahead basket with 3.1 seconds left and Xavier won its first NIT championship in 64 years Thursday night, rallying for a 73-72 victory over Texas A&M at Madison Square Garden.
Colby Jones scored 21 points for the Musketeers (23-13) and was selected the tournament's most outstanding player. Dwon Odom added 18, and Nunge had 15 points and 11 rebounds to help Xavier erase a 10-point deficit under interim coach Jonas Hayes.
It was the last National Invitation Tournament title game at Madison Square Garden for at least a couple of years — ending a college basketball tradition that dates to 1938.
MSG won’t host the semifinals and finals in 2023 and 2024, the NIT announced Monday, saying it has started a bid process to find new sites for those years and an announcement is expected this spring.
Quenton Jackson had 23 points for the Aggies (27-13), left out of the NCAA Tournament despite reaching the SEC final, where they lost to Tennessee. It was a surprising snub by the selection committee that drew criticism from Aggies coach Buzz Williams and others.
___
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio/young-leads-surging-hawks-past-struggling-cavaliers-131-107/AFXHFGET3VETXHBRF4653JEWI4/
|
ATLANTA (AP) — Trae Young scored 30 points and the surging Atlanta Hawks never trailed while beating the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers 131-107 on Thursday night to clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.
Cedi Osman led Cleveland with 21 points. Darius Garland had 18 points and eight assists while sitting out the final quarter of the blowout loss.
Cavaliers standout rookie Evan Mobley missed his second consecutive game with a sprained ankle. Cleveland has lost two straight and five of six as it attempts to keep the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference.
Young had nine assists as the Hawks' fourth consecutive win clinched no worse than the No. 10 spot in the Eastern Conference and a berth in the play-in tournament. The Hawks began the night one-half game behind Charlotte and one game behind Brooklyn.
“We’re in a tight race here at the end and we’re starting to click at the right time,” Young said, before offering the reminder the Hawks advanced to the Eastern Conference finals last year. “We did the same thing last year and we were able to make a run.”
Kevin Huerter continued his strong finish to the regular season with 23 points, his fourth consecutive game with at least 20 points. Clint Capela added 12 points with 14 rebounds.
Cavaliers coach B.J. Bickerstaff said before the game “we’re searching at this point” for a playing rotation due to injuries. Guard Rajon Rando (ankle) missed his 10th consecutive game. Center Jarrett Allen missed his 12th straight with a finger injury.
Bickerstaff said he respected the Hawks' “firepower” and said “they have the ability to blow you out because of that.”
The Hawks delivered on Bickerstaff's assessment.
Atlanta took its first double-digit lead at 29-19 on Bogdan Bogdanovic's 3-pointer with 3 minutes remaining in the opening period. The Hawks stretched the lead to 20 points, 73-53, early in the second half on Young's 3 and extended the advantage to 30 points in the final period.
TIP-INS
Cavaliers: Mobley did not travel to Atlanta and is “headed in the right direction,” according to Bickerstaff. ... G RJ Nembhard was converted to a standard NBA contract. ... C Moses Brown had 15 points and 13 rebounds in his second consecutive start after he was signed to a two-way contract.
Hawks: C Onyeka Oknogwu had 17 points and 12 rebounds. ... There was no update on F John Collins almost two weeks after the team announced he would be out indefinitely with a plantar fascia tear in his right foot and a right finger sprain. Coach Nate McMillan said Collins “is not doing anything as far as running and jumping” but added “we're not saying he's shut down.” ... In a pregame ceremony, Young was presented the team's Jason Collier Memorial Trophy for community service. The award is given each year in honor of the late Atlanta center who died in 2005.
INJURY SCARE
Young played the third quarter after suffering what McMillan said he feared was a serious groin injury in the first half.
“It’s been kind of sore these past couple of weeks,” Young said. “... I just took a wrong step and it kind of shocked me for a second. ... I’ll be all right.”
HUERTER’S SCORING SURGE
Huerter is taking advantage of increased scoring opportunities, especially in games when Danilo Gallinari (right elbow contusion) has joined John Collins on the inactive list. Huerter sank five of six 3-pointers, his fourth consecutive game making at least four 3s.
Some of Huerter’s shots are the result of defenses placing extra attention on Young.
“Kevin has been getting more minutes, and playing with Trae the ball has found him,” McMillan said.
UP NEXT
Cavaliers: Continue a stretch of three games in four days when they visit the New York Knicks on Saturday.
Hawks: Remain home to play the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
Credit: Hakim Wright Sr.
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/teens-create-art-to-promote-self-love-raise-donations/4DQ3JDCID5ALNIAVPE55MKQJ6E/
|
Art created by a Springfield teen and her friends will be unveiled today to raise awareness of self-love and to raise funds for a local nonprofit agency.
Maddie McCutcheon, a senior at Global Impact STEM Academy, and friend Robin Clingerman have works that will be for sale at the Self-Love Art Showcase during First Friday activities, 6 to 9 p.m. today, at the Hatch Artist Studios, 105 N. Center St.
The showcase will be in the Ridgewood School Zero Waste Store on the first floor of Hatch. Proceeds raised will be donated to Project Woman.
A member of the teen service group Bringing Awareness to Students (BATS), McCutcheon met Project Woman staff at one of their events and was inspired to approach BATS adult ally/advisor Beth Dixon about a way to support their mission. The answer was through her art, a way she expresses herself and ties in her theme of self-love.
“I realized with their mission that these women deal with self-loathing and it made me so sad they were hurt so badly and they couldn’t see themselves as beautiful anymore,” McCutcheon said.
She describes self-love as meaning anything from having a relaxing day to accepting who you are and the art will reflect that. Daffodils represent self-love and daffodil bulbs with custom tags with self-love quotes attached will be for sale.
McCutcheon said Daffodils are appropriate as they represent renewal as the first flowers to bloom in spring.
She and Clingerman also worked with nationally-recognized potter Bruce Grimes to create pottery art pieces. Stone coasters, plastic cherry blossoms, lava bracelets created by BATS member Addie Powell and other items will also be sold including baskets donated by Project Woman and Winan’s.
“They’ve really gone all out. It’s great to see kids feeling empowered to make a change,” Dixon said.
McCutcheon also painted six pictures, three of which are very personal, for sale. She’ll contribute an original poem when she and a representative of Project Woman give speeches at 7 p.m.
Public speaking and organizing events have helped McCutcheon step outside her comfort zone, but this is a step in her own self-love goal.
“It’s very cathartic,” she said. “I feel good sharing this information and helping others to not be afraid.”
For more information on the Self-Love Art Showcase, go to www.facebook.com/BringingAwarenessToStudents/.
About the Author
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/closing-arguments-next-in-michigan-gov-whitmer-kidnap-plot/ABP3Y4XU2NER5K2SLUWDH4WCKY/
|
Jurors will hear closing arguments Friday in the trial of four men accused of a brazen conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a case built with informants, undercover agents, secret recordings and two people who pleaded guilty and cooperated.
Only one defendant, Daniel Harris, chose to testify in his own defense. But his denial of any crime Thursday was met by an aggressive cross-examination in which prosecutors used his own words to show his contempt for Whitmer and even suggestions about how to kill her.
Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr. and Brandon Caserta declined to testify, and defense attorneys called only a few witnesses. The four deny any scheme to get Whitmer at her vacation home in fall 2020, though they were livid with government as well as restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The men were arrested in October 2020 amid talk of raising $4,000 for an explosive that could blow up a bridge and stymie police after a kidnapping, according to trial evidence. Fox twice traveled to northern Michigan to scout the area.
Defense attorneys, however, insist they were under the spell of informants and agents who got them to say and do violent, provocative things.
Harris repeatedly answered “absolutely not” when asked by his lawyer if he was part of a plot. His testimony was perilous because he exposed himself to numerous challenges by prosecutors who had been offering evidence against the group for days.
Harris and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth sometimes talked over each other. At one point, Harris snapped, “Next question.”
“Everyone can take it down a notch,” U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said later.
Roth confronted Harris with his own chat messages about posing as a pizza deliveryman and killing Whitmer at her door. He reminded Harris, a former Marine, that he worked with explosives while training with the group, especially in Luther, Michigan, in September 2020, about a month before their arrest.
Roth played a conversation of Croft talking about militias overthrowing governments in various states and “breaking a few eggs” if necessary.
“When this man talks to you at a diner about killing people, you don’t stand up and walk out, do you sir?” Roth asked. “You don’t say, ‘This group is not for me,’ do you sir?”
“No,” Harris answered.
A “shoot house” that was intended to resemble Whitmer's second home was a key part of the Luther training weekend, according to the government. Harris admitted that he brought materials but said he didn’t build it with her house in mind.
He didn't participate in an evening ride to Elk Rapids, Michigan, to scout Whitmer’s home and a bridge during that same weekend. Harris said he had purchased $200 of cheap beer and cigarettes so he could return to the camp and “get wasted” with others.
Two more men, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators. Garbin last week said the group acted willingly and hoped to strike before the election, cause national chaos and prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidency.
Whitmer, a Democrat, rarely talks publicly about the kidnapping plot, though she referred to "surprises" during her term that seemed like "something out of fiction" when she filed for reelection on March 17.
She has blamed former President Donald Trump for fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists like those charged in the case. Whitmer has said Trump was complicit in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
___
Find AP's full coverage of the Whitmer kidnap plot trial at: https://apnews.com/hub/whitmer-kidnap-plot-trial
___
White reported from Detroit.
Credit: Uncredited
Credit: Uncredited
Credit: Dave Eggert
Credit: Dave Eggert
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/giannis-becomes-bucks-scoring-leader-in-ot-win-over-nets/XXZOJNCKCVDKFLUVMKHM34WTRY/
|
NEW YORK (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo loved the fact that he became Milwaukee's career scoring leader on a 3-pointer, so nobody can say he's just a dunker anymore.
Otherwise, there was no reason for celebrating after passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“When I’m done we can talk about it, but now there’s no time,” Antetokoumpo said, looking ahead to Friday's game against the Clippers. “There’s things that have to be done.”
Antetokounmpo's record-setting 3-pointer forced overtime, and he made two free throws in the final seconds to give the Bucks a 120-119 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night.
The defending NBA champions clinched a return to the postseason with the win, in which Antetokounmpo had 44 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Khris Middleton had 16 before being ejected for a flagrant foul midway through the third quarter.
Kevin Durant had 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for the Nets, but missed a 3-pointer that would have won it. Kyrie Irving scored 25 points and Bruce Brown had 23.
Just as in the memorable end to their second-round series last summer, when the Bucks overcame 48 points from Durant — most ever in a Game 7 — overtime was needed to determine a winner. Milwaukee took that one 115-111 and pulled it out Thursday behind a second straight 40-point game from Antetokounmpo.
The Greek Freak has been dismissed, famously by James Harden, as a great athlete but not necessarily a skilled basketball player. But the NBA Finals MVP has become a confident shooter and his teammates are confident in him.
“We just fight, compete, compete and know that obviously it helps to have that big fellow on your team that can literally break a game open for you and make plays,” Bucks swingman Wesley Matthews said.
Antetokounmpo came into the game 39 points behind Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's career scoring leader who had 14,211 points after beginning his career in Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo passed him with 18 seconds left to knot the game at 110.
The Bucks and Nets could be headed for a first-round matchup this year. The Bucks are a half-game behind Miami for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, while the Nets are tied for eighth and can likely hope for nothing better than the No. 7 or 8 seed by coming out of the play-in tournament.
The Bucks led by four in overtime but the Nets rallied to take a 119-118 lead when Durant was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three shots with 8.7 seconds left. Antetokounmpo quickly rushed into the lane and was fouled by Nic Claxton. He made both free throws and finished 15 of 19 from the line.
The Nets led 99-96 with 5 1/2 minutes left in regulation when Antetokounmpo re-entered the game but threw a bad pass that Brown grabbed and appeared to be on his way to an uncontested layup. But Middleton raced back and grabbed Brown’s upper arm as he was in the air, sending him to a hard landing. Referees reviewed the replay and informed a stunned Middleton that he received the harsher Flagrant 2 and was ejected.
Crew chief John Goble said the play was ruled a Flagrant 2 because a “high potential for injury.”
Brown made the free throws, Irving scored and the Nets built a 108-99 lead when Durant threw down Irving’s lob pass with 3:52 left. But they managed only two more points in regulation.
“It was just one of those games that got funky at the end, but we’ve just got to finish it out in regulation,” Irving said.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Coach Mike Budenholzer coached in Brooklyn for the first time this season, having missed the Bucks’ 121-109 victory on Jan. 7 while in the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Nets: Coach Steve Nash said he isn’t closely watching the results of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have tumbled all the way to seventh in the East. If they remain behind Toronto, the removes the possibility of having to play a play-in game in Canada, where the unvaccinated Irving is unable to travel.
“I’m not averse to seeing how they’re doing and where they’re at, but it’s not something that I’m, like I said the other day, refreshing my feed daily,” Nash said.
THE GREEK’S KNEE
Though Antetokounmpo appeared on the injury report with right knee soreness, Budenholzer said it’s nothing beyond what the two-time NBA MVP has been dealing with for years.
“I think it’s in a good place,” Budenholzer said. “I don’t think it’s anything that we’re concerned about, but there’s a daily attention and effort that it takes from the sports performance team and him and what he does to be his best. It’s impressive.”
UP NEXT
Bucks: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
Nets: Visit Atlanta on Saturday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
Credit: Noah K. Murray
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/live-updates-ukrainian-generals-stripped-of-military-rank/FQ4CNF4OLBFEPH3GINNW2SBMBE/
|
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that his country will be sending armored Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine to help in its war against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically asked for them during a video appeal to Australian lawmakers for more aid.
Zelenskyy addressed the Australian Parliament on Thursday and asked for the Australian-manufactured four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Morrison told reporters the vehicles will be flown over on Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport planes, but he didn’t specify how many Bushmaster vehicles would be sent or when.
“We’re not just sending our prayers, we are sending our guns, we’re sending our munitions, we’re sending our humanitarian aid, we’re sending all of this, our body armor, all of these things and we’re going to be sending our armored vehicles, our Bushmasters as well,” Morrison said.
___
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Heavy fighting rages near Kyiv as Russia appears to regroup
— Kremlin decree says foreign currency can still buy natural gas
— As Russia sees tech brain drain, other nations hope to gain
— Ukraine refugees encouraged to find work as exodus slows
— Ukrainians in US mobilize to help expected refugees
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has stripped two generals of their military rank.
Zelenskyy said “something prevented them from determining where their homeland was” and they “violated their military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people.”
According to Zelenskyy, one of the generals had headed internal security at the SBU, the main intelligence agency.
He said the other general had been the SBU head in the Kherson region, the first major city to fall to the Russians.
Zelenskyy didn’t say anything about the fates of the two generals other than them being stripped of their rank.
__
LVIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian government said Russian forces blocked 45 buses that had been sent to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday that 12 Ukrainian buses with humanitarian aid left Melitopol for Mariupol, but the Russian forces stopped the buses and seized the 14 tons of food and medicines.
According to Ukrainian officials, tens of thousands of people have made it out of Mariupol in recent weeks along humanitarian corridors, reducing the prewar population of 430,000 to about 100,000 by last week.
Vereshchuk said about 45,000 Mariupol residents have been forcefully deported to Russia and areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
__
LVIV, Ukraine — The last Russian troops left the Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, according to the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone around the plant.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian troops who dug trenches in the forest were exposed to radiation, but that could not be confirmed.
The Ukrainian nuclear operator company Energoatom said Thursday that Russian troops were headed toward Ukraine’s border with Belarus.
Energoatom said that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.
__
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after Russian troops withdrew from the north and center of the country, the situation has been heating up in the southeast where Russian forces are building up for new powerful attacks.
In his nighttime video address to the nation Thursday, Zelenskyy said it was heartening for all Ukrainians to see Russian troops retreating from north of Kyiv, from around the northern town of Chernihiv and from Sumy in the northeast. By he urged Ukrainians not to let up, saying the withdrawal was just a Russian tactic.
Zelenskyy said he spoke Thursday with European Council President Charles Michel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while his adviser spoke with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
“We need more support from our partners right now when Russian troops are concentrating additional forces in certain areas,” Zelenskyy said.
__
WASHINGTON — The top-ranking Ukrainian Catholic cleric in the United States warned Thursday that religious minorities in the Eastern European country stand to be “crushed” if Moscow gains control, as fighting raged on more than a month after the Russian invasion began.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak said groups at risk include Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox who have broken away from the patriarch of Moscow.
Gudziak also cited reports that Russian forces have damaged two Holocaust memorials and Moscow’s false portrayal of Ukraine as a “Nazi” state although Ukraine overwhelmingly elected a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“What is at stake for the people of faith is their freedom to practice their faith,” Gudziak said during an online panel discussion on the war, hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University.
Gudziak is head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and president of Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. He also oversees external relations for the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
__
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance have reached Ukraine as part of the $800 million package of aid that President Joe Biden approved on March 16.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other material. He said the 100 Switchblade armed drones that Biden approved as part of the package have not yet been delivered.
Kirby said the $800 million in assistance is likely to be fully delivered within about two weeks. It also includes Mi-17 helicopters, small arms, ammunition, vehicles, secure communications systems, and satellite imagery and analysis capability.
Separately, Kirby said U.S. troops are not training Ukrainian troops in Poland but are acting as liaisons with Ukrainian personnel who cross the border into Poland to take possession of U.S. security assistance. He noted that the standard U.S. military training mission that had existed in Ukraine for years was suspended shortly before Russia invaded.
__
DOHA, Qatar — A video showing the head of Ukrainian soccer wearing an armored vest on the streets of Kyiv brought the impact of Russia’s war into the FIFA Congress.
Andriy Pavelko used a recorded message to the gathering in Qatar on Thursday to talk about the deaths of footballers even as the sport “has taken a back seat in our country.”
The gathering in Doha featured delegates from Russia, including Alexey Sorokin, the chief executive of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organizing committee.
Russia won’t be in the draw for the World Cup on Friday after being disqualified from playing internationally by FIFA over the war. Ukraine can still qualify but its playoff semifinal against Scotland has been postponed until June with the hope the team will be in a position to return to the field by then.
___
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s ombudsperson says that at least one person has been killed and four others have been wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy.
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova said those who came under the shelling on Thursday were volunteers accompanying a convoy of buses sent to the northern city of Chernihiv to evacuate residents.
She said that the Russian forces besieging Chernihiv have made it impossible to evacuate civilians from the city that has been cut from food, water and other supplies.
The Russian shelling continued two days after Moscow announced it would scale back military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
___
BERLIN — The International Atomic Energy Agency says it has been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces which were in control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant have “in writing, transferred control” of the facility to Ukrainian personnel.
Ukraine said three convoys of Russian forces have already left the site toward Belarus, while the remaining troops were presumed to be preparing to leave, the agency said Thursday.
The IAEA added that it was in close consultations with Ukrainian authorities on sending a first assistance and support mission to Chernobyl in the next few days.
The agency said it has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while being inside the exclusion zone of the now-closed plant, but is seeking further information in order to provide an independent assessment of the situation.
___
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his offer to host a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian leaders during a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A statement from Erdogan’s office said the Turkish president also told Zelenskyy Thursday that a meeting between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators who met in Istanbul earlier this week had given “a meaningful impetus” to efforts to end the fighting.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s delegation laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of nations, including Turkey.
Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a joint news conference with a top Turkish Cypriot official that Erdogan also is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
___
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said there’s “no clear evidence” that Vladimir Putin is scaling back military operations around Kyiv and suggested that the Russian president may have ordered some of his advisers fired or placed under house arrest.
Biden told reporters that “there’s some indication” that Putin has taken those steps against some of his advisers. He added, “But I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don’t have that much hard evidence.”
The White House on Wednesday released unclassified intelligence findings that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing.
The president made the comments after formally announcing that the U.S. would release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve in hopes of easing surging gasoline prices.
Biden also reiterated that his administration remains skeptical that Russia will scale back operations around Kyiv as Moscow announced earlier this week.
Russian forces continued to shell Kyiv suburbs Thursday, two days after the Kremlin announced it would significantly scale back operations near both the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv.
___
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine says the United Nations and its partners have delivered supplies for thousands of people in the country’s northeast but have been unable to reach some encircled cities in the south.
Osnat Lubrani said Thursday that food rations from the humanitarian organization People in Need and the U.N. World Food Program will benefit nearly 6,000 people in Sumy and areas including Trostianets and Okhtyrka.
In addition, she said, basic household items including blankets and kettles from the U.N. refugee agency will support 1,500 people and sanitation kits will help 6,000 people with hygiene and drinking water.
Lubrani said medical supplies and trauma kits from the U.N. World Health Organization will treat 150 patients needing intensive care for serious injuries while other medical supplies will support 10,000 people for three months.
Shei said the U.N.-facilitated humanitarian notification system with Ukraine and Russia enabled safe passage for the convoy to Sumy on Thursday “but this is clearly not enough.” Efforts over the past month to reach Mauripol, Kherson and other encircled cities in the south have been unsuccessful because of safety concerns.
___
BERLIN — The U.N. nuclear watchdog says its director-general has arrived in Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad for talks with senior Russian officials.
The International Atomic Energy Agency didn’t specify in a tweet whom exactly Rafael Mariano Grossi will meet on Friday or give further details of his agenda.
He arrived in Kaliningrad Thursday following a visit to Ukraine, where he visited a nuclear power plant and conferred with the energy minister and other officials on efforts to ensure the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
Ukraine has 15 active nuclear reactors at four plants -- one of which, at Zaporizhzhia, is under the Russian military’s control.
___
GENEVA — A team with the International Committee of the Red Cross has arrived in a Ukraine-held city where staff are preparing to take civilians out of the beleaguered port city of Mariupol.
Julien Lerisson, deputy director of operations for the ICRC, said Thursday that the team assembling in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, has medicines, food, water, hygiene items and other essentials.
He said the organization has high-level agreement for the mission but is focused on making sure “the order trickles down the chain of command,” allowing the team to enter and leave Mariupol safely.
The Russian military has said it committed to a cease-fire along the route from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian authorities have said 45 buses would be sent to collect citizens and provide resources to those who remain.
Lucile Marbeau, a staff member with the ICRC team hoping to enter Mariupol, said on Thursday: “We’re here because really, we hope to be able to facilitate safe passage for civilians desperately wanting to flee Mariupol.”
___
LONDON — Britain’s defense minister says Ukraine’s international allies have agreed to send more military equipment, including artillery ammunition and armored vehicles.
U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace held a conference call Thursday with defense ministers from more than 35 countries, including the United States, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.
Wallace said that as a result “there will be more lethal aid going into Ukraine.” He said that would include “more long-range artillery, ammunition predominantly,” to help counter Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine’s cities.
Wallace said Ukraine was “also looking for armoured vehicles of some types, not tanks necessarily, but certainly protective vehicles.”
He said allies were also “looking to see what more we can do” to help Ukraine defend its coastline.
___
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has sanctioned an employee of a state-affiliated Russian defense firm that developed malicious software that was used to target the energy sector.
The Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh. He was one of four Russians charged in Justice Department indictments unsealed last week that alleged the hacking by Russia of critical infrastructure around the globe, including in the U.S. energy and aviation sectors.
Among the thousands of computers targeted in some 135 countries were of a Saudi petro-chemical plant where the hackers overrode safety controls.
That hack is singled out in a Treasury Department release announcing sanctions against Gladikh and several other employees of the research firm. In total, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that it was designating 21 entities and 13 individuals, including in the aerospace, marine and electronics sectors.
___
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian troops were leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and heading towards Ukraine’s border with Belarus, the Ukrainian nuclear operator company said Thursday.
The operator, Energoatom, said that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.
Energoatom also said reports were confirmed that the Russians dug trenches in the Red Forest, the 10-square-kilometer (nearly four-square-mile) area surrounding the Chernobyl plant within the Exclusion Zone, and received “significant doses of radiation.”
The Russian troops “panicked at the first sign of illness,” which “showed up very quickly,” and began to prepare to leave, the operator said. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.
Energoatom said the Russians have signed a document confirming the handover of the Chernobyl plant and stating that the plant’s administration doesn’t have any complaints about the Russian troops who were “guarding” the facility.
___
LONDON — The head of Britain’s military says Russian President Vladimir Putin has “already lost” in Ukraine and is weaker than he was before the invasion.
Adm. Tony Radakin at a think-tank seminar Thursday in London said Moscow’s aim to “take the whole of Ukraine” fell apart. He added that the coming weeks “will continue to be very difficult” for Ukraine.
“But in many ways, Putin has already lost,” he said. “Far from being the far-sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, Putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgements.”
Radakin also said there was “disquiet” at all levels of Russia’s military about the campaign, from troops who were not told they were invading Ukraine up to senior commanders.
Western officials say Putin’s small inner circle is not giving him the true picture of the war, and his isolation may have contributed to miscalculating the strength of resistance Russian troops would meet.
___
BERLIN — The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed regret Thursday at Russia’s decision to veto the extension of its observer mission in Ukraine.
The OSCE’s special monitoring mission has been present in Ukraine since 2014, when fighting between Ukrainians and Russia-backed separatists broke out in the country’s eastern regions after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, who holds the OSCE rotating chair, said the observers had played a “crucial role by providing objective information on the security and humanitarian situation on the ground and relentlessly working to ease the effects of the conflict on the civilian population” in Ukraine for the past eight year.
The Vienna-based body’s secretary general, Helga Maria Schmid, expressed gratitude to the mission’s members, several of whom were wounded or killed over the years.
___
BERLIN — Germany’s economy minister says Europe should impose additional sanctions on Russia to prevent what he described as a “barbaric” war in Ukraine.
Robert Habeck said he discussed what further measures could be taken with his French counterpart during a bilateral meeting in Berlin on Thursday.
“The last package (of sanctions) doesn’t need to be the final one, it should not be the final one,” he told reporters, adding that he and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had “identified additional points that could be included in a (sanctions) package.”
Habeck declined to elaborate on what those points might be.
Speaking ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on new rules requiring countries to pay for Russia’s natural gas sales in rubles, Habeck insisted that contracts would be adhered to. These stipulate payment in euros or dollars.
___
BERLIN — The Austrian and German leaders have underlined their rejection of a halt to Russian energy deliveries at this point.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer noted that several central and eastern European countries depend to one extent or another on Russian gas deliveries.
He and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued that existing sanctions already are having a significant effect and said they need time to switch to new providers and renewable energy sources.
Nehammer said that “sanctions only make sense … when they hit those they are supposed to hit, and don’t weaken those who carry out sanctions.”
___
ROME — A Kremlin decree says “unfriendly countries” can continue to pay for natural gas in foreign currency through a Russian bank that will convert the money into rubles.
The decree published Thursday by state media came a day after the leaders of Italy and Germany said they received assurances from President Vladimir Putin.
Putin talked tougher, saying Russia will start accepting ruble payments starting Friday for Western countries that imposed sanctions over its conflict with Ukraine. He said contracts will be stopped if buyers don’t sign up to the new conditions, including opening ruble accounts in Russian banks.
European leaders had rejected paying for deliveries in rubles, saying it would undermine sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.
The decree Putin signed and published by state news agency RIA Novosti says a designated bank will open two accounts for each buyer, one in foreign currency and one in rubles. The buyers will pay in foreign currency and authorize the bank to sell that currency for rubles, which are placed in the second account, where the gas is formally purchased.
___
ROME — Italy’s leader is urging Europe to “cultivate all available land” as a partial remedy to reductions in agricultural imports, especially of Russian grain, due to the war in Ukraine.
Premier Mario Draghi told reporters on Thursday that under existing agricultural practices in the European Union 10% of land is purposely left fallow, but that must now change as European countries search for ways to reduce dependency on farm imports.
It’s not clear whether Ukraine, one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, might be able to salvage any of this planting season.
Meanwhile, Draghi noted that Western Europe will be looking to food producers like Canada, the United States and Argentina to help make up the shortfall of imports from Ukraine and Russia.
___
STOCKHOLM — The deputy director of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security agency says Russia has made “a strategic miscalculation when invading Ukraine.”
Daniel Olsson said the invasion of Ukraine “has shown that the Russian leadership is ready to take great risks, larger than previously taken.”
The government agency’s analysis suggested a likely “a western containment of Russia,” including reducing trade in Russian energy.
__
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Nariman El-Mofty
Credit: Nariman El-Mofty
Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Credit: Markus Schreiber
Credit: Markus Schreiber
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Martin Meissner
Credit: Martin Meissner
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Rodrigo Abd
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Vadim Ghirda
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
Credit: Efrem Lukatsky
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/south-korea-eases-distancing-amid-slowing-omicron-spread/EW6SE453WZEHZFUB26OJ3TN3RI/
|
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea will ease some of its pandemic restrictions starting next week as officials express cautious hope the worst of its omicron outbreak has passed.
The limit on private social gatherings will be raised from eight to 10 people starting Monday, while restaurants, bars and other indoor spaces can stay open an hour later, until midnight, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday.
Officials said most social distancing restrictions could be removed, except for an indoor mask mandate, if the outbreak further slows and the medical response remains stable over the next two weeks.
Kim’s announcement from a government anti-virus meeting came after the country reported a daily average of 316,000 new coronavirus cases in the past seven days, a modest decrease from the average of 357,800 a week before. The one-day record was 621,187 on March 17.
While Kim said the country has likely passed the peak of infections, there’s still worry about the pressure on hospitals, given the week or longer intervals between infections, hospitalizations and deaths. Officials also say the highly transmissible omicron subvariant called BA.2 is slowing the decline in overall infections.
“Fortunately, the outbreak has slowed for the second consecutive week,” Kim said. “But there’s persisting concern about an increase in serious cases and deaths that might come after time lags, the spread of ‘stealth omicron,’ or BA.2, which has become the dominant strain, and an expected increase in travel during spring weather."
The country has averaged 328 deaths in the past week, including 360 in the latest 24 hours, while around 1,300 virus patients were in serious or critical condition. More than 64% of South Korea's 2,800 intensive care units designated for COVID-19 treatment were occupied.
Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said social distancing measures have clearly become less effective because omicron is much more contagious than previous variants of the virus.
“Even if we ease social distancing, the increase in infections is expected to be only around 10 to 20%,” he said during a briefing.
Quarantine requirements for close contacts, hospitalization for mild cases and proof of vaccination or negative tests when entering public spaces were some of the measures eased or lifted earlier.
Credit: Ahn Young-joon
Credit: Ahn Young-joon
| true
| true
|
both
|
www.springfieldnewssun
|
20220401
|
End of preview. Expand
in Data Studio
README.md exists but content is empty.
- Downloads last month
- 13