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Uffizi director calls for harsh sanctions against vandals who defaced Vasari Corridor columns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

MILAN (AP) — The director of Florence’s Uffizi Galleries called Wednesday for stiff penalties against vandals who spray-painted graffiti on exterior columns of the Varsari Corridor connecting the famed museum to the Boboli Gardens.Political and cultural leaders condemned the graffiti, the latest in a summer of high-profile acts of vandalism targeting Italian monuments, including the Colosseum in Rome and Milan’s landmark Vittorio Emmanuele II Galleria. Italian police were examining video to identify those responsible for the Vasari Corridor graffiti, which appeared overnight on the Arno River-facing side of the nearly kilometer-long (half-mile-long) corridor.“Clearly this is not a drunken whim, but a premeditated act,’’ Uffizi director Eike Schmidt said in a statement. He called for harsh sanctions against those responsible, saying that in the United States such cases could bring a prison term of five years.“Enough with symbolic punishments and imaginative extenuating circumst...

India lands a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole, a first for the world as it joins elite club

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India on Wednesday made history as it became the first country in the world to land its spacecraft near the moon’s south pole, an uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water, and the fourth country to achieve a moon landing. A lander with a rover inside touched down on the lunar surface at 6:04 local time, sparking cheers and applause among the space scientists watching in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. After a failed attempt in 2019, India now joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China in reaching this milestone. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the historic landing from South Africa, where he is participating in the BRICS nations summit. “India is now on the moon. India has reached the south pole of the moon — no other country has achieved that. We are witnessing history,” Modi said as he waved the Indian tri-colored flag. India’s successful landing comes just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which ...

Rogers launches 5G network in Toronto subway, Bell and Telus left out for now

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc. has rolled out its high-speed 5G wireless service to its own customers in core parts of Toronto’s downtown subway network, as it continues to feud with the other major carriers over access for all transit riders.The company said it has also upgraded the cellular network to provide all subway riders with more reliable access to 911 service in the same areas.Rogers chief executive Tony Staffieri called the launch an important milestone.“We’re working hard to modernize and expand the network so all riders can reliably access 911 and connect to 5G everywhere across the subway system, including underground,” he said in a statement.As of Wednesday, Rogers says its customers can connect to its 5G network while in the Line 1 stations and tunnels in the Downtown U from Union Station north to St. George and Bloor-Yonge, plus Spadina and Dupont stations.Users will also be able to access the 5G network in 13 stations on Line 2 from Keele to...

Climate change may force more farmers and ranchers to consider irrigation — at a steep cost

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

The Texas ranch where Gilda Jackson trains and sells horses has been plagued by grasshoppers this year, a problem that only gets worse when the hatch quickens in times of heat and drought. Jackson watched this summer as the insects chewed through a 35-acre pasture she badly needs for hay; what they didn’t destroy, the sun burned up.Irrigation might have saved Jackson’s hay, but she and her husband rejected the idea about 10 years ago over the cost: as much as $75,000 for a new well and all the equipment. But now — with an extended drought and another U.S. heat wave this week that will broil her land about an hour northwest of Dallas for days under 100-degree-plus temperatures — Jackson said she is “kind of rethinking.”Many other farmers and ranchers in the U.S. might be forced to do the same in coming decades, according to recent research into the expected effects of the rising heat and more frequent weather extremes associated with climate change.That’s if they ev...

Giuliani is expected to turn himself in on Georgia 2020 election indictment charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani is expected to turn himself in at a jail in Atlanta on Wednesday on charges related to efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.The former New York mayor was indicted last week along with Trump and 17 others. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said they participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to subvert the will of the voters after the Republican president lost to Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020. Giuliani faces charges related to his work as a lawyer for Trump after the general election.“I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I am defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney,” Giuliani told reporters as he left his apartment in New York on Wednesday, adding that he is “fighting for justice” and has been since he first started representing Trump.Trump, the early front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidentia...

Bear attacks 7-year-old boy in his suburban New York backyard

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

BEDFORD, N.Y. (AP) — A black bear attacked a 7-year-old boy outside his family’s home in suburban New York, sending the child to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, officials said.The attack happened shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday outside a home in Bedford, about 45 miles northeast of New York City.North Castle Police Chief Peter Simonsen told News 12 Westchester that the child was playing in his backyard with a sibling when the bear attacked. The boy’s parents quickly rescued their son, said Simonsen, who called the response “extremely brave.”Carlos Cano, the chief of the Armonk Fire Department, told The New York Times that the boy’s mother, a doctor, had bandaged him by the time emergency workers arrived. The boy was hospitalized.The bear stayed in the area and continued to present a danger, the North Castle police said in a news release. An officer shot the bear, and it was taken away to be tested for rabies.Officials say bear populations are...

Statistics Canada reports retail sales up 0.1% in June at $65.9 billion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says retail sales rose 0.1 per cent to $65.9 billion in June, lifted by sales at new car dealers.The agency says core retail sales — which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers — fell 0.9 per cent in June.Retail sales rose in three of the nine subsectors, led by a 2.5 per cent gain at motor vehicle and parts dealers as sales at new car dealers added 2.9 per cent. Sales at gasoline stations and fuel vendors rose 0.3 per cent, lifted by higher prices at the pump in June.Meanwhile, sales at general merchandise stores fell 1.4 per cent and food and beverage retailers saw a drop of 0.9 per cent.In volume terms, retail sales fell 0.2 per cent in June.Statistics Canada says its early estimate for retail sales in July points to a gain of 0.4 per cent for that month, though it cautioned that the figure would be revised.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2023.The Canadian Press

Germany is moving forward with a plan to ease its citizenship rules as it seeks to attract workers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany plans to ease citizenship rules under legislation approved Wednesday by the Cabinet, a project that the government contends will bolster the integration of immigrants and help an economy that is struggling with a shortage of skilled workers.The legislation passed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his ministers still requires approval from the lower house of parliament, where the socially liberal three-party coalition has a comfortable majority. It could take effect in January, depending on how quickly that happens.The government plans to make people eligible for citizenship after five years in Germany, or three in case of “special integration accomplishments,” rather than eight or six years at present. German-born children would automatically become citizens if one parent has been a legal resident for five years, down from eight years now.Restrictions on holding dual citizenship will also be dropped. In principle, most people from countries other than European Unio...

Suburban man accused of stealing $200K 1962 Porche during vehicle theft spree

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

LAKE COUNTY, Ill. — A suburban man was arrested after allegedly stealing a Porche amid a theft spree.On Monday at around 10:30 a.m., officers responded to a theft call in Ingleside of the 1962 Porsche, which is worth approximately $200,000.Following a preliminary investigation, police allege Chris Nelson, 34, of unincorporated Lake Villa, began the spree by steeling a small minibike.Police said Nelson drove the minibike to a restaurant in the 500 block of Park Avenue in Fox Lake, where he then allegedly stole a golf cart.Nelson is accused of driving the golf cart to a residence in the 28300 block of Brandenburg Road, located in Ingleside, and then stealing a four-wheeler there.After riding around on the four-wheeler for "a bit," police allege he returned to the same address to steal the Porche.Police said Nelson drove the Porche to a business in Wauconda, where he left it behind the business and allegedly stole another vehicle.Following a countywide alert being issued for his arrest...

India successfully lands its Chandrayaan-3 rover on the moon, near the south pole

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:12 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India was counting down to landing a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole Wednesday — an unchartered territory that scientists believe could hold important reserves of frozen water and precious elements.A lander with a rover inside was orbiting before attempting to touch down on the lunar surface, creating an agonizing wait for India’s space scientists in the southern city of Bengaluru. India is making its second attempt in four years to join the United States, the Soviet Union and China in achieving the landmark. India unexpectedly got into a race with Russia, which had planned to land its Luna-25 spacecraft in the same lunar region on Monday. But Luna-25 crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years. Russia's head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that foll...