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Transgender youth: ‘Forced outing’ bills make schools unsafe

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Al Stone-Gebhardt worked hard in school to make sure he graduates in May, and he spent hundreds of dollars on commencement regalia, but he is fully prepared not to participate in the ceremony.The 17-year-old, who is transgender, said he fears his high school, Tulsa Union, might use his deadname — the name he was given at birth but no longer uses — on his diploma and during the ceremony instead of his legally changed name. He has had teachers call him by his birth name, sometimes inadvertently, and said he finds the experience traumatizing.“Being deadnamed just immediately makes you feel belittled, weak and insignificant,” Stone-Gebhardt said. “I didn’t want to be in the classroom. I didn’t trust the teacher.”After The Associated Press contacted the school about Stone-Gebhardt’s concerns, a spokesperson said the school will work with his parents to make sure his correct name is used.As hundreds of bills nationwide take aim at nearly every facet of transgender exis...

Ukrainian civilians killed by Russian missiles and drones

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president posted video Wednesday showing what he said was a Russian missile slamming into an apartment building in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one person, after Moscow’s forces launched exploding drones before dawn that killed another seven at a student dormitory near Kyiv.The video posted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Telegram appeared to be from CCTV cameras that captured the moment a missile hit the nine-story residential block by a busy road.Ukrainian media showed charred apartments on several stories of the affected buildings, with flames billowing from some of them. Two children were among the wounded, said Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev, adding that 25 needed hospital treatment, with three in critical condition.“Russia is shelling the city with bestial savagery,” Zelenskyy wrote to accompany the video. “Residential areas where ordinary people and children live are being fired at.”He a...

Transportation Safety Board report on sinking says fishing boat needed stability test

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

HALIFAX — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says in a report released today that a scallop dragger that sank off Nova Scotia should have been tested for stability, given major changes made to the boat.The 2020 sinking of the Chief William Saulis, which resulted in five deaths, prompted an investigation that found a stability assessment would have likely given the crew knowledge of the risks they faced.The report says Yarmouth Sea Products Ltd. had added a heavy A-frame to the top of the dragger, a protective stern plate at the back of the boat, and installed covers to close the holes that allow water to flow off the deck.On Dec. 15, 2020, the modified vessel capsized in the Bay of Fundy during a gale as it returned to its home port in Digby, N.S.The report says it had 2,700 kilograms of scallops stacked almost two metres high on its deck, which likely contributed to the boat’s instability by sliding around and potentially blocking drainage.The bodies of Eugene (Geno) M...

Behind massive seaweed belt headed for some Atlantic beaches

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A 5,000-mile seaweed belt lurking in the Atlantic Ocean is expected in the next few months to wash onto beaches in the Caribbean Sea, South Florida, and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt — as the biomass stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico is called — contains scattered patches of seaweed on the open sea, rather than one continuous blob of sargassum. It’s not a new occurrence, but satellite images captured in February showed an earlier start than usual for such a large accumulation in the open ocean.Once it washes ashore, sargassum is a nuisance — a thick, brown algae that carpets beaches, releasing a pungent smell as it decays and ensnares humans and animals who step into it. For hotels and resorts, clearing the stuff off beaches can amount to a round-the-clock operation.Here’s a look at this year’s sargassum seaweed bloom:WHAT IS SARGASSUM? A leafy brown seaweed festooned with what look like berries....

Israeli, Polish foreign ministers meet, seeking to mend ties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Israeli and Polish foreign ministers are meeting Wednesday as the two nations work to resolve a dispute that has led to a cancellation of Israeli youth trips to Poland, one of several issues behind a years-long chill between the two countries.The visit by Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is the first at that level since 2018, and Poland’s Foreign Ministry says it will be followed by Israeli President Isaac Herzog attending observances next month for the 80th anniversary of the World War II Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Herzog’s office had no comment.Wednesday’s meeting, particularly if followed by a visit from Herzog, would signal a thawing in ties after years of tensions marked by a withdrawal of ambassadors and Poland’s prime minister canceling a planned visit to Israel in 2019. Israel has since returned an ambassador to Poland, but there is still no Polish ambassador in Israel.The two allies have seen ties deteriorate in recent years due to d...

World Bank approves $7 billion loan to support Egypt reforms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The World Bank said Wednesday it approved a $7 billion loan to support Egypt’s push to empower the private sector and enhance its efforts to combat the impacts of climate change.The loan, approved Tuesday by the World Bank’s board of executive directors, is separate from a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund, which Egypt secured in December.In a statement, the World Bank said funds will be delivered over the next five years and would help Egypt generate “more and better” private sector jobs. It will also improve Egypt’s health and education services and social protection programs, it said.“We are proud to continue our strategic partnership with Egypt and we are committed to supporting ongoing efforts dedicated to improving the quality of life for Egyptians,” said Marina Wes, the bank’s country director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.Wes said the World Bank’s partnership with Egypt supports the country’s efforts “to build back better by creating ...

UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A senior judge launched an independent inquiry Wednesday to investigate whether U.K. military police covered up or did not properly probe allegations of unlawful killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.Britain’s government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans who were allegedly killed by British special forces during nighttime raids in in 2011 and 2012.Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said his team would “get to the bottom” of whether investigations carried out by the Royal Military Police were adequate. “It is clearly important that anyone who has broken the law is referred to the relevant authorities for investigation. Equally, those who have done nothing wrong should rightly have the cloud of suspicion lifted from them,” Haddon-Cave said Wednesday. “This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and the country.” The inquiry into tw...

Once a TV show, ‘Smash’ to make its Broadway bow in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The glitzy, fictional Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe that formed the heart of the TV show “Smash” will make the leap to an actual Broadway stage next season.Producers said Wednesday that “Smash” is slated for Broadway in the 2024-25 season, welcome news to many of the show’s fans and the Broadway community who embraced its look at the inner workings of their industry.“’Smash’ is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage,” said lead producer Steven Spielberg in a statement.The new book for “Smash” will be co-written Tony-nominated Rick Elice, who penned “Jersey Boys,” and Tony-winner Bob Martin, who won for “The Drowsy Chaperone.” No casting for the Broadway version was revealed. The series on NBC lasted two seasons starting in 2012 and starred Megan Hilty, Jeremy Jordan, Katharine McPhee, Leslie Odom Jr., Krysta Rodriguez, Christian Borle and Debra M...

Muslims in Asia began marking holy month of Ramadan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Islamic authorities in Indonesia said the first day of Ramadan will begin Thursday, as millions of faithful in the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority country began marking the holy month with fasting and prayers. Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas on Wednesday evening declared that Islamic astronomy observers teams from several of the country’s regions had sighted the crescent moon, the official start of Ramadan. Shortly after, worshippers flooded mosques to offer evening prayers.Muslim authorities in Saudi Arabia and several other Middle Eastern countries said earlier that Ramadan in their region will begin Thursday based on the expected sighting of the crescent moon.Clerics across the Mideast said the moon was not visible Tuesday night, meaning it will almost certainly appear the following evening. During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual intercourse from sunrise until sunset. Even a tiny sip of water...

Race issues dog ‘wild card’ prosecutor in Ronald Greene case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:22 GMT

FARMERVILLE, La. (AP) — In this conservative corner of northern Louisiana, where reverence for law enforcement runs deep and Blue Lives Matter flags often fly alongside the Stars and Stripes, the case of five white officers charged in the deadly 2019 arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene is seen as anything but a slam dunk.So even with explosive body-camera video showing officers stunning, beating and dragging Greene, the Black district attorney in mostly white Union Parish has decided to bring in a hired gun: an experienced white special prosecutor with a folksy law-and-order bravado and a three-decades-long reputation for winning complicated cases across the state.But Hugo Holland’s background is also marked by accusations of racial bias, including new claims uncovered by The Associated Press, that make him an unlikely advocate for racial justice. In fact, he says the concept has no place in the Greene case or anywhere in the justice system.“Justice is justice,” Holland told the ...