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Kazakhs to vote in newly energized parliament elections

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Voters in Kazakhstan will cast ballots Sunday after a short but active campaign for seats in the lower house of parliament that is being reconfigured in the wake of deadly unrest that gripped the resource-rich Central Asian nation a year ago.The snap election comes on the third anniversary of the resignation as president of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had led Kazakhstan since independence following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and who had established immense influence. His successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was widely expected to continue Nazarbayev’s authoritarian course and even renamed the capital as Nur-Sultan in his predecessor’s honor.But the country’s political landscape changed markedly after a wave of violence in January 2022 when provincial protests initially sparked by a fuel price hike engulfed other cities, notably the commercial capital, Almaty, and became overtly political as demonstrators shouted “Old man out!” in reference to ...

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon champions Indigenous diplomacy, seeks new ties abroad

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

OTTAWA — Gov. Gen. Mary Simon is using her role to help build ties between Indigenous people across the globe — an effort experts say is leveraging a colonial institution to advance reconciliation abroad and bolster centuries of collaboration.“I’ve had some very interesting dialogue,” Simon said in an interview last month after a trip to Finland.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent the Governor General to Helsinki in February to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Finland, and to show solidarity as the country seeks closer military ties with other western countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Simon, who is Inuk, also used the trip to bring along Indigenous leaders and foster ties with the Sami, who are the Indigenous people of northern Europe.“As an Indigenous Governor General, I was able to connect well with the Indigenous representatives in Finland, with Sami people,” she said.“We discussed with th...

Russian attacks continue in wake of Putin arrest warrant

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Widespread Russian attacks continued in Ukraine following the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights.Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones on Friday night, the Ukrainian Air Force said in the early hours of Saturday. Writing on Telegram, the air force command said that 11 out of 16 drones were shot down “in the central, western and eastern regions.” Among areas targeted were the capital, Kyiv, and the western Lviv province.The head of the Kyiv city administration, Serhii Popko, said Ukrainian air defenses shot down all drones heading for the Ukrainian capital, while Lviv regional Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi said Saturday that three of six drones were shot down, with the other three hitting a district bordering Poland. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attacks were carried out from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov and Russia’s Bryansk provinc...

St. Paul Regional Water hires 30 new employees to speed lead line replacement

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

Over the course of 10 years, St. Paul Regional Water intends to replace every lead pipe servicing private property in St. Paul, free of charge to homeowners.To accomplish that, the utility is growing its workforce by at least 10 percent, including 30 new hires who start Monday.The effort to replace lead service lines extending from home water meters got underway last year with the removal of an initial 350 lines. Another 850 could be replaced this year, following the hiring of 30 new employees and additional trainees.As challenging as it will be to maintain funding and recruit workers, one of the trickiest aspects of the program has been getting permission from property owners.“Some people aren’t understanding why we’re reaching out,” said Racquel Vaske, assistant general manager of St. Paul Regional Water.Lead exposure has been shown to seriously harm the development of children, causing lower IQ, poor school performance and attention problems, according to ...

Gov. Walz signs bill making school meals free next year

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

Starting this fall, students at Minnesota schools will get free meals regardless of their ability to pay.A bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Tim Walz provides more than $800 million in funding for school lunches and breakfasts over the next four years. A free meals program was one of the top priorities this session for the governor and DFL lawmakers, who say they want to craft a state budget that prioritizes education and families.In the Webster Elementary School cafeteria Friday in Minneapolis, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said providing meals will give students without access to enough food at home a better shot at succeeding in school.“For far too many of our young people, the school cafeteria has been a place of shame and stigma,” she said before Walz signed the bill into law. “Our students with lunch debts are students who skipped meals. Hunger is often invisible. It looks like distraction or tiredness or disinterest. It can be easy to miss the students who are f...

Ask Amy: People-pleaser is left in stitches

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

Dear Amy: I am a people pleaser, volunteering at a nonprofit that helps Afghan refugee women. We provide fabric and a space with sewing machines where they can come and work. Lately, these women are making items that they may be able to sell.Recently, “Kara” contacted us and asked us to create a copy of a dress she had.She told me that if we figured out how to make this, we could let the Afghan women make and sell them. She provided fabric for the copy.I spent six hours figuring out how to make the item and documenting it with photos and instructions. I then made a sample.I have been a professional seamstress, but I’m also a soft touch. I never charge as much as the work is worth.In this case, I intended to ask Kara to give a donation to the charity so we could purchase more fabric. One hundred dollars didn’t seem out of line.As it turns out, Kara loved what I did and wore the sample out the door.I gave her instructions and the pattern pieces, and she gave me $20 to donate to the ch...

Word Game: March 18, 2023

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — MOTHERLY (MOTHERLY: MUTH-er-lee: Showing the affection of a mother; maternal.)Average mark 35 wordsTime limit 45 minutesCan you find 48 or more words in MOTHERLY? The list will be published Monday.YESTERDAY’S WORD — REPOSED redo redoes reed repose rode rope rose epode epos erode erose peer perse peso pore pose poser prod prose seder seed seep seer sere sore sped speed spore spree deep deer depose doer does dope dose dropTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.Contact Word G...

Horoscopes March 18, 2023: Queen Latifah, choose the path that puts a smile on your face

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Lily Collins, 34; Adam Levine, 44; Queen Latifah, 53; Vanessa Williams, 60.Adam Levine (Julie Jacobson/Associated Press) AP FileHappy Birthday: Design the life you want and start working toward your goal. Your drive and determination will carry you the distance this year if your heart is in the right place and your needs point toward quality, not quantity. Dream big, but don’t let greed diminish the possibility of achieving peace, love and happiness. Choose the path that puts a smile on your face. Your numbers are 4, 12, 17, 25, 31, 33, 47.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t share personal information. Take your time and work through the process, the cost involved and what you are trying to achieve. Make sure your decisions aren’t based on emotions or trying to please someone other than yourself. Do what’s best for you. 4 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): You’ll have trouble making up your mind regarding emotional issues. Ta...

Bridge: March 18, 2023

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.One of the world’s top players is a nobleman from a small European principality, Count Yurtrix. Though not well known beyond his area, he’s a capable declarer who never boots an easy contract.The Count was declarer at today’s four hearts, and West led the jack of clubs. The Count always counts winners and losers before he touches a card. He saw four losers: a spade, the ace of trumps, a diamond (if the finesse lost) and a club. But declarer could set up dummy’s jack of diamonds as a winner for a club discard.CLUB LOSERThe Count won the first club with the ace and continued with the A-Q of diamonds. West won and led another club, but declarer won in dummy and pitched his club loser on the jack of diamonds. The contract was safe.Players would do well to emulate Count Yurtrix. Count your winners (generally, at notrump) and losers (generally, at a high-level suit contract) to help...

Americans Don’t Care About the Iraqi Dead. They Don’t Even Care About Their Own.

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:09:10 GMT

A U.S. Marine doctor holds an Iraqi girl after front-line crossfire ripped apart an Iraqi family in central Iraq on March 29, 2003.Photo: Damir Sagolj/Reuters via AlamyIf you write a 4,500-word article about a 20-year war, you might want to mention how many people were killed.While that seems obvious, Max Boot, an energetic backer of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, has written a lengthy article on the war’s 20th anniversary that fails to note the number of deaths. The toll is in the hundreds of thousands, if not more — the carnage is too vast for an exact count — but Boot merely mentions a “high price in both blood and treasure” and quickly moves on.How high a price? Whose blood? There is no explanation.Boot is hardly the only anniversary writer unable to mention the apparently unmentionable. Peter Mansoor, a retired colonel with several deployments to Iraq, likewise failed to squeeze a reference to the death toll into his 2,000-word assessment of what happened. Mansoor’s story, like ...