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US launches airstrikes in Syria after drone kills US worker

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A strike Thursday by a suspected Iranian-made drone killed a U.S. contractor and wounded five American troops and another contractor in northeast Syria, the Pentagon said. American forces said they retaliated soon after with “precision airstrikes” in Syria targeting facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, with activist groups saying they killed at least four people. The attack and the U.S. response threaten to upend recent efforts to deescalate tensions across the wider Middle East, whose rival powers have made steps toward détente in recent days after years of turmoil.U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the American intelligence community had determined the drone was of Iranian origin, but offered no other immediate evidence to support the claim.“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria” by groups affiliated with...

Unwelcome spotlight falls on NHL team Pride night events

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

Pride nights, held annually for several years by National Hockey League teams to show support for the LGBTQ community, are in the spotlight following several high-profile incidents this season.A handful of players have objected to participating in pregame warmups that included Pride-themed jerseys, most recently Florida’s Eric and Marc Staal on Thursday night. On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks decided against having players wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys for their upcoming Pride night, citing an anti-gay law in Russia.WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIONS?The Staal brothers and San Jose’s James Reimer — who are Canadian — and Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov, who is Russian, all pointed to their religious beliefs for refusing to take part in warmups.“We carry no judgement on how people choose to live their lives, and believe that all people should be welcome in all aspects of the game of hockey,” Eric and Marc Staal said in a statement. “Having said that, we feel that by us wea...

Man in 20s shot, killed in southeast Austin; City's 6th homicide in 10 days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A man died Thursday night after he was shot multiple times at an apartment complex in southeast Austin. A 911 "shots fired" call came in at 10:43 p.m. from the Woodway Square apartment complex on Teri Road, according to the Austin Police Department. Police said medical treatment was administered, but the man was pronounced dead on the scene at 11:09 p.m.Homicide detectives started investigating the case Thursday night. Police said there was a relationship between the victim and suspect, and this was an isolated incident. A male person of interest was detained and questioned. MAP: Where have Austin’s homicides occurred in 2023? This is being investigated as the 21st homicide of the year, and 6th in ten days.

Schenectady County to host hazardous waste collection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Registration is now open for the first Schenectady County household hazardous waste collection of the year. The event will be held Saturday, April 1, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. in SUNY Schenectady's back parking lot. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The program allows county residents to bring unwanted hazardous chemicals from around their homes to the collection site for safe and environmentally sound disposal. The program is free. Space is limited and registration is required. To register, visit the county website or call (518) 388-4775. Schenectady official arrested on drug charge “Safely disposing of household chemicals is not only important for the health of our planet, but also for the safety and well-being of our communities,” said Schenectady County Legislator Richard Ruzzo, Vice-Chair of the Environmental Conservation, Renewable Energy & Parks Committee. “Our free household hazardous wa...

98.3 TRY Social Dilemma: Do you shower with your back to the water?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Today's 98.3 TRY Social Dilemma came from Becky. It's about showering, and it's a fun one for a Friday. Here's her email: Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Hi Jaime. My friends and I were talking about this after reading about it on social media and we thought it would make a great social dilemma. Do you shower with your back to the water or front to the water? I always assumed everyone showered with their back to the water, but boy was I wrong. I found out from several of my friends that they shower with their front to the water. That just seems wrong to me when I think about it. What about when you have to bend over to wash your legs…does your head hit the wall? But some friends say facing the water is the way to go. So we thought we would come to you? How do you stand when you're showering? Facing the water and the wall or with your back to the water and plenty of room to move around? I still say b...

Ask Amy: Customer trips over stylist tips

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

Dear Amy: I wear my hair short and have had the same stylist cut it regularly for the past 10 to 12 years.The stylist was always an employee at a pretty upscale salon, and as their prices continued to rise two to three times a year, I continued to go because I had built a rapport with the stylist.Knowing the salon owner took at least half of what I was paying her (because the stylist made no secret of saying so), I always tipped my stylist 20 percent to 25 percent.Now the stylist has left the expensive salon and gone out on her own in a small rented suite.I was taken aback when she kept the same high price for a haircut as the salon was charging.Am I still required to tip this person who is the business owner and has set the prices herself?I feel that leaving the price as high as it was at the salon would be enough to cover their costs and make a profit without me adding a tip.I feel awkward not tipping the same person because they don’t have a boss, but on the other hand I fe...

Vienna 'few degrees' exhibit tilts paintings to call for climate action

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

A Vienna museum where climate activists recently attacked the glass screen shielding a Gustav Klimt painting has responded with an exhibit entitled 'A Few Degrees More' that tilts works to draw attention to the need for action on climate change.Activists from the group Last Generation smeared the screen in front of Klimt's "Death and Life" at the Leopold Museum in Vienna and glued one of their hands to it in the November protest calling for an end to drilling for oil."We found this way to be absolutely the wrong one," the museum's artistic director, Hans-Peter Wipplinger, said on the opening day of its response: a small exhibition with the full title "A Few Degrees More (Will Turn the World into an Uncomfortable Place)".It involves hanging 15 works by artists including Klimt and fellow Austrian great Egon Schiele at an angle, with texts calling attention to the effect that global warming of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels would have on the l...

The new Packaging rules – so far, science hasn’t had much say in it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

With its sights set on achieving a green circular economy as quickly as possible, the European Commission proposed a complex revision of packaging and packaging waste legislation late last year.- writes Matti Rantanen, Director General of the European Paper Packaging Alliance.Yet, the underlying assumptions and impact assessment on which the proposal is based leave much to be desired and have been questioned by the Commission’s co-legislators.  At the latest meeting of the Council of the European Union that took place on 16 March 2023, a number of representatives of the 27 Member States questioned the impact assessment and urged the Commission to publish more scientific impact assessments given the far-reaching consequences of the proposal.The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) proposal is the biggest overhaul to EU packaging rules in decades.  Among the many provisions, the Commission most notably proposes packaging reduction targets for Member States and strict r...

Sale closed in San Ramon: $2.1 million for a three-bedroom home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

65 Longwood Court – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the first block of Longwood Court in San Ramon was sold on March 2, 2023. The $2,060,000 purchase price works out to $687 per square foot. The house, built in 1983, has an interior space of 2,998 square feet. The property features three bedrooms, three baths, an attached garage, and two parking spaces. The backyard also has a pool. The unit sits on a 0.3-acre lot.Additional houses that have recently been sold close by include:On Lone Pine Court, San Ramon, in June 2022, a 2,998-square-foot home was sold for $2,300,000, a price per square foot of $767. The home has 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In July 2022, a 2,602-square-foot home on Longwood Court in San Ramon sold for $1,898,000, a price per square foot of $729. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 2,460-square-foot home on the first block of Leigh Court in San Ramon sold in November 2022, for $1,720,000, a price per square foot of $699. The home has 4 bedro...

Kristof: What Americans can learn from India’s ‘Barefoot College’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:44 GMT

TILONIA, India — It’s the Harvard of rural India, minus wingtips or heels: a 50-year-old institution called Barefoot College that offers lessons for empowering people worldwide. Maybe even in America.Barefoot College does empowerment as well as any institution I’ve ever seen, and here’s what that looks like in the rural state of Rajasthan: An illiterate woman named Chota Devi who never attended a day of school is hunched over a circuit board, carefully using color-coded instructions to solder resistors and diodes into place.Chota, who has no idea how old she is, is a Dalit, those at the bottom of the caste system once known as untouchables, and from a particularly low-ranking group called the Valmiki who often cleaned human waste.But now Chota is learning how to be a solar power technician. Barefoot College trains illiterate, low-status villagers like her to make solar-powered lanterns and install solar lighting systems. After three to six months of training, they return to their co...