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Blinken says US economic support for Niger is at risk as military takeover threatens stability

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Political instability in Niger resulting from a military takeover that deposed the president this week threatens the economic support provided by Washington to the African nation, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Saturday.Members of the Niger military announced on Wednesday they had deposed democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and on Friday named Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani as the country’s new leader, adding Niger to a growing list of military regimes in West Africa’s Sahel region.Blinken, who is in Australia as part of a Pacific tour, said the continued security and economic arrangements that Niger has with the U.S. hinged on the release of Bazoum and “the immediate restoration of the democratic order in Niger.”“Our economic and security partnership with Niger — which is significant, hundreds of millions of dollars — depends on the continuation of the democratic governance and constitutional order that has been disrupted by the...

Ask Amy: I feel left out because I can’t abide bad movies, even ironically

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

Dear Amy: Should I decline opportunities to see friends or family if it is to attend an unpleasant activity?My friends love watching painfully terrible movies and discussing the plot and production in excruciating detail.And my family is upset that I don’t want to attend sporting events that I no longer enjoy due to my poor vision, auditory sensitivities and overall lack of interest.I just want to enjoy their company without these dreadful background distractions that are not in my wheelhouse, and they show disappointment when I decline or offer a quieter alternative.I’ve tried to make the best of it, but I can’t even attend ironically.Unironic in ILDear Unironic: It’s a shame you can’t attend these movie events, even ironically, because a sense of irony (or of seeing the humor) can be extremely helpful – especially when listening to others gasbag on about a terrible movie.I wonder, also, if these friends might be interested in viewing a movie of your choosing?Overall, if you don’t ...

Review: Taylor Swift triumphs on Night 1 of Era Tour at Levi’s Stadium

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

Taylor Swift’s fingers danced across the keyboards of a faux-moss-covered piano, crooning through the ballad “Champagne Problems” in the midst of a bizarrely intriguing fairytale stage set, as a two-thirds-full moon hung in the sky and 58,000 fans sang along with her every word.She softly brought the number to a close, breaking a mesmerizing lyrical spell of heartbreak and anguish, and then took a moment to bask in towering applause from the capacity crowd on Friday night (July 28) at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.Yet, te moment lingered far longer than expected, as chants of “Taylor! Taylor! Taylor!” echoed through the house of the San Francisco 49ers, leaving the star a bit shaken, to the point where she looked like she might shed a tear at the unbridled display of love.“This is amazing. What are you doing?” the pop star responded in disbelief. “That was the most generous reaction to a sad, little piano song.”You want to ...

Harriette Cole: This silly friction has ruined car trips for both of us

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: My partner and I do not share musical tastes — at all.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: His new girlfriend ruined a trip I was looking forward to Advice | Harriette Cole: I thanked her for the gift — then I found out it wasn’t a gift Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m just a kid, and my parents left this heavy decision to me Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m so anxious about my home that I check on it every few hours Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m tempted to follow my friend’s lead in fixing my boring life In the beginning, I thought it was cute. He would listen to certain things that I had never heard of, and vice versa. We explored each other’s musical tastes a bit early on, but now it’s just annoying.When we are in the car, we have gotten to the point where whoever is driving has complete control over the music. This makes the trip annoyi...

The Online Christian Counterinsurgency Against Sex Workers

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

The most popular video on Vaught Victor Marx’s YouTube now has more than 15 million views. Standing solemnly in a dark blue karate gi while his son Shiloh Vaughn Marx smiles and points a gun at his face, Marx uses his expertise as a seventh-degree black belt in “Cajun Karate Keichu-Do” to perform what he claims was the world’s fastest gun disarm. Over a period of just 80 milliseconds — according to Marx’s measurement — he snatches the gun from his son and effortlessly ejects the magazine. It’s a striking display, one that unequivocally shouts: I am here to stop bad guys.Marx is more than just a competitive gun-disarmer and martial artist. He is also a former Marine, a self-proclaimed exorcist, and an author and filmmaker. He also helped launch the Skull Games, a privatized intelligence outfit that purports to hunt pedophiles, sex traffickers, and other “demonic activity” using a blend of sock-puppet social media accounts and commercial surveillance tools — including face recognition...

‘Insulting’: Pentagon’s UFO boss torches claims of alien coverup

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

The head of the Pentagon office responsible for investigating UFOs is firing back at a whistleblower who accused the U.S. of covering up a longstanding government program to recover extraterrestrials from unidentified craft.The recently established All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has found no evidence to support those allegations, Sean Kirkpatrick wrote in a Thursday memo.A user posted the memo on social media and Kirkpatrick confirmed its authenticity to POLITICO. The memo reflects Kirkpatrick’s personal opinions and not the position of the U.S. government, he wrote.The issue of UFOs and potential extraterrestrial visits to Earth have attracted global interest in the last few years, after news reports in 2017 revealed a shadowy Pentagon office set up more than a decade ago to investigate incidents. Although U.S. officials have pushed back against speculation that the mysterious objects involve aliens, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have urged more res...

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader urges Muslims to ‘punish’ Quran desecrators if governments fail to do so

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah said Saturday that if governments of Muslim-majority nations do not act against countries that allow the desecration of the Quran, Muslims should “punish” those who facilitate attacks on Islam’s holy book.The comments by Hassan Nasrallah came in a video address to tens of thousands gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark Ashoura, a Shiite holy day commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.Nasrallah often uses religious occasions to send political messages to followers, and on Saturday slammed recent incidents in which the Quran was burned or otherwise desecrated at authorized demonstrations in Sweden and Denmark.He said Muslims should watch for the outcome of an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, scheduled to take place in Baghdad on Monday to discuss the organization’s response to the Quran burnings.The organization and its member st...

Federal government struggling to get rid of millions of extra COVID-19 rapid tests

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is sitting on a stockpile of 39 million extra rapid tests for COVID-19 and is struggling to get rid of them without chucking them in the trash, an internal Health Canada memo shows.As the Omicron variant of the virus began to tear across Canada at the end of 2021, the government rapidly bought up rapid antigen tests, distributing most of them to the provinces so people could swab themselves for the virus at home. Now that far fewer people are subjecting themselves to the brain-tickling sensation of a COVID-19 test outside of hospitals and other health-care settings, the government appears to have more than it knows what to do with.“Acknowledging the volumes of tests in play and the challenge of divesting such quantity over a time-bound period, it is expected that disposal of expired tests would be required,” staff wrote to Health Canada’s deputy minister in a memo signed March 25.The memo was obtained through federal access-to-inform...

High above the ground, young performers in Circus Juventas’s ‘Excalibur’ discover inner and outer strength

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

Ezekiel Prancis-Ricci remembers the first Circus Juventas show he ever saw.It was 2011. He was a couple of weeks away from starting first grade, sitting with his family under the circus school’s Big Top in Highland Park as the lights rose for “Grimm—Happily Ever After.”Ezekiel Prancis-Ricci, below, poses with another performer during a rehearsal for Circus Juventas’s upcoming summer show, “Excalibur,” at the school’s Big Top in Highland Park. Prancis-Ricci, a recent graduate of the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists looking to pursue a career in circus arts, is playing King Arthur in the show. (Photo courtesy Dan Norman / Circus Juventas)“I remember, when I saw ‘Grimm,’ I turned to my mom and was like, ‘I wish real life were like this,” he said. “And here I am.”Now, after more than a decade of circus classes, Prancis-Ricci, 18, is leading the cast of this year’s Circus Juventas summer show, “Excalibur,” in the role of King Arthur.“Excalibur,” which ...

Ask Amy: Broadway musical trip has second act problems

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:08:42 GMT

Dear Amy: My friend “Annie” and I are both in our mid-20’s and love musicals. We decided to travel to New York in October to see a few shows.The tickets were fairly pricey, so I was planning on saving money by staying with a friend who lives in the city. I thought my friend could probably make room for Annie, too.After we agreed on the dates and shows, Annie sent me a screenshot with an order confirmation for her tickets, accompanied by a message saying she’d invited her husband and hoped that was OK.I was frustrated. It was the first time in our planning she’d mentioned her husband coming. The way she did it really boxed me in.Her husband and I are friends, but the past few times he joined us for shows he fell asleep and audibly snored.If she had brought it up earlier, I would have pushed back.I now have two questions: First, my friend can’t host three extra people in their tiny apartment.Is it all right if I leave Annie and her husband to find a hotel on th...