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Harvard president defends free speech on campus after students’ anti-Israel statement: ‘We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

As controversy continues to swirl at Harvard after dozens of student groups blamed Israel following the Hamas terrorist attacks, the university’s president is defending the students’ right to free speech — even when it comes to “outrageous” beliefs.Harvard President Claudine Gay in a video addressed the chaotic week at the Cambridge university, where the student groups have been condemned and railed against for their anti-Israel statement after the Hamas terrorists murdered Israelis and took hostages.The dozens of groups in the statement entirely blamed Israel for the terrorist attacks.“Our University embraces a commitment to free expression,” Gay said in the video. “That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionable, even outrageous.“We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views,” the president added. “But that is a far cry from endorsing them.”Harvard was recently ranked a...

Flag football and cricket are among five sports nearing inclusion for 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Flag football and cricket were among five sports that took their next step Friday toward inevitably being added to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.The International Olympic Committee executive board recommended all five sports — including baseball-softball, lacrosse and squash — that were formally requested Monday by organizers of the LA Games.The final elevation to the 2028 program should come Monday at a meeting of about 100 IOC members who typically rubberstamp the board’s views.“These proposals have been accepted as a package,” said IOC president Thomas Bach, who chairs the 15-member board, hailing a showcase of “iconic American sports to the world while bringing at the same time international sports to the United States.”Cricket is a big-ticket item for the IOC. The sport is expected to raise broadcast revenue from India by at least $100 million when the country’s favorite sport joins the Olympics.“For the Olympic movement, it is the opportunity to engage wit...

Surrey, B.C., to ask court to review provincial order to stay with municipal police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — The City of Surrey says it will file a petition with the Supreme Court of British Columbia for a judicial review of the provincial government’s order forcing it to continue the transition to a municipal police force.The city was in the process of reverting to the RCMP when the provincial government ordered it to resume the shift to the Surrey Police Service. The court filing is the latest in a series of years-long disagreements over which force should police the city east of Vancouver.Surrey was in the process of moving to the municipal force from the RCMP when Brenda Locke was elected as mayor on a promise to stop the transition. Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s solicitor general, ordered the process stopped earlier this year, citing public safety as a concern and noting the RCMP had 1,500 vacancies. In a letter advising Farnworth of the court petition, Locke says the city can’t accept the extraordinary burden that taxpayers will face because of the province&...

Canadian women terrified for loved ones in Gaza as Israel orders evacuation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

Canadians with loved ones in Gaza say they’re terrified their relatives will soon die now that Israel’s military has told about one million Palestinians to evacuate northern parts of the sealed-off territory ahead of an expected ground invasion.The United Nations has warned that an evacuation on that scale – almost half the Gaza population – could be calamitous and urged Israel to reverse the order. Hamas, which staged a brutal attack on Israel nearly a week ago and has fired thousands of rockets since, called on people to stay in their homes.For Montreal resident Dalya Shaath, the barely 24 hours since Israel’s evacuation order has been deeply distressful. “My family is dying,” Shaath said as she wept during a phone interview on Friday morning. “My one cousin sent me a message on Facebook saying, ‘Dalya, my love, I don’t know if I’m gonna talk to you again.'”Another cousin in Gaza called at 2 a.m. to say some family member...

Stock market today: Wall Street struggles as war worries collide with hope for stronger profits

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — US. stocks are mostly falling Friday as fears about war in the Middle East collide in financial markets with hopes for stronger profits at big U.S. companies.Oil prices leaped, and Treasury yields fell after Israel’s military ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion, according to the United Nations, which warned of potentially “devastating humanitarian consequences.” But several of the biggest U.S. banks at the same time said their profits during the summer were better than feared, which offered hope on Wall Street for an earning reporting season that may deliver the first growth in a year. All the push and pull left the S&P 500 0.6% lower in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged, as of 1:42 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% lower.Some of the strongest action was in the oil market, where a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 5% to $87.09. Brent crude, the international ...

Copa airliner bound for Florida returns to Panama after a bomb threat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

PANAMA CITY (AP) — A Copa airline flight bound for Tampa, Florida, returned to Panama City’s international airport Friday following a bomb threat, the country’s civil aviation authority said.The Boeing 737-800 landed at Tocumen International Airport at around 11 a.m. local time and moved to an isolated stretch of the tarmac, where 144 passengers were taken off the plane, Panama’s Civil Aeronautics Authority said on the social media platform X.An anti-explosives team began inspecting the aircraft.The Associated Press

Cardinals complex in the Dominican Republic broken into by armed robbers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic — Armed robbers broke into the St. Louis Cardinals complex in the Dominican Republic on Friday. A statement from the Cardinals said no one was injured, but the burglars stole money, cellphones, jewelry and baseball equipment in the break-in, which took place in the early morning hours. Players and staff at the complex were shaken, Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “This was scary on many fronts,” Mozeliak said in the statement. The team will reassess its security at the complex immediately, he said. Local authorities came to the complex to investigate, the team said. ___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlbThe Associated Press

Minnesota man who shot officers told wife it was ‘his day to die,’ according to complaint

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota man accused of shooting five law enforcement officers told his wife it was “his day to die” when he learned that drug task force officers were at his home, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.Karl Thomas Holmberg, 64, was charged Friday with six counts of attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer and six counts of first-degree assault of a peace officer.The charges stem from an exchange of gunfire Thursday as officers sought to serve a search warrant at his property in rural Glendorado Township, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis.The officers sustained injuries that were not life-threatening, Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck said Thursday at a news conference. The complaint says officers knocked and announced, “police, search warrant” before entering the home. The first gunshots were fired seconds later. The shooting led to a nearly four-hour standoff before Holmberg was taken into custody.It said Holmberg’s wife...

Russian athletes won’t be barred from the Paris Olympics despite their country’s suspension

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Russian athletes can be directly invited to next year’s Paris Games despite the suspension of their country’s Olympic committee, the IOC said Friday.International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach commented on the issue a day after the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended for violating the territorial integrity of its Ukrainian counterpart by unilaterally adding sports councils in four occupied regions as members.Isolating the ROC, which now is blocked from getting millions of dollars in IOC revenue, won’t affect the process of evaluating individual Russian athletes for neutral status to help them qualify for and compete at the Paris Olympics.“These will be direct invitations which we will manage with international federations and, if needed, then with the respective national federations,” Bach said at a news conference.Bach reiterated the current IOC position that “we do not punish or sanction athletes for the acts of their officials ...

Putin calls for ex-Soviet states to expand their influence and comments on Israel-Hamas war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a Friday summit of a Moscow-dominated alliance of several ex-Soviet nations and commended the growing cooperation between them despite Western sanctions against Russia.Putin met in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, with the leaders of most fellow members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He told reporters that economic exchanges between Russia and the alliance’s other nations have increased despite Western threats to punish them for maintaining ties with Moscow.He specifically hailed a new deal on joint air defenses with Kyrgyzstan, saying it would help further bolster military ties. Kyrgyzstan, a member of a Moscow-led security pact, already hosts a Russian air base.At the same time, Putin sought to downplay Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s failure to attend the summit in Bishkek. He noted that Pashinyan has a lot on his plate after Azerbaijan reclaimed control last month of Nagorno-Karabakh, sparking a mass exodu...