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The cyber gulag: How Russia tracks, censors and controls its citizens

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Yekaterina Maksimova can’t afford to be late, the journalist and activist avoids taking the Moscow subway, even though it’s probably the most efficient route.That’s because she’s been detained five times in the past year, thanks to the system’s pervasive security cameras with facial recognition. She says police would tell her the cameras “reacted” to her — although they often seemed not to understand why, and would let her go after a few hours.“It seems like I’m in some kind of a database,” says Maksimova, who was previously arrested twice: in 2019 after taking part in a demonstration in Moscow and in 2020 over her environmental activism. For many Russians like her, it has become increasingly hard to evade the scrutiny of the authorities, with the government actively monitoring social media accounts and using surveillance cameras against activists.Even an online platform once praised by users for easily navigating bureaucrat...

Hong Kong leader condemns suspicious uptick in registration withdrawals from organ donation system

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee condemned an unusual rise in the number of withdrawal requests to the city’s organ donation system, saying Tuesday that police would investigate suspicious cases. According to the government, the city’s centralized organ donation registration system received nearly 5,800 withdrawal applications in the five months since December, when the government raised the possibility of establishing an organ transplant mutual assistance program with mainland China. More than half of the withdrawal applications were found to be invalid, either as duplicate applications or coming from people who had never opted in.At a regular press briefing, Lee pointed to those who withdrew their applications without ever registering, calling the moves suspicious. “I severely condemn those who attempt to cause damages to this noble system which saves lives through organ donations,” he said. “This is a shameful act.” The government also issued a strong-worded st...

East Timor’s opposition party won most seats in parliamentary election

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

DILI, East Timor (AP) — East Timor’s opposition party won Sunday’s parliamentary election, meaning independence fighter Xanana Gusmao is likely to return as prime minister in Asia’s youngest democracy. The final vote count released by the National Elections Commission on Tuesday showed the National Congress of the Reconstruction of East Timor, known as CNRT, won 41% of the votes and gained 31 seats out of 65 in the National Parliament. The ruling Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, or Fretilin, had 25% of the votes and 19 seats. It promised to accept the election outcome.The Democratic Party won six seats, the rural-based Khunto Party five and the People’s Liberation Party four. A total of 17 parties ran. They were required to have a woman in at least every third position in their party list and seats were allocated for those with an electoral threshold of 4%.No parties formed coalitions before the vote, leaving the choice of who will head the government between Gusma...

Family of Colorado man killed by police during mental health crisis gets $19 million settlement

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The parents of a 22-year-old Colorado man killed by a sheriff’s deputy while suffering a mental health crisis will get $19 million from government state and local agencies and changes to how officers are trained, under a settlement announced Tuesday.The shooting of Christian Glass after his SUV became stuck in the mountain town of Silver Plume last year drew national attention and prompted calls to reform how authorities respond to people with mental health problems.As part of the settlement, Sally and Simon Glass also negotiated for changes they hope will prevent another family from suffering a loss like theirs. Clear Creek County will establish a crisis response team and its sheriff’s office will train and certify all deputies in crisis intervention, according to documents released by their attorneys.The state of Colorado, which had three officers on the scene of Glass’ June 11, 2022 killing, in addition to those from local agencies, will create a virtual reality tra...

Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic made NBA playoff history. And then he worked some more.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

LOS ANGELES – Not even history can break routine.Nikola Jokic had just shredded the Los Angeles Lakers in tidy fashion en route to the Denver Nuggets’ first-ever trip to the NBA Finals. He’d played 45 minutes, 16 seconds, of sublime, scintillating basketball, including all 24 minutes of the second half.He’d bullied Anthony Davis for his third triple-double in four games and set an NBA playoff record with his eighth triple-double of the postseason. His 30-point, 14-rebound, 13-assist, three-block masterpiece carried the Nuggets further than this franchise had ever been, earning him MVP of the Western Conference Finals.Having already made history, you’d think he’d allow himself a chance to recover and soak in the astounding performance he’d just authored.But about 10 minutes after he and the Nuggets cleared the court following Monday night’s trophy presentation, Jokic left his stall in the far corner of Denver’s cramped but jubilant locker room and pivoted left.There, waiting for him,...

Family of Christian Glass to receive $19 million in settlement over son’s 2021 police shooting death

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

The state of Colorado and three local law enforcement agencies agreed to a record $19 million settlement in the death of Christian Glass, a 22-year-old who was shot and killed by police in June in Silver Plume after he crashed his car and called 911 for help.The settlement is the largest involving police misconduct in Colorado history, surpassing the $15 million paid in 2021 to the family of Elijah McClain, who died at the hands of Aurora police officers and paramedics during a violent 2019 arrest.Along with the financial agreement, the state of Colorado and the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office have agreed to non-financial concessions that include using Glass’s death in police training scenarios to teach the importance of de-escalation, the creation of a crisis response team in Clear Creek County and an agreement that Glass’s parents can participate in law enforcement training by speaking about the loss of their son.Three law enforcement agencies issued statemen...

Greek conservatives lead in national election

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

Greek conservatives led the leftist Syriza at Sunday's (21 May) elections, according to a combined exit poll of six polling agencies.The exit poll showed that the New Democracy party received between 37.5% and 41.5% of votes, while Syriza, the party which ruled Greece from 2015 to 2019, at the height of Greece's economic crisis, got 23.5-27.5%.New Democracy's chances of winning outright were not predicted by the projections.EXIT POLLALCO, Marc and MRB Hellas conducted exit polls. Pulse, GPO, MRB Hellas and ALCO also participated.* ND: Leader of the Conservative Party, PM Kyriakos MistiakosSyriza leader Alexis Tsipras: leftist partyNikos Androulakis, Socialist Party leader of PASOKKKE: Dimitris Koutsoumbas, leader of the Communist PartyYanis Varoufakis, the leader of Mera25, is a leftist party.Leader of Elliniki Velopoulos (Hellenic Solution), a right-wing party.Leader of the leftist Plefsi Eleftherias party is Zoe ConstantopoulouNiki, nationalist party, leader Dimitrios Natsios

38% of the Jews in Europe are considering leaving Europe because they feel unsafe - ‘This is a shame,’ says EU Commission vice president

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

The annual coinference of the European Jewish Association in Porto was titled 'Shaping the future of European Jewry, together'Margaritis Schinas,  who is in charge of the fight against antisemitism, spokes via  video message  during the annual conference of the European Jewish Association (EJA) in Porto titled 'Shaping the future of European Jewry, together' in the presence of Jewish community leaders from across Europe, writes Yossi Lempkowicz.“We must ask ourselves what kind of future we want to see?  And what part all of us can do to make that vision a reality? We are one community undivided by borders, when we speak with one voice, we are stronger together," said EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin.“Antisemitism is on the rise and unfortunately, Jewish institutions across the continent are required to invest more and more in security,” said European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas.The commissionner, who is in charge of the fight against antisemitism, spokes via  vi...

Nurse shot through West Hollywood apartment wall dies

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

A shooting at a West Hollywood Apartment complex in April that triggered a dramatic SWAT standoff has turned deadly for a 57-year-old nurse who was shot twice during the incident.  Larisa Pereshivaylova, who had immigrated to the United States from Russia 22 years ago, had been standing in her kitchen on April 7 when gunfire erupted through the wall of her apartment. “She was making breakfast at 8 a.m. and she was shot through the wall,” her 21-year-old son, Max Buydakov, told KTLA.  L.A. County Sheriff’s investigators said 31-year-old Joshua Findley, who lived across the hall from the nurse, opened fire in his apartment. Pereshivaylova was struck twice.  “She was shot through her liver, through her right kidney and the bullet got lodged in her spine,” her son said.  A second bullet struck the 57-year-old in the neck. Somehow, Pereshivaylova was able to call 911. Paramedics rushed her to the hospital as a crush of deputies, a SWAT team and a sheriff’s helico...

Un hombre en Florida pierde un brazo por ataque de caimán de tres metros

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:54:09 GMT

(CNN) — Un hombre de 23 años sufrió la amputación de un brazo después de ser atacado por un caimán cerca de un estanque ubicado detrás de un bar en el suroeste de Florida, informaron autoridades del estado.“El equipo que acudió al lugar atendió a un hombre que sufrió la amputación de la extremidad superior derecha por encima del codo. Los transeúntes le hicieron un torniquete al paciente antes de que llegáramos”, dijo en un comunicado Todd Dunn, portavoz de los bomberos y servicios médicos de urgencia del condado de Charlotte.Un cazador de caimanes fue enviado más tarde al lugar del ataque, cerca de Banditos, un bar de Port Charlotte (Florida), según las autoridades.El caimán que medía cerca de 3 metros de largo fue retirado del estanque y “sacrificado humanitariamente”, según un comunicado de la Comisión de Conservación de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Florida.Un hombre de Florida escuchó un golpe en su puerta. Era un caimán, y le mordió la piernaLas lesiones gr...