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newstfionline · 5 months

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Thursday, January 18, 2024

Pacific Northwest hunkers down for ice and freezing rain, while other US regions also battle cold (AP) Parts of the Pacific Northwest were under an ice storm warning through Wednesday morning, threatening to add to the damage brought by a powerful winter storm that hit the region over the weekend. Area of southwest Washington and western Oregon—including that state’s largest cities of Portland, Salem and Eugene—were expecting to see a quarter-inch to an inch (6 to 25 millimeters) of ice, while freezing rain was forecast in the Seattle area. Schools were closed in many places, bus service curtailed and warming shelters opened while officials warned of continued treacherous road conditions and the chance of new power outages, even as crews struggled to restore electricity to thousands who have been blacked out for days.

What the Child Care Crisis Does to Parents (NYT) On a Saturday morning last May, Julia Sachdev, a mother of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old, woke up to an email from her children’s preschool. The school—which her children adored and had been in operation for over 50 years—announced that it would be closing in a month. In the following days, she and her husband scrambled to find an alternative that was a reasonable driving distance from their home. Most of the places they reached out to had long waiting lists. Some said their waiting lists were full. Some never even called them back. The Sachdevs’ experience is far from unique. For years, American parents—regardless of family roles, paid work status, geography or income—have struggled to find and maintain stable child care. Research shows that roughly half of Americans live in child care deserts, meaning that they have limited or no access to care. In September, federal relief funding put in place to support more than 220,000 child care programs during the pandemic abruptly expired. This steep drop-off in investment, which has been termed a child-care cliff, is projected to lead to the closing of thousands of preschools and child care centers around the country. Some families are already feeling the impact, and many more may soon find themselves in situations like the Sachdevs’.

Trump's rise sparks isolationist worries among US allies (Reuters) As Donald Trump strengthens his lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, some U.S. allies are worried about an American turn toward isolationism, a shift that would reflect an electorate largely focused on domestic issues. That was shown in polling in Iowa where Trump scored an overwhelming victory, with foreign policy the top issue for just one in 10 participants in the state's caucus. National polling provides a similar picture. When Americans have cited matters involving foreigners as the country's top problem, they most often have referred to immigration and not foreign conflicts, Reuters/Ipsos polling over the last decade shows. While domestic concerns have long dominated U.S. politics, isolationism has grown in recent years—particularly within the Republican Party.

French President Macron uses broad news conference to show his leadership hasn’t faded (AP) French President Emmanuel Macron made a point of showing his leadership hasn’t faded in more than two hours of answering questions at a news conference in which he promised a stronger France to face the world’s challenges. “I still have three years and a half in office,” he said, describing an ambition to both change the daily life of the French and tackle global crises. The 46-year-old centrist president promised “audacity, action, efficiency” in the hopes of strengthening his legacy through a series of reforms, starting with an economic bill meant to boost growth and tax cuts for middle-class households.

Ukraine needs money from the US and Europe to keep its economy running. Will the aid come? (AP) Ukraine’s hard-won economic stability is under threat again as the government faces a large budget hole and its two biggest allies and sponsors—the United States and the European Union—have so far failed to decide on extending more aid. Without pledges of support by the start of February—when EU leaders meet to decide on aid—and if no money arrives by March, that could risk the progress Ukraine has made against inflation. It has helped ordinary people keep paying rent, put food on the table and resist Russia’s efforts to break their society’s spirit. Ukraine spends almost all the money it brings in through taxes to fund the war. That leaves a huge deficit because there are other bills to keep society functioning, like old-age pensions and salaries for teachers, doctors, nurses and state employees.

Putin says Ukraine’s statehood at risk if pattern of war continues (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s statehood could suffer an “irreparable blow” if the pattern of the war continued, and Russia would never be forced to abandon the gains it had made. Putin made his televised comments a day after Switzerland agreed to host a global summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Putin dismissed “so-called peace formulas” being discussed in the West and Ukraine and what he called the “prohibitive demands” they entailed. “Well, if they don’t want (to negotiate), then don’t!” he said. “Now it is quite obvious, not only (Ukraine’s) counter-offensive failed, but the initiative is completely in the hands of the Russian armed forces. If this continues, Ukrainian statehood may suffer an irreparable, very serious blow.”

NATO official warns West: Be ready for ‘anything’ (Politico) NATO countries need to be on red alert for war and "expect the unexpected," the chair of the alliance's military committee of national chiefs Rob Bauer said Wednesday. "We need public and private actors to change their mindset from an era in which everything was plannable, foreseeable, controllable, focused on efficiency ... to an era in which anything can happen at any time. An era in which we need to expect the unexpected," Bauer said. “The tectonic plates of power are shifting,” he added. “And as a result: We face the most dangerous world in decades.”

Deadly Iranian Strikes in Iraq and Pakistan Inflame Regional Tensions (NYT) Iran hit its neighbors Pakistan and Iraq with missile strikes on Tuesday, prompting strong denunciations from both countries and raising fears that upheaval in the Middle East could spiral out of control. In both cases, Iranian officials said they were going after terrorists they accused of being behind recent attacks on its territory that have badly shaken Iranians. This month, suicide bombers killed 84 people at a memorial procession for a revered Iranian military leader, and in December, an attack on a police station killed at least 11 officers. The Iraqi and Pakistani governments rejected Iran’s justifications. Iran’s actions came amid widespread fears that the devastating war in Gaza could become a broader and deadlier regional conflict.

Gaza keeps losing communications (Washington Post) Israel’s war on Hamas has deprived people in Gaza of food, water, electricity and shelter. It’s also disrupted communications. Gaza’s cellphone network had struggled before the conflict. Now, under Israeli bombardment and the mass displacement of Gazans, it’s failing as people are trying to connect with loved ones and secure resources. Communications blackouts have also stymied aid organizations and emergency workers trying to coordinate with the local population and with each other. And for Gaza’s journalists, the blackouts are an impediment as they try to inform the world about suffering in the enclave. Israeli bombing has damaged cellphone networks, according to Mamoon Fares, director of corporate support for the Palestinian Telecommunications Co., or Paltel, one of two providers in the enclave. Most of the internal fiber connections that link to switches and street cabinets “are damaged and need to be fixed,” he said. Cellphone towers had also been damaged. “We have more than 550 towers inside Gaza,” said Fares, who is based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “Most of them were partially or completely damaged.”

Qatar and France send medicine for hostages in Gaza as war rages on (AP) A shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Hamas was en route to Gaza on Wednesday after France and Qatar mediated the first agreement between Israel and the militant group since a weeklong cease-fire in November. The medicines arrived in Egypt and were on the way to the border. A senior Hamas official said that for every box provided for the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be sent in for Palestinians. The deal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. The agreement came more than 100 days into a conflict that shows no sign of ending.

U.S. Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen for a Third Time (NYT) The United States carried out a new military strike against Houthi ballistic missiles in Yemen on Tuesday, the U.S. military said, but the latest salvo against the Iran-backed group left the White House grappling with how to stop a battle-hardened foe from disrupting shipping lanes critical for global trade. The strikes on Tuesday, the third overall against the group since a U.S.-led air and naval barrage hit dozens of targets last week, destroyed four missiles that the Pentagon’s Central Command said posed an imminent threat to merchant vessels and Navy ships traveling through the Red Sea and nearby waters. But the pre-emptive American strike also came on the third day in a row the Houthis have defied the Biden administration and its allies by firing missiles at passing ships, damaging a Greek-owned cargo vessel on Tuesday. The Houthis damaged a U.S.-owned commercial ship on Monday after attempting to hit an American warship the day before.

China’s population falls (WSJ) Births in China dropped by more than 500,000 last year to just over 9 million in total, accelerating the decline in the country’s population as women shrugged off the government’s exhortations to reproduce. The number of newborns has gone into free fall over the past several years. Official figures released Wednesday showed that China had fewer than half the number of births in 2023 than the country did in 2016, after China abolished the one-child policy. The latest number points to a fertility rate—the number of children a woman has over her lifetime—that is close to 1.0, a level considered by demographers as “ultralow.”

Invasive fire ants form ‘rafts’ as they spread on Australia’s waterways (Washington Post) An environmental group has issued a warning about the invasive threat posed by fire ants, which have been documented forming “rafts” in floodwaters to access new territory amid ongoing heavy rain and cyclone conditions in Australia’s northeast. Reece Pianta at the Invasive Species Council said the insects were “one of the world’s worst invasive species” and were known to be more active immediately before and after rainfall. They can be seen joining together in buoyant clumps pulled along the current in waters in the Gold Coast region of Queensland state this month, in video footage the council shared Tuesday. “They can form rafts and float on floodwaters and land in new locations to reestablish their colonies once the floodwaters recede,” Pianta said in a phone interview. “Quite remarkable, but also quite scary.” Fire ants are capable of a sting that can be painful for an hour and in rare cases can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction. They often attack in a swarm of ants stinging at once.

#headlines #news

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female-buckets · 1 year

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Schools ranked by how tough their schedule is...

Interesting to compare this ranking with the AP ranking

#ncaa wbb

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mmhaterade · 1 year

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The 2023 Hater's Guide to the West Region

This blog is not in any way affiliated with the NCAA, its entities, subsidiaries, or member institutions. This is a humor site and should be treated as such. We’re all on our way out – act accordingly.

1. Kansas (28-6). When Texas beat Kansas to end the Big 12 (8?) regular season, the intrepid videographer shooting the game happened to catch a KU coed wearing a t-shirt which read “I (heart) Dick.” A-fucking-mazing. Look, I don’t have to tell you KU fans need this one seed, need the wins, need a title more than anything to justify their continued existence. They live in Kansas for fuck’s sake – Interstate 70 ends in Lawrence and you are stuck wandering the plains like Denzel Washington in Book of Eli until you reach Colorado, and the interstate magically appears again. There is NOTHING to do here other than watch basketball, and that says a lot, because I live in Iowa!

2. UCLA (29-5). This is a Bruin, right? With that face, I am 100% sure his name is “Crick Monin.”

3. Gonzaga (28-5). There is a new Constitutional amendment which clearly states you are no longer allowed to refer to Gonzaga as a Cinderella school. It’s been twenty five years - I think the slipper finally broke. They’ve now been in every final AP poll since the 2008-09 season, and have appeared in every weekly AP poll since 2016-17, a streak of 115 consecutive weeks. I will never stop laughing when eighth year senior Drew Timme appears on my TV screen. All I see is TIMMY from South Park. Fuck John Stockton.

4. UConn (25-8). Go back to the AAC! Biggest group of crybabies in the country and it isn’t even close. When their women’s team had an injury plagued season (lost five games including back-to-back games for the first time in 30 years), Geno Auriemma vented to the media and to his team, telling them they had three days before the conference tournament to fix things. Then he got in his car and drove home to Manchester, wishing he could continue westward. “The way I felt was I want to wake up in California in three days,” he said. “I just want to keep driving, I don’t want to do anything, I don’t want to come to practice.” Jesus man, just fucking quit already and move away from that awful place. Twitter account CrimsonCast put it best: UConn continues to fail to shake the perception that they are simply an analytics darling. Like an east coast version of the Mountain West.

5. Saint Mary’s (26-7). Every bracket, no matter the site, always lists this school as “Saint Mary’s (CA).” Why? No one is confusing this school for the archaeological dig site posing as a university in Maryland, or the all-women’s college in north-central Indiana where many of the enrolled students play for nearby Leprechaun U, also known as Notre Dame. No, this is the school – in California – that gets exclusive coverage on ESPN Australia/New Zealand. Sixty percent of the student body is involved in organized athletics here, so it’s a good chance you’ll be handed a scholarship and some sort of ball upon move-in. It’s either that or forced labor washing jockstraps.

6. TCU (21-12). Their coach gives out a pair of “charge socks” when a Horned Frog player takes a charge. There��s a big bucket of these colorful dress socks in the TCU locker room. Charge socks? You have to be kidding me. You are in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, you can’t find a bag of blow or an extra couple of c-notes for your athletes? (Producer cuts in…garbled static…). Pardon me, I’ve just been informed that the “C” in TCU stands for “Christian.” There is no cocaine on campus. But NIL is legal now, surely you can find something other than a pair of sweaty dress socks to reward your unpaid employees. Perhaps a sad handjob from a coed who has already put on the freshman 15+15+15?

7. Northwestern (21-11). Congratulations, you finished top three in the Big Ten for the first time since 1960. You won your last conference championship 90 (!) years ago. You have made one (1) NCAA tournament and had to be retroactively selected as something called the Helms National Champion. Your most successful head coach played for Phog Allen at Kansas – in 1917! Northwestern basketball is the definition of futility. They are the Chicago Cubs of the NCAA; fitting for a program that markets itself as “Chicago’s Big Ten team” (insert jerking off hand motion here). Even if Northwestern won 25 games a season for the next 25 years, they would still have a losing record.

8. Arkansas (20-13). It is against state law to mispronounce “Arkansas'' while in the state, yet their residents pronounce jalapeno “Holla-PEE-no.” Gun to my head, I wouldn’t be able to look at Sarah Huckabee Sanders naked, playing with a hula hoop, for more than a second.

9. Illinois (20-12). Brad Underwood is a bargain-bin Gene Keady who is very upset about “booty ball.” Every press conference he attends ends with him making a wet fart sound into the microphone.

10. Boise State (24-9). No one gives a shit about this team unless tater tots rise to $6 a bag – then it’s time to storm the blue court. I know exactly one person from Idaho and their personality matches that of the official state produce. This person is incapable of being corrected. They are always right. You are always wrong. If you say the sky is blue, their response will no doubt begin with “well, actually…” Boise is also not a state, you arrogant fuckhead.

11. Arizona State (20-12) or Nevada (23-9). Over 60% of the student body at ASU has some form of herpes. Unless you are a model, they throw you in an engineering building for four years. If you hate Duke just like the rest of America, you generally hate Christian Laettner and Grant Hill. But there’s one player from those early-90s teams everyone forgot: Bobby Hurley. As I’ve aged, my hatred for Hurley has waned, but I’ll always wish maximum pain for whatever team he coaches.

With the growth of legalized sports gambling across the United States, the University of Nevada has introduced several new classes for the 2023-24 school year: Kneecap Relocation, Intermediate Hammer Smashing Techniques, and Advanced Vig Calculation. Another new course addition as of Thursday morning: Getting Your Shit Pushed In By A Sun Devil Pitchfork. Too soon? Probably.

12. VCU (27-7). VCU stands for Very Completely Underwhelming. This isn’t a college, it’s an industrial laundry that has tricked 28,000 students into paying the institution to “work.” If you want a perfect example of the bloat in higher education administration, consider there are over 11,000 non-academic staff at VCU. Never trust a doctor from this school; they only practiced on centaurs.

13. Iona (27-7). Someone is going to give Rick Pitino the best 14 seconds of his life to coach for them.

14. Grand Canyon (24-11). By employing buzzer-beating Valpo alum Bryce Drew, this pretend university has already accomplished more in the NCAA Tournament than Mount Rushmore State, Hoover Dam U, Smokey Mountains College and SUNY-Niagara Falls.

15. UNC Asheville (27-7). Let’s have a quick check-in on how this college is doing. Student enrollment and retention are plunging at UNC-Asheville and top leadership is departing at the highest rate in the entire UNC system. While overall student enrollment in the UNC system has increased 7% since 2015, UNC-Asheville fell by a stunning 25%, the largest drop among the 16 public universities in the system. Of the incoming students UNC-A is able to attract, a high number of them leave before graduation. Retention of students, measured as those returning for a second year of school, is now just 68.6%, the lowest in ten years. Jesus, even Trump University would laugh at these numbers.

16. Howard (22-12). Howard students recently had to protest living conditions in on-campus dorms – mold, mildew, and rats are apparently very commonplace in multiple residences. It is 2023; the only sensible reason these alarming conditions should be issues on your campus is when you have outsourced every part of the student life experience to a call center in the middle of the Himalayas.

#march madness #college basketball #college sports #march

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beardedmrbean · 2 years

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany's ruling center-left party warned Monday that a victory for far-right leader Giorgia Meloni in Italy's upcoming election would be bad for Italians and European cooperation when many on the continent are feeling the strain of high energy prices.

Lars Klingbeil, the chairman of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, accused Meloni of spreading falsehoods about Germany and aligning herself with “anti-democratic” figures such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“We look to the election in Italy and say there's a lot at stake,” Klingbeil told reporters in Berlin after meeting with Meloni's main rival, former Italian Premier and Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta. “It's not just a question of who leads Italy, it will also set the course for Europe."

He said Letta's approach of cooperating with other European countries would help achieve a Europe-wide solution to high energy costs — such as through a gas price cap — and end the continent's reliance on Russia fossil fuels.

“Italy is better off with Enrico Letta at the top and not right-wing populists and neo-fascists,” he said.

Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party leads polls ahead of the Sept. 25 election and has roots in a movement that hailed the legacy of former Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini, has tried to distance herself from extremism and insists she won’t be a danger to democracy if she becomes premier.

Letta, who insists his alliance can still win the election, also met Monday with Scholz. He said he views an integrated Europe as “the solution."

Meloni, by contrast, has long railed against European Union bureaucracy and accused the bloc of infringing on national sovereignty.

“Those who say Europe is the problem simply want to destroy and look for scapegoats,” Letta said, “Instead, solutions must be found here, and starting with the fundamental issue of energy, solutions must be found.”

Meloni also situated himself as a counterweight to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose war in Ukraine has helped drive up energy costs.

“If we won next Sunday, the democracies would be happy,” he added. "If the right won next Sunday, the first to be happy would be Putin."

#nunyas news #this looks like no fun

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bbcviral · 3 months

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POLL ALERT: Back-to-back champion UConn finishes at No. 1 in first men's AP Top 25 to be released after March Madness http://dlvr.it/T5HjZ3

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judyreppart · 4 months

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LADY REBELS JUMP BACK IN AP TOP 25 No. 24 UNLV is ranked in the Associated Press poll for the third time this season The UNLV women’s basketball team has a number by their

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lrmartinjr · 4 months

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bulletines-news · 3 months

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Gonzaga Bulldogs Finish Strong in AP Top 25 Poll: A Remarkable Season Recap

#Gonzaga #Bulldogs #nba highlights #nba all star #nba basketball #nba season #NBA

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wausaupilot · 5 months

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Michigan beats No. 11 Wisconsin 72-68, avoiding another 2nd-half collapse under coach Juwan Howard

Wisconsin will likely drop in the poll after falling five spots in the AP Top 25 this week following losses to the Boilermakers by six points and wasting an 18-point second-half lead in an eight-point overtime setback against Nebraska.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Dug McDaniel scored 16 points, including three free throws in the final 19 seconds, to help Michigan hold on for a 72-68 win over No. 11 Wisconsin on Wednesday night. The Wolverines (8-15, 3-9 Big Ten) had lost five straight and 10 of their last 11 games. The Badgers (16-7, 8-4) have lost a season-high three consecutive games and struggled to make 3-pointers for the…

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#Michigan Wolverines #Wisconsin Badgers

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northiowatoday · 5 months

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Iowa Hawkeye women rise to #2 rankin gin AP poll after two big road wins

Carver-Hawkeye Arena IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa women’s basketball team is ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 released on Monday. Iowa has spent 16 total weeks at No. 2 in program history. The Hawkeyes have been ranked in the Top 5 since the poll came out since Oct. 17. Iowa currently owns the longest active streak in the AP Top 5 at 15 consecutive weeks. Iowa has 327 appearances…

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newstfionline · 9 months

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Sunday, September 24, 2023

As the world’s problems grow more challenging, the head of the United Nations gets bleaker (AP) At the annual meeting of world leaders last year, the U.N. chief sounded a global alarm about the survival of humanity and the planet. This year, the alarm rang louder and more ominously, and the message was even more pressing: Wake up and take action—right now. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ assessment, delivered in his no-nonsense style, aimed to shock. We are becoming “unhinged,” he said. We are inching closer to “a great fracture.” Conflicts, coups and chaos are surging. The climate crisis is growing. Divides are deepening between military and economic powers, the richer North and poorer South, East and West. “A new Rubicon” has been crossed in artificial intelligence. Guterres has spoken often on all these issues. But this year, which he called “a time of chaotic transition,” his address to leaders was tougher and even more urgent. His message to the presidents and prime ministers, monarchs and ministers gathered in the vast General Assembly hall was unambiguous and stark. “We seem incapable,” Guterres said, “of coming together to respond.”

Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations around Sikh killing, official says (AP) The allegation of India’s involvement in the killing of a Sikh Canadian is based on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, including intelligence provided by a major ally, a Canadian official told The Associated Press on Thursday. The official said the communications involved Indian officials and Indian diplomats in Canada and that some of the intelligence was provided by a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to Canada. The official did not say which ally provided intelligence or give details of what was contained in the communications or how they were obtained. The revelation came as India stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens and told Canada to reduce its diplomatic staff as the rift widened over allegations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of suspected Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist.

White House preparing for government shutdown as House Republicans lack a viable endgame for funding (AP) The White House on Friday directed federal agencies to get ready for a shutdown after House Republicans left town for the weekend with no viable plan to keep the government funded and avert politically and economically costly disruption of federal services. A federal shutdown after Sept. 30 seems all but certain unless Speaker Kevin McCarthy can persuade his rebellious hard-right flank of Republicans to allow Congress to approve a temporary funding measure to prevent closures as talks continue. Instead, he’s launched a much more ambitious plan to try to start passing multiple funding bills once the House returns Tuesday, with just five days to resolve the standoff. McCarthy signaled his preference for avoiding a closure, but a hard-right flank of his House majority has effectively seized control. The standoff with House Republicans over government funding puts at risk a range of activities—including pay for the military and law enforcement personnel, food safety and food aid programs, air travel and passport processing—and could wreak havoc with the U.S. economy.

Election emotions (Yahoo News) What’s the No. 1 feeling that comes to mind for Americans when thinking about the upcoming presidential election? “Dread,” according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. The survey of 1,636 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Sept. 14 to 18, offered respondents seven emotions—three positive, three negative, one neutral—and asked them to select any and all that reflect their attitude toward the 2024 campaign. Dread, the most negative option, topped the list (41%), followed by exhaustion (34%), optimism (25%), depression (21%), indifference (17%), excitement (15%) and delight (5%). In total, a majority of Americans (56%) chose at least one of the three negative feelings (dread, exhaustion or depression), while less than a third (32%) picked at least one of the three positive feelings (optimism, excitement or delight).

Mexico Feels Pressure of Relentless Migration From South America (NYT) At a Mexico City shelter, the nun in charge made another difficult announcement to the mothers and children arriving Wednesday: There was no more space. Five hundred migrants were already crammed into a facility built for 100. Near Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, frustrated people stormed a refugee aid office on Monday after waiting weeks for appointments to receive the necessary documents that allow them to travel farther north. And in Tijuana, nearly all of the city’s 32 shelters were at full capacity this week, as people from nearly 70 countries waited for a U.S. asylum appointment or a chance to sneak across the border. Similar scenes are playing out across the country as Mexico’s immigration system strains under a tide of people desperately trying to go north. The relentless surge has led to a hodgepodge response in Mexico ranging from shutting down railways heading north to the busing of people to areas with fewer migrants. American officials are also contending with a new wave of unlawful border crossings that is straining government resources and leaving local officials scrambling as thousands of migrants are released from federal custody. On Wednesday, thousands of people crossed into Eagle Pass, Texas, leading the mayor to declare a state of emergency and a deployment of 800 active-duty military personnel to help process the arrivals.

Costa Rica’s homicide rate rises in deadliest year ever (Reuters) More than 656 people have been killed so far in Costa Rica’s deadliest year on record, official homicide data showed on Friday, though the government expects this figure to soar past 900 by the end of this year. Costa Rica, which has for decades been recognized as the safest Central American country, saw more homicides in six of its seven provinces, with the capital San Jose seeing the highest increase—double those in the same period last year. Authorities have reported crimes such as torture, gang murders and assassinations carried out by highly-trained hitmen, similar to crimes committed by Mexican cartels. They attribute two-thirds of such killings to turf war gangs for control over drug trafficking operations in the country, a strategic location between producers in Colombia and consumers in the United States and Europe.

U.S. will send Ukraine long-range missiles, after delay (Washington Post) The Biden administration plans to provide Ukraine with a version of ATACMS long-range missiles armed with cluster bomblets rather than a single warhead, according to several people familiar with the ongoing deliberations. The cluster-armed ATACMS, with a range of up to 190 miles, depending on the version, could allow Ukraine to strike command posts, ammunition stores and logistics routes far behind Russian front lines and dug-in defenses. Biden moved during the summer from a firm and long-standing “no” to saying the issue was “still in play.” Although the administration backed away from initial concerns that Kyiv, which has asked for hundreds of the long-range weapons, would use them to strike inside Russian territory, the Pentagon still worried that drawing down enough ATACMS from relatively small military stockpiles to make a difference on the Ukraine battlefield would undercut the readiness of U.S. forces for other possible conflicts.

For South Korea’s Senior Subway Riders, the Joy Is in the Journey (NYT) The subway rumbled toward its final stop north of Seoul. Along the way, hordes disembarked, with the determined, brisk gait of those with somewhere to be. By the end of the line, many who remained on board were noticeably older—nodding off, gazing out the window, stretching their shoulders. Lee Jin-ho had taken two subway lines for more than an hour from his home to the last stop, Soyosan, on a steamy August day. He ambled about a hundred yards beyond the station, rested briefly in the shade—and then got right back on the train heading south. An 85-year-old retired interior designer, Mr. Lee is one of Seoul’s throngs of subway-riding seniors, who take advantage of the country’s longstanding policy of free fares for people older than 65 and spend their days riding the trains to the end of the line, or to nowhere in particular, and sometimes back again. On long summer days—with Seoul’s temperatures averaging highs of more than 87 degrees in August—the air-conditioning is robust, the people-watching is engrossing and the 200 miles of subway tracks in the city are almost limitless in their possibilities for urban wanderings. Older adults who ride free of charge make up about 15 percent of Seoul’s annual ridership. The riders have become such an established part of the city’s fabric that they have a nickname—“Jigong Geosa,” derived from the phrase “free subway”—and the lines and stations frequented by them are well known.

#headlines #news

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