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Ignoring experts, China’s sudden zero-COVID exit cost lives

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — When China suddenly scrapped onerous zero-COVID measures in December, the country wasn’t ready for a massive onslaught of cases. Hospitals turned away ambulances, crematoriums burned bodies around the clock, and relatives hauled dead loved ones to warehouses for lack of storage space.Chinese state media claimed the decision to open up was based on “scientific analysis and shrewd calculation,” and “by no means impulsive.” But in reality, China’s ruling Communist Party ignored repeated efforts by top medical experts to kickstart exit plans until it was too late, The Associated Press found.Instead, the reopening came suddenly at the onset of winter, when the virus spreads most easily. Many older people weren’t vaccinated, pharmacies lacked antivirals, and hospitals didn’t have adequate supplies or staff — leading to as many as hundreds of thousands of deaths that could have been avoided, according to academic modeling, more than 20 interviews with current and forme...

IMF to assess Sri Lankan governance as part of $3B bailout

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday it is assessing Sri Lanka’s governance in the first case of an Asian country facing scrutiny for corruption as part of a bailout program. The IMF executive board approved a nearly $3 billion bailout plan for the bankrupt nation Monday and about $333 million was to be disbursed immediately to help alleviate the country’s humanitarian crisis. The approval also will open up financial support from other institutions. Sri Lanka suspended repayment of its debt last year as it ran short of foreign currency needed to pay for imports of fuel and other essentials. Shortages led to street protests that forced out Sri Lanka’s president. The economic situation has improved under current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, but his plans to privatize state companies have raised objections. The senior mission chief for the IMF in Sri Lanka said the development lender was “conducting an in-depth governance diagnostic exercise w...

‘John Wick’ stars honor late co-star Lance Reddick

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne were among the “John Wick: Chapter 4″ stars honoring Lance Reddick, their co-star who died unexpectedly last week, at the film’s Los Angeles premiere.“We lost our brother, and in a really sort of very shocking way. I think we’re all still in shock. “Life is,” the visibly-shaken Fishburne said, pausing briefly before continuing, “hard sometimes.”Many of those who worked on the film wore blue ribbons to honor Reddick, who was a prolific character actor with prominent roles in “The Wire,” “Oz” and the “John Wick” film franchise.“Just to be in his light and to get a chance to work with him, I’ll cherish for the rest of my life,” Reeves said. “He had such a passion for his work and his craft. He was gracious. He had a dignity to him and a presence.”Reddick, 60, died Friday in Los Angeles of natural causes, his publicist Mia Hansen said. No further details were provided.Tributes have poured in for the act...

Serbia wants to normalize ties with Kosovo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

Serbia wants normal relations with Kosovo but still won't sign any agreement with it, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday (19 March), a day after he verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan for the normalisation of ties.Serbia wants to join the European Union, and a condition of membership is that it normalise relations with ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 but which Belgrade still considers a Serbian province.Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti agreed to implement normalisation steps at a meeting with EU officials in a North Macedonian lake resort on Saturday, although no document was signed and the EU said it had wanted to go further."Serbia wants to have normal relations with Kosovo. We want to travel, we want to do business, you cannot live isolated behind 100 metres walls," Vucic told reporters on Sunday."I didn't want to sign the agreement on the implementing annex last night nor the EU-backed agreement (in Brussels l...

New toll-free phone number created to direct Canadians to available poison centres

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

Health Canada is launching a new toll-free phone number for poison centres. Canadians can now call 1-844-POISON-X to access critical medical advice for poisonings.The initiative was launched to make it easier for Canadians to access information on poison centres from anywhere in the country. Health Canada says many Canadians don’t know the phone number of their local poison centre or what services are available to them.The federal agency says over 1,500 people in Canada lose their lives each year to unintentional poisonings from medications, cleaners, and other household items.The country’s network of poison centres handle almost two-thirds of cases remotely without the requirement to enter a health care facility.The number was launched as a part of National Poison Prevention Week, which runs from March 19 to 25, 2023. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 21, 2023.The Canadian Press

At Ukraine’s front, police try to evacuate holdout families

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Pale and grimy from living in a dank, dark basement for nearly a year, the teenager and his weeping mother emerged to the sound of pounding artillery and headed to a waiting armored police van that would whisk them to safety.Russian forces were not far from their battered front-line town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, where shells fall daily, ripping through buildings, smashing cars and leaving craters.Dark, curly hair peeping out from beneath his hoodie, 15-year-old Oleksii Mazurin was one of the last youths still living there. After his evacuation Friday, another 13 remained, said police chief Roman Protsyk. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, about 25,000 people lived in Avdiivka. Despite the shelling, about 2,000 civilians remain, Protsyk said.For months, authorities have been urging civilians in areas near the fighting to evacuate to safer parts of the country. But while many have heeded the call, others — including families with c...

Swedish investigator says S Korea key to her adoption probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A Swedish legal expert investigating the country’s international adoption practices said Tuesday she’s trying to determine whether Swedish authorities were aware of falsified child origins as they approved the adoptions of thousands of South Korean children.Anna Singer spoke to The Associated Press during a weeklong trip to South Korea, where she plans to meet with officials from government and a Seoul-based agency that handled adoptions to Sweden to gather details on how South Korea procured and documented children for foreign adoptions.Many South Korean adoptees accuse their agencies of fabricating documents to expedite adoptions by foreigners, such as falsely registering them as abandoned orphans when they had relatives who could be easily identified, which also make their origins difficult to trace.Most South Korean adoptees were sent overseas during the 1970s and ’80s, when Seoul was ruled by a succession of military governments that saw adoptions as a...

France's Macron faces another test with no-confidence vote

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

President Emanuel Macron faced a critical moment on Monday (20 March) when the French National Assembly was due to vote on no-confidence motions filed after his government bypassed parliament on Thursday (16 March) to push through an unpopular rise in the state pension age.The move, which followed weeks of protests against the pension overhaul, triggered three nights of unrest and demonstrations in Paris and throughout the country, with hundreds of people arrested, reminiscent of the Yellow Vest protests that erupted in late 2018 over high fuel prices.In a sign that Macron was holding firm, his office on Sunday evening said the president had called the heads of the Senate upper house and of the National Assembly to say he wanted the pension reform to go to "the end of its democratic process".Macron also told them the government was mobilised to "protect" members of parliament who are facing pressure ahead of the vote.However, while Monday's votes may put on display the level of ange...

Single-family home sells in San Ramon for $1.9 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

3733 Stonehenge Way – Google Street ViewA spacious house located in the 3700 block of Stonehenge Way in San Ramon has a new owner. The 4,176-square-foot property, built in 2005, was sold on Feb. 21, 2023, for $1,850,000, or $443 per square foot. The property features five bedrooms, four bathrooms, an attached garage, and three parking spaces. The unit sits on a 0.3-acre lot.These nearby houses have also recently been sold:In August 2022, a 3,474-square-foot home on Rodriguez Court in San Ramon sold for $2,425,000, a price per square foot of $698. The home has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.On Carrington Court, San Ramon, in June 2022, a 2,966-square-foot home was sold for $2,401,000, a price per square foot of $810. The home has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.A 2,569-square-foot home on the 800 block of Mornington Court in San Ramon sold in November 2022, for $2,005,000, a price per square foot of $780. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

Trout might not get to hit vs Ohtani in WBC championship

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:40 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — That matchup between Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the World Baseball Classic may not happen.Japan rallied in the ninth inning to beat Mexico and advance to Tuesday night’s championship game against the United States, but Shota Imanaga will start on the mound for the Samurai Warriors.If Trout is to bat against his Los Angeles Angels teammate, it would only be if Ohtani makes a rare relief appearance.Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said he likely will use the same starting lineup as he did in the semifinal Monday night against Mexico, when Ohtani batted third as the designated hitter and doubled to start the ninth-inning comeback.Asked before the game what chance Ohtani had of pitching Tuesday, Kuriyama replied through a translator: “I won’t say it’s a zero.”While Ohtani has never relieved since joining the Angels for the 2018 season, he came out of the bullpen twice for the Pacific League’s Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2013 and once in 2016.“I’ll definitely be pre...