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Niger’s junta accuses United Nations chief of blocking its participation at General Assembly

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The military government that seized power in Niger has accused United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of “obstructing” the West African nation’s full participation at the U.N.’s annual meeting of world leaders in order to appease France, Niger’s former colonizer, and its allies.The decision to not allow the junta’s envoy to speak at the U.N. General Assembly in New York could “undermine any effort to end the crisis in our country,” Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for the officers who deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum in a July coup, said late Friday.The junta had wanted Niger’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Bakary Yaou Sangare, who was made foreign minister after the coup, to speak on its behalf at the General Assembly.However, Bakary did not receive credentials to attend after the deposed Nigerien government’s foreign minister sent the world body a letter “informing of the end of functions of ...

Pope Francis says migrants ‘do not invade’ Europe, challenges countries to open ports

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

Pope Francis challenged French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to open their ports to people fleeing hardship and poverty, insisting Saturday that the continent isn’t facing a migration “emergency” but rather a long-term reality that governments must deal with humanely.For a second straight day in the French port city of Marseille, Francis took aim at European countries that have tried to close their doors to migrants and tried to shame them into responding with charity instead. He called for migrants to have legal pathways to citizenship, and for the Mediterranean Sea that so many people try to cross to reach Europe to be a beacon of hope, not a graveyard of desperation.The Mediterranean, Francis told Macron and a gathering of regional bishops, “cries out for justice, with its shores that on the one hand exude affluence, consumerism and waste, while on the other there is poverty and instability.”The pope’s visit to the city i...

Round Rock police respond to fatal auto-pedestrian crash on I-35

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — One person died after an auto-pedestrian crash on Interstate 35 in Round Rock overnight Saturday. Police said the crash happened on I-35 northbound near the Old Settlers Boulevard exit. Around 5 a.m., the Texas Department of Transportation said all northbound lanes at US 79 were closed due to a crash. Drivers are asked to use alternative routes. RRPD said the driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating with the investigation.

NFL picks: Dallas’ roaring start, the AFC West’s offensive defenses and a big game in Detroit

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

Around the NFCDallas rolling. The ultimate measure will be postseason success, but it’s hard to imagine a much better start for Dallas. Its defense under Dan Quinn looks like the NFL’s best with Micah Parsons leading the way. The team’s scored 70 points already in two games and enters Sunday at Arizona as a 12.5-point favorite. In a league built on parity, Dallas’ point differential (plus-60) through two games was twice the next-closest (San Francisco). That’s a pretty good way to open the season, though they suffered a big blow this week when star corner Trevon Diggs tore his ACL in practice.Rare 2-0 battle. Speaking of parity, there are eight 2-0 teams in the league and, just as everybody predicted, three of them are in the NFC South. Tampa’s one of them, and the Bucs play in the lone matchup of unbeaten teams on the Week 3 docket Monday night when they host Philadelphia. Baker Mayfield’s very much enjoyed throwing to Mike Evans (12 catches, 237, two touchdowns) so far, but this w...

Grading The Week: Sorry, Val Nichushkin. Nathan MacKinnon might forgive you. But we’ve still got trust issues.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

You’re right: Val Nichushkin doesn’t owe the scribes anything. It’s his life. It’s his $49 million. It’s his name on the Stanley Cup.Look, we’ll be honest. The kids on the Grading The Week staff have got some trust issues with you, Chu Chu Train. And do you blame us? Seattle left a scar.Family reasons? Fair enough. But even if nothing untoward happened in that hotel, everything during and after the big Avs forward’s sudden departure from the team last spring during a hotly-contested first-round playoff series with the Kraken was so nuclear, and so hush-hush, that it led the public, and reporters, to presume — and to assume — the worst.Regardless of the how and why, the “what” was clear as day: One of the best players to wear Burgundy and Blue was mysteriously unavailable for the defending Stanley Cup champs in a dog-eat-dog playoff fight.Which explains why, when we polled the GTW crew this week, even though most said they were wi...

Nuggets Journal: Ogi Stojakovic lives out “childhood dream” as assistant coach on Serbia national team’s silver medal run at FIBA World Cup

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

About 10 minutes before the Nuggets took the floor, assistant coach Ognjen “Ogi” Stojakovic answered an unexpected call. He was preparing for one of the most important competitions of his career — the series opener of the Western Conference Finals — but suddenly, another major tournament was on his mind, one every bit as meaningful to him personally.Svetislav Pesic, head coach of Serbia’s national basketball program, was inviting him to join the coaching staff for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.“It was a childhood dream to be part of the national team with Serbia,” Stojakovic told The Post. “Basketball is a religion. When I started to coach, I was thinking about that (goal).”But the Lakers were waiting. Stojakovic accepted Pesic’s offer then managed to pocket his big news, not wanting to distract any of his Denver colleagues from the task at hand. He joined the players and helped with their pregame warm-ups. The Nuggets were soon on their way to a series sweep.After eventually receivin...

Mathews: California needs to censure the whole idea of censure

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

Let’s censure the whole idea of censure.Because it’s consuming the precious time and money of California’s local governments.Censure is the name often given to resolutions, which have little punitive force, that city council or school board members issue against colleagues they don’t like. Why this censure surge? It’s a national fad — censure resolutions are popular in Washington and other state capitals after the censure earlier this year of Burbank Rep. Adam Schiff for the unforgivable crime of impeaching an insurrectionist president.But my own travel around the state suggests more fundamental reasons for the trend.First, after the isolation of the pandemic, our elected officials, like the rest of us, are struggling to relate to one another in person. Second, our monstrously myopic society has a quasi-religious obsession with policing expression and tone — even as it tolerates ceaseless violence.Finally, the censure surge reflects our growing ignorance of democracy. To a stunning ...

Brooks: Epic quests and a theory of Elon Musk’s maniacal drive

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

In his biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow writes that Hamilton “always had to fight the residual sadness of the driven man.” That sentence has stayed with me because I’ve also noticed that there can be something sad about extremely ambitious people — like they’re striving furiously to fill a hole that was carved into them by traumatic experiences during childhood, and they have never quite succeeded.Some historians and psychologists have marveled at how many of the most significant figures in history lost a parent at an early age, either to death or abandonment — from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. These are what one psychologist termed “eminent orphans.”It’s easy to put Elon Musk into that category. He had a miserable childhood in South Africa marked by verbal and physical abuse from a father who repeatedly told him he was worthless, according to Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Musk. He had no friends and lived in a world in wh...

Dear Abby: My husband ruins every vacation. Can I leave him home?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

DEAR ABBY: I love to travel, yet I loathe traveling with my husband.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: Why do they think I should give up my barstool for them? Advice | Dear Abby: I shouldn’t have to compete with my son’s clingy girlfriends Advice | Dear Abby: Everyone heard him call his co-worker baby, and I was humiliated Advice | Dear Abby: He never wants to see me again, but we may be thrown together Advice | Dear Abby: How can I break my wife of her rude obsession? He gets anxious and extremely mean on the days leading up to the trip and especially while en route. I do all the planning and pay for everything, and I regard his behavior as not only ungrateful and rude, but unnecessary.Is it wrong for me to not want him to come on the next big trip I plan?Also, while we travel, all he wants to do is sleep, eat and drink. I’m all about taking in the local culture and making sure to no...

Tropical Storm Ophelia rolls through DC region over the weekend

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:59:13 GMT

Beach-goers brave the weather and walk along the sand at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, as Tropical Storm Ophelia approaches in Virginia Beach, Va. The storm was gaining strength as it churned toward the North Carolina coast on Friday, promising a weekend of heavy rain and windy conditions throughout the mid-Atlantic. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)(AP/Kendall Warner) Beach-goers brave the weather and walk along the sand at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, as Tropical Storm Ophelia approaches in Virginia Beach, Va. The storm was gaining strength as it churned toward the North Carolina coast on Friday, promising a weekend of heavy rain and windy conditions throughout the mid-Atlantic. (Kendall Warner/The...