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Australia pulling for Matildas to advance in Women’s World Cup. Only 1 host has ever won the title

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Australia will try to avoid the host team curse by avoiding elimination in the quarterfinals of the Women’s World Cup. The Matildas have co-hosted this tournament with New Zealand, but the Football Ferns failed to advance out of group play. Australia is still playing and faces France on Saturday in Brisbane, Australia, for a spot in the semifinals. But tournament hosts have always struggled to make it past the quarterfinals, starting with China in the inaugural 1991 tournament, then Sweden in 1995, Germany in 2011, Canada in 2015 and finally France in 2019. France was eliminated by the United States in front of 45,000 spectators in Paris, and the sting carried with Les Blues for quite awhile. Aside from the United States, which won the 1999 tournament in America, all other World Cup hosts have failed to advance past the quarterfinals.France can now kick Australia out of its own tournament, and French coach Herve Renard said his players are familiar...

Britain’s barge for asylum seekers faces new setback as legionella bacteria found in water system

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain is removing 39 asylum seekers from a barge moored in southern England after environmental samples showed legionella bacteria in the water system.The move came just days after the men were moved to the floating hostel amid government efforts to reduce the cost of sheltering the growing number of people seeking asylum in Britain. The government expects the Bibby Stockholm to house up to 500 adult males.“As a precautionary measure, all 39 asylum seekers who arrived on the vessel this week are being disembarked while further assessments are undertaken,’’ the Home Office, which deals with immigration issues, said in a statement. “No individuals on board have presented with symptoms of Legionnaires’ (disease), and asylum seekers are being provided with appropriate advice and support.”Plans to use the Bibby Stockholm as accommodation for asylum seekers has been plagued by controversy and delays, with opponents expressing concern about safety and whether it was a...

Love triumphs: Woman who underwent facial surgeries for 16-pound tumor removal marries long-time beau

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

Marlie Casseus, a woman who had a 16-pound tumor removed from her face, got married on Thursday to her long-time boyfriend Billy Wyatt after he proposed to her on her 31st birthday. On July 7, Marlie’s caretakers and family celebrated her birthday with a cake, presents and a surprise from Wyatt, who FaceTimed her from California. Before he said his goodbyes on the video call, he held up a sign with the words “Will you marry me?” displayed on the screen. The couple got married after 15 years of friendship blossomed into love.“It’s still kind of surreal just getting up and building up to his moment and even after today I don’t think it’s going to wear off,” said Wyatt.Marlie was the source of public attention back in 2005 after arriving from Haiti as a teenager to remove a 16-pound tumor on her face. The tumor left her unable to speak and breathe properly.“In 2008, 2009 I came across her TLC story and it just drew me in and it star...

Dwyane Wade set to be inducted into NBA Hall of Fame

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WSVN) — A former Miami Heat player is set to receive a legendary honor on Saturday after his 16-year career playing for the NBA. Dwyane Wade will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday night in Springfield, Massachusetts after he was unanimously voted in. “It’s going to take a long time for me to process that,” said Wade in a video call interview. “There’s not enough time. It’s the rest of my life.” The basketball legend’s accomplishments include being a three-time NBA Champion, 2006 Finals MVP, a 13-time All-Star, and the NBA’s points, games played, assists and steals. All of Wade’s accomplishments paired with his 14-year span with the Miami Heat make him the most successful player in NBA history. Patrick Riley, President of the Miami Heat, said he knows he made the right decision when he let Wade play for his team. “Wade is like sacred ground,” said Ri...

Russia strikes Ukraine with Kinzhal missiles, damaging hospital in Kyiv

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

KYIV — Russia attacked Ukraine on Friday with four hypersonic missiles, damaging a children’s hospital in Kyiv and killing a boy in the western region of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukrainian officials said.The launches of the X-47 Kinzhal missiles were carried out from the Tula and Lipetsk regions of Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement. One missile was destroyed by Ukrainian air defenses in the Kyiv region, while the others hit civil infrastructure, a residential area and near an airfield, the Air Force said. Debris from one of the missiles fell on the grounds of a children’s hospital and on a roof of a private house, Vitaly Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, said in a statement. No one was injured, he added.In the Ivano-Frankivsk region in western Ukraine, a Russian missile hit a private house in the Kolomyisky district, killing an 8-year-old boy and wounding his family members, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said in a statement. Officials h...

After reported suicide of participant, human research studies suspended at psychiatric institute affiliated with Columbia University

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

(CNN) — The US Department of Health and Human Services has suspended research studies involving human subjects at a psychiatric institute affiliated with Columbia University after the suicide of a research participant, according to research documents.A spokesperson for HHS told CNN on Thursday the agency’s Office for Human Research Protections was investigating the psychiatric institute “and has restricted its ability to conduct HHS-supported human subject research.”“The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) is committed to protecting the rights, welfare, and well-being of people participating in research conducted by or supported by HHS. OHRP takes very seriously the protection of people who volunteer for research studies and has procedures to ensure that those protections are in place,” the HHS spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.The New York State Psychiatric Institute, which is affiliated with Columbia University, said it voluntarily paused al...

Nestor Cortes — son of South Florida and Cuba — eager to start in Miami against the Marlins

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

MIAMI — The last time the Yankees visited the Marlins, Nestor Cortes found himself filling an unusual role in a familiar setting.A resident of nearby Hialeah, Florida, Cortes had to pinch-run late in the game with the Yankees’ bench depleted. A left-handed pitcher, Cortes is known for his arm, not his legs. But he gladly made his first major league appearance in his hometown ballpark — even if it left him desiring more.“That was pretty cool,” Cortes told the Daily News of his awkward stumble around the bases in 2021, but he added that it would also be “cool to go back and actually pitch a game there.”Cortes will get his wish on Saturday when he starts against the Marlins, the team he grew up rooting for, at LoanDepot Park. He will also see friends and family at the stadium during the Yankees’ three-game series, and he will stay at his parents’ house, where he still lives in the offseason.The homecoming start will check off a majo...

Urban heat islands: Map shows the hottest neighborhoods in San Diego

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Does it feel like a totally different climate when you go across town? It may be the urban heat island effect. The way a city is designed can make hot weather feel even worse. The temperature on your block is influenced by everything from the number of trees on the street to the color of the pavement. When trees and vegetation (which absorb heat) are replaced by buildings and roads (which can radiate heat), it feels hotter. "The heat island effect can result in significant temperature differences between rural and urban areas," explains the Environmental Protection Agency. These areas of California could be underwater by 2050 Climate Central, an organization of scientists and journalists focused on studying the impacts of climate change, broke down 44 cities into Census blocks to determine which neighborhoods suffer from the worst urban heat effects.You can see a map of San Diego County's urban heat hot spots below.A map shows the effects of urban heat in neighbor...

Illinois Supreme Court upholds state’s ban on semiautomatic weapons

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld the state’s ban on the sale or possession of the type of semiautomatic weapons used in hundreds of mass killings nationally.In a 4-3 decision Friday, the high court found that the Protect Our Communities Act does not violate the federal Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection of the law nor the state constitution’s bar on special legislation. The court also decreed that state Rep. Dan Caulkins, a Decatur Republican, and like-minded gun-owners who brought the lawsuit had earlier waived their claims that the law infringes on the Second Amendment to own firearms and could not raise it before the Supreme Court.The Second Amendment claim is alive, however, in several federal lawsuits filed in southern Illinois, later consolidated and awaiting appeals court action. The law bans dozens of specific brands or types of rifles and handguns, .50-caliber guns, attachments and rapid-firing devices. No rifle is a...

Floods triggered by monsoon rains in Myanmar have killed 5 people, displaced 60,000 since mid-July

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in Myanmar have killed five people and displaced about 60,000 since mid-July, an official said Friday.The director of the ministry of social welfare, relief and resettlement, Lay Shwe Zin Oo, said four children are among the dead. Some parts of southern states of Kayin and Mon remain in critical condition due to heavy rains and rising river water levels, Lay said. The low-lying areas in some townships in the southern Bago and the central Magway regions, as well as the western state of Rakhine, have been inundated by water since Sunday. Initially, some 60,000 people were displaced but 20,000 have since returned to their home areas. About 40,000 are still sheltering in sturdy buildings such as monasteries, pagodas and schools, she said.She said included three children in the state of Mon and a mother and child in Rakhine drowned.“The flooding is getting worse this week. But, it is difficult to say whether the current flood situati...