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Transurban announces it will exit proposed toll lane expansion

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.An Australia-based company that was the lead partner in a plan to build toll lanes to widen I-270 and parts of the Capital Beltway in Montgomery County announced that they will exit the project.Transurban, lead partner in a consortium known as Accelerate Maryland Partners, issued a statement Thursday evening — the start of the Friday business day in Australia — announcing it will not proceed with the project.The announcement comes less than two weeks before the company was required to meet a key deadline and submit its design and finance plans for the project.In a statement, the company said the project faced challenges including delayed environmental approvals, “a changing political landscape,” and unresolved lawsuits.“Transurban is disappointed that we were unable to reach agreement with Maryland to deliver the critical congestion ...

Czech Republic beats China 8-5 at WBC, Cuba gets its 1st win

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Martin Muzik hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning and the Czech Republic beat China 8-5 on Friday in the World Baseball Classic.The Czech Republic overcame a 5-4 deficit in the ninth, with Filip Smola adding an RBI single in the team’s first game in Group A. Matej Mensik also homered for the Czechs, connecting in the third. Marek Minarik was the winner, closing with 2 2/3 scoreless innings.Hai Cheng Gong took the loss as China dropped to 0-2. It lost to Japan 8-1 on Thursday.The all-amateur Czech team has had fun in Japan. A few of the players even went surfing in the run-up to the tournament during games in Miyazaki in southwestern Japan.“We’re enjoying the Japanese stay,” Czech player Marek Chlup said. “At Miyazaki, some players swam.”CUBA 13, PANAMA 4TAICHUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Cuba pounded out 21 hits and picked up its first victory in the World Baseball Classic after losing its first two games in Group A.Panama led 4-2 after two innings, bre...

Smithsonian ‘Afrofuturism’ exhibit to include objects from Marvel’s ‘Black Panther,’ Outkast

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

Starting this month, the National Museum of African American History and Culture will display a new exhibit highlighting and exploring the concept of Afrofuturism.“Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures” opens Friday, March 24.More Local NewsMore DC News“Afrofuturism” is a term used to define the aesthetic juxtaposition of African American culture and science fiction, centering history and futuristic elements of expression like art and music. It is an “evolving concept expressed through a Black cultural lens that reimagines, reinterprets and reclaims the past and present for a more empowering future.”The term was coined in 1994 by author and cultural critic Mark Dery in his book “Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture.”“This exhibition is a way to look at how Afrofuturism has been practiced throughout history and across the diaspora, and the ways it is expressed, historically and in the present, through art, literature and activism,” said cur...

French, British leaders meet in efforts to mend relations

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meet Friday in Paris for a summit aimed at mending relations following post-Brexit tensions, as well as improving military and business ties and toughening efforts against Channel migrant crossings.The French-British summit, the first since 2018, is set to show a “new chapter” is opening in relations between the two countries, according to Macron’s office. Such an event was previously held almost every year. Relations between the U.K. and France chilled amid post-Brexit wrangling over fishing rights and other issues, and hit rock-bottom under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who took delight in needling the French. His successor, Liz Truss, ruffled French feathers last year when she said the “jury is out” on whether Macron was a friend or a foe.But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought Britain and its European neighbors closer together in support of Kyiv, and the mood improved after pragmatic, tec...

Russia and ‘fugitive oligarchs’ pile pressure on Moldova, top minister says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

The situation in Moldova is “extremely volatile,” Interior Minister Ana Revenco said Friday, amid fears that Russia is fomenting a coup to topple the pro-EU Moldovan government.“We are seeing how Moscow, interest groups and fugitive oligarchs are putting together all of their efforts and resources to increase the level of destabilization in the Republic of Moldova [and] change the democratic course in Chișinău,” Revenco said at a joint press conference with European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson in Brussels.Asked if Moldova could become the next Ukraine, Revenco said “democracy and peace in Europe” were Russia’s next targets, and called on the EU to keep supporting the former Soviet republic. “Moldova is only in the way of Russia’s intention to break [Europe’s] stability,” the minister said. “We can only keep it and protect it if we are united.”Moldova — which was granted candidate status to the EU&nb...

Georgian parliament kills Russian-style bill that sparked mass protests

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

TBILISI — Georgia’s parliament on Friday formally voted down the controversial Russian-style bill on foreign agents after several days of massive street protests in Tbilisi.Crowds cheered at the entrance of the parliament, after learning that the bill had been killed. The vote will likely trigger disquiet in the Kremlin, where Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to keep former Soviet republics from turning toward Europe and the West. “Having turned towards Europe, Georgia knows it can count on the friendship of France,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted minutes after the vote.On Thursday, ruling Georgian Dream party officials pledged the bill would be revoked on March 21. But a plenary session was hurriedly scheduled for Friday after thousands continued to protest in the streets, waving EU flags and denouncing Russia, demanding the draft law be killed earlier.“I’m proud of every person who came out, every single person who has expressed his or her will and European-ne...

MBTA: All trains restricted to 25 mph speed limit

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

The MBTA announced Thursday that all Red, Orange, Green, and Blue line trains are restricted to a speed limit of 25 miles per hour, effective immediately. The restrictions come in response to findings of a site visit by the Department of Public Utilities on Monday to check on track maintenance conditions on the Red Line between Ashmont and Savin Hill stations, according to the MBTA.The next day, the DPU sent the MBTA letters laying out a list of areas where immediate action needs to be taken. Some of the problem areas include track conditions, third rail insulators, headlight use within tunnels, and PPE compliance. The DPU is also asking the T to investigate two incidents of operators overshooting the station entirely.The MBTA’s Chief Safety Officer Ronald Ester says that some of these problems needed to be addressed within 24 hours, and they have already provided those reports to the DPU. For other issues, the DPU needs a response from the T by the end of the business day Fri...

Howie Carr: Lobbyists seeing green over city rent control

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

The Mafia may be gone, but one of their greatest business innovations – the protection racket – has endured, and it may be more profitable than ever.Only now, the protection is being offered not in the North End or South Boston, but at the State House.An attempt by the lunatics at Boston City Hall to restore rent control now moves to the Legislature. Can somebody say… payday! At least for the lobbyists.The lobbyists lurking about the State House needed a sell sheet to share with their potential marks, I mean clients, and that’s where Doug Rubin’s new poll this week comes in. Don’t waste your time reading the actual numbers, the headline makes the pitch:“New statewide poll shows strong support for rent control.”Oh my God! Every lobbyist worth his Cape Cod mansion has already sent out that scare headline to every landlords’ organization in the state.Once they see the poll commissioned by a “political consultant,” the landlords get a frantic follow-up phone call from a hack former legi...

Ukrainians who fled war face end of temporary US sanctuary

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — When U.S. officials at the U.S.-Mexico border stamped the Ukrainian passports of Mariia and her daughter last April and gave them permission to stay for a year, she figured she would return home within months.Now with that year almost up and the war that caused them to flee still raging, their permission to stay in the U.S. — known as humanitarian parole — is set to expire April 23. “The word `worry’ doesn’t capture what I’m feeling,” said Mariia, who spoke through an interpreter and asked that only her first name be used over concerns that speaking publicly would hurt their immigration case. “This is something that frightens me, mainly because of my daughter and my daughter’s future.”The 46-year-old woman and her daughter, now 13, are among 20,000 Ukrainians in a similar situation, according to resettlement agencies. Most arrived to the United States at its southern border after fleeing to Mexico, where it was easier and faster to get a visa to enter the country in...

Ukraine rebounds from Russian barrage, restores power supply

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:06:09 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s capital restored most of its power supply on Friday, officials said, as the country again responded swiftly and defiantly to the latest Russian missile and drone barrage targeting critical infrastructure.In what has become a familiar Russian tactic since last fall, the Kremlin’s forces struck Ukraine from afar amid months of a grinding battlefield stalemate on the front line in eastern areas. The apparent aim is to weaken Ukraine’s resolve and compel the Ukrainian government to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms.Ukrainian authorities scrambled to counter the bombardment’s consequences, part of a recurring cycle of urban smash-and-repair that has brought little change in the course of the war that recently moved into its second year.The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in an assessment that “these missile strikes will not undermine Ukraine’s will or improve Russia’s positions on the front lines.”Ukrainian mi...