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Former NASA astronaut inspires Mater Brickell Academy students during school event

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

A South Florida school received an out-of-this-world surprise as former NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez paid a visit to Mater Brickell Academy on Tuesday.The visit was part of the school’s “Shooting for the Stars” event, which not only celebrated an upcoming film on Hernandez’s life but also aimed to inspire students to pursue careers in the sciences.During his visit, Hernandez shared his incredible journey from humble beginnings as a migrant farmworker to becoming an astronaut. His message of perseverance and determination resonated with the students, encouraging them to dream big and aim high in their own pursuits.“Any opportunity I get to go and motivate kids, I’ll take the opportunity, and I’m hopeful that I plant some seeds of hope that they too can reach their own dreams,” said Hernandez.As a special highlight of the event, Amazon, the production company behind the upcoming film on Hernandez’s life, presented Mater Brickell A...

Hurricane Idalia alters migration patterns, leading flamingos to unusual locations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

FLORIDA (WSVN) — The recent passage of Hurricane Idalia has had an unexpected consequence on the migratory patterns of flamingos. These elegant birds, known for their vibrant pink plumage, have found themselves in unfamiliar territory as their northward journey was disrupted.Typically, flamingos migrate northward during this time of the year, but Hurricane Idalia’s path forced them to take detours, leading to sightings in unusual locations, including Ohio, Kentucky, and various parts of Florida. In Florida, flamingos have been spotted in Tampa and Saint Petersburg, far from their usual wintering grounds.Experts are closely monitoring the situation and are cautiously optimistic about the potential long-term impact of this change in flamingo migration. They hope that these displaced flamingos will choose to settle down in the pristine habitat of the Everglades, a crucial natural ecosystem in southern Florida.

Romania confirms Russian drone debris fell on its territory

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

Debris from a Russian drone fell on NATO country Romania after the Kremlin blitzed a Ukrainian port on the Danube river, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr said Wednesday. “We covered a very large area, including the area about which there were discussions in the public space and I confirm that pieces were found that could be a drone,” Tîlvăr said Wednesday, according to local media reports.Russia has been bombarding Ukrainian ports on the banks of the Danube since President Vladimir Putin pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal, with missiles and killer drones frequently landing near Romania.Ukraine on Monday initially said that Russian debris fell on Romanian territory, which was vigorously denied by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. Last November, NATO held crisis talks after a missile landed in Poland, though U.S. President Joe Biden later said it was unlikely to have been fired from Russia. As NATO members, Romania and Poland are protected under article 5 of the...

Voters no longer see Sunak as asset to UK Tories

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

LONDON — So much for the “President Rishi” strategy.Brits no longer think Rishi Sunak is a plus for his governing Conservative Party, according to a new poll shared with POLITICO.The fresh survey by campaign group More in Common found only 29 percent of voters now agree that the British prime minister — who took on the job after the tumultuous tenure of Liz Truss — is an “asset” to his party, compared to 41 percent who disagree.When the same question was asked back in May, Sunak was viewed as an asset by 36 percent of those polled, compared to 30 percent who disagreed with that assessment.Sunak’s Conservatives face a mountain to climb ahead of an expected general election next year, with the opposition Labour Party consistently ahead in polling. More in Common’s research found that Labour, led by Keir Starmer, has a 15-point lead on the Tories (44 percent to 29 percent) in voting intention.Less rosy for the opposition party, however, is the findin...

More than 5 million people have been displaced by a monthslong conflict in Sudan, UN agency says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — More than 5 million people have been displaced by the monthslong fighting in Sudan, the United Nations’ migration agency said Wednesday as clashes between the country’s military and a rival paramilitary force show no sign of easing. According to the International Organization for Migration, over 4 million people have been internally displaced since the conflicted erupted in mid-April while another 1.1 million have fled to neighboring countries. More than 750,000 have traveled to either Egypt or Chad, the agency said. International efforts to mediate the conflict have so far failed. There have been at least nine cease-fire agreements since the outbreak and all have broken down. Sudan was plunged into chaos almost five months ago when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, escalated into open warfare.The fighting has reduced Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to an urban batt...

Hungary’s transportation minister gets sharp criticism for comments praising Nazi-allied WWII leader

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A senior government official in Hungary came under sharp criticism Wednesday for praising the country’s World War II-era leader, an ally of Nazi Germany who is believed to have imposed Europe’s first anti-Jewish laws of the 20th century, as an exceptional head of state and a hero.Minister of Construction and Transportation Janos Lazar made the comments Sunday during a ceremony held on the 30th anniversary of the reburial of Miklos Horthy, Hungary’s regent during most of World War II. A self-described antisemite, Horthy forged an alliance with Adolf Hitler and implemented laws that resulted in the deportation and deaths of thousands of Hungarian Jews.A video of the commemoration held in Kenderes, Horthy’s hometown, features Lazar, a Cabinet member in the nationalist government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, heaping praise on the wartime leader while speaking at the ceremony in Horthy’s hometown of Kenderes. “It is my conviction that a remem...

Carmakers are failing the privacy test. Owners have little or no control of the data they hand over

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Cars are getting an “F” in data privacy. Most major manufacturers admit they may be selling your personal information, a new study finds, with half also saying they would share it with the government or law enforcement without a court order. The proliferation of sensors in automobiles — from telematics to fully digitized control consoles — has made them prodigious data-collection hubs.But drivers are given little or no control over the personal data their vehicles collect, researchers for the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation said Wednesday in their latest “Privacy Not Included” survey Security standards are also vague, a big concern given automakers’ track record of susceptibility to hacking. “Cars seem to have really flown under the privacy radar and I’m really hoping that we can help remedy that because they are truly awful,” said Jen Caltrider, the study’s research lead. “Cars have microphones and people have all kinds of sensitive conversations in them. Cars have camer...

Interpol at 100: A mixed legacy of hunting fugitives and merging police data from 195 countries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

LYON, France (AP) — Interpol is turning 100 with a mixed legacy — as a misconstrued crime-fighting organization, a network that merges police data from authoritarian states and democracies, and a global adviser on how to handle criminal trends.Secretary-General Jürgen Stock, a German who took office in 2014, has said he believes all police officers ultimately have the same goal: stopping criminals. The challenge, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, is that Interpol brings 195 very different countries into a network of databases of crimes and wanted fugitives.Interpol has no police force of its own, no weapons stockpile, and certainly no fleet of helicopters to swoop in and pluck criminals off rooftops. Its power rests almost entirely in information shared by member nations.Critics, even those who praise Stock’s tenure as one of a new openness for Interpol, say that’s exactly the problem. They accuse many countries, notably Russia and China, of abusing the red notice s...

Air Canada apologizes for booting passengers who complained about vomit-smeared seats

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

Air Canada says it has apologized to two passengers who were escorted off a plane by security after protesting that their seats were smeared in vomit.The airline said Tuesday that the passengers “clearly did not receive the standard of care to which they were entitled.”The incident during boarding for an Aug. 26 flight from Las Vegas to Montreal was described in graphic detail by another passenger, Susan Benson of New Brunswick, who said she was in the row behind two women and a man.“There was a bit of a foul smell but we didn’t know at first what the problem was,” Benson wrote on Facebook three days later. “Air Canada attempted a quick cleanup before boarding but clearly wasn’t able to do a thorough clean.”Benson said workers sprayed the area with perfume to hide the smell. The passengers assigned to those seats told a flight attendant that the seat and seatbelt were wet and they could still see vomit. The attendant and a supervisor told them that the flight was full, and they woul...

The death toll from fierce storms and flooding in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria rises to 11

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:14 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — The death toll from severe rainstorms that lashed parts of Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria increased to 11 Wednesday after rescue teams in the three neighboring countries recovered four more bodies.A flash flood at a campsite in northwestern Turkey near the border with Bulgaria killed at least four people — with two found dead Wednesday — and carried away bungalow homes. Rescuers were still searching for two people reported missing at the campsite.Another two people died in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, where Tuesday’s storms inundated hundreds of homes and workplaces in several neighborhoods.The victims in Istanbul included a 32-year-old Guinean citizen who was trapped inside his basement apartment in the low-income Kucukcekmece district, Turkish broadcaster HaberTurk TV reported. The other was a 57-year-old woman who died after being swept away by the floods in another neighborhood, the private DHA news agency reported.The surging flood waters affected m...