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World Aquatics to debut ‘open category’ races for transgender swimmers in Berlin

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The first “open category” swimming races to accommodate transgender competitors will take place at a World Cup event in Berlin in October, the sport’s governing body said Wednesday.“This pioneering pilot project highlights the organization’s unwavering commitment to inclusivity, welcoming swimmers of all sex and gender identities,” World Aquatics said in a statement.The governing body, formerly known as FINA, had previously banned transgender competitors from major events like the Olympics and world championships, but said it was committed to creating an open category for all swimmers when it first adopted its “gender inclusion policy” last year during the worlds in Budapest, Hungary.The open category will make its debut with 50-meter and 100-meter races across all strokes. More events could be added. Participants will need an affiliation with a national federation, but will be given the flexibility to race individually, for their club or federation.The competition is ...

Court clears the way for Thai Parliament to pick a new prime minister 3 months after elections

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court cleared the way Wednesday for Parliament to vote for a new prime minister more than three months after national elections by declining to rule on a complaint over the rejection of the winning party’s leader.The court had been asked to decide whether Parliament had violated the constitution by refusing to allow the leader of the progressive Move Forward Party to be nominated for a second time as a prime ministerial candidate.Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat had assembled an eight-party coalition with a majority in Parliament’s lower house. But under the military-implemented constitution, a new prime minister must receive a majority of votes from both the elected House and the conservative appointed Senate, which was chosen by an earlier military government. Pita lost a first vote in Parliament for prime minister last month, with many senators voting against him because of his party’s call for reform of a law that makes it illeg...

Mother drowns trying to save son at waterfall and father rescues another son trapped by boulders

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

LINCOLN, N.H. (AP) — A mother drowned trying to rescue her young son who was being pulled by the current at a popular waterfall and another son who jumped in to help became lodged in boulders and was rescued by his father, authorities said.The mother was part of a Massachusetts family of five visiting Franconia Falls in Lincoln along with a friend on Tuesday afternoon, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said.“One of the minor children slipped and fell into one of the pools at the falls,” Sgt. Heidi Murphy said in a news release. “He could not get out of the pool as it was a fast, circulating current. The mother jumped into the river to help her child and began to immediately have trouble.” Two other children jumped into the water to help their brother and mother. “They were able to get their brother out of the water, but in doing so, another brother became lodged in the boulders and could not escape,” Murphy said. At the same time, the father was trying to find the mother. H...

Americans are divided along party lines over Trump’s actions in election cases, AP-NORC poll shows

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are deeply divided along party lines in their views of President Donald Trump’s actions in the most recent criminal cases brought against him, a new poll shows, with about half saying his alleged attempt to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 vote count was illegal. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before Monday’s charges in the Georgia case, also shows that about half of Americans — 53% — approve of the Justice Department indicting Trump over his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.The poll finds 85% of Democrats approve of the criminal charges brought Aug. 2 by Special Counsel Jack Smith, compared with 47% of independents and just 16% of Republicans. Overall, 3 in 10 Americans disapprove, including about two-thirds of Republicans.The survey suggests that the unprecedented indictments of a former president have done little to shake up a fundamental divide in t...

Books banned in other states fuel Vermont lieutenant governor’s reading tour

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

WATERBURY, Vt. (AP) — On a recent Sunday afternoon, Vermont’s lieutenant governor was at a local library, reading a book about two male penguins to a crowd of nearly two dozen. This was not the first stop for Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman nor would it be the last.While officials in some other states are banning or restricting certain books in schools and libraries, Zuckerman, in liberal Vermont, has taken a different tack: reading and discussing them at libraries and bookstores around the state.″ These bans often target books that feature LGBTQ+ characters; talk about gender and sexuality; highlight racial disparities; or talk about difficult issues such as substance abuse and cases of police violence,” Zuckerman, a Democrat, said in a statement when he announced the tour in June. “Students, teachers, and curious minds should be able to access materials that spark critical thinking, cover difficult topics, and appeal to diverse interests without fear of government interference.”While Ver...

Homicide unit investigating fatal hit-and-run in downtown Toronto

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

The homicide squad is investigating after a fatal hit-and-run in downtown Toronto’s Moss Park neighbourhood on Tuesday night.Emergency crews were initially called to Queen Street East and Sherbourne Street around 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night for reports that a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle.A male victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say the vehicle fled the area before officers arrived.Toronto police tell CityNews the homicide unit has taken over the investigation, calling the incident a “suspicious death.”Police have identified the suspect vehicle as a four-door silver sedan.Sherbourne is closed in both directions between Queen and Shuter Street for the investigation.

The iPhone 'hang up' button may not be moving as much as we feared

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Almost a week after the Apple faithful collectively gasped at the first evidence that the iPhone’s red “end call” button might soon be vacating its center position to take up residence one column to the right, it looks like it might have been mostly a false alarm.The initial shock followed the release of last week's test, or beta, version of iOS 17, the next major update of the iPhone’s operating software. That's where users first saw the end-call button, which has traditionally lived in splendid isolation centered well below function buttons such as “mute,” “keypad” and “speaker,” instead joining its peers and taking a more assimilated position in the lower right-hand corner of a six-button block. Trump, 18 other defendants to be booked at Fulton County jail: reports Now, though, images of the latest iOS 17 beta shared by multiple media sites shows the red button right back in the center of the phone dialpad, pretty close to where it’s long staked o...

WATCH: Videos show power lines may be cause of Maui fire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

Awakened by howling winds that tore through his Maui neighborhood, Shane Treu went out at dawn and saw a wooden power pole suddenly snap with a flash, its sparking, popping line falling to the dry grass below and quickly igniting a row of flames.He called 911 and then turned on Facebook video to livestream his attempt to fight the blaze in Lahaina, including wetting down his property with a garden hose. Maui fire death toll reaches 106 as first two victims identified “I heard ‘buzz, buzz,’” the 49-year-old resort worker recounted to The Associated Press. “It was almost like somebody lit a firework. It just ran straight up the hill to a bigger pile of grass and then, with that high wind, that fire was blazing.”Treu’s video and others captured the early moments of what would become the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Now the footage has emerged as key evidence pointing to fallen utility lines as the possible cause. Hawaiian Electric Co. faces criticism for ...

Maui fire death toll reaches 106 as first two victims identified

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (KHON/NEXSTAR) - Federal officials sent a mobile morgue with coroners, pathologists and technicians to Hawaii to help identify the dead, as Maui County released the first names of people killed in the wildfire that all but incinerated the historic town of Lahaina a week ago and killed at least 106 people.A week after the fires started, some residents still had intermittent power, unreliable cellphone service and uncertainty over where to get assistance.Some people walked periodically to a seawall, where phone connections were strongest, to make calls. Flying low off the coast, a single-prop airplane used a loudspeaker to blare information about where to get water and supplies. Remembering those lost in the Maui fires Just two victims have been named so far, while the county said it has identified three more and will release the names after notifying the next of kin. Robert Dyckman (74) of Lahaina and Buddy Jantoc (79) of Lahaina were identified by Ma...

'We have no funding for this.' Leander ISD won't have armed security when school starts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:02 GMT

LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) — Leander Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Bruce Gearing said the district doesn't expect to have an armed security guard on every district campus by the state's September deadline, despite a new law requiring it. Gearing said at this point that's just not realistic, and that of the district's 48 schools, only the high schools have school resource officers on campus. NEXT: Set for School Staffing issues are also hitting the district's auxiliary staff positions like bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and custodians particularly hard.To try and bring in more applicants, the district has hired recruiters to try and find potential workers. Gearing talked with KXAN about issues including staffing, safety, and school achievement ahead of the upcoming school year. Leander ISD Bus (KXAN Photo/Frank Martinez)Tom Miller: This is going to be your fifth year school year as superintendent, what have you learned about this community that informs where you go as ...