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Ukraine’s most powerful spiritual force faces a choice

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine — One Friday afternoon in late July, on the bank of Kyiv’s Lake Jordan, more than 400 Ukrainians gathered to celebrate their national christening. Cupcakes, pies, and cookies with blue-and-gold frosting, knitted and stitched handicrafts and pictures of national poet Taras Shevchenko filled kiosks that also sold boozy fruit juice and humongous slabs of brisket. Uniformed soldiers from the 244th battalion of the Ukrainian army chatted with wives, girlfriends, civilians and vendors intending to donate their earnings to that unit. High school kids horsed around with what looked to be an empty rocket case near moms presiding over screeching toddlers in a sandbox.An hour into the eclectic festivities everyone hushed, and Father Georgi Kovalenko took over and chanted prayers. Another priest, Father Cyril Hovorun, gave a sermon and spritzed the gathering from the waters with which — 1,035 years ago to the day, according to lore — the baptism of Prince Volodymyr of Ky...

America and Britain are still educating the world’s leaders

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

Walter Ellis is a Northern Ireland-born, France-based journalist and commentator. He’s the author of “The Beginning of the End: The Crippling Disadvantage of a Happy Irish Childhood.”  Who knew that Viktor Orbán, the autocratic prime minister of Hungary and friend in adversity of Russian President Vladimir Putin, shared the same tutor at Oxford as former United States President and Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton?  Sure, the duo’s weekly tutorials with Polish political philosopher Zbigniew Pełczyński, a Warsaw Uprising veteran, took place two decades apart, but the message from the professor’s side of the desk altered little in the intervening years. Pełczyński was an old-school liberal capitalist, who believed in people working together regardless of underlying ideology, and he did what he could to introduce young Poles, and others from Eastern Europe, to free market and democratic principles during the latter days of Communism in Poland.The point is that neither ma...

Column: Chicago White Sox begin a new era with hopes of a quick turnaround — but they face a gargantuan challenge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

The Chris Getz-Pedro Grifol era began Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field when the Chicago White Sox played host to the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field.Getz, who was promoted to general manager Thursday, gave his first-year manager a vote of confidence during his introductory news conference, confirming Grifol will return to the Sox dugout in 2024.Getz has some work to do to make Sox fans believe he was the right man for the job. Retaining Grifol was his first big move, and the two are tasked with turning around a team even Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf conceded has been unwatchable this season.“I have a hard time watching these games,” Reinsdorf said Thursday. “There are some nights when I don’t even watch the game. I record, and then if I win I watch it.”As marketing campaigns go, “Tape the Sox game and don’t watch it if they lose” probably won’t win any awards. But at least Reinsdorf understands the gargantuan challenge t...

Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, whose son died in car crash with Princess Diana, dies at 94

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

By DANICA KIRKA, CARA RUBINSKY and JILL LAWLESSLONDON (AP) — Mohamed Al Fayed, the flamboyant Egypt-born businessman whose son was killed in a car crash with Princess Diana, died this week, his family said Friday. He was 94.Al Fayed, the longtime owner of Harrods department store and the Fulham Football Club, was devastated by the death of son Dodi Fayed in the car crash in Paris with Diana 26 years ago. He spent years mourning the loss and fighting the British establishment he blamed for their deaths.“Mrs Mohamed Al Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday August 30, 2023,″ his family said in a statement released by the Fulham club. “He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones.″Al Fayed was convinced Dodi and Diana were killed in a conspiracy masterminded by Prince Philip, the husband of Quee...

Four Boston city councilors call for state of emergency at Mass and Cass

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

Four city councilors are urging the Boston Public Health Commission to declare a state of emergency in the Mass and Cass zone, saying that “dramatic intervention” is needed to address the area’s decade-long “humanitarian crisis.”Such action would give the Wu administration “more flexibility to respond to the ongoing tragedy of substance-use disorder, mental illness, open use of illegal drugs, violence, criminality and disturbance of urban life,” Councilors Frank Baker, Michael Flaherty, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy wrote in a Friday letter to BPHC.Murphy is also chair of the council’s Public Health Committee and Flaherty head of Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee.The four, who represent the more conservative wing of the City Council, are calling for the Board of Health to vote to declare a state of emergency at its next meeting on Sept. 13.“We have reached a stage where dramatic intervention is vital,” the letter states. “We believe that the risk exists of compounding th...

Mets’ Ronny Mauricio makes MLB debut surrounded by familiar faces: ‘It’s just an incredible day’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez all feel as though they grew up together having played in the Mets farm system together. Now, all four of the Mets’ highly-touted prospects are in the big leagues for the first time, as the club called up Mauricio, their fourth-ranked prospect, to make his Major League debut Friday.Rosters expanded to 28, clearing the way for Mauricio to reach the big leagues. Baty was also recalled after a brief stint with Triple-A Syracuse and the Mets brought up right-hander Jose Butto as well.“It’s so awesome,” Baty said before the Mets opened a series against the Seattle Mariners at Citi Field “We’ve all played together for about four years now, so we understand each other’s games and we get a lot of confidence with each other.”Mauricio was the missing piece of the puzzle. The second-youngest of the group at 22, Mauricio spent the entire season in Triple-A trying to find a position. Blocked by Francisco Lindor at shortstop, the Mets...

Barb Damon Invitational presents field hockey teams top-flight competition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

DANVERS – There are a bevy of changes to monitor across the state as the field hockey regular season starts up in less than a week, but the perks that come with one last tune-up in a longtime preseason staple – the Barb Damon Invitational – is not one of them.Again played on the last Friday before Labor Day, the multi-decade-old tradition had nine teams across four different divisions come together for premier competition in the five-hour, round robin play-day at Danvers High. A diverse mixture of teams with rich tournament success, and teams looking to reach those heights, each got four 24-minute games to play each other on either the turf or grass field.Andover (new head coach), Danvers (new division), Bishop Fenwick (postseason ban) and Pentucket (home field switch from grass to turf) are teams with big changes to handle. The joys and benefits of playing in the invitational as the preseason ends remain the same.“I think it’s invaluable for all teams to be able to compete,” said D...

Hit-and-run in Costco parking lot leaves pedestrian in critical condition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A pedestrian is in critical condition after she was struck by a car in the parking lot of a San Diego-area Costco Friday morning, police said.Around 10:34 a.m., the pedestrian, identified as a 63-year-old woman, was walking in the drive aisle of the Bay Ho Costco location when a vehicle collided with her for unknown reasons. The vehicle then fled the scene, SDPD said. Mother killed by son in deadly Encanto shooting identified: SDSO The pedestrian sustained multiple bone fractures and internal injuries, according to police. Her condition is considered life-threatening at this time.SDPD's Traffic Division is currently investigating the incident. No description of the vehicle or driver has been identified at this point in the investigation.Anyone with information related to the crash is encouraged to call SDPD at 858-495-7800 or to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

States and families wrestle over compassion in transgender youth care bans in Tennessee, Kentucky

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

Questions over which side was being more compassionate emerged as a key fault line in a federal appeals court Friday, as judges heard arguments on whether to block transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming care in Kentucky and Tennessee.Supporters of trans kids being able to get puberty blockers and hormone therapy argued that it is safe, necessary health care that’s backed by every major medical group. Advocates of state-level bans on children seeking the care countered that these are experimental and life-altering procedures that young people shouldn’t be exposed to. U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar said concern over the child’s well-being is the “nut of the case.”“I feel like there’s compassion in both directions,” Thapar said. “It’s not crazy to say that there’s a compassionate component to the other side of this — that maybe this is the kind of thing people might regret if they do it at age 14, 15.”Earlier this year, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appe...

Court revives doctors’ lawsuit saying FDA overstepped its authority with anti-ivermectin campaign

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:21:45 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court Friday revived a lawsuit by three doctors who say the Food and Drug Administration overstepped its authority in a campaign against treating COVID-19 with the anti-parasite drug ivermectin.Ivermectin is commonly used to treat parasites in livestock. It can also be prescribed for humans and it has been championed by some conservatives as a treatment for COVID-19. The FDA has not approved ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment because studies have not proven it is effective.The agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Friday’s ruling from a panel of three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans focused on various aspects of an FDA campaign against ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. The ruling acknowledged FDA’s receiving reports of some people requiring hospitalization after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for livestock. But the ruling said the campaign — which at times featured the sl...