Category: Новини

4 Suspects in Russia Concert Hall Attack Charged With Terrorism

UK Deputy PM to Address Lawmakers on Chinese Cybersecurity Threat

LONDON — British deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is set to address the country’s lawmakers about the cybersecurity threat posed by China on Monday as worries about possible interference grow before an election expected later this year. 

Dowden is expected to make a statement Monday, a government official said, declining to confirm whether the deputy PM will also announce reprisals including sanctions. 

There has been growing anxiety about China’s alleged espionage activity in Britain, particularly after it emerged last year that a parliamentary researcher was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. 

The government said last year that Chinese spies are targeting British officials in sensitive positions in politics, defense and business as part of an increasingly sophisticated spying operation to gain access to secrets. 

The Chinese Embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Last year, the embassy accused the British government of “making groundless accusations” when the head of MI5 accused China of carrying out an espionage campaign on an “epic scale.” 

Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5 has said it is now running seven times as many investigations into Chinese activity as it did in 2018 and plans more. 

In 2022, MI5 issued a rare security alert, warning members of parliament that a suspected Chinese spy was “involved in political interference activities” in Britain. 

Russia Concert Hall Suspects in Court

Three of the four suspects charged with carrying out the concert hall attack in Moscow that killed more than 130 people have admitted guilt for the incident in a Russian court.

Comedian Kevin Hart Honored With Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

WASHINGTON — Kevin Hart, who rose from the open mics and comedy clubs of his native Philadelphia to become one of the country’s most recognizable performers, will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at a gala performance Sunday at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Hart, 44, has honed a signature style that combines his diminutive height, expressive face and motor-mouth delivery into a successful stand-up act.

In Hollywood, Hart made his movie debut in the 2002 film “Paper Soldiers” and came to mainstream fame through a string of scene-stealing cameos in hits such as 2005’s “The 40-Year-Old-Virgin.”

Hart’s films have grossed more than $4.23 billion globally.

Now in its 25th year, the Mark Twain Prize annually honors performers who have made a lasting impact on humor and culture. Honorees receive a bronze bust of Twain, the iconic American writer and satirist whose real name was Samuel Clemens.

Mark Twain recipients are honored with a night of testimonials and video tributes, often featuring previous award winners. Other comedians receiving the lifetime achievement award include George Carlin, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett and Dave Chapelle. Bill Cosby, the 2009 recipient, had his Mark Twain Prize rescinded in 2019 amid allegations of sexual assault.

Geomagnetic Storm From Solar Flare Could Disrupt Radio Communications

BOULDER, Colo. — Space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm watch through Monday, saying an outburst of plasma from a solar flare could interfere with radio transmissions on Earth. It could also make for great aurora viewing.

There’s no reason for the public to be concerned, according to the alert issued Saturday by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.

The storm could interrupt high-frequency radio transmissions, such as by aircraft trying to communicate with distant traffic control towers. Most commercial aircraft can use satellite transmission as backup, said Jonathan Lash, a forecaster at the center.

Satellite operators might have trouble tracking their spacecraft, and power grids could also see some “induced current” in their lines, though nothing they can’t handle, he said.

“For the general public, if you have clear skies at night and you are at higher latitudes, this would be a great opportunity to see the skies light up,” Lash said.

Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic field flips, meaning its north and south poles switch positions. Solar activity changes during that cycle, and it’s now near its most active, called the solar maximum.

During such times, geomagnetic storms of the type that arrived Sunday can hit Earth a few times a year, Lash said. During solar minimum, a few years may pass between storms.

In December, the biggest solar flare in years disrupted radio communications.

Russians Mourn Dead Following Deadly Attack on Concert Hall

Russia observed a day of mourning Sunday following a deadly attack on a music venue in a Moscow suburb. Islamic State took credit for the assault that killed 137 people. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us more.

Fine Gael Party’s Harris to be Ireland’s Youngest Premier 

london — Ireland is poised to get its youngest-ever premier next month after Simon Harris secured the leadership of the Fine Gael party Sunday, replacing Leo Varadkar, who announced his surprise resignation last week.

Harris, 37, who has been the coalition government’s further and higher education minister, was the only candidate to put his name forward to succeed Varadkar, who had been Ireland’s previous youngest prime minister, or what Ireland calls its taoiseach.

Harris is expected to be formally elected premier in the Irish parliament in early April after lawmakers return from their Easter break.

In his victory speech in the central Ireland town of Athlone, Harris said this was a “moment for Fine Gael to reconnect” with the people.

“There is a hell of a lot to get done in the time ahead,” he said. “But let me say this: Under my leadership, Fine Gael stands for supporting businesses, especially small businesses.”

Harris said nothing about the coalition government, which came into place at the end of 2020, but has previously said that he would remain fully committed to the program for government agreed upon with partners Fianna Fail and the Green Party. He has stopped short of ruling out a general election this year, but insisted such a poll wasn’t his priority.

Varadkar, 45, has had two spells as taoiseach — between 2017 and 2020, and again since December 2022 as part of a job share with Micheal Martin, the head of Fianna Fail.

He was the country’s youngest-ever leader when first elected at age 38, as well as Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister. Varadkar, whose mother is Irish and father is Indian, was also Ireland’s first biracial taoiseach.

He played a leading role in campaigns to legalize same-sex marriage, approved in a 2015 referendum, and to repeal a ban on abortion, which passed in a vote in 2018.

He led Ireland during the years after Britain’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union. Brexit had huge implications for Ireland, an EU member that shares a border with the U.K.’s Northern Ireland. U.K.-Ireland relations were strained while hardcore Brexit-backer Boris Johnson was U.K. leader but have steadied since the arrival of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Trump Handles Legal Matters; Biden Vows to Protect Affordable Health Care

U.S. President Joe Biden campaigned on his health care record this weekend, while his political rival Donald Trump had to focus on meeting a deadline to post a bond to a New York state court after losing a civil fraud case. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.

3 Men in Armenia Attempt to Storm Yerevan Police Station

YEREVAN — Three armed men attempted to storm a police station in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Sunday detonating hand grenades that injured two of the attackers. 

The injured assailants were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds from the blast in Yerevan’s northern Nor-Nork district. A third man was detained by police after a brief standoff, Narek Sargsyan, spokesperson for Armenia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, told journalists. There were no other reported injuries. 

The men had hoped to free members of the Combat Brotherhood organization, who were being held at the station after being detained earlier Sunday, Armenian media outlets reported. 

The group opposes the planned transfer of several villages in Armenia’s Tavush region to neighboring Azerbaijan. 

Last year, Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign to reclaim the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule there. 

In December, the two sides agreed to begin negotiations on a peace treaty. However, many residents of Armenia’s border regions have resisted the demarcation effort, seeing it as Azerbaijan’s encroachment on the areas they consider their own. 

Speaking to residents of the border village of Voskepar in the Tavush region Tuesday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that Armenia’s refusal to delineate the border could trigger a new confrontation. 

“It would mean that a war could erupt by the end of the week,” Pashinyan said. He said the border demarcation should be based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan based on Soviet maps from 1991, when both were part of the Soviet Union. 

Putin Declares ‘Day of Mourning’ After Concert Hall Terror Attack 

Poland Demands Russian Explanation for Missile Breach

Princess Kate ‘Touched’ by Support as Royal Family Reels From Cancer Diagnosis 

London — Catherine, Princess of Wales, has said she is “enormously touched” by the support she has received from around the world following her shock announcement that she is being treated for cancer. 

Catherine, 42, revealed Friday that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy in a video message to the UK, triggering a wave of support from global leaders, family members and the public.   

“The prince and princess are both enormously touched by the kind messages from people here in the UK, across the Commonwealth and around the world in response to Her Royal Highness’ message,” Catherine and her husband Prince William, the heir to the throne, said in a statement released late Saturday.   

“They are extremely moved by the public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time.”   

The announcement ended weeks of speculation about Catherine’s health, with many praising her courage and others criticizing the conspiracies that spread over her absence.  

  

The candid disclosure leaves the British monarchy in crisis with King Charles III just weeks ago revealing he was also battling cancer.    

Charles — who was just 17 months into his reign when Buckingham Palace announced in February he would be cancelling all public engagements — led tributes to his “beloved daughter-in-law.”  

The 75-year-old monarch spoke of his pride in “her courage in speaking as she did.”  

Global support 

Following other warm words from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the White House, British newspapers hailed her courage.   

“Kate, you are not alone” read the front page of The Sun. The tabloid said it was “hugely comforting” to hear Kate say she was getting stronger.   

“Perhaps the world will now appreciate why so much secrecy surrounded her surgery in January,” it added.   

The Daily Mail tabloid denounced the “social media trolls who have been peddling disgusting conspiracy theories to explain her absence from public life.”

Finance minister Jeremy Hunt, whose younger brother died of cancer last year, told Sky News on Sunday that “the thing that really cut me to the quick was when she explained the hardest thing of all for people who’ve had cancer in their family, which is how you tell your kids.”  

Outside Kensington Palace in London, Nathaniel Taylor, a 24-year-old government worker, said: “I think it’s really damning what happened to them, what the media has done, how they’ve reacted over these past couple of months.   

“I think some speculation is inevitable but the lengths people were going to try and make things up, it’s just… Hopefully people take a look in the mirror.”   

Royal health woes 

In her statement, Kate, as the princess is widely known, said the diagnosis was a “huge shock” and asked for “time, space and privacy” as she completes chemotherapy.    

In the video — recorded on Wednesday in Windsor, west of London, where the future queen and king live with their three young children — she insisted she was “well.”  

She said it had taken them time to explain the situation to Prince George, aged 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and five-year-old Prince Louis, “and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.”  

Buckingham Palace had announced on February 5 that tests had identified Charles had “a form of cancer”, without giving further details.     

He has cancelled all public engagements except audiences with the prime minister and ambassadors, and is working on official papers while receiving treatment.    

He has been photographed several times since then, and seen attending church.    

“There’s no doubt at all that it’s a very, very difficult time for the institution of monarchy,” royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told AFP.   

Kate was last seen at a public engagement on December 25.   

Kensington Palace announced on January 17 that she faced up to two weeks in hospital and several months’ recuperation following abdominal surgery.    

She was not expected to be ready to return to public duties until after Easter on March 31, a statement at the time said.   

But Kate disclosed that tests after the operation “found cancer had been present” and that she was now undergoing “preventative chemotherapy.”   

Kensington Palace said she would return to official duties “when she is cleared to do so by her medical team.” 

In US, Micro-Apartments Back as Need for Affordable Housing Soars

SEATTLE — Every part of Barbara Peraza-Garcia and her family’s single-room apartment in Seattle has a double or even triple purpose.

The 17-square-meter room is filled with an air mattress where she, her partner and their children, ages 2 and 4, sleep. It’s also where they play or watch TV. At mealtimes, it becomes their dining room.

It’s a tight squeeze for the family of asylum seekers from Venezuela. But at $900 a month —more than $550 less than the average studio in Seattle — the micro-apartment with a bare-bones bathroom and shared kitchen was just within their budget and gave them a quick exit from their previous arrangement sleeping on the floor of a church.

“It’s warm. We can cook ourselves. We have a private bathroom. It’s quiet,” said Peraza-Garcia, whose family came to the U.S. to escape crime in Venezuela and so she could access vital medication to combat cysts on her kidney. “We can be here as a family now.”

Boarding houses that rented single rooms to low-income, blue-collar or temporary workers were prevalent across the U.S. in the early 1900s. Known as single room occupancy units, or SROs, they started to disappear in the postwar years amid urban renewal efforts and a focus on suburban single-family housing.

Now the concept is reappearing — with the trendy name of “micro-apartment” and aimed at a much broader array of residents — as cities buffeted by surging homelessness struggle to make housing more affordable.

“If you’re a single person and you want a low-cost place to live, that’s as cheap as you’re going to get without trying to find a subsidized apartment,” said Dan Bertolet, senior director of housing and urbanism for the non-profit research center Sightline Institute.

The Pacific Northwest is a leader in the resurgence of this form of affordable housing. Oregon last year passed a bill opening the door for micro-apartments and Washington state lawmakers this year did the same, starting to clear red tape that for years has limited construction of the tiny units, which are about a third the size of an average studio apartment.

The Washington bill, which was signed this week by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee after receiving nearly unanimous support in the Legislature, would require most cities to allow micro-apartments in residential buildings with at least six units, according to the Department of Commerce. It takes effect in late 2025.

The legislation is an effort to counteract skyrocketing housing prices and, in the Seattle area, one of the nation’s highest rates of homelessness, as well as a critical housing shortage.

Extremely low-income renters — those below federal poverty guidelines or earning 30% of the area median income — face a shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental homes, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition report published last week. Such households account for 11 million — or nearly one-quarter — of renters nationwide, the report said.

Rep. Mia Gregerson, who sponsored Washington’s bill, said she predicts the measure will lead to thousands of units being built in her state, providing unsubsidized affordable housing to everyone from young people getting their first apartment and elderly people downsizing to those coming out of physical or mental health treatment.

“Government can’t close that gap all by itself, it has to have for-profit, market-rate housing built all at the same time,” said Gregerson, a Democrat.

The U.S. lost hundreds of thousands of SROs in the last half of the 20th century as associations with poverty and substandard accommodation sparked restrictive zoning laws. Some cities outlawed their construction altogether — a loss some housing experts say helped contribute to the homelessness crisis.

Facing that crisis and a critical housing shortage, cities and states across the nation are now shifting their stance.

In December, as her state grappled with a massive influx of migrants, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $50 million program aimed at repairing and renovating 500 SROs across the state. New York City lost at least 70,000 such units between the early 20th century and 2014, according to a report from New York University’s Furman Center.

But there is concern that this type of affordable housing is not an ideal fit for an especially vulnerable group — families.

There are more than 3,800 unhoused families with children in the Seattle area, among the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2023 one-night count.

Cities need to focus on building affordable housing that also includes larger units, such as studios and one-bedroom apartments, said Marisa Zapata, a land-use planning professor at Portland State University.

“My biggest concern is that we will see them as the solution and not do right by our community members by building the housing that people want,” she said of micro-apartments.

The bill passed by Oregon lawmakers last year requires local governments to allow single room occupancy units in areas zoned for residential use. The provision took effect January 1.

Central City Concern, a Portland-based homeless services nonprofit, leases more than 1,000 SRO units — both subsidized and not — to people who are considered extremely low income. It helps people struggling to access housing due to things like eviction histories and poor credit scores.

The units have a median rent of $550 a month, making them a “vital option” for people exiting homelessness or living on fixed incomes, such as those with disabilities, said Sarah Holland, senior director of supportive housing and employment. Over 80% of tenants were formerly homeless, she said, and some have been living in their units for 30 years.

“As costs continue to escalate in Portland, it gives them the chance to stay in their home,” she said.

Cheyenne Welbourne moved into one of the nonprofit’s micro-apartments in downtown Portland last March after years of living on the streets. The room, which has a curtained-off toilet and sink, is just big enough to fit a single bed, a chair and a TV. But to him, it’s a treasured home that he’s decorated with colorful lights, potted plants and action figures. He uses the small kitchenette, which features an induction cooktop, for making the tea he loves to drink.

“All I had was just me and my backpack, and that’s it,” he said. “I was just happy to be in here and that I didn’t have to spend another winter out there.”

“I just want a home, you know? A nice home, a decent home.”

Some experts hope the Pacific Northwest will inspire more states to take similar steps.

“The alternatives are … people being in shelters, people being on the street, people being doubled, tripled, quadrupled up,” said Vicki Been, faculty director at New York University’s Furman Center and a law professor.

For Peraza-Garcia’s family in Seattle, the tight squeeze is worth it to be in the same complex as their cousins and within walking distance of grocery stores, a park and preschools. They plan to spend the next year in the micro-apartment and then move to a bigger place if they can get good-paying jobs.

“We’re happy because we’re here in a quiet place where we can be together as a family,” she said.

Pope Skips Homily at Start of Busy Holy Week during Palm Sunday Mass

Rome — Pope Francis decided at the last minute to skip his homily during Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, avoiding a strenuous speech at the start of a busy Holy Week that will test his increasingly frail health.

Hobbled by bad knees and persistent respiratory problems, Francis also didn’t participate in the procession of cardinals around the obelisk in the piazza at the start of the Mass. Instead, the 87-year-old pontiff blessed the palm fronds and olive branches carried by the faithful from the altar.

Francis had been expected to deliver a homily halfway through the service and had pronounced the prayers during the Mass. But after several seconds of silence, announcers said Francis had decided not to deliver the homily itself.

Vatican officials estimated some 25,000 people attended the Mass, held under a sunny, breezy spring sky.

Palm Sunday kicks off a busy week for Francis leading up to Easter Sunday when the faithful commemorate the resurrection of Christ. On Thursday, Francis is due to travel to a Rome women’s prison for the traditional washing of the feet ritual. On Friday he is scheduled to preside over the nighttime Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum re-enacting Christ’s crucifixion.

The following day marks the Easter Vigil, during which Francis presides over a solemn nighttime service in the basilica, followed by Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square and his noontime blessing from the loggia above.

Off and on this winter, Francis has been battling what he and the Vatican have described as a case of the flu, bronchitis or a cold. For the last several weeks he has occasionally asked an aide to read aloud his speeches and catechism lessons to spare him the effort. 

VP Harris Tours Bloodstained Building Where 2018 Parkland Massacre Happened

Parkland, Florida — PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris toured on Saturday the bloodstained classroom building where the 2018 Parkland high school massacre happened, then announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous.

Harris saw bullet-pocked walls and floors still covered in dried blood and broken glass left behind from the Feb. 14, 2018, attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 14 students and three staff members and wounded 17.

The halls and classrooms inside the three-story structure remain strewn with shoes left behind by fleeing students and wilted Valentine’s Day flowers and balloons. Textbooks, laptop computers, snacks and papers remain on desks. She was told about each victim who died.

“Frozen in time,” Harris said repeatedly about what she saw. She was accompanied on the tour by victims’ family members, some of them pushing for more spending on school safety and others for stronger gun laws.

Harris, who leads the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, said there are lessons to be learned from Parkland, both for stopping school shootings before they happen and mitigating them with measures such as making sure classroom doors don’t lock from the outside as they did at Stoneman Douglas. She pointed out that shootings are a leading cause of death for children and teenagers.

“We must be willing to have the courage to say that on every level, whether you talk about changing laws or changing practices and protocols, that we must do better,” Harris said.

At Stoneman Douglas, former student Nikolas Cruz, then 19, fired about 140 shots from his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle during his six-minute attack, moving methodically from the first floor, through the second and onto the third.

He pleaded guilty in 2021. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2022 after his jury couldn’t unanimously agree he deserved a death sentence, angering the victims’ families.

The building was preserved so his jury could tour it. It has loomed over the 3,600-student school from behind a temporary fence since the school reopened two weeks after the shooting. It is scheduled to be demolished this summer. No replacement plan has been announced.

Following Harris’ tour, she announced a $750 million grant program to provide technical assistance and training to Florida and the other 20 states that have similar “red flag laws.”

Florida’s law allows police officers, with a judge’s permission, to temporarily seize guns belonging to anyone shown to be a danger to others or themselves. The statute has been used more than 12,000 times since it was enacted six years ago in response to the Parkland shooting.

Harris also called on both Congress and states without red flag laws to adopt them. The Biden administration has called for a national red flag law.

Cruz had a long history of troubling and bizarre behavior before the shooting, including animal torture. In the weeks before the shooting, he had been reported to local law enforcement and the FBI by people fearing he was planning a mass shooting, but no action was taken. He legally purchased 10 guns in the 17 months between his 18th birthday and the massacre.

“Red flag laws are simply designed to give communities a vehicle through which they can share … information about the concern of potential danger or the crying out for help,” Harris said.

Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican who signed Florida’s red flag law as governor, issued a statement Saturday calling the Biden administration’s proposed national red flag law “radical,” saying it would be modeled on California’s statute and strip gun owners of their rights. California’s law is broader than Florida’s as it allows family members, employers and others to initiate the process, but the removal also has to be approved by a judge.

California’s law “abandons due process to more quickly and easily take constitutional rights away from law-abiding Americans. That is unacceptable,” Scott said.

Harris’ tour was the latest by elected officials and law enforcement and education leaders in recent months. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona toured it in January, and several members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have gone through since law enforcement returned custody of the building to the school district last summer. FBI Director Christopher Wray and Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle visited the building in recent days.

“It is important to bring these people through the building so they can see not only the horror that still exists there, but so that we can point to the exact things that failed,” said Tony Montalto, president of Stand With Parkland, the group that represents most of the victims’ families. His 14-year-old daughter Gina died in the shooting.

Some Stoneman Douglas families who participate in the tours, along with Harris and President Joe Biden, want the sale of AR-15s and similar guns banned, as they were from 1994 to 2004, but there isn’t sufficient support in Congress. Opponents, which include other victims’ families, argue that such a ban would violate the Second Amendment and do little to stem gun violence.

Linda Beigel Schulman said the tour showed Harris the carnage a mass shooting creates — it no longer will be an abstract concept for her. Beigel Schulman’s 35-year-old son, geography teacher Scott Beigel, was killed as he ushered students to safety in his classroom. The papers he was grading when the shooting began remain on his desk.

“She understands how important gun violence prevention is for us,” Beigel Schulman said of the vice president. “But when you go into the actual building and see what actually happened, it doesn’t matter that it is six years later. It really does something to you.”

Max Schachter, whose son Alex died in the shooting, uses the tours to persuade officials to enact school safety measures such as making doors and windows bullet-resistant. Alex, 14, died from shots fired through the window of his classroom’s door.

Schachter said while there is disagreement over gun laws, school safety brings the sides together. He pointed particularly to a fall visit by Utah officials, leading to that state enacting a $100 million plan to harden its schools.

“I couldn’t save Alex. But every time I have officials come through that building, lives are saved,” Schachter said.

Malinin Takes Men’s World Figure Skating Crown in Record Performance

MONTREAL — American figure skating star Ilia Malinin is a world champion — and a world-record holder.

Malinin put on a dominant display that included a jaw-dropping six quad jumps — including his patented quad axel — to snag the men’s singles crown Saturday night at the world championships.

After placing third in Thursday’s short program, the 19-year-old scored a world record 227.79 in the free program while skating to the Succession soundtrack to bring his total to 333.76 — more than 20 points than the rest of the field.

Malinin dropped to the ice in disbelief after presenting his routine to a rowdy Bell Centre crowd that cheered and clapped the whole way.

He dethroned two-time defending world champion Shoma Uno of Japan, who fell to fourth (280.85) after missing two quad jumps to start his program.

Yuma Kagiyama of Japan won silver (309.65) and Adam Siao Him Fa of France claimed bronze (284.39). Siao Him Fa climbed from 19th to third with an awe-inspiring display of his own, which included a backflip.

Earlier Saturday, 2022 Olympic champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States defended their ice dance world title with a season-best total score of 222.20.

Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier won silver (219.68) and Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri claimed bronze (216.52).

It’s Montreal’s first time hosting the event since 1932. The city was supposed to stage the 2020 championship but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the competition.

Boston will hold the 2025 competition.

Climate Change Shrinks Nevada’s First Big-Game Moose Hunt

RENO, Nevada — In what will be a tiny big-game hunt for some of the largest animals in North America, Nevada is planning its first-ever moose hunting season this fall.

Wildlife managers say explosive growth in Nevada moose numbers over the past five years, increasing to a population of more than 100, justifies the handful of harvests planned.

Scientists say the experiment of sorts should also provide a real-time peek at how the complexities of climate change affect wildlife, and why these majestic — some say goofy-looking — mammals the size of a horse have unexpectedly expanded their range into warmer territory.

“Moose are newcomers to North America,” said Cody McKee, a Nevada Department of Wildlife specialist.

The last deer species to cross the Bering Sea land bridge into Alaska and Canada, McKee said the movement of moose into the Lower 48 has occurred almost exclusively in the past 150 years.

“Their post-glacial range expansion isn’t really complete,” McKee said. “And that’s what we’re currently seeing in Nevada right now, is those moose are moving into the state and finding suitable habitat.”

Only a few Nevada moose, perhaps just one, will be killed across an area larger than Massachusetts and New Jersey combined. But state officials expect thousands of applications for the handful of hunting tags, and it’s already controversial.

“Why a moose hunt at all?” Stephanie Myers of Las Vegas asked at a recent wildlife commission meeting. “We want to see moose, view moose. Not kill moose.”

The first moose was spotted in Nevada in the 1950s, not long before the dim-witted cartoon character Bullwinkle made his television debut. Only a handful of sightings followed for decades but started increasing about 10 years ago.

By 2018, officials estimated there were 30 to 50, all in Nevada’s northeast corner. But the population has more than doubled and experts believe there’s enough habitat to sustain about 200, a level that could be reached in three years.

Bryan Bird, Defenders of Wildlife’s Southwest program director, is among the skeptics who suspect it’s a short-lived phenomenon.

“I believe the moose story is one of ‘ghost’ habitat or ‘ghost’ range expansion. By that I mean, these animals are expanding into habitat that may not be suitable in 50 years due to climate change,” Bird said.

Government biologists admit they don’t fully understand why the moose have moved so far south, where seasonal conditions are warmer and drier than they traditionally prefer.

“It seems to be opposite of where we would expect to see moose expansion given their ecology,” said Marcus Blum, a Texas A&M University researcher hired to help assess future movement. He analyzed aerial surveys, individual sightings and habitat to project growth trends.

Standing 1.8 meters tall at the shoulder and weighing up to 453.5 kilograms, moose live in riparian areas where they munch on berry bushes and aspen leaves along the edges of mountain forests native to the northern half of Nevada.

They usually avoid places where temperatures regularly exceed 20 Celsius.

The Nevada study documented moose spending nearly half their time in areas where that “thermal threshold” was exceeded about 150 days a year, while climate change models suggest the threshold will be surpassed by another 14 days annually by 2050, Blum said.

To be clear, the valleys beneath the snow-capped winter mountain ranges with moose are 805 kilometers from the Las Vegas Strip in the desert many people picture as Nevada.

Researchers have more questions than answers about why moose continue to expand their range into Nevada where extended drought has taken a toll on other wildlife, McKee said.

“There’s a lot of speculation and questions about why they are here, given concerns about the changing environment and how it’s probably getting warmer and dryer,” McKee said. “Why is it that our extensive drought cycles haven’t seemed to be affecting the moose population?”

Populations along the U.S.-Canada border have oscillated for more than a century. Several states, from Idaho to Minnesota and Maine, have dramatically reduced hunting quotas at times to allow populations to recover.

Alaska is home to the vast majority of U.S. moose, upwards of 200,000, with about 7,000 harvests annually. Maine has nearly 70,000, which is five times more than any other Lower 48 state, and issued 4,100 permits last year. Neighboring New Hampshire offered only 35 for 3,000-plus moose and Idaho issued about 500 for its 10,000 to 12,000.

No moose were observed in Washington state before the 1960s, but its growing population now exceeds 5,000. The state issued three hunting permits in 1977 and now tops 100 annually.

Nevada’s research suggests its population could sustain more harvests than planned, McKee said, but “conservative is the name of the game here.”

Aerial surveys are now backed by radio-tracking collars biologists have fitted on four bull moose and nine cows since 2020. In some spots, males significantly outnumber females. Removing a bull or two might improve herd dynamics, he said.

The exact number of permits will be determined in the coming weeks, but McKee anticipates no more than three. Only Nevadans can apply for the inaugural hunt, which will help guide decisions about future endeavors.

Successful hunters must present the skull and antlers for state inspection within five days. That will give scientists more insight into herd health, body conditions, disease and parasites.

Bill Nolan of Sparks, who first hunted ducks at age 12, says he intends to apply for a chance he describes as “slim and none” to draw a moose tag.

“For hunters, it would be like hitting the lottery,” he said.

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Acclaimed Italian Pianist Maurizio Pollini Dies at 82

ROME — Maurizio Pollini, a Grammy-winning Italian pianist who performed frequently at La Scala opera house in Milan, has died. He was 82.

Pollini died Saturday, La Scala said in a statement. The announcement didn’t specify a cause of death, but Pollini had been forced to cancel a concert at the Salzburg Festival in 2022 because of heart problems.

During a six decades-long international career, Pollini’s repertoire expanded beyond the standard classics. He embraced early 20th-century masterpieces by Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern and postwar modernists such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez and Luigi Nono.

La Scala defined the pianist as “one of the great musicians of our time and a fundamental reference in the artistic life of the theater for over 50 years.”

Pollini was considered a pianist with unique intellectual power, whose unrivalled technique and interpretive drive compelled listeners to think deeply.

He was born in Milan on January 5, 1942, into a family of artists. His father, Gino Pollini, was a violinist and a leading rationalist architect. His mother, Renata Melotti, sang and played the piano, as did her brother, Fausto Melotti, who was also a pioneer of abstract sculpture.

“I grew up in a house with art and artists,” Pollini said in an interview. “Old works and modern works coexisted together as part of life.”

Pollini began giving concerts before his 10th birthday, performing Chopin’s Etudes at age 14 and then winning the International Chopin Piano Competition at 18, as the youngest foreign pianist among a group of 89 contestants.

Arthur Rubinstein, president of the jury, reportedly said that the young pianist “already plays better than any of us.”

After his first international recognition, however, Pollini put his career on hold to study, explaining that performing right away would have been for him “a little premature.” 

“I wanted to study, get to know the repertoire better, play the music of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms,” he said.

In the late 1960s, Pollini participated in improvised concerts in factories and programs for students and workers at La Scala, conducted by longtime friend Claudio Abbado.

During his long international career, he also collaborated with other famous conductors, including Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Chailly.

Pollini performed his first American tour in 1968. From the 1970s to the ’90s, he made a series of recordings with the Deutsche Grammophon label, becoming a celebrated interpreter of classics like Beethoven, Schumann and Schubert.

His albums won several awards, including a Grammy in 2007 for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) for Chopin: Nocturnes.

He is survived by his wife, Marilisa, and his son, Daniele, also an acclaimed pianist and conductor. 

Chinese Pastor Released After 7 Years in Prison, Unable to Get ID

beijing — Unable to buy a train ticket, or even see a doctor at a hospital, a Chinese pastor found that his even after release from prison, he is not quite free. 

The Rev. John Sanqiang Cao was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison while coming back from a missionary trip in Myanmar. Now back in his hometown of Changsha in southern Hunan province, he is without any legal documentation in his country, unable to access even the most basic services without Chinese identification. 

“I told them I’m a second-(class) Chinese citizen, I cannot do this, I cannot do that,” Cao in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’m released, I’m a free citizen, why should there be so many restrictions upon me?” 

Cao, who was born and raised in Changsha, had dedicated his life to spreading Christianity in China, where the religion is strictly regulated. He had studied in the U.S., married an American woman and started a family, but said he felt a calling to go back to his home country and spread the faith. 

It’s a risky mission. Christianity in China is allowed only in state-sponsored churches, where the ruling Communist Party decides how Scripture should be interpreted. Anything else, including clandestine “house” churches and unofficial Bible schools, is considered illegal, though it was once tolerated by local officials. 

Cao was undeterred, citing the courage of Chinese Christians he had met who spent time in prison for their faith. During his years in China, he said he had set up some 50 Bible study schools across the country. 

In the years leading up to his arrest, he had started bringing Chinese missionaries to parts of northern Myanmar that had been impacted by the country’s civil war. They focused on relief work, campaigning against drug use, and setting up schools in areas bordering China. 

It was in coming back from one of these crossings that he was detained in 2017. He was sentenced to seven years on a charge of “organizing others to illegally cross the border,” which is usually reserved for human traffickers. 

His family and supporters advocated for Cao’s sentence to be reduced, but to no avail. Cao was a prisoner of conscience, according to the federal U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which also called for his freedom. 

After completing his sentence, Cao is no longer behind bars. But he is facing another major obstacle. 

He said that police who came to his mother’s house in 2006 took away her “hukou” registration book, which had also included Cao. 

Every child born in China is registered in the hukou, which is an identification system through which social benefits are allocated by geography. Later in life, the hukou is needed to apply for a national ID card, which is used in everything from getting a phone number to public health insurance. 

According to Cao, police said they would help his mother update the hukou. It was only later that he found out in updating her registration that they removed his name. 

Cao never took American citizenship because of his calling, spending his time between the two countries. He had kept his U.S. permanent residency throughout this time, though he says that’s not accepted as an ID in China. 

He was traveling on his Chinese passport. Though he noted that he no longer had the hukou registration, he did not realize how serious the problem was until much later. 

In prison, his Chinese passport had expired, he said, and he could not renew it. 

Cao said he has been to the police station many times since his release and had even hired a lawyer. So far, he said police had not given him a satisfactory answer as to why his records no longer exist. 

A police officer at the Dingwangtai police station in Changsha, where Cao’s hukou registration is supposed to be, said he did not know how to address Cao’s claims. “Even if he went to prison, he should still have a hukou,” he told the AP. The officer refused to give his name because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media. 

Cao’s two adult sons were able to visit him this month, spending two weeks with their father. Cao said he wants to join them and his wife in the U.S., though it’s unclear how he can do that. 

“I moved from a smaller prison … to come to a bigger prison,” he said. 

Pro-West Diplomat to Meet Ally of Slovakia’s Premier in Presidential Runoff

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — A pro-Western career diplomat defeated a close ally of Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico in the first round of the presidential election Sunday to set up a runoff between the two to decide who will succeed Zuzana Caputova, the country’s first female president. 

Former Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok had 42.13% of the votes late Saturday, with nearly all polling stations counted by Slovakia’s Statistics Office. Peter Pellegrini was in second with 37.28%.

Because no candidate won an outright majority, a runoff will be held April 6 in this central European nation of 5.4 million people. 

A former justice minister and judge, Stefan Harabin, 66, who has openly sided with Russia in its war with Ukraine, was a distant third with 11.79%. 

In all, nine male candidates sought to become Slovakia’s sixth head of state since it gained independence in 1993 after Czechoslovakia split in two. 

Caputova, a staunch backer of neighboring Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, didn’t seek a second term in the largely ceremonial post. 

Korcok called the result “encouraging” and “promising,” but added that “we have to do more to win the runoff.” 

“I’m planning to approach all voters,” he said. 

Korcok also has served as Slovakia’s ambassador to the United States and Germany and firmly supports his country’s membership in the European Union and NATO. 

Pellegrini was considered a favorite in the race, and opinion polls suggested he would beat any candidate in the runoff. 

He congratulated Korcok on his victory in the first round and predicted a close contest in the runoff. 

“It will likely be a tight race,” Pellegrini said. 

A victory for Pellegrini, who currently serves as Parliament speaker, would cement Fico’s power by giving him and his allies control of strategic posts. 

Pellegrini, 48, who favors a strong role for the state, heads the left-wing Hlas (Voice) party that finished third in the September 30 parliamentary elections. His party joined a governing coalition with Fico’s leftist Smer (Direction) party and the ultranationalist Slovak National Party. 

The new government immediately halted arms deliveries to Ukraine. Thousands have repeatedly taken to the streets across Slovakia recently to rally against Fico’s pro-Russian and other policies, including plans to amend the penal code and take control of the public media. 

Critics worry Slovakia under Fico will abandon its pro-Western course and follow the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 

Pellegrini said Saturday that Slovakia’s membership in the European Union and NATO hasn’t been questioned. 

“That we talk about a more sovereign voice of Slovakia or about a sovereign foreign policy … doesn’t necessarily mean that we change the basic direction of our foreign policy,” Pellegrini said. 

Greece Slams Turkish President’s ‘Provocative Remarks’ on Cyprus

ATHENS — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Cyprus should be a Turkish state.

Erdogan defended his country’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus, saying there would be no “Cyprus problem” had Turkish forces gone farther and taken over the entire state.

The remarks angered Greece, sparking fresh tension between the two age-old foes. The government in Athens slammed what it called the “provocative remarks.”

Officials in Athens attribute the outbursts to upcoming local elections in Turkey and efforts by Erdogan to spoil what opinion polls show as growing gains being made by his party’s main opponent in the key city of Istanbul.

There is no doubt, Greek Immigration Minister Dimitris Keridis said, that Erdogan will polarize voters as they head to the elections and that Erdogan is “bound to continue appealing to the hardline nationalist vote to support his key candidates.”

Erdogan’s remark came during an iftar dinner this week with top military commanders. Turkish media quoted him as saying that had Turkish troops pushed south, “there would be no more north and south, and Cyprus would be completely ours.”

The timing of Erdogan’s remarks comes as the United Nations is exploring new ways to jump-start peace talks on Cyprus, which after 50 years remains divided between a Turkish-Cypriot north and a Greek-Cypriot south. Since 1974, several efforts by the United Nations and the United States to reunite the island have failed.

However, attempts by Athens and Ankara in recent months to bridge long-standing differences and to ease tensions have given the U.N. new incentive to revisit the peace talks.

Constantinos Filis, director of the Institute of Global Affairs in Athens, said Erdogan’s remarks aim to set his country’s conditions.

“The immediate message he wants to send to the U.N. is that Turkey is a strong player, in control of developments on the ground, and that all efforts should be focused on it if the talks are to restart,” Fillis said.

Turkey has long supported the permanent partition of Cyprus, a solution that the U.N. and the global community have refused on grounds it would legalize the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island.

Whether Turkey’s uncompromising stance will scupper the U.N.’s latest peace efforts remains to be seen.

Greek government officials contacted by VOA say that nonetheless, the latest tiff with Turkey will not spoil plans by the prime minister to meet with Erdogan in high-level talks set to take place in May.

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Arrests for Illegal Border Crossings Up in February, Among Lowest of Biden Term

washington — The number of arrests for illegally crossing the U.S. southern border with Mexico nudged upward February over the previous month. But at a time when immigration is increasingly a concern for voters, the numbers were still among the lowest of Joe Biden’s presidency. 

According to figures from Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol agents made 140,644 arrests of people attempting to enter the country between the legal border crossing points during February. 

The figures are part of a range of data related to immigration, trade and fentanyl seizures that is released monthly by CBP. The immigration-related figures are a closely watched metric at a time of intense political scrutiny over who is entering the country and whether the Biden administration has a handle on the issue. 

Republicans have charged that Biden’s policies have encouraged migrants to attempt to come to the U.S. and that the border is out of control. The Biden administration counters that Republicans failed to work with Democrats to fund a key border security bill and argues that what is happening on the southern border is part of a worldwide phenomenon of more people fleeing their homes to seek safety. 

The numbers come after a December that saw the Border Patrol tally 249,785 arrests — a record that increased tensions over immigration — before the numbers plunged in January to 124,220. 

Officials have credited enforcement efforts by Mexico as well as seasonal fluctuations that affect when and where migrants attempt to cross the border for the drop from December to January and February. 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a February 29 trip to Brownsville, Texas, with Biden that the “primary reason is the enhanced enforcement efforts on the part of the Mexican government.” But he said encounters remained up in Arizona in part because Sonora, which is the Mexican state directly south of Arizona, is difficult to patrol. 

In February, the Tucson sector in Arizona was by far the busiest region for migrant crossings between the ports of entry, followed by San Diego and El Paso, Texas. 

Separately, 42,100 migrants used an app called CBP One to schedule an appointment to present themselves at an official border crossing point to seek entry into the United States. 

The app has been a key part of the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce chaos at the border by encouraging migrants to wait for an appointment instead of wading through the river or trekking across the desert and seeking Border Patrol agents to turn themselves in. 

The administration has also allowed 30,000 people a month into the country from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela using the administration’s humanitarian parole authority. The migrants must have a financial sponsor in the U.S. and fly into an American airport. According to the data released Friday, 386,000 people from those four countries have been admitted to the country since that program was announced in January 2023. 

US Mega Millions Jackpot Climbs to $1.1B

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.1 billion after no one matched the game’s six numbers Friday night, continuing a stretch of more than three months without a big winner. 

The numbers drawn were: 3, 8, 31, 35, 44, 16. 

The jackpot increased after a drawing for an estimated $977 million failed to produce a jackpot winner. 

No one has won the game’s jackpot since December 8, a string of 30 consecutive drawings without anyone taking home the top prize. That has enabled the jackpot to slowly grow, week after week. 

The $1.1 billion prize is for a sole winner who chooses to be paid through an annuity over 30 years. Winners almost always opt for a cash payment, which for the next drawing Tuesday night is an estimated $525.8 million. 

A lucky player winning the $1.1 billion jackpot would take home the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history. 

The other U.S. lottery game, Powerball, has grown to an annuity jackpot of $750 million and a cash payout of $357.3 million. The next Powerball drawing is scheduled to take place Saturday night. 

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