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High court temporarily blocks restrictions on abortion pill

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

By MARK SHERMAN and JESSICA GRESKO (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Friday it was temporarily keeping in place federal rules for use of an abortion drug, while it takes time to more fully consider the issues raised in a court challenge.In an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito, the court asked both sides to weigh in by Tuesday over whether lower court rulings restricting the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug, mifepristone, should be allowed to take effect while the case works its way through federal courts.The order expires late Wednesday, suggesting the court will decide that issue by then.The justices are being asked at this point only to determine what parts of an April 7 ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas, as modified by an appellate ruling Wednesday, can be in force while the case continues.The court finds itself immersed in a new fight involving abortion less than a year after conservative justices ...

Senior Bowl, Shrine Bowl officials reveal best draft fits for Dolphins

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

Every year dozens of college prospects play in the East-West Shrine Bowl and the Senior Bowl, the college football all-star games that provide two of the biggest pre-draft opportunities for NFL personnel to scout and interview players.And every year the officials who run those bowl games get up-close, personal looks at the prospects.So, it makes sense to ask them – Jim Nagy, executive director of the Senior Bowl, and Eric Galko, director of football operations and player personnel for the Shrine Bowl – who, among the participants in their respective games, makes sense for the Dolphins in this year’s NFL Draft (April 27-29).The Dolphins have four picks – one in the second round, one in the third round, one in the sixth round and one in the seventh round.For these purposes, Galko and Nagy were asked which players that participated in their games are good fits for the Dolphins in the second and third rounds at three positions – tight end, right tackle, and...

Nets plan to wear MVP frontrunner Joel Embiid down: ‘We’ll take advantage of the things we do well’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

Here’s how David wants to beat Goliath: by wearing him down and keeping him guessing.It’s the challenge ahead for an undersized Nets team tasked with stopping the 7-foot, 280-pound Joel Embiid in Brooklyn’s first-round playoff matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.The Nets don’t have a player of Embiid’s size or strength on their roster. Instead, they will lean on the strengths that helped them solidify the Eastern Conference’s No. 6 seed, even after a blockbuster midseason trade sent the Nets plummeting down the standings.“I think we’ll take advantage of the things we do well. We’ve always said we’re gonna play with pace and we’re gonna get the ball up the floor,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said after Friday’s practice at the HSS Training Facility, less than 24 hours ahead of Saturday’s matinee tipoff for Game 1 in Philadelphia. “That’s an advantage for us. And then the different looks th...

The twists and turns in discovering Orlando Museum of Art’s ‘Basquiats’ were fakes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

Matthew J. Palm | Orlando SentinelHow the now-discredited “Basquiat” artwork came to hang in Orlando Museum of Art is a story of lies, eBay, ticket stubs, catalog clues and shipping labels.The 22-page plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, in which Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman admits he’s guilty of making false statements to a government agency about the art he helped counterfeit, paints a picture of the origins of the scandal that began more than a decade before the FBI raided the Orlando museum last June.And though for more than a year speculation on the art’s authenticity has revolved around a FedEx shipping label found on the works — a label with a logo that was not used until after Basquiat’s death in 1988 — agents found something much more incriminating involving a label.Barzman’s conversations with FBI agents provide a different take on the art’s origin story as presented in the museum’s “Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Mi...

San Francisco district attorney condemns Elon Musk over Cash App murder comments

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

Jessica Schladebeck | New York Daily NewsThe San Francisco district attorney blasted comments tweeted by Elon Musk after Cash App founder Bob Lee was stabbed to death in the street earlier this month.Lee, 43, was killed in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco around 2:30 a.m. on April 4. A day later, Musk took to Twitter to lament how violent repeat offenders continue to get away with crime in San Francisco, one of the biggest tech hubs in the country. He was quickly joined by other high-profile figures and tech executives.“Many people I know have been severely assaulted. Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately. Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF?” Musk wrote, tagging DA Brooke Jenkins.On Thursday, Nima Momeni, a tech consultant and owner of a company called Expand IT, was taken into custody in the San Francisco suburb of Emeryville. He was charged with mur...

Varsity Stadium: A location steeped in history

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

What do the late John Lennon, The Toronto Argonauts and Olympian Usain Bolt have in common? They all performed at Varsity Stadium. The location has been a home for sports since 1898, but the stadium itself was built in 1911. Currently, it is home to the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues. “It’s been a civic stadium and really the longest continuously used civic stadium that we have in Toronto,” says Bruce Kidd, a professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at U of T. Kidd, who ran track at the stadium and is a former Olympian, says it is a big part of the city’s history. A number of sporting events have taken place at the stadium’s location, including 35 Grey Cups, track and field races and some soccer matches for the 1976 Summer Olympics.“My father brought me down here to watch the Argos at U of T play football in the 1950s and I then came down here to run as a high school student with the University of Toronto track team and basically I’ve never ...

In China, Lula seeks help to build back Brazilian industry

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The trip by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Beijing has made clear he is counting on China to help reinvigorate the South American nation’s ailing industrial sector — particularly by picking up the slack of exiting U.S. companies.After Lula met Friday with China’s President Xi Jinping, Brazilian finance minister Fernando Haddad told reporters the nations are planning a “leap forward” in their relationship.“President Lula wants a policy of reindustrialization. This visit starts a new challenge for Brazil: bringing direct investments from China,” Haddad said. He added that Brazil wants strong bonds with the U.S. as well, but noted with regret that recently “some American companies made the decision to leave Brazil.”Industrial policy is near and dear to Lula, a former steelworker who became a union leader. Decades later, he launched his bid for a third presidential term on the gritty outskirts of Sao Paulo outside a car factory. Th...

S&P/TSX composite ekes out small Friday gain, U.S. markets down

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index eked out a small gain thanks to strength in battery metals, while U.S. markets were down even as the country’s biggest banks beat earnings expectations.  All eyes were on some of the U.S.’ biggest banks Friday as they released their earnings for the first quarter of the year, said Angelo Kourkafas, an investment strategist at Edward Jones.“The banks kicked off the earnings season,” he said. “It was better than expected.” This lent some support to the market even as it contracted a little following Thursday’s rally, he said.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 15.42 points at 20,579.91.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 143.22 points at 33,886.47. The S&P 500 index was down 8.58 points at 4,137.64, while the Nasdaq composite was down 42.81 points at 12,123.47.The bank earnings were encouraging, said Kourkafas.“Today we had JP Morgan, Citibank, Wells Fargo and PNC, all beating expectations,” he said. He noted th...

TDSB student trustees: Discovering root cause of school violence is key to prevention

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

Student trustees at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) are highlighting what they believe to be the root cause of violence in Toronto schools, calling for holistic solutions to prevent further incidents in the communities.Trustees Jeffrey Osaro, a Grade 12 student at North York’s Northview Heights Secondary School, Naomi Musa, a Grade 12 student at Central Toronto Academy and Indigenous trustee Isaiah Shafqat, who attends Kapapamahchakwew (Elem) Wandering Spirit School, have been speaking with students about how to improve educational environments.The three student trustees say the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent isolation that ensued is being glossed over when addressing what has led to an upsurge in violence.“[Students] lack the social skills they were supposed to learn before they came to high school or during school, and we missed out on that because of the pandemic,” explained Musa.“So with the increase in violence, people don...

Macron’s new pension age overcomes last hurdle amid protests

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:47 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France’s Constitutional Council on Friday approved an unpopular plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 in a victory for President Emmanuel Macron after months of mass protests that have damaged his leadership.The decision dismayed or enraged critics of the pension plan. Hundreds of union activists and others gathered peacefully in Paris Friday evening before some groups broke off in marches toward the historic Bastille plaza and beyond, setting fires to garbage bins and scooters as police fired tear gas or pushed them back.Unions and Macron’s political opponents vowed to maintain pressure on the government to withdraw the bill, and activists threatened scattered new protests Saturday.Macron’s office said he would enact the law in coming days, and he has said he wants it implemented by the end of the year. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Friday’s decision “marks the end of the institutional and democratic path of this reform,” adding that th...