Russian shelling hits town; Bakhmut battle rages
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The governor of northern Ukraine’s Kharkiv province says Russian shelling has destroyed five homes and killed one person in a town about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border. The area has come under frequent attacks even though Russian ground forces withdrew nearly six months ago. Kharkiv’s governor said Sunday that a 65-year-old man died in the latest attack. Elsewhere, fighting raged in the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut. Russian forces have spent months trying to capture the city, and the surrounding area has seen some of the bloodiest ground fighting of the war. The governor of Donetsk province says two civilians were killed over the past day in Bakhmut.
Premier Li Keqiang bows
out as Xi loyalists take reins
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is taking his final bow in a departure that marks a shift from the technocrats who have helped steer the world’s second-biggest economy in favor of officials with unquestioned loyalty to President Xi Jinping. Once seen as a potential top leader, Li was increasingly sidelined as Xi accumulated ever-greater powers and elevated the military and security services to prominent positions. Analyst Carl Minzner says Li may be remembered less for what he achieved than for the fact that he was the last of the technocrats to serve at the top of the Chinese Communist Party. Li was dropped from the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee in October.
Crisis over suspected
Iran poisonings escalates
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A crisis over suspected poisonings targeting Iranian schoolgirls is escalating as authorities now acknowledge over 50 schools have been struck in a wave of possible cases. It remains unclear who or what is responsible since the alleged poisonings began in November in the Shiite holy city of Qom. Reports now suggest schools across 21 of Iran’s 30 provinces have seen suspected cases, with girls’ schools the site of nearly all the incidents. The attacks have raised fears that other girls could be poisoned, apparently just for seeking an education. Girls’ education has never been challenged in the over 40 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Party of Estonian PM, strong
Ukraine backer, gains big win
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonians have cast ballots in a parliamentary election where initial results suggested the center-right Reform Party of Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. one of Europe’s most outspoken supporters of Ukraine, was on its way to victory. Kallas faced a challenge from the far-right populist EKRE party, which seeks to limit the Baltic nation’s exposure to the Ukraine crisis and blames the current government for Estonia’s high inflation rate. Nine political parties in all fielded candidates for Estonia’s 101-seat parliament, or Riigikogu.
Over 900,000 people were eligible to vote in the general election, and nearly half voted in advance.
Stationmaster charged in
Greece train crash that killed 57
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A stationmaster accused of causing Greece’s deadliest train disaster has been charged with negligent homicide and jailed pending trial. An examining magistrate and a prosecutor agreed Sunday that multiple counts of homicide as well as charges of causing bodily harm and endangering transportation safety should be brought against the railway employee.
At least 57 people were killed when a northbound passenger train and a southbound freight train collided late Tuesday in central Greece. The 59-year-old stationmaster allegedly directed the two trains traveling in opposite directions onto the same track. Also Sunday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized for any responsibility Greece’s government may bear for the tragedy.
‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’
actor Ricou Browning dies
(AP) — Ricou Browning, best known for playing the Gill Man in the 1954 monster movie “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” has died. His family told news outlets Browning died Feb. 27 at his home in Southwest Ranches, Florida. He was 93. Browning collaborated on the 1963 original movie “Flipper,” which later became a popular TV series.
He told the Ocala Star Banner newspaper in 2013 that he came up with the story idea after a trip to South America to capture fresh-water dolphins in the Amazon river. He said he could hold his breath for minutes underwater, helping him play Gill Man in the swimming scenes. Other actors played the creature on land.
33 sled dog mushers to trek across Alaska
WILLOW, Alaska (AP) — The race to Nome has 33 mushers — its smallest field ever — in this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. The mushers took off every two minutes in a staggered start across a frozen lake about 70 miles north of Anchorage starting Sunday afternoon.
They will travel nearly a thousand miles over the unforgiving Alaska winterscape, climbing over two mountain ranges, mushing on frozen rivers and across the treacherous Bering Sea ice. The winner is expected to drive their sled dog team down Nome’s Front Street to the finish line in about 10 days. Leading the charge will be defending champion Brent Sass.
