Author name: Astride Belanger

California’s ongoing drought and a poor forecast is forcing the state’s water management agency to cut back on its fresh water supply to nearly 27 million residents. The state’s Department of Water Resources announced Thursday an initial allocation of 5% of requested supplies for 2023 for 29 local water agencies across California. DWR Director Karla …

Increased drought forces California to deliver less water to cities Read More »

Julia Reichert, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker behind “American Factory” whose films explored themes of race, class and gender, often in the Midwest, has died. She was 76. She died Thursday night in Ohio from cancer, her family said Friday through a representative. She was diagnosed with stage four urothelial cancer in April 2018. Often called …

Julia Reichert, Oscar-winning documentarian, dies at 76 Read More »

MOSCOW — The family of Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for espionage, said Friday that he has resumed contact after unexpectedly becoming unreachable in November. Along with WNBA star Brittney Griner, Whelan is the focus of efforts by the United States to arrange a prisoner swap with Russia. The Associated Press and other …

Brother of Russia-imprisoned American says contact resumed Read More »

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia said Friday that Western demands it should pull out completely from Ukraine as part of any future talks to end the war effectively rule out any such negotiations, as Russian strikes continued and a Ukrainian official set his country’s battle losses at up to 13,000 troops. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated …

Russia rejects pullout from Ukraine as condition for talks Read More »

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian embassies and consulates in six European countries have received packages containing animals’ eyes in recent days, a Ukrainian official said Friday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko wrote on Facebook that the “bloody parcels” were received by the Ukrainian embasses in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, as well as by …

Parcels with animals’ eyes sent to Ukrainian embassies Read More »

Spanish authorities are looking for a person who paraglided over a border fence from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Melilla in what appeared to be a new and creative way to migrate irregularly to European territory. Two citizens reported seeing the paraglider Thursday afternoon, according to Eder Barandiaran, a press officer for Spain’s government …

Authorities: Migrant paraglided over Melilla border to Spain Read More »

WASHINGTON — America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber is making its public debut after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China. The B-21 Raider is the first new American bomber aircraft in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the program is …

Pentagon debuts its new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider Read More »

BEIJING — Former NBA star Jeremy Lin, who plays for a Chinese team, was fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400) for “inappropriate remarks” on social media about quarantine facilities ahead of a game, China’s professional league announced Friday, as the government tries to stop protests against anti-virus controls that are among the world’s most stringent. Also Friday, …

China fines former NBA star Lin over quarantine comments Read More »

Kanye West has been suspended from Twitter after a post on his account appeared to show a swastika inside a Star of David only hours after he made anti-Semitic remarks and praised Hitler in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner as of only five weeks ago, tweeted in response …

Kanye West’s Twitter account suspended for ‘incitement to violence’ Read More »

The rapper Ye is no longer buying right-leaning social media site Parler, the company said Thursday. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, had offered to buy Parler in October. At the time, Ye and Parlement Technologies, which owns Parler, said the acquisition would be completed in the last three months of the year. The sale …

Ye no longer buying Parler app, Twitter account suspended Read More »

Two Yale University students and Elis for Rachel, an advocacy and support group at the university, filed a lawsuit against the school Wednesday, alleging the school discriminates against students with mental health disabilities by failing to provide necessary accommodations and pressuring them to withdraw. The lawsuit, seeking class-action status from the U.S. District Court of …

Yale University sued for alleged discrimination against students with mental health disabilities Read More »

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw is being sued by more than 25 survivors of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas. McCraw is one of 19 defendants in a $27 billion class action lawsuit for psychological damages. The other defendants in the lawsuit filed this week include local lawmakers and top …

$27 billion Uvalde lawsuit is first to name embattled DPS chief Steve McCraw Read More »