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Bridge: Sept. 9, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns treat basic technique and logical thinking.Counting the distribution of the concealed hands is not difficult, but it takes focus, practice and experience — and experience is not something you can get on an easy-payment plan.Practice counting today. You play at four spades. East overtakes the first heart with the king, cashes the ace — West discards a club — and leads a third heart. You ruff high, and West throws a diamond. You take the K-A of trumps, finding West with a singleton, and lead a club to dummy’s king. East wins and leads a fourth heart, you ruff high again and West discards a diamond.LAST CLUBNext, you lead a club to dummy’s queen (a slight risk), draw East’s last trump and ruff your last club in dummy. East plays the jack. How do you handle the diamonds?East had three spades, six hearts and three clubs, so one diamond. When you cash the ace, East plays the ten, so you can confidently lead to dummy...

Vice Pulled a Documentary Critical of Saudi Arabia. But Here It Is.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

In the past, Vice has documented the history of censorship on YouTube. More recently, since the company’s near implosion, it became an active participant in making things disappear.In June, six months after announcing a partnership deal with a Saudi Arabian government-owned media company, Vice uploaded but then quickly removed a documentary critical of the Persian Gulf monarchy’s notorious dictator, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS.The nearly nine-minute film, titled “Inside Saudi Crown Prince’s Ruthless Quest for Power,” was uploaded to the Vice News YouTube channel on June 19, 2023. It garnered more than three-quarters of a million views before being set to “private” within four days of being posted. It can no longer be seen at its original link on Vice’s YouTube channel; visitors see a message that says “video unavailable.” Vice did not respond to a request for comment on why the video was published and then made private or if there are any plans to make the video p...

The Moroccan Interior Ministry says the death toll in a massive earthquake rises to 820, with at least 672 injured

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — The Moroccan Interior Ministry says the death toll in a massive earthquake rises to 820, with at least 672 injured.Source

Earthquake in Morocco kills over 800 people

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

A powerful earthquake struck central Morocco Friday night, killing at least 820 people.More than 670 people also have been injured in the tremor, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said on Saturday.The quake seriously damaged buildings, according to local media, including in the major city of Marrakech, where people spent the night outside for safety reasons. A mosque minaret toppled in Jemaa al-Fna Square, the heart of Marrakech’s old city, Reuters reported. Heads of governments from all over the world were quick to express solidarity and offer help to Morocco. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is in India for a G20 summit, said her “heart” was with the Moroccan people. Marrakech, whose old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is due to host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in early October.

Still warm and humid, more storms this weekend

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

Welcome to the weekend! It stays humid, with temperatures not quite as high as earlier this week. It’ll be unsettled at times, but luckily not a washout of a weekend.A front is draped across New England and will not have a lot of forward movement this weekend. It’ll actually retrograde before it moves out of our region Tuesday. While it’s here it continues to promote the chance for storms.Radar gives us an idea of what it could look like later today. Storms will be hit or miss. If you get under one though, it could be a heavy downpour. We woke up to areas of fog. Fog is in the process of lifting. We’ll see more clouds than sun through the day. Looking at our morning low temperatures, you can see where that stationary front is stuck with more mild temperatures to the right of it. Highs today will be in the low/mid 80s. That’s still above average. On Cape Cod and the Islands highs will be in the upper 70s/near 80. Humidity is still with us!We’re als...

Patriots vs. Eagles preview: How Mac Jones, Bill Belichick can pull off an upset Sunday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

It’s time.Time for football. Time to learn Mac Jones. Time for the Patriots to prove they are who they believe themselves to be.All of that starts Sunday in one of the most anticipated season openers in recent franchise history. The Patriots are home underdogs against the reigning NFC champion Eagles, who came within moments of capturing the Lombardi Trophy. If the Pats are to pull an upset, it will start with Jones and new offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien but should end with their defense grounding a high-flying Philadelphia attack.When the Patriots runRhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott must be at their most elusive Sunday, considering their offensive line will be wildly overmatched no matter what lineup combinations are thrown out there. Starting guards Cole Strange and Mike Onwenu have hardly practiced in pads this offseason, while Calvin Anderson, fourth-round rookie Sidy Sow and newly-acquired veterans Vederian Lowe and Tyrone Wheatley Jr. could all see snaps...

Republican opposition to abortion threatens global HIV/AIDS program that has saved 25 million lives

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The graves at the edge of the orphanage tell a story of despair. The rough planks in the cracked earth are painted with the names of children, most of them dead in the 1990s. That was before the HIV drugs arrived.Today, the orphanage in Kenya’s capital is a happier, more hopeful place for children with HIV. But a political fight taking place in the United States is threatening the program that helps to keep them and millions of others around the world alive.The reason for the threat? Abortion.The AIDS epidemic has killed more than 40 million people since the first recorded cases in 1981, tripling child mortality and carving decades off life expectancy in the hardest-hit areas of Africa, where the cost of treatment put it out of reach. Horrified, then-President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress two decades ago created what is described as the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease.The program, known as the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan ...

G20 adds the African Union as a member, issues call rejecting use of force in reference to Ukraine

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Group of 20 top world economies welcomed the African Union as a member as their annual summit got underway Saturday, but their wording on the contentious issue of Russia’s war in Ukraine was limited to a call to avoid seizing territory by force or the use of nuclear weapons. There had been serious doubt that an agreement could be adopted because of disagreements among members, most centrally on differences about the war. The G20 final statement, released a day before the summit formally closes, was less sharply worded over the war than one issued during last year’s meeting in Bali. It said members reiterated their national positions resolutions adopted at the United Nations, and called on “all states must act in a manner consistent with the Purposes and Principles of the U.N. Charter in its entirety.”“In line with the U.N. Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrit...

UK police catch terrorism suspect who escaped from a London prison

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A former soldier who escaped from a London prison while awaiting trial on terrorism charges was captured Saturday, police said.Daniel Abed Khalife was on the run four days before a massive search managed to nab him in Chiswick in west London.Khalife escaped on the bottom of a food delivery truck from Wandsworth Prison on Wednesday. The breakout ignited a storm of criticism as political opponents blamed the ruling Conservative party for incompetence.Khalife, 21, is accused of planting fake bombs at a military base and of violating Britain’s Official Secrets Act by gathering information “that could be useful to an enemy.” He was discharged from the British army after his arrest earlier this year and had denied the allegations. His trial is set for November.London counter-terror police had offered a 20,000 pound ($25,000) reward for information leading to his arrest.Brian Melley, The Associated Press

Heavy swells pound northeast Caribbean as Hurricane Lee charges through open waters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:08:34 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Large swells battered the northeast Caribbean on Saturday as Hurricane Lee churned nearby through open waters as a Category 3 storm.The storm, which is not forecast to make landfall, was located 385 miles (620 kilometers) east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. It had winds of up to 115 mph (185 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).Earlier this week, Lee grew from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 storm in just one day amid warm waters and limited wind shear.“This was one of the fastest rates of strengthening in the Atlantic Basin on record,” AccuWeather said in a statement.Lee was forecast to pass well north of the northeast Caribbean in a big relief to people from the British Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico, which are still recovering from hurricanes Irma and Maria that hit in September 2017.Tropical storm conditions were not expected for any Caribbean island, but breaking waves of up to 15 feet (5 meters) were forecast for Puer...