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BTS member Suga begins alternative military service in South Korea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Suga, a member of K-pop supergroup BTS, began fulfilling his mandatory military duty Friday as a social service agent, an alternative form of military service in the country.Suga, 30, became the group’s third member to start carrying out their military duties. The two others, Jin and J-Hope, are already performing active service at army bases. “I’ll faithfully serve and come back … Please stay healthy and let’s meet all again in 2025!” Suga wrote in a message posted on the online fan platform Weverse.BTS’s management agency, Big Hit Music, said that Suga later began commuting to a workplace designated under the country’s alternative military service system.In South Korea, all able-bodied men must serve in the army, navy or air force for 18-21 months under a conscription system established due to threats from rival North Korea. Individuals with physical and mental issues can instead carry out their duties at non-military facilities such as welfare centers, c...

Weekend need to know: Nuit Blanche, Just for Laughs, Halloween Haunt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

Art installations are taking over Toronto streets and parks for the return of Nuit Blanche this weekend.Comedy lovers can check out their favourite stand-up comics for the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. Plus, Halloween Haunt is back at Canada’s Wonderland.There will also be another party to say goodbye to the TTC Line 3 Scarborough RT since it permanently closed, shortly after the train derailed back in July, injuring five people.There are no scheduled subway closures this weekend, but road closures for events and construction remain. Scroll below for more details.Here’s what’s going on for the first weekend of fall:Top eventsNuit BlancheMuch of Toronto’s streets, parks, and alleyways will be filled with people checking out art installations for Nuit Blanche 2023.People can explore different neighbourhoods across the city and enjoy art projects by local, national and international artists for free.This year’s theme is called Breaking Ground. The theme is meant to invite arti...

Massachusetts has a huge waitlist for state-funded housing. So why are 2,300 units vacant?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

Deb Libby is running out of time to find a place to live.Libby, 56, moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, four years ago, in part to be closer to the doctors treating her for pancreatic cancer.But the landlord wants her out by the end of the month and she can’t find anything else she can afford. She earns only a little more than minimum wage at a hardware store and often has to take unpaid time off because of health problems.Libby thought she found a potential solution nearly a year ago: She applied for state public housing, a type of subsidized housing that’s almost unique to Massachusetts. But she’s heard nothing since.“It’s frightening,” she said. “I seriously don’t know what to do. It’s like the system’s broken.”In Massachusetts, which has some of the country’s most expensive real estate, Libby is among the 184,000 people on a waitlist for the state’s 41,500 subsidized apartments. Yet a WBUR and ProPublica investigation found that nobody is living in nearly 2,300 state-funded apart...

With the future of AM unclear, a look back at the powerful role radio plays in baseball history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Growing up in the Boston suburbs, Suzyn Waldman fell madly in love with two things: baseball and Broadway shows.During the 1950s and ’60s, the long arm of AM radio brought both into her home.“I can still hear Ned Martin of the Red Sox reciting poetry about the mountains in Anaheim,” said Waldman, the pioneer announcer and former star of musical stage who’s been calling New York Yankees games for decades. “I can still hear Curt Gowdy with that Wyoming twang.“Not everyone can remember who their first television broadcasters were — but everyone knows who the radio team was. Everyone.”Like many fans, especially older ones, Waldman originally got hooked by America’s pastime listening to ballgames on an AM signal. In fact, next month will mark the 100th anniversary of the first World Series broadcast to a national radio audience, when Graham McNamee and Ford Frick were among those who called the 1923 Fall Classic between the Giants and Yankees on NB...

Microsoft’s revamped $69 billion deal for Activision is on the cusp of going through

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British competition regulators gave preliminary approval Friday to Microsoft’s restructured $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, easing a final global hurdle that paves the way for one of the largest tech transactions in history to go through.The Competition and Markets Authority said the revamped proposal “substantially addresses previous concerns” about stifling competition in the fast-growing cloud gaming market, which frees players from buying expensive consoles and gaming computers by streaming to tablets, phones and other devices.The updated offer “opens the door to the deal being cleared,” the watchdog said, though there are lingering concerns. Microsoft has offered remedies that the watchdog provisionally decided will resolve those issues, and regulators are now getting feedback from “interested parties” before making a final decision.The announcement shows the U.K. watchdog is close to reversing its earlier decision to block Microsoft ...

Thousands of teachers protest in Nepal against education bill, shutting schools across the country

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Schools for millions of students in Nepal were closed Friday as tens of thousands of teachers protested in the capital against an education reform bill in parliament.Teachers have been demonstrating in Kathmandu since Wednesday against the School Education Bill while teachers’ groups negotiate with government leaders over changes to the legislation. The teachers oppose provisions that would shift government-run schools to local control, saying it would lower their status, and that would scrap many temporary teacher positions. The teachers blocked the main street leading from the parliament building to key government ministries, disrupting traffic in the heart of the capital. Hundreds of police in riot gear blocked the road leading to parliament with barbed-wire barricades. The teachers have threatened to bring more protesters to Kathmandu if their demands are not addressed.“Our key demand is we teachers should be kept under the central government like a...

A tale of two teams: Taliban send all-male team to Asian Games but Afghan women come from outside

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

HANGZHOU, China (AP) — In the first Asian Games since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, two teams of athletes are arriving in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, looking very different.One, sent from Afghanistan where women are now banned by the Taliban from participating in sports, consists of about 130 all-male athletes, who will participate in 17 different sports, including volleyball, judo and wrestling, Atel Mashwani, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press. Another, competing under the black, red and green flag of the elected government the Taliban toppled in 2021, is drawn from the diaspora of Afghan athletes around the world, and includes 17 women, according to Hafizullah Wali Rahimi, the president of Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee from before the Taliban took over. Rahimi, who now works from outside Afghanistan but is still recognized by many countries as its official representative on Olympic mat...

Taylor residents try to stop pay increase for city council members

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) -- Taylor residents are attempting to overturn a pay increase for city council members after the council approved a nearly 4000% increase in monthly compensation. More than 1,300 Taylor residents signed a petition that, if approved, will create a referendum vote on the next regular election. "Most were upset that the council gave themselves an increase," Terry Burris, the man who started the petition, explained. On August 17, after almost a year of discussing pay compensation, council members voted 3-2 to approve an increase that would pay council members $500 for every meeting they attend and the mayor $750 for each meeting he attends. Mayor Brandt Rydell, Mayor Pro-Tem Gerald Anderson, and district 4 council member Robert Garcia approved the pay hike with council members Dwayne Ariola and Mitchell Drummond voting no. The new compensation structure will begin on October 1. A nearly 4000% increase in payCurrently, the council is paid a $50 stipend every month. T...

Near 100º through the weekend, but rain is a good bet

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Today is the final full day of summer and it will sure feel like it. Morning clouds will give way to increasing sunshine as we head through the late morning and afternoon. High temperatures will still be very close to the 100º mark today, but should fall just shy in Austin. BLOG: October forecast Slight shower chances develop during the afternoon in our eastern counties, but most areas stay dry.Today's forecastAnother low rain chance (10%) returns Saturday evening into the Hill Country as storms may make it into a couple of our counties after another hot day.Weekend forecastBetter rain chances start to pick up later on Sunday (30%) as a cold front approaches. Some storms may be severe Sunday evening, mainly north of Austin.Monday continues to look to be our best chance of rain for the next week (60%).Rainfall amounts have trended lower with most areas getting 0.25"-1.0", but localized higher amounts will be possible in areas that get more thunderstorms.7 Day Rain...

Sneak peek at King Coil Spirits, opening soon in Vandalia Tower

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:23 GMT

St. Paul has a new distillery — with pizza — and we got a sneak peek this week.King Coil Spirits, from the owners of Lake Monster Brewing, opens Sept. 29 in Vandalia Tower, just across the way from Lake Monster.The distillery has a full slate of house-made spirits and liqueurs and will be slinging some top-tier cocktails, formulated with the help of spirits and cocktail consultant David Curiel.The front bar at King Coil Spirits in Vandalia Tower. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)There are two bars: a front bar, serving more classic cocktails like a lighter Manhattan, a stellar white negroni, and an old-fashioned; and a back bar, serving some more time-intensive and intricate cocktails. We loved the Spanish gin and tonic and the very umami, yet balanced, sesame boulevardier.The pizza is Roman-style, which is square like Detroit-style, but not quite as thick and puffy. Chef Bryan Hurley, formerly of Babette and Copper Hen, is heading the kitchen. There are snacks like roasted...