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Nigerian Canadian Debby Friday wins Polaris Music Prize for ‘Good Luck’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

TORONTO — Debby Friday has won the 2023 Polaris Music Prize for her album “Good Luck.”The debut full-length release from the Nigerian-born Canadian was selected for the $50,000 prize by an 11-member grand jury that named it best Canadian album of the year based on its artistic merit.“Good Luck” finds Friday building on the industrial sounds of her earlier EPs with more soulful vocals.Music critics have likened her album to artists as diverse as industrial metal band Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, rappers Run the Jewels and Beyoncé.The Polaris Music Prize is considered one of the country’s most prestigious music awards.Previous winners include Pierre Kwenders, Haviah Mighty, Jeremy Dutcher and Kaytranada.Friday thanked many of the people who helped her career and reflected on her childhood in a small village in Nigeria.“This is something that I didn’t realize was a possibility,” she said from the stage.“Now I’m here today and it just feels like a miracle.”An...

International Criminal Court says cybersecurity incident affected its information systems last week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court said Tuesday that it detected “anomalous activity affecting its information systems” last week and took urgent measures to respond. It didn’t elaborate on what it called a “cybersecurity incident.”Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said in a written statement that extra “response and security measures are now ongoing” with the assistance of authorities in the Netherlands, where the court is based.“Looking forward, the Court will be building on existing work presently underway to strengthen its cyber security framework, including accelerating its use of cloud technology,” his statement added.The court declined to go into any more detail about the incident, but said that as it “continues to analyse and mitigate the impact of this incident, priority is also being given to ensuring that the core work of the Court continues.”The ICC has a number of high-profile investigations and preliminary inquiries underway in na...

Stock market today: Asian shares decline ahead of Fed decision on rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares declined Wednesday as markets awaited a decision on interest rates by the Federal Reserve.Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.1% in morning trading to 33,200.34. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.6% to 7,152.70. South Korea’s Kospi edged down 0.1% to 2,556.20. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 0.4% to 17,932.24, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.3% to 3,115.10. Trade data for Japan showed exports fell 0.8% last month from a year ago, marking the second straight month of declines, as exports to China lagged, dropping 11%. Japan’s exports to the U.S. rose 5.1%, while exports to Europe surged 12.7%. By product category, auto exports zoomed 40.9%, while those of semiconductors rose 8.1%, according to Finance Ministry data.“We think the weak recovery in China will continue to have a negative impact on exports for a while, but semiconductors seem like they are bottoming out from the down cycle,” Robert Carnell, regional head of research...

Japan’s Kishida, at UN, tries to get the global nuclear disarmament effort back on track

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed Tuesday night to lead the effort to put the struggling global nuclear disarmament effort back on track, proposing to encourage nuclear weapons states to engage in discussions with non-nuclear weapons states.Kishida proposed reactivating discussion of the 1993 Fissile Materials Cutoff Treaty, or FMCT, which has never entered negotiations at the United Nations, but its significance remains unchanged.Earlier Tuesday, he co-hosted FMCT high-level talks with non-nuclear weapons defense partners Australia and the Philippines, in hopes of gaining broad support from the so-called Global South nations for the cause.Japan will contribute 3 billion yen ($20 million) fund to establish Japan Chairs toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons at overseas research institutions and think tanks. The aim, Kishida said: to energize the debate that would overcome a polarized choices between deterrence and disarmament.As a lawmaker r...

Syria’s Assad will visit China as Beijing boosts its reach in the Middle East

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s President Bashar Assad will head to China later this week in his first visit to Beijing since the start of his country’s 12-year conflict during which China has been one of his main backers, his office said Tuesday.China has been expanding its reach in the Middle East after mediating a deal in March between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it continues to support Assad in the Syrian conflict, which has killed half a million people and left large parts of the nation in ruins.China could play a major role in the future in Syria’s reconstruction, which is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Syria last year joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in which Beijing expands its influence in developing regions through infrastructure projects.Assad’s office said the Syrian leader was invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping for a summit and will head Thursday to Beijing along with a high-ranking Syrian delegation.Syria’s worsening economic crisis...

Saudi Arabia praises ‘positive results’ after Yemen’s Houthi rebels visit kingdom for peace talks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Wednesday praised the “positive results” of talks with Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they visited the kingdom for peace talks, though Riyadh released few details on their negotiations to end the war tearing at the Arab world’s poorest nation. The five days of talks, which represented the highest-level, public negotiations with the Houthis in the kingdom, come as Saudi Arabia tries a renewed bid to end the yearslong coalition war it launched on Yemen. That conflict had become enmeshed in a wider regional proxy war the kingdom faced against its longtime regional rival Iran, with which it reached a détente earlier this year. The Saudi Foreign Ministry in a statement early Wednesday marking the end of the Houthis’ trip “welcomed the positive results of the serious discussions regarding reaching a road map to support the peace path in Yemen.”“The kingdom continues to stand with Yemen and its brotherly people and … e...

Michael J. Fox receives 2023 Elevate Prize Catalyst Award at Clinton Global Initiative

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Actor and philanthropist Michael J. Fox won this year’s Elevate Prize Catalyst Award, which the “Back to the Future” star plans to use to further his foundation’s work to find treatments for Parkinson’s disease.Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 29 in 1991, received the award at the Clinton Global Initiative, or CGI, conference on Tuesday in New York. The annual prize, which went to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai last year, includes $250,000 from the Elevate Prize Foundation and support to amplify the winner’s messaging.Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who interviewed Fox onstage at CGI, credited him with research advances in understanding Parkinson’s. “I don’t think this work would have made the progress it has if Michael hadn’t been so open,” she said.Fox said that once he got support from his family after his diagnosis, he did not hesitate about going public with his diagnosis.“There’s such shame associat...

Blue Jays hit 3 HRs, rout Yankees on the road

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

George Springer, Bo Bichette and Alejandro Kirk all homered as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 7-1 on Tuesday.Springer, who celebrated his 34th birthday, opened the scoring with a solo shot off Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, his 20th of the year. Bichette would hit a two-run homer in the top of the 5th inning, while Kirk hit a two-run shot of his own in the ninth.OppBO Taco Tuesday ???? pic.twitter.com/Gtn95aqrXB— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 20, 2023It was Bichette’s 19th home run and Kirk’s seventh home run of the season. Cavan Biggio had two hits, including an RBI single.Blue Jays starter Yusei Kikuchi was again effective on the mound, pitching five strong innings, allowing four hits with one earned run and seven strikeouts. The southpaw, who picked up his 10th win of the season, was lifted from the game with what the baseball club called an upper trap muscle cramp.Kikuchi told reporters after the game that he feels OK and should be a...

Man found dead inside Glenview home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

GLENVIEW, Ill. — Glenview police are investigating after a man was found dead inside a north suburban home on Monday night.Glenview Police Department officers were called to the home just after 8 p.m. in the 700 block of Long Road on the report of an injured man. Man with axe blocking school bus cited, Park Ridge police say When they arrived, officers found the man dead inside. His identity hasn't been released yet.The North Regional Violent Crimes Task Force and Cook County Medical Examiner's Office are assisting detectives with their ongoing investigation.As of Tuesday evening, there was still a police presence at the home.Meghan Ross said it was a challenge to navigate the school day around the scene."Lots of fear like a lot of moms because there's a ton of kids on the street, just fear like who is it, who was it, lock our doors," Ross said. "That's big for a little kids."Neighbors are trying to learn what they can. They told WGN-TV the house sold over the summer and they'd see...

Man with axe blocking school bus cited, Park Ridge police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

PARK RIDGE, Ill. — A 95-year-old man was cited Tuesday by Park Ridge police after they said he allegedly had an axe and blocked a school bus because he was upset kids were unloading on his lawn.Officers were called around 3:30 p.m. to the area near Virginia Street and Goodwin Drive on the report of a man with an axe standing in the street blocking the bus. FBI releases photo, video from armored truck robbery at Chicago Heights grocery story When officers arrived, they learned the man was not making any threats and was blocking the path of the bus, according to a press release from Park Ridge police.The man was cited under a local ordinance for disorderly conduct, according to the release.