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Senior Azerbaijan diplomat urges Armenia to embrace a future of peace and prosperity

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

One of Azerbaijan’s top diplomats visited Brussels this month. Elchin Amirbayov, who is Assistant to the First Vice-President, spoke to EU Reporter about the role of the EU -and personally by Council President Charles Michel- in the efforts to end the confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In a wide-ranging interview with Political Editor Nick Powell, Mr Amirbayov also discussed his country’s role in Europe’s energy security and as part of the Middle Corridor trade route.Elchin Amirbayov came to Brussels with a busy schedule, aimed at strengthening relations not just with the EU as a whole but with Belgium in particular, mindful that the country will hold the presidency of the European Council for the first half of 2024. As well as talking about the potential for boosting trade he was taking the opportunity to brief ministers, parliamentarians and other stakeholders about the efforts to finally normalise relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.EU-Azerbaijan relations grew la...

Grisly details emerge during prelim for Bay Area man charged with 2013 killing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

Using a semi-automatic firearm with an extended magazine, he allegedly shot a 27-year-old man 25 times, yielding a dozen wounds to the victim’s head, with other bullets riddling his neck, torso, a hand, and lower extremities.But one of the wounds could have been caused by “blunt force injury,” suggesting a pistol-whipping, with the violence occurring at a Feb. 4, 2013, Super Bowl party in a Vallejo residence.Those details were among the testimony and evidence aired Friday during the second day of a Solano County Superior Court preliminary hearing for a 41-year-old Vallejo man accused of the killing and who later fled to Peru but was eventually extradited to the United States four years ago.Shackled at the waist and legs, clad in a striped jail jumpsuit, William Bruce Cordoba sat at the defense table in Department 23 while forensic pathologist Dr. Arnold Josselson, on the witness stand, offered his opinion on the autopsy performed Feb. 5, 2013, on Jimmie Richardson.A twice-convicted ...

5 NFL players suspended for violating gambling policy

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

Three NFL players were suspended indefinitely Friday for betting on NFL games in the 2022 season, while two other players, including the 12th overall draft pick a year ago, received six-game suspensions for betting on non-NFL games at a league facility.Detroit Lions wide receiver Quintez Cephus, Lions safety C.J. Moore and Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney are sidelined for the entire 2023 season and may petition for reinstatement afterward.Lions wide receivers Stanley Berryhill, a former first-team All-County all-purpose player from Orange Lutheran High, and Jameson Williams each received a six-game suspension, though they will be able to participate in all offseason and preseason activities, including preseason games. Their suspensions will start at the final roster cutdown.The NFL said that a “league review uncovered no evidence indicating any inside information was used or that any game was compromised in any way.”Gambling incidents have been relatively rare for th...

Correctional officer charged with smuggling meth, heroin across US-Mexico border

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

An Arizona correctional officer and Army National Guardsman allegedly smuggled more than 20 kilograms of methamphetamine and a kilogram of heroin across the United States/Mexico border, all with his wife and three children in the car with him, authorities say.Fernando Urrutiaguillen, 34, from Chandler, Arizona was pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers on the 5 freeway in Irvine on April 18 for a traffic stop.Officers say a K-9 alerted them to drugs stashed in the gas tank of Urrutiaguillen’s vehicle. They believe Urrutiaguillen was attempting to drive the drugs over the border and into California.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Prosecutors: Los Gatos party mom tried to flee justice, hide assets, smuggle drugs into jail Crime and Public Safety | GOP senator demands DEA boss defend no-bid contracts Crime and Public Safety | Drug suspect puts meth between buttocks, hides it in jail cell, gets busted again Crime and P...

Texas man indicted for alleged threat to kill California Rep. Maxine Waters

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

LOS ANGELES — A federal grand jury indicted a Houston man Friday for allegedly calling the office of California Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters several times last year and leaving threatening voicemails, including saying he intended to “cut your throat.”Brian Michael Gaherty, 60, was charged in the indictment with four counts of making threats in interstate communications and four counts of threatening a U.S. official, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said in a statement.Gaherty was arrested April 13 after prosecutors filed a criminal complaint alleging that he had threatened Waters, other elected officials and a news reporter in Houston.The indictment says Gaherty called the congresswoman’s office four times — twice in August and twice in November — and each time left a threatening message.Prosecutors said that in one, he told the congresswoman he intended to “cut your throat.”The indictment alleged Gaherty “knowingly threatened to assault and kill” Waters while she was...

2 women get life in prison for killing 84-year-old woman in California casino

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

Two Moreno Valley women were sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday, April 21, for killing an 84-year-old Long Beach woman who was found unconscious with a cracked skull on the floor of a Pechanga Resort Casino bathroom in 2019.Kimesha Monae Williams, 39, and Candace Tai Townsel, 42, who both have long rap sheets for theft, were convicted in February at Southwest Justice Center in French Valley of murder, robbery and elder abuse, along with a sentencing enhancement of committing a robbery during a murder, after a monthlong trial.Their sentences for robbery and elder abuse were stayed under the legal tenet that those crimes were part of a single act, the murder of Afaf Assad.“This has been a long, painful journey through the criminal court justice system,” Assad’s daughter, Mary Assad, said in the victim impact statement she read to the court. “I still can’t believe my mother was the victim of a violent crime. … Part of me died in that hospital room with her.“My father ...

California’s only NCAA lacrosse team is shuttering. Here’s why

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

Just the image of a lacrosse player, stick held high, charging helmet-first across the field evokes “East Coast boy’s prep school.”And that mid-Atlantic bias has existed for almost as long as lacrosse — dubbed the oldest organized sport in North America — has existed.Since Native Americans from Iroquois tribes in Upstate New York began playing the game in the 12th century, lacrosse has been popular in the East and Midwest, but not so widespread in the West.Lacrosse’s popularity in western states has accelerated in more modern times, but now, with the shuttering of the only men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association team in California, that slow march is at a standstill.The Whittier College Poets put down their sticks for good on Saturday, April 22. The loss of Whittier College men’s lacrosse, an NCAA team since 1980, means there are no NCAA men’s teams left in California, according to Matt Holmes, NCAA’s assistant director of media coordination and statistics. In the West, there...

Word Game: April 22, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — HEMATOMAS (HEMATOMAS: hee-muh-TOH-muz: Swellings filled with blood from a break in a blood vessel.)Average mark 34 wordsTime limit 45 minutesCan you find 47 or more words in HEMATOMAS? The list will be published Monday.YESTERDAY’S WORD — VAGARIES varia varies vase vier virga visa visage vise aegis agar ager area aria arise aver gave gear give giver grave gravies rage raise ravage rave rise rive egis saga sage sager sari savage save saver sear sireTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are...

Bridge: April 22, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.“Something to fall back on? If I’m falling, I want to fall forward.” — actor Denzel WashingtonA common approach in dummy play is to seek multiple chances for your contract. If one doesn’t work, you have some to fall back on. At today’s 3NT, South counted seven top tricks: two spades, two diamonds, three clubs. He could surely get one heart trick and had a chance for an extra trick in hearts, diamonds and clubs. The idea was to try everything.LAST STOPPERSouth started by winning the first spade in dummy and leading a heart to his king. West took the ace — one chance gone — and led another spade to force out the ace. South next took the A-K of clubs. A 3-2 break would have seen him home, but West threw a diamond.South had one fall-back left. He led a diamond to his ace and back to dummy’s jack, and his last chance came home. The finesse won, and the...

AI Art Sites Censor Prompts About Abortion

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:14:54 GMT

Two of the hottest new artificial intelligence programs for people who aren’t tech savvy, DALL-E 2 and Midjourney, create stunning visual images using only written prompts. Everything, that is, that avoids certain language in the prompts — including words associated with women’s bodies, women’s health care, women’s rights, and abortion.I discovered this recently when I prompted the platforms for “pills used in medication abortion.” I’d added the instruction “in the style of Matisse.” I expected to get colorful visuals to supplement my thinking and writing about right-wing efforts to outlaw the pills.Neither site produced the images. Instead, DALL-E 2 returned the phrase, “It looks like this request may not follow our content policy.” Midjourney’s message said, “The word ‘abortion’ is banned. Circumventing this filter to violate our rules may result in your access being revoked.”DALL-E blocks the AI image generator prompt of “abortion pills.”Photo: DALL-EJulia Rockwell ha...