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Grammys 2024: Top nominees include SZA, Phoebe Bridgers, Victoria Monét and, close behind, Taylor Swift

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

By George Varga, San Diego Union-TribuneSZA didn’t quite make history with Friday morning’s announcement of the 2023 Grammy Awards nominees. But she came close on a ballot that saw women artists dominating the nominations for Best New Artist and Album, Record and Song of the Year in apparent record numbers.A genre-blurring singer, songwriter and sly musical provocateur, SZA earned a field-leading nine nominations. They include nods for Album of the Year (for her critically acclaimed and chart-topping “SOS”) and Record and Song of the Year (both for “Kill Bill,” which takes its name from the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film and tells a similar tale of vengeance).SZA’s nine nominations are almost a record, but not quite. Lauryn Hill and Beyoncé each had 10 nominations, in 1999 and 2010, respectively. Beyoncé’s six 2010 wins set a record for the most Grammys won in a single year by a female artist, which Adele tied with her six wins in 2012.Beyoncé, who won four awards at this year’s Grammy...

Andover teenager killed in Lawrence crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

An 18-year-old Andover woman died after crashing into a trailer on Interstate 495 northbound in Lawrence Thursday night.The woman, whose name has not been released by authorities, was driving a 2005 GMC Envoy SUV on I-495 northbound in Lawrence when she struck a fifth-wheel camper attached to a 2022 Dodge Ram pickup truck and lost control of her vehicle, according to the Massachusetts State Police. Troopers responded to the scene north of exit 100B at 9:17 p.m. Thursday.The woman was ejected from the SUV and onto the roadway where other vehicles drove over her body, according to the MSP. The vehicle left the interstate to the east, went over a curb and guardrail, rolled down a steep slope and caught on fire.The 17-year-old male passenger was also ejected from the car at some point but survived, suffering only minor head injuries. Two teenage female passengers in the back seats, 15 and 16 years old, also suffered minor injuries. All three were transported to Lawrence General Hospital...

Cabbage Patch Kids and the Fisher-Price Corn Popper are added to the Toy Hall of Fame

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Fans have pushed the Fisher-Price Corn Popper into the National Toy Hall of Fame, elevating it from perpetual finalist to 2023 inductee, alongside baseball cards, Cabbage Patch Kids and NERF foam toys, the Hall of Fame announced Friday.The Fisher-Price push toy that encourages babies to walk was chosen by fans, who were invited to celebrate the Toy Hall of Fame’s 25th anniversary by voting for one of five toys that had made it to the finals more than once but were passed over. The rest of the so-called “Forgotten Five” included the pogo stick, My Little Pony, PEZ dispensers and Transformers.Baseball cards, Cabbage Patch Kids and NERF toys were voted in in the usual way from among a field of 12 finalists, with input from a panel of experts. Those finalists included Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, who didn’t make the cut despite a big boost in visibility from the summer “Barbie” movie. “These four deserving inductee...

Suspected Islamic extremists holding about 30 ethnic Dogon men hostage after bus raid, leader says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Suspected Islamic extremists are holding about 30 men from the Dogon ethnic group hostage after ambushing several public transport buses in central Mali earlier this week, a community leader said Friday.Bocar Guindo said that armed men initially kidnapped about 40 people who had been traveling Tuesday between Koro and Bankass. The women aboard, though, were later released, he said.While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, suspicion immediately fell on Islamic extremists who have been operating in the area for years and are known to target public transport. Their growing presence has heightened communal tensions, with members of the Peuhl ethnic group being accused of collaborating with them. Dogon communities, meanwhile, have been targeted for allegedly supporting the Malian army’s counterinsurgency efforts.A similar attack took place in 2021, when armed men identifying themselves as jihadis took dozens of people hostage in the same part of cent...

Kenya doomsday cult leader found guilty of illegal filming, but yet to be charged over mass deaths

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Paul Mackenzie, the Kenyan preacher at the center of a doomsday cult in the country that led to the deaths of more than 400 people, was on Friday found guilty of operating a studio and distributing films without a license.The senior resident magistrate in the town of Malindi, Olga Onalo, found Mackenzie guilty of exhibition of films through his Times Television without approval of the Kenya Film Classification Board.The preacher has been in police custody for more than six months now since he was arrested in April, following the discovery of hundreds of bodies in mass graves in a forested area across his 800-acre property in the coastal county of Kilifi. Prosecutors say Mackenzie ordered his congregants to starve to death in order to meet Jesus.However, he has not been formally charged over the deaths, despite being arraigned in court on numerous occasions since his arrest.On Friday he was acquitted of additional charges of influencing children to not attend sc...

Unifor auto talks: a quiet end to one of the year’s biggest labour clashes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

TORONTO — One of Canada’s most highly anticipated set of labour talks in years wrapped up this week, but there’s no victory parade planned.Unifor’s marathon three months of high profile contact talks with the Detroit Three automakers — where gains and losses often set the tone for other industries — instead ended with a tepid 60 per cent vote of support from Stellantis production workers Monday, before the union quickly moved on to other labour fights in a year that’s been full of them.“It seems like every week we have another strike deadline that we’re facing. This has been a very big bargaining year for us,” said Lana Payne, national president of Unifor in an interview.But while the union has seen some 85,000 members at the bargaining table this year, expectations were especially high for the nearly 20,000 who work at Stellantis, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors.After decades of concessions to the automakers, the combination of high frustration about the rising cost o...

Université de Montréal cancels class taught by man filmed at Israel-Hamas protest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

MONTREAL — Université de Montréal says it is investigating after one of its lecturers was filmed appearing to hurl insults during a confrontation linked to the Israel-Hamas war at another university earlier this week.A university spokesperson said a course taught by Yanise Arab was cancelled Thursday as a preventive measure.In a brief video circulating online, a man in a yellow hoodie, later identified as Arab, can be seen yelling “go back to Poland!” followed by another insult during an altercation between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups at Concordia University, in Montreal.Arab’s biography has been removed from Université de Montréal’s website, but a previous version described him as a PhD student and lecturer in the history department who teaches a class on domination and resistance in the Arab world. He could not immediately be reached for comment.Université de Montréal spokesperson Geneviève O’Meara says the school’s information suggest...

New Moschino creative director dies of sudden illness just days after joining Milan-based brand

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

MILAN (AP) — The new creative director of Moschino, Davide Renne, has died after a sudden illness, the owner of the Milan-based fashion house announced on Friday.Renne, 46, took over the role of creative director on Nov. 1, and his first collection was to have been shown during Milan Fashion Week womenswear previews in February.“With Davide, we were working on an ambitious project, in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and optimism for the future,’’ said Massimo Ferretti, chairman of Moschino-owner Aeffe SpA. ”Even though he was only with us for a very short time, Davide was able to immediately make himself loved and respected.”Renne arrived from Gucci, where he had worked for two decades, reaching the position of head designer of womenswear. He was taking over for Jeremy Scott, who resigned in March after a decade at Moschino, known for its wacky and ironic collections.The Associated Press

Man, 11-year-old son intentionally shot and killed in parked vehicle: Edmonton police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

EDMONTON — Police say a man and his 11-year-old son were intentionally shot and killed in a vehicle in Edmonton on Thursday.They identified the father as 41-year-old Harpreet Uppal, a high-level gang member involved in the drug trade.Police did not identify the boy.Acting Supt. Colin Derksen says the boy was not mistakenly caught in the line of fire but was deliberately shot.He says a second boy, a friend of the dead child, was in the car and was unharmed.He says there had been previous attempts on the father’s life, including a shooting at a pizza restaurant two years ago.“The landscape has changed,” Derksen told a news conference Friday.“There’s no longer any respect for children, families or innocent bystanders amongst our gangsters when they carry out violence to further their own interests.”This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2023. The Canadian Press

Things to know about efforts to block people from crossing state lines for abortion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:35:22 GMT

A federal judge and the U.S. Department of Justice this week said that states are going too far by trying to block people from helping others cross state lines for abortion.A ruling in Idaho and the federal government taking sides in an Alabama lawsuit are far from the final word, but they could offer clues on whether an emerging area of abortion regulation may eventfully hold up in court.Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, eliminating a nationwide right to abortion, most Republican-controlled states have implemented bans or tighter restrictions on abortion.Meanwhile, most blue states have taken some action to protect access, as have red states where voters have had a direct say on the issue, including Ohio, where they enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution this week.That’s set up a big policy contrast between the states — and has made travel for abortion a major issue.One survey has found the average monthly number of abortions nation...