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Fire at refugee shelter in eastern Germany kills 1, injures 8

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A fire at a refugee shelter in eastern Germany killed one person and injured at least eight others early Sunday, according to local police.Police in the German state of Thuringia said the fire broke out around 5 a.m. at a facility in the city of Apolda and that one person had died. The shelter, which housed 300 people, was evacuated and residents were taken to another refugee center in nearby Hermsdorf, a local government spokesperson told German news agency dpa. Police told dpa that eight people were injured in the fire. An investigation to determine the cause of the fire was underway, the news agency reported. The Associated Press

Ukrainian president says at least 500 children killed by war

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia’s war, now in its 16th month, has killed at least 500 Ukrainian children.Zelenskyy provided the number hours after rescue workers found the body of a 2-year-old girl who died in one of the latest Russian strikes. The president said in a statement that “Russian weapons and hatred, which continue to take and destroy the lives of Ukrainian children every day,” killed the hundreds who had perished since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started on Feb. 24, 2022.“Many of them could have become famous scholars, artists, sports champions, contributing to Ukraine’s history,” he said.Zelenskyy said it was impossible to establish the exact number of children who were casualties due to the ongoing hostilities and because some areas are under Russian occupation.“We must hold out and win this war!” the Ukrainian president said. “All of Ukraine, all our people, all our children, must be fr...

Apple is expected to unveil sleek headset aimed at thrusting the masses into alternate realities

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination.After years of speculation, the stage is set for the widely anticipated announcement to be made Monday at Apple’s annual developers conference in a Cupertino, California, theater named after the company’s late co-founder Steve Jobs. Apple is also likely to use the event to show off its latest Mac computer, preview the next operating system for the iPhone and discuss its strategy for artificial intelligence. But the star of the show is expected to be a pair of goggles — perhaps called “Reality Pro,” according to media leaks — that could become another milestone in Apple’s lore of releasing game-changing technology, even though the company hasn’t always been the first to try its hand at makin...

‘Travesty’ or ‘forward thinking’? Hundreds weigh in on one-click citizenship oath

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

OTTAWA — Allowing new Canadians to take the oath of citizenship by clicking a box online is a disgusting idea that will cheapen the process and open the door to fraud — or a forward-thinking notion that will help decrease a backlog of citizenship applications, depending on who you ask. That’s according to the hundreds of comments the government received about the idea over the last few months. In February, the Liberals asked the public to weigh in on their plan to let people opt out of a formal in-person or online ceremony and instead take the Oath of Citizenship with the click of a mouse.Immigration Minister Sean Fraser pitched the concept as a way to quickly work through a backlog of people waiting to swear their oath and officially become Canadians. It’s expected to save people roughly three months of waiting between taking their citizenship test and officially becoming a Canadian.The 691 comments sent in reveal deeply divided opinions on what would be a fundamental c...

Readers and writers: Celebrating a poet whose work speaks for itself

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

Back in 1988, Roseann Lloyd gave advice to youngsters who wanted to be poets: “When you are writing, it’s important to start out as though you’re talking, to help your writing sound really natural. Just let your Self come out.”For the next 35 years Lloyd took her own advice about revealing her Self in her poetry collections “Tap Dancing for Big Mom,” “War Baby Express’ (Minnesota Book Award), “Because of the Light” and “The Boy Who Slept Under the Stars.”Poems from these collections, as well as new ones, make up Lloyd’s new book, “Migration of the Spirits: New and Selected Poems” (Cup and Spiral Books, $20).Lloyd and five other poets will read at a publication celebration at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at Mindekirken: Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church, 924 E. 21st St., Mpls. The program is free and open to the public.A native of Springfield, Mo., Lloyd lives with her husband, Jim Smith, in Minne...

North Dakota police break down drug laws as Minnesota readies for legal marijuana

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

FARGO, N.D. — Law enforcement in North Dakota are concerned they could see more marijuana come into the state after recreational use becomes legal in Minnesota.But officers in the Peace Garden State won’t act differently if they catch people bringing the drug in from the east, authorities said.“The Minnesota law does not affect North Dakota,” North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind said. “North Dakota troopers enforce North Dakota law. Marijuana is still illegal in North Dakota.”Minnesota took a historic step last month when lawmakers legalized cannabis. On Aug. 1, the Land of 10,000 Lakes will become the 23rd state in the U.S. allowed to light up for recreational use.It also became the first state to repeal its paraphernalia laws, meaning syringes and small amounts of drug residue found in them will not warrant criminal charges as of August.Groups have tried to convince North Dakotans and state lawmakers to legalize marijuana, but the efforts have gone up in smoke. In the l...

Sunday Bulletin Board: Who could feel poor, with opera glasses and a pencil sharpener?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

The Permanent Family RecordTHE GRAM WITH A THOUSAND RULES writes: “Have you ever owned something that made you feel rich? We did. In fact, we had two somethings!“We were children of the Great Depression, but so were all our friends. They also wore cardboard in their shoes and lived in run-down rental houses, but we had two treasures that they didn’t have: Mother’s Opera Glasses and Dad’s Pencil Sharpener.“Now, I know neither of these items would qualify under GREGORY J.’s Dept. of Neat Stuff rules, but to us they were the neatest stuff ever! They made us feel rich.“No matter how many times we performed the chaotic exodus from a big house to a little house and back to a big house and down again to a little house (nine times by the time I was 14), those two items were never mislaid. At the last minute, Mother always made sure that those opera glasses were tucked safely in her purse while Dad unscrewed the pencil sharpener from the kitchen cupboard — and screwed it back in again ...

Literary pick for June 4: “Project Chrysalis” by Willard Joyce

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

There’s a new author in town — sort of. Willard Joyce, author of “Project Chrysalis,” is the pen name of Quinton Skinner making his first foray into science fiction with a fast-paced and scary novel about the generation who were born during or after a worldwide pandemic.Jenn is the elite of the elite in the Provisional Authority, an all-powerful organization that sprang up to quell chaos and violence during The Grip, a  malady that was killing thousands of people. Using technology, including eye and brain implants, Jenn has been trained since she was a child to move objects with her mind. She thought she was working for the good of humanity while living in luxury, but now she’s questioning her life:“What has been called God, she was taught, can also be visualized as a field of information, or a sentient program. There was truth to the idea that God shared the image of humans — that was a central mystery that was never explained to her satisf...

Literary calendar for week of June 4

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

ZAYNAB ABDI: Presents “Our Stories Carried Us Here: Voice for Refuge,” in conversation with Dana Mortenson, partnered with Green Card Voices. 7 p.m. Monday, June 5, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.DUROSE/TANGEDAL: Lisa DuRose and Ross Tangedal discuss “Michigan Salvage: The Fiction of Bonnie Jo Campbell,” with Michigan-based award-winning author Campbell. 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.MARY LOGUE: Discusses “The Big Sugar,” her latest 19th-century mystery featuring Irish immigrant Brigid Reardon. 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 6, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.NATALIE WARREN: Presents “Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic,” about Warren and Ann Raiho’s journey by paddle from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay, from the practicalities of planning a canoe expedition to the accomplishment of their adventure. 2 p.m. Sunday, June 11, Crea...

Minnesota’s new ‘right to repair’ law is the broadest one yet in U.S.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:35 GMT

Do-it-yourselfers and repair shops are celebrating a victory in Minnesota with the enactment of a new law that requires many manufacturers to share parts and information with tinkerers and small businesses.The so-called “right to repair” law will allow equipment owners and independent shops to more easily fix devices like phones, laptops, appliances and other equipment.Minnesota is the latest state to approve such a law, following Colorado earlier this year and New York last year. Massachusetts’ law covering vehicles was enacted in 2020. Do-it-yourselfers, farmers, handyman companies and small repair shops argue that without such laws, big tech companies make it almost impossible to get manufacturers’ parts and instructions.Manufacturers, however, argue that broadening access could pose dangers to would-be repairers and the equipment as well as compromise the safety and security of devices.As the bills make their way through the states, tech firms have succes...