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In rural Zimbabwe, a group of grandmothers counters alleged election intimidation, bias on WhatsApp

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

DOMBOSHAVA, Zimbabwe (AP) — Four grandmothers wearing bright yellow headscarves, T-shirts and skirts huddled around a cellphone in Zimbabwe’s rural Domboshava area. They cackled at a video showing a troop of mischievous baboons ripping up ruling party election posters with the face of the president on them.With a swish and a click, 64-year-old Elizabeth Mutandwa posted the video on a couple of community WhatsApp groups, and followed it up with some election campaign information from the party she supports in next week’s election — the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change.The grandmothers say they and their fellow opposition supporters are facing intimidation from followers of the long-ruling ZANU-PF party and a biased state-run media that restricts their options. But they have found a way to counter that with the use of WhatsApp group chats.“Let’s share this one with our own people. It’s good content,” said Mutandwa of the baboon video, once her giggles had subsided.S...

Angels infielder Nolan Schanuel has memorable debut in majors 40 days after being drafted 11th

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

By JOE REEDY (AP Sports Writer)ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Nolan Schanuel reached the majors less than six weeks after being picked 11th overall by the Los Angeles Angels in this year’s amateur draft.On Friday night, Schanuel showed the poise of a veteran in his big-league debut.The 21-year-old infielder was part of the Angels’ first triple play in 26 years, and also had an unassisted double play earlier. Batting leadoff, he went 1 for 4 and scored two runs.Despite the great debut, it still wasn’t enough as the Angels lost 9-6 to the Tampa Bay Rays in 10 innings.“I wouldn’t even say I remember my first at-bat. I kind of blacked out,” Schanuel said. “After the double-play line drive, I kind of snapped back into it and came down to Earth. After that, it just felt normal.”Schanuel’s call up from Double-A Rocket City comes 40 days after he was drafted. It’s the fastest big-league promotion for a draft pick since Chris Sale in ...

Suspect arrested in string of robberies targeting L.A. taco vendors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

A suspect was arrested in connection to a string of robberies targeting food trucks and taco vendors across Los Angeles, police announced Friday.The suspect was identified as Stayshawn Stephens by the Los Angeles Police Department.Stephens is believed to be one of the several suspects accused of robbing six food trucks and taco vendors at gunpoint late Wednesday night. The robberies were reported between 9:40 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. One victim, Ricardo Antonio of Verdaderos Crazy Tacos, recalled the brazen robberies that night."My employees were in there and they got robbed at gunpoint,” he said. “They took out two guns on them and took all the cash and everything and then just took off.”He said they escaped with at least $600, including an employee's wallet. He witnessed the group of thieves take off in a newer-model white Honda Civic. Video captures store clerk thwarting armed robber in Fountain Valley The locations where food vendors were targeted include:-5900 block of Santa ...

Mountain lion spotted in backyard of San Mateo home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

SAN MATEO – A mountain lion was spotted Friday morning in the backyard of a San Mateo home, police said.The sighting was reported around 6:20 a.m. in the 600 block of 16th Avenue, the San Mateo Police Department said in a news release. Area residents also told officers they saw the mountain lion on Vanessa Drive and near South Grant Street.Police said the mountain lion was not hostile toward humans and appeared to be traveling along Leslie Creek.Schools were advised to shelter in place while officers searched the surrounding neighborhoods.“Officers used multiple resources to complete a search ensuring the mountain lion was no longer in the area,” police said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Tomales Bay invaded by self-cloning sea anemones from Southern Hemisphere Crime and Public Safety | 13 Canada geese die after landing in La Brea Tar Pits; 2 are recovering Crime and Public Safety | Castle Rock State Park to expand in size due to...

Antioch man pleads guilty in lottery ticket theft scheme

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

MARTINEZ – The leader of a retail theft ring that stole nearly $100,000 worth of California State Lottery Scratchers tickets from stores in seven Northern California counties pleaded guilty to nine felony charges Friday, according to East Bay prosecutors.Ryan Anderson, 32, of Antioch, will serve three years in state prison under the terms of the plea deal, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. He must also admit probation violations and pay full restitution to the state lottery.In 2022, state lottery investigators identified Anderson as the leader of a group responsible for 71 separate thefts of lottery tickets from 65 convenience and grocery stores in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano and Stainslaus counties between March 27 and Oct. 25 of that year, according to prosecutors.The district attorney’s office said the tickets were valued at $95,565 and contained $59,105 in prize money.The thefts ended after Contra Costa pros...

The Marlins slug 5 homers and snap the Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak with an 11-3 victory

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jorge Soler hit two of the Marlins’ season-high five homers off Tony Gonsolin, and Miami snapped the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak with an 11-3 victory Friday night.Jake Burger hit a three-run homer and Jacob Stallings added a two-run shot while the Marlins scored six runs on three homers in the third.Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s three-run shot in the fourth finally chased Gonsolin (8-5), who gave up a career-worst 10 runs while getting only 10 outs.“An 11-game winning streak can be broken any day,” Chisholm said. “We had an 11-game winning streak, and it got broken. We just came in with the mentality we were going to bust their stuff.”Mookie Betts set a franchise record with his 11th leadoff homer of the season for the NL West-leading Dodgers, who lost for only the second time in 17 games in August. Max Muncy and James Outman also homered in a two-team power surge that surprised Miami manager Skip Schumaker, a Southern California native who got to know...

Henderson hits 2-run homer, RBI single as Orioles top A’s 9-4

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

Baltimore Orioles'Adley Rutschman (35) slides safely into third base next to Oakland Athletics third baseman Jordan Diaz during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)(AP/Jeff Chiu) Baltimore Orioles'Adley Rutschman (35) slides safely into third base next to Oakland Athletics third baseman Jordan Diaz during the fourth inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)(AP/Jeff Chiu) OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles score runs every which way, and that makes pitching against them quite a chore.Kyle Gibson is thrilled to watch it from the dugout — even if that means longer waits in the dugout to return to ...

A scramble of last-ditch diplomacy aims at finding a peaceful solution to Niger’s deepening crisis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — A delegation from regional nations is expected to arrive in Niger in a last-ditch diplomacy effort to reach a peaceful solution with mutinous soldiers who ousted the country’s president last month.The representatives from the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, could arrive in the capital, Niamey, as early as Saturday and would join efforts by United Nations Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simao, who came on Friday, in trying to facilitate a resolution to the ongoing crisis.On Friday U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Simao would meet with the junta and other parties to try and facilitate a swift and peaceful resolution to Niger’s crisis.“What we want to see is a return to the constitutional order. We want to see the liberation of the president and his family and restoration of his legitimate authority,” he said.ECOWAS ordered the deployment of a “standby force” on August 10 to restore constitutional rule in the cou...

Swiss national arrested in military-ruled Myanmar for allegedly insulting Buddhism in film

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A Swiss citizen was arrested in military-ruled Myanmar for creating a film that allegedly insulted Buddhism, state media reported Saturday.Didier Nusbaumer, 52, was arrested on Aug. 8 along with 13 Myanmar nationals, including a 12-year-old girl, Myanma Alinn newspaper said.Insulting Buddhism is a punishable offense in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where religious nationalism has surged in recent years. About 90% of Myanmar people are Buddhist. The news report said that Nusbaumer wrote, filmed and edited the 75-minute movie “Don’t Expect Anything,” which was posted on YouTube on July 24. Short clips from the movie spread on social media including on TikTok and Facebook, drawing rebukes from Buddhist nationalists in Myanmar.“Although the people in the film’s main roles are Buddhist, they behaved inappropriately and degraded the dignity and morals of monks through their physical gestures and dialogue,” the media report said.The report did not say where any of the sus...

Chinese military launches drills around Taiwan as a ‘warning’ after a top island official went to US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:44:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese military launched drills around Taiwan on Saturday as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between “separatists and foreign forces,” its defense ministry said, days after the island’s vice president stopped over in the United States. Taiwanese Vice President William Lai’s recent trip to Paraguay to reinforce relations with his government’s last diplomatic partner in South America included stops in San Francisco and New York City. The mainland’s ruling Communist Party claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and says it has no right to conduct foreign relations.A spokesperson for China’s Eastern Theater Command said in a brief statement that the military exercises involved the coordination of vessels and planes and their ability to seize control of air and sea spaces.It was also testing the forces’ “actual combat capabilities,” Shi Yi said. The drills in the waters and airspace to the north and southwest of ...