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Inside Chechnya’s gulag for gay men

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia — It was winter and the apple trees that line the streets of Grozny were bare when Salman Mukayev’s phone rang. “I’m an officer with the Leninsky police department,” the voice on the other end said. “What is your name? How long have you been using this number? There has been some fraud on your account — we’d be grateful if you could come down to the station tomorrow to clear things up.”Mukayev, a 40-year-old shop assistant from the capital of Russia’s southern Chechnya region, had never had any problems with the authorities before. He turned off the phone and put it in a drawer.Then his wife got a call, he says. “He isn’t here,” she insisted, “he lives at another address. If you’re really investigators, you’ll have to find him for yourselves.”Two weeks later, they did. A black car pulled up outside Mukayev’s house and three men in dark uniforms climbed out. At least one was carrying a gun.Once inside the unassuming police station building, set back from the tower bl...

Ukraine’s communities need support for their green recovery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

Laurence Tubiana is the chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and the former architect of the 2015 U.N. Paris Agreement on Climate ChangeIn the 21st century, standing alongside an invaded country requires more than providing diplomatic and military support. Thus, there’s a growing consensus that Europe must focus on a sustainable economic recovery for Ukraine.Along these lines, a new donor coordination body has just begun work to bring together international support for the country’s reconstruction. And last month, G7 nations confirmed they were backing “the sustainable and resilient recovery and green reconstruction of Ukraine.Rebuilding a prewar version of Ukraine would be unthinkable. An old-style economy based on fossil fuels means fragile sovereignty, and it would scare off investors wary of financing assets that belong in the last century. It would be no recovery at all.Renewables, however, are aligned with peace, security and independence for Ukraine. They are th...

‘That’s crazy’: Officials say 32-year-old woman fraudulently enrolled at 3 Boston high schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

A 32-year-old former social worker has been ordered to stay away from Boston Public Schools property after officials say she used forged documents to fraudulently enroll in three different Boston high schools.In a letter to families, Boston Public Schools officials say the woman attended Brighton, English, and Jeremiah Burke high schools under different names throughout the 2022-2023 school year. The Department of Children and Families has confirmed the woman periodically worked for them as a social worker between 2016 and this year but is not longer employed by the agency.Eugene Vanburea, a student at Brighton High School, said, “That’s kind of crazy I don’t know , that’s crazy, I don’t know why they want to act like they’re a student in their 30s.”A police report shows officers became concerned about the possibility of human trafficking but Boston Mayor Wu said there has been no evidence of that. “I’m very thankful at this moment, there ha...

Arroyo has five hits, four RBIs as Red Sox beat Twins 10-4 for sixth straight win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Added to the starting lineup late, Christian Arroyo had a career-high five hits and drove in four runs, while Kutter Crawford pitched five scoreless innings for the Boston Red Sox in a 10-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.Adam Duvall and Arroyo hit solo homers in the fourth to start the scoring, and Masataka Yoshida added a two-run shot in the eighth. Arroyo also hit a three-run double as part of a five-run seventh for Boston, which has outscored opponents 50-18 during a six-game win streak.Arroyo wasn’t in the original starting lineup but was inserted when shortstop Pablo Reyes was scratched just before the start of the game with right abdominal soreness.Crawford (2-3) gave up just six hits and struck out five. Corey Kluber allowed four runs on three homers but pitched the final three innings for his first career save.Bailey Ober (4-4) surrendered three runs on eight hits in six innings for Minnesota, which has lost five of six and fell to a season-...

Orioles bats build early lead, bullpen barely holds on in 8-6 win over Rays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

In the first two innings Tuesday night, the Orioles made up for three seasons’ worth of struggles against Tyler Glasnow.Across six starts against Baltimore between 2018 and 2020, the Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher was 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA, not allowing more than two runs in any outing. Facing the 6-foot-8 right-hander again Tuesday, a hitter who was on a different American League East team for those dominant performances was the one who ended that streak in the first inning.Aaron Hicks, who has been one of Baltimore’s best hitters since joining the team after being cut by the New York Yankees, blasted a three-run home run in the first inning — the first of three long balls the Orioles hit as they built a seven-run lead. The advantage was barely large enough for their bullpen as Baltimore held on for an 8-6 win over Tampa Bay.A 7-0 lead is one that would normally have manager Brandon Hyde comfortable, but “not with the Rays,” he said. “That’s...

Astros spoil Justin Verlander’s homecoming after beating Mets, 4-2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

HOUSTON — Justin Verlander dueled Framber Valdez through seven innings Tuesday night in his Houston homecoming, but in the end it was his former teammate that bested him.The Mets fell 4-2 to the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in the second game of a three-game series. Verlander, who won his third Cy Young Award as a member of the Astros less than a year ago, gave up all four runs, continuing his trend of following each good start with a tough one.The Astros took three runs off their former ace in the third inning. A leadoff double, a single and a sacrifice fly gave Houston (40-34) a 1-0 lead. Alex Bregman’s two-out, two-run homer to left field made it 3-0.Verlander (2-4) settled in, shutting down the Astros for the next three innings. He allowed one more run in the seventh, but otherwise was effective. The four runs came on eight hits and the 40-year-old right-hander struck out five and walked none. It wasn’t his best start, but it wasn’t his worst. Howev...

O’Bryant community questions BPS planning for West Roxbury move

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

Families, alumni and staff at the O’Bryant School of Math & Science came out in force at the first community meeting regarding the district’s proposal to move to West Roxbury.“This currently is the only option in terms of size that can actually, not only hold the amount of students and the amount of programming for a school the size of O’Bryant,” BPS Chief of Capital Planning Delavern Stanislaus said at the meeting, which took place virtually from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. “But also support by expanding seventh and eighth grades and expand the school to an additional 400 students.”The community meeting is the first since BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper and Mayor Michelle Wu announced a proposal to move the O’Bryant school, which shares a campus with Madison Park Vocational Technical High School in Roxbury, about 7 miles to a vacant West Roxbury Education Complex.The officials argued the proposal, which they estimate would open i...

Judge rules Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors violates US Constitution

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

By ANDREW DeMILLO (Associated Press)LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions.U.S. District Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law, which would have prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18.Arkansas’ law, which Moody temporarily blocked in 2021, also would have prohibited doctors from referring patients elsewhere for such care. At least 19 other states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors following Arkansas’ law, and nearly all of them have been challenged in court. In his order, Moody ruled that the prohibition violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and ...

Father of two kids hit, killed on SR-78 speaks out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

VISTA, Calif. -- Sunday was the worst Father's Day imaginable for Miguel Aguilar. Two of his children were hit and killed on the eastbound lanes of State Route 78 Sunday evening."That was the hardest moments to see as a father, just two bodies laying there," Aguilar said, remembering the moment he pulled onto the scene to find two of his children had died."Everyday I wake up, just looking at their faces in my head, every night I go to sleep dreaming of them, it's the only place I can hold them, kiss them, tell them I love them," he said.Sandra Ortiz, 33, was driving her six kids to the park on Sunday evening, when luggage fell off the top of their car. She pulled to the shoulder and 16-year-old Amy Monserrat and 10-year-old Alan Gerardo got out of the car to retrieve the luggage when they were hit and killed on SR-78."My daughter was a special beautiful girl, she had a lot of dreams, she wanted to have a bakery shop, she loved to bake," Aguilar said through the emotional interview. ...

Reform-minded prosecutors in northern Virginia win reelection nominations in Democratic primaries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:06 GMT

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — Three incumbent prosecutors in northern Virginia who faced tough challenges after being elected four years ago on a progressive reform agenda won their Democratic primaries Tuesday. In Fairfax County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, incumbent Steve Descano defeated Ed Nuttall, a former prosecutor and trial attorney who is best known for representing police officers accused of misconduct.Descano, in a phone interview, said the results in his race and in the other two counties show that “voters have seen that criminal justice reform can work, and quite frankly they want more of it.”He said that while reform opponents have tried to raise fears about rising crime, Tuesday’s results show that “voters feel safe, they know they’re safe, and they know they can have safety, fairness, justice and equality.”Buta Biberaj, the commonwealth’s attorney in Loudoun County, won over challenger Elizabeth Lancaster after raising significantly more money. Biberaj faced...