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Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf has died at 64. He shot themes from gay nightlife to the royal family

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Erwin Olaf, an acclaimed Dutch photographer whose work documented topics ranging from gay nightlife in Amsterdam to portraits of the Dutch royal family, has died. He was 64.Olaf’s highly stylized photos, with lighting often influenced by Dutch master painters Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer, were exhibited at galleries around the world during a career spanning decades.His website carried a statement saying that Olaf recently underwent a lung transplant. “The recovery seemed to be going very well. He suddenly became unwell on Wednesday morning and CPR was to no avail. We’re going to miss him terribly,” it added.Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum, paid tribute in a statement on the Amsterdam museum’s website.“Erwin Olaf saw beauty in every person. He is of historical importance because of his activism and role in the LHBTIQ+ community,” Dibbits said.He called Olaf “an artist with enormous drive and with a very great eye for deta...

Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes happy for reworked deal, chance to keep winning Super Bowls in KC

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes was trying to walk a tightrope taking him three different directions while negotiating his revised contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, which effectively makes him the league’s highest-paid player over the next four years.Mahomes wanted to maximize his income. He wanted to leave salary cap space so the Chiefs could continue to surround him with championship talent. And he wanted to keep pushing the bar higher for other players seeking contracts around the league.“You have to watch and see what’s going on around the league and find that right spot,” Mahomes said Wednesday in his first comments since reworking his deal. “I think we found a good one in this negotiation we did to keep cap space to get other guys signed, but obviously I’ve got more money up front and we’ll renegotiate when we get to the right time.”Mahomes still has nine years left on his 10-year, $450 million contract, which set the standard for overall va...

Live Updates: World leaders convene for Day 2 of the UN General Assembly high-level meeting

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Welcome to the United Nations. Over the course of the next week, leaders from scores of countries will take the marbled dais that, despite being geographically located in midtown Manhattan, belongs to the world. It’s part of the U.N. General Assembly’s General Debate, in which a parade of speakers will cycle through the iconic hall from Tuesday, Sept. 19, through Tuesday, Sept. 26.At the United Nations and on the sidelines, pressing topics will reflect the myriad global crises at hand: climate change, rampant inequality, Russia’s war in Ukraine, public health and geopolitical instability, among others. Presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other high-ranking representatives are convening under the 78th session’s theme of “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.”Check back here throughout fo...

Biden administration announces $600M to produce COVID tests and will reopen website to order them

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home COVID-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household — aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases that has typically come during colder months. The Department of Health and Human Services says orders can be placed at COVIDTests.gov starting Sept. 25, and that no-cost tests will be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service. Twelve manufacturers that employ hundreds of people in seven states have been awarded funding and will produce 200 million over-the-counter tests to replenish federal stockpiles for government use, in addition to producing enough tests to meet demand for tests ordered online, the department said. Federal officials said that will help guard against supply chain issues that sparked some shortages of at-home COVID tests made overseas duri...

Catholic priests bless same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Several Catholic priests held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples outside Cologne Cathedral on Wednesday night in a protest against the city’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.Their protest was triggered by Cologne church officials’ criticism of a priest from Mettmann, a town near Duesseldorf, who in March had held a “blessing ceremony for lovers” — including same-sex couples.Officials from the Cologne archdiocese, which Mettmann belongs to, had reprimanded the priest afterward and stressed that the Vatican doesn’t allow blessings of same-sex couples, German news agency dpa reported.The blessing of same-sex couples on Wednesday was the latest sign of rebellion of progressive believers in Germany’s most populous diocese with about 1.8 million members.Several hundred people showed up for the outdoor blessing service for same-sex and also heterosexual couples. Waving rainbow flags, they sang the Beatles hit “All You Need Is Love,” d...

The fall equinox isn't what you think it is

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Ask most people and they will tell you that the spring or fall equinox is the date when day and night are equal in length.That, however, is not actually the case.Day and night last for around the same time on the equinoxes, but it isn't exact.There is a term for when the two are exactly the same: equilux. Daylight saving time: Yes, Coloradans will still need to fall back in November What is the equinox, and when is it?The equinox is a very specific thing astronomically and happens on the same date and time no matter where you are.It is, put most simply, when the earth's axis is not tilted away or toward the sun.The earth experiences two equinoxes a year: the spring equinox, which marks the start of astronomical spring, and the fall equinox, which marks the start of astronomical fall. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team When the equinox happens is based on the equator, which is why it happens at the same time no matter where you a...

Police seek information on hit-and-run in NE Miami-Dade that left bicyclist dead

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

Police seek the public’s help in finding information regarding a fatal hit-and-run in Northeast Miami-Dade that left a woman dead. According to Miami-Dade Police, the crash unfolded on Sunday at 10:01 a.m. in the vicinity of Northeast 205th Terrace and Northeast 14th Avenue and claimed the life of 20-year-old Maria Araujo Muniz de Souza, who was riding her bicycle to work. The driver of the subject vehicle fled the scene without offering assistance or reporting the crash. The description of the subject vehicle is as follows: a gold, four-door Toyota Tundra, model years 2007-2013, with visible damage to the right front corner. Officials urge anyone with information about this fatal hit-and-run, the subject vehicle or its driver to contact MDPD Detective E. Diaz at 305-471-3292. Those wishing to remain anonymous can reach out to Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers through various channels, including phone, 305-471-TIPS (8477) or 1-866-471-8477, the website www.CrimeStoppers305...

Nagorno-Karabakh catastrophe fires anger against Armenia’s leader

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia — A crowd of protestors filed into the central square of the Armenian capital on Wednesday night, first just as small groups, mixing with the families eating ice creams on benches, but then as a wide sea of angry faces.Heavily armored riot police formed an iron cordon around the government building, its windows already smashed by bricks thrown at a demonstration the night before. Chants went up in support of the ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Azerbaijani troops launched a lightning offensive the day before. Others in the crowd — a few thousand strong — called for Armenia’s embattled prime minister, liberal reformer Nikol Pashinyan, to resign over the defeat and bloodshed.The supreme fear is that many of the 100,000 Armenians in the enclave will be driven out in ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijani forces. “The biggest problem is our prime minister because he’s doing nothing to save people’s lives and Azerbaijan is doing genocide,” said Van, a 36-year-o...

Ed Miliband says he regrets Russell Brand interview

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

LONDON — Ed Miliband, the former leader of the British Labour Party, expressed regret for a 2015 interview he did with comedian Russell Brand.Speaking at the launch party for POLITICO’s U.K. energy and climate change coverage, the now shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero said at the time he felt “duty bound” to challenge Brand, who had been encouraging young people not to vote.Brand has been accused of rape and sexual assaults by women between 2006 and 2013, according to a Sunday Times investigation published at the weekend. The Metropolitan Police has also received a report of an alleged sexual assault in 2003 following the newspaper’s reporting. Brand denied the claims, saying his relationships were “always consensual.” Miliband said, “My solidarity is with the women who have come forward to tell their stories.”Asked about his appearance on Brand’s YouTube series “The Trews” before the 2015 general election...

Ukraine and Russia agree on one thing: The UN is a mess.

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:15:56 GMT

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the United Nations’ ineffectiveness in the face of Russia’s war on Kyiv in a tension-filled special session of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.And that was just the start of what was likely to be a multi-hour meeting with plenty of diatribes and ripostes. Among the expected attendees: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.Several heads of state and government — some from allies of Ukraine but others neutral — are also planning to speak. Among the chief diplomats on the schedule is Secretary of State Antony Blinken.Zelenskyy, dressed in his standard green military fatigues, urged the Security Council to suspend Russia’s veto power as a permanent member of the body in light of Russia’s actions during the war and bashed the U.N.’s failures to uphold its values amid the war.“Ukrainian soldiers now are doing at the expense of their blood what the U.N. Security Council should do by its ...