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Bridge: March 18, 2023

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.One of the world’s top players is a nobleman from a small European principality, Count Yurtrix. Though not well known beyond his area, he’s a capable declarer who never boots an easy contract.The Count was declarer at today’s four hearts, and West led the jack of clubs. The Count always counts winners and losers before he touches a card. He saw four losers: a spade, the ace of trumps, a diamond (if the finesse lost) and a club. But declarer could set up dummy’s jack of diamonds as a winner for a club discard.CLUB LOSERThe Count won the first club with the ace and continued with the A-Q of diamonds. West won and led another club, but declarer won in dummy and pitched his club loser on the jack of diamonds. The contract was safe.Players would do well to emulate Count Yurtrix. Count your winners (generally, at notrump) and losers (generally, at a high-level suit contract) to help...

Americans Don’t Care About the Iraqi Dead. They Don’t Even Care About Their Own.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

A U.S. Marine doctor holds an Iraqi girl after front-line crossfire ripped apart an Iraqi family in central Iraq on March 29, 2003.Photo: Damir Sagolj/Reuters via AlamyIf you write a 4,500-word article about a 20-year war, you might want to mention how many people were killed.While that seems obvious, Max Boot, an energetic backer of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, has written a lengthy article on the war’s 20th anniversary that fails to note the number of deaths. The toll is in the hundreds of thousands, if not more — the carnage is too vast for an exact count — but Boot merely mentions a “high price in both blood and treasure” and quickly moves on.How high a price? Whose blood? There is no explanation.Boot is hardly the only anniversary writer unable to mention the apparently unmentionable. Peter Mansoor, a retired colonel with several deployments to Iraq, likewise failed to squeeze a reference to the death toll into his 2,000-word assessment of what happened. Mansoor’s story, like ...

Pakistani police storm home of former PM Khan, arrest 30

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

LAHORE, Islamabad (AP) — Police in Pakistan stormed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s residence in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday and arrested 30 people amid tear gas shelling after someone opened fire from the roof of the building, officials said. Senior police officer Suhail Sukhera, who is leading the operation in an upscale Lahore neighborhood, said police moved to remove encroachments and a blockade erected by Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party and his defiant supporters. He said baton-wielding Khan supporters attempted to resist police by throwing stones and petrol bombs, but the officers moved on until a man on the roof of Khan’s residence opened fire. No one was hurt. Sukhera said police broke open the main door of Khan’s residence and found masks, petrol-filled bottles, iron rods and batons used in attacks on police during the week. Sukhera said that inside the sprawling residence, illegal structures were erected to shelter those who have been involved in attacks o...

Turkey’s top diplomat visits Cairo in effort to mend ties

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Turkey’s chief diplomat was in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials as the regional powers seek to mend their frayed ties after years of tensions.Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, landed in the Egyptian capital early Saturday. He was the highest ranking Turkish official to visit the Arab World’s most populous nation in over a decade.Egypt and Turkey have been at loggerheads since the Egyptian military’s 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi amid mass protest against his divisive one year of rule. Morsi hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood group, supported by Turkey. Egypt has designated the group a terrorist organization.Cavusoglu met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for talks on “various aspects” of bilateral relations, said Ahmed Abu Zaid, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry Saturday.He said they also discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest, an apparent reference to the conflic...

DC Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio leaves Bowser’s office without explanation

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

One of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s closest confidants throughout her political career is leaving the mayor’s office in a major shake-up.On Friday, the office announced that John Falcicchio, the mayor’s right-hand man as chief of staff and deputy mayor of planning and economic development, would be leaving his positions.More DC NewsMore Local NewsThe mayor’s office thanked Falcicchio for his service during his nine-year tenure but gave no further comment about his departure.“We also thank Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio for his years of service to the District as he transitions to the private sector,” Bowser’s office wrote in a news release announcing appointments to replace Falcicchio.Mark Segraves, a reporter with WTOP’s news partner NBC Washington, said the reason for Falcicchio’s departure isn’t known.“Nobody in the mayor’s office, including the mayor, will say why he left, under what circumstances,” NBC Wa...

Paige Bueckers’s AP Diary: getting ready for March Madness

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — I’ve always been a fan of March Madness.Growing up I remember watching UConn own it. Sure, I remember Stewie (Breanna Stewart) winning four in a row, but my first memory was when Stefanie Dolson helped the Huskies win. She was my favorite UConn player growing up.Fast forward to the last few years where I’ve actually got to experience playing in it myself. It may not have been the norm with my first year being in the San Antonio bubble because of COVID and last season I was coming back from injury, but it’s an amazing feeling to play on the game’s biggest stage. You work so hard as a competitor to play in this and win at the end of the season.As many of you know this year I’m out recovering from a torn ACL injury that I suffered over the summer. I’ve been working hard over the last six-to-seven months on rehabbing. There’s still a ways to go, but every day I’m getting strong and healthier. I’ve been able to do...

Authorities investigating deadly shooting in Lawrence

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

An investigation is underway after a man was fatally shot in Lawrence late Friday night, officials announced.Officers responding to a report of shots fired on Walnut Street around midnight found a man suffering from a gunshot wound, according to Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker. The man, whose name was not released, was taken to Lawrence General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

UK minister in Rwanda to reinforce migrant deportation plan

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Home Secretary arrived in Rwanda on Saturday for a visit aimed at reinforcing the U.K. government’s commitment to a controversial plan to deport some asylum-seekers to the African country. Ahead of her visit, Suella Braverman said the migration policy “will act as a powerful deterrent against dangerous and illegal journeys.”Britain’s Conservative government wants to stop migrants from reaching the U.K. on risky journeys across the English Channel, and a deportation agreement signed with Rwanda last year was part of measures intended to deter the arrivals. More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain by boat in 2022, compared with 8,500 in 2020. Under the plans, some migrants who arrive in the U.K. in small boats would be flown to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. Those granted asylum would stay in the African country rather than return to Britain.But the 140 million-pound ($170 million) plan has been mired in legal challeng...

Lights out for Philly’s famed Boathouse Row, for now

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

The bright lights of Philadelphia’s famed Boathouse Row — long one of the city’s signature nighttime sights — are going dark, at least for now.Outlining a cluster of historic boathouses along the Schuylkill River near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the twinkly lights reflect off the water and give definition to the unique architecture of each building. “It’s in some ways our postcard shot of Philadelphia,” explained Tara Rasheed of Fairmount Park Conservancy, as indelible as the Liberty Bell or the art museum steps in “Rocky.”Starting Monday, though, the lights will be switched off and taken down as work gets underway on a $2.1 million replacement project. If all goes to plan, a new, upgraded lighting system should be ready for the winter holiday season.The buildings store the long, slender boats used by rowing crews, and have wide garage-door-like bays that open onto ramps that slope down to the water’s edge. Many have steep roofs or Tudor or Victorian-influenced archi...

Range of emotions for residents facing relocation over smelter in Rouyn-Noranda

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:55:50 GMT

ROUYN-NORANDA, Que. — An announcement this week that some 200 families would be relocated from a Rouyn-Noranda neighbourhood contaminated by smelter pollution was met with anxiety and concern for those who will be moved out.While some residents of the Notre-Dame neighbourhood, in the city about 630 kilometres north of Montreal, see it as a chance to leave a sector where arsenic emissions from the Horne copper smelter are associated to a higher risk of cancer, others greet the impending move with sadness and anguish.Ginette Bédard has felt the full range of emotions in recent days.Since learning this week she will have to move from the neighbourhood she’s called home for 30 years, she progressed from anxiety to tears to fear.“This doesn’t work for me at all, where am I going to go? At my age? Retired?” said Bédard, a former orderly.The Quebec government announced Thursday it would provide $88.3 million to support the City of Rouyn-Noranda to create a neighbour...