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Chinese comedians living abroad are winning fans. But some topics are off limits

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Comedian Xi Diao says he knows he should avoid talking politics on stage, but sharing a family name with Chinese President Xi Jinping makes it hard to resist.Even his name is politically sensitive, the Melbourne-based amateur comedian tells audiences, setting up a joke about a group chat on the Chinese messaging service WeChat being shut down as soon as he joined it. The 33-year-old civil engineer gets nervous laughs whenever he breaks a de facto rule of Chinese comedy: Don’t say anything that makes China look bad. To most comedians, that means no jokes about censorship, no mentioning the president’s name, and no discussion of China’s extraordinarily strict COVID lockdowns or social topics like domestic violence.“It is a pity, if the environment were open, there would be somebody world-class coming up,” Xi said.Mandarin-language standup comedy is growing, and not just in China. The medium has taken off in the last decade, and China’s expatriate population has...

Nepal arrests 10 on suspicion of recruiting locals for Russian army

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

Police in Nepal have arrested 10 people for allegedly scamming unemployed young men into joining the Russian army.The suspects charged people up to $9,000 for “tourist visas” and sent them to Russia through third countries, mainly the United Arab Emirates, Kathmandu District Police chief Bhupendra Khatri told Reuters. They were then recruited to the Russian army, the official said, adding that it amounted to human trafficking.Nepalese authorities had earlier asked Russia not to recruit its citizens to fight in Ukraine, as at least six Nepalis have already been killed, Kathmandu Post reported this week.On Monday, Ukrainian military reporter Andriy Tsaplienko published a video of five Russian prisoners of war captured by the Ukrainian army, taken in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. In the video, all of them identify themselves and say they are all serving in the Russian 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment. While three are from Dagestan and other parts of Russia, one prisoner says he is fro...

China rejects EU’s trade deficit complaint

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

BRUSSELS — Beijing has rebuffed a complaint by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over the EU’s trade deficit against China, a day before her summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.The EU bears responsibility for the trade imbalance as it’s stopped businesses from exporting to China, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday, responding to von der Leyen’s call on China to open up access to its market.“If the EU on the one hand imposes harsh restrictions on high-tech exports, and on the other hopes to sharply increase exports to China, that I’m afraid doesn’t make sense,” Wang told a regular press conference.Wang’s comment appeared to refer to restrictions on exports of the most advanced lithography tools, made by Dutch market leader ASML, that are used to print the most powerful computer chips.He added that part of the profits generated from Chinese trade surpluses are earned by European comp...

Snowy Scene For Some

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

Before you get the snow, you need the cold, and temps this morning are cold enough to support snow across many locations. Moisture is limited away from the coast, so patchy light snow showers/flurries are present there, but other than spotty light dustings of snow, not much is falling. Close to the coast, close to an inch of snow fell overnight across Cape Ann and heavier and steadier bursts of snow have dropped even more across parts of Plymouth County. That is where the focus of the falling snow will be for the morning commute, as we’ll see snow covered untreated roads and reduced visibility at times. Snow continues across Plymouth County and parts of the Cape through mid to late morning, before drying out this afternoon. Many locations east of Route 24 to Route 3 will pick up 1-2″ of snow with isolated pockets of 3″ in a few towns. Even the western Cape picks up a coating to a couple inches. It’ll be dry and cold this afternoon with highs in the 30s. We...

Denny Laine, co-founder of bands Wings and The Moody Blues, dies at 79

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

(CNN) — Denny Laine, co-founder of bands Wings and The Moody Blues and longtime collaborator of Paul McCartney, died on Tuesday morning, according to Laine’s wife Elizabeth Hines. He was 79.Hines wrote in a post on Laine’s official Instagram account that Laine had “been in ICU on a ventilator this past week.” She said Laine had Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), which “is unpredictable and aggressive.”“He fought everyday. He was so strong and brave, never complained,” she wrote.In 1971, Laine helped form Wings alongside Paul and Linda McCartney. They released their debut album “Wild Life” that same year, and followed up with their second album, 1973’s “Red Rose Speedway,” which brought them their first No. 1 hit with “My Love.”Wings’ most iconic musical offering was their 1973 album “Band on the Run. The album became one of the top-selling British albums of 1974 and reached No. 1 in US. It includes hits such as the title track “Band on the Run,” plus “Jet,” “L...

House Speaker Johnson wants to blur January 6 footage to protect Capitol rioters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

(CNN) — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that before publicly releasing footage of the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, the faces of the mob will be blurred to protect them from the Justice Department.The Louisiana Republican said during a news conference that he wants to make sure rioters don’t get prosecuted.“We’re going through a methodical process of releasing them as quickly as we can,” Johnson said. “As you know, we have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in events of that day because we don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ and to have other, you know, concerns and problems.”He added: “So that’s a slow process to get it done.”Federal investigators and prosecutors already have footage from the Capitol’s security cameras and have used it to charge and prosecute members of the mob that day.But online sleuths and individuals from the public have previously helped to identify many people from images take...

OBF: Written in stone: Pats haven’t hit rock bottom

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

The Patriots have hit “rock bottom” more times this season than Wile E. Coyote bouncing down a cliff.They are not going to run out of “rocks” or “bottoms” any time soon.Sunday, the Chargers zapped Zappe & Company in a 6-0 soulless loss. By now you know these Patriots are the first team since the mighty 1938 Chicago Cardinals to allow 10 points or fewer in three straight games only to lose all three.Rock bottom?Yes. For now.But the Patriots are in line for a string of upcoming “rock bottoms” that could leave them so deep they’ll emerge in China.Thursday, the Patriots visit Pittsburgh. This roster is so devoid of talent that the Amazon Prime hype slide last week featured an image of Bill Belichick as the most notable Patriot.Sadly, neither Samuel Adams, Sam Adams, John Adams, nor Julius Adams is still with us. This nationally televised game is set to feature Zappe and Mitch Trubisky as the starting quarterbacks.The points total for Thursday’s game as of this writing was 30. The nu...

Great news for skiers: Black Mountain is back

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

First, a declaration of bias from this journalist: I have a soft spot in my heart for Black Mountainin Jackson, N.H.I looked down on the snowy white tree-lined trails every day from the peak of the nearby ski area I grew up at – now defunct Tyrol Mountain. I headed over to Black often; usually with some of my great local friends who knew the mountain well. I competed in freestyle jumping there and every time I ski that trail now, I harken back to those glory days.It was one of my very favorite apres spots when I came to that age, and is to this day, I like to get back there and experience it all: the lovely, narrow, woodlined classic eastern trails, the fun albeit aged base lodge and pub, the upscale but kicked back dinners at The Shovel Handle and, yes, even the semi-slow ride on the lovely, classic red double chair.It’s the first place I ever skied with my now husband of 40 years.I still cherish my now very old and priceless-to-me season passes from the place. So when I heard it w...

Suspects sought in smash-and-grab jewellery store robbery at Yorkdale Mall

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

Police are looking for three suspects following a smash-and-grab robbery at a high-end jewellery store inside a Toronto mall that was still open to shoppers.Officers were called to Yorkdale Mall around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday night for reports of a robbery in progress.It is alleged that three male suspects entered the Cartier store and smashed display cases before making off with an unknown amount of product. The mall closes its doors to the public at 9:30 p.m. No injuries were reported.The Cartier store at Yorkdale Mall is the subject of a brazen smash grab just before closing time Tuesday night. Three smashed display cases. Unknown value of product taken from the high end jeweller. Police looking for three suspects.Listen Live: https://t.co/lu38IDAvEK pic.twitter.com/R5KrG5h7Rz— Alex Bloomfield (@AlexCityNews) December 6, 2023Police are searching for three male suspects:#1 – a male wearing a black toque, black face mask, black sweater, black backpack, brown pants and white s...

A new Homeland Security guide aims to help houses of worship protect themselves

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:11:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new guide from the Department of Homeland Security released Wednesday aims to help churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship protect themselves at a time of heightened tensions in faith-based communities across the country.The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an arm of Homeland Security, works with faith groups across the country to help them prepare for and prevent targeted violence against their facilities and their members. David Mussington, who’s in charge of infrastructure security at CISA, says the goal of the 16-page document is to give useable information in a format that’s easy to understand. “It’s designed to be clear, to be less jargon-filled and to provide guidance and assistance in getting assistance from us,” Mussington said.The guidance, dubbed “Physical Security Performance Goals for Faith-Based Communities,” outlines how faith groups can better protect themselves: keeping landscaping like hedges trimme...