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China OKs 105 online games in Christmas gesture of support after draft curbs trigger massive losses

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s press and publications authority has approved 105 new online games, saying it fully supports the industry after proposed curbs caused massive losses last week for investors in major games makers. The National Press and Publication Administration issued a statement on its WeChat social media account Monday saying the approvals by the Game Working Committee of China Music and Digital Association were “positive signals that support the prosperity and healthy development of the online game industry.”Tencent’s “Counter War: Future” and NetEase’s “Firefly Assault” were among games approved.Draft guidelines for curbs on online gaming had caused share prices of video game makers like Tencent and Netease to plunge on Friday, causing losses of tens of billions of dollars and dragging Chinese benchmarks lower. The administration’s guidelines said online games would be banned from offering incentives for daily log-ins or purchases. Other restrictions include l...

Fire breaks out at California home while armed suspect remains inside, police say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A fire started at a California home on Christmas Eve while an armed suspect remained inside the house hours later, authorities told local media.The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a 911 call on 11th Street in Hermosa Beach around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, KTLA-TV reported. A witness said neighbors heard an argument and saw a man with a gun who went into the two-story home and refused to surrender to police who arrived at the scene, KTLA reported.A garage at the home caught fire shortly before 5 p.m., KTLA reported. At 9 p.m., police believed the suspect was still alive inside the home, Hermosa Beach Police Chief Paul LeBaron said during a news conference.LeBaron said the suspect’s immediate family members, including children, fled before police arrived, KTLA reported.“They came out and, at that point, the only person left inside that we were aware of was the suspect,” LeBaron said, adding that neighboring homes were evacuated.Police repo...

Afghan schoolgirls are finishing sixth grade in tears. Under Taliban rule, their education is over

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Bahara Rustam, 13, took her last class at Bibi Razia School in Kabul on Dec. 11 knowing it was the end of her education. Under Taliban rule, she is unlikely to step foot in a classroom again.In September 2021, a month after U.S. and NATO troops withdrew from Afghanistan following two decades of war, the Taliban announced that girls were barred from studying beyond sixth grade. They extended this education ban to universities in December 2022. The Taliban have defied global condemnation and warnings that the restrictions will make it almost impossible for them to gain recognition as the country’s legitimate rulers.Last week, U.N. special envoy Roza Otunbayeva expressed concern that a generation of Afghan girls is falling behind with each day that passes.Last week, an official in the Education Ministry said Afghan girls of all ages are allowed to study in religious schools known as madrassas, which have traditionally been boys-only. But Otunbayeva said it was...

Pakistani police free 290 Baluch activists arrested while protesting extrajudicial killings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police Monday freed 290 Baloch activists who were arrested when they attempted to hold a protest last week in the capital, Islamabad. Their release came days after protest organizers gave authorities a deadline to release all those detained. The activists had traveled 1,600 kilometers (about 1,000 miles) on Thursday from Turbat, a town in Baluchistan province, to protest forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the militancy-ravaged southwest. The protesters were mostly women and some had brought along their children, aged 7-12, when security forces used batons and water canons to disperse and arrest them.They wanted to draw attention to the case of 24-year-old Balaach Mola Bakhsh, who died in November while in police custody in Baluchistan. Authorities said he was killed after militants ambushed the police vehicle transporting him.Police said Bakhsh was carrying explosives when he was arrested. His family insists he is innocent, demanding justi...

The Patriots looked content with overtime. Broncos coach Sean Payton took timeouts until they considered something else.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

Finally, after most of a quarter spent climbing out of a hole they dug themselves, the Broncos had control of Sunday night’s game against lowly New England and a chance to actually win it.Set up first-and-10 at their own 39-yard line with 1 minute, 42 seconds to go in a tie game, the Broncos had several paths to the finish line.They only needed about 25 yards to get to field goal range and give kicker Wil Lutz a chance to win the game.At worst, they should have made it to overtime.Instead, they suffered a crushing 26-23 loss to the Patriots that will sting long after Christmas morning and likely well into an offseason almost sure to arrive without a trip to the playoffs for an eighth straight season.How did it happen? Head coach Sean Payton went from playing conservative in the third quarter to pushing aggression to and past the line of rationality in the final two minutes.Payton as a baseline knows what this team is. He said it himself after the game. It’s a group that has th...

Broncos WR Courtland Sutton into concussion protocol after first-quarter injury

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

The Broncos played the final three-plus quarters of Sunday night’s crushing 26-23 loss to New England without their best weapon in wide receiver Courtland Sutton.Sutton, in the midst of a resurgent season, was knocked out of the game in the second quarter and later was diagnosed with a concussion.That puts him in the league’s mandated protocol for such brain injuries, meaning he’ll have to show no symptoms and clear through several steps in order to return to the playing field down the stretch for the Broncos.Sutton’s final play of the night was Javonte Williams’ short touchdown run late in the first quarter. Sutton put his hands on his helmet momentarily, then celebrated the touchdown by throwing his arms in the air.After that, though, he didn’t return to the game and Brandon Johnson took most of his snaps.“Any time you lose a good player like that — it happened early in the game — there’s a couple adjustments we make and then we go play,” Payton said. “Knock on wood we’ve been hea...

Broncos’ playoff hopes go bust on Christmas Eve after comeback falls short against Patriots

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

The Broncos will wake up Monday morning with nothing but coal in their stockings.They’ve got only themselves to blame for a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.Needing three wins to close the season and hosting the 3-11 New England Patriots on Christmas Eve, the Broncos marred their own holiday weekend with a loss that all but seals their 2023 fate.The offense: Putrid at the start, roaring to life too late.The other two units: Strong early, only to sustain massive letdowns at critical junctures.The final count: New England 26, Denver 23 after Chad Ryland drilled a 56-yard field goal with 2 seconds left to stick a fork right through the Broncos.The real damage is this: Any hope of making it out of a jumbled AFC playoff picture practically speaking went out the window when the Broncos dropped to 7-8 for the season. It’ll take 10 wins minimum barring something exceedingly unlikely happening. The teams that hit that mark will undoubtedly be more injured than this Denver team is. At least a...

These grocery stores are open on Christmas Day in California

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

The holiday season brings limited business hours and full retail and restaurant closures as many employees spend time celebrating the holiday with friends and loved ones.This year, Christmas Eve and Christmas fall on a Sunday and Monday, respectively, meaning that several government offices usually closed on Sunday will also be closed on Monday.Here are the holiday business hours for supermarkets in the Golden State. It is important to note that Californians should still call stores in their area for the most up-to-date information.Grocery StoresTrader Joe’s: Open until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, but will be closed on Christmas DaySprout’s Farmers Market: Opened until 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, but will be closed on Christmas Day.Whole Foods: Will be closed on Christmas.Costco: Will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas.Smart & Final: Will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas.Aldi: Christmas Eve operation hours va...

Family devastated after 2 young girls killed in house fire  

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

A family from the Inland Empire is mourning the loss of two of their six children in a house fire less than two weeks before Christmas. According to local officials, the fire was first reported just before 6:50 p.m. on Dec. 14 in the 2500 block of St. Lawrence Street in Barstow. Barstow Fire Protection District firefighters responded to the location on calls of multiple children being trapped inside the burning home and started two separate rescues amid heavy fire and smoke conditions, the department said in a release.  Alabama woman with rare double uterus gives birth to two children “Firefighters jumped through two separate bedroom windows to locate and rescue the trapped children,” the Barstow Fire Protection District said. “They successfully handed the children out of the windows to Barstow Police Officers who rushed them to waiting ambulances.” Firefighters fighting a house fire in Barstow, CA on Dec. 14, 2023. (Instagram/@kserrano562)The two children were...

700 Club: Bob Fisher nears exclusive milestone

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:15 GMT

There is no man more synonymous with high school basketball in Eastern Massachusetts than Bob Fisher.Over the span of six decades, Fisher has patrolled the sidelines at three different schools. He has won a pair of state championships, reached Eastern Mass. and sectional finals, and witnessed up close some of the premier players to step foot in the Commonwealth. Now in the midst of his 43rd season, Marshfield’s Fisher is a dozen wins away from becoming just the second boys coach in Massachusetts high school basketball history to amass 700 wins.“It’s been quite the ride and I am still loving every moment of it each and every day,” Fisher said.Fisher went to Quincy High School and then Bentley University where in the early 1960s he helped found the Falcons’ athletic program. He played for four years, was an assistant coach at Bentley while getting his masters, and grabbed a teaching job in Bridgewater-Raynham. Then, in 1966, he began at Rockland as the sc...