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Spain’s Juan Carlos I offers cautionary tale for Charles III

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

MADRID (AP) — A playboy past that was once brushed under the carpet, a popular son whose telegenic family threatens to eclipse his own star, and endless leaks about his private life: Spain’s Juan Carlos I can empathize with the lot of Britain’s Charles III.The former Spanish head of state abdicated in disgrace in 2014. His story serves as a warning for any European royal who wants their achievements on the throne, rather than torrid gossip, to be their lasting legacy.“What he lives is sex, money and power, the three dimensions of all the problems of humankind,” said Álvaro de Cózar, an investigative journalist who wrote and directed “Ex-Rey” (Ex-King) a popular podcast that delved into the 85-year-old Juan Carlos’ troubled life. “It’s a very Shakespearean plot.”The former king has become an object of open hostility in some quarters of Spanish society following his recent second visit home from exile in Abu Dhabi. Gone are the days of a pliant press covering up his long history of af...

Israeli military kills 3 wanted Palestinians in West Bank

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli troops killed three Palestinians wanted in connection with a deadly attack against Israelis, the Israeli military said Thursday, the latest bloodshed in a relentless wave of violence.The military said the men were behind an attack last month on a car near a Jewish West Bank settlement that killed a British-Israeli mother and two of her daughters.The military said it entered the heart of the flashpoint city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank early Thursday, and in a fierce gunbattle killed three suspects, two of whom it alleged were militants affiliated with Hamas. It identified the men as Hassan Katnani, Moaz Masri and Ibrahim Hura.The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people were killed but did not immediately identify them. The violence in Nablus comes at a particularly sensitive time in the region, days after a prominent Palestinian prisoner who was staging a lengthy hunger strike over his detention died in Israeli custody. His death set off ...

‘Not my king’: UK republicans want coronation to be the last

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

LONDON (AP) — On his way to be crowned this week, King Charles III will travel by gilded coach through streets swathed in red, white and blue Union flags — and past a warning from history.At Trafalgar Square stands a large bronze statue of King Charles I, the 17th-century monarch deposed by Parliament and executed in 1649. On Saturday, more than 1,500 protesters, dressed in yellow for maximum visibility, plan to gather beside it to chant “Not my king” as the royal procession goes by.“We’ll try and keep the atmosphere light, but our aim is to make it impossible to ignore,” said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic. The coronation, he said, is “a celebration of a corrupt institution. And it is a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned.”Republican activists have long struggled to build momentum to dislodge Britain’s 1,000-year-old monarchy. But they see the coronation as a moment of opportunity.Queen Elizabeth II, who died in Sept...

DIARY: Waiting to leave Sudan, a hotel became a sanctuary

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — We were a diverse group of more than a dozen people, hunkered down in a small hotel in central Khartoum — a Sudanese family and the Sudanese hotel staff, a few British and French citizens, a Syrian family and a Lebanese man. In better times, the Lisamin Safari Hotel catered to small tour groups that came to see Sudan’s little-known attractions — the ancient pyramids of Merowe and the coral reefs of the Red Sea.Now, it was simply a five-story place of refuge. Fighting between Sudan’s two most powerful generals had reduced the capital to an urban battlefield. The city had never seen anything like it, as the army and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces blasted each other in the streets with automatic rifles, artillery and airstrikes. Each day, millions of Sudanese caught between them faced terrifying choices of how to survive: Stay hiding at home, where a bullet or a missile could blast through a wall, or make a run for it, risking the ...

8 people die in overnight fire in Czech city of Brno

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — Eight people have died in an overnight fire in the second largest city in the Czech Republic, police said Thursday.The fire broke out about two hours after midnight in Brno, located 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Prague.Czech public television said those who died were likely homeless people in a shelter.The rescuers said they didn’t find any injured people. Police and firefighters are investigating the cause of the blaze. The Associated Press

Canada Revenue Agency, union reach tentative deal, ending strike of 35,000 workers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

OTTAWA — The public-sector union representing Canada Revenue Agency employees has struck a tentative deal with the federal government, ending a strike of 35,000 workers just after the tax season wrapped up.The announcement of a prospective agreement comes after the government and Public Service Alliance of Canada came to separate deals that ended a strike of more than 120,000 other public servants.CRA employees represented by PSAC’s Union of Taxation Employees were still on strike two days after the federal tax-filing deadline.The union threatened earlier today that it would plan to send its members to disrupt a Liberal party convention in Ottawa on Thursday if the employer didn’t table a “fair” deal. The separate agreements that PSAC negotiated with the government included a 11.5 per cent wage increase over four years.Earlier in the negotiations, the tax employees’ union had been pushing for a 20.5 per cent increase over a three-year period.This report...

Canada Revenue Agency union, feds reach deal, ending strike

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

The public-sector union representing Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees has struck a tentative deal with the federal government, ending a strike of 35,000 workers just after the tax season wrapped up.The announcement of a prospective agreement comes after the government and Public Service Alliance of Canada came to separate deals that ended a strike of more than 120,000 other public servants. CRA employees represented by PSAC’s Union of Taxation Employees were still on strike two days after the federal tax-filing deadline.The union threatened earlier today that it would plan to send its members to disrupt a Liberal party convention in Ottawa on Thursday if the employer didn’t table a “fair” deal.The separate agreements that PSAC negotiated with the government included a 11.5 per cent wage increase over four years.Related articles: PSAC says tentative agreement reached with Treasury Board for 120,000 membersPublic service union says weeken...

CP NewsAlert: Canada Revenue Agency, union reach deal, ending strike

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

The public-sector union representing Canada Revenue Agency employees has struck a tentative deal with the federal government, ending a strike of 35,000 workers just after the tax season wrapped up.More coming.The Canadian Press

Kosovo and Serbia fail to agree on lowering tensions in north Kosovo

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

Leaders of Kosovo and Serbia failed to agree on how to lower tensions in Serb-majority areas in north Kosovo, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday (2 May), warning that any further escalation could undermine the EU-backed deal on normalizing ties.In March, Pristina and Belgrade verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan aimed at improving ties but little progress has been seen since.Some 50,000 Serbs who live in north Kosovo still refuse to take part in Kosovo institutions including police, judiciary and municipal governments they had left last November. They boycotted local election organized by Kosovo authorities last month.Borrell said that in a meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, he had expressed "grave concern about the situation in the north Kosovo" following elections "with a very low turnout".He urged parties to compromise and warned that any further escalation could "undermine" the implementation of...

French unions plan 6 June protests against Macron and his pension decision

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:57:12 GMT

French trade unions announced on Tuesday (2 May) a new nationwide day of protests on 6 June against President Emmanuel Macron's decision to increase the retirement age by two years to 64.The reform, which Macron signed into law last month despite weeks of protests and strikes, has crystallised discontent against a president perceived by many in France as being aloof and indifferent to their daily hardships.With lawmakers poised to discuss on June 8 a draft bill proposed by the opposition Liot party to cancel the retirement age reform, the unions said in a joint statement that the day of industrial action on June 6 was meant to "allow all workers to make themselves heard by the MPs."Aware that the government is closely monitoring whether they can maintain a rare unified stance, the unions headlined their statement: "Still united, numerous and determined to get the (pension law's) withdrawal and social progress."The government wants to move on to other issues and has said it will send...