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Europe OKs plan to tally cost of Moscow’s war in Ukraine with eye toward future reparations

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — More than 40 nations agreed Wednesday to set up a system to tally the damage Russia has inflicted on Ukraine in the hope of getting reparations, adding to the international legal challenges the Kremlin is facing. The register of damages, which will allow Ukrainian victims of war to catalog the harm they have suffered, found a plethora of support among the 46-nation Council of Europe summit in Iceland. Participants also discussed the details of a potential future tribunal where Russia would face charges for waging war.“This Reykjavik summit shows clearly that Putin has failed with his calculations – he wanted to divide Europe and has achieved the opposite,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “We stand closer together in Europe than ever before.”While leaders were at the waterside venue on the far-flung island nation for two days, the United Nations’ top court announced it would hold hearings next month in a case between Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv claims Mosco...

Pakistani police surround Imran Khan’s home, claim former leader is hiding suspects in recent riots

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police surrounded the home of former Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday, claiming he was sheltering dozens of people allegedly involved in violent protests over his recent detention.The police deployment was likely to anger Khan’s many followers and raised concerns about more clashes between them and the security forces. Last week, Khan supporters had attacked public property and military installations after he was dragged out of a courtroom and detained.The popular opposition leader was released over the weekend and returned to his home in an upscale district of Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city and the capital of the Punjab region.On Wednesday, Khan took to Twitter after 200 police officers surrounded the house, and a prison van appeared on the scene.“Probably my last tweet before my next arrest,” Khan tweeted. “ Police have surrounded my house.”Earlier on Wednesday, Amir Mir, a spokesman for the Punjab provincial gover...

Biden ‘confident’ there will be no US debt default

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he is confident the U.S. will avoid an unprecedented and catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive as he prepared to leave for a global summit in Japan. “I’m confident that we’ll get the agreement on the budget and America will not default,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He said he and lawmakers will come together “because there’s no alternative.”Biden’s remarks came just before he departed Washington for the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and one day after he convened a second Oval Office meeting with congressional leaders to determine how to avert debt default.The president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tasked a handful of negotiators to try and close out a final deal, with negotiations beginning late Tuesday. Those people include Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president; legislative affairs director Louisa Te...

Ecuador’s president ends impeachment proceedings against him by dissolving National Assembly

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Guillermo Lasso escalated Ecuador’s political crisis Wednesday by dissolving the National Assembly just as it was forging ahead with impeachment proceedings to remove him from office on embezzlement allegations.In disbanding the assembly, Lasso made first use of the Ecuador presidency’s nuclear option under the constitution in conflicts with the legislative branch, turning his country into the latest in Latin America where rival constitutional powers come to a head.The conservative president, who has denied wrongdoing, can now govern for up to six months by decree under the oversight of Ecuador’s top court. While Lasso appeared to have the support of the country’s armed forces, his move swiftly drew pushback from critics who said his ouster had been imminent.In a televised message, Lasso accused the National Assembly of focusing “on destabilizing the government.” He called his move “democratic” and described it as a way to give Ecuadorians “the power ...

Supreme Court won’t put Illinois gun law on hold while court challenge continues

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday that Illinois can, for now, keep in place a new law that bars the sale of certain semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines.The high court denied an emergency request from people challenging the law, which bans so-called assault weapons. The law’s opponents had asked the court to put the law on hold while a court challenge continues. The court did not comment and no justice publicly dissented.The high court’s action comes at a time when gun violence has been heavily in the news. Since the beginning of the year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in a partnership with Northeastern University. The database counts killings involving four or more fatalities, not including the perpetrator. Just recently, on May 6, a man armed with an AR-15 style rifle and other firearms fatally shot eight people, including three ...

2nd escaped inmate captured after breaking out of Philadelphia prison

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal marshals fugitive task force has recaptured the second of two inmates who escaped from a Philadelphia prison earlier this month, a man who had been held on charges in four slayings, authorities said.Ameen Hurst, 18, was taken into custody at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in west Philadelphia, according to Robert Clark, supervisory deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service in the eastern district of Pennsylvania. Authorities had been working with the family since Tuesday evening to have Hurst surrender, but several deadlines for that to happen had come and gone, Clark said.Authorities had staked out several locations where Hurst was believed to be hiding, and when a person believed to be him was seen getting into a car with two other family members, officials moved in and arrested him without incident, Clark said. A relative was also detained for questioning, he saidHurst and Nasir Grant, 24, escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correction Center on May 7 by c...

‘Massive’ gap between WestJet, pilots’ union as strike looms and bookings fall: CEO

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

MONTREAL — WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech says the company and its pilots’ union remain far apart on key sticking points — especially wages — as negotiations heat up and the clock ticks down on a strike deadline.“The gap is still massive,” von Hoensbroech said during a video call Tuesday night from the bargaining venue, a hotel north of Toronto.Around 1,800 pilots at WestJet and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to walk off the job as of 3 a.m. eastern daylight time Friday after the union issued a strike notice Monday night.The standoff leaves thousands of passengers with travel plans for the May long weekend and beyond hanging in limbo — and has already affected bookings.“We do see softening in bookings,” the CEO said. “It is painful.“Although we still get bookings, so the majority of our guests seem to assume that we are maintaining flying. And this is our intention.”The company hasn’t turned an annual profit since 2019 due t...

Smoky haze from active wildfires forecasted to worsen in B.C. Interior

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

Environment Canada says smoke from wildfires in the B.C. Interior is expected to worsen in the coming days, bringing poor air quality and associated health risks. In a special air quality statement, Environment Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy say several Interior communities are likely to see worsening wildfire smoke conditions over the next 24 to 48 hours. The statement says smoke is already widespread in the province’s southeast toward the Rocky Mountains. Observed conditions in Prince George, Williams Lake, Fort St. John and Quesnel show high risk or very high risk readings on the Air Quality Health Index.The statement says wildfire smoke is hazardous to health even at low concentrations, and urges at-risk populations such as children, the elderly and people with lung conditions to avoid strenuous outdoor activities. The Metro Vancouver Regional District issued its own air quality advisory on May 15, but ended it Tuesday saying cooler...

‘We’re just hanging on:’ Rocky start to summer patio season puts restaurants on edge

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

HALIFAX — Restaurants in Canada are being slammed with a daunting mix of soaring costs, staffing issues and capacity problems, making a slow start to the critical summer patio season a near crisis for some eateries across the country, industry experts say. They say restaurants are struggling with the ballooning price of food, rent, utilities, labour and insurance, with many of the higher costs being absorbed for fear of losing customers if menu prices rise too quickly.Now a rocky start to summer across much of Canada — from cool weather in parts of Eastern Canada to wildfires out west — has eaten into a vital season for restaurants. “You’ve got to be busy in the summer,” said Bill Pratt, a veteran chef and CEO of Dartmouth, N.S.-based Chef Inspired Group of Restaurants. “When the sun shines, you better be making hay.”Restaurant-goers see busy patios or lineups outside eateries and “assume we must be making oodles of money,” Pratt said. ̶...

PEN America, Penguin Random House sue Florida school district over book bans

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:45:12 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Writers’ group PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House sued a Florida school district Wednesday over its removal of books about race and LGBTQ+ identities, the latest opposition to a policy central to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda as he prepares to run for president.The federal lawsuit alleges the Escambia County School District and its School Board are violating the First Amendment through the removal of 10 books from library shelves.The case does not name DeSantis as a defendant though the Republican governor has championed policies that allow the censorship and challenging of books based on whether they are appropriate for children in schools, causing national uproar.DeSantis, who is expected to announce his presidential candidacy in the coming days, has leaned heavily into cultural divides on race, sexual orientation and gender as he moves to win support from conservative voters who decide Republican primary elections.“Books have the capacity to...