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A new campaign ad from Poland’s ruling party features Germany’s chancellor in unfavorable light

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s conservative ruling party unveiled a new campaign ad Monday that portrays German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in an unfavorable light. The Law and Justice party has governed Poland since 2015 and is seeking to keep power when the country holds an Oct. 15 parliamentary election. In the new campaign spot, party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski pretends to reject a call from Scholz suggesting Poland should raise the retirement age, which is one of the topics of a voter referendum taking place at the same time as the election. The question targets the main opposition party, Civic Platform and its leader, Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister and European Union president who was on good terms with Germany. Civic Platform raised the retirement age before Law and Justice came to power. In the spot, Kaczynski speaks into a cellphone and tells a pretend employee of the German Embassy in Warsaw: “Please apologize to the chancellor, but it will be the Poles who wi...

Kim’s trip to Russia could be like his last one and involve a daylong ride on his armored train

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Un’s confirmed trip to Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin has drawn attention to the traditional method of travel for North Korean leaders: luxury, armored trains that have long been a part of the dynasty’s lore and are symbols of its deep isolation.A brief statement on the Kremlin’s website on Monday said Kim’s visit was taking place at Putin’s invitation “in the coming days.” North Korean state media also reported the meeting but didn’t specify when and where it would happen.The last time the two leaders met, in April 2019, Kim made a rattling, full-day journey along his country’s aging railways to get to far east Russia. South Korean media cited anonymous government sources to report Monday that a train presumably carrying Kim had departed from North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang. Putin and Kim could meet in eastern Russia’s city of Vladivostok, where Kim took his green-and-yellow armored train to their previous su...

Israel’s contentious legal overhaul comes to a head as judges hear cases on their own fate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan has plunged the country into nine months of unrest and exposed bitter divisions within Israeli society. On Tuesday, the country’s gaze shifts from the streets to the courtroom, where a panel of Supreme Court judges will deliberate over the very laws meant to curtail their power.Israel’s High Court is to hear the first of three flashpoint cases in the coming weeks, all dealing with the legality of the overhaul.Netanyahu unveiled the plan early this year, saying the country’s unelected judges hold too much power over parliament. He is backed by an alliance of ultranationalist and religious parties, each motivated by different grievances against the legal system. Opponents say the plan will push the country toward authoritarian rule by concentrating power in the hands of Netanyahu and his parliamentary allies.The court’s rulings could set the stage for a constitutional crisis, casting ...

Kim Jong Un is heading to Russia. What do Pyongyang and Moscow want from each other?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is heading to Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that is likely to focus on Russia’s desire to buy ammunition to refill reserves drained by its war in Ukraine. The meeting will also underscore deepening cooperation as the two isolated leaders are locked in separate confrontations with the U.S. In return for providing ammunition, North Korea will likely want shipments of food and energy and transfers of sophisticated weapons technologies.A meeting with Putin would be Kim’s first with a foreign leader since North Korea closed its borders in January 2020. They met for the first time in April 2019, two months after Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with then-U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, in July and asked Kim to send more ammunition to Russia, according to U.S. officials. Shoigu said Moscow and Pyongyang were considering...

Stock market today: Wall Street pushes higher in ahead of more inflation data this week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

Wall Street is tracking higher early Monday ahead of new inflation data this week that will provide some insight into where prices are heading and how that is playing out for households and for the economy.The futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%. The U.S. releases monthly consumer prices on Wednesday, which is followed a day later by producer prices, the cost of goods before they reach the consumer. Both effect retail sales, and the U.S. releases August statistics on that front as well on Thursday.Economists expect that consumer prices rose slightly in August, up 3.6% from a year ago. Inflation has been generally cooling since peaking above 9% last summer, but the worry is the last bit of improvement to get to the Fed’s 2% inflation target may prove the most difficult.High interest rates are supposed to slow the economy and hurt the job market, which should ultimately help undercut inflation. But the highest rates in more than tw...

Residents mobilize in search of dozens missing after Nigeria boat accident. Death toll rises to 28

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The death toll in the boat accident in north-central Nigeria’s Niger State has risen to 28, emergency services said Monday, as communities mobilized in support of an intensified search for dozens still missing after the passenger boat capsized.The boat capsized along the Niger River on Sunday morning with more than 100 villagers, mostly women and children, aboard. They were traveling to their farmlands in the Gbajibo community, located 251 kilometers (156 miles) from the state capital Minna, the closest source of emergency response.It took several hours before help could reach the community because of its remote location, and villagers nearby were on the lookout for bodies floating on the river, Niger State Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ibrahim Audu told The Associated Press.Divers recovered four more bodies from the river by Monday morning with at least 40 passengers believed to be still missing, Audu said. Thirty had been rescued. “Instruction has bee...

A trial that will test Canada’s definition of ‘terrorism’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, on June 6, 2021, the beloved Afzaal family of London, Ont., were out for a walk, when they were hit by a speeding truck that killed four of them. Police allege that the perpetrator acted intentionally, motivated by a hatred of Muslims, and have charged him not just with first-degree murders, but also acts of terrorism.This week, Nathaniel Veltman’s trial begins, and it will be closely watched to see if prosecutors can prove to a jury that far-right, white supremacist ideology motivated the attack, and if that indeed qualifies as ‘terrorism’ in Canada.Wendy Gillis is a crime reporter who will be covering the trial of the man accused of murdering the Afzaal family. She says this case is part of a broader shift in the way the legal system defines terrorism.“We are starting to see a broadening of the definition of terrorism, and this case is going to be central in terms of testing that,” says Gillis.So what will the court hear? And what mi...

With Rubiales finally out, Spanish soccer ready to leave embarrassing chapter behind

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

Spanish soccer is ready to move forward, three weeks after its women’s team won the Women’s World Cup but had its celebrations marred by a kiss that ignited a crisis.Luis Rubiales, the Spanish soccer federation president who kissed a player on the lips without her consent during the trophy ceremony in Australia last month, resigned late Sunday following weeks of relentless pressure from inside the sport and Spanish society in general.The decision, which many in the country had been hoping to see much earlier, was expected to help Spanish soccer start overcoming one of its most embarrassing chapters. It should also clear the way for Spain to get back on track with its bid to host the men’s World Cup in 2030 along with Portugal, Morocco and possibly Ukraine.“It’s over,” Irene Montero, the acting minister of equality in Spain, wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.Rubiales had been widely criticized after he kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the aw...

9/11 events to be held across Chicago in honor of 22 years since attacks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

CHICAGO -- Dozens of first responders from Chicago headed to New York City 22 years ago to help with the aftermath of 9/11.At 7:35 a.m. Monday morning, the mayor and others will come together outside the home of Engine 42 to remember the victims, including fallen heroes. Chicago firefighters went to Ground Zero to dig through rubble where the former World Trade Center stood. People will gather at the firehouse, city hall and memorials to commemorate the anniversary. Many people will also do volunteer work on this Patriot's Day.Nearly 3,000 people were killed when terrorists associated with Al-Qaeda flew two planes into the World Trade Center. 9/11 victims to be honored at memorial ceremony in Lower Manhattan A third plane crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth went down into a Pennsylvania field when passengers intervened and confronted the terrorists. There will be an event taking place at Malcom X College and 15,000 volunteers will help pack meals at Union Station, all benefiti...

Police investigate string of armed robberies at liquor stores, bar on Northwest Side

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:57:30 GMT

CHICAGO — Police are investigating after an armed robbery spree on the city's Northwest Side, targeting mostly liquor stores.The first incident happened around 10:25 p.m. Sunday near the corner of Division and Paulina streets. Police said two males, armed with handguns, walked into a liquor store and robbed two employees. The offenders took a safe and fled the scene on foot.Five minutes later, police said two males walked into another liquor store near the corner of Damen Avenue and Iowa Streets. The offenders were armed with guns and stole the cash drawer and robbed multiple people inside the store, then fled the scene.Another robbery occurred after 11 p.m. Sunday at a bar near the corner of North Greenview and Chicago Avenue. Police said two armed males stole the cash drawer from the register and robbed several people inside the business. The offenders then fled the scene. Explosion at Archer Daniels Midland facility in Illinois injures employees Police said two people were also...