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Serbia wants to normalize ties with Kosovo

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

Serbia wants normal relations with Kosovo but still won't sign any agreement with it, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday (19 March), a day after he verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan for the normalisation of ties.Serbia wants to join the European Union, and a condition of membership is that it normalise relations with ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 but which Belgrade still considers a Serbian province.Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti agreed to implement normalisation steps at a meeting with EU officials in a North Macedonian lake resort on Saturday, although no document was signed and the EU said it had wanted to go further."Serbia wants to have normal relations with Kosovo. We want to travel, we want to do business, you cannot live isolated behind 100 metres walls," Vucic told reporters on Sunday."I didn't want to sign the agreement on the implementing annex last night nor the EU-backed agreement (in Brussels l...

New toll-free phone number created to direct Canadians to available poison centres

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

Health Canada is launching a new toll-free phone number for poison centres. Canadians can now call 1-844-POISON-X to access critical medical advice for poisonings.The initiative was launched to make it easier for Canadians to access information on poison centres from anywhere in the country. Health Canada says many Canadians don’t know the phone number of their local poison centre or what services are available to them.The federal agency says over 1,500 people in Canada lose their lives each year to unintentional poisonings from medications, cleaners, and other household items.The country’s network of poison centres handle almost two-thirds of cases remotely without the requirement to enter a health care facility.The number was launched as a part of National Poison Prevention Week, which runs from March 19 to 25, 2023. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 21, 2023.The Canadian Press

At Ukraine’s front, police try to evacuate holdout families

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — Pale and grimy from living in a dank, dark basement for nearly a year, the teenager and his weeping mother emerged to the sound of pounding artillery and headed to a waiting armored police van that would whisk them to safety.Russian forces were not far from their battered front-line town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, where shells fall daily, ripping through buildings, smashing cars and leaving craters.Dark, curly hair peeping out from beneath his hoodie, 15-year-old Oleksii Mazurin was one of the last youths still living there. After his evacuation Friday, another 13 remained, said police chief Roman Protsyk. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, about 25,000 people lived in Avdiivka. Despite the shelling, about 2,000 civilians remain, Protsyk said.For months, authorities have been urging civilians in areas near the fighting to evacuate to safer parts of the country. But while many have heeded the call, others — including families with c...

Swedish investigator says S Korea key to her adoption probe

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A Swedish legal expert investigating the country’s international adoption practices said Tuesday she’s trying to determine whether Swedish authorities were aware of falsified child origins as they approved the adoptions of thousands of South Korean children.Anna Singer spoke to The Associated Press during a weeklong trip to South Korea, where she plans to meet with officials from government and a Seoul-based agency that handled adoptions to Sweden to gather details on how South Korea procured and documented children for foreign adoptions.Many South Korean adoptees accuse their agencies of fabricating documents to expedite adoptions by foreigners, such as falsely registering them as abandoned orphans when they had relatives who could be easily identified, which also make their origins difficult to trace.Most South Korean adoptees were sent overseas during the 1970s and ’80s, when Seoul was ruled by a succession of military governments that saw adoptions as a...

France's Macron faces another test with no-confidence vote

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

President Emanuel Macron faced a critical moment on Monday (20 March) when the French National Assembly was due to vote on no-confidence motions filed after his government bypassed parliament on Thursday (16 March) to push through an unpopular rise in the state pension age.The move, which followed weeks of protests against the pension overhaul, triggered three nights of unrest and demonstrations in Paris and throughout the country, with hundreds of people arrested, reminiscent of the Yellow Vest protests that erupted in late 2018 over high fuel prices.In a sign that Macron was holding firm, his office on Sunday evening said the president had called the heads of the Senate upper house and of the National Assembly to say he wanted the pension reform to go to "the end of its democratic process".Macron also told them the government was mobilised to "protect" members of parliament who are facing pressure ahead of the vote.However, while Monday's votes may put on display the level of ange...

Single-family home sells in San Ramon for $1.9 million

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

3733 Stonehenge Way – Google Street ViewA spacious house located in the 3700 block of Stonehenge Way in San Ramon has a new owner. The 4,176-square-foot property, built in 2005, was sold on Feb. 21, 2023, for $1,850,000, or $443 per square foot. The property features five bedrooms, four bathrooms, an attached garage, and three parking spaces. The unit sits on a 0.3-acre lot.These nearby houses have also recently been sold:In August 2022, a 3,474-square-foot home on Rodriguez Court in San Ramon sold for $2,425,000, a price per square foot of $698. The home has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.On Carrington Court, San Ramon, in June 2022, a 2,966-square-foot home was sold for $2,401,000, a price per square foot of $810. The home has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.A 2,569-square-foot home on the 800 block of Mornington Court in San Ramon sold in November 2022, for $2,005,000, a price per square foot of $780. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

Trout might not get to hit vs Ohtani in WBC championship

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — That matchup between Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the World Baseball Classic may not happen.Japan rallied in the ninth inning to beat Mexico and advance to Tuesday night’s championship game against the United States, but Shota Imanaga will start on the mound for the Samurai Warriors.If Trout is to bat against his Los Angeles Angels teammate, it would only be if Ohtani makes a rare relief appearance.Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said he likely will use the same starting lineup as he did in the semifinal Monday night against Mexico, when Ohtani batted third as the designated hitter and doubled to start the ninth-inning comeback.Asked before the game what chance Ohtani had of pitching Tuesday, Kuriyama replied through a translator: “I won’t say it’s a zero.”While Ohtani has never relieved since joining the Angels for the 2018 season, he came out of the bullpen twice for the Pacific League’s Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2013 and once in 2016.“I’ll definitely be pre...

Tensions over CUSMA ahead of Biden’s Ottawa visit : In The News for Mar. 21

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Mar. 21 …What we are watching in Canada …It’s been less than three years since the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced NAFTA as the law of the land in continental trade, and there are already hints of the existential anxiety that preceded it.That’s because of the so-called “sunset provision,” a clause that reflects the lingering working-class distrust of globalization in the U.S. that helped Donald Trump get elected president back in 2016. Article 34.7 of the agreement, the “review and term extension” clause, establishes a 16-year life cycle that requires all three countries to sit down every six years to ensure everyone is still satisfied. That clock began ticking in the summer of 2020. If it runs out in 2026, it triggers a self-destruct mechanism of sorts, ensuring the agree...

Income tax cuts expected as Quebec finance minister to table budget today

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard is scheduled to table the first budget of the Coalition Avenir Québec’s second mandate this afternoon.Girard broke with tradition on Monday — instead of buying new shoes ahead of the budget, he announced a $5,000 donation to a Quebec City community centre.He said today’s budget will also include $50 million for the Dr. Julien Foundation, which provides pediatric care and other services to vulnerable children.Girard has previously said his budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year will keep the promises his party made during Quebec’s fall election campaign.A centrepiece of the party’s election platform was a promise for an income tax cut of one percentage point starting this year on the lowest two income tax brackets. The minister’s December update forecasted that the province would end the 2022-23 fiscal year with a $5.2-billion deficit and return to a balanced budget by 2027-28.This report by The Canadian Press was first pu...

Canadian MPs of all stripes condemn Punjab crackdown as some receive online threats

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:54:53 GMT

OTTAWA — A cross-section of Canadian MPs are calling out an Indian government crackdown in the state of Punjab, and those criticizing internet restrictions are receiving threatening responses online.For at least three days, authorities in Punjab have restricted communications and the size of gatherings as authorities search for Sikh separatist leader Amritpal Singh. The manhunt comes a month after he led a violent storming of a police station, according to international media reports.“As Canadian members of Parliament, we’re trying to ensure that there is some safety for Canadians who are visiting there,” Conservative deputy leader Tim Uppal said in an interview Monday.“We raised this as a concern. And the response was quite harsh — a number of threats in there as well, and by people who have a very large following.”The Edmonton MP was among a handful of parliamentarians, across party lines, who have voiced their concerns online this week — even as mill...