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Belgium’s prime minister says his country supports a ban on Russian diamonds as part of sanctions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s prime minister said his country, which has the biggest interest in the global diamond trade in the European Union, is supporting a ban on Russian diamonds as part of sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin’s government for its war against Ukraine.This came during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyya’s visit to Brussels on Wednesday. He has repeatedly asked for such a move since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022. For months, the Group of Seven advanced economies and the EU have been working on a way to trace and restrict the trade in Russian diamonds to prevent it from skirting the sanctions. Russia exports about $4 billion worth of rough diamonds a year, nearly a third of the world’s total, according to various estimates.Asked when the ban will enter into force, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said, “the goal is … January 1st of 2024.”According to The Antwerp World Diamond Centre, the world’s most important diamon...

Velan CEO Bruno Carbonaro resigns, board chair James Mannebach named interim CEO

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

MONTREAL — Velan Inc. says Bruno Carbonaro has resigned as chief executive and a director of the company.The maker of industrial valves says board chair James Mannebach has been named interim CEO.Mannebach has been a director of Velan since 2018 and board chair since 2020. The company also announced that Rishi Sharma has been promoted to chief financial and administrative officer.Sharma has been chief financial officer of Velan since May 2022. He will now oversee all of Velan’s administrative functions in addition to his oversight of the financial team.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:VLN)The Canadian Press

King Charles III to travel to Kenya for state visit full of symbolism

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III will travel to Kenya later this month for a state visit full of symbolism: His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, learned she had become queen while visiting a game preserve in the East African nation in 1952.The trip, announced Wednesday by Buckingham Palace, will be Charles’ first to a Commonwealth nation since he succeeded his mother last year, underscoring the king’s commitment to an organization that has been central to Britain’s global power and prestige since World War II.During the Oct. 31-Nov. 3 visit, Charles plans to meet with Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto and to visit Nairobi National Park, where he will have a chance to demonstrate his concern for environmental preservation and fighting climate change.Britain’s royal family has long ties to Africa. In 1947, the future queen pledged lifelong service to Britain and the Commonwealth on her 21st birthday. Charles himself visited Kenya in 1971, and he attended the Commonwealth heads of...

Will the Israel-Hamas war draw in other nations?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, since Saturday’s horrific Hamas attacks and Israel’s brutal response, fighting has continued, but has been contained to those two sides. There are worries, though, that may not last. Some reporting suggests that Iran, which supports Hamas and calls for the end of a Jewish state, gave approval for the attacks, which has already started some of America’s hawks calling for the United States to get involved against Iran.Arash Azizi is a senior lecturer in history and political science at Clemson University. Azizi’s new book, What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom, will be published in January 2024.“The Iranian regime is the only state in the world that actually fights Israel and fights Israel with a declared goal of its destruction … I think what no one can doubt is that a broader conflagration can only mean terrible things,” said Azizi.The past four days have been bloody and heartbreaking. Many nations are trying to find a w...

German government forecasts that the country’s economy will shrink by 0.4% this year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s government said Wednesday that it expects the country’s economy to shrink by 0.4% this year, joining a string of other forecasters in revising sharply downward its outlook for Europe’s biggest economy.The revised forecast contrasted with the 0.4% growth that the government predicted in late April. The Economy Ministry said in a statement that “the effects of the energy price crisis in combination with global economic weakness are weighing down the German economy more persistently than was assumed in the spring.”On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund forecast that the German economy will shrink by 0.5%. A group of leading German economic think tanks last month predicted a 0.6% contraction.The government predicted that gross domestic product will increase by 1.3% next year and 1.5% in 2025, helped by a decline in inflation. That is expected to average 6.1% this year, but drop to 2.6% next year and 2% in 2025. The Economy Ministry said it ...

An apartment fire in northwestern Spain kills 4 people, including 3 children

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

VIGO, Spain (AP) — Three children and an adult died Wednesday and nine people were injured in a fire in an apartment building believed to be occupied by squatters in Spain’s northwestern city of Vigo, officials said.Spain’s state news agency Efe said the dead included a woman and three of her children, but officials did not immediately confirm that. Efe said the father and another child were among the injured.Vigo Mayor Abel Caballero confirmed three children and an adult died in the fire.Pedro Blanco, the national government’s representative in the surrounding region of Galicia, said the building’s owners reported that the apartments had been occupied by squatters.He said police were investigating the cause of the fire, which started around 4 a.m. Blanco said the four died from inhaling toxic fumes.Officials said some 30 people lived in the five-story building.Medics evacuated a firefighter and eight other people to hospitals, emergency services for the Galicia region said. One chi...

Jets' Aaron Rodgers challenges Chiefs' Travis Kelce to vaccine debate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — Aaron Rodgers isn't done talking about vaccines with Travis Kelce. The injured New York Jets quarterback took a jab at the Kansas City Chiefs tight end when reviewing the Jets' recent loss, calling Kelce "Mr. Pfizer" during his weekly appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."“You know, Mr. Pfizer, we kind of shut him down a little bit. He didn’t have, you know, his like, crazy impact game. Obviously, you know, he had some yards and stuff,” Rodgers said.Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs talks with injured Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets prior to the game at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2023, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)Kelce is a spokesperson for the company that produces a COVID-19 vaccine, recently starring in a new ad campaign. Kelce responded to Rodgers with his own comments. "I thought it was pretty good. I mean, with this 'stache right now, I look like a guy named Mr. Pfizer,” Kelce said. “Who knew I’d get ...

Another 'Mona Lisa' secret revealed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The “Mona Lisa” has given up another secret.Using X-rays to peer into the chemical structure of a tiny speck of the celebrated work of art, scientists have gained new insight into the techniques that Leonardo da Vinci used to paint his groundbreaking portrait of the woman with the exquisitely enigmatic smile.The research, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, suggests that the famously curious, learned and inventive Italian Renaissance master may have been in a particularly experimental mood when he set to work on the “Mona Lisa” early in the 16th century. Wearing Prada on the moon: Fashion house working on NASA’s next lunar spacesuits The oil-paint recipe that Leonardo used as his base layer to prepare the panel of poplar wood appears to have been different for the “Mona Lisa," with its own distinctive chemical signature, the team of scientists and art historians in France and Britain discovered.“He was someone who loved to exper...

San Marcos homicide suspect arrested

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) -- A San Marcos homicide suspect was arrested this week in connection to the September death of a 41-year-old man, according to police. Last week, the San Marcos Police Department identified Ray Robert Saenz, Jr., 18, as the suspect the Sept. 30 death of Nathaniel Hudson, 41. MORE: San Marcos police identify homicide suspect, ask for help locating him San Marcos police said Saenz was located in Austin on Tuesday and taken into custody by members of the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force. SMPD responded Sept. 30 to an apartment complex on Highway 123 for a call that shots had been fired and a person died. When officers arrived, they found Hudson dead in an apartment unit. Information obtained by investigators suggests Hudson and Saenz knew each other prior to the shooting, and that the shooting occurred following an altercation at the apartment complex, according to SMPD.Online records show Saenz was booked into the Hays County Jail on a murder cha...

Vista Ridge High School teacher on leave, accused of inappropriate relationship with student

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:15:46 GMT

CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) – The Leander Independent School District placed a math teacher at Vista Ridge High School on administrative leave last month after learning about a potential inappropriate relationship between the student and the teacher, the school's principal said in a letter to parents Tuesday. According to the letter, the district received information about the alleged relationship on Sept. 5. Principal Paul Johnson said in the letter the district placed the teacher on leave the same day, pending an investigation from Cedar Park Police. The letter said police have filed charges but the principal did not disclose further details, citing privacy concerns and the ongoing investigation.