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Blinken kicks off meetings in Beijing on high-stakes mission to cool soaring US-China tensions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday kicked off two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing aimed at trying to cool exploding U.S.-China tensions that have set many around the world on edge. Blinken opened his program by meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang for an extended discussion to be followed by a working dinner. He’ll have additional talks with Qin, as well as China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and possibly President Xi Jinping, on Monday.Neither Blinken nor Qin made any substantive comments to reporters as they began the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.Despite Blinken’s presence in the Chinese capital, prospects for any significant breakthroughs are slim, as already strained ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years. Animosity and recriminations have steadily escalated over a series of disagreements that have implications for global security and stability.Blinken is the highest-level American official t...

Sierra Leone gears up for presidential election amid economic crisis, looming protests

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — With mounting frustration due to an ailing economy, rising unemployment and looming deadly protests, Sierra Leoneans are heading to the polls on Saturday, June 24, to select their next president.Thirteen people are vying for the top job in the west African country. But experts say it’s likely to be a two-horse race between incumbent President Julius Maada Bio — elected in 2018 and fighting for his second term — and Samura Kamara, the head of the All People’s Congress Party, Sierra Leon’s main opposition camp.The winner needs 55% of the vote to clinch victory in the first round or it goes into a runoff within two weeks. More than three million people are registered to vote in the coming week. This would mark the country’s fifth presidential election since the end of a brutal 11-year civil war — more than two decades ago — which left tens of thousands dead and destroyed the country’s economy. Sierra Leone had witnessed two pe...

Belarus crackdown targets not just political activists but also their lawyers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — For nearly three years, a harsh crackdown on dissent in Belarus by its authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko has filled the country’s penal colonies with thousands of political prisoners, with new arrests reported daily.At the same time, a government campaign has gotten rid of many independent lawyers, making it increasingly difficult for the detainees to mount any kind of legal defense.Siarhej Zikratski is among those lawyers forced to leave Belarus under the threat of arrest. More than 500 of his colleagues have been stripped of their law licenses and quit the profession since 2020, and many of them have moved abroad after facing reprisals at home. Some even ended up in prison.Zikratski says Belarus has effectively run out of independent lawyers to represent the many political prisoners in the country of 9.5 million people, a situation he calls “catastrophic.”Lawyers are reluctant to take on “politically motivated cases, and even those who a...

Swiss vote on climate bill as Alpine nation’s iconic glaciers succumb to warming

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Swiss voters are going to the polls Sunday to decide on a bill aimed at introducing new climate measures to sharply curb the rich Alpine nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.The referendum was sparked by a campaign by scientists and environmentalists to save Switzerland’s iconic glaciers, which are melting away at an alarming rate. Campaigners initially proposed even more ambitious measures but later backed a government plan that requires Switzerland to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2050. It also sets aside more than 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.357 billion) to help wean companies and homeowners off fossil fuels.The nationalist Swiss People’s Party, which demanded a popular vote on the bill, claims the proposed measures will cause electricity prices to rise.Backers of the plan argue that Switzerland will be hard-hit by global warming and is already seeing the effects of rising temperatures on its famous glaciers.Swiss glaciers experienced record melting ...

Violent crime within Israel’s Palestinian minority reaches new heights under Netanyahu’s government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

LOD, Israel (AP) — A relentless wave of violent crime within Israel’s Palestinian minority is turning cities and towns into bloody battlefields, exasperating a community feeling increasingly forsaken by Israeli authorities. Anger over the mounting insecurity is directed at Israel’s government and its ultranationalist minister in charge of police, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Critics say that with his history of anti-Arab rhetoric, he cannot be trusted to combat the rising scourge.The skyrocketing violence lays bare the deep inequities in Israeli society, with Arabs facing years of discrimination that activists say laid the groundwork for the unabating bloodshed. More than 100 people have been killed in violent crime in Arab communities this year, nearly three times higher than at the same time last year, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a group that promotes Jewish-Arab coexistence and safe communities. It also is more than three times the murder rate in the majority Jewish sector, a...

After escaping the Taliban, hundreds of Afghans languish in Albania in a prolonged US visa process

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

SHENGJIN, Albania (AP) — Almost two years since he fled Afghanistan to escape the Taliban takeover, Firooz Mashoof is still haunted by the memory of his last day in Kabul — the bus that took him to the airport, getting on a packed plane and taking off as gunfire echoed across the city. “The last thing I saw were the mountains around Kabul and the dreary sunset as the Qatar Airways took off,” he said. Today, thousands of miles from his homeland, the 35-year-old photojournalist and former employee of the Afghan soccer federation, is languishing in warm and sunny Albania. With each passing day, his anxiety grows over the delay in the promised U.S. visa, casting a shadow on his dreams of a new beginning in America. For hundreds of others like him, it’s an emotional roller coaster. Some try to find work and live with a semblance of normalcy but the concern and fear for families back home permeates their days — even in welcoming Albania. They are hopeful, despite the prolonged bureaucracy...

Shooting suspect arrested after 5 people wounded near Washington state music festival

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

GEORGE, Wash. (AP) — Five people were injured in a shooting near a Washington state campground area hosting a music festival Saturday night, police said.The Grant Count Sheriff’s Office received a report of a shooting shortly before 8:30 p.m. at the camping area near the small city of George, 149 miles (239 kilometers) east of Seattle. Officers pursued the suspect, who was then taken into custody.Five victims suffered gunshot wounds, the sheriff’s office said in a social media post. The names and conditions of the victims were not immediately available.Police said a nearby concert was going ahead as planned. KREM-TV reported the concert was an electronic dance music festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre.Organizers of the Beyond Wonderland festival posted a tweet asking concertgoers to avoid a specific gate to the campground but said there was no danger.The Associated Press

Walters: Newsom just another attention-seeking political blowhard

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

There’s always been a performative aspect to American politics. Politicians say or do things to seek attention, rather than contribute to governance. But it has become pervasive in recent years.Former President Donald Trump personifies the bombastic approach, saying anything to get his supporters riled up — even to the point of violence – and draw media attention, no matter how detached from reality.Unfortunately, however, Trump is not alone. Politicians of all ideological stripes now see attention-grabbing verbiage as an end unto itself, making declarations and issuing promises with little or no grounding in reality — but that can fool the unwary.California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, is a particularly active performer, scarcely letting a day pass without uttering — or tweeting — something that draws the attention that he apparently craves, particularly from national political media.Newsom regularly exchanges incendiary rhetoric and cheesy stunts with Florida ...

Cinco heridos y un sospechoso detenido tras un tiroteo en un camping en Washington

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

(CNN) — Cinco personas resultaron heridas de bala y un sospechoso está detenido tras un tiroteo en el camping cercano al Gorge Amphitheatre, un lugar de conciertos al aire libre en el centro de Washington, según una publicación en Facebook de la oficina del sheriff del condado de Grant.Beyond Wonderland, un festival de música EDM de dos días de duración, se celebra este fin de semana en el Gorge Amphitheatre.Las autoridades recibieron informes de un tirador en torno a las 8:25 pm hora del Pacífico de EE.UU. en el camping cerca de la ciudad de George, dijo la publicación de la oficina del Sheriff del condado de Grant. A continuación, los agentes persiguieron y “cercaron al sospechoso”, según la oficina del sheriff.Estado de Washington promulga ley que prohibe la venta de la mayoría de armas de asalto“Tenemos cinco heridos confirmados. El sospechoso está bajo custodia. La escena fue asegurada”, dijo la oficina del sheriff. No se facilitaron detalles sobre...

David Freese declines induction into the St. Louis Cardinals’ Hall of Fame

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:05 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — David Freese has decided to decline his induction into the St. Louis Cardinals’ Hall of Fame.The former third baseman was a postseason hero for his hometown team in helping the Cardinals win the 2011 World Series. He was chosen for the Hall of Fame by fans, garnering the most votes in online balloting for this year’s class.But in a statement Saturday, the Cardinals said Freese recently informed them he wanted to withdraw his candidacy. That leaves José Oquendo and Max Lanier to be enshrined during ceremonies on Aug. 20.“This is something that I have given an extreme amount of thought to, humbly, even before the voting process began. I am aware of the impact I had helping the team bring great memories to the city I grew up in, including the 11th championship, but this honor means more to me,” Freese said in the statement.One of baseball’s most storied and successful franchises, the Cardinals count the likes of Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Rogers Hornsby a...