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Blinken says no Ukraine cease-fire without a peace deal that includes Russia’s withdrawal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that there can be no cease-fire in the war in Ukraine unless it is part of a “just and lasting” peace deal that includes Russia’s military withdrawal.Blinken said that “a cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place — and enables Putin to consolidate control over the territory he has seized, and rest, rearm, and reattack — that is not a just and lasting peace.”Russia must also pay a share of Ukraine’s reconstruction and be held accountable for launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, Blinken said in a speech during a visit to Finland, which recently joined NATO and shares a long border with Russia.Allowing Moscow to keep the one-fifth of Ukraine territory it has occupied would send the wrong message to Russia and to “other would-be aggressors around the world,” according to Blinken.Washington is ready to support peace efforts by other countries, including recent overtures from...

U.S.: Tanks, F-16 jets part of long-term strategy for Ukraine, won’t be ready for upcoming offensive

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Training for Ukrainian forces on advanced U.S. Abrams tanks has begun, and while those systems will not be ready in time for the imminent counteroffensive, those weapons will be critical in the longer-term to Ukraine ultimately pushing Russia out of its occupied territories, Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley said.Tank training began as the U.S. and allies began to work out agreements to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets — another long-wished-for advanced capability. Ultimately, while the tanks are needed to expel Russian forces from Ukrainian territory, the F-16s would be part of a longer-term security plan to deter future attacks, Milley said Thursday. “Everyone recognizes Ukraine needs a modernized Air Force,” Milley said. “It’s going to take a considerable amount of time.” Milley said detailed planning on class sizes, the types of flying tactics and locations for training was underway now between the U.S. and allies such as the Netherlands and the U.K....

Champions League final referee keeps job after apologizing for ties to far-right leader

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Polish soccer referee Szymon Marciniak apologized Friday for speaking at a business event tied to a far-right politician and was confirmed by UEFA to officiate next week’s Champions League final.Marciniak’s appointment for the game between Manchester City and Inter Milan on June 10, months after he refereed the World Cup final in Qatar, was at risk Thursday after a Warsaw-based anti-racism group alerted UEFA to his conference appearance this week.UEFA said Friday it accepted Marciniak’s “profound apologies and clarification” and that anti-racism group Never Again had also then asked for the referee to be retained.“I want to express my deepest apologies for my involvement and any distress or harm it may have caused,” Marciniak wrote in a statement published by UEFA, adding he was “gravely misled and completely unaware” of the links to Slawomir Mentzen, a leader of the far-right Confederation party.“I had no knowledge that (the conference) was associate...

Blue Jays reliever Anthony Bass hopeful next steps will make amends for anti-2SLGBTQ+ post

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

Anthony Bass is hopeful that some still-to-be-determined steps to make amends for sharing an anti-2SLGBTQ+ social media post earlier this week will eventually win back Toronto Blue Jays fans, who booed the reliever throughout his most recent outing for the club.“We’re in the process currently” of putting together an action plan, Bass said during a brief interview with Sportsnet and The Canadian Press on Thursday. “It wouldn’t be productive to expand upon it right now. I’m in the process of making that next step.”Bass issued a brief apology Tuesday but took no questions from media after platforming a post supporting the anti-2SLGBTQ+ boycotts of Target and Bud Light on his Instagram account a day earlier. Within that apology, he vowed to use “the Blue Jays’ resources to better educate myself to make better decisions moving forward.”While the way the apology was delivered and his refusal to take questions drew criticism, the Blue Jays would likely have handled the en...

In Norway, Indigenous Sami protest outside prime minister’s office against wind farm

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Dozen of activists, including Indigenous Sami, protested Friday outside the office of Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, vowing to block entry to remind Norway’s government that they want a wind farm removed because they say it endangers the reindeer herders’ way of life. In February, the same human rights activists occupied the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for four days, and later also blocked the entrances to 10 ministries. The Norwegian government then apologized for failing to act despite a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Sami, and Gahr Støre also acknowledged “ongoing human rights violations.” “We were promised a change. We were promised that our human rights would be respected. Yet nothing has happened for almost 100 days” since Gahr Støre said the government would do something, activist Elle Nystad told Norwegian news agency NTB on Friday.“We will not give up until the wind turbines on Fosen are demolished and the land is retu...

Stock market today: World follows Wall Street up on hopes Fed will ease off rate hikes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and Wall Street futures rose Friday ahead of a U.S. jobs market update after Federal Reserve officials reignited hopes that another interest rate hike might be postponed.London and Paris opened up more than 1%. Hong Kong surged 4% after U.S. lawmakers approved a deal to avert a government debt default. Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul also advanced.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rallied 1% on Thursday after data showed manufacturing and retail activity weakening. That added to hopes the Fed might decide upward pressure on prices is easing and more rate hikes can be postponed or scaled down.“Skipping a rate hike” at this month’s Fed meeting would let policymakers “see more data before making decisions,” said a board member, Philip Jefferson. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Patrick Harker, made similar comments.The statements “reignited the prospect of skipping a hike” after strong jobs data last week...

Biden to enforce ban on oil, gas drilling to protect tribal sites around New Mexico’s Chaco

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Biden administration is implementing a 20-year withdrawal banning oil and gas development outside the boundaries of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico.The action taken by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in the nation’s No. 2 oil-producing state was announced Friday. It is intended to protect cultural and historic resources that tribal communities consider sacred.The order will apply to public lands and federal mineral within a 10-mile (16-kilometer) radius. President Joe Biden initially proposed this ban in November 2021 at the White House Tribal Nations Summit.The withdrawal applies only to federal public lands, not to entities that are privately, state or tribal-owned. Existing leases won’t be impacted either.This is a victory for members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation who have been pushing to make such a stop on oil and gas development permanent. Democrats reintroduced legislation last month that wo...

Poland’s president proposes urgent amendments to law on Russian influences

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish President Andrzej Duda unexpectedly said Friday that he was proposing urgent amendments to a contentious law on Russian that he signed this week and that drew U.S. and European Union criticism. Duda said he was aware of the controversies, also in Poland, surrounding the law proposed by the governing conservative Law and Justice party and was addressing them by sending amendments to the parliament on Friday. He urged the lawmakers to act swiftly.Critics say the law violates the Polish Constitution and could keep government opponents from holding public office without full power to challenge the decisions in court. They say it could also have a negative effect on the eligibility of opposition candidates in an election due in the autumn. In its current form, the law will create a powerful committee, ostensibly meant to investigate Russian influence in Poland but is seen as primarily targeting Donald Tusk, a former prime minister who is now opposition leader...

Australian decorated hero quits corporate job after Afghanistan war crime revelations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith quit his corporate job Friday after a civil court blamed him for unlawfully killing four Afghans, escalating calls for the tarnished national hero to be stripped of his revered Victoria Cross medal.Roberts-Smith, who retired from Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment a decade ago, quit his job as state manager of Seven West Media after losing a landmark defamation suit Thursday against newspapers that had accused him of an array of war crimes.The 44-year-old had taken leave since 2021 to focus on his federal court case, which has been financed by the company’s billionaire executive chair Kerry Stokes.“Ben has been on leave whilst the case was running and today has offered his resignation which we have accepted,” chief executive James Warburton said Friday in a staff email.“We thank Ben for his commitment to Seven and wish him all the best,” Warburton added. Roberts-Smith has been figh...

Know any airplane mechanics? Wave of retirements leaves some industries desperate to hire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:25:19 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kwasi Bandoh, a senior recruiter for an airline, stood before a group of aviation mechanic students at their graduation ceremony last month and congratulated them for all having jobs.As some of the students began nudging each other, Bandoh realized that perhaps not every one of them had already been hired.“Who doesn’t have a job?” Bandoh demanded, surveying the 15 graduates before him at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics' training facility in Hagerstown, Maryland. “Who doesn't? Because I have a job for you."The crowd of about 70 friends and relatives, gathered in a hangar where the students had been trained, laughed appreciatively. Fourteen of the 15 graduates did have jobs, and the only one who didn't had an interview lined up for the next day. Here are the senators who voted against the bill to raise the debt ceiling As happy as the moment was for the graduates, it epitomized the struggles of recruiters for airlines, plane manufacturers and repair shops t...