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Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao to stop publishing cartoonist Zunzi after government complaints

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong newspaper will stop publishing works by the city’s most prominent political cartoonist after his drawings drew government complaints, in another example of hushed speech and media voices after a Beijing-led crackdown.Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao did not elaborate on why it would end its 40-year partnership with Wong Kei-kwan on Sunday in its announcement. Wong, better known by his pen name Zunzi, told The Associated Press the decision was made through mutual consultation.“Everyone knows why publication has to be halted, but no one will ‘confirm’ the reason,” he said in a text message Thursday to the AP with two emojis showing a laughing face.His comic drawings caricatured Hong Kong society’s frustrations since before the then-British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.The newspaper and the government departments that complained about Wong’s drawings have not responded to requests for comment.Wong said he feels the city’s freedoms of speec...

UN human rights body turns attention to Sudan’s conflict as warring generals fight for control

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations top human rights body is holding a one-day emergency session Thursday on Sudan to draw attention to the killings, injuries and other abuses against civilians since the conflict between its two top generals erupted last month. The Human Rights Council, which is made up of 47 U.N. member states, is set to vote on a resolution that would further scrutinize current human rights violations taking place in Sudan.The call to hold the special session was led by Western countries. Council member states — including Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan — joined the call for the special session. The main co-sponsors of the draft resolution were all European, in addition to the United States. The fighting in Sudan erupted in mid-April as a result of a power struggle between the chief of Sudan’s military, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and rival Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands a powerful paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.The...

Suspect in Natalee Holloway disappearance faces extradition to US on fraud charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s government will allow the extradition to the United States of the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba, bringing her family hope there will be justice in the case.Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot will face trial on extortion and wire fraud charges, stemming from an accusation that he tried to extort the Holloway family after their daughter’s disappearance.Holloway, who lived in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, was 18 when she was last seen during a trip with classmates to Aruba. She vanished after a night with friends at a nightclub, leaving a mystery that sparked years of news coverage and countless true-crime podcasts. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, then 18 years old.Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and detained, along with two Surinamese brothers, weeks later. Holloway’s body was never found, and no charges were filed in the case. A ju...

Long-haul carrier Emirates sees highest-ever profit in 2022 of $2.9B after pandemic grounded flights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates saw its most-profit year ever in 2022, earning $2.9 billion after bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic shutting down global aviation, the airline announced Thursday. The carrier’s revival comes as Dubai, which owns the airline, has seen property prices skyrocket and people flood into the city-state in the United Arab Emirates as it lifted pandemic restrictions quickly and welcomed Russians fleeing Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Emirates’ annual report put revenue for the carrier at $29 billion in 2022, up 81% from 2021’s figures of $16 billion. That drastic swing comes after the airline reported a $1.1 billion loss in 2021. The city-state, one of seven hereditarily ruled, autocratic sheikhdoms that make up the UAE, provided Emirates a nearly $4 billion bailout in the depths of the pandemic. Even today as travel has bounced back, the carrier still has some of its double-decker Airbus A380s still pa...

With ex-PM Imran Khan in custody, Pakistan cracks down on his supporters, arresting hundreds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — With former Prime Minister Imran Khan in custody, Pakistani authorities on Thursday cracked down on his supporters, arresting hundreds in overnight raids and sending troops across the country to rein in the wave of violence that followed his arrest earlier this week. For this Islamic nation, accustomed to military takeovers, political crises and violence, the turmoil has been unprecedented. It echoed unrest that followed the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Her supporters at the time, outraged by her killing, rampaged for days across Pakistan. Clashes with police since Khan’s dramatic arrest on Tuesday have killed at least eight of his supporters and dozens have been injured. Five of the deaths were reported in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, two in the eastern city of Lahore and one person was killed in the southwestern city of Quetta. More than 200 police officer...

Yellen: Different system needed to end repeated standoffs over US debt ceiling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — After dozens of standoffs with Congress over government spending in recent decades, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that in her personal opinion, the United States should adopt a different system for national finances.Emphasizing that it was her own opinion, not President Joe Biden’s, Yellen said there are various alternatives for avoiding situations where the Treasury lacks the funds to pay its bills. In January, the U.S. government ran up against its legal borrowing limit of $31.381 trillion, and the Treasury Department began implementing “extraordinary measures” to avoid missing payments on its bills.It’s a predicament that has occurred nearly 80 times since 1960, she said. The Treasury Department has warned the U.S. could default as soon as June 1 if there is no deal.“Personally, I think we should find a different system for deciding on fiscal policy,” Yellen said when asked about the issue. Congress could repeal the debt ceiling o...

In The News for May 11 : RCMP to start field-testing body-worn cameras

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 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 May 11 …What we are watching in Canada …The RCMP says it expects officers in three parts of the country to start field-testing body-worn cameras in the coming days. Members of the RCMP in Nova Scotia, Nunavut and Alberta will have audio and video from the cameras captured and uploaded onto a digital evidence management system. The RCMP says up to 300 cameras will be rolled out in those locations. The field tests will be used to help inform the broader use of body cameras in RCMP attachments across the country. That national rollout is not expected for another 18 months, but the RCMP says that when it happens, the standard will be for Mounties to wear the cameras when they are working on the front lines. Police say the cameras can help increase trust between law enforcement and communities, because the footage that...

RCMP to begin field-testing body cameras ahead of national rollout

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

OTTAWA — The RCMP says it expects officers in three parts of the country to start field-testing body-worn cameras in the coming days. Members of the RCMP in Nova Scotia, Nunavut and Alberta will have audio and video from the cameras captured and uploaded onto a digital evidence management system. The RCMP says up to 300 cameras will be rolled out in those locations. The field tests will be used to help inform the broader use of body cameras in RCMP attachments across the country. That national rollout is not expected for another 18 months, but the RCMP says that when it happens, the standard will be for Mounties to wear the cameras when they are working on the front lines. Police say the cameras can help increase trust between law enforcement and communities, because the footage that is captured provides an authentic lens on interactions between officers and the public. Earlier this year, the Alberta government announced that body-worn cameras would become mandatory for all officers...

Controversy after Quebec teachers replace Mother’s Day with celebration of parents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

MONTREAL — The controversial decision by teachers at a Quebec school to replace Mother’s Day events with a celebration of parents has caused ripples all the way to the provincial legislature, but supporters say such moves can benefit children.The school service centre that oversees La Chanterelle school in Quebec City said the teachers made the decision — which was announced to parents by email — because several students in their classes don’t have a mother or father, while others are in foster homes.“It is clear … that this initiative was motivated by the teachers’ benevolent intentions towards the students in their class,” the Centre de services scolaire de la Capitale said in a statement posted on social media. “But, clearly, their communication was clumsy and could have been misunderstood and misinterpreted, and we are sorry.”The apology came after Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime this week shared on Twitter the email sent t...

Daily horoscope for May 11, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:57:02 GMT

Moon Alert: There are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The Moon is in Aquarius.Happy Birthday for Thursday, May 11, 2023:You are passionate, focused and independent. You like to call your own shots. You’re also persuasive when you want to be. Exciting changes are taking place this year that will give you more personal freedom. Stay flexible but ready to act on new opportunities. Travel is likely.ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★This is a good day to make long-range plans about money issues, earnings, cash flow and anything that you own, especially your personal possessions. You’re in a practical frame of mind today, which means if you are shopping, you will want to buy long-lasting, useful items. Tonight: Entertain.TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★★Look around you today with a critical eye to see what needs to be changed. You will spot what needs to be done because you’re very conscious of the flaws in everything that you look at. Your mind is on serio...