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Why Britain’s lobbying crackdown isn’t really a crackdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

LONDON — The U.K. is finally promising to tighten its loose lobbying rules after a host of scandals. The trouble is, hardly anyone’s buying the plan.Ministers chose the last day before the House of Commons kicked off its summer recess to respond to a swathe of recommendations made in three major reports over the past two years. They vowed “fundamental” changes to the U.K.’s transparency rules to ensure the “integrity” of government.But ethics advocates remain to be convinced, and say several loopholes remain open to abuse.The government’s response, said Sue Hawley, director of Spotlight on Corruption, “represents a minor refresh rather than a major upgrade of the current way in which ethics in government is regulated.”Long listThe U.K. hasn’t exactly been short of rows over lobbying in recent years. Conservative member of parliament Owen Paterson was forced to resign from parliament in 2021 after breaching rules meant to st...

Lightning sparks flames at American International College building in Springfield

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

A building of the American International College in Springfield suffered significant damage Thursday after a lightning strike, the college’s president said in a statement. The Springfield Fire Department first said its crews were on scene around 5:30 p.m. battling a second alarm fire the American International College’s Courniotes Hall at 1000 State Street. Photos from the scene showed flames burning through the building’s roof as crews poured water on the fire.In his statement, College President Hubert Benitez said lightning struck Courniotes Hall Thursday afternoon. Campus police later searched the building and confirmed no one was inside, according to Benitez. Courniotes Hall houses the American International College’s nursing problem in addition to classrooms for health science courses.In the wake of Thursday’s lightning strike and fire, Benitez said the college “is committed to taking all actions necessary to ensure that we provide students with continuity i...

Fierce winds caused panic on ferry that capsized in Philippines, killing at least 26, officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

By JIM GOMEZ (Associated Press)MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A small Philippine ferry turned upside down when passengers suddenly crowded to one side in panic as fierce winds pummeled the wooden vessel, leaving at least 26 people dead while 40 others were rescued, officials said Friday.Coast guard and police said search and rescue efforts had resumed after a pause Thursday night. Officials said it remained unclear how many people were aboard the M/B Princess Aya, which capsized Thursday in Laguna de Bay in Rizal province east of Manila. When people rushed to one side of the vessel amid severe winds, the boat tilted and its outrigger broke, then the boat capsized shortly after leaving a wharf in the town of Binangonan for nearby Talim island, police and the coast guard said. The accident happened only about 46 meters (150 feet) from shore, officials said at a news conference.The Rizal provincial police said that they immediately launched a rescue operation with the help of the coa...

Donald Trump faces new charges in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. Here’s what to know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

New charges — and a new defendant — added to the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump underscore how the Mar-a-Lago investigation is still very much ongoing, even as the focus has been on an expected indictment in a separate case related to the 2020 election.In an updated indictment handed down Thursday, prosecutors allege that Trump asked a staffer to delete camera footage at his Florida estate in an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into his possession of classified documents. The indictment includes new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information. Prosecutors also added a third defendant to the case: Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, who they say schemed with Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta, to conceal the footage from investigators. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and a spokesperson dismissed the new charges as “nothing more than a continued desperate and flailing attempt” by the Biden administr...

MP wants federal funding to Calgary Stampede pulled after abuse settlement reached

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

CALGARY — A member of Parliament says he’s calling on the federal government to halt funding to the Calgary Stampede.Liberal member George Chahal, who represents Calgary Skyview, says the Stampede has lost people’s trust.A partial settlement was reached this week in a class-action lawsuit alleging the organization allowed a performance school staffer to sexually abuse young boys.Phillip Heerema is serving a 10-year sentence for luring six boys into sexual relationships when he worked for the Stampede’s Young Canadians School of Performing Arts.The lawsuit’s three dozen plaintiffs are all men who were students, employees, contractors or volunteers with the performance school.The Stampede apologized in a statement and said it takes responsibility in the hopes of helping the victims heal.Chahal said government funding should only be restored when the victims feel there has been genuine accountability.“The Calgary Stampede must recognize that they have lost the t...

UN lifts last restriction on arms for Central African Republic government, but not for mercenaries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council lifted a requirement that the Central African Republic get advance U.N. approval for arms purchases and transfers for its security forces, but kept an arms embargo on mercenaries and all other armed groups despite vehement opposition from the country’s government.The resolution ending all restrictions on arms for the government was approved by a vote of 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining.Mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group have been working in the Central African Republic, known as CAR, at the government’s request, and until the vote was taken most diplomats were uncertain whether Russia would veto the resolution or abstain.CAR’s Foreign Minister Sylvie Baïpo-Temon told the council after the vote that the arms embargo, which was imposed in 2013, should have been lifted in its entirety. She called the resolution “one of flagrant double standards,” intimating it was the work of Western power blocs.“This injustice is feeding n...

Montreal police find suspect drowned after mother, daughter found dead in home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

Montreal police say they’ve found the body of a man sought in connection with a double homicide early Thursday after the bodies of a mother and daughter were found dead in a home.The bodies of the 56-year-old mother and her 12-year-old daughter were found inside a property in a residential area of the southwest borough of Lachine.Late Thursday, police confirmed a body taken out of the water was that of the 59-year-old husband of the female victim and the father of the preteen girl and that he had been sought in connection with the deaths –the city’s 17th and 18th homicides of the year.Const. Mariane Allaire Morin said police received a call around 12:15 a.m. Thursday about missing people, adding that a short investigation led officers to the residence about 75 minutes later.“At the beginning, we were talking about multiple people reported missing, we weren’t talking about one, two, or three people,” Allaire Morin said.“There is a suspect in ...

Japan raises alarm over China’s military, its Russia ties and Taiwan tensions in new defense paper

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan stepped up its alarm over China’s assertiveness in the region, its growing military ties to Russia and its claims on Taiwan in an annual defense paper released Friday that is the first under Tokyo’s new security strategy calling for a major military buildup.The current security environment is the worst since the end of World War II, according to the 2023 edition of Japan’s defense white paper approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet. It is the first under the National Security Strategy the government adopted in December, stating the need to bolster strike capability with long-range missiles like Tomahawks, a controversial plan seen as a break from Japan’s self-defense-only postwar principle.China, Russia and North Korea contribute to “the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II,” according to the 510-page report. It says China’s external stance and military activities have become a “serious concern for...

Bolivia is the latest South American nation to use China’s yuan for trade in challenge to the dollar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia is now using the yuan to pay for imports and exports, becoming the latest country in South America to regularly use the Chinese currency in a small but growing challenge to the hegemony of the U.S. dollar for international financial transactions in the region.Between May and July of this year, Bolivia conducted financial operations amounting to 278 million Chinese yuan ($38.7 million), which accounts for 10% of its foreign trade during that period, Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro said on Thursday.“We’re already using the yuan. It’s a reality and a good start,” Montenegro said during a news conference. “Banana, zinc, and wood manufacturing exporters are conducting transactions in yuan, as well as importers of vehicles and capital goods.” These electronic transactions are carried out through the state-owned Banco Unión.“The amount being used in yuan is still relatively small, but it will increase over time,” Montenegro said.With these transactions, B...

US Senate votes to expand radiation-exposure compensation, from Guam to original A-bomb test site

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:20:50 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Senate has endorsed a major expansion of a compensation program for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing and the mining of uranium during the Cold War, with a vote Thursday on a massive defense spending bill.Advancing on a 86-11 Senate vote, the provisions would extend health care coverage and compensation to so-called downwinders exposed to radiation during weapons testing to several new regions stretching from Guam to the New Mexico site where the world’s first atomic bomb was tested in 1945.The Senate-backed plan also would extend compensation to more former uranium industry workers. The proposed changes to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act are not yet included in a House-approved defense bill, amid negotiations toward final legislation.The hit summer film “Oppenheimer” about the top-secret Manhattan Project and the dawn of the nuclear age during World War II has brought new attention to a decades-long effort...