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Killing of Ecuador candidate deepens country’s sense of vulnerability to crime

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The brazen assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio at a crowded political rally Wednesday night deepened the country’s sense of vulnerability to the crime that’s spread across the country in recent years. After multiple threats for his stance against drug trafficking and corruption, Villavicencio was under the watch of police and private security guards. His shooting death has focused global attention on his country’s wave of violent deaths, which began about three years ago, and the connection between organized crime and other powerful interests there.HOW WAS VILLAVICENCIO THREATENED? He said during his campaign that he and his team he had been threatened by the Ecuadorian criminal group known as Los Choneros and their leader Alias Fito, whom Villavicencio linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. Villavicencio said popular support would protect him, “You’re my bulletproof vest. I don’t need one. You&...

Once again the Netherlands ponder what might have been at a Women’s World Cup

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Netherland’s peripatetic campaign at the Women’s World Cup ended Friday with a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Spain and the sting of bitterness and regret.A 62nd-minute penalty awarded to the Netherlands after a push by Irene Paredes on Lineth Beerensteyn was scrubbed out after a VAR review.What might have been a 1-0 lead became a 1-0 deficit when Mariona Caldente scored from the penalty spot from Spain after another review found defender Stefanie van der Gragt’s hand had made contact with the ball near the edge of the area.Just over 10 minutes later and near the end of stoppage time, van der Gragt pushed up in an attack role and broke free on Victoria Pelova’s pass to calmly strike the ball past the Spanish goalkeeper, sending the match to extra time. There was a question of offside but this time the VAR found in favor of the Dutch.But the win and semifinal place went to Spain with a goal to substitute Salma Paralluelo late in th...

More evacuations considered in Norway where level in swollen rivers continues to rise

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — More evacuations were being considered Friday in southeastern Norway, where the level of water in swollen rivers and lakes continued to grow after days of torrential rain.Huge amounts of water, littered with broken trees, debris and trash, were thundering down the usually serene rivers. It flooded abandoned houses, left cars coated in mud and swamped camping sites. One of the most affected places was the town of Hønefossen where the Begna river had gone over its banks and authorities were considering moving more people downstream for fear of landslides. Up to 2,000 people have already been evacuated. “We constantly try to think a few steps ahead. We are ready to press an even bigger red button,” Magnus Nilholm, a local emergency manager in the Hønefossen region, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Ivar Berthling of Norway’s Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) told Norwegian news agency NTB that the water levels around Hønefossen, some 40 kilomet...

In the news today: Feds to give update on Canada’s wildfire season

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Federal government to provide wildfire outlookFederal officials are set to provide an update today on the outlook for the rest of this year’s devastating wildfire season.Officials have already said Canada is experiencing its worst fire season on record, charring more than 130,000 square kilometres to date, which is more than six times the 10-year average.Natural Resources Canada said last week there were more than 650 fires burning across Canada, about two-thirds of them in B.C. —Here’s what else we’re watching …Televising Trump: should D.C. trial be broadcast?A group is working to convince the head of the U.S. Supreme Court that Donald Trump’s trial in Washington, D.C., should be televised. The Radio Television Digital News Association is forming a coalition to petition the court system’s policy-making panel of judges,...

Makkabi Berlin, founded by Holocaust survivors, to be 1st Jewish team in German Cup

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Makkabi Berlin’s first game ever ended in a 15-1 loss in the city’s humblest soccer league. The result of that 1971 match was secondary, though, as merely playing was an achievement for the team founded by Holocaust survivors.“We wanted to show that we’re still here — that we’re accepted, that we weren’t ended in 1933,” co-founder Marian Wajselfisz told The Associated Press. He still laughs about the result.On Sunday, Makkabi will be the first Jewish club to play in the German Cup, a season-long tournament for 64 of the country’s best professional and amateur sides.When the annual competition was started under the Nazis in 1935, Jews weren’t allowed to take part. So when fifth-tier Makkabi squares off against top-tier Wolfsburg, it will be carrying the weight of history onto the field.“I’ve been there from the first day. I never imagined that we — as a Jewish team — would ever be playing a cup game against a Bundesliga team. So for us, and for me personally, it’s a hug...

Tensions rise as West African nations prepare to send troops to restore democracy in Niger

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Tensions are escalating between Niger’s new military regime and the West African regional bloc that has ordered the deployment of troops to restore Niger’s flailing democracy. The ECOWAS bloc said on Thursday it had directed a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger after its Sunday deadline to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum expired. Hours earlier, two Western officials told The Associated Press that Niger’s junta had told a top U.S. diplomat they would kill Bazoum if neighboring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule.It’s unclear when or where the force will deploy and which countries from the 15-member bloc would contribute to it. Conflict experts say it would likely comprise some 5,000 troops led by Nigeria and could be ready within weeks. After the ECOWAS meeting, neighboring Ivory Coast’s president, Alassane Ouattara, said his country would take part in the military operation, along wi...

Chinese tech giant Huawei reports sales, profit up despite US sanctions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei on Friday reported its revenue rose 3% over a year earlier in the first half of 2023 and its profit margin widened despite sanctions that block access to U.S. processor chips and other technology.China’s first global tech brand has responded to U.S. curbs that devastated its smartphone brand by increasing emphasis on selling network gear to hospitals, ports, electric car brands and other industrial customers it believes will be less vulnerable to sanctions.Revenue in the six months ending in June rose 3.1% to 310.9 billion yuan ($43.1 billion), Huawei Technologies Ltd. said. It gave no profit figure but said its profit margin was 15%, which would be about 45 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) and an increase over the 4.3% margin in the first quarter of this year.Sales by its infrastructure unit were 167.2 billion yuan ($23.2 billion), according to Huawei. Consumer sales were 103.5 billion yuan ($14.3 billion). Sales by the fledgling automotive...

Broadcasters to lobby Supreme Court chief justice to allow cameras at Trump’s trials

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump likes being on television. But the most dramatic moment of his political career — standing trial in the U.S. capital on charges of trying to subvert democracy — is set to transpire beyond the gaze of cameras. A growing chorus of voices, including from the former president’s own defence team, hopes to convince the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court to change that. “The public not only has a right but has a need to see what happens in that courtroom,” said Dan Shelley, president and CEO of the Radio Television Digital News Association.“The only way the world can have any modicum of trust in whatever the outcome of the case is if they’re able to see it and hear it with their own eyes and ears.”The RTDNA has been advocating for American broadcast journalists since 1946, the very same year the U.S. court system first prohibited photography or broadcasting during federal criminal proceedings. That 77-year symmetry will com...

Federal officials to provide wildfire update amid devastating season

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal officials are set to provide an update today on the outlook for the rest of this year’s devastating wildfire season.Officials have already said Canada is experiencing its worst fire season on record, charring more than 130,000 square kilometres to date, which is more than six times the 10-year average.Hundreds of homes were destroyed by wildfires in Nova Scotia earlier this year, and about 4,000 firefighters in British Columbia are currently battling hundreds of blazes, some of which have threatened communities and forced evacuations.Natural Resources Canada said last week there were more than 650 fires burning across Canada, about two-thirds of them in B.C. Four firefighters have died this summer fighting wildfires in B.C., Alberta, and the Northwest Territories.International firefighters from the United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, Dominican Republic, South Korea and Colombia have been helping local firefighting crews.The fed...

Repatriation: How many migrants in the EU are sent back? 

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:14:31 GMT

Discover key figures about the repatriation of migrants and proposed changes to EU law, Society.The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum includes new rules and the revision of existing legislation, such as the Return Directive.In a draft resolution on the Return Directive adopted in December 2020, MEPs stressed the importance of protecting individual fundamental rights as well as respect for procedural safeguards.In April 2023, Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the screening regulation and asylum procedures regulation ahead of discussions with the Council.Read more about the EU's migration policy.Returning migrants: Key factsIn 2022, 141,060 people were refused entry into the EU, the main reasons being not having a valid visa or residence permit (23%) or not being able to justify the purpose and conditions of stay (23%). In 2022, EU countries issued 422,400 return decisions. However, less than a quarter of non-EU nationals were returned to a country outside the EU...