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Key Ukrainian dam blown up, Kyiv blames Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

Explosions at a major hydroelectric plant in eastern Ukraine have unleashed flooding across the war-torn region, threatening the lives of civilians, officials in Kyiv said early Tuesday.In a statement posted Tuesday morning, Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command said “Russian occupation troops blew up the dam” at Nova Kakhovka, in the Kherson region. “The scale of destruction, speed and amount of water, and likely areas of flooding are being determined.”Blaming “Russian terrorists” for the blasts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter that “the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land.” He added that “all services are working,” and said he had convened his National Security and Defense Council.The operator of the plant, state-owned Ukrhydroenergo, confirmed in a statement that “as a resu...

Protests in France as unions make last-ditch bid to resist higher retirement age

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French unions are seeking to reignite resistance to President Emmanuel Macron’s higher retirement age with what may be a final surge of nationwide protests and scattered strikes Tuesday.A third of flights were canceled at Paris’ Orly Airport because of strikes, and about 10% of trains around France were disrupted. Some 250 marches, rallies and other actions are planned around the country on the 14th day of national protest since January over the pension reform.Macron’s move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 — and force the measure through parliament without a vote — inflamed public emotions and triggered some of France’s biggest demonstrations in years.But the intensity of anger over the pension reform has ebbed since the last big protests on May 1, and since the measure became law in April. Some see Tuesday’s actions as a last big show of opposition for the movement.Macron says the reform was needed to finance the pension system as the population ages. Un...

Stock market today: Asian stocks mixed after Wall St retreats on concern economy weakening

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street fell on concern the U.S. economy may be weakening following a report that showed growth in service industries slowing. Tokyo and Hong Kong rose while Shanghai and Sydney declined. Oil prices retreated.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.2% on Monday after an industry group’s index of activity in construction, hospitality and other services fell to a three-year low in May. That conflicted with hopes raised by data last week that showed unexpectedly strong hiring in May, suggesting a potential U.S. recession brought on by interest rate hikes might be farther away.“Weakness is emerging and that should be more noticeable in the coming months,” Edward Moya of Oanda said in a report.Australia’s central bank lifted its benchmark interest rate Tuesday for a 12th consecutive time to 4.1% and warned further rises could follow. The Reserve Bank of Australia boosted the cash rate by a quarter of a p...

Brother of gay American attacked on Sydney cliff in 1988 says defendant deserves no leniency

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — A man who admitted killing American mathematician Scott Johnson by punching him from a cliff top at a gay meeting place in Sydney in 1988 deserves no leniency and should face the longest time in jail, the victim’s brother said Tuesday.Scott Phillip White, 52, appeared in the New South Wales state Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to manslaughter. White had pleaded guilty to murder last year, but changed his mind and had that conviction overturned on appeal.Johnson’s older brother Steve Johnson said White had lost the family’s sympathy by withdrawing his confession to murder.He and his wife Rosemary “felt some compassion because of his generous plea. Today I have no sympathy,” Steve Johnson said in a victim impact statement read out to the court.Any gratitude the family felt was undone after White’s conviction and jail sentence were overturned on appeal, he told reporters after the hearing.“So I am hoping the judge will give him the stiffest s...

Hong Kong government seeks court injunction to ban ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ protest song

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s government said Tuesday it is seeking a court order to prohibit people from broadcasting or distributing the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” after it was mistakenly played as the city’s anthem at several international sporting events in the past year.In a statement, the Department of Justice said it had applied for an injunction Monday to prohibit unlawful acts relating to the song, which became an unofficial anthem for the 2019 pro-democracy protests. It is awaiting court direction and for a hearing date to be fixed.The government said the lyrics of the song contain slogans that have been ruled by the court as “constituting secession” and that it is highly likely that the song will continue to be widely used given that it had been mistakenly played as Hong Kong’s anthem instead of China’s national anthem, “March of the Volunteers.”In 2020, the government outlawed the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” for being secessionist a...

Senior US, Chinese diplomats hold ‘candid’ talks to avoid escalation of tensions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Senior U.S. and Chinese diplomats held “candid and productive” talks in Beijing and agreed to keep open lines of communication to avoid tensions from spiraling into conflict, officials said Tuesday. Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant U.S. secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, was the most senior U.S. official confirmed to have visited China on Monday since tensions between Washington and Beijing soared over the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon over the U.S. in early February. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the time postponed a planned trip to China, and Beijing has since largely rebuffed attempts at official exchanges, though two top U.S. and Chinese defense officials briefly interacted at a forum in Singapore over the weekend.China’s Foreign Ministry said Kritenbrink and Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu “had candid, constructive and fruitful communication on promoting the improvement of China-U.S. relations and properly managing dif...

Ukraine to open hearings in case against Russia at top UN court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Hearings open Tuesday at the United Nations’ highest court in a case brought by Ukraine against Russia linked to Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and arming of rebels in eastern Ukraine in the years before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Kyiv wants the International Court of Justice to order Moscow to pay reparations for attacks in the regions, including for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that was shot down by Russia-backed rebels on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.Four days of hearings in the court’s ornate, wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice are opening against a backdrop of Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II raging on in Ukraine. Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam and hydroelectric power station in a part of in a part of the country Moscow controls, threatening a massive flood.Lawyers for Kyiv will present legal arguments to su...

Australian central bank boosts cash rate to 4.1% with 12th hike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia: (AP) — Australia’s central bank on Tuesday lifted its benchmark interest rate for a 12th consecutive time, to 4.1%, and warned further rises could follow.The Reserve Bank of Australia boosted the cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point at its latest monthly meeting. That followed a higher-than-expected 6.8% annual inflation rate reported for the January-March quarter.Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe said it would take time for inflation to fall to the target range of 2% to 3%.“This further increase in interest rates is to provide greater confidence that inflation will return to target within a reasonable timeframe,” Lowe said in a statement.The cash rate is now at its highest level since April 2012.The bank first started jacking up interest rates in June 2022. Lowe said further increases might be needed. “The board will continue to pay close attention to developments in the global economy, trends in household spending, and the outlook for inflation and the...

Son Jun-ho selected for South Korean soccer team despite being detained in China

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

The selection of Son Jun-ho despite his detention in China took the focus off Premier League star Son Heung-min for once when South Korea’s soccer roster was unveiled.Son Jun-ho, who plays for Shandong Taishan and won the 2021 Chinese championship with the Jinan-based club, has been held by Chinese authorities for almost four weeks since he was detained at Shanghai Airport last month.Yet he was picked by South Korea’s head coach Jurgen Klinsmann this week for two international friendlies against Peru and El Salvador on June 16 and 20. Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Son, who represented South Korea at the World Cup last year in Qatar, was being investigated on suspicion of taking bribes.Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post last month reported that the bribery allegations concerned suspected match-fixing involving coach Hao Wei.The Korea Football Association (KFA) said despite visits by officials to China, it has collected little information about ...

Normandy marks D-Day’s 79th anniversary, honors WWII veterans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:26 GMT

ON OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — An overwhelming sound of gunfire and men’s screams. That’s how World War II veteran Marie Scott described D-Day as ceremonies were to honor those who fought for freedom in the largest naval, air and land operation in history.On Tuesday, the whistling sound of the wind accompanied many reenactors who came at dawn on Omaha Beach to mark the 79th anniversary of the assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control. Some brought a bunch of flowers, others waved American flags.Scott lived it all through her ears. She was just 17 when she was posted as communication operator in Portsmouth, Britain. Her job was to pass on messages between men on the ground and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and senior officers who were supervising the operation.“I was in the war. I could hear gunfire, machine guns, bombing aircraft, men screaming, shouting, men giving orders,” she recalled.“After a few moments of horror, I realised what was happening...