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White House imposing sanctions as Sudan’s warring sides fail to abide by cease-fire deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House announced Thursday that it will impose sanctions against key defense companies and people who “perpetuate violence” in Sudan as the warring sides failed to abide by a cease-fire agreement in the northeastern African nation.New visa restrictions apply to officials from the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces and leaders from the former government led by Omar al-Bashir who are “responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Sudan’s democratic transition,” according to the State Department.President Joe Biden on May 4 laid the groundwork for the penalties when he issued an executive order that expanded U.S. authorities to respond to the violence and help bring an end to the conflict.“These measures are intended to hold accountable those responsible for undermining the peace, security, and stability of Sudan,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.The Treasury Department said in a statement tha...

Russian bombardment of Ukrainian capital kills at least 3, including child

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a pre-dawn missile barrage at the Ukrainian capital Thursday, killing three people, including a 9-year-old and her mother, and damaging apartment buildings, schools and a children’s hospital, officials said. It was the highest toll from a single attack on Kyiv over the past month.A 33-year-old woman died as she and others waited to enter a locked air raid shelter, which left the group at the mercy of falling missile fragments, according to her husband. Officials ordered an investigation.The latest attack, using what Ukrainian officials said were short-range, ground-launched Iskander missiles, coincided with events scheduled in Kyiv to celebrate International Children’s Day. Those events were canceled.Ukrainian air defenses shot down all 10 cruise and ballistic missiles, but falling debris caused damage and wounded 16 people, authorities said.Russia has kept up a steady barrage on the capital and other parts of the country in recent weeks as Kyiv ...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises with hopes for pause to rate hikes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is rising Thursday with hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon take it easier on its hikes to interest rates. The S&P 500 was 0.9% higher in afternoon trading after a suite of reports painted a split U.S. economy. The job market remains remarkably solid, but manufacturing is weakening and shoppers of all kinds are feeling more pressure. Altogether, investors saw the data pushing the Fed to refrain from hiking rates at its next meeting in two weeks, which would be the first time that’s happened in more than a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 170 points, or 0.5%, at 33,073, as 1:38 p.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was leading the market with a 1.2% gain. It’s full of technology companies and other high-growth stocks that tend to benefit most from lower rates.One positive for the market came late Wednesday when the House of Representatives approved a deal to prevent a possibly catastrophic default on the U.S. government’s...

Man sentenced to life in killing of mother of 2 New Mexico State Police officers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A Mexican national convicted of the 2019 slaying of the mother of two New Mexico State Police officers in a case that drew national attentione has been sentenced to life in prison.Luis Talamantes-Romero also received an additional prison term of 26 1/2 years on Wednesday for eight other felony convictions in the death of Jacqueline Vigil.He declined to address the court before his sentencing.Talamantes-Romero, 35, was convicted in April of first-degree murder along with aggravated burglary, attempted armed robbery, tampering with evidence, conspiracy and other charges.Authorities said Vigil, 55, was killed outside her northwest Albuquerque home in an attempted burglary in November 2019. She was shot in her driveway as she prepared to leave for a gym.The case went unsolved for months, drawing the attention of then-President Donald Trump as he pushed his tough-on-crime agenda. Vigil’s family also traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump.Prosecutors sai...

Champions League final referee under UEFA scrutiny for links to far-right leader in Poland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — An anti-racism group called on soccer’s top referee Thursday to distance himself from a far-right politician in Poland, and UEFA said it wanted “urgent clarification” ahead of the Champions League final.“A further announcement will be made (Friday), after reviewing all the evidence,” UEFA said.Szymon Marciniak has been picked by UEFA to referee the biggest game in club soccer between Manchester City and Inter Milan on June 10. He also handled the Argentina-France World Cup final for FIFA this season.The Never Again group in Warsaw said Marciniak “reportedly promoted and participated in a recent event organized by a Polish far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen.”’We are shocked and appalled by Marciniak’s public association with Mentzen and his brand of toxic far-right politics,” Never Again co-founder Rafal Pankowski said in a statement. “It is incompatible with the basic values of fair play such as equality and respect.”Mentzen is a leader of the populist Konfederacja (Con...

‘Two beautiful souls’: Families of couple slain in landlord-tenant dispute speak out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

The families of two people killed by their landlord after a dispute about mold growing in their rental apartment in Stoney Creek have released a statement through Hamilton police, calling them “two beautiful souls” who were set to marry this summer.Carissa MacDonald, 27, and Aaron Stone, 28, were shot to death on Saturday by their landlord, who lived in the unit above them.On Wednesday, a spokesperson with Hamilton Police confirmed that a dispute over the state of their basement apartment — specifically mold — ultimately led to the fatal shootings.It was also revealed that MacDonald and Stone, identified by police on Tuesday, were preparing to move out of the unit on Thursday, June 1.“They were days away from moving into their new home and starting the next chapter of their lives,” their families said in a joint statement Thursday.“They were planning on getting married this summer,” they added.“They were such family-oriented peop...

Biden tells US Air Force Academy graduates their leadership needed in increasingly confusing world

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday thanked U.S. Air Force Academy graduates for choosing “service over self” but said they now have the “great privilege” of leading in a world that will only get more confusing in the years to come.“Graduates, you made a noble choice to lead a life of service,” Biden told more than 900 cadets in remarks on the sun-splashed field at Falcon Stadium in Colorado. “Now you also shoulder a great privilege and a mighty responsibility. Leadership, yeah leadership.”“In the years ahead, your airmen and guardians are going to look to you for guidance and inspiration because the world is going to get more confusing,” he added. “They’ll put their trust in you. You, in turn, must strive to always be worthy of their confidence.”Biden said they will need the qualities of resilience, creativity, endurance and commitment that they learned during their four years of training at the academy — learning that was interrupted by the C...

Jordan’s capital turns into open-air party for first major royal wedding in years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan’s capital turned into an open-air party on Thursday as crowds gathered to celebrate the desert kingdom’s first major royal wedding in years and bask in the event’s unmistakable demonstration of Jordan’s influence and importance.Jordanians from all walks of life shared an infectious excitement about the union between Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif, momentarily forgetting their differences and troubles in a Mideast country regarded as a rare beacon of stability in a turbulent region.The wedding fever had been building for weeks. As the day began, Jordanians decked out in traditional red-and-white scarves and other elaborate get-ups — including T-shirts printed with pictures of the couple and body paint congratulating the prince — gathered around huge screens nationwide to watch the ceremony unfold. Royals and dignitaries from around the world descended on Amman for the occasion.The traditional Islamic wedding service lasted mere minut...

Trinidad’s Francis elected next leader of UN General Assembly

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Trinidad and Tobago’s Ambassador Dennis Francis was elected Thursday as the next president of the U.N. General Assembly, the 193-member world body that has been at the forefront of the United Nations’ condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is a key venue for all countries to tackle urgent issues from growing global poverty and inequality to climate change.Francis, the longest-serving ambassador of his Caribbean nation, takes over the presidency at the start of the 78th session of the assembly in September and will preside over the annual gathering of world leaders later that month.Francis was elected by acclamation with a bang of the gavel and loud applause. He will succeed Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary, a diplomat for nearly 40 years who was highly praised by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said, “I will miss his advice and guidance.”The General Assembly, which is the U.N.’s most representative body, has taken the spotlight in reac...

Berlin police record jump in angry motorists attacking road-blocking climate activists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:49 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Figures released Thursday by German police showed a sharp increase in the number of violent attacks on climate protesters in Berlin recorded this year compared with 2022.Police in the capital said they opened 66 investigations into motorists suspected of committing crimes against members of the activist group Last Generation during the first five months of 2023. Eighteen such investigations were launched during all of last year.Last Generation’s tactic of blocking streets has drawn ire from some drivers, who have used force to clear activists off the road.Some tabloid newspapers have suggested that doing so constitutes a form of self-defense. But Berlin daily Tagesspiegel, which first reported the new attack figures, quoted a police spokesperson as saying there was no indication motorists were becoming more radical; instead, an increasing number of blockades could be the reason for the rise in attacks, the spokesperson said.Berlin police said 17 cases of suspecte...