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Putin is taking questions from ordinary Russians along with journalists as his reelection bid begins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his end-of-year news conference Thursday — and this year, ordinary citizens are getting the chance to phone in their questions along with journalists, who queued in freezing temperatures hours ahead of Putin’s expected arrival.Putin, who has held power for nearly 24 years, said last week that he is running for reelection in March. Last year, he did not hold his usual call-in show with ordinary Russians or his traditional session with reporters during the fighting in Ukraine.In addition, his annual state-of-the-nation address was delayed until February of this year. His last news conference was in 2021 amid U.S warnings that Russia was on the brink of sending troops into Ukraine.Putin has heavily limited his interaction with the foreign media since the fighting began in Ukraine but international journalists were invited this year.With the future of Western aid to Ukraine in doubt and another winter of fighting looming, neithe...

Japan, UK and Italy formally establish a joint body to develop a new advanced fighter jet

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The defense ministers of Japan, Britain and Italy on Thursday signed an agreement to establish a joint organization to develop a new advanced jet fighter, as the countries push to bolster their cooperation in the face of growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea.The three countries had agreed last year to merge earlier individual plans — for Japan’s Mitsubishi F-X to succeed the retiring F-2s developed with the United States and Britain’s Tempest – to produce the new combat aircraft for deployment in 2035.Japan, which is rapidly building up its military, hopes to have greater capability to counter China’s rising assertiveness and allow Britain a bigger presence in the Indo-Pacific region.Defense Minister Minoru Kihara at a joint news conference with his British and Italian counterparts, Grant Shapps and Guido Crosett, said that co-developing a high performance fighter aircraft is “indispensable to securing air superiority and enabling effective deterrence” at a...

Mild December with 50s returning to Chicago; Meager U.S. Snow Cover in Lower 48, but Alaska is a different story. Chicago rain chances go up Saturday evening; Florida braces for flooding rains,

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

Remarkably mild start to December across the lower 48: only 0.7% running cooler than average. Source: Dr Bryan Brettschneider, Climatologist 

Supreme Court verdict, though disappointing, does not come as a surprise - WKAF

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

The supreme court of India upholds the decision of the Modi Government to strip the occupied Jammu & Kashmir of special status. The verdict though disappointing does not come as a surprise. This is the same court that confirmed the death sentence on Afzal Guru, notwithstanding the fact (own admission of the chief justice) that evidence for the alleged crime was not conclusive. The judgment came "to satisfy the collective conscience of the nation". The same court few years ago issued a judgment giving the Hindu majority a right to build a temple in place of Barbari Mosque. This decision came as a shock to legal luminaries who cast aspersion on the acumen of the judges of the highest court of the land. Any single or group of individuals expecting a fair judgment from Indian courts is exhibiting his/her naivety as rule of law has been buried under BJP Hindutva rubble by the Indian government, writes Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum.It is evident that the decision...

China, una nación bebedora de té, ahora tiene más cafeterías de marca que Estados Unidos.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

(CNN) —  China superó a Estados Unidos como el mercado de cafeterías de marca más grande del mundo por puntos de venta, según un informe de World Coffee Portal.El número de cafeterías de marca en la segunda economía más grande del mundo creció un 58% en los últimos 12 meses hasta llegar a 49.691 puntos de venta, dijo la firma de investigación esta semana.Starbucks abrió 785 establecimientos en el país durante el período y es su segundo mayor operador de café de marca por establecimientos, añadió World Coffee Portal. Luckin Coffee, la startup china que se vio envuelta en un escándalo de fraude y fue expulsada de Wall Street hace tres años, es la cadena de café más grande del país con más de 13.000 puntos de venta.“Más del 90% de los 4.000 consumidores de cafeterías chinos encuestados beben café caliente semanalmente, mientras que el 64% consume café helado al menos una vez a la semana”, dijo World Coffee Portal en un comunicado este martes.En ese mismo comunicado, s...

Análisis: Los aliados europeos de Ucrania están decepcionando

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

(CNN) —  Antes de que la guerra entre Israel y Hamas acaparara prácticamente toda la atención de la comunidad internacional, la invasión rusa de Ucrania era la crisis más apremiante que los diplomáticos buscaban resolver.En Bruselas, esta semana había sido prevista como un gran momento para la europeización de Ucrania, ya que los estados miembros de la UE se reúnen en su última cumbre del año para dar luz verde a una mayor financiación para Kiev y, finalmente, a la apertura de negociaciones para la membresía de Ucrania del bloque.Todo eso ha sido cuestionado por un Estado miembro: Hungría.El primer ministro populista húngaro, Viktor Orban, ha sido durante algún tiempo el niño problemático número uno de Europa occidental. Incluso antes de la guerra en Ucrania, Hungría tenía forma de pedir rescate al resto de la UE. La mayoría de las grandes decisiones tomadas por Bruselas requieren la aprobación unánime de los 27 estados miembros. Esto significa que cada estado miembro tiene ef...

South Korean Olympic chief defends move to send athletes to train at military camp

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Olympic chief has defended a decision to send hundreds of athletes to a military camp next week as part of preparations for the 2024 Games in Paris, citing a need to instill mental toughness in competitors.About 400 athletes, including women, will arrive at a marine boot camp in the southeastern port city of Pohang on Monday for a three-day training aimed at building resilience and teamwork, the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee said.The program, pushed by the committee’s president, Lee Kee-Heung, has faced criticism from politicians and media who described the training camp as outdated and showing an unhealthy obsession with medals.Officials at the committee have played down concerns about the potential for injuries, saying the athletes will not be forced into the harsher types of military training. Morning jogs, rubber-boat riding and events aimed at building camaraderie will be on the program. Sports officials are still finalizing details ...

Taliban sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, says UN report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban officials are sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender-based violence, according to a U.N. report published Thursday.Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centers in Afghanistan where survivors of gender-based violence could seek refuge. Now there are none, the U.N. report said.Officials from the Taliban-led administration told the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that there was no need for such shelters or that they were a Western concept. The Taliban sends women to prison if they have no male relatives to stay with or if the male relatives are considered unsafe, the report said. Authorities have also asked male relatives for commitments or sworn statements that they will not harm a female relative, inviting local elders to witness the guarantee, it added.Women are sent to prison for their protection “akin to how prisons have been used to accommodate drug addicts and homeless people i...

Israel vows to fight on in Gaza despite deadly ambush and rising international pressure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has vowed to keep fighting in Gaza until it crushes Hamas after one of the deadliest single battles of the war for its soldiers, even as it faces mounting international calls for a cease-fire and unease on the part of its closest ally, the United States.The ambush a fresh reminder that Hamas is still able to fight after six weeks of devastating warfare aimed at crushing its military capabilities. Israel has imposed a total siege and flattened much of northern Gaza with a massive air and ground campaign, driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.Hamas’ resilience has called into question whether Israel can defeat Hamas without wiping out Gaza. Support for Hamas has surged among Palestinians, in part because of the militant group’s stiff resistance to a far more powerful foe, while Israel’s most important ally, the U.S., has expressed growing discomfort over civilian deaths in what is already one of the 21st century’s most devastati...

China’s economy is forecast to slow sharply in 2024, the World Bank says, calling recovery ‘fragile’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:57:05 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s economy will slow next year, with annual growth falling to 4.5% from 5.2% this year despite a recent recovery spurred by investments in factories and construction and in demand for services, the World Bank said in a report issued Thursday. The report said the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy from setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other shocks, remains “fragile,” dogged by weakness in the property sector and in global demand for China’s exports, high debt levels and wavering consumer confidence. The estimate that growth would be around 5% this year but then fall in coming months was in line with other forecasts. Growth is expected to slow further in 2025, to 4.3% from 4.5% next year, the World Bank said. The economy has yoyoed in the past few years, with growth ranging from 2.2% in 2020 to 8.4% in 2021 and 3% last year. Stringent limits on travel and other activities during the pandemic hit manufacturing and transport. Job losses due to tho...