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Anti-migration operation on French African island of Mayotte stirs tensions, exposes inequalities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

CHIRONGUI, Mayotte (AP) — Facing a migration quagmire on the French island territory of Mayotte, off Africa’s east coast, France’s government has sent in 2,000 troops and police to carry out mass expulsions, destroy slums and eradicate violent gangs.But the operation has become bogged down and raised concerns of abuse, aggravating tensions between local residents and immigrants from the neighboring country of Comoros. It is also laying bare entrenched poverty among both communities, tensions over the island’s status — and deep inequalities between Mayotte and the rest of France.While Mayotte is a part of France, Comoros — 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the northwest across a strait in the Indian Ocean — was also once a French colony but has been independent since 1975. Mayotte is by far the poorest corner of France, but its average annual income of around $3,500 is still more than double that in Comoros. This has created a powerful pull.“How can they imagine for a second that (the ope...

Show must go on for a Ukrainian director drafted for war ahead of opening night

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The show must go on, even when its Ukrainian director is drafted by the army weeks before opening night.“Silence, Silence, Silence, Please,” a play that tackles Russia’s war in Ukraine had its world debut in Portugal last week, but it’s chief creator was conspicuously missing from among the packed audience.Pavlo Yurov had meant to be there. Weeks before the opening, he had gone to get special documentation that would permit him to make a trip out of Ukraine. Men of fighting age are barred from leaving, but there are exceptions and Yurov, 43, expected to be given a pass to attend his own show. Instead he was drafted by Ukraine’s National Guard and is now a press officer attached to a brigade preparing to participate in a much anticipated counteroffensive. So Yurov had no choice but to stay, while his actors took to the stage in the Portuguese city of Coimbra and performed, and his name flashed in neon lights outside the theater halls.The play is art imitating lif...

PGA Championship promises a strong course for the strongest field

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Four layers of clothes, beanies and hand warmers were everywhere on the eve of the PGA Championship, a reminder how this major will be different from the previous six at Oak Hill.The temperature was 37 degrees — it felt colder with a morning breeze — and it made the 7,394 yards on the scorecard of a par 70 feel even longer.“I still can’t believe it’s nearly middle of May and that we’re still going through 40-, 50-degree weather,” Jason Day said. “But that’s this part of the country at this time of the year.”Ockie Strydom of South Africa was on the 10th tee, taking practice swings and waiting for the clock to hit 7 a.m. for the course to officially open. “Have you no friends?” someone called out to him.Strydom laughed and replied, “You’d have to be crazy to play in this.”Such was the risk of the PGA Championship moving from August to May. The good news for Day, world No. 1 Jon Rahm, defending champion Justin Thomas and the rest of the 156-man field ...

Pakistani police besiege Imran Khan’s home as deadline for him to hand over suspects is to expire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police kept up their siege around the home of Imran Khan as a 24-hour deadline given to the former premier to hand over suspects allegedly sheltered inside was about to expire on Thursday. The siege and the authorities demand for the suspects, wanted in violent protests over Khan’s recent detention, has angered the former prime minister’s many followers and is raising concerns about more clashes between them and the security forces. Last week, Khan’s supporters attacked public property and military installations after he was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested. At least 10 people were killed in clashes with police across the country. The violence subsided only when Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Khan’s release.The popular opposition leader was freed from custody over the weekend and returned to his home in an upscale district of Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city and the capital of the Punjab region. Dozens of his s...

Russia targets Kyiv, Odesa with missiles, Ukraine says most were shot down

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched cruise missiles at Ukraine’s capital and the Odesa region early Thursday, officials said, in an escalation ahead of a much-anticipated counteroffensive. Most of the missiles were shot down, and one death was reported from the attacks.Loud explosions were heard in Kyiv, and falling debris caused a fire in a non-residential building.It was the ninth Russian air raid that targeted the capital this month, a clear escalation after weeks of lull and ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive using newly supplied advanced Western weapons.The attack was carried out by strategic bombers from the Caspian region, probably using cruise missiles, and Russia later deployed reconnaissance craft over the capital. According to preliminary information, all enemy targets were destroyed, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv Military Administration, said in a Telegram post.Debris fell on two Kyiv districts and the fire at a garage complex was extinguished...

Stock market today: Asian stocks follow Wall St higher on hopes for US debt deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Thursday on hopes U.S. political leaders can reach agreement to avoid a potentially disastrous default on government debt.Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Oil prices edged lower.Wall Street rallied Wednesday after President Joe Biden expressed confidence “America will not default” despite lack of agreement on Republican demands for cuts in aid to poor families to pay for food, medical care and rent in exchange for raising the amount the government can borrow.“Markets are now fully pricing an in-time resolution of the crisis,” said Clifford Bennett of ACY Securities in a report. “No one wants to sell ahead of an announcement of a deal being made.”Speaker Kevin McCarthy of the House of Representatives said Tuesday the two sides were far apart but could reach a deal by the end of the week. The U.S. government will run out of cash if they don’t agree by June 1 to increase its borrowing limit.Any...

Kazakhstan: HR/VP Josep Borrell meets with new deputy prime minister and foreign minister

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

On Monday (15 May), High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell (pictured) welcomed the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu on his first official visit to Brussels, to discuss ways to further strengthen relations between the European Union and Kazakhstan. HR/VP Borrell expressed the EU’s firm support to Kazakhstan’s reform and modernization process, writes EEAS Press Team.HR/VP Borrell recalled that EU-Kazakhstan partnership is strong and built on mutual trust, and confirmed the EU’s commitment to develop further the mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of the EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. Priority areas of cooperation include sustainable connectivity, green transition, and critical raw materials. The EU is the biggest investor and Kazakhstan’s key trading partner. Enhanced cooperation will aim to improve the investment climate to attract even more European investors to Kazakhstan.HR/VP Borre...

Do we need a framework of engagement with the Taliban?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

The Taliban’s take-over of Afghanistan was swift and silent. Barring a few news reports in the first two weeks, there appears to be complete silence on Taliban with little progress on this matter. What happens now? A one-day conference was organized at the Indian Institute of Management-Rohtak, a top management institution in the national capital region of India. The primary objective of the conference was to ascertain what had been done for Afghanistan in the last twenty years by the international community and what could be the way forward. The deliberation of conference suggest that there is a need for measured approach towards possible engagement with Afghanistan through United Nation, writes Professor Dheeraj Sharma, Indian Institute of Management-Rohtak and Dr Marvin Weinbaum.In the last twenty years, the international community poured in trillions of dollars to help build structures, systems, institutions, and processes to stimulate economic activity and create a civil societ...

Dodgers Uninvite Drag Organization It Planned To Honor For Pride Night

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced it would no longer host a drag charity organization for its June 16 Pride Night.The L.A. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were going to be honored with the Community Hero Award for their  charity work, but the Dodgers pulled back their plans, saying people were offended by the group.“This year, as part of a full night of programming, we invited a number of groups to join us,” the Dodgers said in a statement Wednesday. “Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees.”pic.twitter.com/k4v1valfRY— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 17, 2023The Sisters believe the controversy started with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who penned a letter to Major League Baseball, calling the Sisters “anti-c...

Vivir en peligro: la furia del volcán ya no asusta a habitantes del centro de México

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:55 GMT

PUEBLA, México – Los habitantes de los municipios aledaños al volcán Popocatépetl ubicado en el estado mexicano de Puebla, centro del país, se mantienen en calma ante la actividad que presenta el coloso, debido a que ya se acostumbraron a vivir en “peligro latente”.Durante los últimos 17 días, el volcán ha presentando expulsión de material incandescente y fumarolas de ceniza, cuyo polvo ha llegado a los estados de Puebla, Hidalgo y Estado de México, centro de México, lo que puso en alerta a las autoridades municipales, estatales y federales.Este miércoles, agentes del Ejército mexicano, Guardia Nacional, y de Protección Civil recorrieron las ocho rutas de evacuación que están del lado del estado de Puebla, con el objetivo de verificar que sean transitables o que estén en buen estado para poder evacuar a los ciudadanos en caso de una actividad mayor del volcán.Las autoridades mexicanas analizan a diario la actividad del Popocatépetl desde que en 1994 se inició su ac...