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Russia to lift fuel export ban amid supply fears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

Seaborne exports of Russian diesel will resume just weeks after Moscow imposed an outright ban that sent energy prices soaring around the world.In a statement on Friday, the Russian government confirmed it “has lifted restrictions on exports of diesel fuel delivered to ports by pipeline.”The unprecedented measure was introduced on September 21 in response to shortages on the domestic market that had seen Russians queuing at the gas pumps despite the country’s massive refining industry.“Temporary restrictions will help saturate the fuel market, which will reduce prices for consumers,” the government said at the time. With consumer prices capped by law, enterprising businesses have apparently been sending more fuel abroad where it fetches far higher sums, at the expense of supplies back home.In a bid to prevent these so-called gray exports, Russia will instead introduce a windfall tax of 50,000 rubles — equivalent to $495 — per ton on sales of petroleum pro...

Germany’s old order crumbles in Bavaria

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

ROTH, Germany — Michaela Wild believes it’s time for a change.Standing behind the counter of the café where she works in this small town in northern Bavaria, the 48-year-old barista said she’s tired of the economic malaise that has gripped her area.Local stores had shut down or left town of late, and cutbacks at a nearby air force base hadn’t helped local business. Wild had a sense perhaps her area’s best economic days were behind it.This was one reason, she said, she and many people had just about had enough of mainstream parties, including the Christian Social Union (CSU), the conservative party that has ruled Bavaria — but for a relatively short interruption — since the end of World War II.On Sunday, Wild and others who share her views will have a chance to voice their dissatisfaction as the states of Bavaria and Hesse hold parliamentary elections, which have become a bellwether of the national mood, at a particularly volatile moment in Germany’s history.Wild said some people clo...

Chicago Bears finally finish in the 4th quarter for first win in 346 days — and a ‘sigh of relief’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore ran 8 yards up the left sideline and then abruptly turned around to look at quarterback Justin Fields on Thursday night at FedEx Field.As the football sailed toward Moore, Washington Commanders cornerback Kendall Fuller tried to jump in front and make a play, but Moore leaped up behind him and grabbed the pass out of the air. As Moore turned and sprinted another 48 yards to the end zone, the same emotion was running through the minds of Fields and tight end Cole Kmet — and certainly many, many others throughout Bears nation.“Sigh of relief,” Fields said.“Relief,” Kmet said. “Relief. It’s been a long time coming.”Moore’s 56-yard touchdown with 4 minutes, 18 seconds to play sealed a 40-20 victory over the Commanders to snap a 14-game losing streak. It had been 346 days, to be exact, since the Bears had won a game.The last one the Bears had played, just four days earlier against the Denv...

‘The stars aligned’: DJ Moore explodes for 3 touchdowns as the Chicago Bears — at long last — end their lengthy losing streak

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

Chicago Bears receiver DJ Moore was only 3 minutes into his postgame news conference Thursday night when his cellphone began buzzing. His fiancee was calling, presumably to catch up and talk a little bit about how his night had gone.Moore wasn’t about to leave her hanging. So from a lectern in the visitor’s media room at Fed Ex Field, he put a reporter’s question on hold and answered his phone.“Hey, I’m in media,” he said. “Yeah.”Then a pause.“(It’ll be) probably about 5 minutes. Bye.”To be fair, Moore could have spoken to reporters for another 25 minutes and not run out of things to talk about. Not after the night he had, the eight-catch, 230-yard, three-touchdown explosion that, at long last, brought an end to the Bears’ 14-game losing streak.Moore and his teammates felt a euphoric combination of relief, satisfaction and excitement after the Bears pounded the Washington Commanders 40-20 on the brig...

UK’s opposition Labour Party gets a boost from a special election victory in Scotland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s main opposition Labour Party won an emphatic victory Friday in a special election for a Scottish district that was watched as an indicator of the party’s rebounding popularity ahead of a national election next year.Labour took the parliamentary seat of Rutherglen and Hamilton West near Glasgow from the Scottish National Party. The result doubles Labour’s total of Scottish seats from one to two.Labour candidate Michael Shanks won 17,845 votes, more than twice the number taken by SNP runner-up Katy Loudon. The Scottish Conservatives came a distant third.Labour leader Keir Starmer called it a “seismic result.”The election was called when the former lawmaker, Margaret Ferrier, was ousted by her constituents for breaking coronavirus restrictions in 2020 by taking a long train journey when she had COVID-19.Labour was long dominant in Scotland but in the past 15 years has been all but wiped out by the SNP, which wants Scotland to leave the U.K. and become an i...

The Nobel Peace Prize is to be announced in Oslo. The laureate is picked from more than 350 nominees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

OSLO (AP) — The winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize is being announced Friday, chosen by a panel of experts in Norway from a list of just over 350 nominations.Last year’s prize was won by human rights activists from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, in what was seen as a strong rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart and ally.The prize can be awarded to individuals or organizations. Other previous winners include Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations. Unlike the other Nobel prizes that are selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decreed that the peace prize be decided and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.The independent panel is appointed by the Norwegian parliament.This year, the committee received 351 nominations — 259 for individuals and 92 for organizations. People who can make nominations include former Nobel Peace Prize winners, members of...

Funerals held in Syria for dozens of victims killed in deadliest attack in years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

HOMS, Syria (AP) — Family members of some of the victims of a deadly drone attack on a crowded military graduation ceremony that killed scores gathered outside a military hospital in the central city of Homs on Friday to collect the bodies of their loved ones, who died in one of Syria’s deadliest single attacks in years.Thursday’s strike on the Homs Military Academy killed 89 people, including 31 women and five children, and wounded as many as 277, according to the health ministry. The death toll could rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition. Syria announced a three-day state of mourning starting Friday.Syria’s military said in a statement Thursday that drones laden with explosives targeted the ceremony packed with young officers and their families as it was wrapping up. Without naming any particular group, the military accused insurgents “backed by known international forces” for the attack and said “it will respond with full force and decisiveness to these terrorist ...

Glacial lake that sent deadly floods through Indian towns was identified as dangerous in 2019

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A glacial lake that overflowed in India’s Himalayan northeast, breaking through a major dam and sending deadly, ice cold floodwaters through towns, had been identified by state officials, researchers and environmental activists as dangerous years before the disaster.The flood killed at least 31 people, officials said Friday, and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.It began shortly after midnight Wednesday, when Lhonak Lake overflowed after a heavy rainfall. Waters from the high mountain lake crashed into the Teesta-3 dam, the largest in the state of Sikkim, cracking its concrete before cascading through towns in the Lachan Valley below and sweeping away people, houses, roads and bridges. It was the latest deadly flood to hit northeast India in a year of unusually heavy monsoon rains. Nearly 50 people died in flash floods and landslides in August in nearby Himachal Pradesh state, and record rains in Northern India killed more than 100 people over two...

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militia targets in north Syria after US downs Turkish armed drone

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish warplanes have carried out airstrikes on sites believed to be used by U.S.-backed Kurdish militant groups in northern Syria after the U.S. military shot down an armed Turkish drone that came within 500 meters (yards) of American troops.A Turkish defense ministry statement said the Turkish jets targeted some 30 sites in the Tal Rifat, Jazeera and Derik regions, destroying caves, bunkers, shelters and warehouses used by Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, or its affiliated Kurdish militia group in Syria, which is known as People’s Defense Units, or YPG.Turkey has been carrying out strikes on Kurdish militant targets in Iraq and Syria following a suicide attack outside the Interior Ministry building in the Turkish capital earlier this week.The PKK claimed the attack in which one attacker blew himself up and another would-be bomber was killed in a shootout with police. Two police officers were wounded.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the two assailants ...

Morocco begins providing cash to families whose homes were destroyed by earthquake

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:32:35 GMT

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Moroccan authorities on Friday will begin providing money to families whose homes were destroyed in an earthquake last month that took nearly 3,000 lives and will require an estimated $11.7 billion in reconstruction funds over the next five years.After a commission tasked by King Mohammed VI to oversee recovery efforts met earlier this week, the government said an initial monthly payment of 2,500 Moroccan dirhams ($242) will be disbursed starting Oct. 6.The Sept. 8 earthquake wreaked havoc on rural regions south of Marrakech, where mountain roads remain unpaved and the economy relies on herding and small-scale agriculture. As autumn nights get cooler, many are sleeping outside in donated tents with the daunting task of rebuilding before them.The payments are among several forms of relief that Morocco plans to provide residents displaced by the earthquake. It will provide temporary rehousing assistance and up to 140,000 dirhams ($13,600) to rebuild destroyed...