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Ukraine says it still holds parts of Bakhmut, Russia reports progress

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

Ukraine said on Sunday (30 April) its troops were holding onto parts of the eastern city of Bakhmut, focus of a prolonged Russian assault, while the head of a major pro-Moscow force said his men were making progress.Russian forces, which have struggled for months to capture Bakhmut, are slowly taking over more and more of the city."Fierce fighting continues in the city of Bakhmut. The enemy is unable to take control over the city, despite throwing all its forces into the battle and having some success," said Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar."The defence of Bakhmut is coping with its military tasks," she said in a Telegram post. The Ukrainian military does not reveal exactly how much of the city is in Russian hands.Separately, Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, told the ICTV channel it was still possible to supply the Bakhmut defenders with food, ammunition and medicine and evacuate the wounded.Russia's defence ministry earlier said its ...

Protestas en Asunción ante Tribunal Superior de Justicia por supuesto fraude electoral

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

(CNN Español) — La Policía Nacional de Paraguay informó este martes a través de su cuenta oficial en Twitter que arrestaron a cinco personas en las protestas realizadas en los alrededores del Tribunal Superior de Justicia Electoral, en las que alegaban un supuesto fraude electoral en los comicios del domingo, en los que resultó ganador Santiago Peña como presidente electo del país.La policía añadió que se registró la quema de una patrulla del Grupo Especial de Operaciones y dos policías resultaron heridos con arma contundente. Las autoridades policiales agregaron que se estiman hay por lo menos 2.000 personas enfrentando al personal policial en la zona.Las protestas se producen luego de que el excandidato presidencial Paraguayo Antonio Cubas Colomés, conocido como Payo Cubas, denunciara este lunes un presunto fraude por medio de su perfil de Facebook.Santiago Peña gana las elecciones presidenciales en Paraguay, informa el Tribunal Superior de Justicia ElectoralCubas, quien que...

After fleeing Annapolis stabbing, suspect killed walking into traffic in Prince George’s Co.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

A man wanted for an Annapolis stabbing is now dead after he was hit by a tractor-trailer in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Monday afternoon.Maurice Logan Mitchell, 42, of Annapolis, died after walking on the highway where he was hit around 4:15 p.m., Maryland State Police said in a statement.State troopers said Mitchell walked into traffic on the John Hanson Highway near Enterprise Road. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.Just two hours before this deadly collision, the victim allegedly stabbed a woman during a domestic dispute in Annapolis.Authorities confirmed to WTOP that the stabbing suspect and the crash victim are the same person.Annapolis police said the woman is in stable condition.The deadly Prince George’s County crash blocked the right eastbound lanes of Route 50 east of the Lottsford Vista Road overpass for nearly four hours.State police said the crash remains subject to investigation.Source

Man shot intervening in attempted DC scooter robbery

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

A man is in the hospital after being shot near the busy intersection of 14th and S street in Northwest D.C.D.C. police said it happened around 7:30 p.m.Witness saw three teenagers try to take another person’s scooter. When the witness tried to intervene one of the teens shot the man before running away on foot, according to police.Authorities said the man was conscious and breathing when he was taken to the hospital.Police said they have not found the suspects.Below is where police said the shooting happened. Source

UK locks horns with WhatsApp over threat to break encryption

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

LONDON — Britain’s tough new plan to police the internet has left politicians in a stand-off with WhatsApp and other popular encrypted messaging services. Deescalating that row will be easier said than done.The Online Safety Bill, the United Kingdom’s landmark effort to regulate social media giants, gives regulator Ofcom the power to require tech companies to identify child sex abuse material in private messages.But the proposals have prompted Will Cathcart, boss of the Meta-owned messaging app, whose encrypted service is widely-used in Westminster’s own corridors of power, to claim it would rather be blocked in the U.K. than compromise on privacy.“The core of what we do is a private messaging service for billions of people around the world,” Cathcart told POLITICO in March when he jetted in to London to lobby ministers over the upcoming bill. “When the U.K., a liberal democracy, says, ‘Oh, it is okay to scan everyone’s private communication for illegal content,’ that emboldens coun...

First casualty of economic warfare: The free market

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

To read remarks made by a string of treasury officials and central bankers in recent weeks, one thing becomes clear: It’s no longer an exaggeration to suggest the global economic system is heading toward a shift unlike anything since World War II. And what’s more, what’s emerging is war-like.From European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the messaging has rarely been franker. For decades economic progress has been driven by free markets. But now, with national security and competition for natural resources increasingly top of the list of headaches for world leaders, the way our planet functions is entering a new era.Consequences are likely to be varied and far-reaching. Expect a tech-focused arms race, the possible end of U.S. dollar supremacy, and isolation of China and its allies, similar to how the Soviet bloc was ostracized during the Cold War.   “Even though these [national-security focused] policies may have economic i...

Jews, Muslims, Sikhs get coronation role as king reaches out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Rabbi Nicky Liss won’t be watching King Charles III’s coronation. He’ll be doing something he considers more important: praying for the monarch on the Jewish sabbath.On Saturday, he will join rabbis across Britain in reading a prayer in English and Hebrew that gives thanks for the new king in the name of the “one God who created us all.”Liss, the rabbi of Highgate Synagogue in north London, said British Jews appreciated Charles’ pledge to promote the co-existence of all faiths and his record of supporting a multifaith society during his long apprenticeship as heir to the throne.“When he says he wants to be a defender of faiths, that means the world because our history hasn’t always been so simple and we haven’t always lived freely; we haven’t been able to practice our religion,” Liss told The Associated Press. “But knowing that King Charles acts this way and speaks this way is tremendously comforting.”At a time when religion is fueling tensions around the world — from ...

China’s foreign minister makes rare visit to Myanmar border

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister called for stability and a crackdown on cross-border criminal activity along the country’s border with Myanmar, during an unusual visit to the volatile region on Tuesday. The 2,129-kilometer (1,323-mile) border runs through densely forested mountains and has long been notorious for drug smuggling into China from the “Golden Triangle” region where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. The United Nations says the production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military seized power in 2021, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year as eradication efforts have dropped off and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade. During his visit, Foreign Minister Qin Gang said local Communist Party and government departments, the People’s Liberation Army, police and civilian bodies should join in “strengthening the border defense system.” Qin called for improvements in “maintaining distinct and st...

Campaigners call for fossil fuel deadline, more climate aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Environmental campaigners urged climate envoys from dozens of nations gathering Tuesday in Berlin to discuss a global deadline for phasing out fossil fuels and ways of increasing aid to poor countries hit by global warming.About 40 countries, including the United States, China, India and Brazil, are attending the Petersberg Climate Dialogue being held in the German capital. The two-day meeting is a key negotiating step in the run-up to this year’s international climate conference in Dubai, known as COP28. Campaign groups are concerned that countries such as the U.S., COP28 host United Arab Emirates and the European Union back the idea of carbon capture as a means of allowing oil and gas extraction to continue or even expand. Scientists say technologies for removing planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere aren’t proven at scale and could require huge investments at the expense of cheaper alternatives such as solar and wind power.“They are trying their be...

Pope says Vatican involved in secret Ukraine peace mission

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:58:51 GMT

Pope Francis stated that the Vatican was involved in a mission of peace to end the conflict involving Russia and Ukraine. He added that he would be willing to assist with repatriating Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia or Russian occupied territory.The pope told reporters that he would reveal the mission when it was made public. "I will make it public when it becomes so," said the pope to reporters on a return flight from a three-day trip to Hungary."I believe that peace is made always by opening up channels. Peace can never be achieved by closing channels...This is not an easy task."The pope also said that he spoke about the situation in Ukraine both with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, and with Metropolitan Hilarion (bishop), a representative from the Russian Orthodox Church of Budapest."Everyone is interested in the path to peace," he said.Francis has been pleading for peace almost every week since Russia invaded Ukraine on 20 February, 2022. He has also expressed his de...