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Dozens of graft charges against Malaysian deputy premier are dismissed deep into his trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian court on Monday dismissed 47 corruption charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at an advanced stage of his trial.Zahid told a news conference afterward that the High Court discharged him but refused to grant him a full acquittal, which means he can still be recharged. But he said he was grateful that the “political-motivated accusations against me have ended.” Zahid heads the United Malays National Organization, and his support has been pivotal in helping Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim form a unity government. Zahid’s dismissal could further hurt the anti-corruption stance of Anwar’s government. Opposition leaders have alleged Zahid had supported Anwar so the charges against him could be dropped. Monday’s court ruling came just weeks after local elections in which the Islamist-Malay nationalist opposition bloc won strong support to make further inroads in government-ruled states.His lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said prosecutors...

Upward of 20,000 Ukrainian amputees face trauma on a scale unseen since WWI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — The small band of soldiers gather outside to share cigarettes and war stories, sometimes casually and sometimes with a degree of testiness over recollections made unreliable by their last day fighting, the day the war took away their limbs.Some clearly remember the moment they were hit by anti-tank mines, aerial bombs, a missile, a shell. For others, the gaps in their memories loom large.Vitaliy Bilyak’s skinny body is a web of scars that end with an amputation above the knee. During six weeks in a coma, Bilyak underwent over 10 surgeries, including his jaw, hand, and heel, to recover from injuries he received April 22 driving over a pair of anti-tank mines. “When I woke up, I felt like I was born again and returned from the afterlife,” said Bilyak, who is just beginning his path to rehabilitation. He does not yet know when he’ll receive a prosthesis, which must be fitted individually to each patient.Ukraine is facing a future with upward...

Parents worried about new supervised drug-use site near Montreal elementary school

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

MONTREAL — Worried parents say they were blindsided by a decision to open Montreal’s first supervised drug-inhalation facility less than 100 metres from their children’s school.The building is nearing completion in the St-Henri neighbourhood, only steps from Victor-Rousselot elementary, which counts 300 students from preschool through Grade 6.That’s too close for comfort for Sylvain Boitiere, a father of two children, ages four and six, who attend Victor-Rousselot. He said news that the new building would include supervised drug consumption came as a shock.“It took an unexpected, unwanted turn,” he said. “We pay close attention to the children’s safety,” he added. “With this centre, we don’t know everything that’s going to happen.”The project is an initiative of Maison Benoît Labre, a local non-profit that runs a day centre for people experiencing homelessness. The new, four-storey building on Atwater Avenue wil...

A Georgia trial arguing redistricting harmed Black voters could decide control of a US House seat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Democrats could gain a seat in the U.S. House and multiple seats in Georgia’s Legislature if a judge rules Republicans drew maps illegally weakening Black voters’ power.The trial beginning Tuesday is part of a wave of litigation progressing after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year stood behind its interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, rejecting Alabama’s challenge to the law. The Voting Rights Act says voting district lines can’t result in discriminatory effects against minority voters, who must be allowed a chance to elect candidates of their choosing.Court cases challenging district lines drawn after the 2020 Census could shape 2024 congressional elections in states beyond Alabama and Georgia, including Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas. Taken as a whole, those cases could affect the narrow hold Republicans have on the U.S. House.In Georgia, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones is hearing what is expected to be a two-week case ...

COVID-19: Commission authorizes adapted COVID-19 vaccine for member states' autumn vaccination campaigns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

The Commission has authorized the Comirnaty XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine, developed by BioNTech-Pfizer. This vaccine marks another important milestone in the fight against the disease. It is the third adaptation of this vaccine to respond to new COVID-19 variants.The vaccine is authorized for adults, children and infants above six months. In line with previous recommendations by EMA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), adults and children from 5 years of age who require vaccination should have a single dose, irrespective of their COVID-19 vaccination history.The authorisation comes after a stringent evaluation by the European Medicines Agency, under the accelerated assessment mechanism. The Commission authorised this adapted vaccine under an expedited procedure to allow Member States to prepare in time for their autumn-winter vaccination campaigns.BackgroundWith our EU Vaccines Strategy, the Commission continues to ensure that Member States have acc...

China’s Xi will skip G20 summit in India over soured relations and Premier Li Qiang will go instead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping will skip this week’s Group of 20 summit in India as bilateral relations remain icy and Premier Li Qiang will attend in his place, China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday. A one sentence notice on the ministry’s website says: “At the invitation of the government of the Republic of India, Premier of the State Council Li Qiang will attend the 18th G20 Summit to be held in New Delhi, India on September 9 and 10.”Relations between China and India have grown frosty over their disputed border that three years ago resulted in a violent clash between their troops, resulting in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. They have also clashed over trade and India’s growing strategic ties with China’s main regional rival the United States. India recently overtook China as the world’s most populous nation and the two are rivals in technology, space exploration and global trade. The Associated Press

France’s waning influence in coup-hit Africa appears clear while few remember their former colonizer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — When Gabon’s longtime leader was detained in the latest coup in Africa last week, France condemned the takeover but did little to intervene — despite having hundreds of troops in the country. It was a striking break from the past.African and French observers say that France, under pressure, is finally shedding its postcolonial tradition of “Françafrique” — an unflattering term that smacks of paternalistic influence and quiet deal-making among elites — as its economic and political powers wane and an increasingly self-confident Africa looks elsewhere.After repeated military interventions in its former colonies in recent decades, the era of France as Africa’s “gendarme” may finally be over.“In the old days of ‘Françafrique,’ this coup would not have happened and, if it did, it would have been quickly reversed,” Peter Pham, a former U.S. envoy for Africa’s Sahel region, said of France’s “muted response” to the coup in Gabon. “Even more than ( the Niger coup ...

A Hot Labor Day In Chicago as Heat and Humidity Combine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

From the National Hurricane Center 1. Central Tropical Atlantic (AL95):Showers and thunderstorms continue to show signs of organization in association with a tropical wave located several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. Environmental conditions are forecast to be conducive for further development, and this system is expected to become a tropical depression in two or three days. Additional strengthening is likely late this week while the system moves westward to west-northwestward at 15 to 20 mph over the central and western portions of the tropical Atlantic.* Formation chance through 48 hours...medium...60 percent.* Formation chance through 7 days...high...90 percent.

NextGenerationEU: Poland submits request to modify recovery and resilience plan and add a REPowerEU chapter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

Poland has submitted a request to the Commission to modify its recovery and resilience plan, to which it also wishes to add a REPowerEU chapter.The REPowerEU chapter contains new investments aiming atthe development of electricity distribution networks in rural areas, supporting institutions implementing the REPowerEU measures, and developing gas infrastructure to enable diversification of supply in the interest of the Union as a whole. In addition, five investments were transferred from the initial plan to the REPowerEU chapter, three of which have been scaled-up. These concern support for electricity transmission networks, renewable energy sources, energy storage, low- and zero-emission buses, and offshore wind farms. The chapter also includes new proposed reforms concerning energy communities, regulatory aspects linked to the distribution network and measures to facilitate the deployment of technologies for the energy transition and to decrease imports of natural gas from Russia....

Kazakh President sets out his programme of prosperity

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:40:51 GMT

In his state-of-the-nation address, Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has set out ambitious reforms aimed at putting his country on a fresh economic trajectory. Together with a series of constitutional changes, they are intended to irreversibly transform the republic into a new and just Kazakhstan, writes Political Editor Nick Powell.President Tokayev used his speech to confirm the scale of his ambition for the Kazakh economy. “We have every opportunity for a powerful economic breakthrough; to do this, we must decisively move to a new economic model, which is led not by abstract achievements, but by a real improvement in the lives of citizens”, he said.He promised a course based on fairness, inclusiveness and pragmatism, confirming that the main emphasis would be on the accelerated development of manufacturing. There will be a particular focus on certain sectors like heavy engineering, uranium enrichment, and automotive components. Both foreign and domestic investors wi...