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After Israeli raids, Palestinian police struggle in militant hotbed, reflecting region on the brink

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Last month, after the biggest Israeli military raid on a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in years, Palestinians turned their wrath on their own security forces. They unleashed gunfire, firebombs and pipe bombs at Palestinian security buildings in an outpouring of rage against the Palestinian Authority’s failure to protect them from the devastating July 3 raid and a long-running, deeply unpopular security alliance with Israel.“The horrible events of that night reminded us of the lead-up to the Hamas coup in Gaza,” the head of police in Jenin, Brig. Gen. Azzam Jebara, said at a ceremony this week for officers who defended a police station from rampaging protesters. “It was a warning.”Scarred by the Hamas militant group’s violent takeover of Gaza from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ forces in 2007, the Palestinian Authority has cooperated with Israel to suppress the Islamist movement and keep the secular nationalist Fatah party in power i...

Stock market today: Asian shares mostly decline after Wall Street drops on higher bond yields

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly slipped Friday as rising yields in the bond market on Wall Street set off expectations that high interest rates would continue in the U.S.Japan’s inflation data showed consumer prices rose 3.1% from a year earlier in July, down from 3.3% in June. But that was still higher than the 2.5% forecast by some analysts and above the Bank of Japan’s target at 2%.The core consumer price index, which eliminates energy and fresh food prices from the measure, rose 4.3% on year, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.6% to finish at 31,450.76. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was virtually unchanged, inching up less than 0.1% to 7,148.10. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.7% to 2,502.52. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.7% to 18,017.77, while the Shanghai Composite edged down nearly 0.7% to 3,142.10.Also on investors’ minds is what appears to be China’s shaky recovery from the neg...

Drone shot down over central Moscow, no injuries reported

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone over central Moscow early Friday and some fragments fell on an exposition center, officials said.The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the drone was shot down about 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) and there were no injuries or fire caused by the fragments. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said some of the fragments fell on the grounds of the Expocentre, an exhibition complex adjacent to the Moscow City commercial and office complex that was hit twice by drones in the past month. The area is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) west of the Kremlin.The defense ministry called the latest incident “another terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime.”The Associated Press

Ukraine: €135 million initially planned for programmes with Russia and Belarus will be transferred to strengthen cooperation with Ukraine and Moldova

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

The Commission has decided to transfer €135 million of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument, originally planned for 2021-2027 Interreg NEXT programmes with Russia and Belarus, to other Interreg programmes with Ukraine and Moldova.Cohesion and Reforms Commissioner Elisa Ferreira (pictured) said: “The decision to cancel the originally envisaged cooperation with Russia and Belarus through our Interreg programmes is the result of the brutal war of Russia against Ukraine. I am glad that the funds we had initially planned for this cooperation will now benefit the EU's programmes with Ukraine and Moldova. This will help strengthen collaboration between EU regions and local stakeholders with Ukrainian and Moldovan partners.”Concretely, this funding may support a range of activities, including Solidarity Lanes and the development of cross-border transport links, health services, education and research projects, social inclusion schemes, as well as reinforci...

SoCal coastal communities bracing as Hurricane Hilary strengthens to Category 3

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

As Hilary intensified Thursday from a tropical storm to a Category 3 hurricane with wind speeds up to 120 miles per hour off Mexico’s Pacific Coast, many Southern California coastal communities are bracing for possible flooding as heavy rains are forecast to hit the region Sunday night.  Many people were enjoying a day at the beach ahead of what is supposed to be a tumultuous weekend as the ongoing heat will transition into strong winds, big waves, intense rain and possible flash flooding.  Track Hurricane Hilary with interactive satellite and radar “It’s summertime,” Hermosa Beach resident Juliet Recososa said. “It’s supposed to be hot. We have had really hot weather the last few weeks and months, I would say, and all of a sudden, we have this?” Shiela Melendez, another Hermosa resident, said the weather changes all too quickly.  “It’s a sudden change of climate, actually,” she said. “The weather nowadays is kind of weird. It’s like the blink of an eye, it changes.” &nb...

Thieves arrested after robbing Nike store in East Los Angeles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

A group of thieves who were caught on camera ransacking a Nike store in East Los Angeles were arrested on Wednesday.On Sunday, citizen video captured the suspects stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise at a Nike store located at 4585 Whittier Blvd. around 5:30 p.m.One of the last suspects to flee the store was seen filling a large trash bag with many boxes of sneakers.The three suspects, described as a Black man and two Black women by the Los Angeles Police Department, fled the scene in a red SUV on the southbound 710 Freeway.On Wednesday, L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputies spotted the suspects’ SUV and requested assistance from the California Highway Patrol. The suspect vehicle was pulled over and six people were arrested at the scene, deputies said.Photos from the arrest show the suspects' SUV was filled with merchandise including large bags containing boxes of Nike sneakers and other potentially stolen merchandise.A group of thieves who were caught on camera robbing a Nik...

FIFA head Infantino says Women’s World Cup breaks even but plays down calls for equal prize money

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Friday that the Women’s World Cup has “broken even” after generating more than $570 million in revenue but dismissed suggestions for equal prize money with the men’s World Cup.The current World Cup prize pools sit at $110 million for women and $440 million for men. Infantino has consistently played down calls for equal payments.On Friday, he suggested demands for equal prize money were a “slogan” that “would not solve anything.”“Some voices were raised, where it cost too much, we don’t make enough revenues, we will have to subsidize,” Infantino said at the FIFA Women’s Football Convention.“And our opinion was, ‘Well, if we have to subsidize, we will subsidize’, because we have to do that. But actually, this World Cup generated over $570 million in revenues, and so we broke even.”Infantino said FIFA didn’t lose money “and we generated the second-highest income of any sport, besides of course the men’s World Cu...

It’s Coming Home: England looks to bring Women’s World Cup trophy back to birthplace of soccer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — England’s rallying cry “It’s Coming Home” may finally come true after a 57-year drought in global soccer.But if the World Cup trophy does return to the birthplace of soccer for the first time since 1966, it will be with the women’s national team, not the men. The Lionesses will play for their first Women’s World Cup title Sunday against Spain. England coach Sarina Wiegman is back in her second consecutive finale as the only coach in the history of the tournament to take two nations to the final. Wiegman was coach of the Netherlands when the Dutch lost 2-0 to the United States in 2019. “Every step has been really, really hard. But again, we find a way,” she said. “And I think the opponents, the women’s game has grown so much that it’s really hard to get through. So I know it’s very, very special and that’s how it feels, too.”Wiegman is after the second major trophy at the helm of England. The Lionesses also won the European Championship last year for the first tim...

Belarús utilizaría armas nucleares en caso de “agresión”, afirma Lukashenko

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

(CNN) — Belarús estaría dispuesto a utilizar las armas nucleares cedidas por su aliado cercano Rusia ante una “agresión” extranjera, declaró el jueves el presidente Alexander Lukashenko, mientras aumentan las tensiones en torno a las fronteras del país con las naciones de la OTAN.Minsk ha desempeñado un papel clave en la guerra de Rusia en Ucrania: Moscú utilizó a Belarús como una de sus plataformas de lanzamiento para la invasión en 2022, mientras que los simulacros militares conjuntos de Rusia y Belarús en el último año han alimentado la preocupación de que las tropas bielorrusas podrían unirse a las fuerzas rusas en el conflicto.En junio hubo reportes sobre el envío de cabezas nucleares rusas a Belarús con fines “disuasorios”, según el presidente Vladimir Putin.En una entrevista concedida a la agencia estatal de noticias Belta, Lukashenko afirmó que Belarús “nunca se involucraría en esta guerra” a menos que los ucranianos cruzaran su fron...

Adultos de más de 65 años, el nuevo rostro de la marihuana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:23:37 GMT

WASHINGTON, DC – Entre pipas de fumar coloridas, jóvenes con los brazos tatuados y pósteres gigantes con imágenes de hojas de marihuana, Willie Marby, de 73 años, recoge periódicamente su prescripción de cannabis medicinal en Takoma Wellness, el mayor dispensario de Washington D.C.Un ortopedista le recomendó usar THC -el principal componente psicoactivo de la planta de cannabis- para paliar los síntomas de la artritis en su hombro derecho y ahora forma parte del grupo demográfico en el que más está creciendo el consumo de marihuana en EEUU: las personas mayores de 65 años.“Antes era considerada una droga y muchas personas fueron arrestadas por consumir marihuana (…) ahora estamos entendiendo lo valiosa que es en los procesos de sanación”, dice Marby.Y es que el cannabis, legal actualmente en 38 de los 50 estados de EEUU y el Distrito de Columbia, puede ser usado para tratar “cada uno de los síntomas geriátricos”, explica Mikhail Kogan, médico y pr...