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Poland accuses Germany of meddling in its affairs by seeking answers on alleged visa scheme

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s foreign minister accused Germany of trying to interfere in his country’s internal affairs after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Warsaw needs to clarify allegations that Polish consulates in Africa and Asia sold temporary work visas to migrants for thousands of dollars each.Poland’s right-wing ruling party, Law and Justice, is facing questions about the alleged scheme ahead of an Oct. 15 national election in which it is seeking a third term in power.Scholz, whose government is under pressure to do more to limit migration to Germany, called on neighboring Poland on Saturday to provide clarification of what was happening.“I don’t want people to just be waved through from Poland and only for us to have a discussion about asylum policy afterward,” Scholz said in comments reported by the German news agency dpa.Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau retorted late Sunday on X, formerly Twitter, that Scholz’s statement “violates the pri...

What is behind renewed tensions between Serbia and Kosovo?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo flared anew over the weekend when some 30 heavily armed Serbs barricaded themselves in an Orthodox monastery in northern Kosovo, setting off a daylong gunbattle with police that left one officer and three attackers dead.Sunday’s clash was one of the worst since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. It came as the European Union and the U.S. are trying to mediate and finalize yearslong talks on normalizing ties between the two Balkan states.There are fears in the West of a revival of the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo that claimed more than 10,000 lives and left over 1 million homeless.Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Serbia of sending the attackers into Kosovo. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied that, saying the men were Kosovo Serbs who have had enough of “Kurti’s terror.”A look at the history between Serbia and Kosovo, and why the latest tensions are a concern for Europe.WHY ARE SERBIA AND KOSOVO...

Stock market today: Wall Street inches lower hinting that sustained market sell-off may continue

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

Wall Street inched lower early Monday following last week’s rout, the market’s worst stretch in six months. Futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.3% and futures for the Dow Jones industrials ticked down 0.2% before the bell.Worries over China’s property sector, a U.S. government shutdown and the continued strike by American autoworkers were weighing on markets. Media and entertainment companies got a small boost from news that a tentative agreement was reached Sunday to end a historic screenwriters strike after nearly five months. No deal is yet in the works for striking actors.Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Disney and Netflix all rose about 2% or less.Amazon announced Monday that it is investing up to $4 billion in Anthropic and taking a minority stake in the artificial intelligence startup. It’s the latest Big Tech company to pour money into AI as they race to capitalize on the opportunities that the latest generation of the technology is set to fu...

Unifor says Ford ratification sets pattern for auto talks

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

TORONTO — Unifor says the pattern has been set with the ratification by workers of a new contract at Ford Motor Co. of Canada.The union says it will now choose either General Motors or Stellantis as the next target company in its contract talks with the big U.S. auto companies.The Ford deal is expected to serve as a blueprint for those negotiations.Unifor announced Sunday that workers voted 54 per cent in favour of the new three-year collective agreement at Ford.The deal includes wage hikes, pension and benefit improvements and special EV transition measures for workers at Ford’s assembly plant in Oakville, Ont.It also adds two new paid holidays.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2023.The Canadian Press

A Molotov cocktail is thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there are no injuries

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least one Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, but there was no significant damage and no one was injured. U.S. law enforcement officials were investigating.Secret Service officers were called around 8 p.m. Sunday to respond to the attack on a busy street in the Adams-Morgan section of the city. Embassy officials reported that someone had thrown a “possible incendiary device” at the building, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said on Monday. There was no fire or significant damage to the building, he said. No arrests had been made. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on X, formerly called Twitter, that the Cuban Embassy “was the target of a terrorist attack by an individual who threw 2 Molotov cocktails.” He said no one was injured. A spokesman for the Cuban Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for additional information on Monday.In 2020, a Cuban man who sought asylum in the U.S. opened fire with an AK-47 ...

A former UK nurse will be retried on a charge that she tried to murder a baby girl at a hospital

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A former neonatal nurse who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of seven babies in her care and trying to kill six others at a U.K. hospital will face a retrial on a charge of attempting to murder a newborn baby girl, prosecutors said Monday. Lucy Letby, 33, was sentenced last month to life behind bars with no chance of release after a jury convicted her of murdering seven babies in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between 2015 and 2016. She was also convicted of trying to murder six other infants.However, the jury of seven women and four men in her 10-month trial was not able to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five other newborns. Letby had faced two counts of attempted murder against one of the newborns.The Crown Prosecution Service said Monday it wanted to pursue a retrial on one of those outstanding charges, which involved a baby girl known only as Child K in February 2016. Letby a...

Air Canada buying 18 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

MONTREAL — Air Canada says it has placed a firm order for 18 Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner aircraft that will be used to replace older, less efficient wide-body aircraft in its fleet.The agreement also includes options for an additional 12 Boeing 787-10 aircraft.The airline says it expects to start receiving the new aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2025 with the last one scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2027. The order announced today substitutes an earlier deal for two Boeing 777 freighter aircraft.Air Canada says the 787-10 is the largest model of the Dreamliner family and can carry more than 330 passengers depending on the seat configuration.It also has 175 cubic meters of cargo volume. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)The Canadian Press

What is Nakhchivan? And after Nagorno-Karabakh, is this the next crisis for Azerbaijan and Armenia

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — After Azerbaijan’s military offensive regained full control of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, another dispute is looming on the horizon with Armenia: the territory of Nakhchivan.Like Nagorno-Karabakh, where the Armenian population felt cut off from the country of Armenia, Nakhchivan is territorially separated from the rest of Azerbaijan.It accounts for about 6% of Azerbaijan’s territory, with a swath of Armenia about 40 kilometers (25 miles) wide between the exclave and Azerbaijan. It also borders Azerbaijan’s close ally Turkey and Iran. It’s population is about 460,000 people, overwhelmingly Azeris but also some ethnic Russians. The two territories share several parallels but also differences. During Soviet times, Nakhchivan was connected with Azerbaijan by road and rail but those links fell out of use as Azerbaijan and Armenia went to war in the 1990s over Nagorno-Karabakh, though air links remained.Then in 2020, an armistice...

UN rights experts decry war crimes by Russia in Ukraine and look into genocide allegations

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Independent U.N.-backed human rights experts said Monday they have turned up continued evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces in their war against Ukraine, including torture — some of it with such “brutality” that it led to death — and rape of women aged up to 83 years old. Members of the U.N. Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine also expressed concerns about allegations of genocide by Russian forces, and said they’re looking into them. The team said its evidence showed crimes committed on both sides, but vastly more — and a wider array — of abuses were committed by Russian forces than by Ukrainian troops. The commission delivered its latest findings in an oral update to the Human Rights Council, laying out its observations about unlawful attacks with explosive weapons, sexual and gender-based violence, and other crimes in the war, which entered its 20th month on Sunday. “The commission is concerned by the continued evidence of war crimes comm...

Russian strikes in Ukraine’s city of Odesa damage port, grain silo and an abandoned hotel

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:23:20 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone and missile strike near Odesa damaged infrastructure, a grain silo and an abandoned hotel and injured one person in the Black Sea port city as attacks elsewhere in Ukraine killed five civilians and wounded 13 in the past day, Ukrainian officials said Monday.Ukraine’s air force reported downing all Russian drones launched overnight, but one of 12 Kalibr missiles and two P-800 Oniks cruise missiles apparently made it past air defenses the day after the war in Ukraine entered its 20th month.Russia has continuously targeted port and grain storage facilities in Odesa since pulling out of a wartime deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports to countries facing the threat of hunger. The attacks have destroyed silos, warehouses, oil terminals and other infrastructure critical for storage and shipping.The Russian Defense Ministry said long-range missiles and drones were used to strike facilities that it alleged had housed foreign mercenaries and trai...