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UN says operation to siphon oil out of rusting tanker moored off Yemen begins to ‘avoid catastrophe’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — An international team began siphoning oil out of a decrepit oil tanker off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday, the United Nations chief said, a crucial step in a complex salvage operation aiming to prevent a potential environmental disaster.For years, many organizations have warned that the neglected vessel, known as SOF Safer, may cause a major oil spill or even explode.“The ship-to-ship transfer of oil which has started today is the critical next step in avoiding an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe on a colossal scale,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.More than 1.1 million barrels of oil stored in the rusting tanker were being moved to another vessel the U.N. purchased, he said.The oil transfer came after months of on-site preparatory work and is scheduled to be completed in less than three weeks, the U.N. said.The Safter tanker was built in the 1970s and sold to the Yemeni government in the 1980s to store up to 3 million barrels of ex...

China names Pan Gongsheng to lead central bank, succeeding Yi Gang

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Pan Gongsheng was named China’s central bank governor Tuesday in the widely anticipated final major appointment of the ruling Communist Party’s once-a-decade change of power.Pan, a deputy central bank governor and veteran of China’s state-owned banking industry, succeeds Yi Gang, an American-trained economist who held the post for five years. The endorsement of Pan’s promotion by the ceremonial legislature, the National People’s Congress, follows other Cabinet-level appointments announced in March.The governor of the People’s Bank of China is the most prominent Chinese figure in finance circles but the post’s powers are limited. The bank is controlled by the ruling Communist Party.Pan, who turns 60 this month, met July 8 with visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, indicating he was being promoted. He was widely assumed to be in line for the job after he was named Communist Party secretary for the central bank.In 2015, Pan was appointed head of Chin...

China removes outspoken foreign minister Qin Gang and replaces him with his predecessor, Wang Yi

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday removed outspoken Foreign Minister Qin Gang from office and replaced him with his predecessor, Wang Yi, in a move that has already fueled rumors over the personal lives and political rivalries of China’s Communist Party elite. In its announcement on the national evening news, state broadcaster CCTV on gave no reason for Qin’s removal. Qin dropped out of sight almost a month ago and the Foreign Ministry has provided no information about his status. That is in keeping with the ruling Communist Party’s standard approach to personnel matters within a highly opaque political system where the media and free speech are severely restricted.The ministry made no comment at its daily briefing on Tuesday. The move comes amid a foreign backlash against China’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy, of which Qin was a chief proponent. Adding to the mystery around Qin’s removal, it was approved at a meeting of the Standing Committee of China’...

Pakistan’s Imran Khan will face fresh charges of contempt in August, his lawyer says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s election oversight body said on Tuesday it would indict the country’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan next week on charges of publicly insulting its officials last year.Khan appeared before a special tribunal of the Election Commission of Pakistan along with his lawyers amid tight security in the capital, Islamabad. After a brief hearing, Shoaib Shaheen, one of Khan’s lawyers, said the tribunal decided to charge the former premier with contempt on Aug. 2.Khan is accused of calling the head of the electoral body, Sikandar Sultan Rajaa, and several of its officials “personal servants” to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at several gatherings. Sharif replaced Khan in April 2022 after he was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in parliament.Khan had been avoiding appearances before the tribunal for the past several months, saying the electoral body doesn’t have the authority to charge him with contempt.On Monday, the election overs...

Head-on crash in Etobicoke sends two people to hospital with serious injuries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

Two people are injured following a two-vehicle head-on crash during the Tuesday morning commute in Etobicoke.Toronto police responded to the area of Kipling Avenue and Kingsview Boulevard near Dixon Road around 6:30 a.m.Paramedics say two people, both adults, were taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.Police say the drivers involved remained at the scene.It is not yet known if the two people injured were the drivers or passengers in the vehicles.Kipling is closed between Kingsview and Dixon for the collision investigation.

Residents of two Ontario ridings set to head to the polls for byelections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

Summer is the time for barbecues, bare feet and beaches – and for residents of two Ontario ridings, byelections.It’s not traditionally thought of as the best season for politicking, when people are out enjoying the weather or away on vacation, but candidates in Thursday’s byelections in Toronto’s Scarborough-Guildwood and the Ottawa area’s Kanata-Carleton swear that voters are engaged — though it was a bit of a slow start.“I’ll be honest, when the writ dropped, and we started door knocking shortly right after, people were kind of confused because they were like, ‘I just had an election,’ or some people were like, ‘I already voted,'” said community organizer Thadsha Navaneethan, the NDP’s Scarborough-Guildwood candidate.“In the last about two weeks, particularly as people have been receiving their Elections Ontario voter’s card, it’s been top of mind for people.”Residents of the Scarborough ridi...

Wildfires in Algeria leave at least 34 people dead and hundreds injured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Fires raging through forests, mountain villages and towns in northern Algeria have left at least 34 people dead — with 23 of them in the coastal region of Bejaia, according to authorities and a local radio station keeping track of the grim toll in Bejaia.Among those killed were 10 soldiers encircled by flames during an evacuation, the Defense Ministry reported Monday night.Bejaia, part of the Berber-speaking Kabyle region east of Algiers, was the hardest-hit area, with 23 deaths since Sunday, the local Soummam Radio reported on Tuesday. Counting the deaths from the wind-driven blazes that swept through villages to the seaside, the radio report said that 197 other people were injured in the flames. The official APS news agency reported Monday night that 34 people had died across several regions, or “wilayas.” Some 8,000 firefighters and 530 trucks, backed by military fire-fighting aircraft, fought the blazes in scorching heat, according to the latest update. T...

Israeli doctors walk off the job and more strikes are threatened after law weakening courts passes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israeli doctors walked out of work, labor leaders threatened a general strike and senior justices rushed home from a trip abroad Tuesday, a day after the government approved a law weakening the country’s supreme court that critics say will erode the system of checks and balances.Four leading Israeli newspapers covered their front pages in black ink — an ominous image paid for by an alliance of high-tech companies. The only words on the pages were in a line at the bottom: “A black day for Israeli democracy.”Monday’s vote — on the first of a series of measures that make up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul — reverberated across the country. It came despite seven months of fierce popular resistance, Netanyahu’s promises of an eventual compromise and a rare warning against the overhaul from Israel’s closest ally, the United States.The bill was unanimously passed by the governing coalition, which includes ultra-nation...

Tuesday Forecast: Hot and hazy conditions with temps in low 90s

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

CHICAGO — Mainly sunny and hazy conditions with temperatures in the low 90s, slightly cooler lakeside. Winds: SSW 5-10. High: 92/87.An Air Quality Alert is in effect until midnight Wednesday morning. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here Mostly cloudy tonight with slight early AM thunderstorm chance. Winds: SSE 5-10. Low: 73.Wednesday Forecast: Mostly cloudy, decreasing clouds, humid, chance for storms, S 10-15 G20. High: 91.Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Hays CISD approves deal with Hays County for 12 school resource officers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:58:49 GMT

KYLE, Texas (KXAN) – The Hays Consolidated Independent School Board of Trustees Monday night approved an agreement between the district and Hays County where the county would provide 12 school resource officers (SROs) to the district.According to the deal, the school resource officers would be Hays County Sheriff's deputies. The full-time deputies would be assigned to the following campuses, according to the deal: Two deputies to divide their time between Hays High School and Live Oak AcademyTwo deputies assigned to Johnson High School Two deputies assigned to Lehman High School One deputy assigned to Barton Middle SchoolOne deputy assigned to Chapa Middle School One deputy assigned to McCormick Middle SchoolOne deputy assigned to Simon Middle SchoolOne deputy assigned to Wallace Middle School One deputy to divide their time between Dahlstrom Middle School and Impact Alternative Education Program facilityIn Aug. 2022, KXAN reported Hays CISD added two new safety coordinators to as...