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A Moscow court delays decision on the appeal of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich filed an appeal Tuesday to be released from jail on espionage charges, but the Moscow City Court did not immediately rule on it, causing confusion from Russian media that reported contradictory results from the closed session.The court said in a statement it sent Gershkovich’s case back to a lower court due to procedural violations. The state news agency Tass reported the court had rejected Gershkovich’s appeal, meaning he will remain jailed until Nov. 30.Before the session was closed, Gershkovich appeared in the glass defendants’ cage, smiling at journalists and wearing a yellow sweater and blue jeans. He was detained in March while on a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) east of Moscow.The court proceedings are closed because prosecutors say details of the criminal case are classified. Gershkovich last appeared in court in August when a judge ruled he must s...

Canada told allies before sharing allegations about India over B.C. killing: Trudeau

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging India to take allegations that the country had a role in the death of a Canadian citizen seriously, after New Delhi called the claims “absurd and motivated.”Trudeau revealed Monday that Canadian intelligence services are investigating “credible” information about “a potential link” between India’s government and the death of British Columbia Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.Trudeau says India’s government “needs to take this matter with the utmost seriousness” but would not say whether it is co-operating.Ottawa has ordered a senior Indian diplomat to leave Canada, and India responded by sending an unnamed Canadian diplomat packing.Trudeau says he waited until he was able to raise the issue with allies and with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi before telling the public about the possible link.Nijjar was shot outside his...

Édgar Barrera, Karol G, Shakira, and more lead Latin Grammy nominations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

Édgar Barrera — the producer and songwriter known for his work with such artists as Madonna, Karol G, Peso Pluma, Shakira, Grupo Frontera and beyond — leads the 2023 Latin Grammy nominations with 13.The Latin Recording Academy announced this year’s nominees in a livestream Tuesday.Barerra is nominated for best pop song, record, album, songwriter, and producer of the year — and has two nominations in the song of the year category. He also has three noms apiece in the best tropical song and best regional song categories.Just behind him are some of his collaborators, like Karol G, Shakira, and Camilo. They have seven nominations each, as does Kevyn Mauricio Cruz Moreno, the Colombian songwriter who works under the moniker Keityn.Argentine record producer Bizarrap, known for his Bzrp Music Sessions, has six.Barrera and Moreno are also nominated in the songwriter of the year category alongside Felipe González Abad, Manuel Lorente Freire, Horacio Palencia and Elena Rose. The songwri...

At UN, Biden looks to send a message to world leaders and voters about leadership under his watch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his annual address before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to make the case to world leaders — and the 2024 U.S. electorate — that he’s reestablished U.S. leadership on the world stage that he says was diminished under former President Donald Trump.White House officials said Biden would make a robust case to members of the world body to continue to back Ukraine’s effort to repel a nearly 19-month old Russian invasion that has no end in sight.Biden previewed his thinking in a pair of fundraisers on Monday evening, telling supporters that he stood up to Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and questioning whether Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner, would have even attempted to help Ukraine stop the Russian land grab if he were in power.“I will not side with dictators like Putin. Maybe Trump and his MAGA friends can bow down but I won’t,” Biden told supporters at a Broadway fundraiser.There will be notable absences as the presiden...

Palace of Versailles celebrates its 400th anniversary and hosts King Charles III for state dinner

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France is rolling out the red carpet for King Charles III’s state visit at one of its most magnificent and emblematic monuments: the Palace of Versailles, which celebrates its 400th anniversary.Charles and Queen Camilla’s three-day trip to Paris and Bordeaux, starting Wednesday, includes a grand dinner at Versailles in the presence of over 150 guests in the Hall of Mirrors. The palace has recently opened a gallery retracing its history, from its creation as a modest hunting lodge in 1623 to last century’s key diplomatic events — including the visits of Charles’ predecessors. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Wednesday’s dinner echoes the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1972, when she was greeted at the Palace by President Georges Pompidou. King Charles liked the idea of following in his mother’s footsteps, according to Macron’s office. Elizabeth II also visited the palace in 1958 and 10 years earlier, four years before her...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts again ahead of Fed decision on rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting again as Wall Street waits for the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on interest rates. The S&P 500 was off 0.2% early Tuesday. The Dow slipped 37 points and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.4%. Stocks have been see-sawing for weeks on uncertainty about whether the Fed is done with its market-shaking hikes to interest rates. By pulling its main rate to the highest level in more than two decades, the Fed has helped inflation to cool from its peak last year but at the cost of hurting prices for investments and damaging some corners of the economy.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed modestly higher in cautious trading Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were essentially flat, up less than 0.1% before the bell.The Fed is gathering Tuesday for a two-day meeting before it announces its decision on wh...

EU urges Serbia and Kosovo to respect their pledges after a meeting of leaders ends in acrimony

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Tuesday called on Serbia and Kosovo to respect an agreement meant to end tensions between them and put their relations on a more normal path after talks between their leaders ended in acrimony last week.At a meeting in New York, EU foreign ministers said the commitments that Serbia and Kosovo made in the pact they sealed in February “are binding on them and play a role in the European path of the parties,” which refers to their chances of joining the 27-nation bloc.The ministers expressed concern about tensions in northern Kosovo, where 93 peacekeepers were hurt in riots in May. “Despite repeated calls by the EU and other international partners, the steps taken so far remain insufficient and the security situation in the north remains tense,” they said.Serbia and its former province, Kosovo, have been at odds for decades. Their 1998-99 war left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 20...

Unlicensed New York City acupuncturist charged after patient’s lungs collapsed, prosecutors say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man has been charged with performing acupuncture without a license after he punctured a woman’s lungs during treatment, sending her to a hospital for emergency surgery, prosecutors announced.Yong De Lin, 66, was arraigned on four criminal charges Monday in connection with unlicensed treatments he performed on 63-year-old Shujuan Jiang between May and October of last year, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.According to the indictment, Jiang, 63, visited a medical office in the Flushing section of Queens on May 10, 2022, for relief of stomach and back pain, and was introduced to Lin. Lin administered 17 treatments to Jiang over the next several months even though he is not a licensed acupuncturist and has never even applied for a New York state license to practice acupuncture, Katz said.Jiang began to feel unwell during the last session on Oct. 28, Katz said in a news release. Lin performed additional acupuncture and a cupping treatment a...

Health Canada recalls CUPKIN stainless steel cups for kids due to potential lead exposure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

Health Canada has issued a recall on CUPKIN Double-Walled Stainless Steel Children’s Cups due to potential lead exposure.They recommend the public stop using the following products immediately:CUPKIN 8 oz (236.6 ml) and 12 oz (354.9 ml) double-walled stainless steel children’s cups sold as pairs in 12 different colour combinations with a matching coloured straw. “Cupkin” is printed on the front bottom of the cups.“The recalled products may contain excess amounts of lead present at the bottom seal, posing an exposure risk. Lead is highly toxic, especially to children. A range of serious health effects have been associated with exposure to lead, including anemia, vomiting, diarrhea, heart and immune system. In extreme cases, there have been deaths,” Health Canada explains on its website.An image of the CUPKIN Double-Walled Stainless Steel Children’s Cups that have been recalled. (Courtesy Government of Canada)The cups were manufactured in China, and were ...

Sponsor an ocean? Tiny island nation of Niue has a novel plan to protect its slice of the Pacific

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:18 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The tiny Pacific island nation of Niue has come up with a novel plan to protect its vast and pristine territorial waters — it will get sponsors to pay. Under the plan, which was being launched by Niue’s Prime Minister Dalton Tagelagi on Tuesday in New York, individuals or companies can pay $148 to protect 1 square kilometer (about 250 acres) of ocean from threats such as illegal fishing and plastic waste for a period of 20 years.Niue hopes to raise more than $18 million from the scheme by selling 127,000 square-kilometer units, representing the 40% of its waters that form a no-take marine protected area. In an interview with The Associated Press before the launch, Tagelagi said his people have always had a close connection with the sea. “Niue is just one island in the middle of the big blue ocean,” Tagelagi said. “We are surrounded by the ocean, and we live off the ocean. That’s our livelihood.”He said Niueans inherited and learned about th...