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Kyiv launches a major push against Russian forces, officials and analysts say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has launched a major push to dislodge Russian forces from the country’s southeast as part of its weekslong counteroffensive, committing thousands of troops to the battle, according to Western and Ukrainian officials and analysts.The surge in troops and firepower has been centered on the region of Zaporizhzhia, a Western official said late Wednesday.The official was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.Fighting has intensified in recent weeks at multiple points along the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line as Ukraine deploys Western-supplied advanced weapons and Western-trained troops against the deeply entrenched Russian forces who invaded 17 months ago.Ukrainian officials have been mostly silent about battlefield developments since they began early counteroffensive operations, though Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said troops are advancing toward the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhizhia reg...

Indonesian President Widodo arrives in China, plans talks with Chinese leader Xi

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived Thursday in China and planned to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a state news agency reported.Widodo was due to attend the opening of the FISU World University Games in Chengdu in southwestern China, the Xinhua News Agency said. It said the two leaders would meet but gave no details of what they might discuss.Indonesia is, along with China, a member of the Group of 20 major developed and emerging economies.Indonesia wants a bigger role as a supplier of nickel and other raw materials to China’s fast-growing electric car brands.The Associated Press

Ontario provincial byelection set today for Toronto, Ottawa areas

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

Residents of two Ontario ridings head to the polls today to elect new provincial representatives, after a pair of resignations left those seats vacant.Mitzie Hunter stepped down this spring as the member of provincial parliament for Scarborough-Guildwood in Toronto – a seat she held for the Liberals since 2013 – to run in Toronto’s mayoral byelection.In the Ottawa area, Merrilee Fullerton abruptly resigned her cabinet post and her Kanata-Carleton seat in March.Polls are open Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. More voter information can be found here.The Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals are each running a candidate familiar to voters in those ridings, in the hopes of picking up an extra seat, though the balance of power in the legislature will not change under any of the possible outcomes.The Liberal candidate in Kanata-Carleton is Karen McCrimmon, who previously represented the riding federally, and the PC candidate in Scarborough-Guildwood is Gary Crawford, a city counc...

Mutinous soldiers say they’ve taken Niger. The government says a coup won’t be tolerated

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — People in Niger awoke to a divided country Thursday after mutinous soldiers claimed to have ousted the president. But the government said it will never accept their rule and has called for the population to reject it.“There was an attempted coup, but of course we cannot accept it,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassoumi Massoudou told news network France 24 in an interview Thursday. “We call on all Nigerien democratic patriots to stand up as one to say no to this factious action that tends to set us back decades and block the progress of our country,” he said. He also called for the president’s unconditional release and said talks were ongoing.President Mohamed Bazoum was elected in 2021 in the West African nation’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960. He thwarted a coup attempt days before he was sworn in. Threats to his leadership undermine the West’s efforts to stabilize Africa’s Sahel region, which has ...

Judge allows Prince Harry’s snooping lawsuit against publisher of The Sun tabloid to go to trial

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A London High Court judge on Thursday allowed Prince Harry’s lawsuit against the publisher of The Sun tabloid to go to trial on claims the newspaper used unlawful methods to gather information about him, rejecting the newspaper’s attempt to throw out the case.The Duke of Sussex alleged the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News Of The World had hacked his phone and used investigators and deception to unlawfully gather information on him dating back two decades.News Group Newspapers, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, argued that the suit should be thrown because the claims were brought after the six-year limitation to do so expired.Justice Timothy Fancourt ruled in favor of the argument by the newspapers that Harry was well enough aware of the phone hacking scandal to bring his case sooner. However, he said he would allow him to proceed on claims about other unlawful intrusions, such as the use of private investigators hired to snoop on him. The ruling was ...

Church sex abuse revelations are an unwelcome diversion as Pope Francis visits scandal-hit Portugal

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — When a panel of experts read aloud some of the harrowing accounts they had collected from recently discovered victims of child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church, the country’s senior bishops squirmed in the auditorium’s front-row seats.During a live television broadcast, the experts reported in February that at least 4,815 boys and girls had been abused since 1950, most aged 10-14. Before the stunning findings, senior Portuguese church officials had maintained there had been only a handful of cases of clergy sex abuse. They lost even more credibility with a response so clumsy and hesitant that victims were inspired to form Portugal’s first survivor advocacy group to press for compensation.Pope Francis will wade into the quagmire of Portugal’s reckoning with its legacy of clergy abuse and cover-up when he arrives in Lisbon next Wednesday to participate in World Youth Day, the international Catholic youth rally. While there is no mention o...

Stock market today: World shares advance after the Federal Reserve raises interest rates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher in Europe and Asia on Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to their highest level in more than two decades, just as Wall Street expected. Market attention turned to a decision later in the day by the European Central Bank and to whether Japan’s central bank might alter its longstanding ultra-lax monetary policy at a policy meeting that ends on Friday. ECB President Christine Lagarde all but promised an increase as the bank’s governing council was meeting in Frankfurt, where interest rates are decided for the 20 European Union countries that use the euro.“Today, all eyes will be on the ECB, where a 25 basis point hike is widely expected along with the door being left open for another hike in September,” ING Economics said in a commentary. Germany’s DAX was up 1% at 16,284.76. In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 1.5% to 7,424.74. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3% at 7,699.90. A 0.25 percentage point hike would take the EC...

A fire is still burning on board a car-carrying cargo ship near a sensitive Dutch bird habitat

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A cargo ship packed with nearly 3,000 cars was still ablaze Thursday close to a world-renowned bird habitat off the Dutch coast as firefighters and salvage crews waited for the flames to subside before attempting to board the vessel.The Fremantle Highway was sailing from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore when it caught fire shortly before midnight Tuesday about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland, sparking fears of an environmental disaster.One crew member died and others were injured in the early hours of Wednesday. The entire crew has been evacuated from the ship.The Dutch coast guard said “the situation at the moment is stable.” The agency planned to fly experts over the ship late in the morning Thursday to take stock of its condition. The cause of the fire hasn’t yet been established.The Japanese-owned ship carrying 2,857 cars, including 25 electric cars, is close to a chain of islands and the World Heritage...

Pushing back on bias: Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In launches girls leadership program

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

Ten years after publishing her book “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead,” Sheryl Sandberg will launch a girls leadership program Thursday through her foundation to respond to what she calls stubborn gender inequities. “What we realized is that in order to really get to equality, equality in leadership everywhere, from our parliaments to our statehouses to our homes, we’re going to have to go younger,” Sandberg said in an interview with The Associated Press.The girls leadership program, which includes a middle-school curriculum as well as resources for adults, starts with difficult conversations about the systems and biases that Sandberg said girls face. “Who wants to say to a girl seven years before she enters the workforce, ‘One day you’re going to be in a meeting and some man is going to talk over you, voice something you just said and get credit for your ideas,’” Sandberg asked. “We don’t want to tell our daughters that.” But speaking about those biases, she sa...

Shen's Luca Savoy brings home D-III Men's Sabre National Championship

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:18:35 GMT

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Beaches Sabre Club-NY in Troy has produced a number of national champion fencers over the years. Now, the club can add Shenendehowa High School's Luca Savoy to that list. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! One of the coolest things about sports is you never know where inspiration might strike. And the genesis of Savoy's passion for fencing is one that will resonate with a lot of people."My dad and I would lightsaber fight in the basement…just like regular swords," said Savoy. "One day he was like, "Luca, there's a sport for this." And I was fascinated by the fact that that could actually be, like, an Olympic sport. And then we went from there. I did try other activities and sports before fencing. I just love (this) sport so much. It's just so unique, and I've gained a really good experience. So, (about) three years in was when I was like, "Okay, I want to take the next step."After years of having successful ...