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Biden and Modi working in ‘warmth and confidence’ to build ties as Chinese leader skips G20

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — President Joe Biden opened his visit to India on Friday by meeting privately with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Indian leader’s home in a session the White House said was marked by “undeniable warmth and confidence” in one another going into the annual Group of 20 summit where climate, economic security and more will dominate the weekend’s talks.Biden spent 52 minutes with Modi after a lavish welcome ceremony at the airport, and Kurt Campbell, a Biden adviser on the Indo-Pacific, told reporters afterward that warm sentiments have replaced a sense of distrust and uncertainty that previously defined relations between the two countries. “What I have seen grown over time is an undeniable warmth and confidence between the two leaders,” Campbell said.Another adviser, Eileen Laubacher, senior director for South Asia at the White House National Security Council, added that Biden and Modi were “so comfortable discussing, really, the breadth of t...

Toronto secondary teacher bargaining team doesn’t support deal to avoid strikes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

The largest local bargaining unit of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) has told members it opposes a tentative agreement between the provincial union and the government that would avoid the possibility of strikes.The OSSTF reached a deal last month with the province that would see the parties keep bargaining for a new contract until Oct. 27 and then send any remaining issues to be settled by arbitration, which would eliminate the chance of a strike by high school teachers.But the proposal must first be ratified by members, and there were signs of potential trouble as voting on the deal began Friday.The OSSTF Toronto teachers’ bargaining unit executive sent its members a memo saying they were not directing teachers on how to vote, but were expressing their concerns about entering into binding arbitration and removing the right to strike.“The ability to strike or withdraw services is one of the cornerstones of the labour movement and has been ...

Panama to increase deportations in face of record migration through the Darien Gap

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama will increase infrastructure in the jungle area along its shared border with Colombia known as the Darien Gap — as well as ramp up deportations — to contain a record-breaking flow of migrants passing through there this year, Panama’s immigration chief said Friday.National Immigration Authority Director Samira Gozaine said President Laurentino Cortizo had authorized hiring charter flights to increase deportations. Some 350,000 migrants have crossed the dangerous Darien Gap so far this year, shattering last year’s record of fewer than 250,000, which was also a record.“We will increase these deportations so that the required impact is felt,” Gozaine said.Authorities also said installations would be constructed in the border areas where migrants will be registered but kept separate from the local communities.There was no immediate comment from Colombian officials. Panama will also tighten requirements for some foreigners arriving by air. The country will ...

Artists want complete control over their public exhibitions. Governments say it’s not that simple

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — If things had gone as originally planned, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum would be launching its fall exhibition Friday. But officials postponed the show six weeks before the opening over concern that a painting by activist-artist Shepard Fairey could be seen as “disparaging toward some City of Mesa employees.” Now, the Phoenix suburb is ready to move forward and debut the show in October, albeit with a prominent disclaimer that the artwork represents only the artist’s views. All the original artists have been invited to remain in the exhibition. Thomas “Breeze” Marcus will not be one of them. And he says he won’t be displaying any of his work, which focuses on Native American life, in Mesa in the future. The whole ordeal, in his view, is rooted in censorship.“I’m happy to walk away from that situation,” said Marcus, who sent some of the paintings intended for the show to other venues after the postponement. “I think artists working with institutions in gene...

Child victims are the forgotten voices of Chile during the Pinochet dictatorship from 1973 to 1990

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Yelena Monroy was 3 years old when she was imprisoned for more than a year along with her younger sister and her mother, a socialist activist targeted by the regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet after he came to power in Chile in a military coup in September 1973.“We were scared, we were crying,” recalled Monroy, now a 53-year-old commercial engineer and one of more than 1,000 children and adolescents who were detained in the name of fighting communism and leftist guerrillas during Chile’s military dictatorship from 1973 to 1990.When Pinochet installed himself as leader, the age of majority in Chile was set at 21 years. But being a minor was no protection from the dictatorship’s crackdown. Children were detained, tortured, killed, and even used as decoys to apprehend their parents.The trauma of that period has made many of the young victims of the military regime reluctant to speak out, and the process of prosecuting that era’s crimes and making r...

Nancy Pelosi says she’ll seek House reelection in 2024, dismissing talk of retirement at age 83

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that she will run for reelection to another term in Congress as Democrats work to win back the majority in 2024. Pelosi made the announcement before labor allies in the San Francisco area district she has represented for more than 35 years.“Now more than ever our City needs us to advance San Francisco values and further our recovery,” Pelosi, 83, said in a tweet. “Our country needs America to show the world that our flag is still there, with liberty and justice for ALL. That is why I am running for reelection — and respectfully ask for your vote.”Pelosi’s decision comes with Republicans now in control of the House — but just narrowly, with a 222-212 majority and one vacancy. Democrats believe they have a chance to recapture the chamber as President Joe Biden runs for reelection to the White House.The Pelosi announcement quells any talk of retirement for the long-serving leader, who, with the honorific title of speaker e...

Ex-US intelligence officer for North Korea points to growing concern on nuclear threat toward South

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The founder of North Korea’s ruling dynasty, an isolationist totalitarian leader named Kim Il Sung, was still building some of the country’s first nuclear facilities when Syd Seiler arrived on the Korean Peninsula as a young U.S. military intelligence officer. Over the four decades since, Seiler has watched closely as Kim, his son and now his grandson have clung to their nuclear program and developed the potential to lob nuclear warheads at the U.S. and its allies if they choose. Now Seiler is freshly retired after decades of advising presidents, military commanders and diplomats, making reported secret trips to North Korea and serving as a lead negotiator on talks to contain its nuclear program. And he has a parting message to American leaders: Don’t be discouraged.North Korea’s fiery rounds of missile test launches are no reason to give up on the international sanctions and pressure, or to simply accept that the ruling Kim family is now a nuclear-arme...

A helicopter crashes off the United Arab Emirates coast, killing 1 pilot while another missing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A helicopter crashed off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, killing one pilot while another remains missing, authorities said Friday.The crash happened offshore, though the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authorities did not specify where. It identified the aircraft involved as a Bell 212, which can carry 14 passengers and a pilot. Officials said the two pilots aboard were from Egypt and South Africa and had taken off Thursday night from Al Maktoum International Airport, the second airfield in Dubai. Late Friday, authorities said one pilot had been found dead.Aerogulf, the owner of the helicopter, described the flight as “routine training operations between Al Maktoum International Airport and an offshore rig.” The oil-rich UAE has multiple oil rigs off the coast in the Persian Gulf. “We are working with the aviation authorities and doing all we can to gather information as quickly as possible,” Aerogulf said in its statement. “At this momen...

EXPLAINER: Abortion access has expanded but remains difficult in Mexico. How does it work now?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The decision by Mexico’s Supreme Court ending federal criminal penalties for abortion was a boost to activists who waged decades-long campaigns for safe abortion access nationwide. The mostly Catholic country still has significant barriers to overcome before Mexican women gain universal access.Twenty of Mexico ’s 32 states have laws classifying abortion as a crime that allow exceptions only in cases of rape. Some also include exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger, or if there are severe fetal anomalies.Mexican Supreme Court decisions are not automatically the law of the entire nation: They often have reach that’s somewhat limited. Wednesday’s decision applied to federal anti-abortion penalties, meaning that the instant impact will be felt in the massive federal health system. While millions of women receive services through that system, many get them through other providers.A 2021 Supreme Court decision that overturned a law criminalizing ...

Canada’s sports minister tells hockey leaders at summit to ‘step up’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:34 GMT

Canada’s new sports minister isn’t ready to laud Hockey Canada on its efforts to change the sport’s culture.“Nobody’s going to hear me congratulate anybody on what’s been done so far because we’re not there yet,” Carla Qualtrough told The Canadian Press. “Kids are still at risk and we can do better.”The Delta MP, who was re-appointed to the sports portfolio in July after serving in it from 2015 to 2017, was on the slate of Friday speakers at Hockey Canada’s “Beyond The Boards Summit” in Calgary.The two-day summit, which Hockey Canada intends to be one in a series, will tackle toxic masculinity and the culture of elite men’s hockey.Hockey Canada became a lightning rod in what Qualtrough’s predecessor Pascale St-Onge called Canada’s safe-sport crisis last year when it came to light that the organization settled a lawsuit with a woman alleging she was gang-raped by members of the 2018 world junior men’s hockey team at a gala event.The allegations have not been proven in court. The furo...