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Russian foreign minister visits North Korea in the wake of a reported weapons transfer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

By The Associated PressRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited North Korea on Wednesday, just days after the U.S. said Pyongyang had transferred munitions to Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian state television ran footage of crowds greeting Lavrov in the pouring rain in Pyongyang alongside a welcoming party waving pom poms. Earlier in the week, Lavrov accompanied Russian President Vladimir Putin on a visit to Beijing that underscored Chinese support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Shortly after arriving in Pyongyang, Lavrov said his visit was an opportunity to discuss implementing the agreements that Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had signed when they met at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome in September.Lavrov hailed Putin’s meeting with Kim as “historic,” saying their talks demonstrated the countries’ “deep interest in the development of comprehensive cooperation.”He noted that Russia highly appreciates N...

Jordan fails to clinch Speakership on second ballot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) suffered another loss in the Speaker’s race Wednesday, failing to win the gavel on a second ballot of voting after a growing number of Republicans declined to support his bid.Twenty-two Republicans withheld support from Jordan.The vote was 199 for Jordan, 212 for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), five for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and seven for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.). Ten people voted for someone else.The GOP opposition was less than what some Republicans — including Jordan allies — had predicted, but the tally is nonetheless an embarrassing setback for Jordan. Twenty Republicans withheld support from Jordan on Tuesday, leaving him short of the majority vote needed to clinch the gavel on the House floor. On Wednesday, four more Republicans flipped their votes from Jordan to another candidate. Two opponents flipped their votes to Jordan, and one Republican who was absent on Tuesda...

Air Miles announces hotel and vacation rental partnership with Expedia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

TORONTO — Loyalty program operator Air Miles has announced an exclusive partnership for hotels and vacation rentals with Expedia Group Inc. as part of its of newly launched travel booking platform.The U.S.-based travel company says the partnership will allow Air Miles customers to access its 700,000 hotels and vacation rentals worldwide.The deal is part of a number of improvements to Air Miles since being bought by Bank of Montreal earlier this year. When it acquired Air Miles, BMO said it would look to expand the program with new ways to earn and redeem miles.Alfonso Paredes, senior vice-president of private label solutions at Expedia, says the travel company has already seen strong booking interest during its soft launch.Air Miles has nearly 10 million active collector accounts in Canada.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2023. Companies in this story: (TSX:BMO)The Canadian Press<!– Photo: 20231018121012-6530049815e34d9a52abd9bajpeg.jpg, Captio...

US imposes more Iran drone sanctions as UN rules set to expire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a group of people and firms based in Iran, China, Hong Kong and Venezuela, tied to the development of Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs.The penalties come as the United Nations’ restrictions on Iran missile-related activities under a Security Council Resolution are set to expire, as well as the E.U. restrictions on Iran’s ability to obtain nuclear and conventional arms.Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 11 people, eight entities, and one vessel for having allegedly supported Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics in their production and proliferation of missiles and drones. Included in the sanctions are Iran-based equipment firms and their directors, a Hong Kong-based distributor of electronic components several Iranian officials including the Defense Attaché in Venezuela, Jaber Reihani and the general cargo vessel PARNIA, whi...

More arrests to be announced in shooting that killed a Philadelphia police officer, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities plan to announce more arrests Wednesday in an airport parking garage shooting that killed a Philadelphia police officer and wounded another last week.Police on Monday said at least two other suspects were being sought as they announced the arrest of Yobranny Martinez Fernandez, 18, of Camden County in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He was being held in that state on a fugitive warrant.Authorities said Officers Richard Mendez and Raul Ortiz had just arrived at work about 11 p.m. last Thursday when they heard breaking glass and saw several people breaking into a car in the parking lot at Philadelphia International Airport. A confrontation ensued, and the two officers and one of the suspects were shot.Mendez, 50, who had been on the force for more than two decades, was shot four times and pronounced dead at a hospital. Ortiz, a 20-year veteran of the force, was shot once in the arm and was released from the hospital Saturday.The suspects fled in an SUV reporte...

Employer-sponsored health coverage costs jumped this year. More hikes may be coming

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

The cost of health coverage through work jumped this year, in part because of inflation, according to a survey of U.S. employers.Premiums for both family and single plans climbed 7% after barely rising in 2022, according to a report Wednesday by KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.Later this fall, companies begin their annual coverage enrollment window for 2024, and health care experts say another price hike could be coming.“It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be another year of health care cost increases, at least at the level we’re seeing right now,” said Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research for the Employee Benefit Research Institute.Employer-sponsored health insurance is the most common form of coverage in the United States. KFF says almost 153 million Americans have it. Companies generally pay most of the premium — 70% or more in many cases.That can soften the impact of price hikes on employees. Coverage costs also are taken out of paychecks bef...

Why Egypt and other Arab countries are unwilling to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — As desperate Palestinians in sealed-off Gaza try to find refuge under Israel’s relentless bombardment in retaliation for Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack, some ask why neighboring Egypt and Jordan don’t take them in.The two countries, which flank Israel on opposite sides and share borders with Gaza and the occupied West Bank, respectively, have replied with a staunch refusal. Jordan already has a large Palestinian population. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi made his toughest remarks yet on Wednesday, saying the current war was not just aimed at fighting Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, “but also an attempt to push the civilian inhabitants to … migrate to Egypt.” He warned this could wreck peace in the region.Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave a similar message a day earlier, saying, “No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.”Their refusal is rooted in fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify ...

Protesters in Lebanon decrying Gaza hospital blast clash with security forces near U.S. Embassy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of angry protesters clashed Wednesday with Lebanese security forces in a Beirut suburb near the U.S. Embassy in support of both Gaza’s civilian residents and Hamas in its war with Israel.The protest in the Aukar neighborhood came as U.S. President Joe Biden made a show of solidarity with Israel during his visit there Wednesday, a day after an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital killed at least 500 people and prompted mass protests.Biden offered his assessment that the explosion was not the result of a strike by the Israeli military. The Palestinian group Hamas, which rules Gaza, and many Arab countries accuse Israel of striking the hospital, while the Israeli military claims it was a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza.Demonstrators holding Palestinian flags and the flags of various Palestinian factions took down a security wall and cut a barbed wire barrier on a winding road that leads to the U.S. Embassy outside of Beirut. R...

Trial of former RCMP intelligence official paused, expected to resume next week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

OTTAWA — The trial of a former RCMP intelligence official accused of disclosing secrets is on hold until next week while an issue is sorted out.Details of the matter in the Ontario Superior Court case of Cameron Jay Ortis are covered by a publication ban.Justice Robert Maranger told the jury another court would decide the issue, and he anticipates the trial resuming in his courtroom on Monday.Ortis is charged with violating the Security of Information Act by allegedly revealing secrets to three individuals in 2015 and trying to do so in a fourth instance, as well as breach of trust and a computer-related offence.Ortis, 51, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.The trial is expected to continue well into next month.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2023.The Canadian Press

Minnesota leaders to fight court ruling that restoring voting rights for felons was unconstitutional

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:37 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A pro-Trump Minnesota judge declared a new state law restoring voting rights for convicted felons unconstitutional, drawing a sharp rebuke from Minnesota’s attorney general and secretary of state who said he overstepped his authority and urged residents to vote anyway.Mille Lacs County District Judge Matthew Quinn declared the law unconstitutional in a pair of orders last week in which he sentenced two offenders to probation, but warned them they are not eligible to vote or register to vote — even though the law says they are. It was an unusual step because nobody involved in those cases ever asked him to rule on the constitutionality of the law.In his orders, Quinn, concluded the Legislature’s passage of the law did not constitute the kind of “affirmative act” he said was needed to properly restore a felon’s civil rights. So he said he now has a duty going forward to “independently evaluate the voting capacity” of felons when they complete probation.Attorne...