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Australian minister credits improved relations with China for the release of a detained journalist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Thursday credited improved relations with China for the return home this week of an Australian journalist whose three-year detention in China in a murky espionage case had strained ties.A teary-eyed Wong had greeted Cheng Lei with a hug at the airport Wednesday in Melbourne, where Cheng’s two children, 11 and 14, have been raised by their grandmother while Cheng was detained.“She was in extraordinarily good spirits. I think I was more emotional than she was,” Wong said of Cheng. “I think she’s pretty tough. She looked great.”Wong revealed that she had promised Cheng’s children some time ago that the government would do all it could to bring their mother home.“It was really moving to meet Cheng Lei yesterday and speak to her kids who are not much older than mine,” Wong said.She said she encouraged Cheng to thrive and be healthy and happy now that she’s free. “That’s what all Australians want you to be,”...

Japan government panel to decide whether to ask court to revoke legal status of Unification Church

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s government is convening a religious affairs council on Thursday to ask experts to decide whether to seek a court order to revoke the legal status of the Unification Church. The church’s fundraising tactics and cozy ties with the governing party have triggered public outrage.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government has taken tough stance in a perceived move to shore up support, hurt by his governing Liberal Democratic party’s decades-long ties with the South Korea-based church that surfaced in the investigation of former leader Shinzo Abe’s 2022 assassination.The alleged Abe killer told police that his motive was the former prime minister’s link to the church that had bankrupted his family due to his mother’s excessive donations.Education Minister Masahito Moriyama told experts on the panel in his opening remarks that his ministry, if endorsed by the panel, hopes to file for a court approval to strip the church’s legal status. If the pane...

After troubled start, New York is shaking up its legal marijuana market with new competitors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

RAVENA, N.Y. (AP) — New York officials launched legal recreational marijuana sales by promising many of the first retail licenses to people with past drug convictions, hoping to give people harmed by the war on drugs a chance to succeed before competitors crowded in.But more than nine months after sales started, only about two dozen state-sanctioned dispensaries have opened their doors. Legal challenges over the state’s permitting process have left more than 400 provisional licensees in limbo. Marijuana farmers are reeling because there are too few stores to sell their harvest.State regulators are now expanding the market amid those troubles. They recently opened up a 60-day general application window to grow, process, distribute or sell marijuana, expecting to issue more than 1,000 new licenses. New rules also will allow companies licensed to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York to get into the recreational market.The moves are expected to boost the number of legal dis...

Judge to hear arguments from TikTok and content creators who are challenging Montana’s ban on app

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday in a case filed by TikTok and five Montana content creators who want the court to block the state’s ban on the video sharing app before it takes effect Jan. 1. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula is not expected to rule immediately on the request for a preliminary injunction.Montana became the first state in the U.S. to pass a complete ban on the app, based on the argument that the Chinese government could gain access to user information from TikTok, whose parent company, ByteDance, is based in Beijing.Content creators say the ban violates free speech rights and could cause economic harm for their businesses. TikTok said in court filings that the state passed its law based on “unsubstantiated allegations,” that Montana cannot regulate foreign commerce and that the state could have passed a law requiring TikTok limit the kinds of data it could collect, or require parental controls, rather than trying to enact a complet...

IMF and World Bank are urged to boost funding for African nations facing conflict and climate change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Many poor countries in Africa face the harshest effects of climate change: severe droughts, vicious heat and dry land, but also unpredictable rain and devastating flooding. The shocks worsen conflict and upend livelihoods because many people are farmers — work that is increasingly vulnerable in a warming world.Climate challenges are at the root of vulnerabilities faced by conflict-ridden countries in Africa’s Sahel region, such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and northern Nigeria, experts say. Adapting to these challenges could cost up to $50 billion per year, according to the Global Commission on Adaptation, while the International Energy Agency estimates the clean energy transition could cost as much as $190 billion a year — overwhelming costs for Africa.Countries have limited space in their budgets, and borrowing more to fund climate goals will worsen their considerable debt burdens, argue African leaders, who are seeking a rapid boost in financing....

Avalanche superstars Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon overpower Kings in season-opening win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

LOS ANGELES – The Kings have a solid hockey team, one that expects to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season. Those Kings also played pretty well in spurts Wednesday night during the opening game of their season.They worked hard. They created chances. Alas, they did not have Mikko Ratanen and Nathan MacKinnon, but the other team did. And that was a big problem.Ranaten (two goals, four points) and MacKinnon combined for three goals and seven points as the Avalanche opened the 2023-24 season with a 5-2 win at Crypto.com Arena.“Just excited, I guess,” said Rantanen, who scored four points on opening night for the second straight season. “I missed some of the camp, so I was just excited to play and just playing with good players also helps.”It was far from a flawless performance for the Avs. There were too many penalties, though a couple were heavily disputed. The penalty kill looked like it was incorporating a lot of new players, but Alexandar Georgiev saved ...

3.6 deaths per 100,000 people due to alcohol in 2020

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

In 2020, there were 193 893 deaths in the EU resulting from mental and behavioural disorders, representing 3.7% of all deaths in the EU. Mental and behavioural disorders include dementia, schizophrenia, and also disorders related to psychoactive substance use, such as alcohol or drug dependence. The EU’s standardized death rate for mental and behavioural disorders was 39.1 deaths per 100 000 people in 2020 (from 28.6 deaths in 2011), with a higher death rate among males (40.1) than females (36.8). When it comes to deaths due to disorders related to alcohol use, in 2020, the EU’s standardized death rate was 3.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 3.2 deaths in 2011. This rate was notably high in some EU countries: Slovenia (17.3 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants), Poland (10.1), Denmark (7.3), Croatia (6.5), Austria and Latvia (both 6.2). At the other end of the scale, the rate was at its lowest in Greece, Italy, Malta (all with 0.4 deaths per 100 000 people), Spain and Cyprus (both 0.5)...

Thousands attend pro-Israeli demonstration in Encino

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

Thousands of pro-Israeli supporters came out to Encino Wednesday to show their solidarity amid Israel’s bloody war with Hamas. It is the latest in a series of events organized in Southern California to show support for Israel after the surprise terrorist attack over the weekend.  One of the demonstrators at the rally, Joseph Samana, said supporters can’t not come out and show their support for the state of Israel.  “You have to show your support,” he told KTLA’s Rick Chambers. “It’s a must not an option.”  The more than 2,000 strong crowd shut down a stretch of Ventura Boulevard so their voices could be heard after the attack by Hamas. Crowds flocked to Encino on Oct. 11, 2023, to show support for Israel after Hamas' surprise terrorist attack over the weekend. (KTLA)“What we see, it’s evil and if we do not protest against it, it won’t be just in Israel,” another rallygoer, Iris Nofar said. “It will be against all the world.”  The rally was likely the largest in Los An...

Tensions high across SoCal college campuses amid Israeli war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

Tensions are rising on college campuses in California and across the country as students react to Israel’s war with Hamas. The deadly violence has led some college leaders to warn against discrimination or harassment against any member of the Jewish or Palestinian communities. Hundreds of University of California, Los Angeles students gathered at Bruin Plaza Wednesday night for a solemn vigil for Israel. “I’m really just praying for all of the innocent people caught in the sides of it,” said UCLA student, Cienna Janes. There was a heavy security presence at the event as the longstanding Israeli Palestinian conflict enters a new phase following the deadly terrorist attack in the Jewish state carried out by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group in Gaza.Amid rising tensions, some student groups say they have received threats over their beliefs and academic discourse. Organized by UCLA Students for Justice in Palestine, a lecture called “Emergency Teach-in on the Crisis" was mov...

Cop stabbed Wednesday afternoon at Brentwood City Park

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:54 GMT

BRENTWOOD – A 16-year-old boy allegedly stabbed a police officer Wednesday afternoon at Brentwood City Park, police said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Oakland: Three possible shooting suspects arrested after chase, crash Crime and Public Safety | Police identify Oakland man shot and killed outside local hotel Crime and Public Safety | Man convicted of murder on BART train Crime and Public Safety | South Bay man charged in fatal stabbing, carjacking of 63-year-old Union City woman Crime and Public Safety | Vacant Oakland warehouse damaged in previous fire gutted by new blaze Officers were dispatched to the park around 5:35 p.m. for a report of a person armed with a kitchen knife, the Brentwood Police Department said in a news release.Following numerous attempts to de-escalate the situation, an officer moved in to detain the teen. Police said the teen stabbed the officer. A bystander helped oth...