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Erdogan to visit Budapest next month as Turkey and Hungary hold up Sweden’s membership in NATO

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Hungary’s capital in December, his second trip to Budapest this year at a time when both countries remain the only NATO members not to have ratified Sweden’s accession into the trans-Atlantic military alliance.During his visit on Dec. 18, Erdogan will take part in a meeting of the Hungarian-Turkish Strategic Cooperation Council, and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Bertalan Havasi, the press chief for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, told local news outlet ATV in a report broadcast on Monday.Havasi didn’t immediately respond to further questions from The Associated Press on Tuesday about the trip.It wasn’t clear whether Erdogan and Orbán would discuss Sweden’s NATO membership, which has been delayed for more than a year by Hungary and Turkey. All 31 NATO allies must endorse the accession of a new member. Erdogan...

WWE smashes its social media record with return of CM Punk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

WWE crushed its social media record over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with the return of wrestler CM Punk at Survivor Series garnering more than 71 million views across all of the sports entertainment company’s platforms. Survivor Series, a premium live event that’s been held for 37 years, took place at the Allstate Arena in Chicago on Saturday. While WWE’s fervent fans had been talking about the possibility of CM Punk returning to the organization for weeks, his appearance at the WWE event after nearly a decade away from the company surprised nearly everyone, and many took to social media to talk about it. WWE said Tuesday that the comeback moment has more than 71 million views across all platforms, making it the biggest social post in company history. The previous record was a handheld video last year from Logan Paul as he jumped from the ropes during a match. That video garnered more than 40 million views across Paul’s and WWE’s social platforms in less tha...

Baltic nations’ foreign ministers pull out of OSCE meeting over Russian foreign minister attendance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — The foreign ministers of the three Baltic states have said they will boycott a meeting by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe being held this week in North Macedonia, in objection to the participation of Russia’s foreign minister.The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued a joint statement Tuesday saying they “deeply regret the decision enabling the personal participation” of Russia’s Sergey Lavrov. “It will only provide Russia with yet another propaganda opportunity.”Lavrov said Monday he planned to travel to Skopje for the OSCE foreign ministers’ meeting, a trip which would mark his first visit to a NATO member country since Russia invaded Ukraine. In September, he was in New York to attend the United Nations’ annual gathering of world leaders. The 57-nation OSCE was set up during the Cold War to help defuse tension between East and West. North Macedonia currently holds the organization’s rotating presiden...

11 die in coal mine accident in China’s Heilongjiang province

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A violent rock burst in a coal mine killed 11 people in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province on Tuesday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. Mining work can release pressure from surrounding formations and trigger a literal explosion of rocks. An initial assessment determined that is what caused the fatalities in Heilongjiang province, CCTV said. The Shuangyashan Coal Company, which operates the mine, was fined in the past for violating several safety regulations, according to local media reports. This year alone, it was fined 10 times, according to a report from Shangyou News, a state-backed media outlet.China has been working on improving mine safety to combat accidents that happen with some frequency. In August, another coal mine explosion also killed 11 people in northern China’s Shaanxi province. A coal mine fire in southern China’s Guizhou province killed 16 people in September.Just a few weeks ago, a major fire at a coal mining company bu...

In new challenge to indictment, Trump’s lawyers argue he had good basis to question election results

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump had a “good faith” basis to question the results of the 2020 election, his lawyers said in demanding that prosecutors turn over any evidence related to voting irregularities and potential foreign interference in the contest won by Democrat Joe Biden.A defense motion filed late Monday in federal court in Washington asserts that Trump was not obligated to accept at face value the judgments of government officials who found no widespread fraud in the election. It raises the prospect that foreign actors might have influenced the race and alleges that the federal government gave “false assurances” to the public about the security of the election that exceeded what was actually known.“It was not unreasonable at the time, and certainly not criminal, for President Trump to disagree with officials now favored by the prosecution and to rely instead on the independent judgment that the American people elected him to use while leading the country,” the lawye...

The family of an infant hostage pleads for his release as Israel-Hamas truce winds down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Kfir Bibas has spent nearly a fifth of his life in Hamas captivity.The 10-month-old was abducted from his home in a southern Israeli kibbutz on Oct. 7, when Palestinian militants snatched about 240 people and dragged them to Gaza.Kfir, the youngest captive, was among about 30 children who were taken hostage in Hamas’ assault. Under a current temporary cease-fire, Hamas has released women, children and teens, but Kfir hasn’t been included on the lists of those set to be freed.With his red hair and toothless smile, Kfir’s ordeal has become for many a symbol of the brutality of Hamas’ attack. With most other young hostages already released, Kfir’s fate and that of his 4-year-old brother, Ariel, are now a rallying cry for Israelis seeking the speedy release of all the hostages. A demonstration in support of the Bibas family is being held in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.“There is no precedent for something like this, for a baby who was kidnapped when he was 9 months ...

Why are some tenants using the ‘last resort’ of rent strikes?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, there are several rent strikes happening in Canada right now, mostly in Toronto. Some of them have been going on for six months or more. Evictions have been long-threatened, but slow to happen. And most tenants haven’t seen any concession or negotiation, even when the mayor stepped in.Ricardo Tranjan is a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the author of The Tenant Class. He says these tenant actions are a response to an increasingly untenable situation for Canadian renters.“So that housing market, that is set up for profit creation … sometimes it goes too far and becomes a little bit too greedy, and starts squeezing too much out of tenants,” says Tranjan.  So what are rent strikes, how do they work, and what should you know about a renter’s “last resort”?You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.

New documentary offers a peek into the triumphs and struggles of Muslim chaplains in US military

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

The woman refused to sell Captain Saleha Jabeen a hijab to don with her military uniform. While many civilian Muslims tell Jabeen she makes them proud, others are horrified by her decision to serve. “You’re gonna go kill Muslims,” the store owner told her that day.Major Rafael Lantigua Jr. has experienced the flip side of that struggle. Angered by an attack on U.S. troops in Iraq, a fellow service member once barked at Lantigua: “Why can’t you call your people and tell them to stop?”The words stung. Just as Jabeen thought the woman saw her as a bad Muslim, Lantigua felt the implication of the outburst directed at him was: You don’t belong. (The service member later apologized).In the years since, Jabeen and Lantigua have become part of the small group of Muslim military chaplains who tend to the souls and spirits of U.S. troops of all faiths and no faith — their work highlighted in a new film that offers a peek into their worlds. Among other duties, they give talks on suicide preven...

Government impersonation, phishing are top financial scams, Interac survey finds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

TORONTO — A new Interac survey finds government impersonation is one of the biggest financial scams plaguing people across Canada.Forty-two per cent of survey respondents say they’ve dealt with scammers pretending to be representatives of official government institutions. That’s followed by 41 per cent facing phishing scams and 33 per cent indicating they have dealt with fake banking, credit card and online account scams. The survey, which collected responses from 1,202 people online between Sept. 28 and Oct. 6, suggests 53 per cent of respondents believe being targeted by financial scams is a common occurrence in Canada. Four in 10 reported being concerned they could fall victim.Rachel Jolicoeur, director of cyber market intelligence and financial crimes at Interac Corp., says people have to remember the criminals carrying out scams are professionals and opportunistic.She encourages people to pay attention to these incidents, and stop, scrutinize and report. This report...

'Pull over now': 12-year-old driving stolen forklift leads police on hourlong chase

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:33 GMT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WFLA) - A 12-year-old boy driving a stolen construction forklift in Michigan led police on an hourlong chase Saturday, striking 10 parked vehicles during the pursuit, police said on social media.According to the Ann Arbor Police Department, the vehicle, a Construction Genie GTH-636 Telehandler – equipped with a forklift and weighing up to 35,000 pounds – was stolen from outside the Forsyth Middle School. Based on the preliminary investigation, officials said, the vehicle was unlocked with the key hidden inside the cab."This was a very dangerous situation that could’ve easily ended with serious injuries," the police department said on Facebook.Police said officials were first called to the school around 6:45 p.m. Saturday on reports that a juvenile was trying to steal a construction vehicle. Tammy Sytch: Former WWE superstar sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for deadly DUI crash in Florida Minutes later, officers found the boy driving down the street with...