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UN agency for Palestinian refugees raises just $107 million of $300 million needed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Despite a dire warning from the United Nations chief that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees “is on the verge of financial collapse,” donors at a pledging conference on Friday provided just $107 million in new funds — significantly less than the $300 million it needs to keep helping millions of people.Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the agency known as UNRWA, said he was grateful for the new pledges but they are below the funds needed to keep over 700 schools and 140 clinics open from September through December.“We will continue to work tirelessly with our partners, including host countries — the refugees’ top supporters — to raise the funds needed,” he said in a statement.At the beginning of the year, UNRWA appealed for $1.6 billion for its programs, operations and emergency response across Syria, Lebanon, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and Jordan. That includes nearly $850 million for its core budget, which...

Senior UAE official defends Big Oil’s role at UN climate summit his Gulf nation will host

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A senior United Arab Emirates official says the Gulf nation wants the U.N. climate summit it’s hosting later this year to deliver “game-changing results” for international efforts to curb global warming, but doing so will require having the fossil fuel industry at the table.Environmental campaigners have slammed the presence of oil and gas lobbyists at previous rounds of talks, warning that their interests are opposed to the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions — caused to a large degree by the burning of fossil fuels. Last month scores of U.S. and European lawmakers called for the summit’s designated chair, Sultan al-Jaber, to be replaced over his links to the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.The issue complicates already-delicate negotiations ahead of the Nov. 30 – Dec. 12 meeting in Dubai, known as COP28. Preliminary talks starting next week in Bonn, Germany, will show whether the incoming UAE presidency can overcome skepticism among ...

At least 15 people killed in Senegal as opposition leader’s supporters clash with police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The number of people killed in days of clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has now risen to 15, including two security officers, the government said on Saturday. Clashes continued in pockets of the city Friday evening with demonstrators throwing rocks, burning cars and damaging supermarkets as police fired tear gas and the government deployed the military in tanks.Sonko was convicted Thursday of corrupting youth but acquitted on charges of raping a woman who worked at a massage parlor and making death threats against her. Sonko, who didn’t attend his trial in Dakar, was sentenced to two years in prison. His lawyer said a warrant hadn’t been issued yet for his arrest.Sonko came in third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular with the country’s youth. His supporters maintain his legal troubles are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.Sonko is considere...

Eastern Libyan authorities round up thousands in crackdown on migrants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan authorities rounded up thousands of mostly Egyptian migrants and amassed them at the border, activists said Saturday, as Libya continued its crackdown on migrants.The migrants were detained in raids over the past two days on trafficking warehouses in the border town of Musaid and other areas in eastern Libya, said Tarik Lamloum, an activist with the Belaady Organization for Human Rights.Libya is the dominant transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to make it to Europe. The country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Oil-rich Libya has been ruled for most of the past decade by rival governments in eastern and western Libya, each backed by an array of militias and foreign governments.Human traffickers have benefited from the chaos in Libya and smuggled migrants through the country’s lengthy border with six nations. They then pack desperate migrants seeking a...

3 Israeli soldiers, Egyptian officer killed in gunbattle at the border

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — A gunbattle involving an Egyptian border guard in southern Israel along the border left three Israeli soldiers and the Egyptian officer dead Saturday, officials said. It was a rare instance of deadly violence along the frontier.Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesperson, said the fighting began overnight when soldiers thwarted a drug-smuggling attempt across the border.He said several hours later, two soldiers in a guard post were shot and killed. Their bodies were found after the shooting, when they did not respond to radio communications.Hecht said the killings appeared to be connected to the thwarted drug smuggling attempt. The army said the Egyptian border guard was killed in a second exchange of fire in which a third Israeli soldier was killed. The Egyptian military said an Egyptian border guard crossed the border security barrier and exchanged fire with Israeli forces while he was chasing drug traffickers. It said in a statement that the Egyptian bor...

India’s deadly train crash renews questions over safety as government pushes railway upgrade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s prime minister had been scheduled to inaugurate an electrical semi-high-speed train equipped with a safety feature — another step in the modernization of an antiquated railway that is the lifeline of the world’s most populous nation. Instead on Saturday, Narendra Modi traveled to eastern Odisha state to deal with one of the country’s worst train disasters that left over 280 dead and hundreds injured. The massive derailment on Friday night involving two passenger trains is a stark reminder of safety issues that continue to challenge the vast railway system that transports nearly 22 million passengers each day. India, a country of 1.42 billion people, has one of the world’s most extensive and complicated railways built during the British colonial era: more than 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) of tracks, 14,000 passenger trains and 8,000 stations. Spread across the country from the Himalayas in the north to the beaches in the south, it is also a sy...

Man wanted in unprovoked violent attack aboard TTC bus in Scarborough

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

Police are searching for a man in connection with a violent assault aboard a TTC bus in Scarborough.Investigators say just after 7:30 a.m. on June 2 the victim was travelling eastbound on the 85 Sheppard East bus, standing by the front doors as the bus approached Kennedy Road. It’s then that police allege a man who had been sitting by the back door exit came up to the front and attacked the victim without provocation, putting them in a choke hold. The man then got off the bus and fled south on Kennedy Road. He’s described as being between 30 and 40 years of age with a black beard. He was last seen wearing a white tank top, khaki cargo shorts and black shoes.

Trump-appointed federal judge rejects Tennessee’s anti-drag law as too broad, too vague

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge says Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits on drag shows is unconstitutional. In a 70-page ruling handed down late Friday night, U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker wrote that the law was both “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.” He also added that the statute encouraged “discriminatory enforcement.”“There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. But there is a difference between material that is ‘obscene’ in the vernacular, and material that is ‘obscene’ under the law,” stated Parker, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. “Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech.”The Memphis-based Friends of George’s filed the complaint in March, saying the law would negatively impact them because they produce “drag-centric perfor...

Inuit, environmental groups praise cruises for agreeing to avoid Eclipse Sound

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

POND INLET, Nunavut — A marine conservation charity and Inuit hunters are praising cruise operators for agreeing to avoid a Nunavut waterway where thousands of narwhal migrate each summer. The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators recently said its members’ ships would not travel through Eclipse Sound this summer and instead go through the Pond Inlet strait. Oceans North and the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization had requested the move as numbers of summering narwhal in the area off the northeastern coast of Baffin Island have decreased, which they say is due to increased shipping traffic. “Narwhal continue to decline in our area and have not bounced back to historical numbers as we had hoped,” David Qamaniq, chair of the hunters and trappers organization, said in a news release. “We thank the cruise ship operators for working with us this year to protect the animals that remain.”Aerial surveys have shown a drop in the number of narwha...

Which states buy the most American cars?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:35:14 GMT

(iSeeCars) -- Buying an American car has long been considered an act of patriotism, although the definition of buying American has become increasingly blurred. There are cars with American nameplates like Buick that are manufactured overseas, while some Volkswagens and Toyotas are assembled in the United States. However, buying a domestic brand versus a foreign one can still signal a sense of pride among proud Americans, even if being made in America isn’t exclusive to American brands.To determine which states favor domestic auto brands, iSeeCars analyzed 200,000 car sales to rank each state by their percentage share of cars with domestic nameplates.States with the Most American VehiclesRankState% American1Michigan76.6%2North Dakota69.4%3Wyoming69.3%4South Dakota68.6%5Iowa66.6%6Montana63.9%7Wisconsin60.1%8Nebraska59.7%9Kansas58.2%10Alaska56.5%11Indiana56.2%12Arkansas56.2%13Missouri55.4%14West Virginia54.9%15Kentucky54.6%16Minnesota54.4%17Ohio53.4%18Idaho53.3%19Maine52.6%20New Mexico...