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Lebanese Central Bank governor no-show in Paris corruption probe

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s embattled Central Bank governor failed to appear before French prosecutors on Tuesday to be questioned on corruption charges, officials said.A European judicial team from France, Germany and Luxembourg is conducting a corruption probe into an array of financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and alleged laundering of $330 million, implicating the Lebanese governor, Riad Salameh.Salameh, 72, who has held his post for almost 30 years, has repeatedly denied all allegations against him. He has insisted that his wealth comes from his previous job as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, inherited properties, and investments.The three European governments in March 2022 froze over $130 million in assets linked to the probe. During a visit to Lebanon in March, the European delegation questioned Salameh about the Lebanese Central Bank’s assets and investments outside the country, a Paris apartment — which the governor owns— and his brother Raja Salameh’s ...

Prize-winning author Clint Smith working on book that will ‘expand monolithic narrative’ of WWII

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Prize-winning author Clint Smith has a three-book deal with Random House, starting with an exploration of the impact of World War II upon everyone from a survivor of a Japanese internment camp in the U.S. to a Jewish activist in Nazi Germany.Smith’s “Just Beneath the Soil” will be his first book since “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America” came out in 2021. “How the Word is Passed” was a bestseller that won the National Book Critics Circle Award and Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was praised by former President Barack Obama among others.In “Just Beneath the Soil,” according to Random House, Smith “will expand the monolithic narrative Americans have created” about World War II and focus on people whose stories are less known. “After publishing ‘How the Word Is Passed’ — in which I explored how different historical sites across the country reckon with or fail to reckon with their relationships to the history of slavery ...

Defense ministers from Japan, China inaugurate hotline to avoid clashes, build trust

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese and Chinese defense ministers inaugurated their long-awaited hotline on Tuesday as a step to build trust and improve communication at a time when Japan and other neighbors are concerned about Beijing’s increasingly assertive military activities. Japan’s Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, talked for about 20 minutes through the hotline for the first time since it was established on March 31, the Japanese Defense Ministry said.The two ministers welcomed the start of the operational use of the hotline and affirmed the importance of “the maritime and aerial communication mechanism,” which includes the hotline, in building trust between the two sides while avoiding contingencies.Tokyo and Beijing are embroiled in a dispute over tiny Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. China routinely sends coast guard vessels and planes into waters and airspace su...

Prominent foe of female circumcision wins prestigious $1.4 million Templeton Prize

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

Edna Adan Ismail, a nurse-midwife, hospital founder, and health care advocate who for decades has combated female circumcision and strived to improve women’s health care in East Africa, was named Tuesday as winner of the 2023 Templeton Prize, one of the world’s largest annual individual awards.“Rooted in her Muslim faith, she receives this year’s award in recognition of her extraordinary efforts to harness the power of the sciences to affirm the dignity of women and help them to flourish physically and spiritually,” said the announcement. Among her achievements: the founding of a hospital and university which have significantly reduced maternal mortality in Somaliland.The Templeton Prize, valued at nearly $1.4 million, was established in 1973 by philanthropist Sir John Templeton. It honors those “who harness the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.”Ismail, the first African woman to win the prize, &...

As tensions rise, what comes next for China-Canada relations?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, last week, a “spat” between China and Canada resulted in the expulsion of diplomats from both countries. It was the latest episode in a low-heat diplomatic conflict that’s been simmering for years. Each new development, be it takeovers, arrests, allegations of election interference, or threats of retaliation, only serves to heighten the likelihood of future incidents.Stephanie Carvin is a former national security analyst, associate professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, and author of “Stand on Guard: Reassessing Threats to Canada’s National Security.”“Between the foreign interference, which is not just against democratic institutions, but also against Canadian communities, we’re getting a better understanding of how this actually works,” says Carvin about China-Canada relations.So, how did China and Canada reach this point? What have we learned in the past few months about China’s goals when it co...

Stock market today: US futures point lower after shaky start to big retail week, sluggish China data

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

Wall Street tipped lower Tuesday after data showed China’s economy is weaker than expected, while Home Depot cut its profit and sales outlook for the year, signaling a spending shift by Americans strapped by inflation and anxious about a possible recession.The Dow Jones industrial Average lost 0.3% and the S&P 500 ticked down 0.2% before the bell Tuesday.Home Depot shares skidded 3.6% in premarket trading after the home improvement giant’s first-quarter revenue fell short of analyst expectations. In February, Atlanta company said it expected profits to slip this year after the chain saw booming growth during the pandemic as Americans spent heavily on home repairs and renovations.Later Tuesday, the government will report April sales data from the U.S. retail sector, and later this week Target and Walmart will report their quarterly results.The majority of companies in the S&P 500 have topped expectations so far but overall they are on track to report a drop of 2.5...

Russian lawmakers vote to scrap Cold War armed forces deal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian lawmakers on Tuesday voted unanimously to formally pull out of a key Cold War-era security deal, more than eight years after Moscow halted its participation. The vote came less than a week after President Vladimir Putin introduced a draft bill on May 10 “denouncing” the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which aimed to prevent Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders. The deal was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later.Russia first announced its intention to completely withdraw from the treaty in early 2015. Since last February, Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine has seen hundreds of thousands of Russian troops pour into the country, which shares a border with NATO members Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary.On Tuesday, Putin’s designated envoy told the State Duma that NATO countries had “made it impossible” for Russia to remain in the treaty by allowing for the alliance’s expansion into Cent...

Investigators said video of student thrown into wall wasn't abuse, then changed their minds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

Investigative Summary: A special team within the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has ruled out or not confirmed physical abuse allegations in more than 1,400 cases involving school employees. Records KXAN obtained show, in some cases, where DFPS investigators determined “physical abuse” didn’t occur, other agencies found the behavior — sometimes depicted in video surveillance — unlawful and even worthy of termination. ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — Inside the GOALS Learning Center, surveillance cameras recorded as two teachers walked a 14-year-old boy down the hallway. The Round Rock school is designed for special education students with a primary disability of Emotional Disturbance, according to the district's website. The employees were on either side of the student. They each had a hand threaded through his arm, pushing him forward while he planted his feet to resist their momentum. They were going to the school’s cool-down room: a doorless room on the R...

New Mexico teen gunman who killed 3 and injured 6 shot randomly at cars, houses, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

FARMINGTON, N.M. — An 18-year-old man armed with at least three guns roamed through a northwestern New Mexico community firing randomly at cars and houses, killing three people and injuring six others including two police officers before he was killed, authorities said.The shootings occurred around 11 a.m. Monday in Farmington, a city of about 50,000 people near the Four Corners — where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet — that is a supply line and bedroom community to the region’s oil and natural gas industry.Officers responding to reports of shots being fired encountered the attacker within minutes and killed him with at least one shot, Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in a video released Monday night. He said the gunman fired at least three weapons, including an “AR-style rifle.”The shooting was “honestly one of the most horrific and difficult days that Farmington has ever had as a community,” he said.The identities of the gunman and the victims weren’t immediate...

Illinois girl abducted at 9 found safe 6 years later in North Carolina; mom charged

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:46 GMT

SOUTH ELGIN, Ill. — An Illinois girl who was abducted at 9 years old was found safe in North Carolina six years later, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Kayla Unbehaun at 9 years old, shortly before she went missing in 2017. (Photo courtesy of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)Kayla Unbehaun was allegedly taken by her mother, Heather Unbehaun, on July 5, 2017, while on a camping trip in South Elgin, Illinois. After going on the trip with her daughter, the two dropped out of sight.Heather Unbehaun, 40 (North Carolina police)Ryan Iserka, Kayla's father, was supposed to pick up his daughter from her mother's Wheaton, Illinois, home, but neither turned up. Unbehaun did not have custody rights of Kayla. New Siena Poll covers Hochul, NYS budget, elections, etc. Unbehaun, 40, was arrested after Kayla was found Saturday in Buncombe County, North C...