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María Corina Machado is winner of Venezuela opposition primary that government has denounced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan government critic María Corina Machado was declared the winner Thursday of an opposition-organized primary to choose a presidential candidate, in polling last weekend that was denounced by the self-proclaimed socialist government as illegitimate.The voting Sunday organized by the National Primary Commission drew more than 2.4 million voters in Venezuela and abroad and was aimed at choosing a candidate to run against President Nicolás Maduro next year.But despite some assurances by Maduro’s government that the opposition would be allowed to choose a candidate, it has cast heavy doubt on any outcome of the weekend primary. Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into primary organizers on charges including fraud and usurping authority, and on top of that the government has official banned Machado from running for office.Still, the opposition primary commission declared Machado the winner Thursday in an event before opposition leaders and ...

Pakistan’s ex-leader Nawaz Sharif regains right to appeal convictions, opening a path to election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A federal court in Pakistan’s capital on Thursday restored the right of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to appeal his 2018 convictions in two graft cases, officials said, less than a week after he returned home from four years of self-imposed exile in London. The decision by the Islamabad High Court was a boost for Sharif ahead of parliamentary elections due in January.If the court overturns his convictions in the coming weeks, Sharif would be eligible to run for a seat in parliament, and analysts say his Pakistan Muslim League party could also return to power.Sharif stepped down as prime minister in 2017 over corruption charges. In July 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the anti-graft tribunal in a case involving the purchase of luxury apartments in London. In December of the same year, he was sentenced to a further seven years by a different court in a separate corruption case. His party called the verdict a “black stain” on the justice syst...

Palestinian activist is expelled by Israeli forces from his home in a volatile West Bank city

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops expelled a prominent Palestinian activist from his home in a West Bank city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after he hosted a foreign journalist and a well-known Israeli activist.Critics accused the military of using the cover of the Israel-Hamas war to expel Issa Amro from volatile Hebron, the only city in the West Bank where Jewish settlers live among Palestinians. The military had no immediate comment.Amro said the journalist came to his house in Hebron to gather material for an article about the situation in the occupied West Bank since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war nearly three weeks ago, after a brutal rampage by Hamas gunmen from Gaza in Israeli border communities.In the West Bank, the Israeli military stepped up arrest raids in pursuit of Hamas militants, and dozens of Palestinians, including several minors, were killed, most in clashes with troops, but also during protests and in attacks by Jewish settlers, according ...

Rep. Jamaal Bowman pleads guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm in House office building

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count for triggering a fire alarm as lawmakers scrambled to pass a funding bill before a government shutdown deadline. He will pay a $1,000 fine and serve three months of probation, after which the false fire alarm charge is expected to be dismissed from his record under an agreement with prosecutors. The alarm forced the evacuation of a House office building for over an hour on Sept. 30. The New York lawmaker acknowledged pulling the alarm but said it was a mistake as he tried to open an unexpectedly locked door in a rush to get to vote. The funding package was ultimately approved with most Republicans and almost all Democrats, including Bowman, supporting the bill. “I really regret that this caused so much confusion and that people had to evacuate, and I just caused a disturbance. I hate that. It’s pretty embarrassing,” Bowman told reporters after his plea hearing. Republicans have criticized ...

Man shot in Riverdale, nearby public school in hold and secure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

Toronto police are responding after a man was shot and injured in the city’s east end, leading to a nearby public school going into hold and secure.Officers were called to the Jones Avenue and Boultbee Avenue area just before 10 a.m. on Thursday for reports of a shooting.A man was shot inside of a residence. There is no information on a suspect or suspects. The severity of the victim’s injuries is unclear.Blake Street Junior Public School is in hold and secure due to the proximity of the shooting.

South Africa begins an inquiry into a building fire that killed 76 people in Johannesburg in August

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — An inquiry began Thursday into an apartment building fire that killed 76 people in South Africa in August and laid bare the deep problems of poverty and neglect in parts of Africa’s richest city.The nighttime blaze swept through a five-story building in the Marshalltown district of Johannesburg, trapping many of the hundreds of people who were living there in badly overcrowded conditions.The building was believed to be one of what are known as “hijacked” buildings in Johannesburg. Authorities suspect it had been taken over by illegal landlords, who were renting out space to poor South Africans and foreign migrants looking desperately for somewhere to live.Johannesburg Emergency Services acting chief Rapulane Monageng gave the first testimony of the inquiry and said that firefighters found no fire extinguishers anywhere in the building. They had all been taken off the walls, he said. A large fire hose had also been removed and the water pipe suppl...

European Union leaders seek aid access to Gaza and weigh the plight of EU citizens there

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders gathered Thursday to debate ways to use their combined leverage to ensure that more aid reaches Palestinians in need, and how to help EU citizens in Gaza escape danger, including some held hostage by Hamas.EU nations have long been divided in their approach to Israel and the Palestinians, but the brutal nature of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct 7., which killed more than 1,400 people, and the hardship of civilians forced from their homes in Gaza have shone a bright spotlight on those divisions.Across the EU spectrum, Austria, Germany and Hungary are among Israel’s top supporters. The leaders of Austria and Germany went to Israel to show solidarity after the assault. Spain and Ireland often focus on the plight of the Palestinians. Hamas, for its part, is on the EU’s list of terrorist groups.The challenge has been to strike a balance between condemning the Hamas attacks, supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and ensuring that the rig...

China and the U.S. appear to restart military talks despite disputes over Taiwan and South China Sea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China and the United States appear to be restarting dialogue between their militaries, despite continuing disputes over Beijing’s claims to Taiwan and the South China Sea. Chinese reports, as yet not confirmed by Washington, say the U.S. will send a Department of Defense official to attend a Chinese Defense Ministry international gathering that aims to discuss international security cooperation and raise China’s status as a global power. “China attaches great importance to the development of military-to-military relations between China and the United States,” ministry spokesperson Col. Wu Xian said at a briefing on Thursday, China froze military exchanges after then-speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi last August visited self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.China’s annual Xiangshan Forum is scheduled for Oct. 29-31. “As we see it, the ranks of the personnel taking part in the exchanges are not the most important. What i...

Dentists decry being left in the dark about federal dental insurance plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

Canadian dentists are demanding details on Ottawa’s soon-to-be announced federal dental insurance plan and how the federal government pans to preserve existing provincial and private coverage.Eleven provincial and territorial dental associations wrote a joint letter to the federal health minister to express serious concerns about a lack of information when it comes to critical aspects of the new plan.The plan was born out of the Liberals’ supply-and-confidence deal with the NDP last year, which calls for federal dental care coverage for middle- and low-income families.The new insurance program is expected to be announced before the end of the year, though claims may not be accepted until 2024.The dentists say they’ve raised their questions with federal officials, but do not feel they’ve been heard and aren’t able to answer their patients’ questions about the anticipated program.The health minister did not immediately respond to a request for comme...

Movie Review: Video game-to-horror flick ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ misfires badly

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:23:28 GMT

Just in time for Halloween comes “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” a video game adaptation with the potential treat of demented Chuck E. Cheese-like animatronic creatures running amok. But the trick turns out to be on us.The movie — built from developer Scott Cawthon’s video game about anthropomorphic robots killing people — poorly fits into this vehicle and the problems start with the creatures themselves.Yes, they have unsettling bright eyes and teeth. But, c’mon, one wears a bow tie, like a guest on PBS. They’re more threadbare than eerie. Yes, they stomp around like The Terminator but one is a chubby chicken with the slogan “Let’s Eat.” They look about as scary as overgrown Care Bears with a drinking problem. One is, we’re not kidding, a cupcake.Caught between PG and R, as well as lost at the crossroads of inadvertent comedy and horror, the PG-13 “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has to go down as one of the poorest films in any genre this year. Like the video game, our hero here i...