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Taiwan’s Tsai says China not being ‘responsible’ with drills

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has condemned China’s military drills in the Taiwan Strait, saying Tuesday that China did not demonstrate the “responsible” behavior of a major Asian nation.China’s three-day, large-scale drills that ended Monday were retaliation for Tsai’s meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week on her tour of Taiwan’s official and unofficial allies. “As the president, I represent our country in the world, whether it’s a visit to allied countries or stopping through in the U.S. and interacting with our international friends, and not only has this been going on for years, it’s the Taiwanese people’s shared expectation,” Tsai said in a short statement. “But China used this as a pretext to start military drills, creating instability in the Taiwan Strait and region. This is not the attitude of a responsible major nation in this region.”China sees such meetings as encouraging people who formal in...

El presidente Biden firma la ley que pone fin a la emergencia nacional de covid-19

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

(CNN) — El presidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden, firmó este lunes una ley para poner fin a la emergencia nacional por el virus covid-19, según informó la Casa Blanca, en una medida que no afectará al fin de la emergencia de salud pública prevista para el 11 de mayo.Un funcionario de la Casa Blanca restó importancia al impacto del proyecto de ley, afirmando que la finalización de la emergencia “no afecta a nuestra capacidad para reducir las directrices sanitarias de forma ordenada”.El proyecto de ley para poner fin a la emergencia nacional fue aprobado por el Senado el mes pasado en una votación bipartidista 68-23 y aprobado por la Cámara a principios de este año con 11 demócratas que cruzaron las líneas del partido para votar a favor de la resolución conjunta.El Senado de Estados Unidos vota para terminar la emergencia por covid-19, tres años después de su declaración inicial“Dado que el Congreso votó a favor de poner fin a la Emergencia Nacional antes de ...

Dinero, poder, sexo: fiscal dice que madre de niños asesinados usó los tres para lograr sus fines

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

BOISE, Idaho — Una madre acusada del triple asesinato de sus dos hijos menores y de la exesposa de su nuevo marido estaba dispuesta a “quitar cualquier obstáculo en su camino para conseguir lo que quiere”, dijo un fiscal al jurado este lunes.“La acusada usó dinero, poder y sexo para conseguir lo que quería”, dijo la fiscal del condado de Fremont, Lindsey Blake. “No importaba lo que fuera”.Los fiscales acusaron a Lori Vallow Daybell y a su esposo, Chad Daybell, de múltiples cargos de conspiración, asesinato y hurto mayor con relación a la muerte de los dos hijos menores de Vallow Daybell: Joshua “JJ” Vallow, de 7 años, y su hermana mayor Tylee Ryan, quien fue vista por última vez unos días antes de cumplir 17 años en 2019. Los fiscales también acusaron a la pareja con relación a la muerte de la difunta esposa de Chad Daybell, Tammy Daybell, ocurrida en octubre de 2019.Ambos acusados se han declarado inocentes, pero están siendo juzgados por separado. Aún faltan meses para...

China hawks tell Macron: You don’t speak for Europe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

A group of China-skeptic lawmakers from around the world criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s “ill-judged remarks” on Taiwan, made in a recent interview with POLITICO.Macron’s comments “not only disregard the vital place of Taiwan in the global economy, but undermines decades-long commitment of the international community to maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait,” the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) said Monday in a statement.“It should be emphasized that the president’s words are severely out of step with the feeling across Europe’s legislatures and beyond,” read the statement, which was signed by lawmakers including 15 MPs from national legislatures in the EU — including one from Macron’s own party in France, as well as three MEPs and 13 U.K. parliamentarians.The statement notes that Macron’s remarks are particularly ill-timed, amid ongoing military exercises by the Chinese military ...

Oman’s second-largest bank pursues merger with smaller rival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oman’s second-largest bank is pursuing a potential merger with its smaller rival, potentially creating a lender with just under $20 billion in assets, according to regulatory filings made on Tuesday. The filings on the Muscat Stock Exchange show Bank Dhofar’s interest in its smaller rival, Ahli Bank. Bank Dhofar has over $11 billion in assets, while Ahli has under $8 billion. Ahli said it would study Bank Dhofar’s offer. Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank owns over a third of Oman’s Ahli Bank. Stock in Bank Dhofar rose over 3% in trading Tuesday on the Muscat Securities Market, to more than 40 cents a share. The sultanate of Oman sits on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. While a smaller oil producer than other Gulf Arab states, analysts expect Oman to use higher crude prices to bring down its budget deficits. Ratings firm Fitch noted in December that Bank Dhofar “remains highly dependent on government spending.” The A...

UN agency investigating humanitarian food theft in Ethiopia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The United Nations food relief agency is investigating the theft of food aid from lifesaving humanitarian operations in Ethiopia, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.The World Food Program’s Ethiopia director, Claude Jibidar, says in the letter that “WFP is very concerned about the large-scale sale of food in some markets” which “poses not only a reputational risk but also threatens our capacity to mobilize more resources for the needy people.”He adds that it “is therefore imperative that immediate actions be taken to curb … the misappropriation and diversion of humanitarian food” in the country.The letter is dated April 5 and addressed to humanitarian partners of WFP in Ethiopia, where drought and internal conflict have left 20 million of the country’s 120 million people reliant on aid. Jibidar asks the partner organizations to share “any information or cases of food misuse, misappropriation or diversion that you are...

Germany: ‘Uncooperative’ squirrel freed from manhole cover

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Firefighters say they have freed an “uncooperative” squirrel that was stuck in a manhole cover in western Germany — echoing a similar incident that happened in the same city four years ago.The Dortmund fire department said it was alerted to a distressed squirrel by a pedestrian Monday afternoon, after she spotted its head peering out of a hole in the road. The woman covered it with a scarf to calm it down before calling for help.A crew of firefighters who arrived at the scene carefully removed the manhole cover and tried to free the rodent.“This turned out to be quite complicated as the squirrel was uncooperative,” the fire department said.After further attempts the crew was able to extract the animal unharmed and it vanished up a nearby tree.Dortmund firefighters have some experience of saving stuck squirrels. In 2019, a similar squirrel rescue drew international attention. “It could not be determined if it was the same squirrel that had to be rescued from the same si...

Irish PM seeks to restore Northern Ireland power-sharing within coming months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, pledged on Sunday (9 April) to work with Rishi Sunak in an intensified effort to restore power-sharing government to Northern Ireland. He hopes to end the impasse in the coming months.The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has been boycotting the devolved assembly for a year, in protest at post Brexit trade rules, has announced that it will not abandon the deal made by the United Kingdom in February to reduce trade barriers.London stated that it will not negotiate any portion of the new agreement.Varadkar stated that they had put in a lot of effort over the past few months to reach an agreement on revisions, reforms and changes to the protocol. He was referring to the check on goods between Northern Ireland (and the rest of the UK) which has angered many pro British unionists."The next step now is deep engagement both with the British government as well as with the five Northern Ireland parties to try and get these institutions up and runn...

Single family residence sells for $1.6 million in San Jose

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

1585 Ferndale Drive – Google Street ViewA 1,465-square-foot house built in 1960 has changed hands. The new owners acquired the property in the 1500 block of Ferndale Drive on March 15, 2023. The property located in the 1500 block of Ferndale Drive in San Jose was sold on March 15, 2023. The $1,558,000 purchase price works out to $1,063 per square foot. The house, built in 1960, has an interior space of 1,465 square feet. The property features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, and two parking spaces. It sits on a 7,035-square-foot lot, which also has a pool.Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby:On Carter Avenue, San Jose, in September 2022, a 2,211-square-foot home was sold for $1,730,000, a price per square foot of $782. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.In February 2023, a 1,420-square-foot home on Joseph Lane in San Jose sold for $1,530,000, a price per square foot of $1,077. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.A 1,211-square-foot home on the 1500 ...

Macron visits Netherlands after Taiwan comments make waves

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:17:17 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron begins a two-day state visit to the Netherlands on Tuesday and is making a speech on his vision for the future of Europe.The speech Tuesday afternoon at a theater in The Hague comes after Macron raised eyebrows with comments on Taiwan after his recent visit to China.“The question we need to answer, as Europeans, is the following: Is it in our interest to accelerate (a crisis) on Taiwan? No,” Macron was quoted as saying in an interview published Sunday in French newspaper Les Echos and Politico Europe. “The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”The remarks raised questions about whether Macron’s views are in line with the European Union’s position and whether the bloc of 27 is able to become the “third superpower” that Macron says he hopes to build within “a few years.”The interview was Friday, before China launched large-sc...