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Algerian leader on a state visit to China to pump up economic ties and lock in support to join BRICS

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune began a state visit to China on Monday, with both economic and diplomatic priorities as the North African nation looks to become less gas-dependent and raise its global profile.The visit follows Tebboune’s trip last month to Russia, a long-time partner and military provider, although Algeria has remained officially neutral in Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Tebboune spent two days in Qatar before landing in Beijing on Monday. A large delegation accompanied Tebboune to China, reflecting a drive for deeper cooperation beyond the economy. Tebboune is also looking for concrete support for Algerian membership in BRICS, an economic bloc that includes both China and Russia as well as Brazil, India and South Africa, which is hosting a summit next month. The collective was founded in 2009 when the member countries were seen as the potential engine for future global economic growth.BRICS membership has become a diplomatic priority...

Wholesale sales excluding petroleum products and oilseeds and grains up in May

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grains, rose 3.5 per cent to $83.6 billion in May. The agency says it was the largest monthly increase since November 2021 as sales were up in four of the seven subsectors that it tracks.Sales in the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector rose 5.6 per cent to $18.9 billion in May, while the miscellaneous subsector climbed 8.8 per cent to $11.3 billion.The motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories subsector gained 7.1 per cent at $13.7 billion.Constant dollar sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grains, were up 3.3 per cent in May.Statistics Canada began including the oilseed and grain industry group as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade earlier this year, but is excluding the data from its monthly analysis until historical da...

The bridge to Crimea is key to supplying Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and to asserting its control

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

The bridge connecting Russia-annexed Crimea and Russia carries heavy significance for Moscow both logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for Russian military and civilian supplies bound for Crimea and as an assertion of Russia’s control of the peninsula.An explosion that hit the bridge before dawn on Monday, killing a couple and seriously injuring their daughter, left a span of the roadway hanging perilously. The damage initially appeared to be less severe than that caused by a blast in October, but highlighted the bridge’s vulnerability. Russia blamed Ukraine for both Monday’s blast and the October explosion. A spokesman for the Ukrainian Security Service on Monday did not directly acknowledge responsibility but said the service would reveal details about organizing the blast once Ukraine achieves victory in the war.A CRITICAL CONNECTIONThe Crimean peninsula extends south from Ukraine’s mainland, with road connections on two isthmuses, one of which is less that two kilom...

Hong Kong schools and stock market are closed as Typhoon Talim sweeps toward China

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Schools and the stock market were closed in Hong Kong on Monday as Typhoon Talim sideswiped the city and headed toward the Chinese mainland and the island province of Hainan. Safety alerts were issued for residents and tourists who flock to the region’s beaches during the summer, urging them to stay in safe places away from possible floods or landslides. State broadcaster CCTV showed typhoon-swept winds and waves hitting an oil platform about 200 kilometers (125 miles) offshore. More than 9,800 workers have been evacuated from such facilities as of noon on Monday, CCTV said.In Macao, across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong, schools suspended classes and public transport was shut down, CCTV said.In a sign of the typhoon’s power and range, residents outside the city of Fuzhou in Fujian province to the north were trapped in high waters as heavy rain fell, CCTV reported. About 1,000 villagers were affected and more than 50 needed to be evacuated, it said.As ...

Baa-gain? Iconic sheep sweater worn by Princess Diana could fetch $50,000 at auction

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A red sweater adorned with a flock of sheep worn by the young Princess Diana is expected to sell for more than $50,000 at auction.The playfully patterned wool jumper featuring a single black sheep amid a pattern of white ones headlines Sotheby’s online Fashion Icons sale in September.The 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer was photographed in the garment at a polo match in June 1981, soon after her engagement to Prince Charles, who was then heir to the British throne.Diana was already becoming a style icon —- and one of the world’s most photographed women — and the moment gave a big boost to designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, who made the sweater for their small knitwear label Warm & Wonderful.A few weeks later, Muir and Osborne received an official letter from Buckingham Palace explaining that Diana had damaged the sweater and asking whether it could be repaired or replaced. The original was returned, showing damage to a sleeve the designers thought might have be...

Japan’s prime minister visits the UAE as part of a Gulf trip focused on energy and commerce

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the United Arab Emirates on Monday as part of a swing through the Arab Gulf states focused on energy and commerce.He met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the president of the UAE, which will be hosting the COP28 U.N. climate summit later this year. Kishida visited Saudi Arabia over the weekend, where he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two launched a joint initiative aimed at promoting clean energy. He will visit gas-rich Qatar on Tuesday.Japan is the fifth-largest oil consumer in the world and relies on imports to meet around 97% of its demand. It imports more than 75% of its crude oil from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.The Associated Press

A Russian warplane on a training mission crashes into the Sea of Azov, but the pilot survives

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian warplane crashed into the sea on Monday during a training mission in southern Russia and its pilot bailed out to safety, Russian authorities said. The regional administration of the Krasnodar region said that the Su-25 ground attack jet crashed into the Sea of Azov. It said that pilot ejected and was evacuated by emergency teams.Russian media carried a video of the plane falling into the sea just off a crowded beach on the Yeysk Spit.The Su-25 is a twin-engine ground attack aircraft that has been in service with the Soviet and Russian air forces since 1980s. It has been used extensively during Russia’s action in Ukraine.The Russian air force has suffered a string of crashes that some observers have attributed to a higher number of flights amid the fighting in Ukraine.The Associated Press

2 die when their dirt bike collides with SUV; neither was wearing a helmet

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

WAREHAM, Mass. (AP) — Two people died over the weekend when the dirt bike they were riding collided with an SUV near a shopping plaza in Massachusetts, authorities said.The victims of the crash in Wareham just before 11 p.m. Saturday were identified as Robert Stocker, 17, of Woburn, and Brady Petrucci, 20, of Raynham, according to a statement Sunday from the Plymouth district attorney’s office.Emergency responders found them unresponsive in the road with serious injuries. They were taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.Neither victim was wearing a helmet, and the dirt bike did not have lights, according to the statement.The preliminary investigation indicates that the SUV was taking a left turn when the dirt bike crashed into it. The driver of the SUV stayed at the scene.Stocker was a student at Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School in Wakefield, the principal said in a statement.“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Robert, a beloved student a...

Advocates call for resignation of city’s GM of shelter support and housing

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

Nearly two dozen prominent advocates have issued an open letter, calling for the immediate resignation of the general manager of the City of Toronto’s Shelter Support and Housing Administration (SSHA).The advocates are calling on Mayor Olivia Chow to fire general manager Gord Tanner if he does not resign.This comes after a group of asylum seekers have been forced to sleep on a downtown sidewalk outside the city’s shelter intake office at 128 Peter St.The group says it is speaking out as a result of the refugee housing crisis and mismanagement of the shelter system.It says the city’s denial of shelter to refugees is a direct violation of Toronto’s Sanctuary City police and it “perpetuates a zenophobic narrative.”“Tanner claims he wants to work in partnership and move forward with the community. The only way we can consider moving forward with SSHA is if he is gone,” Greg Cook, an activist and a frontline worker at Sanctuary, says in the lette...

‘Heal Me with Your Mouth. The Art of Kissing.’ An old book sparks a new controversy in the Vatican

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:24:00 GMT

LA PLATA, Argentina (AP) — Three decades ago, when he was a parish priest in Argentina, the man named by Pope Francis to be the Catholic Church’s new guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy wrote a short book about kissing and the sensations it evokes.Some conservative sectors in the church are using the reflections in “Heal Me with Your Mouth. The Art of Kissing” to criticize the designation of Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández to lead the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a body once known as the Holy Office that for centuries was responsible for persecuting heretics, disciplining dissidents and enforcing sexual morality.“These are ultra-conservative sectors that deeply hate the Argentine pontiff (Francis),” Fernández, the archbishop of La Plata, a city 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Buenos Aires, told The Associated Press.“They take a phrase from the book and say: ‘Look at the level of this theologian. How can a person who uses these expressions be the prefect of the...