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Japan, China leaders begin visits to rivals in Ukraine war

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Kyiv for a surprise visit shortly after noon Tuesday, hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in neighboring Russia for a three-day trip. Moscow’s invasion will be in the spotlight at both meetings. Footage shown on Japanese national broadcaster NHK showed Kishida walking on the platform of a train station, escorted by a few people who appeared to be Ukrainian officials.It was uncertain whether either meeting would change the course of the almost 13-month war in Ukraine, but the talks about 800 kilometers (500 miles) apart highlighted the war’s repercussions for international diplomacy as countries line up behind rival parties. They came after a week in which China and Japan both enjoyed diplomatic successes that have emboldened their foreign policy.Kishida will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, coinciding with Xi’s talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.Kishi...

With crowded jails, North Macedonia adopts pandemic amnesty

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s parliament has adopted a legislative amendment to pardon people facing imprisonment for violating COVID-19 safety rules.Lawmakers late Monday voted 76-1 in favor of the amnesty which will affect more than 200 people currently facing trial as well as more than 90 people reportedly serving prison sentences.North Macedonia had one of the highest fatality rates in the world from the coronavirus, in part due to late access to vaccines. It imposed strict penalties for safety violations, on charges of facilitating the transmission of an infectious disease and failure to comply with health regulations during a pandemic.According to the court data, 1,223 people were fined up to 2,000 euros ($2,140) for violating pandemic protocols, and 205 of them were facing jail time for failing to pay the fine.The amnesty, which applies to citizens and not legal entities, will allow those already serving prison sentences to apply for immediate release.The a...

UN: Months after Pakistan floods, millions lack safe water

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Nations children’s agency on Tuesday warned that after last summer’s devastating floods, 10 million people in Pakistan, including children, still live in flood-affected areas without access to safe drinking water. The statement from UNICEF underscored the dire situation in impoverished Pakistan, a country with a population of 220 million that months later is still struggling with the consequences of the flooding, as well as a spiraling economic crisis. The floods, which experts attribute in part to climate change, killed 1,739 people, including 647 children and 353 women. So far, less than half of UNICEF’s funding appeal for Pakistan — 45% of $173.5 million — has been met. According to the agency, before the floods struck last June, water from only 36% of Pakistan’s water system was considered safe for human consumption. The floods damaged most of the water pipelines systems in affected areas, forcing more than 5.4 million people, including 2....

Cyprus court: Briton freely confessed to wife’s killing

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

PAPHOS, Cyprus (AP) — A Cyprus court on Tuesday rejected a defense argument that a British man’s confession to killing his ailing wife was unlawfully obtained, because he was in no frame of mind at the time to speak to police without a lawyer present.David Hunter, 75, made the statements to law enforcement officials and medical staff on five separate occasions following his arrest “undoubtedly of his own free will” without pressure or coercion, the three-judge panel said in a unanimous ruling.The court said it couldn’t accept testimony from a defense expert that Hunter suffered from “disassociation” following his wife Janice’s December 2021 killing at the couple’s retirement home in the coastal resort town of Paphos and wasn’t fully cognizant of what he was saying.The court said that Hunter couldn’t have suffered from disassociation. At the time of his arrest, he recalled to law enforcement officials and to his brother back in the U.K. in detail how he strangled hi...

Early morning drive-by shooting in Mississauga leaves 2 injured

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

Two people are in hospital with injuries after an early morning drive-by shooting in Mississauga.Police responded to a shooting around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday on Ettridge Court, in the area of Cawthra and Lakeshore roads.Investigators say the two victims were getting out of a vehicle when the suspect, or suspects, opened fire from another vehicle.The victims were taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.No suspect descriptions have been made available.

US tells China a Taiwan president stopover is ‘nothing new’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is putting out the word that an expected stopover in the United States by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen would fall in line with recent precedent and should not be used as a pretext by China to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait.In recent weeks, senior U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing have underscored to their Chinese counterparts that transit visits through the United States during broader international travel by the Taiwanese president have been routine in recent years, according to a senior administration official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.In such unofficial visits in recent years, Tsai has met with members of Congress and the Taiwanese diaspora and has been welcomed by the chairperson of the American Institute in Taiwan, the U.S. government-run nonprofit that carries out unofficial relations with Taiwan. The official added that the anticipated stopover is “noth...

Spanish govt faces confidence vote brought by far right

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s parliament on Tuesday debated a confidence vote brought by the nation’s far-right Vox party against the governing left-wing coalition that has little chance of succeeding.No other party in the 348-member lower chamber in Madrid has said it will support the attempt by Vox’s 52 lawmakers to topple the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez when the vote is held on Wednesday.In a move that has been widely panned by other political parties and Spanish media, Vox leader Santiago Abascal has broken with custom and is not presenting himself as an alternative prime minister. Instead, in an attempt to lure votes from centrist and leftist legislators, Vox convinced a former communist party member and university professor to lead the no-confidence measure. Ramón Tamames, 89, who was a lawmaker in the 1970s-80s, has pledged that if the vote were to prosper, his only act as prime minister would be to immediately call for national elections to coincid...

Trump legal woes force another moment of choosing for Republicans

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — From the moment he rode down the Trump Tower escalator to announce his first presidential campaign, a searing question has hung over the Republican Party: Is this the moment to break from Donald Trump?Elected Republicans have wavered at times — whether it was Trump's condemnation of John McCain's war record, his racist attack against a Mexican-American judge, his sexually predatory language caught on video, his alleged extramarital affairs, his decision to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence, his promotion of false allegations of election fraud and his incitement of a violent mob that threatened the lives of lawmakers in both parties. NYC preparing for protests ahead of possible Trump indictment But after almost eight years of near-constant scandal, Republicans have ultimately rallied behind Trump over and over and over again.Now, on the eve of a new presidential campaign season, that loyalty is being tested anew as Trump prepares...

Is it illegal to drive with a flat tire in Illinois?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Hypothetically, if you get a flat tire and you're only a mile away from the nearest service station — and you don't have a spare tire — do you call a tow truck? Or drive on the flat?According to Illinois law, you call the tow truck. It is illegal in the state to drive on a flat tire, which is considered unsafe.According to the Illinois Vehicle Code (625 ILCS 5/12-405), "No person or organization shall place, drive or move, or cause or allow to be placed, driven or moved, on a highway of this State, any vehicle equipped with one or more pneumatic tires deemed to be unsafe." Can I buy weed off the street in Illinois? However, there are exceptions, but those are in effect only if the vehicle is being transported "not under its own power," such as being towed, pushed "or otherwise transferred" to a repair, relocation, storage, salvage, junking, or another collection site.Illinois law considers a tire unsafe if the tread or sidewall is cracked; if there is a bul...

NY grand jury appears near end of its work in Trump case

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:25:15 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York grand jury investigating Donald Trump over a hush money payment to a porn star appears poised to complete its work soon as law enforcement officials make preparations for possible unrest in the event of an indictment.Trump over the weekend claimed without any evidence that he would be arrested on Tuesday, with his representatives later saying he was citing media reports and leaks. There was no indication that prediction would come true, though the grand jury appeared to take an important step forward by hearing Monday from a witness favorable to Trump, presumably so prosecutors could ensure the panel had a chance to consider any testimony that could be remotely seen as exculpatory. NYC preparing for protests ahead of possible Trump indictment The next steps in a grand jury process shrouded in secrecy remained unclear, and it was uncertain if additional witnesses might be summoned. But a city mindful of the riot by Trump loyalists at the U.S. Capitol more...