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Croatia won’t import Ukrainian grain, says prime minister

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said his country will not import Ukrainian grain and did not rule out a ban on such imports in line with Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.“Croatia’s stance and desire is that we are a transit country, not a country receiving enormous amounts of Ukrainian grain that is cheaper than ours, which would mean our farmers are in trouble,” Croatian national broadcaster HINA quoted Plenković as saying. Kyiv launched legal action on Monday against the three European Union countries at the World Trade Organization, over their refusal to drop a ban on Ukrainian agricultural products.Poland, Hungary and Slovakia implemented unilateral bans to protect their domestic agricultural industries from a surge in cheap grain exports from Ukraine, defying the European Commission, which last Friday decided to allow Ukrainian grain sales across the EU.When asked whether Croatia would implement a similar ban, Plenković would not say, but reiterated that ...

After two years in detention, a Chinese #MeToo journalist and a labor activist face trial this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — After two years in detention, a Chinese journalist active in the #MeToo movement will go on trial this week, along with a labor rights activist who was detained with her in 2021, one of their supporters said.China often silences activists by holding them incommunicado for a long time and then sentencing them to prison. A pretrial hearing was held on Tuesday and a trial set for Friday in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the supporter said, citing a family member. The supporter requested anonymity out of fear of government retaliation.Huang Xueqin, an independent journalist, helped spark China’s first #MeToo case in 2018 when she helped a graduate student go public with accusations against her Ph.D. supervisor. The other activist, Wang Jianbing, is more known for his labor rights activity but also helped women report sexual harassment.It’s not clear what got them into trouble with authorities. Both have been charged with subversion of state power, their sup...

YouTube suspends Russell Brand from making money off the streaming site after sex assault claims

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

LONDON (AP) — YouTube said Tuesday that Russell Brand will no longer make money from the video streaming site after several women made allegations of sexual assault against the comedian-turned-influencer.YouTube said monetization of Brand’s account, which has 6.6 million subscribers, has been suspended “following serious allegations against the creator.”“This decision applies to all channels that may be owned or operated by Russell Brand,” the Google-owned video service said.Brand, 48, denies allegations of sexual assault made by four women in a Channel 4 television documentary and The Times and Sunday Times newspapers. The accusers, who have not been named, include one who said she was sexually assaulted during a relationship with him when she was 16. Another woman says Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012.The four allegations date from between 2006 and 2013. London’s Metropolitan Police force said that since those claims were made public it had received a report of a...

Turkey’s Erdogan says he trusts Russia as much as he trusts the West

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he trusts Russia as much he trusts the West. Explaining his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Erdogan said he had failed to get him to resume the Black Sea grain deal the Kremlin withdrew from in July but had elicited a pledge for Russia to supply 1 million tons of grain to Africa.“I have no reason not to trust them,” Erdogan said during an interview late Monday with U.S. broadcaster PBS in New York, where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly.“To the extent the West is reliable, Russia is equally reliable. For the last 50 years, we have been waiting at the doorstep of the EU and, at this moment in time, I trust Russia just as much as I trust the West.”Ankara has maintained close ties with both Russia and Ukraine during the 19-month war. In July last year, Turkey and the U.N. engineered a deal to allow Ukrainian grain to be safely shipped from its Black Sea ports, helping alleviate a global food...

Australian wildfire danger causes fire ban in Sydney and closes schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — Sydney experienced its first total fire ban in almost three years on Tuesday and several schools along the New South Wales state coast to the south were closed because of a heightened wildfire danger, caused by unusually hot and dry conditions across southeast Australia.Authorities have forecast the most destructive wildfire season during the approaching Southern Hemisphere summer in Australia’s populous southeast since the catastrophic Black Summer fires of 2019-20 that killed 33 people, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and razed 19 million hectares (47 million acres).A total fire ban has been declared for the Greater Sydney area and the coastal communities to the south. It is the first such declaration for Sydney, Australia’s most populous city after Melbourne, since late November 2020.Sydney matched its September maximum temperature record of 34.6 degrees Celsius (94.3 degrees Fahrenheit ) on Tuesday. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology described it as an unusually ...

Germany bans neo-Nazi group with links to US, conducts raids in 10 German states

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Tuesday banned the neo-Nazi group Hammerskins Germany and raided homes of dozens of its members. The group is an offshoot of an American ring-wing extremist group and plays a prominent role across Europe.The Hammerskins Germany is an offshoot of the Hammerskins Nation founded in the United States in 1988, according to the interior ministry.It plays a prominent role in the right-wing extremist scene in Europe. Worldwide, members of this association refer to themselves as “brothers” and see themselves as an elite “brotherhood” practicing their subcultural way of life. The group also sees itself as the elite of the right-wing extremist skinhead scene, according to the ministry.“The ban of the Hammerskins Germany is a hard blow against organized right-wing extremism,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, adding that the ban included the association’s regional chapters and its sub-organization Crew 38.“With this ban, we are putting an en...

Border management: EU signs Frontex Status Agreement with Albania

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

On 15 September, the European Union and Albania signed a new agreement on operational cooperation in border management with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The agreement was signed by representatives of the Council, the Commission, and the Albanian government.The agreement is a deliverable of the EU Action Plan on the Western Balkans. Strengthened operational co-operation between Western Balkan partners and Frontex will contribute to addressing irregular migration and cross border crime and further enhance security at the EU's external borders. The new agreement will update the previous status agreement from 2019 by also allowing the deployment of Frontex Standing Corps officers at the borders between Albania and neighbouring Western Balkan partners. After the signature, the agreement may be applied provisionally, upon agreement of the Albanian Parliament. The final conclusion of the agreement is subject to the consent of the European Parliament and a Council d...

Campaign exhibition for UK to re-join EU to be held in Parliament

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

A new exhibition will be held in the European Parliament this week as part of an ongoing campaign for the UK to re-join the EU.The “Our Star” exhibition takes place in the balcony area of the parliament’s Spinelli building from 19 to 21 September.The exhibition consists of two elements: ‘Our Star’ is a 2m tall large-scale symbolic sculpture, or talisman, that is said to symbolize the UK’s desire to find its future place in Europe.It was made by the German sculptor and illustrator, Jacques Tilly and named ‘the UK’s Star of European Unity and Peace’.It is being exhibited in the Parliament at the launch of a UK-based campaign called ‘Choosing our Future’, and the exhibition also includes discussion events to examine relevant topics.The 2nd element is called “Remaining Memories, a photographic exhibition that recalls the protest marches and events held against Brexit in the UK by ‘grassroots’ pro-Union movements during the last seven years.The images were selected from an extensive phot...

Single family residence sells in San Jose for $1.9 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

2295 Gunar Drive – Google Street ViewA 2,306-square-foot house built in 1966 has changed hands. The spacious property located in the 2200 block of Gunar Drive in San Jose was sold on Aug. 17, 2023. The $1,910,000 purchase price works out to $828 per square foot. The layout of this single-story house includes three bedrooms and three baths. Inside, there is a fireplace. The property is equipped with forced air heating and a cooling system. Additionally, the home is equipped with a two-car garage, accommodating vehicles and storage needs efficiently. The property’s backyard is further enhanced by both a spa and a pool.Additional houses that have recently been sold close by include:In June 2022, a 1,903-square-foot home on Kayla Court in San Jose sold for $1,972,500, a price per square foot of $1,037. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 1,908-square-foot home on the 2300 block of Price Way in San Jose sold in December 2022, for $1,810,000, a price per square foot of $949. The hom...

India expels senior Canadian diplomat in growing row over alleged Indian role in Sikh’s killing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:10 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India dismissed allegations that its government was linked to the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada as “absurd” Tuesday, expelling a senior Canadian diplomat and accusing Canada of interfering in India’s internal affairs.It came a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described what he called credible allegations that India was connected to the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an advocate of Sikh independence from India who was gunned down on June 18 outside a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, and Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat.“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau told Parliament Monday. “In the strongest possible terms I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter.”The dueling expulsions come as relations between Canada and India are tense. Trade...