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Sanction Serbia’s Vučić or I won’t meet him, Kosovo’s president says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

GRANADA, Spain — Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani flatly refused to meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at a summit on Thursday, instead calling for the EU to first sanction Vučić. “There’s no reason to meet before sanctions are adopted towards Vučić. Sanctions first, and then we can talk about the rest,” Osmani told reporters ahead of a meeting of leaders for the European Political Community in Granada.The European Political Community, created last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, aims to promote peace — and European Council President Charles Michel said it “should play an important role in defusing conflicts” between Serbia and Kosovo as well as in the South Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan.But Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev cancelled his participation at the last minute. Meanwhile, no meeting is in sight between Kosovo and Serbia.Tensions between the two flared up again recently in the Western Balkans when a...

Suspect identified, charged with murder in Holyoke shooting that resulted in pregnant woman being shot, death of infant

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

Law enforcement have identified a man charged in connection with a shooting in Holyoke that left a pregnant woman in critical condition, whose infant child later died.Johnluis Sanchez, 30, was identified by the Hampden District Attorney’s office as one of three male suspects involved in an altercation that led to the shooting on Sargeant Street Wednesday afternoon.Authorities said during the shooting, an unrelated pregnant woman sitting in a bus nearby was struck, leaving her in critical condition. According to officials, her infant later passed away after being delivered and needing life-saving medical care.The DA’s office said all suspects involved had since been identified, with one taken to a hospital, while another was brought into custody.In an update Thursday morning, the office said that Sanchez was to be arraigned in Holyoke District Court and that he would be charged with murder, with other charges expected.Details on the two other male suspects involved in the...

4 doctors were gunned down on a Rio beach and there are suspicions of a political motive

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Four doctors were shot — three of them fatally — beside a beach in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of Thursday in what may have been a politically motivated execution. Security camera footage obtained by local newspaper O Globo showed a group of black-clad gunmen emerging from a car and running up to the men’s beachside table in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood and opening fire. Local press reported that the men were in town from Sao Paulo for an international orthopedics conference and that the dead men included the brother of federal lawmaker Sâmia Bomfim. The fourth doctor was wounded and brought to a hospital, according to a statement from Rio’s military police. Brazilian Justice Minister Flávio Dino said he was tasking the Federal Police with joining the investigation in light of the hypothesis it may have been motivated by the actions of federal lawmakers. Bomfim is married to another lawmaker, Glauber Braga.“After thes...

Champagne to announce initial commitments from grocers to stabilize prices today

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

OTTAWA — Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says he is ready to announce the initial commitments he has secured from grocers to stabilize food prices.The Liberal government last month called on Canada’s major grocers to present a plan to stabilize prices by Thanksgiving, or face consequences.Champagne told a conference hosted by the Competition Bureau in Ottawa that the announcement is coming later today.He is scheduled to hold a news conference alongside Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Housing Minister Sean Fraser this afternoon.Grocery prices in August rose 6.9 per cent from a year ago, while the overall inflation rate was four per cent.The Liberals are also pursuing changes to the Competition Act, which Champagne is calling a first step toward modernizing the law.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2023.The Canadian Press

Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood talk working with the Carters for Habitat for Humanity and new music

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two days into Habitat for Humanity’s annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Week Project, hosted by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, and the country legends were feeling the burn.“Well, we’re sore,” Yearwood said, laughing. “We’re all here for the same reason, which is to help everybody have a roof over their head. So, it’s a great cause. It’s a great experience.”This year, the project is held at a large-scale affordable housing neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. Construction began on Sunday, coincidentally marking Jimmy Carter’s 99th birthday. It was celebrated with a “Happy Birthday” sing-along for the former president currently in hospice care at home.“You learn several things” when working alongside the Carters,” Yearwood said. “You learn that you better be working all the time — if you look like you’re standing there idle, President Carter will ask you if you need a job, if you need something to do.̶...

Meta and X questioned by lawmakers over lack of rules against AI-generated political deepfakes

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

Deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence are having their moment this year, at least when it comes to making it look, or sound, like celebrities did something uncanny. Tom Hanks hawking a dental plan. Pope Francis wearing a stylish puffer jacket. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul sitting on the Capitol steps in a red bathrobe.But what happens next year ahead of a U.S. presidential election? Google was the first big tech company to say it would impose new labels on deceptive AI-generated political advertisements that could fake a candidate’s voice or actions. Now some U.S. lawmakers are calling on social media platforms X, Facebook and Instagram to explain why they aren’t doing the same. Two Democratic members of Congress sent a letter Thursday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and X CEO Linda Yaccarino expressing “serious concerns” about the emergence of AI-generated political ads on their platforms and asking each to explain any rules they’re crafting to curb the harms to free ...

Russian strike on cafe kills 49 people as Ukraine’s president urges stronger Western support

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 49 civilians were killed Thursday in a Russian rocket strike on a village store in eastern Ukraine, one of the deadliest attacks in recent months that came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a summit of around 50 European leaders in Spain to drum up support from the country’s allies.Zelenskyy denounced the attack on the store and cafe in the village of Hroza as a “demonstrably brutal Russian crime” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism.”He urged Western allies to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses, saying that “Russian terror must be stopped.”“Russia needs this and similar terrorist attacks for only one thing: to make its genocidal aggression the new norm for the whole world,” he said. “Now we are talking with European leaders, in particular, about strengthening our air defense, strengthening our soldiers, giving our country protection from terror. And we will respond to the terrorists.”Presidential chief of staf...

All Trump, all the time? Former president’s legal problems a boon to MSNBC

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — During a recent “Morning Joe” discussion of another development in the four indictments of former President Donald Trump, NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian predicted, “we are in for a real show next year.”MSNBC is not just counting on that to be true. The network is built around it.The news outlet is hyper-focused on Trump’s legal jeopardy, with a team of experts ready to dissect every ruling, every filing, every comment. The approach has seen success — even with some Republicans — with potential for more and the obvious questions of what happens when the bubble bursts.“MSNBC has pretty well-established themselves as the leading anti-Trump network, certainly of late,” said Jon Klein, a former CNN president and news analyst. “Once you’ve chosen your lane, you may as well go for it.”Certainly, the recipient of its attention has noticed.In a late September post on Truth Social, Trump complained about “one-sided and vicious coverage” on NBC News and, particularl...

India says it’s firm on Canada reducing diplomatic staff in the country but sets no deadline

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India said Thursday it has set no deadline so far but remains determined to reduce Canada’s diplomatic presence in the South Asian country amid a confrontation over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver.New Delhi has dismissed the accusations as absurd.India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters at a news conference on Thursday that the two countries are discussing “modalities on achieving” parity as to the levels of diplomatic representation. “I wouldn’t like to get into details of the conversation,” he said.Earlier this week, a Canadian official said India has told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country.Bagchi did not reply when asked whether Canada has provided credible evidence to back up its accusations but only reiterated New Delhi’s stand that it is open to look into “anything relevant and specific” that Ca...

Bangladesh gets first uranium shipment from Russia for its Moscow-built nuclear power plant

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:22:37 GMT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh on Thursday received the first uranium shipment from Russia to fuel the country’s only nuclear power plant, still under construction by Moscow. Once finished, the plant is expected to boost Bangladesh’s national grid and help the South Asian nation’s growing economy. The Rooppur power plant will produce 2,400 megawatts of electricity — powering about 15 million households — when the twin-unit facility goes fully online. The plant is being constructed by Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation. Moscow has funded the construction with a $11.38 billion loan, to be repaid over two decades, starting from 2027.Once Rooppur starts production, Bangladesh will join more than 30 countries that run nuclear power reactors. The uranium, which arrived in Bangladesh late last month, was handed over to the authorities at a ceremony in Ishwardi, where the plant is located, in the northern district of Pabna on Thursday. Bangladesh’s Pri...