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Regional election in north German state of Bremen a test for center-left alliance

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Voters are going to the polls in Germany’s northern state of Bremen on Sunday to decide whether the center-left Social Democrats should continue to run a city they’ve governed since World War II.The party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz came second behind its conservative rivals for the first time in 70 years at the last election, but retained power with the help of the Greens and Left party.While recent polls show greater support for the Social Democrats than their challengers from the Christian Democratic Union, both of Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte’s junior coalition partners have lost ground.The Greens, in particular, have suffered setbacks due to criticism of their energy policies at the national level, where they are in a coalition with the Social Democrats and the libertarian Free Democrats.Almost 500,000 voters aged 16 and older in Bremen and its North Sea exclave, Bremerhaven, are eligible to cast their ballots. Polls close at 6 p.m. (1600GMT; 12 EDT), after whic...

Cease-fire between Israel and militants in Gaza appears to hold after days of fighting

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A fragile cease-fire between Israeli forces and militants in the Gaza Strip appeared to be holding on Sunday, after a five-day clash that killed 33 Palestinians and two people in Israel.The latest round of Gaza fighting was sparked Tuesday when Israeli jets killed three top commanders from the Islamic Jihad militant group in response to earlier rocket launches from Gaza. Those killings set off a barrage of militant fire and the conflagration threatened to drag the region into another all-out war until an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire took hold late Saturday.While the calm appeared to bring a sense of relief to Gaza’s 2 million people and hundreds of thousands of Israelis who had been largely confined to bomb shelters in recent days, the agreement did nothing to address the underlying issues that have fueled numerous rounds of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip over the years. In Gaza, residents surveyed the lat...

Large fight breaks out, police respond to political party’s Minneapolis city council campaign event

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A brawl broke out at a political party’s campaign event for Minneapolis City Council candidates Saturday, resulting in a call to police and injuries following the fight sparked by loud disagreements over nominations.At least one person was transported to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and another was treated at the scene of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party’s endorsing convention for Minneapolis Ward 10, the Star Tribune reported.Officers made no arrests at the Ella Baker Global Studies & Humanities Magnet School, Minneapolis police spokesman Brian Feintech told the Star Tribune.Video posted on social media showed the disturbance begin after supporters of Minneapolis Council Member Aisha Chughtai took the stage, which caused an uproar among supporters of her challenger, Nasri Warsame.Some Warsame supporters jumped on stage, shouting, banging on tables and waving signs, the Star Tribune reported.Convention chair Sam Doten called the be...

German president welcomes Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Berlin on first visit to country since Russian invasion

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German president welcomes Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Berlin on first visit to country since Russian invasion.Source

‘In the hands of God’: One Venezuelan family’s journey to the US

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — When Luis López was lost in Panama’s Darien Gap last year with his wife, then seven months pregnant, their two young children and her grandmother, he often knelt in the mud to beg God not to abandon them.“If I was bad, let me die here, but I came with my family,” the Venezuelan asylum seeker, 34, recalled on Friday of his prayers. Now in El Paso, the family has found shelter with the Catholic diocese.But “la selva” — as many migrants call that particularly deadly stretch of their journey from South America to the United States — struck again two weeks ago. López’s sister called him in tears: She, too, had to flee and was now stuck in the jungle with their 68-year-old mother, who was badly injured from a fall trying to escape armed men.Rescued by Panama’s border police, the two women are now en route to Texas. They don’t know how they will cross into the U.S., though, as new restrictions on asylum went into effect last Thursday after pandemic-era immigrati...

Bangladesh, Myanmar brace as powerful Cyclone Mocha makes landfall

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh and Myanmar braced Sunday as a severe cyclone started to hit coastal areas and authorities urged thousands of people in both countries to seek shelter.The outermost band of Cyclone Mocha reached the coast of Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Sunday morning, and by afternoon the center of the storm was expected to make landfall near Sittwe township, which was under the highest weather alert, Myanmar’s Meteorological Department said Sunday.More than 4,000 of Sittwe’s 300,000 residents have been evacuated to other cities since Friday and more than 20,000 people are sheltering in sturdy buildings such as monasteries, pagodas and schools located on the city’s highlands, said Tin Nyein Oo, who is helping people in shelters in Sittwe. Many local residents live in areas more than 3 meters above sea level, places where residents believe the storm surge cannot reach, he added.Strong winds of 40 to 48 kilometers per hour (25 to 40 miles per hour) ...

Sherpa climbs Everest 26th time, matching record set by fellow Nepalese guide

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest on Sunday for the 26th time, matching the record set by a fellow Nepalese guide for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak.Pasang Dawa Sherpa reached the summit on Sunday morning along with a Hungarian climber, according to expedition organizer Imagine Nepal Treks.The season’s first wave of climbers reached the summit this weekend as Sherpa guides fixed ropes and made paths for the hundreds of climbers who will attempt to scale the peak over the next few weeks.Since making his first successful of climb of the peak in 1998, Dawa has made the trip almost every year.Experienced mountain guide Kami Rita earlier held the record outright for the most climbs of Mount Everest after his 26th successful trip last year. Rita is expected to attempt to climb the peak again later this month as he guides foreign climbers to the top of the world.Climbers generally reach the base camp of the mountain in April and spend weeks acc...

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Berlin to meet German leaders, discuss arms deliveries

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin on his first visit to the country since Russia invaded Ukraine.Zelenskyy’s visit Sunday comes as he seeks further arms deliveries to help his country fend off the Russian invasion, and funds to rebuild what’s been destroyed by more than a year of devastating conflict.A Luftwaffe jet flew Zelenskyy to the German capital from Rome, where he had met Saturday with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.On the eve of his arrival — which is taking place amid tight security — the German government announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.“Already in Berlin. Weapons. Powerful package. Air defense. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Security,” Zelenskyy tweeted Sunday, in an apparent reference to the key priorities of his trip.After initially hesi...

Zelenskyy in Berlin amid push for new weapons for Ukraine

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touched down in Germany Sunday morning ahead of talks to secure new Western weaponry for his country and to shore up support among European allies.“Already in Berlin,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter. “Weapons. Powerful package. Air defense. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Security,” he added in reference to his priorities for the visit, which comes on the heels of meetings in Rome on Saturday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Pope Francis.Following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, the two leaders are expected to fly to the city of Aachen, where Zelenskyy will collect the International Charlemagne Prize, awarded to him in December for the defense of “Europe and European values.”Ukraine on Saturday said it had made a series of strategic gains around the town of Bakhmut, where its forces have faced a fierce Russian onslaught for weeks. According to CNN, U.S. officials believe Kyiv is condu...

Canadian plywood makers seek duties as cheap Chinese rivals carve out half the market

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:58:34 GMT

It’s been years since Carlos Zarate and others in Canada’s decorative plywood industry started telling the federal government about a growing problem in their business. The president of the Canadian Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association warns of an industry in decline, but not due to falling demand for things like kitchen cabinets, decorative wood panels, furniture, and other non-structural wood products. Zarate, who’s also president of Industrie Ergie Inc. in Victoriaville, Que., said the association’s members have seen their market share in Canada drop because they are unable to compete with plywood products imported from China at prices domestic producers could never hope to match, let alone beat. The industry wants duties imposed on Chinese exporters, who they say enjoy unfair advantages such as heavy government subsidies and access to illegally harvested wood, flooding global markets with cheap goods that drastically undercut competitors.But they’...