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Morocco’s African Cup qualifier postponed in wake of deadly earthquake

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

AGADIR, Morocco (AP) — Morocco’s qualifying game for the African Cup of Nations was postponed on Saturday in the wake of the earthquake that struck the country, killing more than 1,000 people.Morocco had been scheduled to play Liberia in Agadir on the country’s western coast, but the Moroccan soccer federation said the game had been postponed indefinitely after an agreement with the Confederation of African Football.The earthquake that struck late Friday night also damaged buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech.Agadir is roughly 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of the epicenter of Friday’s tremor near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province.The Gambian national team was in Marrakech during the earthquake ahead of a decisive qualifying game against Congo on Sunday. Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet told BBC World Service that he initially thought an airplane had crashed into the team’s hotel.“It seems it was only 30 seconds but ...

Japan foreign minister and business leaders meet Ukrainian leader and vow support for reconstruction

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday during his visit in Kyiv, promising Tokyo’s backing and agreeing to start negotiations on security cooperation between the two countries.Hayashi, who had been on a tour of the Middle East and Poland earlier this week, made an unannounced visit to Ukraine and visited Bucha, one of the hardest-hit towns on the outskirts of Kyiv, before holding talks with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.Hayashi told Zelenskyy that Japan was ready to start negotiations on security cooperation based on an agreement between the Group of Seven and Ukraine made during the NATO summit in July. Zelenskyy thanked for Japan’s humanitarian and financial assistance that helped Ukraine through the winter as well as overcome problems in the energy supply due to Russian attacks, according to a statement from the office of the Ukrainian president. Hayashi also told Zelenskyy that Japan was committed to ...

Dutch police cleared out climate protesters blocking a highway over fossil fuel subsidies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Several thousand climate activists blocked a Dutch highway on Saturday in anger at billions of euros in government subsidies for industries that use oil, coal and gas — before police dispersed them with water cannons.A report earlier this week detailed 37.5 billion euros ($40.5 billion) in such subsidies in the Netherlands, notably related to the shipping industry, prompting calls for a quick halt to the practice. The protesters — from Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and other organizations — broke through a police barrier Saturday morning and sat on a main road in The Hague heading to the temporary venue for the lower house of parliament.They threatened to stay until the subsidies are lifted, and to come back every day if the police remove them. “This is much larger than any one of us. This concerns the whole world,” activist Yolanda de Jager said.The activists brandished signs with sayings like “Fossil Fuel Subsidies are Not Cool,” and warned that th...

NATO member Romania finds new drones fragments on its territory from war in neighboring Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — NATO member Romania found new drone fragments on its territory Saturday near the border with war-torn Ukraine, which the Ministry of National Defense said are “similar to those used by the Russian army.” It was the second such discovery in Romania this week.Romanian President Klaus Iohannis responded Saturday by saying in a statement that the findings indicate there has been “an absolutely unacceptable violation of the sovereign airspace of Romania, a NATO ally, with real risks to the security of Romanian citizens in the area.”Iohannis added that he had a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to inform the Alliance leader of the new finding of the drone pieces. It was unclear if Romanian authorities had determined when or from where the drone was launched.The defense ministry said that the fragments were found approximately two and a half kilometers (1.5 miles) southeast of the Romanian village of Plauru, which is situated on t...

G20 agreement reflects sharp differences over Ukraine and a rising clout of Global South

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Group of 20 top world economies added the African Union as a member at their annual summit Saturday, and host India was able to get the disparate group to sign off on a final statement, but only after softening language on the contentious issue of Russia’s war in Ukraine. In the months leading up to the leaders’ summit in New Delhi, India had been unable to find agreement on the wording about Ukraine, with Russia and China objecting even to language that they had agreed to last year at the G20 summit in Bali. The final statement, released a day before the formal close of the summit, highlighted the “human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine,” but did not mention Russia’s invasion. It cited the U.N. charter, saying “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state. The use or threat of use o...

Paris strips Palestinian leader Abbas of special honor for remarks on Holocaust

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Paris has rescinded a special honor it bestowed on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas because of his recent antisemitic comments minimizing the Holocaust.Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo published a letter Friday saying that “your remarks run counter to universal values and the historical truth of the Holocaust.”Noting that tens of thousands of Jews were rounded up in Paris under the Nazi occupation and deported to death camps, Hidalgo said, “We condemn your comments with the utmost firmness. No cause can justify revisionism and negationism.”Hidalgo awarded Abbas the city’s highest honor, the Grand Bronze of Paris, in 2015 for his efforts toward peace in the Middle East and a two-state solution.In a speech last month to senior members of his Fatah movement, Abbas said that Adolf Hitler killed European Jews not because of antisemitism, but because of their “social functions” in society, such as money lending.The United States, Germany and the European Union condemned his commen...

Rescue begins of ailing US researcher stuck 3,000 feet inside a Turkish cave, Turkish officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

Rescue teams began the arduous process Saturday of extricating an American researcher who became seriously ill while he was 1,000 meters (3,000 feet) below the entrance of a cave in Turkey, an official from Turkey’s disaster management agency said.It could take days to bring Mark Dickey to the surface since rescuers anticipate he will have to stop and rest frequently at camps set up along the way as they pull his stretcher through the narrow passages.“This afternoon, the operation to move him from his camp at 1040 meters to the camp at 700 meters began,” the official from the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate told The Associated Press.The 40-year-old experienced caver began vomiting because of stomach bleeding while on an expedition with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains.Teams of rescuers from across Europe have rushed to Dickey’s aid. A Hungarian doctor reached and treated him inside the cave on Sept. 3. Doctors and rescuers hav...

Minister urges Canadians in Morocco to contact Global Affairs after devastating quake

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has urged Canadians in Morocco to register with Global Affairs Canada after a deadly earthquake struck the country late Friday night.In a tweet this morning, Joly says Canada’s thoughts are with all of those affected by the devastating quake.She says Canadians in Morocco who need help should contact the federal Emergency Watch and Response Centre, which can provide emergency consular assistance.Global Affairs Canada says it is working on an update about how many Canadians were in Morocco at the time of the disaster.The rare, powerful earthquake has killed more than 1,000 people and injured about 1,200 people, but those numbers are expected to climb.The 6.8-magnitude quake is the biggest to hit the North African country in 120 years.— With files from The Associated PressThis report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2023.The Canadian Press<!– Photo: 20230909110916-64fc8c7252f05d0e00b312dbjpeg.jpg, Capt...

G20 countries agree to increase clean energy but reach no deal on phasing out fossil fuels

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — G20 leaders agreed Saturday to triple renewable energy and try to increase the funds for climate change-related disasters but maintained the status quo with regards to phasing out carbon spewing coal. At a news conference shortly after the leaders of the Group of 20 of the world’s biggest economies — which also emit 80% of all planet-warming gases — announced the agreement, Amitabh Kant, a senior Indian government official leading some of the G20 negotiations, called it “probably the most vibrant, dynamic and ambitious document on climate action.”While most climate and energy experts were not as ebullient, they agreed that the G20 leaders had put out a strong message on climate action, even as the world is seeing increasingly frequent natural disasters such as extreme heat.Even at the last meeting of the G20 climate ministers before the summit, disagreements had remained. Global leaders and climate experts say the declaration had largely taken the conversation...

Biden gives Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed a hearty handshake a year after an awkward fist bump moment

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:33 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Saudi crown prince once vilified by President Joe Biden has been elevated from a fist bump to a hearty handshake.Biden warmly greeted Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman, after they appeared together along with several other leaders at the Group of 20 summit Saturday in New Delhi. The leaders had gathered to announce an ambitious plan to build a rail and shipping corridor linking India with the Middle East and Europe. Biden smiled and shook hands with the crown prince, who is often referred to by his initials MBS, as the announcement wrapped up. This year’s G20 host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mod i, quickly draped his own hand over their hands.The cordial greeting was a sharp contrast to the last time Biden and the crown prince met, just over a year ago, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. During that encounter, Biden awkwardly greeted the crown prince with a fist bump, a moment roundly criticized by human rights activists, who were already...