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Australian war hero appeals court decision that blamed him for unlawful killings in Afghanistan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most decorated living war veteran lodged an appeal on Tuesday against a civil court ruling that blamed him for the unlawful killings of four Afghans.Ben Roberts-Smith, who retired from Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment a decade ago, lost a landmark defamation suit on June 1 against newspapers that had accused him of an array of war crimes.The Federal Court confirmed that the 44-year-old recipient of the revered Victorian Cross for gallantry in Afghanistan filed an appeal with the court on Tuesday against that ruling.Roberts-Smith had taken leave from his job as a state manager of the Seven West Media national business since 2021 to focus on the court case and quit a day after the verdict. His case has been financed by the company’s billionaire executive chair, Kerry Stokes.Roberts-Smith has been fighting to salvage his reputation through a defamation suit since Australian newspaper articles in 2018 accused him of war crimes includi...

Israelis block highways in nationwide protests of government’s plan to overhaul judiciary

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli protesters blocked highways leading to Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv at the start of countrywide demonstrations Tuesday against the government’s planned judicial overhaul that has divided the nation.The demonstrations came the morning after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition gave initial approval to a bill to limit the Supreme Court’s oversight powers, pressing forward with contentious proposed changes to the judiciary despite widespread opposition.The legislation is one of several bills proposed by Netanyahu’s ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies. The plan has provoked months of sustained protests by opponents who say it is pushing the country toward authoritarian rule.Anti-overhaul activists called for nationwide mass demonstrations throughout the day, including protests at Israel’s main international airport that could disrupt travel. On Tuesday, 300 reservists from the military’s cyber unit signed a letter saying they...

Thousands gather in Bosnia and commemorate the 1995 Srebrenica massacre anniversary

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Thousands of people from around Bosnia and abroad gathered in Srebrenica on Tuesday for the annual ritual of commemorating the 1995 massacre in the eastern town and to give a dignified burial to the victims unearthed from mass graves and only recently identified through DNA analysis.Twenty-eight years after they were brutally murdered in Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since the Holocaust, 27 men and three teenage boys will be laid to rest Tuesday at a vast and ever-expanding memorial cemetery just outside Srebrenica, joining more than 6,600 massacre victims already reburied there.Relatives of the victims can bury only partial remains of their loved ones as they are typically found scattered over several different mass graves, sometimes miles (kilometers) apart. Such was the case of Mirsda Merdzic, who will bury her father on Tuesday.“Only a very few bones of his were retrieved because he had been found (in a mass grave) near the Drina River...

Saudi Arabia deposits $2 billion in Pakistan’s central bank as a boost ahead of a key IMF meeting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Saudi Arabia has deposited $2 billion into Pakistan’s central bank, the government said Tuesday, a much-needed financial boost ahead of a critical meeting of the International Monetary Fund on the new bailout package for the cash-strapped South Asian country. In a video statement, Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the kingdom was making good on its promise to bolster Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves. The infusion is not a loan as such but will shore up the reserves and remain with Pakistan’s central bank for at least a year. The development comes on the eve of the meeting of he IMF’s executive board which is expected to approve a new and much-needed $3 billion loan to Pakistan to help the country overcome an economic crisis.Dar said that with the Saudi deposit, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves which dropped to $9.6 billion last week — barely enough to pay import bills for a month — have gone up to $11.6. “We thank the Sa...

In the news today: Trudeau at NATO summit, new announcement from ethics watchdog

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Canada lags behind allies as NATO plans to increase defence spending targetsPrime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Vilnius, Lithuania, today for the NATO leaders’ annual summit. The 31 member states are expected to make a more ambitious pledge on military spending than they have before. The target has long been for countries to spend two per cent of their GDP on defence, but now that’s expected to only be the minimum. Canada is currently spending just shy of 1.3 per cent of its economy on the military, and some experts say the time has come to signal that Canadians are more serious about meeting their obligations. Corporate ethics czar starting China labour probeOttawa’s corporate-ethics watchdog is set to announce investigations into whether Canadian companies are importing products made through human-rights violations in China.Sheri Meyerhoffer...

Rapper Lil Nas X reported to be among among scooter-riding tourists stopped in Oslo tunnel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Police in Norway’s capital briefly stopped four Americans who rode through an Oslo tunnel on electric scooters, and a Norwegian newspaper said one of them was rapper Lil Nas X. Authorities briefly closed the Festning tunnel, but none of the scooter riders were detained or charged. The tourists had followed a GPS route into the 1.8-kilometer (1.1 mile) downtown tunnel late Monday, police said. The four “used large parts of the roadway,” so a road traffic center had to shut down some lanes, police said. “They apologized. We have escorted them out,” the police department said on Twitter.Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reported Tuesday that Lil Nas X, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, was one of the four tourists. The musician is in Oslo to perform at the outdoor Slottsffell festival nearby on Wednesday.It was not the first time that a foreign tourist rode through part of a vast and busy tunnel system in the center of the Norwegian capital on an...

First Nations chiefs gather in Halifax to hear from new interim chief after ousting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

HALIFAX — Hundreds of Indigenous leaders are gathering today in Halifax for the start of the Assembly of First Nations annual general assembly, where they will hear from their new interim national chief for the first time. Joanna Bernard, a regional chief from New Brunswick, is to temporarily led the national advocacy organization after the dramatic ouster of national chief RoseAnne Archibald.Archibald was voted out during a recent special chiefs assembly held to address the findings of an investigation into staff members’ complaints about her conduct. Archibald told audiences during a Facebook Live broadcast in the lead-up to the three-day meeting that she may attend and that she is asking chiefs to reinstate her.Chiefs are gathering to discuss issues ranging from First Nations policing and self-governance legislation for Métis communities. The election of a new national chief and the appointment of a chief electoral officer are on the agenda, as well as speeches from federal...

Corporate ethics czar starting human-rights probes around Canadian imports from China

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

Ottawa’s corporate-ethics watchdog is set to announce multiple investigations into whether Canadian companies are importing products made through human-rights abuses in China, a move advocates have sought for years.The Liberals appointed Sheri Meyerhoffer as the first Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise in April 2019, and advocates and MPs have since criticized the government for not launching a single investigation.On Tuesday afternoon, Meyerhoffer will announce investigations into “the supply chains and operations of two Canadian companies” in China based on an “initial assessment of allegations of human rights abuses,” according to a press release.Her office also plans to publish 11 other reports “in the next few weeks” on unspecified cases.The Liberals promised to create the ombudsperson role in the 2015 campaign, replacing a post Stephen Harper’s Conservative government created in 2009 that was restricted to advising ...

Canada lags behind allies as NATO plans to increase defence spending targets

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has made no secret of the fact that he wants more from member nations at this year’s leaders’ summit. Exactly how much more is still a matter for discussion, but the 31 states with NATO membership are expected to make a more ambitious pledge than they have to date. The agreed-upon target has been for each country to spend about two per cent of its GDP on defence. Now, that is expected to just be the minimum.Canada has agreed to the target but has not revealed a plan to reach it, with current spending sitting just shy of 1.3 per cent and political leaders including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Anita Anand shrugging off suggestions Canadians are not pulling their weight.But some observers say the time has come for Canada to signal to allies that it is serious about meeting its goals.“I don’t think that Canada can just keep its head down and avoid this,” said Tim Sayle, a NA...

‘Seeing is believing’: VR project immerses viewers in climate change on Yukon island

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:51:00 GMT

HERSCHEL ISLAND, YUKON — Surrounded by chirping birds, buzzing mosquitoes and waves gently lapping on the shore, viewers travel through time, witnessing a permafrost thaw slump, rising floodwaters and shrubs take over Qikiqtaruk or Herschel Island.The virtual reality project Qikiqtaruk: Arctic at Risk is transporting people to Yukon’s northernmost point without them ever having to leave home. Using real visuals and sounds, including the cracking and popping of permafrost thaw, the National Geography Society-funded project provides an immersive experience into the effects of climate change on the island in the Canadian Arctic. “There’s a lot of changes that I’ve seen over my 20 years working on Herschel,” said Richard Gordon, senior park ranger for Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park with Yukon Parks. Gordon said the coast is rapidly eroding, ice is going out earlier and it’s getting more difficult for elders to read the weather when travelling. He said bl...