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US charity calls on Egypt to release hunger-striking poet

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A U.S. charity has called on Egypt to release a well-known poet and songwriter who is on a hunger strike to protest his five-year incarceration. Pen America demanded Thursday that Egyptian authorities release Galal al-Behairy, who was first detained in March of 2018 and later handed a three-year sentence for spreading false news and insulting Egypt’s military. In a leaked letter that coincided with the fifth anniversary of his arrest, al-Behairy said he would refuse food and medication until he secured his freedom. An Egyptian government media officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the call for the hunger striker to be released. Al-Behairy wrote the lyrics to the hit Egyptian pop song, “Balaha,” sung by exiled pop star Ramy Essam. The poet was arrested a month after its release. ‘’I committed one crime, which is poetry,″ al-Behairy wrote in his letter, published across social media. “The strike will continue until I regain my freedom...

German gunman kills 6 at Hamburg Jehovah’s Witnesses hall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — A gunman stormed a service at his former Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in Hamburg, killing six people before taking his own life after police arrived, authorities in the German port city said Friday.Police gave no motive for Thursday night’s attack, which stunned the country’s second-biggest city. But they acknowledged recently receiving an anonymous tip that claimed the man showed anger toward religious groups and might be psychologically unfit to own a gun.An unborn baby was among the dead, but police didn’t say whether the mother was also killed. Eight people were wounded, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the death toll could rise.Officers apparently reached the hall while the attack was ongoing — and heard one more shot after they arrived, according to witnesses and authorities. They did not fire their weapons, but officials said their intervention likely prevented further loss of life.Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, lamented the “terrible i...

Wall Street futures lower ahead of US jobs update

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

BEIJING — Wall Street futures were modestly lower Friday ahead of a U.S. job market update amid unease about possible further interest rate hikes.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3% and futures for the S&P 500 were off 0.2%.The S&P 500 index fell Thursday by its biggest one-day margin this year after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned rates might be raised faster than expected to cool stubbornly high inflation.Adding to the rout was SVB Financial Group, which lost 60% of its value Thursday after announcing plans to raise up to $1.75 billion to strengthen its financial position amid concerns about higher interest rates and the economy. The SVB news dragged Bank of America, Citigroup and others along with it, though they had stabilized by premarket Friday. SVB shares continued to slide in off-hours trading, falling another 62% before the bell.Traders looked ahead to U.S. government hiring data due out Friday after other indicators showed the job m...

US adds a robust 311,000 jobs despite Fed’s rate hikes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added a substantial 311,000 jobs in February, fewer than January’s huge gain but enough to keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively to fight inflation.The unemployment rate rose to 3.6% from a 53-year low of 3.4%, as more Americans began searching for work and not all of them found jobs.Friday’s report from the government made clear that the nation’s job market remains fundamentally healthy, with many employers still eager to hire. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told Congress this week that the Fed would likely ratchet up its rate hikes if signs continued to point to a robust economy and persistently high inflation. A strong job market typically leads businesses to raise pay and then pass their higher labor costs on to customers through higher prices.Last month, the government reported a surprising burst of hiring for January — 517,000 added jobs — though that gain was revised down slightly to 504,000 in Friday’s report...

AP Interview: Stenmark says Shiffrin ‘better than I was’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

To Ingemar Stenmark, all this fuss over Mikaela Shiffrin as she approached his record of 86 World Cup skiing victories was beside the point.Because the 66-year-old Swede believes the American is already on another level.“She’s much better than I was. You cannot compare,” Stenmark said in an interview with The Associated Press. “She has everything. She has good physical strength, she has a good technique, strong head. I think it’s the combination of everything makes her so good. And I’m also impressed that she can ski good both in slalom and in super-G and downhill also.“I could never have been so good in all disciplines.”While all 86 of Stenmark’s wins in the 1970s and 80s came in the technical disciplines of slalom (40) and giant slalom (46), Shiffrin’s wins have been spread out amid both her specialties of slalom and giant slalom and also in the higher-speed and more dangerous events of super-G and downhill.One of Shiffrin’s three medals at the world championships last month came ...

Shiffrin and Stenmark took different paths to skiing record

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

Ingemar Stenmark’s unbreakable skiing record just got matched by Mikaela Shiffrin.The American won a giant slalom on Friday to equal the Swedish great’s record of 86 World Cup victories, which he set more than three decades ago.When Stenmark retired from World Cup racing 34 years ago to the day — on March 10, 1989, a week before his 33rd birthday — his mark was widely considered unbreakable.Lindsey Vonn, Shiffrin’s former teammate, came close 30 years later but retired after 82 wins. Vonn’s last World Cup race was a super-G in January 2019 — a race won by Shiffrin for her 54th victory.Four years later, Shiffrin overtook Vonn and has now matched Stenmark, three days before her 28th birthday.Here is a closer look at the facts and figures behind Shiffrin’s and Stenmark’s shared record.ROAD TO GLORYTimewise, Shiffrin was faster to get to 86 victories.The American needed 11 years, 11 months, 27 days after her first top-level race on March 11, 2011, to get the record. It took ...

Liberals to begin public consultations on setting up a foreign influence registry

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is launching public consultations on a foreign influence transparency registry to help prevent other countries from meddling in Canadian affairs.The Liberals have been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over allegations, detailed in media reports citing unnamed security sources and highly classified documents, that they did not act when warned that China was trying to interfere in the last two federal elections.Mendicino says the consultation, which he hopes all Canadians will take part in, will run today through to May 9 and include a virtual portal on the Department of Public Safety’s website.Under such a registry, people who act on behalf of a foreign state to advance its goals would have to disclose their ties to the government employing them.The idea of such a registry, which exists in Australia and the United States, is to make those dealings more transparent, with the possibility of fines or even prison time for failin...

One charged, replica gun seized at Brampton secondary school

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

A 14-year-old male was charged after Peel police seized a BB gun after responding to a call at a Brampton secondary school.Police responded to a call on Mar. 9 at approximately 10:30 a.m. at Harold M. Brathwaite Secondary School for a weapons-related incident.The male was arrested inside the school, and a the gun was seized. No injuries were reported from the incident.The male was charged with the alleged offence of Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose and will appear in front of the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton courts at a later date.

Mikaela Shiffrin gets her record 86th World Cup victory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

ARE, Sweden (AP) — American skier Mikaela Shiffrin won her record-tying 86th World Cup race Friday with victory in a giant slalom.Shiffrin’s win matched the overall record set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark 34 years ago.The 27-year-old American protected her half-second lead from the first run and finished 0.64 seconds ahead of Federica Brignone.Shiffrin crossed the finish line and put her hands to her helmet, then to her face and shook her head slowly while taking in the enormity of her achievement.“This is just a spectacular day. Oh my goodness,” she said in a course-side interview.Stenmark told The Associated Press last month that Shiffrin is “much better than I was.”It was Shiffrin’s fourth straight wire-to-wire win in World Cup giant slaloms since January. In that time, she also took gold in the event at last month’s world championships in Meribel, France.Shiffrin started cautiously in her second run under the floodlights in the fast-darkening afternoon, letting half of her ...

China accuses Canada of smearing reputation over alleged secret police stations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:30:40 GMT

BEIJING — China on Friday accused Canada of smearing its reputation over allegations China is secretly operating two overseas police stations in Quebec.Canada should “stop sensationalizing and hyping the matter and stop attacks and smears on China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing.“China has been … strictly abiding by international law and respecting all countries’ judicial sovereignty,” Mao said.The spokesperson did not comment on the existence of the police stations or whether they were operated by Chinese government authorities.Canadians of Chinese origin have been victims of activities carried out by the stations, Sgt. Charles Poirier of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Thursday.Canada will not tolerate any type of intimidation, harassment or targeting of diaspora communities, Poirier said.The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Team has opened investigations into the suspected police stations in Montreal and Brossard, a suburb j...