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Taiwan presidential frontrunner picks former de-facto ambassador to U.S. as vice president candidate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The frontrunner in Taiwan’s presidential race has picked the long-term de-facto ambassador to the United States as his vice presidential candidate. Vice President William Lai announced Monday on his Facebook page the nomination of Hsiao Bi-ki — who was born in Japan to a Taiwanese father and an American mother — as his running mate in January’s elections. This move would likely bolster support among backers of his ruling Democratic Progressive Party which has long defied Beijing’s demands to concede to rule under the authoritarian Communist Party. Lai and Hsiao face a divided opposition, led by the Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang or KMT, that has sought to draw independent candidates to their ticket. Polls show Lai is ahead, but China is believed to be seeking to influence business groups and media. Lai currently serves as vice president to President Tsai Ing-wen, who is restricted from running for a third four-year term. In his Facebook post, T...

The lion, the wig and the warrior. Who is Javier Milei, Argentina’s president-elect?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — His legions of fans call him “the crazy” and “the wig” due to his ferocity and unruly mop of hair, while he refers to himself as “the lion.” He thinks sex education is a Marxist plot to destroy the family, views his cloned mastiffs as his “children with four paws” and has raised the possibility people should be allowed to sell their own vital organs.He is Javier Milei, Argentina’s next president.A few years ago, Milei was a television talking head that bookers loved because his screeds against government spending and the ruling political class boosted ratings. At the time, and up until mere months ago, hardly any political expert believed he had a real shot at becoming president of South America’s second-largest economy.But Milei, a 53-year-old economist, has rocked Argentina’s political establishment and inserted himself into what has long been effectively a two-party system by amassing a groundswell of support with his prescriptions of drastic measur...

India and Australia set to hold talks to boost defense and strategic ties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Australia are set to hold talks focused on bolstering their strategic, defense and security ties on Monday in New Delhi. Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong and defense minister Richard Marles arrived to meet with their counterparts for the second India-Australia 2+2 Dialogue, where they’re expected to discuss regional and global issues, according to a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs. “Both sides will also exchange views on shared priorities for strengthening minilateral and multilateral cooperation,” the statement said. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will hold a bilateral meeting with Marles, who is also the deputy prime minister. India’s Minister of External Affairs Subhramanyam Jaishankar will take stock of ties between the two countries with his counterpart Wong on Tuesday, according to the statement.The talks come a few weeks after India hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of...

Shakira to appear in Barcelona court on the first day of her tax fraud trial in Spain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Global pop star Shakira has been summoned Monday to a Barcelona courthouse to attend the first day of her trial for allegedly defrauding Spanish tax officials of millions of euros.Shakira, 46, faces six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros (about $15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014. The multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy winner has denied any wrongdoing and said she had paid everything she owed.The case made headlines in 2018. It currently hinges on where Shakira lived during that period. Prosecutors in Barcelona have alleged that the Colombian singer spent more than half of that period in Spain and therefore should have paid taxes on her worldwide income in the country even though her official residence was still in the Bahamas. Tax rates are much lower in the Bahamas than in Spain.Prosecutors said in July that they would seek a prison sentence of 8 years and two months and a fine of 24 million euros ($26.1 million) for ...

Verdicts are expected in Italy’s maxi-trial involving the ‘ndrangheta crime syndicate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

ROME (AP) — Verdicts are expected Monday in the trial of hundreds of people accused of membership in Italy’s ’ndrangheta organized crime syndicate, one of the world’s most powerful, extensive and wealthy drug-trafficking groups. The trial started almost three years ago in the southern Calabria region, where the mob organization was originally based. The ’ndrangheta quietly amassed power in Italy and abroad as the Sicilian Mafia lost influence.The syndicate now holds almost a monopoly on cocaine importation in Europe, according to anti-mafia prosecutors who led the investigation in southern Italy. The organization also has bases in North and South America and is active in Africa, Italian prosecutors maintain, and ’ndrangheta figures have been arrested in recent years around Europe and in Brazil and Lebanon. The trial took place in a specially constructed high-security bunker. Part of an industrial park in Lamezia Terme, the bunker is so vast that video screens were anchored to the ce...

Blocked from a horizontal route, rescuers will dig vertically to reach 41 trapped in India tunnel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Rescuers blocked from reaching 41 trapped construction workers shifted Monday to an attempt to dig toward them vertically after the nine-day effort in mountainous northern India has been stymied by debris and technical glitches.The trapped workers are healthy and receiving food like nuts, roasted chickpeas and popcorn though a pipe, Deepa Gaur, a government spokesperson, said. Oxygen was being supplied to them through a separate pipe, she said. The rescuers are creating an access road to the top of the hill from where the vertical drilling is to start Monday evening, said Devendra Patwal, a disaster management official overseeing the rescue efforts at the site in Uttarakhand state.From the vertical direction, drilling to the tunnel will take a few days and debris could fall during the digging, Patwal said.The workers have been trapped since Nov. 12, when a landslide caused a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel they were building to collapse about 200 mete...

Rains are expected in Chicago late Monday but we dry out again mid-morning on Tuesday. More sun for Thanksgiving Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

Rains are expected in Chicago late Monday but we dry out again mid-morning on Tuesday with clearing skies by the afternoon. More sun for Wed/Thu with temps on the chilly side in the mid to low 40s for the busy travel day on Wednesday and on Thanksgiving Day.More clouds to finish out the week with a weather system moving in late Friday into Saturday could have some precipitation. At this point the rain/snow line at this point looks to be to the north of Chicagoland—but that could change over the next week—so stay tuned.WGN Weekly Climate Report: This weekend finishes off a string of days that were much warmer than normalOnly one day so far this month (the first) was well below normal. November is our fastest cooling month-- but you wouldn't know if from the last 7 days. Not only did we have four days in a row in the 60s earlier this week— we also had four days of 100% possible sunshine—the first time that's happened in November in 22 years. With the sun and warmth-- it's hard to real...

Broncos report card: Perfume of takeaways and late offensive heroics provide pleasant cover for stinky underlying performance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

Offense — CRussell Wilson and Courtland Sutton provided the heroics, and that saves what otherwise was shaping up to be a failing grade. Denver missed 10 of its first 11 third-down tries. It failed four straight times in the red zone before Sutton’s 15-yard scoring grab. The Broncos rushed for 46 yards on 15 attempts, nearly a third of the production coming on one 15-yard Javonte Williams run. At the end of the day, the 10 plays, 75 yards and game-winning touchdown wash away all that frustration, but if Denver’s going to actually make a playoff run, this is the unit that has to improve the most.Defense — BLike the offensive heroics, another night full of takeaways serves as something of a mask for the Broncos’ defense. They got three in the form of two fumble recoveries and an interception. They got a key stop in the final 63 seconds when all Minnesota needed was a field goal to win the game. But in between, they gave up 175 rushing yards (after 192 last week in Buffalo) and nine co...

Brussels faces new bellyaches over misguided policies putting Europe’s food sector at risk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

Food policy has always been a thorny issue for Brussels—a widespread perception that the EU had banned “bendy bananas” became a Leave slogan during the Brexit referendum, for example—and policymakers seem to have stepped in it again, with French cheese makers up in arms about a proposed EU recycling law, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).They accuse the proposed bill, which aims to phase out single-use packaging in favor of recycled materials, of putting one of France’s most prized culinary delicacies in peril. Cheesemakers see within the law the possible banning of one of their most distinctive calling cards, the familiar wooden box in which Camembert is sold.As Camembert aficionados know, the wooden box is more than a rustic touch to evoke picnics and garden parties. The light wooden box is irreplaceable, not only because it is vital for preserving the unique taste of the cheese, as well as often required for the aging process of the cheese, but also because it o...

Thieves break in Hayward auto dealership, $100K worth of cars stolen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:59:33 GMT

HAYWARD, Calif. (KRON) -- Four cars -- in total worth more than $100,000 -- were stolen from a used car shop in Hayward. It was all caught on video. The break-in happened at City Motors on Mission Boulevard in Hayward early Sunday morning.KRON4 spoke to the general manager about how this happened. It's not just the lost inventory, but the damage to their building and the threat of a repeat robbery. Along with four cars, the thieves also took the keys to every other car on the lot. Suspects kidnap Amazon delivery driver in San Ramon, force him to withdraw cash: police Auto theft caught on video (above) shows several men breaking into Hayward's City Motors and stealing four cars driving one through the front of the building to get it out of the showroom."It's shocking. Violated," says City Motors manager Emilio Espinosa. Espinosa says the men came in through the side door just after midnight they then went over to the lock box with all of the car keys and used an axe to break it ope...