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Voting begins in Madagascar presidential election boycotted by most opposition leaders

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — People in Madagascar trickled to polling stations Thursday as voting opened in a presidential election boycotted by the majority of candidates following weeks of unrest and court battles.In the capital of Antananarivo, where a night-time curfew ended two hours before voting started, many people said they were heeding calls by a collective of 10 candidates to stay away from voting booths. Opposition leaders and civil society groups had also called for a postponement of the election.The situation was calm in the capital despite weeks of unrest, but tension was palpable at some polling stations where some people refused to talk to journalists. At one polling station, people warned each other against making comments after being approached by an Associated Press journalist.Voters’ choices were limited to three men after 10 candidates announced they were pulling out of the election this week, alleging that conditions for a legitimate and fair vote haven’t b...

Long-haul carrier Emirates orders 15 Airbus A350 after engine dispute during Dubai Air Show

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Long-haul carrier Emirates said Thursday it will purchase 15 additional Airbus A350-900s worth $6 billion after a spat between the airline and the European manufacturer went unusually public during this week’s Dubai Air Show. The Emirates’ order, far smaller than initially expected, came after the airline and its sister carrier FlyDubai purchased $63 billion worth of aircraft from Boeing Co. at the start of the weeklong show, which comes as international travel has rebounded following the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, Emirates President Tim Clark signaled the carrier would hold off on a major purchase of Airbus A350 aircraft over concerns about their Rolls-Royce engines. Rolls-Royce vigorously disputed Clark’s comments about what he described as the additional maintenance required for them.Jon Gambrell, The Associated Press

Xi-Biden meeting seen as putting relations back on course, even as issues remain unresolved

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Perhaps just shaking hands and sitting down together can be enough sometimes. At their meeting Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping didn’t resolve any of the major geopolitical issues dividing the world’s two largest economies and chief rivals for influence, particularly among developing nations. But it did seem to put a floor beneath a relationship that had been in free-fall over issues from trade to investment to U.S. support for Taiwan, along with human rights in regions from Tibet to Sichuan and the Asian financial hub of Hong Kong, which China administers as a semi-autonomous region while gutting its civil liberties handed over from the former British administration.The two leaders spent four hours together at a northern California country estate, holding meetings, lunching and taking a garden stroll that seemed intent on showing the world that while they are global competitors they’re not locked in a winne...

In The News for today: No Canadians on Gaza list and Trudeau at APEC

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed tobring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Canadians absent from Gaza exit list todayThere are no Canadians mentioned in an updated list of foreign nationals who are being allowed to leave the Gaza Strip today. The General Authority for Crossings and Borders published the latest document on its Facebook page early this morning.Global Affairs Canada said Wednesday that a total of 367 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and family members have been able to get out, including nine people who left without the Canadian government’s help.Two more people were able to travel to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday, and 10 made the trip on Monday. The Canadian government says it cannot determine when or how many people can cross each day, but 386 more people connected to Canada are looking to leave the besieged Palestinian territory.Men detained in Syria want Supreme Court hearingThe country&...

Live updates | Palestinians in parts of southern Gaza receive notices to evacuate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

Palestinians in parts of southern Gaza said they received evacuation notices Thursday. The signal that fighting is about to expand in the south comes a day after Israeli forces began searching a north Gaza hospital where they claimed Hamas militants operate — a claim that Hamas and hospital staff deny.On Thursday, Saudi Arabia condemned the raid on Shifa Hospital, which has become a symbol of the widespread suffering of Palestinian civilians since Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas after the militant group launched its Oct. 7 incursion. Some 1,200 people have died in Israel, mostly during the initial attack, and around 240 were taken captive.The Israeli military displayed what it said were Hamas weapons and military equipment it uncovered in Shifa Hospital. But so far, its search showed no signs of tunnels or a sophisticated command center. The Associated Press could not independently verify the Israeli claims that the weapons were found inside the hospital.Only a quarter of Gaza’s hosp...

German railway runs much-reduced schedule as drivers’ union stages a 20-hour strike

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s national railway operator ran a drastically reduced schedule on Thursday as a union called a 20-hour strike aimed at increasing the pressure in a bitter dispute over pay and working hours.The strike by drivers and other workers in the GDL union began at 10 p.m. on Wednesday and was scheduled to end at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Limited “warning strikes” are a common tactic in German pay negotiations.The main national railway operator, state-owned Deutsche Bahn, expected to run about 20% of its normal long-distance service. Regional and local services also were affected, though to varying degrees because some are run by private operators and not all of those were targeted by the strike.The dispute between Deutsche Bahn and GDL is in its early stages, but already is looking unusually difficult. A central issue is the union’s call for shift workers’ hours to be reduced from 38 to 35 hours per week without a pay reduction, a demand at which the company...

Refugees who fled to India after latest fighting in Myanmar have begun returning home, officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — More than half of the estimated 5,000 refugees who had fled the heavy fighting in Myanmar’s western Chin state and had entered northeastern India have begun returning home, Indian officials said Thursday.Sunday and Monday saw heavy fighting between the rebels and the Myanmar military in the Chin state across the border from Zokhawthar, a village of around 600 households, in India’s Mizoram state. The military junta lost control of some areas after rebels, largely belonging to the Chin National Front, seized two military posts. “Since Wednesday, we have not heard sounds of airstrikes or gunfire across the border. We presume the situation across Mizoram border in Myanmar is returning to normal, leading to most of the 5,000 refugees returning back,” James Lalrinchhana, the Deputy Commissioner of Champhai district in Mizoram, told The Associated Press.The fighting also forced 40 troops from the Myanmar army to cross over and take shelter in India.The troops ...

Supreme Court to decide whether to hear case of Canadian men detained in Syria

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

OTTAWA — The country’s top court is slated to decide today whether it will hear the case of four Canadian men held in Syria who argue Ottawa has a legal duty to help them return home.The detained Canadians are among the many foreign nationals in ramshackle detention centres run by Kurdish forces that wrested the war-ravaged region from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.The men are asking the Supreme Court to hear a challenge of a Federal Court of Appeal ruling, handed down in May, that said Ottawa is not obligated under the law to repatriate them.Among the men is Jack Letts, who became a devoted Muslim as a teenager, went on holiday to Jordan, then studied in Kuwait before winding up in Syria.The identities of the other three are not publicly known.In an application to the top court, lawyers for the men say Ottawa is “picking and choosing” which Canadians to help out of a hellish situation.They say the men’s foreign jailers will release them...

Full day of bilateral meetings and plenaries await Trudeau at APEC summit by the bay

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — With the fireworks and formalities done, it’s time for delegates at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to get down to business. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will sit down today for one-on-one meetings with a coterie of Pacific Rim leaders in between high-level APEC plenary sessions.U.S. President Joe Biden rattled off a list of the challenges during Wednesday’s opening reception, including confronting the potential rewards and risks of artificial intelligence. The leaders will also talk about how to reinforce and streamline modern-day supply chains, all the while finding workable solutions to the climate crisis. International Trade Minister Mary Ng says Canada will be especially focused on creating the conditions for economic growth across the Pacific Rim.  Ng says businesses both in Canada and abroad are looking for a level of certainty that will allow them to invest with confidence in growing their international trade. “They are here lo...

Tech giant Amazon’s first Canadian wind farm project to be located in Alberta

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:16 GMT

CALGARY — Tech giant Amazon is investing in its first Canadian wind farm.The company said it will partner with developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners on a 495-megawatt capacity wind farm to be built in Vulcan County in southern Alberta.The announcement on Thursday marks Amazon’s fourth renewable energy project in Canada and comes on the heels of the recent opening of the company’s Travers Solar Project, which is also located in southern Alberta and is the largest solar farm ever constructed in Canada.That project, together with the newly announced wind farm, will help power Amazon’s local operations in Alberta, including its fulfilment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations and Amazon Web Services data center.Amazon has also previously invested in a smaller solar farm in Newell County, Alta., and a rooftop solar energy project at an Amazon delivery station in Nisku, Alta. The company is one of a growing number of large corporations that are seeking to achiev...