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Spain PM’s shock election call brings unruly coalition to heel

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s snap general election call breaks apart the coalition he built with the far-left United We Can party, marking a line in the sand with a movement born from grassroots activism whose electoral fortunes have nosedived.On Monday, Sánchez brought forward a national election expected in December to July 23 after the conservative Popular Party, or PP, and far-right Vox movement dramatically increased their vote share in Sunday’s local and regional elections. Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, known by the Spanish acronym PSOE, has led a minority central government with United We Can since 2019, but internal arguments with his coalition partners have increasingly dominated headlines. United We Can’s leadership is also engaged in a separate feud with Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, who has started her own political movement, Sumar.Ernesto Pascual, a political scientist and professor at UOC university in...

Russia launches pre-dawn air raid on Kyiv, killing at least 1; Moscow attacked by drones

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a pre-dawn air raid on Ukraine’s capital Tuesday, killing at least one person and sending Kyiv’s residents again scrambling into shelters to escape a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments, while Moscow authorities said the Russian capital was attacked by drones. At least 20 Shahed explosive drones were destroyed by air defense forces in Kyiv’s airspace in Russia’s third attack on the capital in the past 24 hours, according to early information from the Kyiv Military Administration. Overall, Ukraine shot down 29 of 31 drones fired into the country, most in the Kyiv area, the air force later added. Before daylight, the buzzing of drones could be heard over the city, followed by loud explosions as they were taken down by air defense systems.In Moscow, residents reported hearing explosions and Mayor Sergei Sobyanin later confirmed there had been a drone attack. Sobyanin said in a Telegram post that the attack caused “insignificant da...

Staff at Ukraine’s experimental nuclear site pick up pieces from Russian strikes

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — There is activity at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, but it’s not what scientists at its cutting-edge nuclear laboratory trained for.Staff at the U.S.-funded atomic research lab in northeastern Ukraine spend their days patching up the facility, which has been badly damaged by repeated Russian strikes.More than a year after missiles first hit, the wind batters boarded-up windows and exposed insulation flaps. When the Associated Press visited this month, debris had been heaped in piles, and rocket parts sat near craters up to 2.5 meters (8 feet) deep. Staff say the site was struck some 100 times with rockets and bombs during the first months of the war, and attack remains a constant threat. Kharkiv, near the war’s front line and the Russian border, is shelled almost daily from the neighboring Belgorod region of Russia.Before Russia’s invasion, the institute was a jewel in the crown of Ukraine’s highly developed nuclear research sector. It...

University says Uyghur student didn’t go to Hong Kong where he reportedly went missing

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean university said Tuesday the Uyghur student who reportedly went missing in Hong Kong after being interrogated did not travel to the city recently, adding fresh questions to the mystery of his whereabouts. Amnesty International said Friday that Abuduwaili Abudureheman, who was born in Xinjiang in western China, had traveled to Hong Kong from South Korea to visit a friend on May 10 but has not been heard from since he texted his friend about being questioned at the city’s airport. But Seoul’s Kookmin University, where the student is pursuing a doctorate in sports studies, told The Associated Press he is still in South Korea. The student has been frequently contacting his professor over his Ph.D. preparations, according to the school’s public affairs office.Amnesty said it was trying to independently confirm the student’s whereabouts and safety, adding it will be able to provide a further response when it has more information.The Asso...

Belarus official: West left us no choice but to deploy nuclear arms

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

Western countries left Belarus no choice but to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons and had better take heed not to "cross red lines" on key strategic issues, a senior Belarusian official was quoted as saying on Sunday (28 May).Alexander Volfovich, state secretary of Belarus' Security Council, said it was logical that the weapons were withdrawn after the 1991 Soviet collapse as the United States had provided security guarantees and imposed no sanctions."Today, everything has been torn down. All the promises made are gone forever," the Belta news agency quoted Volfovich as telling an interviewer on state television.Belarus, led by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, is Russia's staunchest ally among ex-Soviet states and allowed its territory to be used to launch the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Russia moved ahead last week with a decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory aimed at achieving specific gains on the battlefield.Russia...

Polonia cerrará sus fronteras a los camiones rusos y bielorrusos

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

(CNN) — El ministro del Interior de Polonia, Mariusz Kaminski, firmó este lunes una orden por la que se suspende el tráfico de mercancías de vehículos rusos y bielorrusos a través de la frontera con Belarús.La orden se publicó en la página web del Ministerio de Interior y Administración de Polonia.“Se suspenderá el tráfico fronterizo de mercancías en los pasos fronterizos con la República de Belarús para camiones, tractores, remolques, incluidos los semirremolques, y conjuntos de camiones matriculados en el territorio de la República de Belarús o de la Federación Rusa”, rezaba la orden.La orden durará desde el 1 de junio “hasta nuevo aviso”.Polonia aumenta las apuestas en la OTAN al enviar aviones de combate a Ucrania: será el primero en hacerloA primera hora de este lunes, Kaminski anunció en Twitter que había decidido “añadir a 365 ciudadanos bielorrusos a la lista de sanciones, y congelar los recursos financieros y económicos de 20 entidades y ...

El Instituto Nacional Penitenciario de Perú desmiente una información de ABC News según la cual Joran van der Sloot fue golpeado en prisión

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

(CNN) — El Instituto Nacional Penitenciario de Perú desmintió la información de ABC News según la cual Joran van der Sloot –el principal sospechoso de la desaparición en 2005 de la adolescente estadounidense Natalee Holloway– fue “severamente” golpeado en una prisión peruana.En una declaración enviada a CNNE a última hora de este lunes, un portavoz del Instituto Nacional Penitenciario peruano dijo que “Él [Van der Sloot] no fue golpeado. No fue atacado”.El portavoz no hizo más comentarios.Cómo se ha desarrollado la búsqueda de respuestas desde que Natalee Holloway desapareció en 2005Más temprano este lunes, ABC News informó que el abogado de Van der Sloot, Máximo Altez, dijo que fue “severamente golpeado” en la cárcel, y que está “pidiendo al Ministerio de Justicia peruano que lo transfiera a otra prisión tan pronto como sea posible”.CNN se puso en contacto con Altez para obtener comentarios y aún no ha recibido respuesta.The-CNN...

King Charles’ sword-wielding minister Penny Mordaunt soars in UK Cabinet ranking

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

LONDON — The path to popularity in the U.K.’s Conservatives is simple — just successfully wield a massive sword at the king’s coronation.Fresh from her exploits at the coronation of King Charles III earlier May, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt is now — according to the grassroots Tory website ConservativeHome — the second most popular Cabinet minister in the U.K. government, behind only the Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.In her role as lord president of the privy council, Mordaunt gained international attention as she carried the sword of state and gave the jeweled sword of offering to Charles as he was formally crowned. The sword itself has since become a tourist hit at the Tower of London.ConHome’s latest monthly Cabinet league table ranking, surveying party members, suggests Mordaunt’s part in the royal pomp hit all the right notes with the Tory faithful. In the list for May, Mordaunt climbs from fourth most popular minister to second, with a net sat...

UK’s Shapps and Badenoch row over green border tax as relations sour

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

LONDON — Two senior U.K. ministers are at odds over a potential new green border tax on carbon intensive imports — in a fresh sign of Cabinet tensions.Energy Secretary Grant Shapps and his department want a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) as part of Britain’s drive to cut emissions to net-zero, while Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch is pushing in the other direction, according to people familiar with the discussions.Shapps and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt co-announced a consultation on a U.K. carbon border tax in March, with a decision expected later this year. The tax would slap tariffs on overseas imports from places like China and India which are made by producing significant carbon emissions.Two officials in her department said Badenoch, seen as a rising star in the Tory Party, has fought against increased tariffs at a time when the U.K’s trade levels are already faltering amid global economic headwinds and while inflation is still just below 10 percent.The d...

Lebanon’s army says Saudi citizen kidnapped in Beirut released following ‘special operation’

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 21:53:14 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese troops rescued a Saudi citizen kidnapped over the weekend in Beirut, the army said Tuesday. The man reportedly had been held for ransom. A statement by the Lebanese military said Mushari al-Mutairi was released in a “special operation” along the Lebanon-Syria border, where the kidnappers held him hostage. It gave no further details. Al-Mutairi was kidnapped after midnight Saturday in Beirut.State-run Saudi TV station Al-Ekhbariya said that the kidnappers demanded a $400,000 ransom for al-Mutairi, who works for Saudi national airlines Saudia.Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in comments released by his office that the government is determined to guarantee the security of its citizens as well as foreigners.Local Lebanese media reported that al-Mutairi was released during an operation by the army’s intelligence division in the northeastern district of Hermel. Mikati congratulated the army on the operation’s success and called on Arab tourists to vi...