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Tunisia opposition figure Issa denounces military prosecution as creating fear about civil freedoms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A prominent opposition figure on trial in Tunisia on charges of undermining state security warned Tuesday that efforts to prosecute her are sowing fear about civil rights and liberties.Chaima Issa, a leader in the coalition of parties opposed to President Kais Saied, spoke to journalists outside a military court despite a gag order. She criticized the charges as politically motivated before walking into the military court hearing.“People are afraid when they hear those close to power calling us traitors or terrorists, when our purpose is to change things peacefully,” she said.To government critics, her case encapsulates growing fears about democratic backsliding in Tunisia under Saied.Prosecutors have accused Issa of “plotting against state security” and jailed her as part of a wave of arrests targeting opposition figures. She faces a potentially lengthy prison sentence.Critics of the president have increasingly faced prosecution and arrests. More than 20...

Nebraska prosecutors charge man with murder in fatal stabbing of small town priest inside rectory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prosecutors have charged a man with first-degree murder, burglary and weapons charges Tuesday in the fatal weekend stabbing of a Catholic priest who authorities say was attacked during a break-in at the rectory where he lived next door to his church in the small town of Fort Calhoun.Kierre L. Williams, 43, was charged Tuesday with killing the Rev. Stephen Gutgsell on Sunday morning. He was arrested inside Gutgsell’s home Sunday morning just minutes after the priest called 911 to report the break-in. Gutgsell was rushed to an Omaha hospital where he died.Court documents say Gutgsell was bleeding profusely from wounds on his face, hands and back, and he yelled “Help me” when the first sheriff’s deputy arrived and identified himself.The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said Williams is from Sioux City, Iowa, which is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Fort Calhoun. The Nebraska town of about 1,000 residents is located about 16 miles (26 k...

UN warns nearly 50 million people could face hunger next year in West and Central Africa

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United Nations warned on Tuesday that hunger could surge across West and Central Africa next year, primarily driven by violence in the conflict-riddled region. Nearly 50 million people could face food insecurity and more than 2.5 million will be on the brink of starvation, said officials from the U.N., the Food and Agriculture Organization, regional and other groups as they presented the findings in Senegal’s capital, Dakar.The report is compiled by regional governments, the U.N. and aid groups. While climate change and inflation are contributing factors, the main driver of food insecurity is increasing violence, particularly across the Central Sahel — the vast expanse below the Sahara Desert — which has been hardest hit. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have had five coups in three years, which has led to increased jihadi attacks linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. The militants were already operating in the area and have capitalized on the politic...

Voting closes in Egypt’s presidential elections, with el-Sissi almost certain to win a third term

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Voting closed on Tuesday in Egypt’s presidential election that is almost certain to see President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi secure a third term.The election has been overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a conflict on Egypt’s eastern border that threatens to expand into wider regional turmoil.Voting began Sunday. According to a timetable published by the National Election Authority, the results will be announced on Dec. 18.El-Sissi, who has been president for over nine years, faces no serious challenger. The three other candidates include Farid Zahran, head of the opposition Social Democratic Party; Abdel-Sanad Yamama, chairman of the Wafd Party; and Hazem Omar, head of the Republican People’s Party.More than 67 million Egyptians were eligible to vote, with the turnout yet to be announced. As of noon Monday, 45% of the eligible electorate had cast their ballots, the National Election Authority said.A runoff is set for Jan. 8-10 if no candidate secures more tha...

CTV National News appoints Heather Butts as new weekend anchor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

TORONTO — Heather Butts has been named the new weekend anchor for CTV National News.Currently the television news program’s Toronto correspondent, Butts will take on the role previously held by Sandie Rinaldo, who has been CTV National News’ weekend anchor for over 35 years.Rinaldo now anchors the early evening edition of CTV National News on weekdays at 5:30 p.m. ET.Butts has almost 15 years of national breaking news experience and has covered several major stories for CTV in recent years, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the 2022 mass stabbing at James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.Since joining the CTV News team in 2014, Butts has held several roles, from anchor to reporter to morning host at local stations across Canada.Butts says in a statement that it’s “an honour” to take over the weekend anchor desk and follow in the footsteps of Rinaldo.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2023.The Canadian Press

Packed hospitals, treacherous roads, harried parents: Newborns in Gaza face steeper odds of survival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The birth of their daughter should have marked the beginning of a joyful chapter for the young Palestinian couple. Instead, the devastating war in Gaza, now in its third month, has turned childbirth and parenthood into a time of worry and fear for Salim and Israa al-Jamala.First, they endured a perilous journey, dodging missile fire, to reach a maternity ward. And now, the couple is sheltering with their newborn in the partially tented courtyard of another hospital where they can’t care properly for their now 3-week-old daughter, her mother’s namesake.His wife’s breast milk is not sufficient because she cannot eat enough as a result of widespread food shortages, said the 29-year-old Salim, rocking baby Israa, swaddled in blankets in a crib cobbled together from wood scraps. Baby formula and medicine for the infant’s persistent cough are not available and in any case not affordable.The war, triggered by a deadly Oct. 7 Hamas as...

102 African migrants detained traveling by bus in southern Mexico; 3 smugglers arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities detained two buses carrying 102 migrants from African nations in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Tuesday morning, according to Mexico’s immigration agency.Three suspected people smugglers traveling with the convoy were also arrested.The majority of the migrants came from the West African nations of Senegal and Guinea, as well as six from Djibouti, two from Congo and one from Mauritania.Authorities did not say how the migrants are thought to have arrived in Mexico, but African migrants have been known to use Nicaragua as a transit point to reach the U.S., because of the country’s lax visa requirements.In the past month Mexican authorities have claimed to “rescue” or “locate” hundreds of migrants from houses, vehicles, and a trailer box. With a few exceptions, experts said the rescues are more accurately characterized as arrests.“They are almost 100% apprehensions,” said Ari Sawyer, a border researcher at Human Rights Watch, who likened the...

Biden takes a tougher stance on Israel’s ‘indiscriminate bombing’ of Gaza’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza, speaking out in unusually strong language as the United Nations neared a vote on demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. “Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world supporting them,” Biden said to donors during a fundraiser Tuesday. “They’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” Biden said. The president said he thought Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understood, but he wasn’t so sure about the Israeli war cabinet. Israeli forces were carrying out punishing strikes across Gaza, crushing Palestinians in homes as the military presses ahead with an offensive that officials say could go on for weeks or months. The president offered a harder-than-usual ass...

Thousands rally in Slovakia to condemn the new government’s plan to close top prosecutors’ office

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Thousands rallied in the capital and other major cities in Slovakia on Tuesday to denounce a plan by the new government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico to amend the country’s penal code.The changes proposed by the coalition government include a proposal to abolish the special prosecutors’ office, which handles serious crimes such as graft, organized crime and extremism, by mid-January, and return those prosecutions to regional offices, which haven’t dealt with such crimes for 20 years.The noisy but peaceful crowd in Bratislava gathered in front of the government office in a rally organized by several opposition parties, including Progressive Slovakia, the Christian Democrats and Freedom and Solidarity.”We’ll defend our democracy,” said Michal Simecka, the head of the liberal Progressive Slovakia, the strongest opposition party. Simecka called the proposals “a pro-mafia package.”“We’ve had enough of Fico,” the people chanted.Smaller rall...

Missouri county to pay $1.2 million to settle lawsuit over inmate restraint chair death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:49 GMT

Missouri’s second-largest county will pay a $1.2 million settlement to the parents of a 21-year-old man with mental health concerns who, according to a lawsuit, screamed “I can’t breathe” as he was subdued by jail staff before dying in a restraint chair.The Jackson County Legislature in Kansas City on Monday approved the settlement in the 2021 death of Marquis Wagner. John Picerno, the attorney for Wagner’s parents, said jail surveillance captured the events leading up to Wagner’s death. That video has not been made public.The lawsuit named three jail guards and two companies that the county contracts with for health care. The settlement is only with Jackson County. The case involving the two companies is scheduled for trial in September.Wagner was arrested Dec. 9, 2021, and accused of shooting through the door of his Kansas City apartment because he thought someone was breaking in. Police determined no one was trying to get into the apartment. Wagner told of...