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A prosecutor says a foreign link is possible to the dozens of Stars of David stenciled around Paris

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Two couples who allegedly stenciled dozens of blue Stars of David on buildings in Paris and two of its suburbs last week are linked by a third party living abroad, the Paris prosecutor said Tuesday. The link was based on a telephone conversation by one couple in Russian, a statement said.“At this stage, it is not excluded that the markings of the blue Stars of David in the Paris region were made at the explicit demand of a person living abroad,” prosecutor Laure Beccuau said. An investigating judge was taking over the case, “as much to identify the authors as to analyze the intentions that guided the operation.”The war between Israel and Hamas has led to at least 1,040 known acts of antisemitism in France, the interior minister said Sunday. But the prosecutor’s office investigating the appearance of 60 blue stars, similar to those on the Israeli flag, has yet to conclude whether those who put up the stencils had antisemitic intent, Tuesday’s statement said.S...

Telecoms must up network investments to meet growing demand for mobile data: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

TORONTO — A new report says phone carriers will need to boost their network investments as it forecasts data consumption in Canada could double by 2027.The report by PwC, presented Tuesday at the Canadian Telecom Summit, says Canadian providers will need to increase their capital expenditures for 5G and fibre networks by two per cent per year to meet the growing demand for mobile data use.It comes after BCE Inc. announced Monday it would cut network investment plans by more than $1 billion in response to a regulatory decision allowing independent internet providers to access large telephone companies’ fibre networks in Ontario and Quebec.The ruling is meant to stimulate competition for internet services in the two provinces, where the CRTC says independent internet providers now serve 47 per cent fewer customers than they did two years ago.Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says he is reviewing the CRTC’s decision and that the federal government’s “top p...

Cyprus official says Israel-Hamas war may give an impetus to regional energy projects

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The political and economic ramifications from the Israel-Hamas war may provide an impetus to plans for a pipeline conveying offshore natural gas to Cyprus for processing and shipping to foreign markets, the east Mediterranean island nation’s energy minister said Tuesday.The fighting in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s desire to boost its energy security also lend weight to a proposed 2,000-megawatt undersea electricity cable that would connect the power grids of Israel and Cyprus to the European mainland via Greece, Cypriot Energy Minister George Papanastasiou said.Papanastasiou said Israel’s contacts with Turkey for possible energy cooperation – part and parcel of the Israeli government’s desire to keeping all available options open – may have fallen by the wayside given Turkey’s increasingly harsh criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza.After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told hundreds of thousands of participants a...

Wisconsin GOP proposes ticket fee, smaller state contribution to Brewers stadium repair plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans in the Wisconsin state Senate proposed tweaks Tuesday to their plan to help fund repairs to the Milwaukee Brewers stadium that would scale back the state’s contribution by about $35 million and impose a surcharge on tickets to non-baseball events.The Legislature’s finance committee was set to vote on the changes Wednesday. Approval could set up a floor vote in the Senate as early as next week.The Brewers contend that their stadium, American Family Field, needs extensive repairs. The team argues that the stadium’s glass outfield doors, seats and concourses should be replaced and that luxury suites and the video scoreboard need upgrades. The stadium’s signature retractable roof, fire suppression systems, parking lots, elevators and escalators need work as well, according to the team.Team officials have hinted the Brewers might leave Milwaukee if they don’t get public money for the repairs.The state Assembly last month appr...

Diego Maradona’s heirs win legal battle over use of trademark

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The heirs of the late soccer star Diego Maradona have won a legal battle over the use of his trademark.Maradona had registered his name as a trademark with the European Union Intellectual Property Office in 2008 for a variety of products, clothing, footwear and headgear.The general court of the European Union confirmed Tuesday that it declined to transfer the trademark to Sattvica, an Argentine company belonging to Maradona’s former lawyer.“The documents submitted in support of the request for registration of the transfer do not justify an assignment of the trade mark to that company,” the court said.Maradona died in November 2020 and Sattvica later requested EUIPO to register the transfer of trademark on the basis of two documents issued by Maradona. After EUIPO registered the transfer, Maradona’s heirs had it canceled, and Sattvica asked the EU court to annul the decision.“The Court dismisses Sattvica’s action,” it said in a statement. “It confirms the EUIPO’s asse...

Virginia’s governor declares a state of emergency as firefighters battle wildfires

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency Tuesday as firefighters responded to two wildfires that amid dry conditions and high winds.The declaration allows Virginia to mobilize additional resources, staff and equipment to help with the response, the governor’s office said in a news release. The operation involves the Virginia National Guard, the Department of Forestry, the Department of Emergency Management and other agencies.The Quaker Run Fire in Madison County and the Tuggles Gap fire in Patrick County broke containment lines over the weekend, and officials said additional resources are required to contain these fires and respond to any additional fires.Virginia’s fall fire season runs through Nov. 30, but officials said drought conditions have made these fires challenging to contain. A state of emergency was also declared in a western North Carolina community where a wildfire burned hundreds of acres and threatened homes. Crews are fighting several s...

Mexico’s hurricane reconstruction plans prioritize military barracks, owners left to rebuild hotels

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s government laid out hurricane reconstruction plans Tuesday for the resort of Acapulco that seem to give as much priority to building military barracks as re-opening hotels. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he hoped owners would be able to reopen as many as 35 of the resort’s 377 hotels by March or April, following the destruction of Hurricane Otis, the Category 5 storm that smashed into the city Oct. 25. But his administration plans to build 38 new barracks in the resort for the quasi-military National Guard, in addition to five that already exist there. Each barracks will house 250 Guard troopers, who are recruited from or trained by the army. That would mean between 9,500 and 10,000 Guard troops would be stationed permanently in the resort, about the same number sent there following the hurricane, which caused at least 48 deaths.In the days following the storm’s Oct. 25 landfall, Guard troops proved incapable of stopping days of ransacki...

Military-ruled Myanmar hosts joint naval exercise with Russia, its close ally and top arms supplier

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The military-run Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar is holding its first joint naval exercise with Russia, state media reported Tuesday, with the countries carrying out maneuvers in the Andaman Sea.Reports in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that the maritime security exercise with Russia was being held until Thursday, 157 kilometers (85 miles) west of Myeik in Myanmar’s far south. Some Russian navy vessels sailed from Yangon to take part, state television MRTV reported.The three-day joint drill involves aircraft and naval vessels and focuses on defending against threats from air, sea and land as well as other maritime security measures, the reports said.Russia is a major supporter and arms supplier of Myanmar’s military government, which was installed after the army seized power and ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Russia defends Myanmar’s military government in international forums, and the ruling generals re...

B.C. Indigenous leaders lobby for transition from open-net salmon farms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

OTTAWA — An alliance of British Columbia Indigenous leaders is calling on the federal government to stand firm on plans to transition away from open-net salmon farms in B.C. waters by 2025.Chiefs from across the province are in Ottawa for meetings with federal officials, including Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier (dih-YAN’ lih-boo-TIL’-yay.)Bob Chamberlin, chair of the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, says they told the minister that most B.C. First Nations want the transition.But Chamberlin acknowledges support for the plan isn’t unanimous among Indigenous people in the province, where about a dozen First Nations are involved in the salmon farming industry.Lebouthillier wasn’t immediately available for comment.The B.C. Salmon Farming industry says any debate about the future of salmon farms must include the perspectives of Indigenous people who operate fish farms on their territories.Open-net fish farms off B.C.’s coast are a long-running subj...

Ukrainian children abducted by Russia appeal for Canadian MPs to help

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Ukrainian children abducted by Russia during its assault on their country are sharing the stories of their captivity with Canadian parliamentarians, in hopes they will help rescue others.Members of Parliament were tearful as four teenagers who were forcibly taken from Ukraine to camps in Russia or Russian occupied territories shared their stories with a House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights. The MPs also heard from two parents who were separated from their kids for months before being reunited. The children who testified today were rescued with the help of Save Ukraine, an organization dedicated to repatriating and rehabilitating abducted Ukrainian children. It is unclear how many children have been taken to Russia or territories it controls in Ukraine, but Save the Children says Ukrainian and Russian estimates of that number range from 2,000 to 20,000.Save the Children advocacy manager Kateryna Lytvynenko says Canada can play a role in reuniting abduc...