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Malaysia organizer seeks $2.7 million from British band whose gay kiss got a music festival canceled

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The organizer of a Malaysian music festival is seeking 12.3 million ringgit ($2.7 million) in losses from British band The 1975, after its lead singer’s on-stage protest of the country’s anti-gay laws prompted authorities to shut down the festival, the company’s lawyer said Friday.Future Sound Asia sent a letter to the band on Monday demanding compensation over a breach of contract, said FSA lawyer David Dinesh Mathew.During the July 21 performance, Matty Healy used profanities in his speech criticizing the Malaysian government’s stance against homosexuality, before kissing bassist Ross MacDonald during the opening show at the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur. Footage of the performance was posted on social media and sparked backlash in the predominantly Muslim country. In Malaysia, homosexuality is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison and caning.The government slammed Healy’s conduct, blacklist the band from the cou...

EU climate chief Frans Timmermans is set to lead the center-left bloc into Dutch general elections

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans is the only candidate to lead a merged campaign between two left-leaning parties in the Dutch general election in November, the parties announced Friday.Timmermans, a former Dutch foreign minister who is now the European Union’s climate chief, is set to be confirmed as leader of the Labor Party and Green Left campaign Aug. 22 after a vote by members.In a message Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter, the parties lauded Timmermans as a leader “who gives direction to a green and social course” for the Netherlands. “Who knows how to bridge differences, who wants to restore confidence and who has a clear vision for the future of our country.”Members of the two parties agreed last month to go into the Nov. 22 election with a shared manifesto and one list of candidates in an effort to unite the center-left vote in the splintered Dutch political landscape.The last four ruling Dutch coalitions have been...

Doctors in England walk off job again as pay dispute with UK government shows no progress

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Tens of thousands of doctors in England walked off the job Friday for another four-day stretch, with growing concerns that their bitter pay dispute with the British government will drag on into the winter.The fifth round of strikes by doctors at the early stages of their careers is set to last until 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. Some of the junior doctors on strike started their first jobs in the state-funded National Health Service only days ago.The action by junior doctors, who do much of the routine work in hospitals and who work very long hours, will inevitably add to the backlog at the embattled health service. According to the NHS, the number of procedures and appointments being canceled or rearranged is set to hit 1 million by the time the doctors return to work, at a cost of 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion).The British Medical Association, which represents the approximately 75,000 junior doctors, has been asking for a 35% pay bump to get pay back to 2008 levels once ...

China detains a military group worker suspected of spying for the CIA

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China has detained a worker from a military industrial group on suspicion of spying for the CIA, national security authorities said Friday, adding to the list of public accusations of espionage between Beijing and Washington.The Ministry of State Security, the country’s civilian spy agency, said in a statement that a military industrial worker surnamed Zeng had been providing military secrets to the CIA in exchange for large sums of money.The 52-year-old suspect had been sent to Italy to study by his employer. There, he met “an official with the U.S. embassy,” who later turned out to be a CIA agent, the ministry claimed.“Zeng gradually developed a psychological dependence on (the U.S. official), who took the opportunity to indoctrinate him with Western values,” the statement, posted on the ministry’s WeChat page, read.It added that the U.S. official promised the Chinese suspect large amounts of money and to help his family emigrate to the United States in excha...

Family of US publishing exec killed in Italy boat incident urges full investigation, accountability

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

ROME (AP) — The family of a U.S. publishing executive killed in a boating incident in southern Italy is urging Italian authorities to fully investigate the death and hold accountable anyone responsible.“We are cooperating with the Italian authorities in their investigations, and will continue to do so until they conclude,” said the statement late Thursday to The Associated Press by Mike White, husband of Adrienne Vaughan, on behalf of their family.Vaughan, the 45-year-old president of Bloomsbury Publishing’s U.S. branch, was killed Aug. 3 when the rented motorboat her family had hired slammed into a chartered sailboat off the Amalfi Coast.The motorboat’s skipper is under investigation for suspected manslaughter and causing a shipwreck, prosecutors have said. No charges have yet been announced.Salerno Prosecutor Giuseppe Borrelli said Aug. 5 that Vaughan was sunning herself on the boat’s bow and bounced into the water at the moment of impact. Two doctors who were among the pass...

A local train hits a truck at a crossing in central Poland, injuring 22 people

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A local train hit a truck at a railway crossing in central Poland, leaving 22 people injured, firefighters said Friday. Four of those injured in the crash near Dalanowek were hospitalized, one in very serious condition who was taken by air ambulance, according to Janusz Majewski, deputy head of the regional firefighters. The firefighters posted photos on their Facebook showing the single-carriage local train with a damaged nose and the almost untouched cabin of the otherwise mangled truck, at a small crossing among fields. It was unclear whether anyone was injured in the truck, but train passengers and the driver were among those hurt.Accidents caused by trucks forcing priority at rural railway crossings are not infrequent in Poland. The Associated Press

Greece launches a rescue effort for scores of migrants on a stranded yacht

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A rescue operation is underway to assist more than 100 migrants believed to be on board a stranded yacht off the southern coast of Greece, authorities said Friday.Four civilian vessels were ordered to provide assistance while three coast guard boats were heading to the area, south of the Peloponnese region. A navy helicopter was helping coordinate the effort.The incident occurred near the site of a maritime tragedy in mid-June when hundreds of migrants died or went missing after a fishing trawler sank in international waters while traveling from Libya to Italy.Also Friday, a second search operation was underway off the island of Rhodes to look for potentially missing passengers after 22 migrants were rescued from a stranded sailboat.Turkey-based smugglers in recent years have favored the longer and more dangerous route to Italy in an attempt to bypass Greek coast guard patrols. ___Follow AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migrationThe Asso...

Cyprus is sending Syrian migrants back to Lebanon. The UN is concerned but Cypriots say it’s lawful

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency said Friday it was “extremely concerned” over the return of more than 100 Syrian nationals from Cyprus to Lebanon without being screened to determine whether they need legal protection and who may be deported back to their war-wracked homeland.The UNHCR office in Cyprus said deportations and transfers between states “without legal and procedural safeguards for persons who may be in need of international protection” are against international and European law.Such transfers could result in people sent back to a country where “they may face the risk of persecution, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm,” the agency told the Associated Press.The 109 migrants had all reached Cyprus aboard three separate boats between Jul. 29-Aug. 2 before being returned by boat under Cyprus police escort. The Cyprus government said such returns are being lawfully carried out in line with a bilateral...

Videos show winds whip flames through Maui and the deadly aftermath

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (KHON) - New videos show how devastating the Maui fires were due to the strength of the winds. The videos show the scary moments when residents realized they had to evacuate or possibly burn. Some were stuck on the roadway with no communication, grabbing pets and loved ones in the seconds they had to evacuate. Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched brush covering the island and then flattening homes and anything else that lay in its path. Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said the fire moved so quickly from brush to neighborhood that it was impossible to get messages to the emergency management agencies responsible for emergency alerts.The wildfire is already the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people on the Big Island. During a Thursday p...

Austin Police investigating deadly crash at Riverside and Congress

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:34 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Police said one person died Friday morning in a crash at the intersection of East Riverside Drive and South Congress Avenue, just south of Downtown Austin. Police said the driver stayed on the scene of the crash, which occurred around 3:30 a.m. According to police, it appeared to be an auto-pedestrian crash. Austin-Travis County EMS said on social media an adult was pronounced dead on the scene, and no other patients were involved. Police told KXAN one lane of Riverside Drive was closed at Congress due to the crash. This is a breaking story. Please stay with KXAN News Today and KXAN.com for updates.