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EU reverses earlier announcement that it was suspending development aid to Palestinians

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was “immediately” suspending development aid for Palestinian authorities and instead said it would urgently review such assistance in the wake of the attacks on Israel by Hamas to make sure no money was misused.“There will be no suspension of payments” at the moment, a terse European Commission statement said late Monday, five hours after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had said that all payments from the development program for Palestinians would be “immediately suspended. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals … postponed until further notice.”No immediate explanation for the reversal was given. A full European Commission statement always trumps a statement from an EU commissioner, but the reversal on a 691 million-euro ($730 million) program capped an embarrassing day at the EU’s executive at a time of extreme geopolitical sensitivities. Since Satur...

Ted Schwinden, who served two terms as Montana governor, dies at age 98

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Ted Schwinden, a wheat farmer and Word War II veteran who gained national attention for keeping his home phone number listed during two terms as Montana’s governor, has died. He was 98.Schwinden died Saturday in Phoenix at his daughter’s home, son Dore Schwinden said Monday. The cause of death was “old age,” his son said: “He went to sleep in the afternoon and didn’t wake up.”Ted Schwinden was a Democrat who served as Montana’s 19th governor from 1981 and 1989. He and his wife, Jean, opened the governor’s mansion to the public for the first time and often welcomed the public tours in person.The governor periodically drew national attention because he answered his own, listed telephone. Radio talk shows throughout the nation would call him at home for impromptu interviews.“When Ted was on the phone, it was impossible to tell if he was talking to the governor of Oregon or a custodian at the Capitol. Every caller warranted his respect and full a...

19-year-old Minten earns spot on Maple Leafs’ opening night roster

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

The Toronto Maple Leafs are giving Fraser Minten a chance to show what he can do as the rookie forward will start the season in the NHL.Minten broke the news himself while speaking to reporters on Monday. The 19-year-old said general manager Brad Treliving called him on Sunday to say that he would be starting the season in the NHL after an impressive showing during training camp.“It means everything,” the 19-year-old said. “It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I’ve been alive and playing hockey to be in a position like this.”"It means everything, it's been a dream of mine." ????Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 second-round pick Fraser Minten talks about what it means to make the Maple Leafs roster ahead of their season opener against the Montreal Canadiens. pic.twitter.com/AYQz3FFVSl— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 9, 2023Minten was skating on a line with Matthew Knies and Calle Jarnkrok at practice on Monday.Toronto traded forward...

Live updates | Israel’s Netanyahu says offensive against Hamas will ‘reverberate’ for generations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday that Israel’s fierce offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has “only started.” Netanyahu delivered the pronouncement in a nationally televised address as Israel pressed ahead with a third day of heavy airstrikes in Gaza following Hamas’ unprecedented and deadly incursion into Israel.“We have only started striking Hamas,” he said. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”Israel formally declared war on Sunday. The hostilities so far have killed around 900 people in Israel and more than 680 people in Gaza, according to authorities on each side. EUROPEAN UNION REVERSES SUSPENSION OF AID TO PALESTINIAN AUTHORITIESThe European Union late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was immediately suspending aid for Palestinian authorities and instead said it would urgently review such assistance in the wake of the attacks on Is...

‘Frasier’ returns to TV but you don’t need to be a superfan of the original to laugh at its jokes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

You could say Joe Cristalli tweeted his role as co-executive producer and co-showrunner on the new “Frasier” sitcom into existence. About 10 years ago as a fledgling TV writer and “Frasier” super fan, Cristalli started a Twitter account with “random jokes” about the show and character made famous by Kelsey Grammer in the sitcoms “Cheers” and “Frasier.”“It was stupid and nobody cared about it. I think I had maybe 3,000 followers at its height,” he recalled in a recent interview.At this point, “Frasier” had been off the air for 10 years, but Cristalli used it as “an outlet to practice writing because I was such a super fan and I just loved the style of joke-telling, so I would work on it.”A few years later, Cristalli read that Grammer was interested in reviving the character. He had his agent send a sample script and examples from his “Frasier”-centric Twitter feed to Grammer’s team. He was eventually hired alongside “How I Met Your Mother” writer Chris Harris ...

Afghans reel from the earthquake that killed thousands

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

ZINDA JAN, Afghanistan (AP) — People dug through the rubble of the quake in western Afghanistan for their few possessions but the material losses seemed unimportant.Saturday’s 6.3 magnitude quake killed and injured thousands when it leveled an untold number of homes in Herat province. Picking through the rubble on Monday, Asadullah Khan paused to think about a future marred by grief. Khan lost three daughters, his mother and his sister-in-law. Five members of his uncle’s family have died. His neighbors are grief-stricken, too.“We have lost 23 people in this village,” Khan said.Mounds of rubble flank the road winding through Zinda Jan district. Some door frames remain standing. There were few people in sight on Monday.The Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdul Ghani Baradar, and his team visited the quake-affected region Monday to deliver “immediate relief assistance” and ensure “equitable and accurate distribution of aid,” authorities said.Top U.N offici...

Stock market today: Oil prices climb following the latest Gaza war, but stocks rise on rate hopes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are climbing Monday on worries about the possible ramifications of violence in the Middle East. The stock market is less fearful, though, and flipped from early losses to gains. The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in late trading following some potentially encouraging news on interest rates, which have been dragging Wall Street mainly lower since the summer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 195 points, or 0.6%, with less than an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher. All three indexes perked higher after two officials at the Federal Reserve suggested they may not need to raise interest rates again at their next meeting Nov. 1, because a jump in longer-term bond yields may be helping to cool inflation without further market-rattling hikes by the Fed. That gave stocks some oxygen and helped them erase modest losses from the morning. The S&P 500 had sagged by 0.6% in its first trading after Hamas launched a surprise attack...

Human remains found at Toronto’s Cherry Beach

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

Toronto’s homicide unit has been notified after human remains were discovered at Cherry Beach on Monday.Investigators were notified of a suspicious incident at the Port Lands beach, located in the Cherry Street and Unwin Avenue area.Police said they received reports of human remains on the beach at around 10 a.m. on Monday, which was later confirmed by responding officers. The remains were spotted by a passerby, authorities said.The homicide unit has been notified. A police spokesperson said no further details could be provided at this time.An investigation is ongoing.SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT:Cherry Clarke Beach– reports of human remains on the beach– officers o/s have confirmed – Homicide has been notified– no further details to provide at this time– the investigation is ongoing#GO2349570^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) October 9, 2023

Sudan and Iran resume diplomatic relations severed 7 years ago, promising to ‘open embassies soon’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan and Iran announced in a joint statement Monday the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries after a seven-year hiatus.Khartoum cut ties with Tehran in 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy in Iran. The oil-rich kingdom had executed a prominent Shiite cleric with 46 others days earlier, triggering demonstrations and severing Saudi-Iranian relations. At the time, Sudan was a close ally of Saudi Arabia and had deployed troops to fight in the Saudi coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.“Both countries agreed to take the necessary measure to open embassies in the two countries soon,” Sudan’s foreign ministry said in an online statement. Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and his Sudanese counterpart, Ali al-Sadiq, met in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku in July, the first known high-level meeting between the two countries since 2016. “The two sides agreed to enhance...

Israel seals off Gaza after attacks by Hamas; Americans among the dead

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel increased airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and sealed it off from food, fuel, and other supplies in retaliation for a bloody incursion by Hamas militants, as the war's death toll rose to nearly 1,600 on both sides. Hamas also escalated on Monday, pledging to kill captured Israelis if attacks targeted civilians without warnings.The State Department said at least nine American citizens have been killed in the Hamas attack on Israel. It said an undetermined number of American citizens remain unaccounted for. It was not yet clear if the missing are dead, in hiding, or had been taken hostage.In the war's third day, Israel was still finding bodies from Hamas' stunning weekend attack into southern Israeli towns. Rescue workers found 100 bodies in the tiny farming community of Beeri — around 10% of its population — after a long hostage standoff with gunmen. In Gaza, tens of thousands fled their homes as relentless airstrikes leveled buildings. State Departmen...