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Pakistan announces big crackdown on migrants in the country illegally, including 1.7 million Afghans

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s government announced a major crackdown Tuesday on migrants in the country illegally, saying it would expel them starting next month and raising alarm among foreigners without documentation who include an estimated 1.7 million Afghans.The country’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said the crackdown was not aimed at Afghans and would apply to all nationalities, though the vast majority of migrants in the country are Afghans.The campaign comes amid strained relations between Pakistan and neighboring, Taliban-led Afghanistan over what the Pakistani government says are attacks in Pakistan by Taliban-allied militants who go back and forth across the countries’ shared 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border and who find shelter in Afghanistan.Bugti said that any migrants in Pakistan illegally should go back to their countries voluntarily before the end of October to avoid mass arrest and forced deportation. He said the government planned to confiscate the ...

TikTok ends retail business in Indonesia after ban on social media shopping

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — TikTok said it will halt its online retail operation in Indonesia on Wednesday to comply with the country’s decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms — a big blow to the video platform’s fastest-growing market.The Indonesian government announced the new regulation, which prohibits social media companies from facilitating sales of products on their platforms, on Sept. 28 in a bid to protect small businesses from e-commerce competition, accusing the popular apps and websites of predatory pricing.The Chinese-owned video sharing app said in a statement it will stop facilitating e-commerce sales in TikTok Shop Indonesia by 5 p.m. Wednesday.“Our priority is to remain compliant with local laws and regulations,” said the statement released Tuesday on its website.Indonesia’s Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the ban aims to “prevent the domination of the algorithm and prevent the use of personal data in business interests” and &#...

Global Red Cross urges ouster of Belarus chapter chief over the deportation of Ukrainian children

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The international Red Cross is calling for the ouster of the head of the Belarus Red Cross, who stirred international outrage for boasting that it was actively ferrying Ukrainian children from Russian-controlled areas to Belarus.The board of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Wednesday it has given the Belarus chapter until Nov. 30 to dismiss Dzmitry Shautsou, and if not, will recommend all affiliates to halt new partnerships and funding for the Belarus branch — which would be suspended from the global organization.An internal IFRC probe found that the Belarus Red Cross said Shautsou was “found to be solely responsible for the allegations.” It also determined that another organization was responsible for moving children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, and the Belarus Red Cross’ involvement was only within Belarus. It did not specify the other organization.Belarus has been Moscow’s closest ally since Russia’s invasion...

Russia says it has foiled a major Ukrainian drone attack as concerns grow about weapons supplies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones in a nighttime attack on border regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, in what appeared to be Kyiv’s largest single cross-border drone assault reported by Moscow since it launched its invasion 20 months ago.The Defense Ministry didn’t provide any evidence for its claims nor any details about whether there were any damage or casualties.It also said Russian aircraft thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to deploy a group of soldiers by sea to the western side of Russian-annexed Crimea.The force attempted to land on Cape Tarkhankut, on Crimea’s western end, using a high-speed boat and three jet skis, the ministry said.Moscow’s claims could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target of Ukrainian attacks. The region has been the key hub supporting the invasion.Ukraine is pressing on with a slo...

In the news today: Regimental funeral today for B.C. Mountie, NDP victory in Manitoba

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Funeral today for B.C. Mountie Rick O’BrienA regimental funeral, including a procession and final salute, will be held for RCMP Const. Rick O’Brien today in Langley, B.C.O’Brien, who was 51, died Sept. 22 while he and other officers were executing a search warrant at a home in Coquitlam. He was shot and died at the scene, while two other officers and the suspect were injured.A 25-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in O’Brien’s death. NDP to form government in ManitobaManitobans are waking up today to a new government and the first First Nations provincial premier in the country.The New Democrats and Leader Wab Kinew defeated the Progressive Conservatives to form a majority government, which resulted in the resignation of the other two main party leaders. Heather Stefanson announced she would step down after lead...

Pope Francis opens a big Vatican meeting on the church’s future and says ‘everyone’ is welcome

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis opened a big meeting on the future of the Catholic Church on Wednesday by saying it was in need of repair to make it a place of welcome for “everyone, everyone, everyone,” not a rigid barricade riven by fears and ideology.Francis presided over a solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Square to formally open the meeting, which progressives are hoping will lead to more women in leadership roles and conservatives are warning could split the church.Rarely in recent times has a Vatican gathering generated as much hope, hype and fear as this three-week, closed-door meeting, known as a synod. It won’t make any binding decisions and is only the first session of a two-year process. But it nevertheless has drawn an acute battle line in the church’s perennial left-right divide and marks a defining moment for Francis and his reform agenda.In his homily, Francis acknowledged the ideological divisions at play but urged the faithful to put them aside and instead listen t...

Firefighters work until dawn to remove wreckage of bus carrying tourists in Venice; 21 dead

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

VENICE (AP) — Firefighters worked until dawn Wednesday to remove the wreckage of a bus that crashed in a borough of Venice, Italy, across the lagoon from its historic center, killing 21 people and injuring at least 15, mostly foreign tourists returning to a nearby camping site. The victims included at least four Ukrainians and a German citizen, according to Venice prefecture. Injured people, including five in serious condition, included French, Spanish and Croatian nationals, local officials said.At least two of the dead were children, Venice prefect Michele Di Bari said, adding that many of the people involved in the accident were “young.” The bus — which was new and electric — was carrying foreign tourists when it fell from an elevated street on Tuesday evening, catching fire. The shuttle was connecting Piazzale Roma, in Venice’s historic center, to the Hu campground in Marghera, another borough of Venice neighbouring Mestre. The Italian driver, Alberto Rizzotto, was killed ...

Funeral for B.C. Mountie Rick O’Brien, 51, killed while serving search warrant

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

LANGLEY, B.C. — A regimental funeral, including a procession and final salute, will be held for RCMP Const. Rick O’Brien today in Langley, B.C.O’Brien, who was 51, died Sept. 22 while he and other officers were executing a search warrant at a home in Coquitlam. He was shot and died at the scene, while two other officers and the suspect were injured.O’Brien came to the Mounties late in life, joining in 2016 after a career of working with at-risk children, but it wasn’t long before he was decorated for bravery for helping to rescue victims from a home invasion. Supt. Wendy Mehat, the officer in charge at Ridge Meadows RCMP, where the officer spent all of his career, said after O’Brien was killed that he loved visiting schools and helping students, while calling his death senseless and heartbreaking.A 25-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in O’Brien’s death. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2023....

‘It’s a new party’: How Conservatives try to rebuild trust among Muslim communities

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

OTTAWA — When Pierre Poilievre pitches the Conservative party to Muslim Canadians, he talks about “faith, family and freedom.”For months he has been pointing out what he sees as their overlapping values during visits to mosques, at community celebrations, with businesses and in conversations with ethnic media outlets.It’s part of an effort to grow the party’s presence, particularly in larger cities that are home to many racialized Canadians whose support for the Conservatives plummeted during the final months of Stephen Harper’s government and his divisive 2015 campaign. Poilievre has also fine-tuned his message to appeal to growing concerns from some parents, echoed by several prominent Muslim organizations, about what their children are learning about LGBTQ+ issues in schools. He is gaining some traction with his acknowledgment of such worries, but whether he will take action through party policy remains unclear, given his firm view that education is ...

Mischief and armed assault in Montreal as residents protest new bike lanes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:34 GMT

MONTREAL — Xavier Richard says he was taking a stroll through his Montreal neighbourhood last week when he noticed a pedestrian hunched over in one of the area’s new bike lanes.Richard approached to offer assistance. That’s when he saw the thumbtacks — more than 100 strewn across the path. He spent the next few minutes helping the stranger, who had stopped to pick them up.“The climate is tense,” Richard said of recent politics in the Park Extension neighbourhood, northwest of downtown. He said he doesn’t know how the thumbtacks got there, or who may have dropped them, but he suspects it was a deliberate act. “There’s animosity that’s particularly brought on by opponents of bikes or the bike path.”In bike-friendly Montreal, opposition to new cycling lanes in Park Extension and the nearby St-Michel neighbourhood has been notably fervent: groups of residents have organized protests, and police have reported instances of mischief, armed assault and ob...