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Flashpoint in Israel: Divide between religious and secular Jews heats up under Netanyahu’s rule

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

HARISH, Israel (AP) — The sound of children and music echoed down a narrow basement hallway in Israel as they scrambled in a pool of balls, climbed on a jungle gym, munched popcorn and laughed.The atmosphere changed suddenly on that Saturday last month, as at least a dozen religious men appeared and blocked the entrance, accusing the indoor playground of desecrating the Jewish sabbath by opening for business. Angry parents confronted them, scuffles broke out and in an instant, the center in this mixed city had become a flashpoint symbol of a larger battle between secular and religious Jews in Israel.“I think it represents what’s going on in the country,” said Tzipi Brayer Sharabi, a 38-year-old mother who says she was attacked and thrown to the ground during the May 20 incident. “I want my kids to live how they choose to live. I don’t want somebody to tell them how they should eat, how they should dress, what they should do on Shabbat.”Similar incidents have long u...

EU makes fresh attempt to overcome yearslong crisis over migrants

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union interior ministers on Thursday made a fresh attempt to overcome one of the bloc’s most intractable political problems as they weighed new measures for sharing out responsibility for migrants entering Europe without authorization.Europe’s asylum system collapsed eight years ago after well over a million people entered — most of them fleeing conflict in Syria — and overwhelmed reception capacities in Greece and Italy, in the process sparking one of the EU’s biggest political crises.The 27 EU nations have bickered ever since over which countries should take responsibility for people arriving without authorization, and whether other members should be obliged to help them cope.Arriving for the meeting in Luxembourg, the EU’s top migration official, Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said it was an “extremely important day” to resolve what has “been a marathon” issue for Europe.“Of this marathon, we have maybe 100 meters left. So, we are so close to ac...

Pope spends first night in hospital after surgery to remove intestinal scar tissue, repair hernia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis awoke Thursday after a good first night in the hospital following a three-hour operation to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in his abdominal wall, problems that developed following previous surgeries.“The night went well,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement early Thursday, adding further updates would be released later.Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of abdominal and endocrine sciences at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said Wednesday’s operation was successful and there were no complications or other pathologies discovered. Alfieri, who also removed part of Francis’ colon in 2021, told an evening press conference that the pope was awake, alert and even joking.“When will we do the third one?” he quoted Francis as saying.The pontiff was expected to remain in the 10th floor papal suite at Gemelli for several days, and all papal audiences were canceled through June 18. The Vatican was expected to provide a medical update later Thur...

Australian man sentenced to 9 years in prison for gay American’s 1988 manslaughter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — An Australian man who admitted to killing a gay American by punching him off a cliff top in Sydney in 1988 was sentenced on Thursday to nine years in prison.Scott Phillip White, 52, had pleaded guilty in the New South Wales state Supreme Court to Los Angeles-born Scott Johnson’s manslaughter.White had pleaded guilty last year to the then-27-year-old’s murder — a greater crime — and had been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. But he changed his mind and had the murder conviction overturned on appeal.Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.Having already served part of his sentence, White will be eligible for release on parole in 2026.“Not much is known of the death beyond a punch on a cliff, a fall from a cliff and decades of pain and grief that followed,” Justice Robert Beech-Jones said during sentencing on Thursday.On Dec. 10, 1988, White met Johnson at a pub and the pair went for a walk around North Head, which was known at the time to be a popula...

Israel demolishes home of Palestinian suspect in Jerusalem attacks that killed 2

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army said on Thursday that it demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian involved in twin bombings in Jerusalem that killed two and wounded at least 18 others in November.Israeli authorities arrested Islam Faroukh in December on suspicion of carrying out the bombings, part of a more than year-long surge in violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.The army released video footage showing troops closing off the area and carrying out small controlled explosions, destroying an apartment in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah early on Tuesday. The army said people threw rocks and fire bombs at troops, who returned fire. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported one Palestinian was moderately wounded by Israeli gunfire and treated at a local hospital.Israel demolishes the homes of attackers in an attempt to deter others, a tactic critics say amounts to collective punishment.The attack in November came after months of relentless violence in the West B...

France's last surviving D-Day commando joins 79th anniversary beach landing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of the French commandos who stormed the Normandy beaches defended by Hitler's troops in 1944, on Tuesday (6 June) joined President Emmanuel Macron at a seafront ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the D-Day landings.Gautier, 100, presented a student marine commando with his green beret at a passing out parade at Colleville-Montgomery, near where a 21-year-old Gautier had landed on Sword Beach in a hail of enemy fire.Gautier was one of 177 French green berets under the command of Captain Philippe Kieffer who took part in the Normandy landings. More than 150,000 allied troops invaded France to drive out Nazi Germany forces.At Tuesday's ceremony, the young marine knelt down on one knee to allow Gautier, sat in a wheelchair to Macron's side, to straighten his beret.In 2019, Gautier recounted on the occasion of the 75th D-Day anniversary how French troops had been the first to wade chest-deep onto Sword Beach."Your honour," Gautier recalled Br...

1 dead, 2 hospitalized after car jumps curb, crashes into Chase Bank building

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

Personnel with the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles where a vehicle drove onto the sidewalk, struck several pedestrians, killing one of them, before crashing into a building. Crews were dispatched to 6161 West Pico Boulevard, near La Cienega Boulevard at around 5:28 p.m. after receiving calls about the crash.  At the scene, firefighters found at least two of the three pedestrians pinned beneath a black Hyundai sedan after the driver jumped the curb onto the sidewalk, striking the three victims and crashing into a Chase Bank building. A 48-year-old female and a 51-year-old male were taken to the hospital in serious condition. The man later succumbed to his injuries. A 19-year-old male was also taken to to the hospital in fair condition, according to an LAFD news release. "They are all family members, all related," Cpt. Ben Fernandes, with the Los Angeles Police Department, said of the three victims. The driver of the vehicle...

French pension reform opponents push for repeal bill but are unlikely to succeed

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

Opponents of French President Emmanuel Macron’s retirement reform have tried mass protests, damaging strikes and constitutional challenges to stop it. Now they are trying one last move: a new bill to repeal it. But Macron’s centrist party is trying to outmaneuver the opposition, whose proposal has almost no chance of success.On Thursday French lawmakers are debating an opposition bill which aims to return the retirement age to 62 — it went up to 64 with Macron’s unpopular reform. Legislators from centrist opposition group LIOT proposed the text, supported by leftists and the far-right.Macron’s centrist party doesn’t have a majority in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, but it has allied with some Republican lawmakers to push back the opposition’s efforts. As a result, the key article stipulating the retirement age was removed from the bill when it was reviewed by the Social Affairs Committee last week.Opposition lawmakers planned to restore the previous retirement...

Replacement plane for Air India flight lands in San Francisco after being diverted to Russia

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A replacement plane for an Air India flight diverted to Russia because of an engine problem has landed in San Francisco, carrying all passengers and crew.The original Boeing 777, which left New Delhi carrying 216 passengers and 16 crew members, landed at Magadan airport in Siberia in Russia’s far east on Tuesday. The plane had “developed a technical issue with one of its engines,” Air India said.The replacement plane arrived in San Francisco at 12:07 a.m. Thursday local time, the airline said in a statement.In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said fewer than 50 American citizens were on the plane and the department was not aware of any of them reaching out to the U.S. Embassy in Russia or other diplomatic posts.Passenger Girvaan Singh Kahma, 16, who was traveling with his uncle and brother, said they were barred from leaving the hostel in Magadan and were unable to use their credit cards because of sanctions over Russia’s war on Ukra...

Malaysia, Indonesia end 18-year sea border disputes, vow to cooperate in defending palm oil industry

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:25:00 GMT

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia and Indonesia signed agreements Thursday that ended longstanding maritime border disputes and vowed to bolster cooperation to fight “highly detrimental discriminatory” measures against palm oil.Visiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim witnessed the signing of two landmark treaties on the delimitation of the nations’ territorial seas in parts of the Straits of Malacca and the Sulawesi Sea. Other signed pacts included plans to improve border crossings, strengthen border trade and promote investment.“After 18 years of negotiations … praise be to God, it has finally been resolved,” Widodo told a joint news conference, in reference to the sea treaties. Widodo arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday accompanied by his wife and Cabinet ministers after a short visit to Singapore. His two-day visit reciprocates Anwar’s trip to Indonesia in January, shortly after Anwar took office. In a joint statement ...