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US announces punitive measures over concerns that Cambodia’s elections were ‘neither free nor fair’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s longtime ruling party on Monday lauded its landslide victory in weekend elections as a clear mandate for the next five years. The United States said the party’s stifling of the opposition meant the vote could not be considered free or fair and that Washington was taking punitive measures.Autocratic leader Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party won 120 of 125 available seats in Sunday’s elections, according to preliminary results.The 70-year-old, who has been in power for 38 years, has said he plans to hand the prime minister’s job off to his oldest son, 45-year-old Hun Manet, who is Cambodia’s army chief and won his first parliamentary seat on Sunday.The handover is part of what is expected to be a broad generational change in top positions for the CPP. And while it is not yet clear exactly when Hun Manet might take over, Hun Sen has suggested it could be as early as within the next month.On his Facebook pa...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises ahead of what’s hoped to be the last Fed rate hike in a while

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is ticking higher Monday to start a week full of updates on where interest rates and profits for some of the stock market’s most influential companies are heading.The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in morning trading, coming off its eighth winning week in the last 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 158 points, or 0.5%, at 35,386, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.Becton Dickinson jumped 7.5% for the largest gain in the S&P 500 after it said it will return to full commercial operations for its updated Alaris infusion system after earlier recalls. It received a clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the system, which delivers medications and other products to patients.Domino’s Pizza was 0.1% higher after swinging between gains and losses on a mixed earnings report for the spring. Its profit for the latest quarter topped expectations, but its revenue fell short after customers ordered less tha...

TC Energy selling 40 per cent stake in Columbia gas and gulf pipelines

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

CALGARY — TC Energy Corp. is selling 40 per cent of its Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission systems to New York City-based Global Infrastructure Partners for $5.2 billion.The Calgary-based company says in a press release it will continue to operate the pipelines, while both companies will jointly fund annual maintenance, modernization and growth to further capacity and reliability.It says it expects Global Infrastructure Partners’ share of capital expenditures to average more than $1.3 billion annually over the next three years.The pipelines span more than 24,000 kilometres across North America, delivering a substantial portion of daily U.S. natural gas demand, including approximately 20 per cent of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export supply.TC Energy president and CEO François Poirier says the sale marks a “major milestone” in achieving the company’s 2023 strategic priorities, which includes divesting more than $5 billion in assets b...

Greta Thunberg defiant after Swedish court fines her for disobeying police during climate protest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

MALMÖ, Sweden (AP) — A Swedish court on Monday fined climate activist Greta Thunberg for disobeying police during an environmental protest at an oil facility last month.Thunberg, 20, admitted to the facts but denied guilt, saying the fight against the fossil fuel industry was a form of self-defense due to the existential and global threat of the climate crisis.“We cannot save the world by playing by the rules,” she told journalists after hearing the verdict, vowing she would “definitely not” back down.The court rejected her argument and fined her 2,500 kronor (about $240).Charges were brought against Thunberg and several other youth activists from the Reclaim the Future movement for refusing a police order to disperse after blocking road access to an oil terminal in the southern Swedish city of Malmö on June 19.“If the court sees our actions of self-defense as a crime, that’s how it is,” said Irma Kjellström, a spokesperson for Reclaim the Future who was also present at the June pro...

Eight people burn to death in southern Nigeria after gasoline tanker explodes, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A tanker exploded in Nigeria’s southern Ondo state on Monday, burning eight people to death, the road safety agency said.The tanker was carrying gasoline and exploded while the victims were trying to extract the much sought-after fuel, according to Ezekiel Sonallah, head of the Federal Road Safety Corps in Ondo.Sonallah said the driver lost control of the tanker on Sunday and veered off the road and crashed in Ondo’s Odigbo district. Both the driver and his assistant escaped unscathed. He said that the “problem was the scooping,” hinting it was the reason for the explosion.Authorities said all the victims were burned beyond recognition and couldn’t be identified.Scooping fuel from tanker accident scenes has often resulted in deaths in parts of Nigeria. It has continued this year with the price of gasoline more than doubling since June 1 after the West African nation’s new President Bola Tinubu ended the decades-long gasoline. Fatal truck accidents are als...

An Arizona woman died after her power was cut over a $51 debt. That forced utilities to change

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Stephanie Pullman died on a sweltering Arizona day after her electricity was cut off because of a $51 debt.Five years later, the 72-year-old’s story remains at the heart of efforts to prevent others in Arizona from having their power cut off, leaving them without life-saving air conditioning in temperatures that have topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) on every day this month.“Stephanie Pullman was the face of the fight that helped put the disconnect rules in place for the big, regulated utilities in Arizona,” said Stacey Champion, an advocate who pushed for new regulations. “But we need more.”Arizona Public Service, known as APS, disconnected Pullman’s power in September 2018 at a time when outside temperatures in her retirement community west of Phoenix reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41.6 Celsius). Just days before, a $125 payment was made toward Pullman’s past-due bill of $176.Her body was found inside her home during a subsequent ...

Boat slams into house at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, injuring 8 who were on board

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

LAKE OZARK, Mo. (AP) — Eight people were hospitalized after a boat left the water and slammed into a house at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.The 47-year-old driver of the boat was arrested on suspicion of boating under the influence but had not been charged as of Monday morning.The accident happened just before midnight Saturday in the main channel of the sprawling central Missouri lake, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. The boat ran aground and struck a large house that sits near the water, badly smashing an exterior wall. The boat flipped over, ejecting everyone.Six of the eight people on the boat were seriously injured and two were moderately injured. It wasn’t immediately clear if the home was occupied, but no injuries were reported from the home.The accident remains under investigation.The Associated Press

UN chief urges Russia to revive grain deal with Ukraine, warning ‘the most vulnerable’ will suffer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

ROME (AP) — The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged Russia to resume the internationally-brokered deal so grain can be shipped from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, saying otherwise the world’s most vulnerable among the hungry will suffer the worst consequences.The U.N. chief made the call during a speech in Rome at the opening of a three-day food systems summit. With the recent collapse of the Ukraine-Russia grain deal, “the most vulnerable will pay the highest price,” Guterres said. He lamented that there are already negative effects on global wheat and corn prices, although he cited no figures.Both Russia and Ukraine are “essential to global food security,” the U.N. leader said. He noted that they have historically accounted for 30% of global wheat and barley exports, a fifth of all maize and more than half of all sunflower oil.“For my part, I remain committed to facilitating unimpeded access to global markets for food products and ...

Morocco shifts focus to next game after a big loss in its Women’s World Cup debut

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Morocco’s debut game at the Women’s World Cup ended in a 6-0 loss to two-time champion Germany in what head coach Reynald Pedros described as a “David versus Goliath” contest.Germany is ranked No. 2 and the Atlas Lionesses are No. 72 and the first Arab or North African team to qualify. The margin of defeat on Monday was the biggest so far at the tournament where Morocco is one of eight teams on debut. Pedros has made it clear the opening game is now history, and Morocco’s focus must shift swiftly to the next game against South Korea.“Our objective is obviously to as quickly as possible get back to work,” he said. “We’re still going to stay positive, that’s extremely important.”A large contingent of Morocco fans, many gathered in the southwest corner of the stadium in Melbourne, cheered vocally for the recent Africa Cup of Nations finalists.“We were coming up against a team that’s extremely high level,” Pedros said. “We could have a...

First lawsuit filed on behalf of female Northwestern University athlete as hazing scandal widens

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:59 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The hazing scandal at Northwestern University has widened to include a volleyball player who on Monday became the first female athlete to sue the university over allegations she was retaliated against by the coach for reporting her mistreatment.The player, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, says she was physically harmed to the point of requiring medical attention during a hazing incident in early 2021.According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe contracted COVID-19 in February of that year, despite following the team’s COVID guidelines. Despite this, she says, Northwestern volleyball coach Shane Davis and an assistant coach informed her she would need to undergo a “punishment” for violating the guidelines. A day later, on March 2, 2021, the coaches permitted the volleyball team’s captains to pick the punishment: She was forced to run “suicides” in the gym while diving to the floor each time she reached a line on the court. As she did this, the suit says, volleyball coachin...