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Lucas: Questions remain on Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

Nikki Haley, should she become president, ought to appoint her husband as her chief military advisor.He could not do any worse than what we have now.He is South Carolina Army National Guard Maj. Michael Haley who is currently deployed with his unit in Africa in support of the U.S. Africa Command. It is Haley’s second deployment, following the first in Afghanistan in 2016.If elected, President Haley could bring him home, make him a general and rely on him to tell her and the American people the truth.That way she and the American people could at least hope for some accountability surrounding President Joe Biden’s deadly, chaotic and embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan two years ago.They are certainly not getting it now.  What they are getting, instead is a massive coverup from Biden and the Pentagon.  Their posture is that these things just happen, you see, and nobody is to blame, even as the country observes the second anniversary of that disaster with no answers.Thirteen Ameri...

German Chancellor Scholz tweets picture of himself with black eye patch after jogging accident

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday tweeted a pirate-style picture of himself with a black eye patch and dark-red bruises on the right side of his face — the result of a jogging accident on the weekend. “Am excited to see the memes,” the chancellor wrote in the caption. To deflect any possible worries about his health, on the photo, which appears to have been taken at the chancellery, Scholz smiled slightly and also wrote: “Thanks for the well wishes, it looks worse than it is!”Scholz fell while jogging on Saturday and sustained bruises to his face, prompting him to cancel some appointments this weekend, the government said.His spokesperson told reporters in Berlin later on Monday that the chancellor was doing well considering the circumstances.“He was in quite a good mood this morning, but still looks a bit battered,” Steffen Hebestreit said adding that the photo was published “so that everyone can get used to how he will look in the next week or two.”On Sunday, the 65-ye...

Biden heads to Philadelphia for a Labor Day parade and is expected to speak about unions’ importance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, who often says he’s the most pro-union president in history, is heading to Philadelphia on Monday for the annual Tri-State Labor Day Parade. The Democratic president is expected to speak about the importance of unions in the United States and how the economy is recovering from the crippling coronavirus pandemic. Labor Day, a holiday honoring workers, comes as the U.S. has added jobs and more people have begun looking for work, the most since January, all news Biden is eager to highlight as he seeks reelection in 2024. “As we head into Labor Day, we ought to take a step back and take note of the fact that America is now in one of the strongest job-creating periods in our history,” Biden said Friday from the Rose Garden, where he spoke after the news that America’s employers added 187,000 jobs in August, evidence of a slowing but still-resilient labor market despite the high interest rates the Federal Reserve has imposed. Friday...

Francis opens clinic on the first papal visit to Mongolia. He says it’s about charity not conversion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Pope Francis wrapped up the first-ever papal visit to Mongolia on Monday by inaugurating a church-run homeless clinic and shelter, insisting that such initiatives aren’t aimed at winning converts but are simply exercises in Christian charity.Francis toured the House of Mercy, a three-story structure housed in an old school, which the local church has opened as an expression of the roots that it has taken in the three decades that the Catholic Church has had an official presence in Mongolia. It was the final event of an historic four-day visit to a region where the Holy See has long sought to make inroads.Several of the foreign-staffed Catholic religious orders in Mongolia run shelters, orphanages and nursing homes to care for a population of 3.3 million where one in three people lives in poverty. But the new clinic for homeless people, people with disabilities and victims of domestic violence is aimed at showing the outreach of the Mongolian Catholic Chu...

Turkey’s president meets Russia’s Putin and aims to revive the wartime Ukraine grain export deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began on Monday with the Turkish leader seeking to persuade Russia to revive an agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain and other commodities from three Black Sea ports.Putin in July refused to extend the agreement, which was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations a year earlier. Russia complained that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored. It said restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade even though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.Opening the talks, Putin said he was open to discussing the grain deal, among other issues.The two leaders met in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the Russian president has a residence. A lot is riding on the talks for the world food supply. The meeting takes place against a backdrop of more than 18 months of war and Ukraine...

France’s World Cup preparations disturbed by calls to drop Chalureau in racism controversy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

Only days before the Rugby World Cup starts in France, the home team’s preparations for the tournament have been disrupted by calls to remove one of its players because of a historic racism charge.The controversy started over the weekend after injured lock Paul Willemse was replaced in France’s 33-man squad by Bastien Chalureau.Chalureau’s inclusion was immediately questioned by several left-wing French lawmakers, who said they will ask Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra to intervene and make sure the player would not be selected because of a sentencing back in 2020 for racially motivated acts of violence.At the time, Chalureau was tried for an assault on two rugby players, Yannick Larguet and Nassim Arif. Although he admitted to the violence, Chalureau denied the racist nature of the attack and has appealed the six-month suspended prison sentence he was handed.“I’ve got all kinds of stories where I’ve been a jerk, that I accept. But racist? Never,” he told L’Equipe newspape...

Malaysian court unexpectedly dismisses dozens of graft charges against deputy prime minister

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian court on Monday dismissed 47 corruption charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi after prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the charges at an advanced stage of his trial.Zahid said the High Court approved the prosecutors’ application for a dismissal but refused to grant him a full acquittal, which means he can still be recharged. But he said he was grateful that the “politically motivated accusations against me have ended.”Zahid heads the United Malays National Organization, and his support has been pivotal in helping Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim form a unity government after last November’s general election led to a hung Parliament. Zahid’s dismissal could further hurt the anti-corruption stance of Anwar’s government. Opposition leaders have alleged that Zahid supported Anwar so the charges against him could be dropped. Monday’s court ruling came just weeks after local elections in which the Islamist-Malay nationalis...

Dutch Afghanistan veteran Hanke Bruins Slot set to be appointed top diplomat in caretaker Cabinet

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Hanke Bruins Slot, a veteran who served with the Dutch military in Afghanistan, is to become the Netherlands’ new foreign minister. She will replace Wopke Hoekstra, who is in line to become a European Union commissioner.Bruins Slot has been interior minister in the caretaker administration of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte that will remain in power until a new coalition is formed after a general election on Nov. 22. Polls suggest her party will suffer a heavy defeat in the election.Her Christian Democrat Appeal party put her forward Monday and the appointment was expected to be confirmed later in the day. “As an Afghanistan veteran and the secretary of state in charge of (military) intelligence and security, Hanke is more than qualified to make this move to the Foreign Ministry,” Christian Democrat leader Henri Bontenbal said in a statement.As foreign minister, Bruins Slot will be closely involved in the Netherlands’ support for Ukraine....

‘Hold the line:’ ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizers’ criminal trial begins Tuesday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

OTTAWA — As Tamara Lich was led away from supporters in handcuffs on the snowy streets of Ottawa in 2022, she threw a single phrase over her shoulder.“Hold the line,” said the petite figurehead of the “Freedom Convoy” movement as the officers at each of her elbows walked her to the waiting cruiser. She was echoing the words shouted by of one of her supporters in a scene that was captured on video and circulated online the eve before hundreds of police moved in.Officers spent the next two days dislodging protesters from the streets around Parliament Hill. But that parting phrase, which would go on to become the title of Lich’s recently published book, is likely to be at the heart of her criminal trial. Lich and follow convoy organizer Chris Barber are scheduled to stand trial in Ottawa starting Tuesday for their role in the three-week protest that overtook the streets around downtown and sparked a national emergency declaration.In the final days of the d...

Accusers in Japanese boy band producer’s sex scandal say they hope for apology, compensation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:15 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A group of men who say they were sexually abused by a Japanese boy band producer expressed hope Monday that the company will provide financial compensation and introduce measures to prevent a recurrence. They say producer Johnny Kitagawa sexually preyed on young dancers and singers for decades, having them stay at his luxury home, handing them cash and leveraging promises of potential fame. The company, Johnny & Associates, is a powerful force in Japan’s entertainment industry.The men said at a news conference Monday that they have been ignored for decades by the company, Japanese society and mainstream media.Company Chief Executive Julie Keiko Fujishima released a brief statement on YouTube in May about the accusations but has not appeared before reporters. The company has set a news conference for Thursday.“We want Julie to apologize, as the chief executive and company owner,” said Shimon Ishimaru, one of nine men who have formed a group demanding an apology...