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Some GOP candidates want to use force against Mexico to stop fentanyl. Experts say that won’t work

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Ron DeSantis wants suspected drug smugglers at the U.S.-Mexico border to be shot dead. Nikki Haley promises to send American special forces into Mexico. Vivek Ramaswamy has accused Mexico’s leader of treating drug cartels as his “sugar daddy” and says that if he is elected president, “there will be a new daddy in town.”Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 nomination and long the person who has shaped his party’s rhetoric on the border, has often blamed Mexico for problems in the United States and promises new uses of military force and covert action if he returns to the White House.Many of the GOP presidential candidates say they would use military force against Mexico in response to the trafficking of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. More than 75,000 people in the U.S. died last year from overdoses of synthetic opioids, an annual figure more than 20 times higher than a decade ago.The candidates’ antagonism toward Mexico is welco...

Death toll from floods in Cameroon’s capital reaches 27 as search for missing continues

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — At least 27 people were killed and more than 50 were injured in floods set off by heavy rains in Cameroon’s capital, authorities said Monday as rescuers intensified the search for those missing following the deluge the previous day.The rains unleashed floodwaters in the district of Yaounde 2 of the country’s capital on Sunday, sweeping away buildings and reducing many to rubble. Rescue workers are still digging through the mud and rubble “with the hope of saving lives,” Daouda Ousmanou, the top government official in the district, said Monday.Cameroon Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Ngi, who visited the site, announced the death toll has reached 27 and that all the injured would be treated for free. “I have come to extend the condolences of Cameroon president Paul Biya to the bereaved families,” he said.Flooding has been frequent in Cameroon in recent years, with experts often blaming climate change, and its impact has been exacerbated by sho...

Stock market today: Oil prices climb, stocks slip as violence in Middle East rattles markets

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are climbing, and stocks are slipping as violence in the Middle East injects more unease into financial markets worldwide. The S&P 500 was 0.4% lower ealy Monday in its first trading since Hamas launched a surprise attack over the weekend against Israel, which then formally declared war. The Dow fell 4 points and the Nasdaq composite was off 1%. The area under conflict is not home to major oil production, but fears that the fighting could spill into the politics around the crude market sent a barrel of U.S. oil up 3.6%. Stocks of oil and defense companies rose.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street tumbled lower in premarket trading Monday as crude oil prices surged after the Israeli government declared war following deadly attacks by Hamas from the Gaza Strip. Futures for the S&P 500 skidded 0.6% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones industrials fell 0.5%.The bond market in the U.S. is closed Monday...

US Senate Majority Leader Schumer says grateful for stronger China statement on Hamas attack

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Schumer said Monday he was grateful for a strengthened statement from China condemning the killing and kidnapping of Israeli and foreign civilians by Hamas, issued during a bipartisan Congressional visit to Beijing that included a lengthy meeting with President Xi Jinping. Schumer had said earlier in the day that he was very disappointed by China’s failure to strongly condemn the attack on Israel and show sympathy for the country and its people. Schumer led a delegation of six senators to China for talks aimed at stabilizing ties following a sharp deterioration in recent years over trade, U.S. support for self-governing Taiwan, human rights and other issues. The delegation, which included three Democrats and three Republicans, was the first visit by U.S. lawmakers since 2019 and came at a time of growing attacks on China in Congress as America contends with Beijing’s rise as a global power. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning sai...

UK’s Labour Party says it will invest for growth, as violence in Israel hangs over its conference

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Britain’s main opposition Labour Party said Monday that it will focus on economic growth rather than higher taxes to “rebuild” the country after more than a decade of Conservative rule.Labour economy spokeswoman Rachel Reeves told delegates at the party’s annual conference that “Labour will tax fairly and spend wisely.”“But I must tell you, you cannot tax and spend your way to economic growth,” she said. “The lifeblood of a growing economy is business investment.”Reeves was making her pitch to British voters and businesses at the four-day conference in Liverpool, where Labour is trying to cement its front-runner status in opinion polls before an election due in 2024.The party is running 15 or more points ahead of the governing Conservatives in multiple opinion polls, as Britain endures a sluggish economy and a cost-of-living crisis driven by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and economic disruption following the U.K.’s exit from the Europea...

Book Review: ‘Hitchcock’s Blondes’ wants to see old Hollywood stars not through the director’s gaze

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

Though often lauded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Alfred Hitchcock was also known for having a dark side, including his authoritarian tendencies as a director and sexually inappropriate behavior toward the women in his films. Tippi Hedren, who starred in “The Birds” and “Marnie,” has even alleged in recent years that the late director sexually assaulted her and threatened her career after she rejected his advances. For the famed auteur, women, and actors in general, were props to be controlled and molded with the sole purpose of realizing his vision.In “Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession,” Laurence Leamer seeks to divert the reader from seeing the female actors through the director’s gaze, constructing instead vignettes that attempt to memorialize these women as more than their captivating beauty.“Hitchcock’s Blondes” is part biography of the auteur, part crash course into his catalogue of movies. But mostly t...

Major airlines suspend flights in Israel after a massive attack by Hamas ignites heavy fighting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Major airlines have suspended flights in and out of Israel after the nation declared war following a massive attack by Hamas. Israel hit more than 1,000 targets in Gaza and Palestinian militants continued firing barrages of rockets, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Video posted online appeared to show a plume of smoke near a terminal at Ben Gurion International Airport.Scores of arriving and departing flights at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport were canceled or delayed, according to the airport’s online flight board.American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines suspended service as the U.S. State Department issued travel advisories for the region citing potential for terrorism and civil unrest. American suspended service to Tel Aviv through Friday. The airline said that it has issued a travel alert providing additional flexibility for customers whose travel plans are impacted. “We continue to monitor the situation with safety and security ...

Rio de Janeiro’s security forces launch raids in 3 favelas to target criminals

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro’s state government deployed hundreds of police officers early Monday to three of the city’s sprawling, low-income neighborhoods, saying it aimed to clamp down on organized crime groups.Security forces targeted not only the Mare complex of favelas by Rio’s international airport, but also the adjacent Vila Cruzeiro neighborhood and the City of God neighborhood on the city’s opposite side. All three are controlled by the Red Command drug trafficking group.Recent intelligence had indicated that crime bosses had migrated from Mare to the other two communities, Rio’s government said on X, formerly Twitter. It also said 1,000 officers participated in the three-pronged raid.Residents of the communities started hearing shootouts soon after dawn, according to Fogo Cruzado, a nonprofit organization that provides real-time reporting of gun violence. Local media G1 reported that two police helicopters took fire and were forced to...

UK veteran who fought against Japan in World War II visits Tokyo’s national cemetery

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A British army veteran who fought and survived one of his country’s harshest battles known as the Burma Campaign against the Japanese during World War II traveled to Japan to lay flowers at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at a memorial ceremony on Monday to stress the importance of reconciliation. Richard Day, 97, who survived the decisive 1944 Battle of Kohima in northeast India — where Japan fought to capture the then British-controlled territory — stood up from a wheelchair, placed a wreath of red flowers on a table and saluted the souls of the unknown Japanese soldiers at Tokyo’s Cihdorigafuchi National Cemetery. “It was very moving, but it brought back some terrible memories,” Day said after the ceremony. When he was laying flowers, he said, “I was remembering the screams of people … they were crying out after their mothers.”He shook hands at the memorial and later conversed with relatives of the Japanese veterans who also attended the event.“You ...

A Russian-born Swede accused of spying for Moscow is released ahead of the verdict in his trial

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:51 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish court on Monday released a Russia-born Swedish citizen charged with collecting information for Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, for almost a decade.Sergey Skvortsov, 60, is accused of “gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and against a foreign power,” namely the United States.Ahead of a verdict in his trial, which ended Sept. 28, Skvortsov was released with the Stockholm District Court saying that “there is no longer reason to keep the defendant in custody.” The verdict is due Oct. 26.He was arrested in November together with his wife in a predawn operation in Nacka, outside Stockholm. Swedish media reported that elite police rappelled from two Black Hawk helicopters to arrest the couple.Skvortsov has been in custody since his arrest and denies any wrongdoing. His wife was released without charge following an investigation by Sweden’s security agency.Swedish news agency TT said Monday that the prosecutor told the court...