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Germany, Indonesia agree to strengthen defense ties

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Germany and Indonesia agreed on Monday to strengthen their defense cooperation and plan a joint military exercise with other countries in the region. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius discussed the growing ties in a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto, in Jakarta. “We talked about the possibility of having a deal about some submarines. We were talking about the two minesweepers, which are already on the way to Indonesia,” Pistorius said.Germany and Indonesia are also planning a joint military exercise with other regional partners, but no details have been disclosed. Both ministers attended the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s annual defense and security forum, where U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday criticized China’s “bullying or coercion” in the Indo-Pacific region, including tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea. China’s Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu said at the conference that the U...

‘Very last warning’ for 82-year-old German convicted of dealing drugs

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German court says it is giving an 82-year-old man a “last warning” to avoid jail after he was found guilty of drug dealing, despite 24 previous convictions.The retired seaman, who said he wanted to improve his meagre 800-euro ($855) monthly pension by selling marijuana, was handed a suspended sentence by a court in the northern town of Aurich on Monday.German news agency dpa reported that prosecutors had asked the court to impose a prison term of 34 months in view of the man’s lengthy criminal record and an existing suspended sentence.But judges said they would make an exception and classify the latest crimes as “less serious offenses” due to the man’s particular circumstances and recent health problems.Dpa quoted the presiding judge telling the defendant that it was his “very last warning.”The Associated Press

Palestinian toddler shot by Israeli troops in West Bank dies of wounds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

A 3-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week died of his wounds, Israeli hospital officials said Monday.Mohammed al-Tamimi was shot in the head last Thursday near his village of Nebi Saleh while riding in a car with his father. He was airlifted to Israel’s Sheba Hospital, which announced the boy’s death.The Israeli military has said it opened fire after gunmen in the area shot at an Israeli guard post at a nearby Jewish settlement.But the boy’s father, Haitham al-Tamimi, told The Associated Press that he had just buckled up his son in the car and they were driving to visit an uncle when the bullet struck. The father was also shot and treated at a Palestinian hospital.The Israeli military has opened an investigation into the incident.Rights groups, however, say that such investigations rarely lead to prosecution or disciplinary action against soldiers.The shooting was the latest bloodshed in a more than yearlong sur...

Israel’s Netanyahu appoints new media adviser, journalist who had called Biden ‘unfit,’ report says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a new media adviser who has tweeted critically against President Joe Biden, the daily Haaretz reported. The appointment comes at a time when U.S.-Israel relations are strained.Gilad Zwick, a journalist with a conservative Israeli TV station, has in his tweets called Biden “unfit” to rule and said that he was “slowly but surely destroying America.” He also posted tweets suggesting he supported President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 U.S. election was rigged. At least one of the tweets that was live earlier was deleted later in the day. Zwick did not respond to a request for comment but tweeted on Monday in English that he was a private citizen when writing the posts about Biden.“I don’t hold those views today and I will act in a completely professional manner in the prime minister’s office,” he said. Zwick had previously worked for Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu daily. NetanyahuR...

OpenAI boss ‘heartened’ by talks with world leaders over will to contain AI risks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Monday he was encouraged by a desire shown by world leaders to contain any risks posed by the artificial intelligence technology his company and others are developing.Altman visited Tel Aviv, a tech powerhouse, as part of a world tour that has so far taken him to several European capitals. Altman’s tour is meant to promote his company, the maker of ChatGPT — the popular AI chatbox — which has unleashed a frenzy around the globe.“I am very heartened as I’ve been doing this trip around the world, getting to meet world leaders,” Altman said during a visit with Israel’s ceremonial President Isaac Herzog. Altman said his discussions showed “the thoughtfulness” and “urgency” among world leaders over how to figure out how to “mitigate these very huge risks.”The world tour comes after hundreds of scientists and tech industry leaders, including high-level executives at Microsoft and Google, issued a warning about the perils that ...

Part of under-construction bridge collapses in India for 2nd time in a year, no casualties

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

PATNA, India (AP) — An Indian state government on Monday ordered a probe into the collapse of a portion of an under-construction bridge over the Ganges River over the weekend, the second time the structure has crashed in a year.No casualties were reported with no movement of people or vehicles on the bridge when nearly 250 meters (820 feet) of the concrete surface connecting pillars crashed into the river on Sunday.Videos of the collapse spread on social media. “Those found guilty will not be spared,” Bihar state’s top elected official, Nitish Kumar, said in a statement. A portion of the bridge on the other side collapsed in April last year.India’s infrastructure has long been marred by safety concerns, sometimes leading to major disasters on highways and bridges. Builders often use poor quality construction materials to cut costs.The bridge collapse was criticized by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the opposition party in the state. The state government is headed b...

‘One of Canada’s most notorious killers’: Lawyer wants Bernardo back in maximum-security prison

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

Paul Bernardo should be returned to a maximum-security prison, the lawyer representing the families of his young murder victims said as he called on the Correctional Service of Canada to be more transparent about what led to his transfer to a medium-security facility in the first place.Tim Danson represents the relatives of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, who Bernardo kidnapped, tortured and murdered in the early 1990s.Danson said he was informed by phone last week that Bernardo, who was serving a life sentence at the maximum-security Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ont., had been transferred to a medium-security facility in Quebec.He said the Correctional Service of Canada, citing Bernardo’s privacy rights, refused to answer questions about the reason for the move.Danson said he was also unable to learn whether the serial murderer and sex offender was in protective custody or socializing with other inmates, which that security classification al...

What to stream this week: Janelle Monáe, a Cheetos origin story, Diablo IV and ‘Avatar’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

Albums from Janelle Monáe and Niall Horan, as well as a TV movie about a Frito-Lay janitor who claims to have invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are the streaming debut of “Avatar: The Way of Water” and the celebrity-stuffed “Stars on Mars,” where the likes of Lance Armstrong and Ariel Winter are put in a Mars simulation and presented with a series of challenges to colonize their version of the Red Planet.NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— “Avatar: The Way of Water” finally washes onto streaming shores Wednesday. James Cameron’s sci-fi sequel will begin streaming on Disney+ and HBO Max after becoming the third highest-grossing movie of all time in theaters. “The Way of Water” has made $2.32 billion at the box office, trailing only the $2.9 billion of the original “Avatar” and the $2.79 billion of “Avengers: Endgame.” ...

Kimberly Palmer: Financial tips for new college grads

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

For new college graduates, receiving that first post-degree paycheck can be almost as exciting as getting the diploma itself. But it also presents a challenge: Given the many demands on a young person’s budget, how should those funds be managed?We asked five money experts to share their best personal finance strategies to help this year’s college grads successfully launch their financial lives. Here’s what they said.FIND YOUR BUDGETING STYLETo figure out how to allocate your money toward needs, wants and everything else, Erin Lowry, author of the “Broke Millennial Workbook,” says that instead of following the latest budgeting trend on TikTok, it’s helpful to just sit down with a pen and paper. “Write down what your big expenses are,” she says.After accounting for large items like rent, car payments and food, you can then see what nonessentials also fit. “You might want to go out to dinner with friends, build up new work attire or adopt a dog,” Lowry says. Writing out the budget help...

Qatar minister elected to head UN labor conference following World Cup scrutiny

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:35 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The labor minister of Qatar, which faced intense scrutiny over its treatment of migrant workers in the run-up to last year’s World Cup soccer tournament, was elected Monday as the president of the United Nations labor agency’s annual conference.Asian and Pacific nations proposed Ali bin Samikh al-Marri to lead the International Labor Agency’s two-week conference in Geneva. Regional groups take turns nominating the meeting’s chair.After Qatar was named host of the 2022 World Cup, the labor conditions in a country where over 2 million migrants work in everything from construction jobs to service industries came under a spotlight. Rights groups said workers faced unsafe working conditions, including extreme heat that had caused deaths, as well as exploitation by employers, despite reforms instituted by Qatar.Qatari officials say stronger regulations over work conditions have been imposed under the reforms. They have said three workers died in workp...