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A second UK police force is looking into allegations of sexual offenses committed by Russell Brand

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A second British police force is looking into sexual offenses allegedly committed by actor and comedian Russell Brand, British media reported Monday.Thames Valley Police is taking a fresh look at harassment and stalking allegations previously made by a woman against Brand between 2018 and 2022, the BBC and PA news agency said. The police force declined to name Brand — as is usual in the U.K. for people who have not been charged — but issued a statement when asked about the news reports. “Thames Valley Police in the past two weeks, received new information in relation to harassment and stalking allegations dating back to 2018,” it said. “This information is being investigated; as such it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.”London’s Metropolitan Police said last week it was examining “a number of allegations of sexual offenses” relating to Brand following a television documentary and newspaper investigations. Brand, 48, denies...

Clergy abuse survivors propose new ‘zero tolerance’ law following outcry over Vatican appointment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

ROME (AP) — Clergy sexual abuse survivors on Monday unveiled a proposed new church law calling for the permanent removal of abusive priests and superiors who covered for them, as they stepped up their outrage over Pope Francis’ choice to head the Vatican office that investigates sex crimes.The global advocacy group End Clergy Abuse unveiled the draft law at a press conference following days of protests around the Vatican, and before taking their complaints to the U.N. in Geneva. They are seeking to draw attention to the ongoing scandal in the Catholic Church and the failure of Francis and the hierarchy to make good on years of pledges of “zero tolerance” for abuse.Specifically, the survivors have expressed astonishment at Francis’ nomination of an old friend and theologian, Cardinal Victor Fernandez, to take over as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, given Fernandez’s record handling cases as bishop in his native Argentina.When Fernández was bishop of La P...

Cambodian court bars environmental activists from traveling to Sweden to receive ‘Alternative Nobel’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A court in Cambodia on Monday barred three environmental activists who are serving suspended prison sentences for their advocacy work from traveling to Sweden next month to receive the prestigious Right Livelihood Award.A copy of a letter from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s chief prosecutor, Chreung Khmao, said the trip by the members of the group Mother Nature Cambodia was “not necessary.” The letter, seen by The Associated Press, came in response to a travel request from the activists. Thon Ratha, 31, Phuong Keo Reaksmey, 22, and Long Khunthea, 25, asked for permission to make a Nov. 24- Dec, 1 trip to receive the award, which is sometimes characterized as the “Alternative Nobel.”Mother Nature Cambodia was co-winner of the award this year along with Phyllis Omido, a Kenyan community activist, and SOS Mediterranee, a humanitarian group that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Foundation said the winners “stand...

The UAE holds a major oil and gas conference just ahead of hosting UN climate talks in Dubai

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Emirati president-designate of the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate talks urged oil and gas companies Monday to be “central to the solution” for climate change, a message delivered even as the industry boosts its production to enjoy rising global energy prices.The appeal by Sultan al-Jaber highlights the gap between climate activists suspicious of his industry ties and his calls to drastically slash the world’s emissions by nearly half in seven years to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times. While addressing a major international concern, his remarks came at a marquee oil industry event highlighting the state oil company he oversees — feeding the concerns of those already critical of his appointment while also drawing applause from the same energy firms he wants to court at the upcoming COP28 talks starting in November.“That is our North Star. It is, in fact, our o...

Rebels in Mali say they’ve captured another military base in the north as violence intensifies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Tuareg rebels in Mali said Monday they captured another military base from the army in the country’s north as fighting intensifies. Attaye Ag Mohamed, spokesman for the Azawad armed movement, told The Associated Press that the rebels seized the military base in the city of Bamba between Timbuktu and Gao on Sunday, as part of a broader strategy to weaken the Malian army. Mali’s ruling junta didn’t comment on whether the base was taken but posted a statement Sunday on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, saying there was intense fighting between its forces and “terrorists” in Bamba and that details would follow. Mali’s government refers to the Taureg rebels as terrorists.Mohamed said the rebels also had stolen 11 vehicles. Taking the position in Bamba was aimed at depriving the Malian army of a base it can withdraw to as it seeks to advance on the Tuareg stronghold of Kidal in the north, he said. The violence is the latest in a string of increasing atta...

Book Review: ‘Collision of Power’ explains the journalism of the Donald Trump era

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

Martin Baron’s “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos and The Washington Post” is actually a trilogy – an insider’s revealing examination of Jeff Bezos’ stewardship of The Washington Post, a chronicle of how Donald Trump tried mightily to discredit the Post and sink Amazon, and a tense, sometimes thriller tale of how the Post navigated a perilous time in journalism.In all the tumult, Bezos emerges as determined, disciplined, analytical, focused, strategic in his thinking and remarkably calm as a perpetually angry Trump relentlessly used his presidential pulpit to attack Amazon. Bezos founded Amazon but it is unconnected to the Post, which Bezos bought with his own funds and in Baron’s telling, seems to genuinely relish owning.Baron, executive editor of the Post from 2013-2021, clearly has researched extensively and thought deeply about how to cover the unprecedented presidency of Donald Trump. Baron writes that he “needed to get myself ready for his brand of presidency” and cites t...

Military withdraws final conduct charge against Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

GATINEAU, Que. — Lt.-Gen. Steven Whelan wiped away tears this morning as military prosecutors asked the judge in his court martial to withdraw the case against him. Whelan had pleaded not guilty to one count of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline for changing a performance report in 2011. The military alleged he gave the complainant in the case, a woman who was under his command at the time, a better score to prevent her from telling senior commanders about flirtatious emails Whelan had sent her before they worked together. Prosecutors dropped a different charge at the beginning of the court martial last week related to what the military called an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.This morning, prosecutors asked the military judge, Cmdr. Martin Pelletier, to withdraw the remaining charge, based on “an assessment of the evidence.”Pelletier ruled on Friday that the emails at the centre of the case could not be admitted as evidence for the pros...

UN authorizes a second malaria vaccine. Experts warn it’s not enough to stop the disease spreading

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization authorized a second malaria vaccine on Monday, a decision that could offer countries a cheaper and a more readily available option than the world’s first shot against the parasitic disease. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency was approving the new malaria vaccine based on the advice of two expert groups, recommending its use in children at risk of the disease. “As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now we have two,” Tedros said. Oxford University developed the new three-dose vaccine with help from the Serum Institute of India. Research suggests it is more than 75% effective and that protection is maintained for at least another year with a booster. Tedros said the shot would cost about $2 to $4 and could be available in some countries next year if funders agree to buy it. Earlier this year, regulatory authorities in Ghana...

Chicago woman, 104, skydives from plane, aiming for record as the world’s oldest skydiver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

OTTAWA, Ill. (AP) — A 104-year-old Chicago woman is hoping to be certified as the oldest person to ever skydive after making a tandem jump Sunday and landing 13,500 feet (4,100 meters) later at a northern Illinois airport.“Age is just a number,” Dorothy Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after touching the ground Sunday at Skydive Chicago Airport in Ottawa, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported.The Guinness World Record for oldest skydiver was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson from Sweden. But Skydive Chicago is working to have Guinness World Records certify Hoffner’s jump as a record, WLS-TV reported.Hoffner first skydived when she was 100. On Sunday, she left her walker behind just short of the Skyvan plane at the Ottawa airport and was helped up the steps to join the others waiting inside to skydive.“Let’s go, let’s go, Geronimo!” Hoffner said after she was finally seated.When she first skydived at 100 sh...

Southern Republicans look to nationalize 2023 governors’ races by invoking Biden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:42 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s name won’t appear on the ballot anywhere in 2023, but you wouldn’t know it from the campaigns that Republican candidates for governor are running in Kentucky and Mississippi.GOP nominees in both states — Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and first-term Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves — are just as likely to mention the Democratic president as they are to name the person they face in the Nov. 7 general election.Tying candidates for governor to national political figures is a well-worn strategy but also reflects an era of deepening ideological divides, according to Carrie Archie Russell, an expert on southern politics at Vanderbilt University. She says forging such links, even when there’s no evidence of a strong connection, allows candidates to create a “mental shortcut for identifying individuals as ‘us’ or ‘them.’”In 2020, then-President Donald Trump won 62% of the vote in Kentucky and 58% in Mississippi...