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Senior Australian public servant steps aside during probe of encrypted texts to premiers’ friend

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A senior Australian public servant has stepped aside, authorities said Monday, while an investigation is underway into allegations that he sent encrypted messages in order to undermine some ministers and promote others to further his own career.Michael Pezzullo has been secretary of the Department of Home Affairs since it was created in 2017, bringing together the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, Australian Federal Police and Immigration and Border Protection.On Sunday and Monday, a television network and newspapers owned by Nine Entertainment published messages that he had allegedly exchanged over a period of five years, starting from 2017, with businessman Scott Briggs, who was close to former conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull.Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said she had referred the allegations to the Australian Public Service Commission which will investigate the matter. Pezzullo’s j...

Thailand receives the first Chinese visitors under a new visa-free policy to boost tourism

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Top Thai officials welcomed hundreds of Chinese tourists at Bangkok’s international airport on Monday, the first day of a new visa-free entry program that officials say will boost the country’s tourism industry that was badly damaged by the coronavirus pandemic.Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin handed out gifts and posed for pictures as his tourism minister and other VIPs greeted about 300 travelers from Shanghai. The surprised tourists were entertained by Thai traditional dancers and drummers inside the arrivals area at Suvarnabhumi Airport.“We are confident that this policy will greatly boost the economy,” Srettha told reporters. He said that the government plans to promote Thailand’s smaller cities as destinations for Chinese tourists to encourage them to stay longer and spend more.Addressing safety concerns among tourists, Srettha said it was the top priority of the authorities. There have been reports and rumors widely circulating on Chinese social media abou...

Philippines vows to remove floating barrier placed by China’s coast guard at a disputed lagoon

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials vowed Monday to remove a floating barrier placed by China’s coast guard to prevent Filipino fishing boats from entering a disputed lagoon in the South China Sea.They said the 300-meter (980-foot) -long barrier at the entrance to the lagoon at Scarborough Shoal is “illegal and illegitimate.” Chinese coast guard vessels laid the barrier, held up by buoys, on Friday as a Philippine government fisheries vessel approached. More than 50 Philippine fishing boats were outside the shoal at the time, the Philippine coast guard said.“We condemn the installation of floating barriers by the Chinese coast guard,” Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said. “The placement by the People’s Republic of China of a barrier violates the traditional fishing rights of our fishermen.”Ano said in a statement that the Philippines “will take all appropriate actions to cause the removal of the barriers and to protect the rights of our fishe...

Poland accuses Germany of meddling its its affairs by seeking answers on alleged visa scheme

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s foreign minister accused Germany of trying to interfere in his country’s internal affairs after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Warsaw needs to clarify allegations that Polish consulates in Africa and Asia sold temporary work visas to migrants for thousands of dollars each.Poland’s right-wing ruling party, Law and Justice, is facing questions about the alleged scheme ahead of an Oct. 15 national election in which it is seeking a third term in power.Scholz, whose government is under pressure to do more to limit migration to Germany, called on neighboring Poland on Saturday to provide clarification of what was happening.“I don’t want people to just be waved through from Poland and only for us to have a discussion about asylum policy afterward,” Scholz said in comments reported by the German news agency dpa.Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau retorted late Sunday on X, formerly Twitter, that Scholz’s statement “violates the pri...

On the run for decades, convicted Mafia boss Messina Denaro dies in hospital months after capture

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

ROME (AP) — Matteo Messina Denaro, a convicted mastermind of some of the Sicilian Mafia’s most heinous slayings, died on Monday in a hospital prison ward, several months after being captured as Italy’s No. 1 fugitive and following decades on the run, Italian state radio said.Rai state radio, reporting from L’Aquila hospital in central Italy, said the heavy police detail that had been guarding his hospital room moved to the hospital morgue, following the death of Messina Denaro at about 2 a.m. Doctors had said he had been in a coma since Friday.Reputed by investigators to be one of the Mafia’s most powerful bosses, Messina Denaro, 61, had been living while a fugitive in western Sicily, his stronghold, during at least much of his 30 years of eluding law enforcement thanks to the help of complicit townspeople. His need for colon cancer treatment led to his capture on Jan. 16, 2023.Investigators were on his trail for years and had discovered evidence that he was receiving chemothe...

After summer’s extreme weather, more Americans see climate change as a culprit, AP-NORC poll shows

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

Kathleen Maxwell has lived in Phoenix for more than 20 years, but this summer was the first time she felt fear, as daily high temperatures soared to 110 degrees or hotter and kept it up for a record-shattering 31 consecutive days.“It’s always been really hot here, but nothing like this past summer,” said Maxwell, 50, who last week opened her windows for the first time since March and walked her dog outdoors for the first time since May. “I was seriously scared. Like, what if this doesn’t end and this is how it’s going to be?”Maxwell blames climate change, and she’s not alone.New polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that extreme weather, including a summer that brought dangerous heat for much of the United States, is bolstering Americans’ belief that they’ve personally felt the impact of climate change.About 9 in 10 Americans (87%) say they have experienced at least one extreme weather event in the pas...

NextGenerationEU: Positive preliminary assessment of Estonia's request for a €286 million disbursement under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

This is Estonia's first payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The request combines two instalments of €143 million each. With their request, the Estonian authorities provided detailed and comprehensive evidence demonstrating the fulfilment of the 28 milestones and one target. The Commission has thoroughly assessed this information before presenting its positive preliminary assessment.On 30 June 2023, Estonia submitted to the Commission a request based on the achievement of the 28 milestones and one target selected in the  Council Implementing Decision for the first payment request, which included both the first and second instalment. These instalments cover reforms and investments related to energy, green and digital transition, labour market, health and long-term care, green skills, innovation and transport, as well as Estonia's audit and control system for the implementation of the RRF.The Commission has now sent its positive preliminary assessment to t...

A statue of a late cardinal accused of sexual abuse has been removed from outside a German cathedral

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A statue of a deceased German cardinal was removed from its perch outside Essen Cathedral in western Germany on Monday, days after allegations of sexual abuse decades ago became public.The accusations against Cardinal Franz Hengsbach, who died in 1991, added to a long-running scandal over abuse by clergy that has shaken the German church. Last week, the Essen diocese said there were suspicions that Hengsbach may have abused a 16-year-old girl in the 1950s when he was an auxiliary bishop in nearby Paderborn, and that a woman had also accused him of abusing her in 1967 when he was bishop of Essen — a job that he held for 33 years.In a letter to parishes released on Friday, current Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck apologized for his mistakes in handling the allegations. He said he had heard of one accusation in 2011 and did nothing after the Vatican determined that it was not plausible. “I must now admit that the accusations were misjudged in 2011 and that those affected were ...

In the news today: Ontario legislature resumes, Jewish groups demand apology

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Ontario legislature resumes with new cabinet facesOntario provincial politicians are heading back to the legislature today after its summer break that saw a whirlwind few weeks of developments in the Greenbelt controversy.Premier Doug Ford announced last week that he would reverse his decision to open the Greenbelt for housing development, after enduring nearly a year of public outcry over his plan.He will have to start the process of returning those lands to protected status, while still forging ahead with his target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031, and with several cabinet ministers brand new to their portfolios.Jewish group demands apology after MPs honoured man who fought for NazisJewish advocacy organizations are condemning members of Parliament for giving a standing ovation to a man who fought for a Nazi unit during the Second World War.MPs honoured...

EU commissioner calls for more balanced trade with China and warns that Ukraine could divide them

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:37 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The European Union’s trade commissioner called for a more balanced economic relationship with China on Monday, noting a trade imbalance of nearly 400 billion euros ($425 billion), while also warning that China’s position on the war in Ukraine could endanger its relationship with Europe.Valdis Dombrovskis, in a speech at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, said that the EU and China face significant political and economic headwinds that could cause them to drift apart.“The strongest, yet not the only, headwind is Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and how China positions itself on this issue,” he said, according to a prepared text of his remarks.Dombrovskis is in China to co-chair high-level economic and trade talks on Monday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. EU leaders have expressed concern about the bloc’s growing trade deficit with China, which reached 396 billion euros last year. European Commission President Ursula von der...