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SNP decision day: What you need to know as Scotland’s ruling party picks its new leader

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

It’s a huge day in Scottish politics as the long-dominant and pro-independence Scottish National Party decides who will succeed Nicola Sturgeon as its leader — and the country’s next first minister. Here’s what you need to know as the bitter contest comes to a close.Why the contest is happeningSturgeon — who has led the party and the country’s devolved government since 2014 — stunned Scottish politics last month when she announced she was stepping down. Citing the personal toll of the job and a desire to “free” her party to pick its own Scottish independence strategy, the 52-year-old leader said it had been a “privilege beyond measure” to serve as first minister.The move leaves the SNP — already openly split on a host of issues ranging from how to achieve its ultimate prize of independence to a law making it easier to legally change gender — facing its first leadership contest for almost two decades.Who’s running?Humza Yousaf: Yousaf announced his candidacy o...

Opposition to Netanyahu’s legal plan mounts after protests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary was facing mounting opposition on Monday, with the country’s ceremonial president urging for an immediate halt to the legal changes. Universities countrywide shut their doors in protest and trade unions were expected to call for a general strike.The growing resistance to the plan came hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a spontaneous show of anger at Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister after he called for a pause to the overhaul. They lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing the throughway and many others throughout the country for hours.The overhaul, driven by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, and his allies in Israel’s most right-wing government ever, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked a sustained and intensifying protest movement that has spread to ne...

FDIC: First Citizens Bank to acquire Silicon Valley Bank

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has agreed on the sale of troubled Silicon Valley Bank to North Carolina-based First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co. The sale involves the sale of all deposits and loans of SVB to First-Citizens, the FDIC said in a statement late Sunday. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank rattled the banking industry and led the FDIC and other regulators to act to protect depositors to prevent wider financial turmoil. The bank, based in Santa Clara, California, failed on March 10 after depositors rushed to withdraw money amid fears about the bank’s health. It was the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history. The Associated Press

In Macron’s France, streets and fields seethe with protest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A big day has come for French high school student Elisa Fares. At age 17, she is taking part in her first protest.In a country that taught the world about people power with its revolution of 1789 — and a country again seething with anger against its leaders — graduating from bystander to demonstrator is a generations-old rite of passage. Fares looks both excited and nervous as she prepares to march down Paris streets where people for centuries have similarly defied authority and declared: “Non!” Two friends, neither older than 18 but already protest veterans whose parents took them to demonstrations when they were little, are showing Fares the ropes. They’ve readied eyedrops and gas masks in case police fire tear gas — as they have done repeatedly in recent weeks.“The French are known for fighting and we’ll fight,” says one of the friends, Coline Marionneau, also 17. “My mother goes to a lot of demonstrations … She says if you have things to say, you s...

Tokyo demands China free Japan national detained in Beijing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo has demanded that China release a Japanese national who was detained in Beijing earlier this month, Japan’s top government spokesperson said Monday.Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference that Japan’s embassy in China was informed by the Chinese authority that a Japanese man in his 50s was taken into custody in Beijing earlier in March over allegedly violating domestic law. Matsuno said the Japanese government has since demanded the early release of the Japanese national. Japan also requested that Chinese authorities allow the man access to Japanese consulate officials. He said Japan’s government is providing as much support for the man as possible, including communicating with relevant parties.A Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc. acknowledged that the man detained in Beijing is an employee of the firm, but declined to disclose further details, including his name, position and whether he is based in China. The ...

U.S Invests $139 Million To Strengthen Bilateral Relations With Ghana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

Polish ammunition firm to boost output several fold as part of EU supply to Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

Polish ammunition maker Dezamet, a unit of state arms producer Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ), will substantially boost capacity to supply EU-funded ammunition to Ukraine, Poland's prime minister said on Saturday (25 March).The announcement by Mateusz Morawiecki comes ahead of a planned visit by EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, to Dezamet on Monday.Seventeen EU member states and Norway this week agreed to jointly procure ammunition to help Ukraine and to replenish their own stockpiles, the European Defence Agency said.Dezamet, which produces ammunition for artillery, mortars and grenade launchers, is one of PGZ group's more than 50 armaments enterprises."This plant can count on new orders and funds, we will be launching new production lines at this company and the others to produce ammunition," Morawiecki told Radio RMF when asked about Breton's visit to the factory."We want to multiply the output severalfold as quickly as possible," he said.Morawiecki said that ...

A scorched southwestern France braces itself for fires to come

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

France is worried about a prolonged drought and the prospect of more wildfires this summer. But one blaze that erupted eight years ago in the southwest part of the country remains underground.From the Gironde region south of Bordeaux, columns of white smoke rise from the forest floor. Brown coal, which is found in the peaty soil of the region, is what is causing the smell of burning tires.Guillaume Carnir (France's National Forest Agency) said that the fire has been burning since mid July. "We don't know how to stop it at this point."Hostens' blaze is a remnant from massive wildfires that devastated southern Europe last year. This was after the worst drought in history was exacerbated by successive heatwaves, which scientists believe are consistent with climate change.Gironde was especially hard hit, with over 20,000 hectares of forest lost. There is also the danger of new fires.Carnir stated that "all the greenery will return in the spring, and which will be flammable," he said.Pas...

Crews knock down 3-alarm structure fire in Orange County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

Fire crews in Orange County knocked down a three-alarm blaze at a commercial structure Sunday, authorities announced.  It’s unclear when exactly the fire, located in the 2200 block of South Susan Street, in Santa Ana started, but when crews with the Orange County Fire Authority arrived at the scene flames could be seen coming from the roof.  Crews also had to deal with downed wires until teams with Southern California Edison arrived at the scene.  An OFCA Hazardous Materials Response Team, along with Huntington Beach Fire Department also responded to the fire to evaluate any potential hazardous materials that might have been present in the industrial building, authorities said.  Crews with the Orange County Fire Authority battled a 3-alarm fire in a commercial structure in Santa Ana Mar. 26, 2023. (OnScene TV)Crews with the Orange County Fire Authority battled a 3-alarm fire in a commercial structure in Santa Ana Mar. 26, 2023. (OnScene TV)In all, it took firefighters...

FDIC says First Citizens will acquire much of Silicon Valley Bank, whose collapse has rattled the banking industry

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — FDIC says First Citizens will acquire much of Silicon Valley Bank, whose collapse has rattled the banking industry.Source