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Thousands rally across Slovakia to protest the government’s plan to amend the penal code

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Thousands returned to the streets of major cities across Slovakia on Tuesday to continue their protests against a plan by the new government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico to amend the country’s penal code.The changes proposed by the coalition government include a proposal to abolish the special prosecutors’ office, which handles serious crimes such as graft, organized crime and extremism by mid-January.According to the proposal, those cases will now be taken over by prosecutors in regional offices, which haven’t dealt with such crimes for 20 years.Michal Simecka, head of the liberal Progressive Slovakia, the strongest opposition party, said the changes “would result in amnesty for mafia and corrupt people.”“We have to show them that we’ll defend justice,” Simecka said.Meanwhile in the streets people repeatedly chanted “We’ve had enough of Fico.”The legislation approved by Fico’s government needs parliamentary and presidential approval. The ...

Greece approves new law granting undocumented migrants residence rights, provided they have a job

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved new legislation that will grant tens of thousands of undocumented migrants residence and work permits amid a shortage of unskilled labor.The law drafted by the center-right government links the right to residence with proof of employment. According to the labor ministry, it will affect some 30,000 people, many of them agricultural laborers.The United Nations migration and refugee agencies praised the new law, which applies to migrants who have been living in Greece without residence permits for at least three years up to the end of November. It will not cover later arrivals.Lawmakers in the 300-member parliament voted 262 in favor of the law — despite grumbling from the governing New Democracy’s right wing and with the backing of leftwing opposition parties. New Democracy had threatened to expel any of its lawmakers who didn’t back the measures — making a single exception for a former prim...

Kenneth Law, man accused of selling deadly substances online, due back in court next month

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

The case of an Ontario man accused of selling lethal substances to people who later took their own lives is due back in court next month.Kenneth Law briefly appeared in court by remote link Tuesday morning and his case was adjourned to Jan. 30.Last week, police announced 14 new charges of second-degree murder against Law, in addition to his previous 14 charges of counselling and aiding suicide.Police said all 28 charges relate to the same 14 alleged victims, who were between the ages of 16 and 36 and died in communities across Ontario.Law’s lawyer has said his client would be pleading not guilty to all charges.Police have alleged that Law, 58, ran several websites that were used to sell sodium nitrite and other items that can be used for self-harm, shipping them to people in more than 40 countries.They believe more than 1,200 packages were sent out globally, and about 160 were sent in Canada.

Nevada high court upholds sex abuse charges against ‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Nathan Chasing Horse

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has denied Nathan Chasing Horse’s request to toss a sprawling indictment that accuses the former “Dances With Wolves” actor of leading a cult, taking underage wives and sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls for decades.The court’s decision means prosecutors can proceed with their 18-count criminal case after months of delayed proceedings while Chasing Horse challenged it. The 47-year-old has been in custody since his arrest in January near the North Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with five wives.Chasing Horse pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse.His lawyers argued that the case should be dismissed because, the former actor said, the sexual encounters were consensual. One of his accusers was younger than 16, the age of consent in Nevada, when the alleged abuse began, authorities said.Public defender Kristy Holston also argued that the indictment was ...

Kentucky’s Democratic governor refers to Trump’s anti-immigrant language as dangerous, dehumanizing

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant language in his quest to win back the White House is dangerous and dehumanizing, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear said Tuesday, warning that the rhetoric makes it more difficult for Congress to reach a meaningful U.S. border security deal.Beshear — whose resounding reelection last month in solidly Republican Kentucky raised his national profile — said a balanced approach is needed on immigration: one that protects the nation’s borders but recognizes the role legal immigration plays in meeting business employment needs.The governor has largely refrained from openly criticizing Trump, who remains popular in Kentucky, during his tenure and has repeatedly declared “a strong national security requires strong border security.” Beshear also authorized the deployment of Kentucky National Guard soldiers to the nation’s southern border during his first term.But in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Beshear ...

New York City faulted for delays in getting emergency food aid to struggling families

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

Thousands of struggling families in New York City are waiting unacceptably long times to receive emergency food and cash aid because of delays by a city agency that violate a 2005 federal court order, advocacy groups said in new legal filings.People who qualify for expedited Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or E-SNAP, are supposed to receive them within seven days of applying under the order. If applicants show they have an emergency, the city must give them cash aid for food the same day.The advocacy groups filed a contempt motion Monday in federal court in Manhattan asking a judge to order the city to reduce backlogs and comply with the 2005 mandate. They cited city records showing that from April to September of this year, about 13,700 families had to wait more than a week for E-SNAP benefits. The city’s Human Resources Administration only met the deadline to provide aid about half the time during that period, they said. In October 2022, only 20% of aid a...

Results in Iraqi provincial elections show low turnout and benefit established parties

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s first provincial elections in a decade saw a relatively low turnout and largely benefitted traditional parties, according to results announced Tuesday by the country’s election authorities.The Independent High Electoral Commission said some 41% of registered voters turned out in Monday’s general voting and in special polling on Saturday for military and security personnel and internally displaced people living in camps. Out of 23 million eligible voters, only 16 million registered to cast ballots.Turnout was particularly low in strongholds of the influential Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, who called his followers to boycott the election, describing the system as corrupt. Al-Sadr officially stepped down from politics in 2022 amid a lengthy standoff over government formation.Young people who took to the streets en masse in 2019 to protest the political establishment also largely sat the polls out.The province of Kirkuk, which has a mixed popu...

South dominates US population gains as deaths drop

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — South Carolina and Florida were the two fastest-growing states in the U.S., as the South dominated population gains in 2023, and the U.S. growth rate ticked upward slightly from the depths of the pandemic due to a drop in deaths, according to estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.The United States added 1.6 million people, of which more than two-thirds came from international migration. The half percent growth rate was a slight uptick from the 0.4% growth rate last year and the less than 2% increase in 2021.The growth rate “is an uptick from the pandemic but still low by historical standards,” said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.Population gains or losses come from births outpacing deaths, or vice versa, and migration. There were about 300,000 fewer deaths this year compared with a year earlier. That helped double the natural increase to more than 500,000 people in 2023. However, it was the 1.1 million immigrants who drov...

Takeaways from lawsuits accusing JBS, others of contributing to Amazon deforestation

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

JACI-PARANA, Brazil (AP) — Authorities in a western Brazil state are taking aim at deforestation of the Amazon with a slew of lawsuits against slaughterhouses and farmers accused of illegally raising cattle in a protected area.The lawsuits seek millions of dollars for environmental damage in the Jaci-Parana reserve, an area that was once rainforest. It’s now mostly grassland after decades of misuse by land-grabbers, loggers and cattle ranchers.The state of Rondonia has brought the lawsuits against meat processing giant JBS and three smaller slaughterhouses, along with farmers accused of raising and selling cattle illegally. And prosecutors say the evidence was provided by the ranchers themselves.The Associated Press and Agencia Pública, a Brazilian nonprofit news agency, examined the 17 lawsuits as part of a collaboration that included visiting the Jaci-Parana to view damage to the reserve and to interview people who said they were forced from their homes there by land-grabber...

The EU’s naval force says a cargo ship hijacked last week has moved toward the coast of Somalia

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:27:19 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A Maltese-flagged merchant ship that was hijacked last week in the Arabian Sea with 18 crew on board is now off the coast of Somalia, the European Union’s maritime security force said Tuesday. One crew member has been evacuated for medical care.The bulk carrier Ruen remains under the control of the hijackers, whose identity and demands are unknown, the EU Naval Force said in a statement. It did not give details on the condition of the crew member who was taken off the vessel on Monday and moved to an Indian navy ship that has been shadowing the Ruen.An Indian maritime patrol plane spotted the Ruen a day after its hijacking last Thursday and made radio contact with the crew, who had locked themselves in a safe room. The hijackers broke into the safe room and “extracted the crew” hours later, the EU Naval Force said.The Ruen, which is managed by Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, was off the Yemeni island of Socotra near the Horn of...