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Are the Abraham Accords stronger than the war between Israel and Hamas?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the UAE's Federal National Council’s Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee."We want everyone to acknowledge and accept that Israel is there to exist and that the roots of Jews, Christian are not in New York or Paris but here in our region. They are part of our history and they should be part of our future," said Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council, writes Yossi Lempkowicz."From the United Arab Emirates perspective, the Abraham Accords are there to stay," said Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the UAE Federal National Council, who played a leading role in the 2020 accords which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries."This the third war in Gaza. Whenever there is something happening in Gaza, people come to us and ask: ‘What do you think of the Abraham Ac...

4 years since deadly Orinda Halloween party shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

ORINDA, Calif. (KRON) – Tuesday marks four years since a mass shooting at an Orinda house party left five people dead and several others injured. The families of the victims are still waiting for answers.A lawyer who represents some of the families says this holiday is no longer a time for celebration, but is instead filled with sadness and grieving their loved ones. Body found in suitcase floating in Lake Merritt Tuesday A woman named Michelle has lived in the neighborhood for six years. She says she still remembers that night.The house on Lucille Way near Knickerbocker Lane was rented for just one night through Airbnb. It’s estimated that more than 100 people were at the party prior to the shooting.“It was a little bit disturbing, but what made me feel better was the fact that these people weren’t residents here but Airbnb guests and it was an open invite where everybody showed up, so it wasn’t the community or Orinda,” Michelle said. Days after the shooting, Airbnb enacted...

The UK’s AI summit is taking place at Bletchley Park, the wartime home of codebreaking and computing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The United Kingdom is hosting the AI Safety Summit, bringing politicians, computer scientists and tech executives to a site chosen for its symbolism: Bletchley Park, synonymous with codebreaking and the birth of computing.During World War II, a group of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzlers, chess masters and other experts gathered at the Victorian country house 45 miles (72 kilometers) northwest of London to wage a secret war against Nazi Germany. Their goal: cracking Adolf Hitler’s supposedly unbreakable codes.Bletchley Park’s most famous feat was outwitting Germany’s Enigma encryption machine, which produced a constantly changing cipher and was widely considered unbreakable. To crack it, mathematician Alan Turing — building on work done by Polish codebreakers — developed the “Turing bombe,” a forerunner of modern computers.Deciphered Enigma messages revealed details of the movements of Germany’s U-boat fleets and provided crucial information for the Nor...

Japanese automaker Toyota’s profits zoom on cheap yen, strong global sales

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota’s July-September profit jumped nearly threefold from a year ago as vehicle sales grew around the world and a cheap yen boosted the Japanese automaker’s overseas earnings.Toyota Motor Corp. reported Wednesday 1.28 trillion yen ($8.5 billion) in quarterly profit, up from 434 billion yen the previous year. Quarterly sales rose 24% to 11.43 trillion yen ($75.7 billion) from 9.22 trillion yen. A cheap yen is a plus for Japan’s giant exporters like Toyota by raising the value of its overseas earnings when translated into yen. The U.S. dollar was trading at about 145 Japanese yen in the latest quarter, up from 138 yen. It’s trading above 150 yen lately. The manufacturer of the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models raised its profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2024 to 3.95 trillion yen ($26 billion), up from the previous projection of 2.5 trillion yen.The forecast, if realized, marks an improvement from the previous fiscal year’s 2.45 trillion ...

Beijing’s crackdown fails to dim Hong Kong’s luster, as talent scheme lures mainland Chinese

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — The exodus of tens of thousands of professionals from Hong Kong triggered by a crackdown on its civil liberties is being offset by new arrivals: mainland Chinese keen to move to the former British colony. The Asian financial hub has attracted tens of thousands of visa applications from mainland Chinese under the Top Talent Pass Scheme, a program launched in late 2022 aimed at luring high-income professionals and top global university graduates from around the world, though nine in 10 successful applicants are from China. For mainland Chinese, Hong Kong’s unique attributes — such as wider freedom of speech and internet access, its cosmopolitan ambiance, a less oppressive work culture, and a society where ability largely trumps connections — set it apart, according to interviews by The Associated Press with 20 mainland Chinese visa holders. Some, like Wu, a finance professional in his 20s, view moving to Hong Kong as a way to gain greater freedom and security. Wu, who...

Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Street gains ahead of Fed decision on interest rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday after Wall Street advanced to claim back some of the ground it gave up in another losing month. Investors are awaiting a decision later Wednesday by the Federal Reserve on interest rates and updates on the state of the U.S. economy. The overwhelming expectation is that the Fed will keep its overnight interest rate steady. The bigger question is how long it will keep that main rate high. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index added 2.4% to 31,601.65 a day after the Bank of Japan held back from any major changes to its near-zero interest rate policy, though it adjusted its controls on government bond yields.The dollar weakened against the Japanese yen, trading at 151.28 yen. It jumped on Tuesday after the Japanese central bank’s decision. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng edged less than 0.1% higher, to 17,126.70. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.1% to 3,023.08. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1% to 2,301.56 and the S&P/ASX ...

Gaza’s phone and internet connections are cut off again, as Israeli troops battle Hamas militants

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians reported another widespread outage of internet and phone service in Gaza early Wednesday, hours after Israeli airstrikes leveled apartment buildings near Gaza City and as ground troops battled Hamas militants inside the besieged territory.The Palestinian telecoms company Paltel reported a “complete disruption” of internet and mobile phone services in Gaza, marking the second time in five days that residents were largely cut off from the world. Communications also went down over the weekend, as Israeli troops pushed into Gaza in larger numbers. Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza, where more than half of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced and basic supplies are running low more than three weeks into the war triggered by Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel.Attempts to reach Gaza residents by phone were unsuccessful ...

Australia cannot strip citizenship from man over his terrorism convictions, top court says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s highest court on Wednesday overturned a government decision to strip citizenship from a man convicted of terrorism.The ruling is a second blow in the High Court to the law introduced almost a decade ago that allows a government minister to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship on extremism-related grounds.The ruling also prevents the government from deporting Algerian-born cleric Abdul Benbrika when he is released from prison, which is expected within weeks.The High Court judges ruled 6-1 that the law that gave the home affairs minister power to strip citizenship in such instances was unconstitutional. The majority found that the minister was effectively exercising a judicial function of punishing criminal guilt.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government would examine the ruling in regards to the law passed by the previous government.Constitutional lawyer George Williams said he was not surprised by the result.“It’s a fu...

China keeps up military pressure on Taiwan, sending 43 planes and 7 ships near self-governing island

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan said Wednesday that China sent 43 military aircraft and seven ships near the self-ruled island, the latest sign that Beijing plans no let-up in its campaign of harassment, threats and intimidation.Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the figure was current for the 24 hours up to 6:00 a.m. Wednesday and that 37 of the aircraft had crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, which China no longer recognizes as an informal divider between the sides. It said Taiwan had monitored the situation, scrambled jet fighters, dispatched ships and activated land-based missile systems, all standard responses to Chinese military activities, which include crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone but not into its actual airspace.Such Chinese maneuvers have become frequent and aggressive since then- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. China suspended military communication with the U.S. to show its displeasure over her trip ...

EU air bridge flight for Afghanistan brings aid in response to earthquakes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:23:54 GMT

Following the series of earthquakes that hit western Afghanistan earlier this month, an EU Humanitarian Air Bridge to Herat has landed today, bringing 92 tonnes of essential supplies to help the affected population. Of the total cargo, the EU has donated 57 tonnes from its own stocks in Dubai, consisting of blankets and winterisation kits for tents. Another 20 tonnes of medicines were transported for the World Health Organization, and 15 tonnes of food were delivered for the World Food Programme.A second and third flight are planned to follow shortly from Brindisi and Dubai to Herat and Kabul. They will be gathering in-kind contributions from Ireland, Italy and EU Humanitarian Partners' relief items. France is also reinforcing the transport and warehousing capacity of the aid.Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič said: “In the aftermath of the recent devastating series of earthquakes in Afghanistan, the EU stands resolute in extending our assistance and support to the Afghan...