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EU Solidarity with Ukraine: One year of temporary protection for people fleeing Russian aggression against Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

The European Commission has adopted the Communication on Temporary Protection Directive. The Directive was triggered for the first time on 4 March 2022 in response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, to protect people fleeing the war.Since then around 4 million people were granted immediate protection in the EU, out of which more than 3 million in the first half of 2022. All those registered had the right to access the labour market, education, healthcare, and accommodation. The EU's response to the war in Ukraine shows once more what is possible when the EU acts united. The Temporary Protection Directive has proven to be an essential instrument to provide immediate protection in the EU and it should remain part of the toolbox available to the European Union in the future.This Communication takes stock of the Directive's implementation over the last year, draws the lessons learned and identifies priority areas where continued efforts are needed.The EU response in a nutshell:The ...

Newborn baby found in gas station trashcan in Fullerton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

Police are investigating after a newborn baby was found inside a gas station trashcan in Fullerton on Thursday.Fullerton Police responded to a Chevron gas station on the 900 block of West Orangethorpe Avenue around 3:30 p.m. A store clerk discovered the abandoned infant inside a restroom trash bin, officers said.Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 2023. (OC Hawk)Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 2023. (OC Hawk)Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 2023. (OC Hawk)Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 2023. (OC Hawk)Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 2023. (OC Hawk)Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 2023. (OC Hawk)Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 2023. (OC Hawk)Newborn baby found inside gas station trashcan in Fullerton on March 9, 20...

62-year-old Oxnard woman poses as judge, scams victim out of $10,000

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

A 62-year-old woman from Oxnard pled guilty earlier this week to grand theft after identifying herself as a judge and scamming a victim out of $10,000, authorities announced on Wednesday. According to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, Teresa Robles Boyzo, posing as a judge, told a man that she could help with legal matters for a fee in 2019. The victim handed over the check for legal services concerning his wife’s estate.  “Boyzo did not provide any legal services to the victim and was not a judge nor licensed to practice law,” a VCDA news release stated.  Deputy District Attorney Susan Park, a member of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Consumer Protection Unit, and the prosecuting attorney in the case, said people can protect themselves from these types of scams by using the “Look Up a Lawyer” feature on the California State Bar website.  “Money or personal information should never be given to someone claiming to be an attorney without first...

No. 8 Arizona pulls away from Stanford, reaches Pac-12 semis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

LAS VEGAS — Stanford had already beaten No. 8 Arizona in the season’s lone meeting, and Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd was not at all surprised the Cardinal were a tough out Thursday night.Behind a balanced scoring attack and a late run, the Wildcats finally put away Stanford, winning the Pac-12 Conference Tournament quarterfinal 95-84.“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Lloyd said. “Their size matches up with us pretty well. They have a tendency to make real timely shots against us, and they just kept doing that over and over and over again. Our guys hung with it.”Oumar Ballo scored 24 points, Cedric Henderson Jr. had 23 and Azuolas Tubelis added 20 for the Wildcats (26-6). They will play either Arizona State or Southern California on Friday night.Point guard Kerr Kriisa injured a shoulder in the first half, and Lloyd said he didn’t expect to have him after intermission, but Kriisa played 15 minutes in the second half.Lloyd won his 59th game at Arizona, an NCAA record for most vi...

San Diego firefighters rescue residents trapped in San Bernardino mountain snow

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

TWIN PEAKS, Calif. -- The death toll in the San Bernardino County mountains after the recent snow storms has climbed to 13 as residents prepare for another storm on the way.Cal Fire San Diego sent 56 personnel to the San Bernardino County mountains to rescue folks trapped inside their homes, and they are especially worried for another round of rain expected Friday night.Cellphone video shows how deep Cal Fire San Diego is digging to get to homeowners in need.“Hope is what keeps us going,” said Brent Pascua of Cal Fire San Diego. “They hear about things like this and it just makes them want to work harder. Dig down deeper, because time is of the essence with things like this.”Snow has been stacked so high it reached the top of trucks and buildings. Cal Fire crews have been shoveling several feet of snow in the Crestline, Twin Peaks and Big Bear area. They have been working to rescue residents trapped in their homes.“Two inmates and these two Cal Fire guys started shoveling,” said tra...

Foreign minister says Pakistan in `perfect storm’ of crises

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Pakistan’s foreign minister said Thursday his country is facing “a perfect storm” of troubles — an economic crisis, the consequences of catastrophic flooding, and terrorism “that is once again rearing its ugly head” as a result of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 34-year-old son of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press that Pakistan, like other countries, is also beset by “hyper-partisan and hyper-polarized politics.”Discussing his cash-strapped country’s crushing need for financial help, he sharply criticized the International Monetary Fund, which last month delayed a $6 billion bailout over Pakistan failing to meet terms of a 2019 deal. The government blames that failure on former Prime Minister Imran Khan, now the opposition leader. The IMF gave new instructions to Pakistan to raise and collect taxes as well as slash subsidies without burdening poor p...

German police: 8 dead in Jehovah’s Witnesses hall shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Eight people were killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall in Hamburg, German police said Friday, and an unspecified number of others were wounded.Police gave the figure on their website. There was still no word on a possible motive for the shooting on Thursday evening that stunned Germany’s second-biggest city.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, described the shooting as “a brutal act of violence.”Police said during the night that they believe that there was only one shooter, and that that this could be a person who was found dead in the building.The Associated Press

Feds: Proud Boys deployed foot soldiers in sedition plot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are employing an unusual strategy to prove leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group orchestrated a violent plot to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House, even though some of the defendants didn’t carry out the violence themselves. As they wrap up their seditious conspiracy case, prosecutors are arguing that Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio and other leaders of the group handpicked and mobilized a loyal group of foot soldiers — or “tools” — to supply the force necessary to carry out their plot to stop the transfer of power from Donald Trump to President Joe Biden after the 2020 election. These “tools” helped Proud Boys leaders overwhelm police, breach barricades, force the evacuation of the House and Senate chambers and disrupt the certification of Biden’s victory, prosecutors allege. Defense attorneys have dismissed the “tools” theory as a novel, flawed concept with no legal foundation. They argue that the Justice...

Iraq’s crackdown on booze, social media posts raises alarm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Only a few months into its term, Iraq’s government is suddenly enforcing a long-dormant law banning alcohol imports and arresting people over social media content deemed morally offensive. The crackdown has raised alarm among religious minorities and rights activists. Some see the measures as an attempt by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to head off potential political challenges from religious conservatives and to distract from economic woes, such as rising prices and wild currency fluctuations. The ban on the import, sale and production of alcohol was adopted in 2016, but was only published in the official gazette last month, making it enforceable. On Saturday, Iraq’s customs authority ordered all border crossings to impose the prohibition.Although many liquor stores across Iraq continued business as usual — presumably using up their stocks — border crossings went dry overnight, with the exception of the northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region which hasnR...

Xi awarded 3rd term as China’s president, extending rule

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:18 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping was awarded a third five-year term as the nation’s president Friday, putting him on track to stay in power for life at a time of severe economic challenges and rising tensions with the U.S. and others. The endorsement of Xi’s appointment by the ceremonial National People’s Congress was a foregone conclusion for a leader who has sidelined potential rivals and filled the top ranks of the ruling Communist Party with his supporters since taking power in 2012.The vote for Xi was 2,952 to 0 by the NPC, members of which are appointed by the ruling party.Xi, 69, had himself named to a third five-year term as party general secretary in October, breaking with a tradition under which Chinese leaders handed over power once a decade. A two-term limit on the figurehead presidency was deleted from the Chinese constitution earlier, prompting suggestions he might stay in power for life.No candidate lists were distributed, and Xi and those aw...