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Israel compares Hamas to the Islamic State group. But the comparison misses the mark in key ways

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — It has become an Israeli mantra throughout the latest war in Gaza: Hamas is ISIS.Since the bloody Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict, Israeli leaders and commanders have likened the Palestinian militant group to the Islamic State group in virtually every speech and public statement. They point to Hamas’ slaughter of hundreds of civilians and compare their mission to defeat Hamas to the U.S.-led campaign to defeat IS in Iraq and Syria.But in many ways, these comparisons miss the mark by ignoring the home-grown origins and base of support for Hamas in Palestinian society and by assuming that this deeply embedded movement can be stamped out like a brush fire.These miscalculations may already have led to unrealistic expectations in Israel for victory. They also complicate fledgling efforts by the U.S. and other international mediators to end the war, which has devastated Gaza, displaced more than three-quarters of its population and killed over 13,300 Pa...

US economic growth for last quarter is revised up to a 5.2% annual rate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shrugging off higher interest rates, America’s consumers spent enough to help drive the economy to a brisk 5.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Wednesday in an upgrade from its previous estimate.The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a 4.9% annual rate last quarter.Wednesday’s second estimate of growth for the July-September quarter confirmed that the economy sharply accelerated from its 2.1% rate from April through June. It showed that the U.S. gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — grew at its fastest quarterly rate in nearly two years.Consumer spending, the lifeblood of the economy, rose at a 3.6% annual rate from July through September — still healthy but a downgrade from the previous estimate of 4%. The economy also received a lift from companies building inventories in anticipation of future sales. Also driving the third quarter growth was an uptick in spending a...

Pakistan acquits ex-Premier Nawaz Sharif in a graft case. He’s now closer to running in elections

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court acquitted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a graft case on Wednesday, removing a major obstacle for him to run in parliamentary elections in February. The Islamabad High Court’s decision comes weeks after it restored Sharif’s right to appeal a 2018 conviction in a case relating to the purchase of luxury apartments in London. Sharif, who served as prime minister three times, returned to Pakistan in October, after four years of self-exile abroad to avoid serving out a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges. Sharif’s acquittal leaves only one more legal hurdle standing between him and an election run. He also needs to be acquitted on another set of graft charges, related to his seven-year sentence for failing to disclose how his family set up a steel mills in 1999. Sharif, who had appealed the first graft conviction last week, was in court on Wednesday and welcomed the ruling. “I am grateful … God has made us victor...

UK’s Sunak ramps up criticism of Greek leader in Parthenon Marbles spat

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak escalated his war of words with the leader of Greece on Wednesday, accusing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of trying to “grandstand” over the disputed Parthenon Marbles and breaking a promise to the U.K. government.Mitsotakis, meanwhile, said the dispute had helped draw international attention to Greece’s longstanding claim to the artifacts, part of a 2,500-year-old frieze that was taken from Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Lord Elgin and are on display in the British Museum.The two European allies with center-right governments have been at loggerheads since Monday, when Sunak called off a scheduled meeting with Mitsotakis hours before it was due to start.During the British prime minister’s weekly question period in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Sunak said “it was clear that the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss substantive issues for the future, but rather to grandstand and relitigate issues of t...

Sri Lanka says it struck a deal with creditors on debt restructuring to clear way for IMF funds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement in principle with a group of creditors including India and Japan on debt restructuring, a crucial move toward unlocking a second installment of a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund.The agreement with the Official Credit Committee covers approximately $5.9 billion of outstanding public debt and consists of a mix of long-term maturity extension and reduction in interest rates, a statement from the country’s Finance Ministry said.It also said the agreement will facilitate a swift approval by the IMF Executive Board of the review of Sri Lanka’s IMF-supported program, allowing for the next tranche of IMF financing of about $334 million to be disbursed. The IMF said in September Sri Lanka’s economy was recovering, but it needed to improve its tax administration, eliminate exemptions and crack down on tax evasion.Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in April 2022 with more than...

Gay couple in Nepal becomes the 1st to officially register same-sex marriage in the country

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A gay couple in Nepal on Wednesday became the first in the nation to receive official same-sex marriage status. The Himalayan nation is one of the first in Asia to allow it.“After 23 years of struggle we got this historic achievement, and finally Maya and Surendra got their marriage registered at the local administration office,” said Sunil Babu Pant, an openly gay former parliamentarian and leading LGBTQ+ rights activist.Pant was present with Surendra Pandey and Maya Gurung when they registered their marriage at the Dorje village council office, located in the mountains west of the capital, Kathmandu.Earlier this year, Nepal’s supreme court issued an interim order enabling the registration of same-sex marriages for the first time.Officials had initially refused to register the marriage. The couple and Pant filed cases with the Kathmandu District Court and High Court, but their pleas were rejected.According to Pant, the Home Ministry this week made chan...

Why are magic mushroom retail stores popping up across the country?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, it feels like a trip back to 2017, when cannabis was on the cusp of becoming legal and most cities in Canada were inundated with ‘dispensaries’ — unlicensed retail storefronts selling pot as if it were already just fine. Mostly, crackdowns on those failed, pot became legal and everyone stopped caring. Until this year, when the cycle began again with a much different drug … magic mushrooms. Now, stores with names like “Fun Guyz” and “Shroomyz” have opened across the country, and the enforcement, or lack thereof, seems similar to 2017.Daniel Eisenkraft Klein is a PhD Candidate at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and a Fellow at the Canadian Centre for Health Economics. “I could point someone to at least 30 retail stores in Canada, and maybe a dozen websites that tomorrow you could access in Canada, where they’re selling psilocybin and often a number of other psychedelics,” said Eisenkraft Klein.H...

Mali’s government will probe Tuareg rebel leaders as crucial 2015 peace deal appears to crumble

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s military government has announced an investigation into the Tuareg rebel leaders who signed a peace agreement in 2015 and now accuse the government of failing to comply with it, as experts worry that the deal crucial to establishing a measure of stability in the country’s north is collapsing.The public prosecutor at the Bamako Court of Appeal on Tuesday ordered the probe into the rebel leaders who at times have sought to create the independent state of Azawad and have attacked Mali’s security forces in recent months.The government of the West African nation has referred to the rebels as a “terrorist group.”The developments could mean more violence in a region already under threat from fighters linked to al-Qaida and where both U.N. peacekeepers and French forces have withdrawn in recent months.The Tuareg rebellion in Mali’s north has been a source of conflict for decades. More than a decade of instability has followed their rebellion in 2...

In the US, Black survivors are nearly invisible in the Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — As Charles Richardson gradually lost his eyesight to complications from diabetes, certain childhood memories haunted him even more. The Catholic priest appeared vividly in his mind’s eye — the one who promised him a spot on a travel basketball team, took him out for burgers and helped him with homework. The one, Richardson alleges, who sexually assaulted him for more than a year.“I’ve been seeing him a lot lately,” Richardson said.As a Black middle schooler from Baltimore, Richardson started spending time with the Rev. Henry Zerhusen, a charismatic white cleric. It was the 1970s and Zerhusen’s parish was a fixture in a neighborhood experiencing white flight and rapidly becoming majority-Black. Zerhusen welcomed his church’s racial integration and implemented programs for struggling families, including Richardson’s. Black survivors like Richardson have been nearly invisible in the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis — even in Baltimore, home to a historic Black Catho...

Colorado to ban 'fatphobia' discrimination in workplace, housing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:36:15 GMT

(NewsNation) — Lawmakers in Colorado, America's healthiest state, are expected to pass legislation that bans bias based on "fatphobia" to prevent employers and landlords from discriminating against those who are overweight. Fatphobia is defined as the aversion to fatness or fat people. The law aims to prevent landlords from denying rentals based on weight limits and to implement workplace accommodations for overweight Americans. Fat acceptance is a growing trend in the U.S., with major cities enacting legislation to protect those who are overweight. New York enacted a similar fatphobia law last week, as U.S. obesity rates continue to increase. Massachusetts, Vermont and New Jersey are also considering similar laws. The Rocky Mountain state is the skinniest in the country, boasting the lowest obesity percentage at 25%, according to data from Trust for America's Health. In contrast, West Virginia, the unhealthiest state, has a 71% obesity rate. Agency renews call for speed limit so...