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European rights court throws out Polish abortion law challenge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared Thursday that a case seeking to challenge Poland’s near-total abortion ban was not admissible because of the weakness of the evidence. A group of eight Polish women brought the case in front of the ECHR following a Polish constitutional court decision in 2021 that made abortion in the country illegal in almost all circumstances. The women argued that the decision violated their human rights because it would force them to carry any future pregnancy to term, even in cases where the fetus developed abnormalities. The ECHR justices ruled that the applicants did not provide enough justification to hear the case, particularly given that it concerns a hypothetical, future violation of human rights. “The Court found that the applicants had failed to provide any convincing medical evidence proving that they had been at real risk of being directly affected by the 2020 legislative amendments. Nor had they produced any documents re...

UNICEF concerned by Taliban move to bar international groups from Afghan education sector

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — UNICEF said Thursday it is deeply concerned by reports of the Taliban pushing out international organizations from Afghanistan’s education sector and ordering them to hand over their activities to local nongovernmental groups.It’s the latest restriction on NGOs operating in the country after the ban imposed in December on Afghan female staff, allegedly because they weren’t wearing the Islamic headscarf, or hijab, correctly and weren’t complying with gender segregation in the workplace. In April, the ban was extended to the U.N. A WhatsApp voice note, purportedly from a senior education official in Kabul, says all international organizations have a one-month deadline to transfer their education work to local groups. The Education Ministry was not immediately available to verify the voice note, but aid agency officials told The Associated Press they are aware of the message and are taking it seriously. They spoke on condition of anonymity becau...

Knife attacker injures several people, including children, in French Alpine town

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France’s interior minister says an attacker with a knife injured children and others in a town in the Alps on Thursday. Gerald Darmanin said the attack took place in a square in the town of Annecy. In a short tweet, he said police have detained the attacker. “Several people including children have been injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy,” he tweeted.The Associated Press

Zelenskyy visits area flooded by destroyed dam as five reported dead in Russian-occupied town

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the flood-hit region of Kherson on Thursday to evaluate response to damage caused by a dam breach.The Ukrainian leader wrote on his Telegram account that he was helping assess efforts to evacuate civilians, provide them with drinking water and other support, and try to stanch vast environmental damage.Zelenskyy also raised the prospect of funding allocations to help compensate residents and businesses driven from their homes and offices by rising waters.Meanwhile, the Kremlin-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka, a Russian-occupied town 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the collapsed Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric plant, reported on Russian state TV Thursday that five of seven local residents who had been declared missing following the dam breach have died. The two remaining people have been found and efforts were being made to evacuate them, Vladimir Leontyev added.At least 4,000 people have been evacuated from both t...

Japan’s denial of same-sex marriage, other LGTBQ+ protections looks unconstitutional, judge rules

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court ruled Thursday that the lack of legal protections for LGTBQ+ people appeared to be unconstitutional, in the latest ruling that may help push the country toward allowing same-sex marriage. Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven nations without LGTBQ+ legal protections. Support for legalizing same-sex marriage has grown among the Japanese public, but the governing Liberal Democratic Party, known for its conservative values and reluctance to promote gender equality and sexual diversity, is virtually the main opposition for marriage rights and other recognition of LGTBQ+ equality.The ruling by the Fukuoka District Court in southern Japan involved the last of five court cases brought by 14 same-sex couples in 2019 that accused the government of violating their equality. Four of the courts have ruled Japan’s current policy is either unconstitutional or nearly so, while a fifth said a ban on same-sex marriage was constitutional.The judge in the F...

Philippines raises alert level around volcano, villagers told to leave danger zone

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials on Thursday raised the alert level for one of the country’s most active volcanoes after superheated streams of gas, debris and rocks cascaded down its upper slope in a condition they fear could lead to a hazardous eruption within days or weeks.Villagers living within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of Mayon volcano’s crater were told to leave the long-designated permanent danger zone and move to safer grounds due to the danger of volcanic emissions, lava flows, rockfalls and other hazards, officials said.“Civil aviation authorities must also advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ash from any sudden eruption can be hazardous to aircraft,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.A tourist draw in northeastern Albay province for its picturesque conical shape, Mayon is one of the most restive of two dozen active volcanoes across the Philippines. It last erupted violently in 2018, displacin...

In The News for June 8 : Wildfires leave most of Canada under smoky haze

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of June 8 …What we are watching in Canada …The battle against hundreds of wildfires continues, as almost every jurisdiction in Canada remains under either heat or air quality warnings from the federal government.The day after what was supposed to be national Clean Air Day, dozens of alerts remain in place for unseasonable heat or smoky air quality that kept millions of Canadians coughing and squinting. And forecasts suggest that air quality risks for the GTA, the Niagara region and southwestern Ontario will only increase through the end of the week.Wednesday saw one of Canada’s worst days in history for air quality. Environment Canada’s air quality health index listed Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., as the worst in Canada on Wednesday, with a very high risk warning. The agency dropped the special air quality s...

Supporters focus on freeing Canadian held in China amid geopolitical ‘ups and downs’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

OTTAWA — A leader of the fight to secure freedom for a Canadian human-rights activist detained in China for 17 years is taking the latest diplomatic deep-freeze between Ottawa and Beijing in stride.Wilf Ruland, a volunteer fieldworker with Amnesty International Canada, says a sustained, long-term campaign aims to keep Huseyin Celil’s case in the public eye and in the minds of Canadian and Chinese authorities.“Throughout the history of this case, there’s been geopolitical ups and downs, but we figure our job is just to keep Canadian government officials’ attention focused on the case and keep them working on it,” Ruland said in an interview.Celil, originally from China, fled the country in 2001 after being jailed for supporting the religious and political rights of the Uyghur minority.Celil, his wife Kamila Telendibaeva and their son settled in Canada that year. They had two more boys and Celil became a Canadian in 2005. The following year, the family we...

Documents reveal what happened inside the discord at Canada’s drug-price regulator

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

OTTAWA — Internal emails from the agency tasked with regulating the price of patented drugs in Canada shows discord and division was sparked by a letter from the health minister, culminating in an indefinite pause on major drug-price reforms and several resignations.Emails released to the House of Commons committee on health suggest some on the regulator’s board believed the crisis that followed the minister’s letter threatened the very survival of the agency.“We are experiencing a significant conflict that must be resolved to ensure the survival, integrity and proposer conduct of business for the (Patented Medicine Prices Review Board),” former acting chair Melanie Bourassa Forcier wrote to the board members on Dec. 4, 2022.She resigned from her post the next day. The emails show the conflict began last November, when the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board was in the process of consulting on the finer points of recently adopted rules that would drasticall...

Wildfire battles continue under heat, air quality alerts over most of Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:44 GMT

The battle against hundreds of wildfires continues, as almost every jurisdiction in Canada remains under either heat or air quality warnings from the federal government.The day after what was supposed to be national Clean Air Day, dozens of alerts remain in place for unseasonable heat or smoky air quality that kept millions of Canadians coughing and squinting. And forecasts suggest that air quality risks for the GTA, the Niagara region and southwestern Ontario will only increase through the end of the week.Wednesday saw one of Canada’s worst days in history for air quality. Environment Canada’s air quality health index listed Ottawa and Gatineau, Que., as the worst in Canada, with a very high risk warning. The agency dropped special air quality statements for those areas early Thursday morning.Residents in those cities were encouraged to limit outdoor activities, and those most vulnerable to the smoke were told to avoid them altogether.School boards in Ottawa and the Tor...