General news

• Judge 'dissolves' order preventing Trump administration from overhauling USAID

  21-02-2025 23:55 via abcnews.go.com
  
  A federal judge moved to "dissolve" a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from hollowing out the U.S. Agency for International Development.
  
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• Layoffs hit FAA employees tasked with producing air traffic navigation maps

  21-02-2025 23:43 via abcnews.go.com
  
  Terminated probationary employees at the FAA include some who work on the team responsible for producing air traffic navigation maps, sources told ABC News.
  
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• Brazilian city in Amazon declares emergency after huge sinkholes appear

  21-02-2025 23:08 via theguardian.com
  
  In Buriticupu, about 1,200 people risk losing their homes, and residents have seen the problem escalate in 30 yearsAuthorities in a city in the Brazilian Amazon have declared a state of emergency after huge sinkholes opened up, threatening hundreds of homes.Several buildings in Buriticupu, in Maranhão state, have already been destroyed, and about 1,200 people of a population of 55,000 risk losing their homes into a widening abyss. Continue reading...
  
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• Remains of Shiri Bibas, mom of two killed, allegedly returned to Israel following Hamas' broken promise

  21-02-2025 22:51 via foxnews.com
  
  The body of a woman who was presumed to have been one of four slain hostages murdered in cold blood by Hamas and handed over to Israel this week was allegedly turned over by the terror group on Friday.  Hamas handed over a coffin allegedly carrying the remains of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross. The coffin was then turned over to Israeli authorities, who will transport it to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification. The development follows Israel’s demand for t
  
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• Trump says he ‘had very good talks with Putin’ and again criticizes Ukraine – live

  21-02-2025 21:12 via theguardian.com
  US president also accuses Kyiv of talking ‘tough’ but having few bargaining chips in latest remarks in feud with Ukrainian president ZelenskyyFrench far-right leader cancels CPAC speech over Bannon ‘Nazi’ saluteUS envoy to Ukraine hails Zelenskyy as ‘embattled and courageous leader’National security adviser Mike Waltz told a crowd of Donald Trump loyalists that he believes the president will receive the Nobel peace prize.“This is the presidency of peace.
  
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• Man charged in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing appears in Manhattan court

  21-02-2025 20:46 via theguardian.com
  Luigi Mangione faces state-level murder and terrorism charges, as well as federal countsLuigi Mangione appeared in Manhattan state court on Friday in the 4 December killing of the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.Mangione, 26, faces state-level murder and terrorism charges, as well as federal counts, for allegedly gunning down Thompson in a brazen street assassination. Continue reading...
  
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• French far-right leader cancels CPAC speech over Steve Bannon’s ‘Nazi’ salute

  21-02-2025 20:46 via theguardian.com
  
  National Rally’s Jordan Barella calls off address as Anti-Defamation League says it is concerned but ‘not surprised’US politics – live updatesThe French far-right leader Jordan Bardella on Friday morning cancelled a scheduled speech at the US Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, after Donald Trump’s former aide Steve Bannon flashed a fascist-style salute there hours before.Bannon, who helped Trump win office in 2016 and is now a pop
  
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• Man found guilty of attempted murder in Salman Rushdie stabbing trial

  21-02-2025 20:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Jury convicts Hadi Matar, 27, charged with trying to kill author at literary gathering in New York state in 2022A jury on Friday afternoon convicted the man who was charged with stabbing and trying to kill the author Salman Rushdie as he delivered a lecture at a literary gathering in western New York state in 2022.Jurors in Chautauqua county quickly declared the defendant, Hadi Matar, 27, from New Jersey, guilty. They had received the case after lawyers delivered their closing arguments, wrappin
  
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• Three people killed in Louisville, Kentucky, motor vehicle office shooting

  21-02-2025 20:14 via theguardian.com
  
  One person was dead at the scene and two others died at the hospital; no reported arrests nor information on the shooterThree people were shot and killed at a motor vehicle office in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday, police said.Major Donald Boeckman of Louisville metro police department told reporters that officers found one person dead at the scene and another two wounded. The two wounded were taken to hospitals and died there. He said there was no ongoing threat to public. Continue reading...
  
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• Voletta Wallace, mother to Notorious BIG, dies at 78

  21-02-2025 20:04 via theguardian.com
  
  The rapper’s mother, who had been guarding his legacy, died of natural causes after a stint in hospice careVoletta Wallace, the dedicated mother of the late rapper the Notorious BIG, died on Friday morning aged 78.The Monroe county coroner, Thomas Yanac, confirmed her death on Friday to the Associated Press, saying she died at her home in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, after a stint in hospice care. She died of natural causes. Continue reading...
  
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• Starmer will not challenge Trump on his attack on Zelenskyy when the pair meet

  21-02-2025 19:48 via theguardian.com
  
  UK prime minister aiming to cool escalating transatlantic row over war in UkraineKeir Starmer will not risk riling Donald Trump by challenging him over his attack on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when the pair finally meet next week, as the prime minister seeks to cool an escalating transatlantic row.Starmer will fly to the US in the coming days for what could be a defining moment for his leadership, as Europe and the US trade accusations and insults about the origins of the wa
  
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• Pope Francis ‘not yet out of danger’ and to stay in hospital for another week

  21-02-2025 19:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Chronic illness remains but pontiff, 88, is stable and in good humour, doctor saysPope Francis, who is in hospital undergoing treatment for double pneumonia, is “not yet out of danger” and will remain in hospital for at least the whole of next week, one of his doctors has said.Francis, 88, was stable but “the chronic illness remains”, Sergio Alfieri, a general surgeon at Rome’s Gemelli university hospital, told reporters on Friday. Continue reading...
  
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• Justice department drops discrimination case against Elon Musk’s SpaceX

  21-02-2025 19:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Case brought during Biden presidency accused space company of refusing, unlawfully, to hire certain immigrantsThe US Department of Justice on Thursday said it would drop a case accusing Elon Musk’s space technology company SpaceX of refusing to hire certain immigrants.The justice department last month signaled it could back away from the case, brought during Joe Biden’s term. Musk, a top adviser and donor to Donald Trump, is leading a commission tasked with identifying waste in the f
  
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• LGBTQ+ community in Germany rally against rise of far right ahead of elections

  21-02-2025 19:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Community grapples with fear over ‘proliferation and normalisation of anti-queer and anti-trans sentiment in politics and the media’They poured on to streets across Germany by the thousands, waving rainbow flags and signs that read “Choose Love”. Days before an election in which the far right is expected to catapult into second place in Germany’s parliament, the simultaneous rallies in 50 municipalities were billed as a show of strength by an LGBTQ+ community as peo
  
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• Middle East crisis: Israel claims Hamas killed Bibas children with their ‘bare hands’ – as it happened

  21-02-2025 19:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Statement from IDF spokesman contradicts Hamas claim the family was killed in an airstrikeIsrael-Hamas swap to go ahead despite claim child hostages were killed with ‘bare hands’One of the four bodies returned by Hamas to Israel on Thursday is not that of Shiri Bibas, Israel’s military has said, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of a ceasefire deal that was already precarious.The Israeli military confirmed that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas’ ch
  
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• Pope Francis is 'fine,' condition not life-threatening, doctors say

  21-02-2025 19:05 via foxnews.com
  
  Pope Francis "is fine" as his medical condition is not life-threatening, but he is expected to remain hospitalized for at least all of next week, his doctors in Italy announced Friday. Gemelli hospital Dr. Sergio Alfieri and Francis’ personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, spoke as the 88-year-old pope marked his first week in a hospital with pneumonia on top of chronic bronchitis. "The pope is fine," Alfieri told reporters Friday, noting that Francis instructed he and Carbone to
  
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• WATCH: Dog rescued after getting head stuck in treat jar

  21-02-2025 19:04 via abcnews.go.com
  
  A dog named Murphy was digging for a treat on Monday night -- perhaps a little too aggressively -- and ended up getting his head stuck inside a plastic jar.
  
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• Watchdog reopens investigation into Jonathan Reynolds’ legal career claims

  21-02-2025 19:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Business secretary alleged to never have qualified as solicitor, despite listing job on LinkedIn profileThe solicitors’ regulator has reopened an investigation into the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, over accusations he misrepresented his legal career.The Solicitors Regulation Authority said on Friday it would look into allegations that Reynolds had incorrectly claimed to have worked as a solicitor even though he did not finish his legal training. Continue reading...
  
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• Poland’s Andrzej Duda to meet Donald Trump on Saturday – as it happened

  21-02-2025 19:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Polish president to fly to Washington, making him the first European leader to be welcomed by Trump in the White House, reports Polish mediaA 51-year-old man has been sentenced to eight years in jail in Poland for preparing acts of diversion which the prosecutors found to be commissioned by Russia.The man, a Ukrainian citizen, was arrested in 2024 as part of a broader investigation into several suspected acts of diversion, including arson, in western Poland. Continue reading...
  
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• Scottish Labour would set up Musk-style ‘Doge’ department, says Sarwar

  21-02-2025 18:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Party would create department to clear out inefficient quangos and merge health boards if it wins power next year, leader saysScottish Labour would set up an Elon Musk-style department to clear out inefficient quangos and government waste if it wins power next year, Anas Sarwar has said.The Scottish Labour leader said their own “department of government efficiency” – a title identical to Musk’s Doge – would oversee efforts to save money by scrapping dozens of quango
  
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• UK party leaders walk tightrope on Trump while voters want stricter stance

  21-02-2025 18:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Polling shows US president is deeply unpopular with British voters but Keir Starmer is keen not to rock the boatKeir Starmer is striking a delicate balancing act on the world stage by trying to maintain a good relationship with Donald Trump while giving his full-throated support to Ukraine and pursuing closer ties with the EU.But the prime minister faces increased domestic pressures when it comes to Trump, whom he will meet in Washington DC next week. Polling consistently shows the US president
  
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• Apple removes advanced data protection tool in face of UK government request

  21-02-2025 18:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Apple says removal of tool after government asked for right to see data will make iCloud users more vulnerableBusiness live – latest updatesApple has taken the unprecedented step of removing its strongest data security tool from customers in the UK, after the government demanded “backdoor” access to user data.UK users will no longer have access to the advanced data protection (ADP) tool, which uses end-to-end encryption to allow only account holders to view items such as photos
  
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• US envoy to Ukraine hails Zelenskyy as ‘embattled and courageous leader’

  21-02-2025 18:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Keith Kellogg strikes different tone after Donald Trump called Ukrainian president a ‘dictator’The US envoy to Ukraine, Gen Keith Kellogg, has praised Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war”, striking a dramatically different tone from Donald Trump, who has called Ukraine’s president a “dictator”.Kellogg left Kyiv on Friday after a three-day visit. Posting on social media, he said he had engaged in “extensive
  
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• Starmer to tell Trump that UK’s Chagos deal will avoid tensions with China

  21-02-2025 18:29 via theguardian.com
  
  PM to claim if US rejects Mauritius’s claim to own the islands, Beijing will be drawn into the regional disputeKeir Starmer is to urge Donald Trump to recognise that a US rejection of Mauritius’s legal claim to own the Chagos Islands, including the strategic US military base at Diego Garcia, may stoke tensions similar to those in the South China Sea.Starmer is due to meet Trump next Friday mainly to discuss the future of Ukraine, but also a UK plan for Gaza’s reconstruction und
  
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• Trudeau trolls Trump after Canada bests USA at hockey

  21-02-2025 18:20 via abcnews.go.com
  
  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a jab at President Trump after Canada's victory over the United States in an international hockey tournament.
  
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• Israel-Hamas swap to go ahead despite claim child hostages were killed with ‘bare hands’

  21-02-2025 18:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Ceasefire deal still on track amid uproar over fate of two Israeli boys and false return of their mother’s bodyIsraelis and Palestinians are bracing for another tense hostage, prisoner and detainee exchange on Saturday amid uproar in Israel over allegations that two child hostages were “brutally murdered” by Hamas, and the group’s failure to deliver the body of their mother, instead returning the corpse of an unidentified woman.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a st
  
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• Working-class creatives don’t stand a chance in UK today, leading artists warn

  21-02-2025 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Analysis by the Guardian shows a third of major arts leaders were educated privatelyAnalysis: Who is ‘working class’ and why does it matter in the arts?Interviews: Nine working-class creatives on class in the arts – and how they made itArtists, directors and actors have raised the alarm about what they describe as a rigged system preventing working-class talent thriving in their industries after analysis showed almost a third of major arts leaders were educated priva
  
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• WATCH: 1st successful open heart surgery performed during birth

  21-02-2025 17:09 via abcnews.go.com
  
  "GMA" shares an exclusive story for American Heart Month about a groundbreaking procedure that involves open heart surgery on a baby while he was being born.
  
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• Israel's Netanyahu calls for 'revenge' after Hamas returns wrong remains

  21-02-2025 16:06 via foxnews.com
  
  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed "revenge" on Hamas after it was discovered that the body in a coffin bearing Shiri Bibas’ name and photo was an unidentified woman, and not the kidnapped mother of two.On Thursday, Hamas was supposed to deliver the bodies of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas and Oded Lifshitz. However, during the identification process, Israel discovered that the body inside Shiri’s coffin was not hers. "These Hamas monsters also cynically refused to
  
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• ‘This could have all been avoided’: how Creative Australia allowed itself to be blind-sided over its Venice Biennale pick

  21-02-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  High-profile artists and curators stunned by Creative Australia’s swift abandonment of Khaled Sabsabi, the art community, and the complex nature of art itselfA week after Creative Australia controversially dumped artist Khaled Sabsabi as Australia’s representative for the 2026 Venice Biennale, Richard Bell still can’t understand the decision.The Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang artist has a long history with the Venice Biennale and Australia’s peak arts funding b
  
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• Missing Australian member of Islamic State found alive in Syrian prison

  21-02-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, who left Australia in 2015, is being held in Panorama prison, a detention centre for accused IS members run by the SDFAn Australian member of Islamic State who was wounded in the extremist group’s final battle and whose fate was not publicly known has been discovered alive and in custody in a prison in north-eastern Syria.Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, 41, who is one of a cohort of accused IS members whose Australian citizenship was stripped and then restored in 2022 af
  
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• Eight Labor ‘climate champions’ to get election help from party’s grassroots environment action group

  21-02-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Ged Kearney, Kate Thwaites, Josh Burns, Jerome Laxale, Sally Sitou, Alicia Payne, Josh Wilson and Renee Coffey will get extra door-knocking, phone banking and push adsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor’s grassroots environmental action network is mobilising behind pro-nature MPs it wants in federal parliament to push the party to adopt a more ambitious green agenda.Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) will support a select group of eight Labor &l
  
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• Anthony Albanese under pressure on salmon farming from both conservationists and industry

  21-02-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The future of Tasmanian salmon farms has become a political issue centred on whether they can coexist with the endangered Maugean skateGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese is caught in a pincer movement over a pre-election pledge that he will protect salmon farming in Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour, with conservationists and industry leaders both urging him to rethink the commitment.The future of salmon farming in the harbour on the state’s west c
  
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• Albanese’s appearance on Abbie Chatfield’s podcast was a calculated move in a tight ‘influencer election’

  21-02-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The real clincher in a tight election may be a few votes shifted here and there through chat about wedding plans and favourite TV showsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast“I understand people have issues with Anthony Albanese and the Labor government,” podcast host and influencer Abbie Chatfield tells her hundreds of thousands of listeners at the top of a 90-minute interview with the prime minister.One of the most popular podcasters in the country, the Sydney-b
  
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• BBC pulls Gaza documentary featuring child whose father was Hamas minister

  21-02-2025 14:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Show removed from iPlayer as ‘further due diligence’ carried out and critics ask if any Hamas members were paid for filmingA BBC documentary about Gaza has been pulled from its iPlayer service while the broadcaster deals with intensifying accusations that the film was biased because it failed to make clear the father of its child narrator was a Hamas deputy minister.BBC sources indicated the intention was to make the documentary available to watch again once a “due diligence&rd
  
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• Canada’s hockey team beats US in 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

  21-02-2025 14:23 via today.com
  Canada beat the United States in overtime during the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston. The final score was 3-2. Members of Team USA say they were disappointed but motivated for next year’s Winter Olympic Games.
  
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• Hamas will pay 'full price' for failing to return Shiri Bibas' remains, Netanyahu says

  21-02-2025 14:17 via nbcnews.com
  
  Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would make Hamas pay the full price for failing to return the remains of Shiri Bibas, the mom of the two youngest hostages.
  
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• Senate's 'vote-a-rama' and Mexican troops at border: Morning Rundown

  21-02-2025 13:29 via nbcnews.com
  
  Senate adopts a $340 billion budget with Trump's priorities. Entire police department put on leave. Mexico ramps up troops at the border. Best egg substitutes.
  
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• Israel says body released by Hamas was not Shiri Bibas

  21-02-2025 13:20 via today.com
  The Israeli military says the body released by Hamas was not that of Shiri Bibas as they claimed. “No match was found for the fourth body,” they say, describing it as “anonymous and unidentified.” Bibas and her two children were among those taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attacks. NBC’s Keir Simmons reports for TODAY.
  
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• Trump to sign more executive orders today, despite legal pushback on several of his directives

  21-02-2025 13:16 via nbcnews.com
  
  Trump is slated to sign more executive orders this afternoon. Several of his directives have already faced pushback during his first month in office.
  
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• Shiri Bibas not among returned bodies, Israel says, accusing Hamas of ‘serious violation’

  21-02-2025 12:57 via theguardian.com
  
  IDF statement comes hours after Netanyahu orders further crackdown on occupied West Bank over bus explosionsOne of the four bodies returned by Hamas to Israel on Thursday is not that of the hostage Shiri Bibas, Israel’s military has said, calling it a “violation of utmost severity” of an already precarious ceasefire deal.The Israeli military confirmed in the early hours of Friday that two of the bodies belonged to Bibas’s children, Ariel and Kfir. However, it added: &ldqu
  
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• Senate adopts $340 billion budget blueprint for Trump's agenda after marathon 'vote-a-rama'

  21-02-2025 12:39 via nbcnews.com
  
  The Republican-controlled Senate on Friday morning adopted a $340 billion budget blueprint designed to boost funding for President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement efforts, energy production and the military.
  
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• Bakeries can't beat egg prices, so your cake may cost more

  21-02-2025 12:00 via nbcnews.com
  
  Flour Bakery in Boston can’t make much with just its namesake ingredient; eggs are in just about everything from pies and cakes to brioche bread.
  
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• Airlines warned as Chinese navy holds live-fire exercises off Australia

  21-02-2025 11:55 via nbcnews.com
  
  Australia expressed concern to China on Friday over the short notice given by the Chinese navy that it would hold a live-fire exercise in international waters between Australia and New Zealand, forcing airlines to divert flights.
  
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• Hong Kong’s oldest pro-democracy party says it will begin process of disbanding

  21-02-2025 11:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Democratic party chair Lo Kin-hei would not comment on whether Beijing put pressure on membersHong Kong’s oldest pro-democracy party, which became an influential voice of opposition before Beijing cracked down on dissent, will start preparations to shut down, its leader has said.Lo Kin-hei, the chair of Hong Kong’s Democratic party, said on Thursday: “We are going to proceed and study on the process and procedure that is needed for the disbanding.” Continue reading...
  
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• Britain accuses Russia of planning to interfere in upcoming Central African Republic elections

  21-02-2025 11:40 via nbcnews.com
  
  Britain accused Russia of planning to interfere in upcoming elections in the Central African Republic, and the U.S. alleged that Moscow was seeking to steal the gold and diamond-rich country’s resources.
  
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• Train strikes elephant herd in Sri Lanka, killing 6 animals

  21-02-2025 11:34 via nbcnews.com
  
  A passenger train hit an elephant herd near a wildlife sanctuary in Sri Lanka, killing six of the animals, an official said Thursday.
  
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• Hamas claims remains of mother of two young boys mixed with other human remains after Israeli airstrike

  21-02-2025 11:25 via foxnews.com
  
  The mother of two young boys murdered by Hamas while in captivity was not among the bodies returned to Israel on Thursday and the terrorist group is claiming it was a mix-up.Hamas officials reportedly said Friday that the remains of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas were "turned into pieces after apparently being mixed with other bodies under the rubble," following an Israeli air strike that hit the place she was held in.The bodies of Kfir Bibas, Ariel Bibas and Oded Lifshitz were returned to Israel m
  
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• RFK Jr. thrusts antidepressants into the spotlight — unnecessarily, advocates say

  21-02-2025 11:00 via nbcnews.com
  
  RFK Jr. plans to investigate SSRI and antidepressant use, particularly among children and teens, as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
  
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• House Republicans representing large shares of Medicaid, SNAP beneficiaries face tough budget test

  21-02-2025 11:00 via nbcnews.com
  
  Some Republicans have raised concerns about potential cuts to anti-poverty programs that their constituents rely on as they search for ways to pay for Trump’s legislative agenda.
  
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