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Thousands still missing from 20 years of Iraq’s turmoil

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Nawal Sweidan quietly folded her son’s clothes and straightened the bedsheets in his room as she always used to do when he was out at work or at university. She still does it regularly, even though he hasn’t been home for almost 10 years since he was taken away by militiamen. Her son Safaa vanished in late July 2014. At around 1:30 a.m., just days before the holy month of Ramadan was to end and holiday celebrations were to begin, a group of men showed up at the family’s doorstep and asked for Safaa, a law student and postal carrier in his early 20s.“They told us they just wanted to question him and will return him soon,” Sweidan said. Twenty years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, much of the conflict and sectarian bloodletting it unleashed has subsided. But those years left a legacy of thousands of people — or perhaps tens of thousands, like Safaa — who went missing, and their families feel forgotten as they seek answers about their loved ones’ fates. As it t...

Saudi, Iranian FMs meet in China, signaling warming of ties

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The foreign ministers of long-time Middle Eastern rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran met in Beijing on Thursday, taking another step toward reconciliation after seven years of tension.The meeting came a month after the two countries agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations and reopen embassies by May. The deal was brokered by Beijing. It represents a major diplomatic victory for the Chinese as Gulf Arab states perceive the United States slowly withdrawing from the wider Middle East. It also comes as diplomats have been trying to end a long war in Yemen, a conflict in which both Iran and Saudi Arabia are deeply entrenched.The rapprochement lowers the chance of armed conflict between the Mideast rivals – both directly and in proxy conflicts around the regionOn Thursday morning, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Al-Ekhbariya TV showed Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian shaking hands and sitting side by side. Iran’s state...

Macron in China wants ‘common path’ on peace in Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday he wants to forge a “common path” with China on peace in Ukraine when he meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping.French officials said earlier Macron planned to urge Xi to use Beijing’s influence with Russian President Vladimir Putin to promote peace in Ukraine but expected no major change in China’s position.Xi and Putin declared their governments had a “no limits friendship” before Moscow’s February 2022 attack on Ukraine. Beijing has refused to criticize the Kremlin but has tried to appear neutral and has called for a cease-fire and peace talks.Macron said during a meeting with ruling Communist Party’s No. 2 leader, Premier Li Qiang, that he wanted to talk about “Ukraine, but also about all the major conflicts and the difficult situations around the world.”“The ability to share a common analysis and build a common path is essential,” Macron said.Li said there was likely to be “broad consensus” between Macron ...

Sapporo election could restart bid for 2030 Winter Olympics

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics has been slowed — but not stopped — by fallout from the still-developing corruption scandal around the 2020 Tokyo Games.The pursuit could resume if Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto is re-elected on Sunday, as expected, against two anti-Olympic candidates.The northern Japanese city suspended actively promoting the bid three months ago, hoping damage from Tokyo’s scandal would fade from view. It hasn’t entirely and Sapporo, once the favorite, now has an uncertain Olympic future.A January poll by the regional newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun showed 67% were opposed to holding the Olympics.Sapporo has declined to call a public referendum over the Olympics, although the mayor’s re-election could be touted as a substitute. Public votes over staging the Olympics almost always fail.Victor Matheson, who studies sports economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, suggested a public vote before ...

Ukraine's Zelenskiy heads to Poland to deepen ties with Western ally

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in neighbouring Poland on Wednesday (5 April), a Polish presidential aide said, as he begins an official visit to a close ally that has galvanised Western military and political support for Kyiv.The visit, which was announced this week by Poland but has not been officially confirmed by Kyiv, comes with Ukraine planning to conduct a counter-offensive in the coming weeks or months to recapture occupied land in its east and south."I can say that President Zelenskiy has crossed the Polish border," Marcin Przydacz told private broadcaster TVN24 on Wednesday.In televised comments on Tuesday ahead of the visit, Przydacz had said the visit "should be taken as a sign of trust and of thanking Poland and Poles".Poland has taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees over the past 13 months of war. The NATO member has also played an important role in persuading other Western powers to supply battle tanks and other weaponry to Ukraine.Military d...

Britain blocks UN webcast of Russian meeting on Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

Britain has blocked a UN webcast on Wednesday (5 April) of an informal Security Council meeting about Ukraine. The U.N. webcast will show Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights speaking. The International Criminal Court would like to charge him with war crimes.Russia announced on Tuesday (4 April) that Maria Lvova Belova, Russia's commissioner for "evacuating children in conflict zones", will be part of the meeting. These meetings cannot be held in the Security Council chamber. All 15 members of the council must agree to allow the United Nations to webcast it.Last month, the International Criminal Court in Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. It also accused Lvova-Belova of illegally deporting Ukrainian children and unlawfully transferring people from Ukraine to Russia since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.A spokesperson for Britain's U.N. mission said that she should not be allowed to use U.N. platforms to spread disinformation. She ...

Suspected armed and dangerous driver, 4 passengers arrested after wild pursuit in Los Angeles

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department took four people into custody after the pursuit of a stolen vehicle suspect Wednesday night, who was believed to be armed and dangerous.  Sky5 picked up the nearly hourlong pursuit in the eastbound lanes of the 10 Freeway at around 10:30 p.m. Shortly after that, the driver, in what appeared to be a dark colored Honda, exited the freeway and was driving at speeds as high as 60 miles per hour on surface streets.  Aerial footage from Sky5 captured the driver blowing through red lights, making blind turns and narrowly avoiding collisions with other motorists on the road.  At West 18th and Bonnie Brae streets, in the area of Pico-Union, the suspect slowed the vehicle to a stop and two passengers, a male and a female jumped out of the vehicle, before the driver, again, led police in pursuit. Both passengers were later taken into custody.  Not long after that, just west of downtown, police could be seen deploying spike strips t...

2 years after botched police fireworks explosion, South L.A. residents are still displaced, angry

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

Nearly two years after a botched fireworks explosion by police destroyed dozens of homes in South Los Angeles, displaced residents are speaking out, accusing the city of not rectifying the issues while threatening to evict them from temporary housing.In June 2021, LAPD officers detonated a cache of illegal fireworks on East 27th Street which injured 17 people and displaced 80 residents in the area.An estimated 16 tons of illegal commercial and homemade fireworks and other explosive materials were found inside a home on the street, just days before July 4th celebrations.The LAPD bomb squad packed nearly 40 pounds of the most volatile and dangerous homemade fireworks into an armored containment vessel that was rated for only 33 pounds, according to a federal report.The fireworks were supposed to be detonated safely at the scene because they were too unstable to move but the vessel exploded, and debris rained down on nearby residences, businesses and vehicles.Along with nearly 30 homes...

Rockets fired from Gaza raise tension as Passover begins

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets early Thursday, setting off air raid sirens in southern Israel, as violence erupted for the second day in a row during a sensitive period of overlapping holidays.The barrage came after another tense night at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli police clashed with Muslim worshippers attempting to stay overnight, in defiance of long-standing compromises about management of the compound. The Israeli military said seven rockets launched from the Gaza Strip all exploded in midair. No group claimed responsibility for the barrage.Unrest in the region was less intense than the previous days, but the rocket fire raised fears of a wider conflagration as Jews began the week-long Passover holiday, hundreds of Christians in the Old City gathered for Holy Thursday at the Holy Sepulcher to mark the Last Supper, and Muslims marked the Ramadan holy month.Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam an...

Hail, wind and lightning to threaten the DC region on Thursday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:52 GMT

Strong to severe storms could impact the D.C. area on Thursday afternoon with potential gusty winds, hail and lightning. Here’s what you need to know to prepare.Wednesday’s record warmth gives way to a very mild, but somewhat muggy overnight, ahead of the next weather maker on Thursday.The extent of anything more severe than wind, hail and lightning is uncertain at this time, according to 7News First Alert meteorologist Steve Rudin.Listen to WTOP online and on the radio at 103.5 FM or 107.7 FM.Current traffic conditionsWeather forecastClosings and DelaysSign up for WTOP alerts“With the front moving to the east during the late afternoon and early evening, the greatest risk will be experienced during these times” on Thursday, Rudin said.Heavy rain is likely to fall at some point during the afternoon and into the evening 7News First Alert meteorologist Veronica Johnson said.“Storms could pack a punch with some high winds, even some hail. And well, we’...