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Niger crisis deepens as France plans evacuation and coup leaders get support from neighboring juntas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — France on Tuesday announced a planned evacuation from Niger after a military coup there won backing from two other West African nations ruled by mutinous soldiers.The French Foreign Ministry in Paris said the evacuation “will happen rapidly.” It gave no other immediate details.The French decision to evacuate comes amid a deepening crisis sparked by the coup last week against Niger’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.The West African regional body known as ECOWAS announced travel and economic sanctions against Niger on Sunday and said it would use force if the coup leaders don’t reinstate Bazoum within one week. Bazoum’s government was one of the West’s last democratic partners against West African extremists.In a joint statement from Mali and Burkina Faso, their military governments wrote that “any military intervention against Niger will be considered as a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali.”Col. Abdoulaye Maiga, Mali...

French Foreign Ministry says France is planning evacuation from Niger after coup last week in the former French colony

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French Foreign Ministry says France is planning evacuation from Niger after coup last week in the former French colony.Source

Loyd leads Seattle against Dallas after 26-point game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

Dallas Wings (14-11, 8-6 Western Conference) at Seattle Storm (6-19, 4-7 Western Conference)Seattle; Wednesday, 10:30 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Seattle faces the Dallas Wings after Jewell Loyd scored 26 points in the Seattle Storm’s 85-62 win over the Indiana Fever.The Storm have gone 4-7 against Western Conference opponents. Seattle is third in the league averaging 8.9 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 35.2% from downtown. Loyd leads the team averaging 3.4 makes while shooting 39.6% from 3-point range.The Wings have gone 8-6 against Western Conference opponents. Dallas is second in the Western Conference with 19.7 assists per game led by Arike Ogunbowale averaging 4.6.The teams square off for the third time this season. The Storm won the last matchup 109-103 on June 17. Loyd scored 39 points to help lead the Storm to the win.TOP PERFORMERS: Loyd is scoring 24.3 points per game and averaging 4.6 rebounds for the Storm. Ezi Magbegor is averaging 11.3 points and 7.3 rebounds ov...

Today in History: Aug. 1, Hitler opens Berlin Olympics

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

Today in History Today is Tuesday, Aug. 1, the 213th day of 2023. There are 152 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Aug. 1, 1936, the Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler. On this date: In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state. In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division, the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force.In 1944, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation; the revolt lasted two months before collapsing. In 1957, the United States and Canada announced they had agreed to create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). In 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, went on an armed rampage at the University of Texas in Austin that killed 14 people, most of whom were shot by Whitman while he was perched in the clock tower of the main campus building.In 1975, a 35-nation summit in Finland concluded with the signing of a declaration known as the Helsinki Accords dealing with ...

UK will keep EU’s safety mark in Brexit climbdown

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

LONDON — British businesses will be allowed to continue to use the European Union’s safety mark indefinitely, the U.K. government announced Tuesday — in a climbdown from previous post-Brexit plans.Ministers pledged to introduce a competitor assurance mark to the EU’s “CE” (Conformité Européenne) when Britain left the bloc in 2020, but the planned introduction of the “UKCA” mark has been delayed on three separate occasions. After those postponements, the new U.K. safety mark was intended to mandatorily replace the CE mark on all goods sold in Great Britain by December 2024. But the government came under pressure to back down further, as businesses warned preparing for the changes would add costs.The government bowed to those calls Tuesday, announcing that firms will now be free to use either the UKCA or the CE mark when selling goods in the U.K. “By extending CE marking use across the U.K., firms can focus their time and money on creating jobs and growing the econo...

France to evacuate nationals from Niger following coup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

France is planning to evacuate its citizens from Niger, where a military junta ousted the Nigerien president last week in a coup.“An evacuation is being organized” and “will happen rapidly,” France’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.The announcement comes after Niger’s top military brass announced last week on national television that they had overthrown the country’s president Mohamed Bazoum. Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021, is currently under detention. A change in regime in Niger is seen as a blow to the West — especially France — as it has strong ties to the West African nation. Paris had reportedly deployed about 1,500 French soldiers in Niger after a bilateral military agreement aimed at fighting terrorism.Last week, thousands of people demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Niamey, the capital of Niger, with some of them reportedly shouting “Long live Putin” and “Down with France.”The announcement comes as the milita...

Russia accuses Ukraine of drone attack on Moscow, hitting a tower for the second time in 3 days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Russian authorities early Tuesday accused Kyiv of yet another attack on Moscow and its surroundings with drones, one of which hit a building in the capital that was damaged by a drone just days ago in a similar attack early Sunday. Russian officials have claimed that the intensified attacks on the capital region reflect failures in Ukraine’s counteroffensive, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend that “the war is gradually coming back to Russian territory,” but stopped short of taking responsibility of the attacks. The repeated drone strikes underscore Moscow’s vulnerability as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.The Russian Defense Ministry said in the early hours of Tuesday that it it shot down two Ukrainian drones outside Moscow and jammed another, sending it crashing into a skyscraper in the Moscow City business district and damaging the building’s facade. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the ...

In the news today: BC wildfire evacuees return home, union warned over strike deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Osoyoos, B.C., residents who fled fire head homeResidents of Osoyoos have been returning home after the lifting of most evacuation orders on the southern British Columbia town that had been threatened over the weekend by a wildfire that jumped the United States border.But most of the community remains under evacuation alert and must be ready to leave at short notice because of the Eagle Bluff fire that came close to engulfing the town as it roared down surrounding hills on Saturday night, before a wind shift turned the tide for firefighters.BC Wildfire Service spokeswoman Shaelee Stearns says the reins in the fight against the Eagle Bluff fire are being transitioned to a new management team that will be in constant contact with U.S. counterparts.Industrial board warns union bosses not to backtrack on new B.C. port dealThe union representing about 7,400 of Canad...

The fate of the American nurse and her daughter kidnapped by armed men in Haiti remains uncertain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The fate of an American nurse and her daughter kidnapped in Haiti last week remains unknown Tuesday as the U.S. State Department refused to say whether the abductors made demands. Around 200 Haitians had marched in their nation’s capital Monday to show their anger over an abduction that’s another example of the worsening gang violence that has overtaken much of Port-au-Prince. Alix Dorsainvil of New Hampshire was working for El Roi Haiti, a nonprofit Christian ministry, when she and her daughter were seized Thursday. She is the wife of its founder, Sandro Dorsainvil.Witnesses told The Associated Press that Dorsainvil was working in the small brick clinic when armed men burst in and seized her. Lormina Louima, a patient waiting for a check-up, said one man pulled out his gun and told her to relax.“When I saw the gun, I was so scared,” Louima said. “I said, ‘I don’t want to see this, let me go.’”Some members of the community said the unidentified men...

Residents of Osoyoos, B.C., heading home after harrowing fire fight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:15 GMT

OSOYOOS, B.C. — Residents of Osoyoos have been returning home after the lifting of most evacuation orders on the southern British Columbia town that had been threatened over the weekend by a wildfire that jumped the United States border.But most of the community remains under evacuation alert and must be ready to leave at short notice because of the Eagle Bluff fire that came close to engulfing the town as it roared down surrounding hills on Saturday night, before a wind shift turned the tide for firefighters.BC Wildfire Service spokeswoman Shaelee Stearns says the reins in the fight against the Eagle Bluff fire are being transitioned to a new management team that will be in constant contact with U.S. counterparts.The fire has scorched more than 14 square kilometres on the B.C. side of the border and 40 square kilometres on the U.S side, where it has destroyed several structures.More than 700 properties were ordered evacuated Saturday evening but the Regional District of Okanagan-Si...