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Montenegro finally gets new government and PM

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

Montenegro’s parliament voted in a new government on Tuesday, following weeks of negotiations and nearly five months after the country went to the polls.The small Balkan country will be led by a coalition of pro-European, pro-Serb and Albanian minority parties, helmed by former finance minister and ex-Goldman Sachs banker Milojko Spajić, who leads the centrist Europe Now Movement. At 36, he is the youngest prime minister in Europe.“Our vision is Montenegro as the Switzerland of the Balkans and the Singapore of Europe”, Spajić told parliament ahead of the vote. He pitched his government’s main foreign policy priorities as joining the EU, continued membership in NATO, and improving Montenegro’s relations with its neighbors and participation in multilateral organizations.The country declared independence from Serbia in 2006, began negotiations to join the EU in 2012 and joined NATO in 2017. It adopted the euro as its currency in 2002.In recent years, the c...

Afghans in droves head to border to leave Pakistan ahead of a deadline in anti-migrant crackdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Large numbers of Afghans crammed into trucks and buses in Pakistan on Tuesday, heading to the border to return home hours before the expiration of a Pakistani government deadline for those who are in the country illegally to leave or face deportation. The deadline is part of a new anti-migrant crackdown that targets all undocumented or unregistered foreigners, according to Islamabad. But it mostly affects Afghans, who make up the bulk of migrants in Pakistan. The expulsion campaign has drawn widespread criticism from U.N. agencies, rights groups and the Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan.Pakistani officials warn that people who are in the country illegally face arrest and deportation after Oct. 31. U.N. agencies say there are more than 2 million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, at least 600,000 of whom fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021.Although the government insists it isn’t targeting Afghans, the campaign comes amid strained relations ...

AB InBev earnings climb but Bud Light backlash still weighs on North American sales

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

Anheuser-Busch Inbev said Tuesday that revenue growth in most of its global regions was offset by a drop in North American sales, in a sign of continuing fallout from a promotion with a transgender influencer that cost it sales.The world’s largest brewer and parent company of Bud Light said adjusted earnings for the latest quarter rose 4.1% to $5.4 billion on revenues that climbed 5% to $15.6 billion. Revenue in the United States for the July-September period, however, tumbled 13.5%. AB InBev, based in Leuven, Belgium, noted that sales to retailers were down “primarily due to the volume decline of Bud Light.” Bud Light sales plunged amid a conservative backlash after the brand sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in early April.The controversy toppled Bud Light from its position as America’s best-selling beer for more than two decades. In June, it dropped to second place in U.S. retail sales behind Modelo Especial. Modelo – which is own...

A wildfire raging for a week in eastern Australia claims a life and razes more than 50 homes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A wildfire is suspected to have killed a man, destroyed more than 50 homes and razed 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) of farm and scrubland in eastern Australia, authorities said on Tuesday.Firefighters have been battling the blaze that has scorched the Queensland state town of Tara for more than a week.No new property losses were reported on Tuesday as crews sweltered in 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) weather to reinforce containment lines established on Monday, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Acting Superintendent Cameron Herbert said.“It’s not a fire that you can put out. We can’t actually extinguish it, but we just need to control it,” Herbert told reporters.Firefighting reinforcements from Victoria state and New Zealand were heading to the fire front this week to relieve weary locals.“The fatigue is definitely setting in,” Herbert said.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew to Queensland on Tuesday to pledge his support for wildfire vic...

Chinese factory activity contracts in October as pandemic recovery falters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — An official survey of manufacturers shows China’s factory activity contracted in October, suggesting the economy remains on uneven footing. The purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, fell to 49.5 in October on a 100-point scale, down from 50.2 last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing. A figure below 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing activity while a number above 50 reflects an expansion. The non-manufacturing PMI for October fell 1.1 percentage points to 50.6, a sign of slowing activity in China’s service and construction industries. Factory output and supplier delivery times improved while measures of new orders, raw materials and employment contracted.China’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has faltered after an initial burst of growth earlier in the year faded more quickly than expected.In recent months, the government has raised spending on building ports and other infrastr...

Montenegro gets new government, promises to unblock EU integration as EU Commissioner visits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro’s new government was confirmed on Tuesday, with the prime minister promising to unblock the Balkan nation’s stalled European Union integration process as a top EU official was set to hold talks in the small NATO member country.Parliament approved the new Cabinet with 46 votes in favor and 19 against after a session that lasted all night. Montenegro’s assembly has 81 members but not all were present at the vote. The government was formed after months of political bickering that followed an election in June. The centrist Europe Now party of Prime Minister Milojko Spajic won the election, but without enough support to form a government on its own.To form the government, the winning coalition received backing from staunchly anti-Western groups under the condition that one of their leaders, Andrija Mandic, was elected as the speaker of parliament — an influential political position.Spajic said his government will be pro-European d...

In the news today: Israeli ground forces in Gaza as Canada debates humanitarian pause

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 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…Palestinian, Israeli advocates in Ottawa reject temporary pauses in Gaza fightA temporary respite from Israel-Hamas hostilities should not be Canada’s focus, Israeli and Palestinian advocates argued separately on Parliament Hill Monday, even as the Canadian government continued to push for “humanitarian pauses.”Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said in a Monday speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto that a humanitarian agreement is urgently needed to help people in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which is home to more than two million Palestinians.Israel declared war against Hamas after the Oct. 7 attacks, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and 222 taken hostage, according to the Israeli government.Israeli ground forces are currently attacking Hamas militants and infrastructure in northern Gaza as warplanes strike acr...

Officer who interacted with Chris Barber back on stand in organizers trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

OTTAWA — The trial of two “Freedom Convoy” organizers is set to resume today with the continued testimony of an officer who served as a liaison between the Ottawa Police Service and demonstrators. Sgt. Jordan Blonde, a police officer who described himself as a “secondary” contact for Barber, will be back on the stand today. On Friday, Blonde described “hostile” scenes leading up to a police operation to forcibly remove demonstrators out of Ottawa’s downtown in the early 2022 protests against COVID-19 public-health measures. Crown prosecutors are expected to continue questioning Blonde today, but defence lawyers say they won’t be able to cross-examine him until the judge makes a ruling on the admissibility of internal police documents that police claim are protected by solicitor-client privilege. Tamara Lich and Chris Barber are facing multiple charges including mischief, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation. The Crown...

Shawn Levy on adapting celebrated novel ‘All the Light We Cannot See’ for the screen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

TORONTO — Adapting a beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel into a Netflix series sounds like a daunting task, but Canadian director-producer Shawn Levy says bringing “All the Light We Cannot See” to the screen didn’t feel that way for a simple reason — he is a “rabid fan” of the book.“All along, I’ve approached this material with reverence. Not so much reverence that I’m unwilling to change things to make it breathe in this new format on screen,” he said in a September interview after two episodes of the limited series premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.Anthony Doerr’s novel — set during the Second World War — tells the parallel stories of blind French girl Marie-Laure, who joins the resistance to Nazi occupation, and radio tech-savvy German teenager Werner, recruited by the Nazis to track down illegal broadcasts. The book has been a hit with readers and critics since it was first published in 2014, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide an...

StatCan to release gross domestic product figure for August, estimate for Q3 today

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:26 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release its August gross domestic product report this morning. The federal agency’s release will include a preliminary estimate for economic growth in September as well as the third quarter. RBC says it expects the economy shrank in the third quarter, which would mark a second consecutive quarterly contraction.Higher interest rates are weighing on economic growth as people and businesses pull back on spending.The Bank of Canada’s most recent projections suggest the economy will remain weak for the rest of the year and into 2024. The central bank is hoping this weakness will translate into lower inflation as price growth remains above its two per cent target. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.The Canadian Press