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Aussie store pulls ‘Merry Ham-Mas’ Christmas bag after outcry

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

Australia’s Kmart retail chain on Wednesday was forced to remove a Christmas bag bearing the inscription “Merry Ham-Mas” from sale after the item attracted criticism from a Jewish group.The colorful drawstring bag, which can be used to store a Christmas ham in a refrigerator, could no longer be ordered on Kmart’s website as of Thursday morning.“We got it wrong on this occasion, and we apologise unreservedly,” a Kmart spokesperson said in a written statement to POLITICO on Thursday.“When designing this product we clearly didn’t think through all the implications and the product has been removed from sale,” the spokesperson added.Launched just a few weeks after the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ violent attacks which killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, the Christmas bag sparked public outcry after the Australian Jewish Association (AJA) asked for the product to be pulled.“Although this is potentially funny (the AJA co...

Putin rakes in extra €1B for his war chest via Bulgaria sanctions loophole

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

BRUSSELS — The Kremlin raked in an extra €1 billion for its war effort this year after Russia’s largest private oil firm exploited loopholes in EU sanctions rules — with help from Bulgaria.Taking advantage of a unique exemption to the EU’s Russian oil ban, Bulgaria allowed millions of barrels of Russian oil to reach a local Russian-owned refinery, which then exported various refined fuels abroad including to EU countries, according to an investigation by the NGO Global Witness, the think tanks Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and independent reporting by POLITICO.That loophole — raising enough revenue for Moscow to fund its Wagner mercenary group for a year, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin — also generated almost €500 million in profits for the refinery’s owner Lukoil since the exemption kicked on February 5, according to a classified analysis prepared for Bulgaria’s parliament and seen by POLITICO.This...

Japan’s SoftBank hit with $6.2B quarterly loss as WeWork, other tech investments go sour

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology company SoftBank Group Corp. racked up a huge loss in the July-September quarter as its technology investments, most notably office-sharing company WeWork, went sour. Tokyo-based SoftBank loss totaled 931 billion yen ($6.2 billion) in the last quarter, a reversal from the 3 trillion yen profit it posted in the same period a year earlier.SoftBank has a sprawling investment portfolio and tends to have erratic financial results that fluctuate with market trends.That has been highlighted by the troubles at WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week amid turmoil in the U.S. commercial real estate market after the pandemic sent vacancies soaring in major cities like New York and San Francisco.SoftBank holds a nearly 80% stake in WeWork. SoftBank’s chief financial officer, Yoshimitsu Goto, sought to allay investor’s worries, stressing in an online news conference that the company was still going strong overall, making cau...

Israeli strikes pound Gaza City, where tens of thousands have fled in recent days

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight and into Thursday as ground forces battled Hamas militants in dense urban neighborhoods from which tens of thousands have fled in recent days.Israeli troops were around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Shifa Hospital in the heart of downtown, the hospital’s director said. Israel has been vague on troop movements, but officials say Gaza’s largest city is the focus of their campaign to crush Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 assault inside Israel.International mediators were meanwhile closing in on a possible deal for a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in exchange for the release of around a dozen hostages held by Hamas, according to two Egyptian officials, a United Nations official and a Western diplomat. The deal would also allow a small amount of fuel to enter the territory for the first time since the war began.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said any temporary cease-fire would have ...

Canadians and other foreign nationals still waiting for border crossing to reopen

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

A key crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt has remained closed today as hundreds of people connected to Canada await news of when — and whether — they will be able to escape the besieged Palestinian territory. The federal government confirmed that no Canadians were able to leave the Gaza Strip on Wednesday because of a closure of the Rafah border crossing.A U.S. State Department spokesperson told reporters on Wednesday that the closure was because of a “security circumstance,” but offered little additional detail. Global Affairs Canada says Canadian officials in Egypt remain ready to welcome those leaving the territory and help them get to Cairo.Those coming from Gaza are allowed to stay in Egypt for up to three days, and the Canadian government will provide them with accommodation and basic essentials during that time.On Tuesday, 75 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families were the first people connected to Canada to leave the territory since the w...

India, Pakistan border guards trade fire along their frontier in Kashmir; one Indian soldier killed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged gunfire and shelling along their highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir, killing an Indian border guard, officials said Thursday.Authorities in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir said Pakistani soldiers fired mortars and machine guns at border posts in the southern Jammu area on Wednesday night, calling it “unprovoked.”India’s Border Security Force said in a statement that its soldiers “befittingly responded” and that one of its border guards was killed.The fighting ended early Thursday.There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. Each side often accuses the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region, which both claim in its entirety.Last month, two Indian border guards and three civilians were injured in fighting along the fronter with Pakistan.India and Pakistan have a long history of bitter relations over Kashmir. They have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over their competing...

New island emerges after undersea volcano erupts off Japan, but experts say it may not last long

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — An undersea volcano erupted off Japan three weeks ago, providing a rare view of the birth of a tiny new island, but experts say it may not last very long. The unnamed undersea volcano, located about 1 kilometer (half a mile) off the southern coast of Iwo Jima, which Japan calls Ioto, started its latest series of eruptions on Oct. 21. Within 10 days, volcanic ash and rocks piled up on the shallow seabed, its tip rising above the sea surface. By early November, it became a new island about 100 meters (328 feet) in diameter and as high as 20 meters (66 feet) above the sea, according to Yuji Usui, an analyst in the Japan Meteorological Agency’s volcanic division. Volcanic activity has increased near Iwo Jima and similar undersea eruptions have occurred in recent years, but the formation of a new island is a significant development, Usui said.Volcanic activity at the site has since subsided, and the newly formed island has somewhat shrunk because its “crumbly” formatio...

In The News for today: Gaza bombardment overnight hits close to hospital

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed tobring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Israel and Hamas conflict continuesThe general director of Gaza City’s main hospital says scores of wounded people are being treated at the Al-Shifa Hospital following overnight Israeli strikes and shelling.Dr. Mohammad Abu Selmia told the Associated Press by phone that at least one shell landed very close to the hospital at around dawn Thursday, resulting in only a few people sustaining minor injuries. He said it would’ve been a “catastrophe” had the shell landed any closer, adding that conditions at the hospital are “disastrous in every sense of the word.”Abu Selmia said the hospital is in short supply of medicine and other medical equipment, while doctors and nurses are exhausted and “unable to do much for the patients.”Meantime, negotiations are underway to reach a three-day humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about a d...

Mobile and resilient, the US military is placing a new emphasis on ground troops for Pacific defense

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — As Chinese missile testing in the waters around Taiwan grew increasingly aggressive in 1996, the U.S. sailed two aircraft carrier groups to the island that Beijing claims as its own, and China was forced to back down. It employed a similar response to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel a month ago, dispatching two carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean in a rapid and massive show of force meant to deter other countries or Iran-backed proxy groups such as Hezbollah from joining the fight.But what is still viable in the Mideast is increasingly less practical with China, which in 1996 had no carriers of its own and little means to threaten the American ships, but now has the world’s largest navy, including three aircraft carriers, and a coastline bristling with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. Instead, ongoing exercises in Hawaii, which conclude Friday, highlight part of a new American approach to Pacific defense and deterrence, with a focus on small groups...

Study looks back centuries to peer into the future for polar bears

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:57:37 GMT

New research suggests that ancient polar bear populations shrank as sea ice dwindled, adding weight to concerns about the predator’s future as climate change melts the Arctic. “The population size seems to have decreased at a time when temperatures went up and sea ice went down,” said Paul Szpak, a professor at Trent University and a co-author of a newly published paper that looks at bear populations and habitats over thousands of years. Szpak and 19 colleagues from 11 institutions brought together three strands of inquiry to reach their conclusions — genetic analysis of old bear skulls from a Danish archive, habitat modelling based on long-ago climate and study of distinctive elements in those bones that reveal diet.  The polar bear genome has been completely mapped, allowing scientists to measure the genetic diversity of any one group of bears. More diversity suggests more bears.“How different the bears are from one another on a genetic level can be a marke...