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Biden to host Indian leader Modi June 22 during state visit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month as part of Modi’s trip to the United States that will include honors at an elaborate White House state dinner.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that Modi’s June 22 visit “will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together.”It will be Modi’s first visit to the Biden White House, though the two leaders have met at international summits since Biden took office. Modi is the third world leader to be invited on a U.S. state visit by Biden, following French President Emmanuel Macron late last year and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in April. Biden and Modi will focus on their countries’ commitment to a free and secure Indo-Pacific region, as well as on their partnerships in technology, including in the areas of defense, clean en...

Blast at Sweden ammunition factory injures at least 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — An explosion at an ammunition factory in southern Sweden seriously injured at least one person Wednesday, police said.Police said they were investigating the blast as an industrial accident. The factory in Karlsborg, some 220 kilometers 137 miles) southwest of Stockholm, was manufacturing small-caliber ammunition.While there was “uncertainty about how the explosion happened, it probably did not occur in the manufacturing process itself, but probably in connection with maintenance work as a pure accident,” a police statement said.Police said the the injured person was a man who was alone inside the room where the explosion occurred. Officers have not entered the facility because a safety assessment must be conducted first. Authorities said other workers were unharmed and the explosion did not cause a fire. “The situation for us is quite calm at the moment,” Peter Brandels of the local rescue service told Swedish broadcaster SVT.The factory is operated by defense manu...

Catholic, Coptic Orthodox popes offer joint Vatican blessing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis and the Coptic Orthodox pope, Tawadros II, delivered a joint blessing Wednesday from St. Peter’s Square in a significant ecumenical gesture to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of their predecessors.Tawadros, the Coptic Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, joined Francis on the stage for the entirety of Francis’ weekly general audience. He delivered a lengthy speech at the start in Arabic and then joined Francis in blessing the crowd at the end during a rainy morning.In welcoming Tawadros to the Vatican, Francis recalled that Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the meeting of St. Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III, a first between a Catholic and Coptic Orthodox pope. During that May 10, 1973, encounter, the two popes signed a joint statement on their shared faith in Christ and their rejection of proselytism, while also voicing concern for the plight of the Palestinian people and calling for peace in the Middle East.Francis ha...

Explosion near Syrian capital Damascus kills 1, injures 4

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An explosion close to a police station near the Syrian capital killed one officer and wounded four others Wednesday, state media reported. The reports, citing the Interior Ministry, did not provide further details on the explosion in the town of Barzeh, just north of Damascus. Initial reports only mentioned five injured officers.The state news agency SANA circulated photos of a charred car with investigators assessing the damage.A pro-government radio station cited a police source and said the car that exploded was a “private vehicle.” No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion. Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion was a targeted attack, and that there were a total of seven wounded officers, some in critical condition.The explosion comes as Syrian President Bashar Assad is making strides in restoring ties with the Arab world. Syria was readmitted into the Arab League on Sunday follow...

Saudi Arabia invites Syrian president to Arab summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Saudi Arabia has invited Syrian President Bashar Assad to the upcoming Arab League summit in the oil-rich kingdom, the Syrian president’s office said on Wednesday. The news comes as Damascus continues to slowly return to the Arab fold, following a 12-year-period of political isolation.Assad received the invitation days after the Arab League restored Syria’s membership into the organization during a meeting in Cairo on Sunday. Syria’s membership was suspended for brutally cracking down on mass protests against Assad in 2011. Since then, the uprising turned into a vicious civil war that killed nearly a half million people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.The upcoming summit will take place in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on May 19.Assad’s office published photos of the Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Jordan delivering the invitation. It was not made clear whether Assad will attend the summit.Saudi Arabia had been a k...

US to limit asylum at Mexico border, open 100 migration hubs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday will begin denying asylum to migrants who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through.It’s part of new measures meant to crack down on illegal border crossings while creating new legal pathways, including a plan to open 100 regional migration hubs across the Western Hemisphere, administration officials said. While stopping short of a total ban, the measure imposes severe limitations on asylum for those crossing illegally who didn’t first seek a legal pathway. The rule was first announced in February, but the finalized version takes effect Thursday. It’s almost certain to face legal challenges. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump pursued similar but stricter measures, but a federal appeals court prevented them from taking effect. U.S. officials also said they had plans to open regional hubs around the hemisphere, where migran...

Italy smashes cross-border migrant smuggling ring

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italian police on Wednesday arrested 29 suspected smugglers as they smashed a transnational operation that for years brought migrants illegally into Italy by sea and then moved them overland to northern Europe, authorities said.The nearly four-year-long investigation was spearheaded by prosecutors in Calabria, the “toe” of the Italian peninsula, where many of these migrants arrive from Turkey or Greece, often on well-outfitted sailboats that elude detection by police or military personnel. Depending on how much the migrants could pay — investigators said some paid as much as 15,000 euros ($16,500) apiece just for the sea leg of the voyage — the passengers on the land routes to northern Europe either took trucks, trains or taxis across Italy’s northern land borders. Transit points included Ventimiglia, an Italian city near its border with France and Trieste, in eastern Italy near Slovenia. Police said colleagues in Turkey, Greece, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Britain a...

George Santos in custody on 13 federal charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is in custody Wednesday after being indicted on 13 federal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering.The charges comprise seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. He is in custody at the federal courthouse on Long Island, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Santos will be arraigned at approximately 1 p.m.Santos’s surrender came one day after reports surfaced that federal prosecutors had filed criminal charges against the congressman. The charges, however, remained unsealed until Wednesday morning.The New York Republican has been the subject of intense scrutiny since before he was sworn in amid questions about his resume and biography. A number of entities are said to be looking into him, in addition to the House Ethics Committee, which launched an...

36-year-old man shot, killed in Aurora

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

AURORA, Ill. — A man was shot and killed early Monday morning in Aurora.Just after 12:15 a.m., Aurora police responded to the 2300 block of Candleberry Lane on the report of shots fired.When they arrived, officers discovered a 36-year-old man, later identified as Isaiah Ayala, of Aurora, inside a residence suffering from gunshot wounds. CPD: Man shot after running away from attempted robbery at Near West Side gas station He was transported to a local hospital where he died a short time later.No one is in custody.

CPD: Man critically injured in Loop park stabbing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:28 GMT

CHICAGO — A man is in critical condition following a stabbing in the Loop Tuesday.Just after 8:20 p.m., authorities responded to Pritzker Park, located in the 300 block of South State Street on the report of a stabbing.A man, whose age was not given, told police another man attacked him with a sharp object.He was stabbed multiple times in the torso and was transported to Northwestern in critical condition. Mayor Lightfoot issues emergency declaration over migrant arrivals The suspect was taken into custody and charges are pending.