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China and ASEAN agree to try to conclude nonaggression pact on sea feud in 3 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — China and Southeast Asian nations agreed Thursday to try and conclude within three years a long-delayed nonaggression pact aimed at preventing the frequent territorial spats in the busy South China Sea from turning into a major armed conflict.China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed Thursday during a meeting between the 10-nation bloc’s foreign ministers and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta to guidelines to complete their code of conduct negotiations before fall 2026, a Southeast Asian diplomat involved in the meetings told The Associated Press.The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authority to discuss the issue publicly ahead of the official announcement of the agreement.China and four of ASEAN’s member states — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — along with Taiwan have been locked in a decades-long territorial standoff in the disputed waterway, a key passageway for glo...

Russian anti-war activist says he was banned entry into Serbia at Belgrade airport

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A Russian pro-democracy activist residing in Serbia and a fierce critic of the invasion of Ukraine said Thursday that Serbian authorities have banned him from entering the country upon returning from a trip abroad. Peter Nikitin told The Associated Press he was stopped at Belgrade airport’s passport control early on Thursday, returning from a holiday in Portugal. He said the decision was “arbitrary and illegal.”Though it formally seeks European Union membership, Serbia has maintained friendly relations with Russia and refused to impose Western-backed sanctions against Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.Nikitin holds both Russian and Dutch citizenship and has a Serbian residence permit, where he has lived for years. He said he was trying to enter Serbia using his Dutch passport when he was turned back and ordered to return to Frankfurt, Germany, from where he had flown in.“I have been in the border zone at the Nikola Tesla airport (in Belgrade) the enti...

In the news today: Effectiveness of past health accords, possible port strike deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 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…Did past health accords work?Experts say governments have often failed to set a baseline that lets them know how well federal-provincial health accords are working. But the latest deals are trying to change that.The federal government is now attaching data requirements to $46 billion in new spending over the next 10 years. All provinces and territories except Quebec have endorsed a plan to harmonize health data across the country and make it more accessible. —Here’s what else we’re watching …Union and employers consider B.C. port strike dealBoth sides in the ongoing British Columbia port strike will have to decide today whether to accept terms of a settlement recommended by a federal mediator that would end the 13-day-old industrial action.The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association ...

Beyond the big top: Montreal circus market unites performers and talent bookers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

MONTREAL — As Cesar Omar Barrio made his pitch at a Montreal trade show on Tuesday, a woman on the stage twisted her body into seemingly impossible positions, sometimes juggling balls or tossing them with her feet.At the International Market for Contemporary Circus, the salespeople are artists and the audience is composed of presenters, creative directors and other talent bookers who are interested in bringing circus to their venues. The market, the only event of its kind in North America, runs alongside Montreal’s Complètement Cirque festival, which attracts hundreds of jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and other performers. But behind the big tops and air flips, serious circus business is taking place.Barrio, of Mexico’s Cabaret Capricho, said the five-minute pitch won’t sell the show on its own. Instead it’s to attract the eye of presenters, “to tell them we are really open, we really want to meet you and talk, and then you will be in love with the ...

Did past health accords work? Ottawa is trying to make that question easier to answer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

OTTAWA — In medicine, before a doctor treats a patient’s illness, they first try to get a sense of the person’s health. They collect information on the symptoms, run tests and blood work and gather whatever details they can.That way, they’ll know whether or not the medicine has worked. It’s called establishing a baseline, and policy experts do the same thing to figure out if their latest strategy has actually fixed the problem.When it comes to fixing Canada’s ailing health-care systems, governments have often failed to set that baseline — so it’s difficult to know how well the treatment has worked, said Haizhen Mou, a professor with University of Saskatchewan Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.She launched a research project to study whether past health accords between federal and provincial governments have made meaningful differences in the quality and availability of health care in Canada, but ran into trouble almost immediately.&...

‘Wild West’: Amid foreign meddling headlines, lawyers fear unfair immigration rulings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

OTTAWA — Even as the conversation around foreign interference continues to centre on efforts to disrupt Canadian elections, the federal government is routinely deporting people suspected of engaging in espionage or terrorism — or barring them entry to Canada. Lawyers who work within the immigration system say they expect security officials to ramp up those efforts amid the heightened attention on other countries’ meddling attempts. Some fear they could go too far.Athena Portokalidis, an immigration lawyer based in Markham, Ont., said there seems to be a growing number of such cases.“What I’m kind of starting to notice is that … whether it’s explicit or not, they can be politically motivated,” she said. “There might be a trend here. It may be too early to tell, but that’s … something that I’ve noticed and something that I’ve heard.”The federal government was unable to provide data on the number of related cases in time for p...

Alberta energy minister told to design incentives for industry to clean up oil wells

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

EDMONTON — Direction from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to her new energy minister suggests the United Conservative government hasn’t given up on a controversial program that would see taxpayers backstop the cleanup of old oil and gas wells that companies are already legally required to do. In her mandate letter to Brian Jean, Smith charges him with “developing a strategy to effectively incentivize reclamation of inactive legacy oil and natural gas sites and to enable future drilling while respecting the principle of polluter pay.”That language echoes the old RStar and Liability Management and Incentive Program proposals, under which companies would have received royalty breaks on production from new wells corresponding to how much money they spent cleaning up their old ones. That tax benefit would come despite site remediation being a condition of licence for every operator in the province. It was condemned by landowners, rural municipalities, energy analysts and...

Drought update follows minister’s call for B.C. residents to conserve water

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

VANCOUVER — British Columbia residents will get a clearer picture today about the status of the drought that has parched much of the province.Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma has scheduled a briefing with weather and wildfire experts to provide an overview of the drought situation.Earlier this week, she urged B.C. residents to take measures to conserve water, including watering lawns sparingly, taking shorter showers and doing only full loads of laundry.Ma said many communities are already implementing water restrictions, and further measures across larger areas of the province are anticipated.She said much of B.C. has been in drought conditions since last winter, with B.C.’s northeast, Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island being of most concern.Premier David Eby and Ma both said this week the situation in B.C. is serious and much of the province has never before experienced the current level of drought this early in the summer.This report by The Can...

Daily horoscope for July 13, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

Moon Alert: After 4 a.m. EDT today (1 a.m. PDT), there are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions. The Moon is in Gemini.Happy Birthday for Thursday, July 13, 2023:You are a courageous risk-taker with great powers of imagination. You visualize what you want to achieve before you do it. This year is the final year of a nine-year cycle for you, which means it’s time to let go of anything or anyone who is holding you back.ARIES(March 21-April 19)★★Power struggles at work, with your pets or possibly your kids might occur today. It could relate to financial matters. It also might relate to something that you own — perhaps something missing or broken. Whatever the case, you’re not happy. Be patient and forgiving. Tonight: Conversations!TAURUS(April 20-May 20)★★★Competition connected with sports, social occasions, your kids or dealing with groups and friends might take an intense curve today. Suddenly, someone wants to win at all costs. (This is easy to fall i...

Kazakhstan and Switzerland review bilateral partnership

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:10:30 GMT

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu met with Federal Councilor and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis on 5 July to discuss bilateral co-operation.The parties addressed the state and prospects for the development of cooperation in all fields, as well as interaction in a multilateral format, including important issues on the international and regional agenda.The sides also discussed the bilateral legal framework with plans to expand and enhance the partnership, particularly in areas of confiscation and return of assets obtained by criminal means.Nurtleu commended the interaction within the Bretton Woods institutions and the significant contribution of Switzerland to the establishment of the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia Regional Capacity Development Center of the International Monetary Fund in Almaty.The sides stressed mutual interest in strengthening cooperation between the two countries, inclu...