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Kazakhstan delivers humanitarian aid to Afghan people

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

Kazakhstan delivered humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan on April 15 during the visit of Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin (pictured) to Kabul, reported the Prime Minister’s press service, writes Aida Haidar in Central Asia, Editor’s Picks, International.The main humanitarian aid, with a total volume of 5,403 tonnes, arrived by rail, consisting of food products, including canned milk, vegetable oil, flour, and buckwheat. The Kazakh delegation brought the boxes of medicines with them on the plane. Zhumangarin said the delivery of humanitarian aid follows the instructions of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.“It is symbolic that our humanitarian mission takes place during the holy month of Ramadan, and during this blessed time for all Muslims, allow me to wish peace and tranquility to everyone,” Zhumangarin said.The minister emphasized that Kazakhstan is one of the few countries that maintains a diplomatic presence in Kabul and wishes to see Afghanistan ...

Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi on historic visit to Israel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (pictured): "The Iranian people aspire to a government that respects its heritage, with the preservation of human rights and respect for religious and cultural diversity, among other things, through the restoration of peaceful and friendly relations with Israel and Iran's other neighbours." Objective of the visit: renewing the relationship between the Iranian people and the people of Israel – Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel will host this week in Israel Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah, with the aim of creating a bridge between Israel and the Iranian people, and expressing joint opposition to the Ayatollah regime.Reza Pahlavi is the most senior Iranian personality to ever pay a public visit to Israel.Minister Gamliel said : “I am honoured to host Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and appreciate his brave decision to visit Israel for the first time. The Crown Prince symbolizes a leadership different from that of the Ayat...

Former L.A. Mayor Richard J. Riordan dead at 92

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan has died at the age of 92, the Los Angeles Times reported.  The city’s last Republican mayor, Riordan was elected in 1993 and served until 2001. He is credited with helping L.A. “rebound from the 1992 riots” and managing “its recovery after the Northridge earthquake,” the Times wrote.  As a political moderate, he emerged as a civil and political donor after making a fortune as an investment banker and became a candidate for mayor of L.A. at the age of 62.  Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan during White Oleander Premiere at Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, United States. (Photo by Chris Weeks/FilmMagic) (Getty Images)LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 17: Richard Riordan attends the Broad Museum black tie inaugural dinner at The Broad on September 17, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)(Getty Images)Richard Riordan during 1998 MTV VMA Press Conference at La Boheme in Los Angeles, ...

Richard Riordan, Former Mayor of L.A., Dead At 92

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

Former Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan has reportedly died at the age of 92.The announcement came Wednesday, but no cause of death was revealed.Riordan served as mayor from 1993 to 2001, being voted in after Tom Bradley announced his retirement.Current Mayor Karen Bass put out a statement shortly after the announcement of Riordan’s death, commending his action after the Northridge earthquake of 1994 and restoring the Los Angeles Central Library, which was later named after him.“Mayor Richard Riordan loved Los Angeles, and devoted so much of himself to bettering our City. He always had a place in his heart for the children of LA, and worked to improve how the City served our youth and communities as a passionate member of the Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners.“Mayor Riordan’s legacy includes our City’s iconic Central Library, which he saved and rebuilt, and which today carries his name.“In the wake of the Northridge earthquake, Mayor ...

Mayor Bass Proposes New City Budget With Focus On Homelessness and LAPD Hiring

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced her first city budget proposal for the 2023-24 fiscal year, asking the city council for $1.3 billion in homelessness initiatives.Homelessness was of the most vocal commitments Bass made during her campaign for mayor last year, declaring a state of emergency immediately after taking office and now asking for more funding than has ever been budgeted for in Los Angeles.“This budget is a reflection of our values and invests in the most critical needs in our city,” Bass said in a press conference at Los Angeles City Hall Tuesday. “This budget makes investments to bring people inside and public safety and in other areas that will net a return in terms of lives saved, in terms of quality of life and better neighborhoods, and it will save the city money in the long run.”Part of the mayor’s plan for homelessness includes $250 million to be allocated to the Inside Safe strategy, which Bass launched in December 2022. The Insi...

Civil rights attorney files federal lawsuit against Antioch cops named in racist text scandal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

ANTIOCH – A prominent Bay Area civil rights attorney on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Antioch, claiming recent revelations of racist text messages shared among several officers is “certified proof of the depth of many Antioch Police Department Officers’ bigotry, racism, willingness to falsify evidence, and their celebration of their own uses of unconstitutional force.”The lawsuit filed by attorney John Burris names the defendants as the city of Antioch, Sgt. Joshua Evans, gang unit Officer Eric Rombough, former Chief Tammany Brooks, current Chief Steven Ford and Capt. Anthony Morefield, who once served as interim chief.“From 2019-2022, Antioch police officers and sergeants exchanged hundreds of salacious text messages riddled with vile and offensive language about community members,” the lawsuit says. “In those threads, officers bragged about using excessive force and beating arrest subjects so severely that the officers themselv...

Indian climber who fell into deep Annapurna crevasse rescued

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — An Indian climber who fell into a 300-meter (980-foot) crevasse on Mount Annapurna on Monday was rescued Thursday but his condition is unknown, an expedition organizer in Nepal’s capital said.Several rescue attempts were made after Anurag Maloo fell on the world’s 10th highest mountain. When he was finally rescued, he was flown to a hospital in the resort town of Pokhara, Thaneswar Guragai of Kathmandu-based Seven Summit Treks said. He was being treated at the hospital, but his condition was still unknown. Also on Monday on the same mountain, an Irish climber Noel Hanna had died and another Indian climber Baljeet Kaur became ill but miraculously survived even after spending the night in harsh conditions and without the aid of supplement bottled oxygen. The spring mountaineering season has just begun in Nepal and hundreds of foreigners and local guides have begun climbing the world’s highest peaks.On Mount Everest, three Sherpa guides have been mis...

Indian court dismisses opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian court has dismissed opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea to stay his conviction in a criminal defamation case that resulted in his expulsion from Parliament, the Press Trust of India reported Thursday.Gandhi, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his main challenger in 2024 polls, was ousted after a court last month sentenced him to two years in prison for defamation for mocking Modi’s surname in a 2019 election speech.A court in Modi’s home state of Gujarat suspended the prison sentence earlier in April for the duration of the appeal process.A man who shares the prime minister’s surname, which is common in Gujarat, accused Gandhi of defamation over the speech in which he asked, “Why do all thieves have Modi as their surname?” Gandhi then referred to three well-known and unrelated Modis in the speech: a fugitive Indian diamond tycoon, a cricket executive banned from the Indian Premier League, and the prime minister.The petitioner who f...

Cattle raiding by jihadis soars in Mali, fuels conflict

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Ayouba Ag Nadroun was at the market in central Mali in March when Islamic extremists attacked his village, killing dozens of people and stealing about $10,000 worth of his cows and camels.“We lost everything,” the 62-year-old told The Associated Press by phone from the Menaka region in the West African nation. Cattle raiding by Islamic extremists is soaring at unprecedented levels in Mali, with jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group stealing millions of dollars’ worth of cattle to buy weapons and vehicles to fund their insurgency across the war-torn West African country and region below the Sahara Desert, known as the Sahel.As jihadis gain control of more territory, looting is increasing and fueling conflict among already impoverished communities fighting to keep their families fed and alive, according to a recent report by The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Mali has been battling to contain an Islamic extremist ins...

Cambodian PM’s son, tipped to succeed him, gets promotion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:26 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian army chief Hun Manet, who is widely expected to replace his father as the country’s prime minister later this year, was promoted Thursday to his country’s highest military rank.Prime Minister Hun Sen, 71, explicitly declared his support in December 2021 to have the United States Military Academy-trained Hun Manet succeed him through constitutional means. In mid-March, Hun Sen hinted strongly that he intends to step down when a new government is installed after July’s general election.“Now we have found the young generation that will come to replace us. We should hand over to them and just stay behind them,” Hun Sen said at the time.Hun Manet, 45, was made a four-star general — a promotion from his three-star lieutenant-general’s rank — at a ceremony attended by about a thousand senior officers at the Defense Ministry in the capital Phnom Penh. He was formally granted his promotion in March by King Norodom Sihamoni, whose position is largely symb...