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Panama’s high court declared a mining contract unconstitutional. Here’s what’s happening next

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

PANAMA CITY (AP) — In a historic ruling, Panama’s Supreme Court this week declared that legislation granting a Canadian copper mine a 20-year concession was unconstitutional, a decision celebrated by thousands of Panamanians activists who had argued the project would damage a forested coastal area and threaten water supplies.The mine, which will now close, has been an important economic engine for the country. But it also triggered massive protests that paralyzed the Central American nation for over a month, mobilizing a broad swath of Panamanian society, including Indigenous communities, who said the mine was destroying key ecosystems they depend on.In the unanimous decision Tuesday, the high court highlighted those environmental and human rights concerns, and ruled the contract violated 25 articles of Panama’s constitution. Those include the right to live in a pollution-free environment, the obligation of the state to protect the health of minors and its commitment to promote the ...

Sanders’ 22 help Cal Poly take down San Jose State 81-77 in OT

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — Kobe Sanders’ 22 points, including a 3-pointer with six seconds left in regulation, helped Cal Poly defeat San Jose State 81-77 in overtime on Wednesday.Sanders shot 6 for 14 (2 for 3 from 3-point range) and 8 of 10 from the free throw line for the Mustangs (3-4). Quentin Jones scored 15 points and added five rebounds. Jarred Hyder was 4 of 9 shooting (3 for 6 from 3-point range) to finish with 12 points.Myron Amey Jr. finished with 22 points, six rebounds and two steals for the Spartans (5-3). San Jose State also got 17 points and nine rebounds from Tibet Gorener. Trey Anderson also had 13 points.NEXT UPBoth teams play again on Saturday. Cal Poly visits Idaho and San Jose State travels to play Montana.___The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.Source

Greek archbishop: Rishi Sunak’s marbles snub ‘deeply insults Greeks worldwide’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

The leader of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America slammed U.K. PM Rishi Sunak for canceling a meeting with his Greek counterpart over his comments seeking the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum.“Rishi Sunak’s decision to abruptly cancel his meeting with [Kyriakos Mitsotakis] over the Parthenon Sculptures deeply insults Greeks worldwide,” Archbishop Elpidophoros wrote on X.“These Sculptures are beacons of our shared human heritage, and their reunification in Athens fulfills UK’s moral and historical responsibility,” he added. Sunak was scheduled to meet Mitsotakis on Tuesday. But the Brit called off the talks late Monday after Mitsotakis gave an interview to the BBC in which he insisted upon the return of the Parthenon Marbles, the ancient sculptures that Britain’s Lord Elgin removed from Greece in the 19th century.“I express my annoyance that the British prime minister canceled our planned meeting just hours before it was due to take place,” Mitsotak...

Ireland’s social media enforcer prepares for an uncertain battle

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

DUBLIN — Jeremy Godfrey will soon have immense powers to police social media. He’s just not quite sure how he’s going to do it.Working from a nondescript building a mere stone’s throw from the offices of many of the tech giants now under his oversight, Godfrey is nine months into his tenure as executive chairman of Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán, or Media Commission. The newly created regulator is on the front line of enforcing the European Union’s new social media rules, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), as many of the companies under its purview — like Google and TikTok — have their European headquarters in the Irish capital.But ahead of early next year, when the Commission’s powers — including levying potentially hefty fines for infractions — take effect, Godfrey and his team of 75 regulators are still figuring out how it’s all going to work. The Irish watchdog’s remit covers everything from overseeing the country’s broadc...

A friendship forged over 7 weeks of captivity lives on as freed women are reunited

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — In the depths of captivity, they formed an unlikely but prized friendship. And reunited in a video call this week, the bond between a recently freed Israeli mother and daughter and a Thai woman who had been held hostage alongside them filled an Israeli hospital room with unbridled joy.“Both of us give you a big hug,” Danielle Aloni, one of dozens snatched by Hamas militants from a kibbutz in southern Israel on Oct. 7, told her friend Nutthawaree Munkan, an agricultural worker who was seized the same day and held captive in the Gaza Strip. “I love you and I told you while we were there that we are family.”Aloni, 45, spoke in Hebrew in a five minute video of the Wednesday meeting released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Nutthawaree, speaking from the hospital, replied in Thai — and with a flurry of air kisses and a wide smile that required no translation at all. With her partner — another freed captive — looking on and a Thai-speaking Israeli psychologist assisti...

In the news for today: Heritage Minister to talk online news deal with committee

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed tobring you up to speed on what you need to know today …Heritage Minister appearing at a committee hearingHeritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is appearing at a committee hearing this morning, fresh from finally ending Canada’s standoff with Google over the Online News Act.St-Onge called the agreement announced Wednesday a “historic development” that gives a win to both the federal government and the local news publishers the law is designed to support.That’s despite the fact Google has only agreed to spend a maximum of $100 million a year compensating Canadian news outlets for the use of their content, a far cry from the $172 million that initial government calculations would’ve demanded.The legislation, which is to take effect next month, requires tech giants like Google and Meta to reach compensation deals with news publishers for content that generates revenue on their platforms.Meta, ...

Federal ministers expected to announce sole-source deal for Boeing patrol plane today

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

OTTAWA — Federal ministers are expected to announce today that Boeing is the company of choice to replace the military’s aging patrol planes in a multibillion-dollar deal.The decision to go with a sole-source contract would close the door on Quebec-based business jet maker Bombardier, which has been pushing for an open bid.Two sources familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly say that, following cabinet approval last week, the Treasury Board held a special meeting Tuesday and rubber-stamped the purchase of 16 P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft to replace the half-century-old CP-140 Auroras.The procurement department has stated that Boeing’s off-the-shelf reconnaissance plane is the only currently available aircraft that meets Royal Canadian Air Force needs, particularly around submarine-hunting technology.Bombardier CEO Éric Martel has argued that its plane, which is currently a prototype and slated to roll off the line in the early 2030s, would...

Who is U.S.-Canadian lawyer Gurpatwant Pannun, alleged target of murder plot?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

A decade ago this month, lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and his friend Hardeep Singh Nijjar were in Geneva to deliver a petition calling on the United Nations to declare widespread killings of Sikhs in India in 1984 a genocide.Pannun says the pair had travelled to Sikh temples throughout Canada for years, starting around 2009, to gather support for the effort. Today, Nijjar is dead, gunned down outside his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., last June. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says “credible allegations” have linked Nijjar’s killing to India’s government.Pannun, meanwhile, is at the heart of an alleged international plot that U.S. prosecutors say targeted him for assassination and was orchestrated by an Indian government employee.An indictment unsealed in New York on Wednesday says Indian national Nikhil Gupta, 52, was recruited by the Indian official to arrange the killing. The alleged target isn’t named in the document, but has previously been identified b...

Constitutional challenge in Indigenous lobster fishing case moving ahead this week

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

HALIFAX — An Indigenous fisherman is expected to appear Thursday in a northern New Brunswick courtroom, where he will launch a constitutional challenge that could prove pivotal for First Nations across the Maritimes.Cody Caplin, a member of the Eel River Bar First Nation, was fishing for lobster in the Bay of Chaleur in September 2018 when he and his brother Kyle were arrested and their boat was seized by federal fisheries officers. A year later, they were charged with 10 fishing offences, including trapping lobster out of season.Caplin says his brother eventually pleaded guilty to the charges, mainly because of the financial burden of going to trial. But Caplin has pressed on, claiming the Mi’kmaq have constitutionally protected Indigenous and treaty rights to fish and hunt to feed themselves whenever they want.“If we win, we could set a precedent and make some case law for other Mi’kmaq fishermen throughout the province,” he said in a recent interview, conf...

Statistics Canada to release third quarter GDP numbers today

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 10:14:04 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release its gross domestic product reading for the third quarter this morning.The federal agency’s preliminary estimate suggested the economy shrank 0.1 per cent.A decline in real GDP would mark the second consecutive quarterly contraction, meeting the definition of a technical recession.However, economists tend to have a higher bar for calling a recession as they look for signs of a broader slowdown.The softening economy comes as high interest rates put a damper on business and consumer spending.Forecasters anticipate that slowdown to continue into next year, likely leading to a rise in unemployment as well. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2023. The Canadian Press