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Italy begins to reckon with Fascist-era colonial collections

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

ROME (AP) — For decades, Italy has worked to recover ancient Roman-era statues, Etruscan vases and other treasures that were looted from its soil and sold to museums around the world. Now, the country is coming to terms with the fact that it, too, has stolen items in its museum collections: the relics of a brutal colonial empire in North Africa that it hasn’t fully reckoned with.For over a year, a team of museum directors, university researchers and scholars has been conducting a “census” of the collections in the 498 Italian state museums to get a handle on what exactly they contain. The aim is to provide government authorities with preliminary data of the weapons, artifacts, and ritual objects Italian museums may hold, to respond to requests for restitution that have only increased amid a general reckoning over the legacies of European colonial empires and the related racial justice movements. The survey comes as museums and governments across Europe and the Americas have undergon...

Israel kills 2 Palestinian gunmen in new West Bank violence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said it killed two Palestinian gunmen who fired on troops in the occupied West Bank early on Wednesday, the latest in near-daily violence roiling the region.The shooting came as tensions are at a fever pitch following a series of Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip that killed three senior Islamic Jihad militants and 10 others — most of them women and children — on Tuesday. Palestinian militants have pledged to retaliate and Israel says it is prepared for a further escalation of hostilities. The Israeli military has instructed residents of southern Israel to remain near bomb shelters, and schools were still closed for a second day as a precaution against attacks by Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, the military said that Palestinian gunmen opened fire at troops in the Palestinian town of Qabatiya in the northern West Bank during an army raid. Troops returned fire, killing the two men, and confiscated their firearm...

Fears over scores of zoo animals caught in Sudan crossfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Dozens of zoo animals in Sudan’s capital — including an elderly crocodile, parrots and giant lizards — are feared dead after street battles between the country’s rival forces made the location unreachable. At least 100 animals, all kept inside enclosures, will have gone more than three weeks without food or water, said Sara Abdalla, the head zoologist at the zoo, which is part of the Sudan Natural History Museum. Millions of people in Sudan have endured shortages of food, water and medicines after the conflict halted the most basic services. But as the sounds of explosions ring across the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, Abdalla has been wracked with worry over her animal charges, particularly those that are increasingly rare to find in their natural habitats in Sudan. “I feel a great deal of misery and sadness, as well as helplessness,” she said in a telephone interview from Khartoum. “I have assumed that we lost the birds and mammals.”The zoo is home t...

Why Nikola Jokic and Bruce Brown invaded an impromptu Suns huddle during Game 5

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

Nikola Jokic is not one to hide his intentions on the basketball court.So he made no secret about what he was doing snooping around an impromptu Suns huddle in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s Game 5.“I mean, just to see what they’re drawing and see the play,” he said with only a hint of humor in his voice after the game. “I thought that could help us a lot. That’s what I was doing.”Devin Booker was headed to the free-throw line, but there was no timeout issued on the floor, so Jokic and Bruce Brown got right into Phoenix’s business near Monty Williams along the sideline.Kevin Durant shoves Nikola Jokic out of the Suns’ huddle pic.twitter.com/xeHcNGj3Un— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 10, 2023Eventually, Kevin Durant pushed Jokic. The big man followed with his best Matt Ishbia impression and sold the charge effectively, drawing a technical foul.The officials reviewed the incident and issued Brown a technical, too, which crew chief David Guthrie told a pool reporter a...

Serbians rally against violence after two mass shootings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

Days after two mass shootings that killed 17, tens of thousands Serbians demonstrated on Monday (8 May) demanding better security and a ban of violent TV content. They also demanded the resignation of ministers.The Balkan nation has not seen such large crowds for many years. They marched solemnly through the heart of Belgrade, behind a banner that read "Serbia Against Violence".Borivoje Plcevic, from Belgrade, said: "We are here to pay our respects and to make sure that this does not happen again anywhere."A student who brought two guns to school killed eight students and a guard on Wednesday. Six students and a teacher also sustained injuries.A 21-year old man wielding a pistol and an assault rifle killed eight people and injured 14 others a day later.Both shooters surrendered themselves to police.Protesters, opposition supporters and others demanded the shutdown of tabloids and TV stations that they claim promote violent and vulgar content.Some rights groups and opposition parties...

Russia holds Victory Day parade amid tight security after drone attacks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

Russia celebrated on Tuesday (9 May) the anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two with a parade in Red Square amid tight security following a series of drone attacks, including on the Kremlin citadel itself, that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine.Victory Day is one of the most important public holidays in Russia, when people commemorate the huge sacrifices made by the Soviet Union during what is called the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, in which around 27 million citizens perished.This anniversary is even more emotionally charged as Russia mourns thousands of soldiers killed in the nearly 15-month war in Ukraine which shows no sign of ending.Russia is also reeling from drone attacks, including one on the Kremlin on May 3 which it said was an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine, which is expected shortly to launch a counteroffensive to retake land, denies involvement.Putin has repeatedly likened the Ukraine war - which he casts as a battle against "N...

Video captures father fighting off burglar in West Los Angeles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

Surveillance footage captured the moment a father fought off a burglar at his home in the Pico-Robertson area, but only after the thief made off with thousands of dollars in recording equipment. Video of the burglary shows the thief, his face covered, wiping his fingerprints off Daniel Lobell’s school bus turned mobile recording studio.  “I haven’t been able to sleep in days and every little noise, I jump up to protect my family,” Lobell told KTLA.  A comedian, Lobell owns the bus, which he parks behind his home. The bus is his office where he records his popular podcast “Modern Day Philosophers,” a show that features comics talking about philosophy. The mobile recording studio, which he also uses for other productions, is his livelihood.  Video captures fatal South L.A. hit-and-run; suspect remains at large “I worked my ass off to build this business so that I could stand on my own two feet and do something, a business that I know I'm good at, that I know I can hel...

Knife-wielding man arrested after standoff in South Los Angeles

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

A knife-wielding suspect was arrested after standing off with authorities following a pursuit in South Los Angeles on Tuesday.The pursuit started around 8 p.m. and the driver eventually stopped near Marbrisa Avenue and Walnut Terrace where authorities surrounded his vehicle.The suspect was previously arrested for murder and is currently wanted for a parole violation, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.Sky5 images showed the man barricading himself inside a white van and refusing to come out.A man stands off with Los Angeles County deputies in South L.A. on May 9, 2023. (KTLA)A driver stands off with Los Angeles County deputies in South L.A. on May 9, 2023. (KTLA)A man stands off with Los Angeles County deputies in South L.A. on May 9, 2023. (KTLA)A man stands off with Los Angeles County deputies in South L.A. on May 9, 2023. (KTLA)A man stands off with Los Angeles County deputies in South L.A. on May 9, 2023. (KTLA)A man stands off with Los Angeles County deput...

Turkey’s closely watched vote may set country on new course

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — In the year in which the Turkish republic marks its centenary, the country is being closely watched to see if a united opposition can succeed in unseating an increasingly authoritarian leader in the NATO-member country. Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, taking place on Sunday, could stretch President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule into a third decade — or they could set the country on a new course.Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the secular, center-left Republican People’s Party, or CHP, is the main challenger trying to dislodge Erdogan after 20 years in office. The 74-year-old is the joint candidate of a six-party alliance that has vowed to dismantle an executive presidential system that Erdogan installed and return the country to a parliamentary democracy with checks and balances. As well as the opposition alliance, Kilicdaroglu has clinched the support of the country’s pro-Kurdish party, which garners around 10% of the votes. And polls have g...

Japón y la OTAN mantienen conversaciones para abrir la primera oficina de enlace en Asia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:56:15 GMT

(CNN) — Japón y la OTAN están negociando la apertura de una oficina de enlace en Japón, según declaró el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Japón, Yoshimasa Hayashi, en una entrevista exclusiva concedida este miércoles a CNN.Sería la primera oficina de enlace de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (OTAN) en Asia.Hayashi señaló la guerra en Ucrania y la agresión rusa como una de las razones por las que “la cooperación entre “Asia Oriental y la OTAN [es] cada vez más importante” y que la creciente inestabilidad en todo el mundo ha hecho que esto sea necesario.“La razón por la que estamos discutiendo esto es que desde la agresión de Rusia a Ucrania, el mundo se ha vuelto más inestable, y sentí que lo que está sucediendo en Europa del Este no se limita sólo a la cuestión en Europa del Este y que afecta directamente a la situación aquí en el Pacífico”, dijo Hayashi a CNN.ANÁLISIS | Corea del Sur y Japón no se llevan bien. Y eso es un problem...