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‘I am haunted by it’: Survivors of deadly train crash in India recount trauma

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

BALASORE, India (AP) — Gura Pallay was watching another train pass by the one he was sitting in when he heard sudden, loud screeching. Before he could make sense of what was happening, he was thrown out of the train. Pallay, 24, landed next to the tracks along with metal wreckage of the train he’d been riding in, and instantly lost consciousness. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the twisted remains of three trains on the tracks.His train had derailed after colliding with a stopped freight train. Another passenger train, the one he had seen pass by moments earlier, had hit the derailed carriages.“I saw it with my own eyes, but I still can’t describe what I saw. I am haunted by it,” he said Sunday at a hospital, where he lay on a stretcher with a broken leg and dark wounds on his face and arms.Pallay is a laborer, like most of the people onboard the two passenger trains that crashed Friday in the eastern Odisha state, killing 275 people and injuring hundreds. H...

Mexico president’s ruling party rolls to win in country’s most populous state

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s most populous state turned its back on decades of single-party rule, deciding to move forward with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s ruling Morena party over the long-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party.The preliminary forecast from electoral authorities Sunday night indicated a victory for Delfina Gómez in the State of Mexico that was confirmed a short time later by Alejandra del Moral’s concession speech. Official ballot counting continued through the night.The result was a new low for the PRI, which governed Mexico uninterrupted for 71 years until losing power in 2000 and had ruled the State of Mexico for even longer until its loss Sunday.A representative sampling of voting stations just hours after polls closed indicated Gómez was likely to win between 52.1% and 54.2% of the ballots, compared with 43% to 45.2% for del Moral, according to the National Electoral Institute. It said the sampling forecast had at least 95% certainty.By midnight...

Switzerland’s UBS says it could complete Credit Suisse takeover on June 12

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Switzerland’s UBS said Monday that it expects to complete its takeover of longtime rival Credit Suisse as early as next week.The two Zurich-based banks, longtime rivals, are uniting in a 3 billion-franc ($3.3 billion) deal that was arranged hastily in March by the Swiss government and regulators after Credit Suisse’s stock plunged and jittery depositors quickly pulled out their money. The merger was aimed at stemming upheaval in the global financial system after the collapse of two U.S. banks shook confidence in the sector. The takeover will leave UBS as Switzerland’s single banking titan.UBS said Monday that it expects to complete the acquisition by as early as June 12.“Completion is subject to the registration statement, which covers shares to be delivered, being declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and to satisfaction, or waiver by UBS, of other remaining closing conditions,” UBS said in a statement.The reputation of 167-year-old ...

More than 2 million people displaced, Burkina Faso’s government says, as aid falls short

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has made Burkina Faso a country with one of the world’s fastest-growing populations of internally displaced people, with the number mushrooming by more than 2,000% since 2019, according to government data. Figures released last month showed more than 2 million people are internally displaced in the West African nation, the majority of them women and children, fueling a dire humanitarian crisis as the conflict pushed people from their homes, off their farms and into congested urban areas or makeshift camps.Aid groups and the government are scrambling to respond amid a lack of funds and growing needs. One in four people requires aid, and tens of thousands are facing catastrophic levels of hunger. Yet not even half of the $800 million humanitarian response budget requested last year by aid groups was funded, according to the United Nations.“The spectrum of consequences (for people) is vast but grim at e...

UN climate chief calls fossil fuel phase out key to curbing warming but may not be on talks’ agenda

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

The world needs to phase out fossil fuels if it wants to curb global warming, the United Nations climate chief said in an interview with The Associated Press. But he said the idea might not make it on to the agenda of “make-or-break” international climate negotiations this fall, run in and by an oil haven.A phase out of heat-trapping fossil fuels “is something that is at top of every discussion or most discussions that are taking place,” U.N. climate Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said. “It is an issue that has global attention. How that translates into an agenda item and a (climate talks) outcome we will see.”Stiell told AP he couldn’t quite promise it would get a spot on the agenda in climate talks, called COP28, in Dubai later this year.That agenda decision is up to the president of the negotiations, Stiell said. He is the head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Sultan al-Jaber. The decision by host nation United Arab Emirates to make al-Jaber the head of ...

Two cargo vessels collide off Greek island, near Turkey

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

Two cargo vessels collided off the Greek island of Chios near the Turkish cost on Friday (2 June), authorities said, adding that there were no injuries.The Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Potentia with 19 crew members and the Vanuatu-flagged ship ANT with 13 crew collided in the eastern Aegean Sea nine miles north of Chios."There are no injuries, there is no risk of pollution," a coast guard official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, adding that the ships were not loaded with cargo.It was not immediately clear what had caused the collision, the official added. Greek authorities have deployed seven vessels and a search and rescue helicopter to the site.

Russian-backed official says Ukraine shelled port of Berdyansk

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

A Russian-installed official in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region said on Friday (2 June) that Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled port city of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov and that nine people had been reported injured."Information on the fatalities is being clarified," Vladimir Rogov said on the Telegram messaging app. He shared a video that appeared to show a large cloud of grey smoke rising from near the port area.Zaporizhzhia is one of five Ukrainian regions, including the Crimea peninsula, that Russia claims to have annexed.

2 suspects on the run after shooting in North Hollywood

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

A search for two suspects is underway after a shooting in a busy retail center in North Hollywood Sunday night, authorities announced.  Officers responded to calls of an assault with a deadly weapon in the 11000 block of Victory Boulevard, near Vineland Avenue, just before 9:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department.  Police said the victim of the shooting, described only as man of Middle Eastern descent, had the back of his white Mercedes G-Wagon SUV shot out.  The suspects were last seen fleeing westbound on Victory Boulevard toward Tujunga Avenue.  One of the suspects is described as a Black male, approximately 20 years old. Authorities did not have a description for the second suspect. It is unclear if they fled the area on foot or if they were in a vehicle.  So far, no injuries have been reported, according to police. No further details about the incident were provided.  

Prince Harry’s battle with British tabloids heads for courtroom showdown

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry’s battle with the British press is headed for a showdown in a London courtroom this week with the publisher of the Daily Mirror.The Duke of Sussex is scheduled to testify in the High Court after his lawyer presents opening statements Monday in the first of his legal cases to go to trial and one of three alleging tabloids unlawfully snooped on him in their cutthroat competition for scoops on the royal family.Harry will be the first member of the British royal family in more than a century to testify in court and is expected to describe his anguish and anger over being hounded by the media throughout his life, and its impact on those around him.Harry, 38, has blamed paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, the late Princess Diana, and said harassment and intrusion by the U.K. press, including allegedly racist articles, ultimately led him and his wife, Meghan, to flee to the U.S. in 2020 and leave royal life behind.Articles he has cited dat...

No. 1 Wake Forest dominant, joins Oral Roberts and 7 others moving on in NCAA Tournament

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:31 GMT

No. 1 national seed Wake Forest completed one of the most dominant runs through an NCAA Tournament regional Sunday and joined Oral Roberts of the Summit League and seven others advancing to super regionals. The Demon Deacons beat George Mason 15-1 in the final in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and outscored their three opponents by a combined 48-7.Oral Roberts extended its win streak to 21 games and became the eighth No. 4 regional seed since 2006 to make a super regional when it held off Dallas Baptist 6-5 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.No. 7 Virginia, No. 14 Indiana State, No. 15 South Carolina, No. 16 Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and Oregon also wrapped up regionals.Virginia defeated East Carolina 8-3 in Charlottesville to make a super regional for the second time in three years. Indiana State, hosting a regional for the first time, won 11-8 over Iowa to make its first super regional. South Carolina, which entered the tournament with losses in 11 of 14 games, beat Campbell 16-7 and is back...