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Japan ocean policy vows tougher security amid China threat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan adopted a new five-year ocean policy on Friday that calls for stronger maritime security, including bolstering its coast guard’s capability and cooperation with the military amid China’s increasing assertiveness in regional seas.The new Basic Plan on Ocean Policy adopted by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet also says Japan must accelerate the development of autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated robots to bolster its surveillance capability.It cited a list of threats: Chinese coast guard ships’ repeated intrusions into Japanese territorial waters, growing unauthorized maritime activity by “foreign survey boats” inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, increasing joint military exercises by China and Russia, and North Korea’s repeated missile launches.“The situation in the ocean around Japan is increasingly tense,” Kishida said at a policy meeting Friday. “It’s time for us to unite our wisdom among the ind...

EU voices optimism on Ukraine grain transit deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

The European Union agriculture chief expressed optimism on Tuesday (25 April) that neighbouring countries will accept a deal allowing Ukrainian grain to be imported into their countries to export elsewhere.Last week, the European Commission proposed measures of emergency in relation to wheat, maize and sunflower seeds, as well as sunflower oil, after certain central European countries unilaterally banned imports from Ukraine.The Russian invasion of February 2022 forced Ukraine to abandon its Black Sea ports and export grain through Bulgaria, Hungary Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.The European Agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski stated that the transit agreement would only cover five products, representing 80-90% imports, and not eight other products, such as honey, poultry, or milk, which Ukraine's neighbors have also proposed.He told a press conference following a meeting in Luxembourg of the agriculture ministers that he believed they were very, very near to a good agreem...

Sale closed in San Ramon: $2.9 million for a five-bedroom home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

2223 Britannia Drive – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 2200 block of Britannia Drive in San Ramon was sold on April 13, 2023 for $2,900,000, or $753 per square foot. The house, built in 2004, has an interior space of 3,850 square feet. The property features five bedrooms, four baths, an attached garage, and two parking spaces. There’s also a pool in the backyard. The unit sits on a 0.3-acre lot.Additional houses that have recently been purchased close by include:On Feathermint Drive, San Ramon, in September 2022, a 4,558-square-foot home was sold for $3,155,000, a price per square foot of $692. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In September 2022, a 4,509-square-foot home on Britannia Drive in San Ramon sold for $2,686,000, a price per square foot of $596. The home has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 2,627-square-foot home on the 1800 block of Hollyview Drive in San Ramon sold in August 2022, for $1,950,000, a price per square foot of $742. The home has 4 be...

Foreign companies in China face growing scrutiny, pressure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Foreign companies are under growing pressure in China from anti-corruption, security and other investigations as President Xi Jinping’s government tightens control over business, clashing with efforts to lure back investors after the pandemic. This week, Bain & Co. said police questioned staff in its Shanghai office. It gave no details of what they were looking for. Last month, the corporate due diligence firm Mintz Group said its Beijing office was raided by police who detained five employees. Also last month, an employee of a Japanese drug maker was detained on spying charges and the government announced a security review of memory chip maker Micron Inc.The actions run counter to efforts by the ruling Communist Party to reignite investor interest i n China despite increased political control over the economy. Business groups have said global companies are shifting investment plans to Southeast Asia, India and other economies.“At a time when China is proactively ...

Koepka among 1st-round leaders at storm-hit LIV Singapore

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

SINGAPORE (AP) — Brooks Koepka, British Open champion Cam Smith and Sergio Garcia were among those tied for the first-round lead at 5-under when storms suspended play at the LIV Singapore tournament at Sentosa Golf Club on Friday.Talor Gooch, the winner of last week’s tournament at Adelaide, Australia, was also at 5-under. Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau were among those tied for second, a stroke behind, when play was suspended with most golfers having four holes to play on the par-71 course.Gooch, Smith and Mickelson were in a featured group which started on the first tee in the shotgun-start format of the LIV Tour’s 54-hole tournaments.___More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

OLAF probes potential fraud involving EU recovery funds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

The European Union’s anti-fraud office, OLAF, is investigating potential fraud using the bloc’s post-pandemic recovery cash in a number of EU countries.The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), agreed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, is a €724 billion cash-pot financed through common EU debt, which disburses funds through grants and loans to EU countries in exchange for investment and reforms. So far, €150 billion has been disbursed under the facility, with Italy and Spain the largest recipients, accounting for over a quarter of the total to date.“OLAF is looking into the use of [RRF] funds in member states. There are currently a number of ongoing investigations into allegations of irregularities with [RRF] funds concerning different member states,” an OLAF press officer told POLITICO and Belgian news weekly Knack. A spokesperson declined to answer further questions on how many and which countries were involved, or how much money was potentially at risk.OLAF’s mandate ...

Heavy clashes rock Sudan’s capital despite truce extension

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Heavy explosions and gunfire rocked Sudan’s capital, Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman early Friday, residents said, despite the extension of a fragile truce between the county’s two top generals whose power struggle has killed hundreds.Turkey also said one of its evacuation aircrafts was hit Friday by gunfire outside Khartoum with no causalities. The escalation came hours after both sides accepted a 72-hour extension of the truce, apparently to allow foreign governments complete the evacuation of their citizens from the chaos-stricken African nation.Multiple short truces have not stopped the fighting, but they created enough of a lull for tens of thousands of Sudanese to flee to safer areas and for foreign nations to evacuate thousands of their citizens by land, air and sea.Residents reported fierce clashes in Khartoum’s upscale neighborhood of Kafouri, where the military earlier had used warplanes to bomb its rivals, the Rapid Support Forces, in the area.Clashes ...

German capital sees 10th day of provocative climate protests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Climate activists staged a 10th straight day of protests in Berlin, blocking key roads during rush hour and bringing parts of the German capital to a standstill on Friday.Members of the group Last Generation glued themselves to the road, causing long traffic jams for commuters driving into the city. The group wants to draw attention to the threat of global warming and the need for governments to step up measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions.At a crossing in the north of the capital, many drivers waited patiently for police to clear the road, though some hurled abuse at the activists, calling them “terrorists” and “scum.” Several pedestrians applauded the protesters, giving them a thumbs-up, while one passer-by offered them food and water.Last Generation has acknowledged that its protests are provocative, but it argues that by stirring friction it can encourage debate within society about climate change.“Sure, there are those who insult or criticize us,” activist Th...

Russian missile and drone attack in Ukraine kills 12 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

UMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 20 cruise missiles and two drones at Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 12 people, most of them when two missiles slammed into an apartment building in the center of the country, officials said.The attacks included the first one against Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, in nearly two months, although there were no reports of any targets hit. The city government said Ukraine’s air force intercepted 11 cruise missiles and two unmanned aerial vehicles over Kyiv. The strikes on the nine-story residential building in central Ukraine occurred in Uman, a city located around 215 kilometers (134 miles) south of Kyiv. Ten people died in that attack, according to Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko. The Ukrainian national police said 17 people were wounded and three children were rescued from the rubble.The bombardment was nowhere near the war’s sprawling front lines or active combat zones in eastern Ukraine, where a grinding ...

Hong Kong’s economy is recovering, but its freedoms are not

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:52:35 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Like most people in Hong Kong, taxi driver Leung Tat-chong says it feels like the city is recovering after years of protests, crackdowns and pandemic restrictions, while it also has changed forever.He’s earning almost as much as he did before the pandemic. But, Leung said, the city has been divided since the 2019 protests, in which hundreds of thousands of people marched, and many battled police, in opposition to a government they saw as a proxy for Beijing. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the city welcomed more than 2 million visitors in the month of March. Crowds of art collectors and dealers spilled across two floors of a convention center at the Art Basel Hong Kong fair in late March. Excited chatter returned to a dim sum shop at the high-speed rail terminus. Yet Leung sometimes doesn’t turn on the radio in his cab because the news or a public affairs program could get his customers cursing. A supporter of the government, he watches what he s...