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UN warns hundreds of thousands in Southeast Asia roped into online scams

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office says criminal gangs have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia into participating in unlawful online scam operations, including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches, and illegal gambling schemes.The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a new report, cites “credible sources” that at least 120,000 people in strife-torn Myanmar and roughly 100,000 in Cambodia “may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams.”The report sheds new light on cybercrime scams that have become a major issue in Asia, with many of the workers trapped in virtual slavery and forced to participate in scams targeting people over the internet. Laos, the Philippines and Thailand were also cited among the main countries of destination or transit for tens of thousands of people. Criminal gangs have increasingly targeted migrants, and lure some victims by false recruitment — suggesting they are destine...

Cyprus police arrest 21 people after protesters tried to attack Syrian migrants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Police in Cyprus say they have arrested 21 people and used tear gas and a water cannon after a group of Greek Cypriots wearing hoods and brandishing bats tried to attack protesting Syrians in a small village that has been a hotbed of tensions between locals and migrants.Police said Tuesday parallel protests by some 250 Syrians and an equal number of Greek Cypriots in the village of Chloraka in the island’s southwest Monday evening degenerated into violence, as smaller numbers of protesters from both groups began setting fire to garbage bins and also torching a building’s fence.Anti-riot squad officers managed to keep the two groups separated, while one officer suffered second degree burns to his hand from a Molotov cocktail hurled by rioters.Police spokesman Christos Andreou told state broadcaster CyBC Tuesday that the clashes began when Greek Cypriots attempted to assault the migrants. He said nine Greek Cypriots and a dozen migrants were detained.They face c...

BMO Financial Group reports $1.45B Q3 profit, up from $1.37B a year earlier

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

TORONTO — BMO Financial Group reported its third-quarter profit edged higher compared with a year ago even as the amount it set aside for bad loans grew.The bank says it earned $1.45 billion or $1.97 per diluted share for the quarter ended July 31, up from $1.37 billion or $1.95 per diluted share a year earlier.Revenue totalled $7.93 billion, up from $6.10 billion in the same quarter last year.BMO’s provision for credit losses totalled $492 million, up from $136 million in its third quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, BMO says it earned $2.78 per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of $3.09 per diluted share a year earlier.Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $3.13 per share, based on estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:BMO)The Canadian Press

Germany arrests a man accused of illegally exporting electronic components for drones to Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

A German-Russian dual citizen has been arrested in Germany on allegations of violating the country’s foreign trade act multiple times by exporting electronic components to a company in Russia involved in the production of military materiel and accessories, Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.The suspect, who was only identified as Waldemar W. in line with Germany privacy rules, was arrested in March. However, on Monday, the arrest warrant issued by a local court in the city of Mannheim at the time was replaced by an arrest warrant issued by an investigating judge of the country’s Federal Supreme Court.The federal prosecutor’s office said that W. was managing director of two companies he founded in the western German state of Saarland for international trade in electronic components. In the period from January 2020 to March 2023, he exported electronic components on 26 occasions to a company in Russia whose production included the “Orlan 1...

US given OK to enforce maritime law around Palau as Washington vies with China for Pacific influence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The United States has signed a new agreement with Palau, which gives American ships the authorization to unilaterally enforce maritime regulations in the tiny Pacific island nation’s exclusive economic zone, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.The agreement comes as both the U.S. and China are seeking to expand their influence in the Pacific, and follows pleas from Palau’s president for Washington’s help to deter Beijing’s “unwanted activities” in its coastal waters. In the agreement, concluded a week ago, U.S. Coast Guard ships can enforce regulations inside Palau’s exclusive economic zone on behalf of the nation without a Palauan officer present, the Coast Guard said in a statement.“This agreement helps Palau monitor our exclusive economic zone, protect against Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and deter uninvited vessels from conducting questionable maneuvers within our waters,” Palau’s president, Surangel S. Whipps Jr....

Australian prime minister will set a referendum date for Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday he expects public support for creating a so-called Indigenous Voice to Parliament will grow after he focuses the nation’s minds on the issue by setting a date for Australia’s first referendum in a generation.Albanese will announce on Wednesday a date for a referendum that would enshrine in the constitution an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a collection of advocates aimed at giving the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.Media speculation favors Oct. 14 as the most likely date for Australia’s first referendum since 1999.Albanese has long maintained confidence that the referendum would succeed despite opinion polls showing marginal majority support for the Voice waning in recent months as the public debate has become more heated and divisive.“I think people will begin to focus more. I expect that many Australians won’t focus until the last few weeks,” Albanese told repor...

Vatican seeks to tamp down outrage over pope’s words of praise for Russian imperial past

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Tuesday sought to tamp down an uproar that erupted after Pope Francis praised Russia’s imperialist past during a video conference with Russian Catholic youths, insisting that he never intended to encourage modern-day Russian aggression in Ukraine.The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said Francis merely wanted to praise the positive aspects of Russia’s spiritual and cultural history when he praised Russia’s imperial rulers Peter and Catherine the Great, encouraged young people to remember that past and praised their way of “being Russian.”Francis “certainly didn’t want to exalt imperialistic logic or government personalities, who were cited to indicate certain historic periods of reference,” Bruni said in a statement.The Vatican, and before it the Holy See’s embassy in Ukraine, spoke out after Ukraine’s Greek Catholic leader, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, bitterly complained about Francis’ remarks. The Vatican never published the comments, but ...

Brampton crash involving police cruiser sends officer, woman to hospital

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

Peel police are investigating a two-vehicle crash in Brampton that sent an officer and another driver to hospital with injuries.Investigators say a police cruiser and a second vehicle collided at Dixie Road and Bovaird Drive around 9:30 p.m. Monday.Paramedics say an officer and a woman were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.The intersection remains closed while police investigate.

Hot (but not as humid!) finish to August

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A quiet finish to August as mainly sunny skies take over the 7-day forecast.Afternoon highs will warm well into the 90s today but will likely fall short of the century mark in most areas. Sunshine, a few scattered clouds and manageable humidity will make for a normal August day... but be mindful of the fire danger as recent lack of rainfall and ongoing drought as left our wildfire risk in a bad place.Tuesday's wildfire riskMore of the same is expected midweek, the only difference being a slight 1°-2° increase in temperatures each day. BLOG: Could PDO mess with our wet El Niño? Tracking the TropicsHurricane Idalia is expected to rapidly intensify to major hurricane status and make landfall on the Nature Coast of Florida between Tampa and Panama City Wednesday morning. This storm will bring dangerous impacts to some of the same areas that dealt with powerful Hurricane Ian last year.Hurricane Idalia forecast to strengthen into a major Category 3 hurricane by landfall...

Neighbors worry of flooding even with project designed to reduce the risk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:00:06 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The City of Austin started construction of the Little Walnut Creek flood risk reduction project over the weekend, but neighbors in the area who were negatively impacted by a flood in April think the project would not have kept their homes safe four months ago. Ryan Albright's home is almost completely back to normal. He and his wife spent thousands of dollars to work on cleaning up their home after massive flood damage. Their house was one of 60 that were damaged in the April 20 flood. PREVIOUS: Homeowners frustrated with city after flood waters damage properties Albright said he was happy to have the flood risk reduction project begin to help when there are massive floods in the future, but he thinks it too would have failed in April. That's because the flood in April was exacerbated by a massive clog of tree debris in the drainage system. Dead tree limbs and branches that were not properly cleared after the winter storm earlier this year. Problems with tree deb...