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Cuban entrepreneurs get business training from the US, and hope that Biden lifts sanctions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — Musicians Ana María Torres and María Carla Puga started making bracelets and necklaces at home in Cuba during the pandemic, and they now have a flourishing business. On an island that for decades prohibited private enterprise, they have had an unlikely adviser: the U.S. Embassy. Torres and Puga are part of a small group of entrepreneurs that benefited from a business training program the embassy recently offered in Cuba, where many young entrepreneurs are less wary of the American government than those in previous generations.“We see it as a great opportunity,” says Torres, 25, who co-founded a store and workshop named Ama, which has a cafeteria and employs 12 people.Ama is one of almost 8,000 small- and medium-sized companies that were legally authorized to operate in Cuba over the past year and a half.The embassy training featured weekly online meetings covering everything from marketing tools and brand management to basic finances and the creation of web pages...

Newly all-male South Carolina Supreme Court scrutinizes abortion ban months after tossing one out

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A potential swing vote on the newly all-male South Carolina Supreme Court grilled lawyers over whether patients have enough time to get an abortion after learning of their pregnancy as the justices weighed whether a new ban is similarly unconstitutional to one that got shot down earlier this year.The right to an abortion in South Carolina was back before the state’s highest court Tuesday as Republicans try to restore the ban that was overturned in January.A 3-2 majority in January tossed a similar law that banned abortion once cardiac activity is detected, or at about six weeks and before most people know they are pregnant. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster recently signed into law a similar ban that starts once cardiac activity is detected. That restriction has been placed on hold as the case involving the new ban moves through the courts. Meanwhile, abortion remains legal through 22 weeks in this conservative state.But lawyers for the state and abortion pr...

American who filmed tourist carving name in Colosseum ‘dumbfounded’ as hunt for culprit intensifies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italy’s culture and tourism ministers have vowed to find and punish a tourist who was filmed carving his name and that of his apparent girlfriend in the wall of the Colosseum in Rome, a crime that resulted in hefty fines in the past.The message reading “Ivan+Haley 23” appeared on the Colosseum at a time when Romans already were complaining about hordes of tourists flooding the Eternal City in record numbers this season. A fellow tourist, Ryan Lutz, of Orange, California., filmed the incident and posted the video on YouTube and Reddit. The video received over 1,500 social media views and was picked up by Italian media. Lutz told The Associated Press on Tuesday he was “dumbfounded” that someone would deface such an important monument. Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano called the writing carved into the almost 2,000-year-old Flavian Ampitheater “serious, undignified and a sign of great incivility.” He said he hoped the culprits would be found “and punished according to o...

Sierra Leone’s president wins second term without need for runoff, election commission announces

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio has won a second term in office, receiving 56.17% of ballots cast and narrowly clearing the threshold for avoiding a runoff in the West African nation, electoral officials said Tuesday.Main opposition candidate Samura Kamara immediately disputed the results showing he had received 41.16% of the vote in Saturday’s election.“It is a sad day for our beloved country,” Kamara tweeted after the announcement. “It is a frontal attack on our fledgling democracy. These results are NOT credible and I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission.”To win in the first round of voting and avoid a runoff, the top contender had to secure 55% of the vote. Supporters of both parties had claimed to have won in recent days, with Kamara saying earlier that he was on an “irreversible path to an overwhelming victory.” He also alleged that security forces had opened fire Sunday on a celebration at his ...

Ottawa widens pathways for attracting tech talent

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

TORONTO — The federal immigration minister says Ottawa is ramping up its efforts to attract tech talent to Canada. In an announcement at tech conference Collision in Toronto, minister Sean Fraser revealed the Tech Talent Strategy, which includes a new, dedicated pathway for permanent residents targeting employees and workers in the STEM sectors. Fraser says the government is streamlining how it prioritizes applications to its startup visa program after allocating more spots for 2023, and is expanding the work permits given out to entrepreneurs through the program. The government is also creating an open work permit stream for H-1B visa holders in the U.S. to come work in Canada, and is developing an Innovation Stream under the International Mobility program to attract talent. Fraser says the government has also fixed processing delays for its Global Skills Strategy program.The government is also launching a digital nomad strategy allowing people working for foreign companies to stay...

How to protect yourself from credit card fraud — and what to do when it’s too late

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

Young Canadians are increasingly the targets of financial fraud, experts say, as the age group most comfortable with buying products online is likewise most exposed to risk.Sixty-five per cent of generation Z and millennials reported being a victim of at least one type of financial fraud in their lifetime, according to a recent survey conducted by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada.Experts’ advice on the matter? Stay vigilant. “We’ve always assumed older people tend to be the biggest victims for fraud and scams, but our data has shown that it is the Millennial cohort — the digital-first cohort — who are the victims of this recent increase in fraud due to this innate trust they have in technology,” said Maryam Saeed, head of risk at Visa Canada. “It’s important to understand the environment we’re currently operating in,” she continued. “As digital payments have grown and consumers expect quick, frictionless and uninterrupted payment experiences, it’s a...

Uganda activists file new Paris case over TotalEnergies’ East Africa oil pipeline project

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan activists brought another legal case Tuesday against French oil giant TotalEnergies, seeking damages over alleged food and land rights violations in the company’s East Africa operations. The civil suit filed in Paris comes four months after the collapse of a similar case brought by activists who wanted to stop TotalEnergies’ pipeline project in Uganda and Tanzania, alleging environmental risks and an infringement of rights.Campaigners who oppose a project they insist violates the Paris climate accord were disappointed when the case was dismissed on procedural grounds before going to trial. The new litigation cites TotalEnergies’ alleged failure to comply with France’s “duty of vigilance” law and seeks compensation for the company’s alleged violations of land and food rights over six years. TotalEnergies has long denied the allegations.Five French and and Ugandan civic groups, including the French branch of Friends of the Earth and the...

A blistering heat wave is turning up the pressure on Texas’ power grid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — On another 100-degree day in Texas, Sean Whitaker lingered outside a Dallas cafe after polishing off an iced coffee, having switched off the power to everything back home except his refrigerator. “That’s the reason I’m out,” said Whitaker, 52, finding shade at a patio table. As an unrelenting heat wave grips Texas for a second week, public appeals to stay hydrated and limit outdoor activities have come with another ask of the state’s nearly 30 million residents: Conserve electricity if possible as demand on the power grid is stretched to projected record peaks. An early summer arrival of blistering temperatures — which have been blamed for at least two deaths — is taxing Texas’ power grid that many residents still view nervously two years after a deadly winter blackout. Regulators warn that Texas may offer a preview of what could be tight demand on grids across the U.S. this summer because of extreme temperatures worsened by climate...

AFD: Body recovered from Lady Bird Lake Tuesday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for June 27, 2023AUSTIN (KXAN) — A body was recovered from Lady Bird Lake Tuesday morning, according to the Austin Fire Department. MAP: Tracking deaths near Lady Bird Lake in Austin AFD said the body was found around 1000 W. Cesar Chavez St., near where Barton Creek comes into the lake.AFD said they were called at 10:28 a.m.In 2023, there have been at least four bodies that were found in Lady Bird Lake.Body recovered from Lady Bird Lake on June 27, 2023. (KXAN Photo/Jala Washington)Body recovered from Lady Bird Lake on June 27, 2023. (KXAN Photo/Jala Washington)Body recovered from Lady Bird Lake on June 27, 2023. (KXAN Photo/Jala Washington)Body recovered from Lady Bird Lake on June 27, 2023. (KXAN Photo/Jala Washington)KXAN is working to find more information. This story will be updated as information becomes available.

St. Paul teen charged with murder during North St. Paul gun robbery. Four other teens charged as accomplices.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:09 GMT

Prosecutors say a 17-year-old was the shooter of a 24-year-old in his North St. Paul apartment last week and they charged him with murder Tuesday.Five teens are now charged in all. The Ramsey County attorney’s office also charged a 16-year-old Tuesday with aiding and abetting murder. Three others, each 19 years old, were charged with the same offense last week in the homicide of Anthony R. Rojas.North St. Paul police said they recovered about 20 firearms in the case, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition.Rojas was killed June 19 in his apartment in the 2100 block of North McKnight Road. Officers sent to the apartment about 6:15 p.m. discovered two open and empty gun safes and a 3D printer in the apartment. It appeared Rojas was using the printer to create lower receivers for handguns, according to criminal complaints in the homicide.One of the teens who is charged told police that Abo Eshun Essilfie, the 17-year-old, was hanging out in Rojas’ apartment with him and...