“A Turkish opposition party delegation arrived in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region Sunday against the backdrop of peace efforts between Ankara and a banned Kurdish separatist movement in Turkey. The delegation led by Sirri Sureyya Onder and Pervin Buldan, two senior officials with the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, in Turkey, met with Masoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party — the dominant Kurdish party in Iraq — in Irbil Sunday. Barzani’s office said in a statement that they discussed ‘the peace process in Turkey’ and that the Turkish delegation conveyed a message from Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.” (02/16/25)
“Thousands of people marched to the United States Embassy in London on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan for the Gaza Strip, a proposal that has been roundly condemned as unlawful and monstrous by the U.N., international human rights organizations, and Palestinians living in the enclave decimated by relentless Israeli bombing. The march came after Trump doubled down on his proposal for the U.S. to ‘take over’ Gaza after forcibly and permanently displacing Palestinians from the territory. ‘Think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it and we’ll slowly (very slowly, we’re in no rush) develop it,’ Trump told reporters last weekend. Marchers carried signs Sunday expressing contempt for the president’s proposal, which Amnesty International denounced as ‘inflammatory, outrageous, and shameful’.” (02/15/25)
“On a recent Sunday, Tracy Quinn drove down the Pacific Coast Highway to assess damage wrought upon the coastline by the Palisades Fire. The water line was darkened by ash. Burnt remnants of washing machines and dryers and metal appliances were strewn about the shoreline. Sludge carpeted the water’s edge. Waves during high tide lapped onto charred homes, pulling debris and potentially toxic ash into the ocean as they receded. ‘It was just heartbreaking,’ said Quinn, president and CEO of the environmental group Heal the Bay, whose team has reported ash and debris some 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the Palisades burn area west of Los Angeles. As crews work to remove potentially hundreds of thousands of tons of hazardous materials from the Los Angeles wildfires, researchers and officials are trying to understand how the fires on land have impacted the sea.” (02/16/25)
“Wisconsin’s second-oldest prison, built in the 1800s and long targeted for closure, would finally be shuttered under a new plan from Gov. Tony Evers that proposes sweeping changes to the state’s troubled correctional system without building a new facility, as some lawmakers have long called for. Evers presented his plan as the best and only option to address the state’s aging facilities, which have been beset with deaths of incarcerated people, assaults against staff including one that left a juvenile guard dead, lockdowns, lawsuits, federal investigations, criminal charges against prison staff, resignations and rising maintenance costs. The roughly $500 million proposal, made public on Sunday, would be subject to approval by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has backed some aspects in the past but also has repeatedly blocked initiatives by the Democratic governor.” (02/16/25)
“US Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to meet Russian officials in Saudi Arabia in the coming days for talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, US officials say. America’s top diplomat will be joined by national security adviser Mike Waltz and the US special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, the officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS News. US special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg said Washington, Moscow and Kyiv would be involved in talks, but Europe was not invited. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had not been invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia. Amid European concern that the US is moving ahead on peace talks with Russia without consulting the continent, Ukraine’s European allies will gather in Paris next week for an emergency summit on the war.” (02/16/25)
“Nokia is set to secure unconditional EU antitrust clearance for its $2.3 billion acquisition of U.S. optical semiconductors and networking equipment maker Infinera, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday. Nokia announced the deal in June last year, a move that would make it the second largest vendor in the optical networking market with a 20 per cent share, behind Huawei, which is benefiting from the minimal presence of Western companies in China. The acquisition will allow Nokia to sell more equipment to big tech companies such as Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft which are investing billions of dollars in building new data centres to service the artificial intelligence boom.” (02/14/25)
“Millions of dollars collected by the United States Army for a food program were spent elsewhere — with less than half of the funds actually finding their way to soldiers’ plates, according to a report. An investigative report from Military.com found that of the $225 million snatched up from junior enlisted soldiers as part of the Basic Allowance for Subsistence program, just $74 million went towards food. ‘It’s just returned to the big pool of army funds, and it’s used someplace else,’ an official told the outlet. The money is collected in what amounts to a tax on troops — taken from their BAS payment of $460 per month and automatically deducted from paychecks of service members who live in barracks. The program is intended to help enlisted men and women to cover food costs.” (02/15/25)
“Joann, the crafting and fabrics retailer, received court approval for its plans to close more than half of its remaining stores after declaring chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in less than a year. The company filed a motion Wednesday in bankruptcy court seeking to shutter around 533 of its 800 U.S. locations. A judge approved the motion Friday, allowing the company begin closing approximately 500 stores across the nation. Going-out-of-business sales could begin as early as Saturday, Feb. 15. The initial store closing list includes at least one location in all 50 states, except Hawaii.” (02/15/25)
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he directed his ministers not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals because the document was too focused on U.S. interests. The proposal, which was at the center of Zelenskyy’s talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, according to one current and one former senior official familiar with the talks. Zelenskyy’s decision to reject a deal, at least for now, was described as ‘short-sighted’ by a senior White House official. ‘I didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant agreement because in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest,’ Zelenskyy told The Associated Press on Saturday in Munich.” (02/16/25)
“In a press conference broadcast on television in Moscow, Sudanese foreign minister Ali Yusef Sharif announced that an agreement had been reached to create a Russian Naval Base in Sudan. … Russia has developed ties with both sides of Sudan’s civil war that has lasted almost two years. Russian officials visited Port Sudan, the wartime capital for the army in recent months. A top Sudanese General said last year that Russia asked for a fuel station at the Red Sea as a trade for arms and ammunition.” (02/14/25)
