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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A court on Wednesday convicted a Turkish journalist of threatening President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports said, in a case that critics view as an attempt to silence a prominent voice against the government.Fatih Altayli, 63, a veteran journalist whose YouTube programs attracted hundreds of thousands of views daily, was sentenced to four years and two months in prison.He was detained in June and charged with issuing and publicly disseminating a threat against the president.Altayli has denied the accusation and plans to appeal his conviction. The court ruled that he remain in jail pending the appeals process,…

Lights on in skyscrapers and commercial buildings on the skyline of the City of London, UK, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. U.K. business chiefs urged Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to ease energy costs and avoid raising the tax burden on corporate Britain as she prepares this year’s budget. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesLONDON — European stocks ended Wednesday in positive territory amid rising expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in December. The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished the session almost 1.1% higher, with most sectors and major regional bourses in the green.Regional indexes are following their…

This article first appeared on Pacific Forum and is republished with permission. Read the original here. In the global contest over critical minerals, Myanmar has emerged as an unlikely pivot. Rare earth elements (REE)—dysprosium, terbium, and others indispensable for magnets in wind turbines, electric vehicles, and advanced defense systems—have become geopolitical assets of immense strategic importance. Myanmar has become the world’s third-largest producer of rare earth elements behind China and the US, with total production estimated at around 31,000 metric tons in 2024, up significantly from about 12,000 metric tons in 2022. The epicenter of their extraction lies in northern…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior Kremlin official confirmed Wednesday that U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine pick up speed.But Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, insisted that Kremlin officials still haven’t seen a U.S. peace proposal, even though representatives of the United States, Russia and Ukraine held talks earlier this week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.“Contact is ongoing, including via telephone, but no one has yet sat down at a roundtable and discussed…

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — The Olympic flame began its journey Wednesday to the Milan Cortina Winter Games — missing a little of its usual magic.Bad weather lashing western Greece forced organizers to move the torch-lighting ceremony indoors, from Olympia’s ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum.The flame is lit by focusing the sun’s rays with a concave mirror. But with skies overcast, officials used a backup flame kindled during a brief spell of sunshine at Monday’s rehearsal.Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis launched the torch relay, which, after reaching Italy, will be carried across the host country by about 10,000…

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City’s fringe players haven’t seen much action recently. And after the 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League, it might be a while before head coach Pep Guardiola uses them again.The City boss made 10 changes in response to Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United. Guardiola said he would have made 11 if he could, but with Rodri still sidelined, Nico González kept his place.It was a gamble that didn’t pay off. With Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, and Gianluigi Donnarumma watching from the bench, the Bundesliga club took advantage of a rusty City…

Jeff KassoufNov 25, 2025, 07:40 PM ETCloseJeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.The Portland Thorns have fired head coach Rob Gale, the club confirmed on Tuesday.Gale took over as head coach midway through the 2024 NWSL season following a strong run as interim head coach. The Thorns finished sixth last year, losing to NJ/NY Gotham FC in the semifinals.- Gotham rides series of magic moments to win NWSL Championship- Emotional Rodman:…

HONOLULU (AP) — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet (122 meters) into the air. The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No homes were threatened. It’s the 37th time Kilauea has shot lava since last December, when the current eruption began. The latest lava display was preceded by sporadic spattering and overflows that began Friday. Each eruptive episode has lasted about a day or less.…

LONDON (AP) — Following weeks of speculation, Britain’s unpopular Labour government will deliver its second budget later Wednesday since it returned to power in a landslide election victory in July 2024 after 14 years in opposition.Treasury chief Rachel Reeves, the first woman to hold the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, is set to tell lawmakers that more tax-raising measures are necessary to plug a hole in the public finances. Reeves said much the same at her first budget a little more than a year ago. That budget, she had insisted, would be the one and only big tax-raising budget…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The soil surrounding the gas facility in Ukraine was once pitch-black before it was burned to a rusty red by a massive Russian drone and missile assault.Scattered remnants of Shahed drones littered the reservoir designated for storing tanks of liquefied propane gas. Nearly a month after the Oct. 30 attack, several tanks lay empty and in ruins.“It hurts to look at all this (damage) because I saw firsthand (the facility’s) establishment, construction and development,” said Victor, who has worked there for 28 years and who cannot be named in full for security reasons. “But we have,…