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Why Slovakia’s election doesn’t really matter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

He’s back — and he’s out for revenge.What may sound like the voice-over for a B-movie trailer is in fact a real-life political drama playing out in Slovakia’s election campaign, where former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was forced to resign in 2018 amid a popular revolt, has returned to center stage with a vengeance.Fico, the leader of a left-wing populist party known as Smer (or, more officially, Direction–Social Democracy) is narrowly leading the polls with about 20 percent ahead of Sunday’s election, slightly ahead of the liberal Progressive Slovakia. The snap election comes after the collapse of a center-right alliance that took over from Smer in 2020.A former communist who rebranded himself a Social Democrat after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Fico, 59, has set alarm bells ringing in Western capitals in recent months by vowing to halt military support for Ukraine and block the country’s path into NATO. He’s even parroted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points, bla...

Local youth football parents say assistant coach stole thousands from team

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Parents of children in the San Diego Youth Football and Cheer (SDYFC) league are looking for answers after they say one of their coaches took money for an out-of-state game and pocketed it.“It’s sad. I wanted my son to get an opportunity to not only play football, but have good male mentors in his life and I’m really sad that’s not what he got,” said league parent, Jessica Johnson.FOX 5 spoke with Johnson and another mom from the team, Sofia Aguais, who say that thousands of dollars paid by more than a dozen families for expenses associated with the game are unaccounted for.“Fifteen families, which is almost half of the team," said Aguais. "I believe all together he collected about almost $12,000, still owed is like $9,500." Former swim instructor sentenced to eight years in molestation case The parents tell FOX 5 that the money was collected by the San Diego Bolts 11U assistant coach back in July for an out-of-state game and team trip to Hawaii, claiming he would bo...

Scripps Health cutting ties with insurance covering thousands of SD seniors

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Scripps Health is cutting coverage for thousands of seniors in San Diego County at the end of this year when it stops its participation in the Medicare Advantage program. On Monday, Lisa Bock and her wife Lori received what they call a shocking letter from their Medicare Advantage Plan, SCAN. It read in part, "as you may have heard, Scripps Clinic and Scripps Coastal primary care doctors will not be contracting with Medicare Advantage HMO plans by January 1, 2024 … Because your SCAN plan is an HMO, this means you may not be able to see your current primary care doctor after December 31, 2023." Updated COVID-19 vaccines are now available in San Diego: Where to find them “When Lori read that, she just went through the roof because she loves her primary care doctor," Bock recalled. “I’m freaking out … she started hyperventilating. I had to calm her down."Lori and Lisa are just two out of the more than 30,000 elderly San Diegans under one of several health plans like SCA...

SDG&E customers to see dip in next energy bill. Here's how much will be reduced

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Gas & Electric customers are expected to see a reduction in their energy bills next month with the distribution of another installment of state climate credits.On Wednesday, SDG&E announced that the final credit for this year will be applied to electricity statements in October, with each household expected to receive about $60.70 to put towards their bill.The climate credits are a biannual benefit given to millions of ratepayers as a part of California's Greenhouse Cap-and-Trade program, which creates an economic incentive for investor-owned utility companies to invest in clean energy as a means of emission mitigation. Auditor ‘concerned’ with CA regulators’ monitoring of energy rate hikes Companies are allotted a certain number of "emission allowances," representing one ton of greenhouse gases they are allowed to emit, that is based on a statewide cap set by state energy officials. According to the California Public Utilities Commission, investor-o...

Lemon Grove man sentenced in attempted murder of girlfriend, daughters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A Lemon Grove man who attempted to murder his girlfriend and her two juvenile daughters in 2021 was sentenced to a prison sentence of 116 years-to-life in court on Wednesday.Pablo Ramirez, 52, was found guilty on July 27 of attempted murder, attempted manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection to the shooting, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's office.“Pablo Ramirez destroyed a family and stole the hopes and dreams of a young woman who was just beginning her life,” DA Summer Stephan said in a release. “Today’s sentence provides a measure of justice and will hold this callous defendant accountable for his malicious acts.”Ramirez was arrested by San Diego County Sheriff's deputies on Sept. 8, 2021 after midnight. Law enforcement was dispatched to his home in the 1400 block of Bakersfield Street after one of the daughters escaped to call 9-1-1. Teacher, hockey coach sentenced to 16 years in ‘Mr. Pickles’ child sex abuse case Acco...

Asylum-seeker surge prompts some to attempt hopping border fence

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reporting a record number of migrant apprehensions in the San Diego sector as more asylum-seekers continue to gather along the San Ysidro border fence.The surge has prompted some migrants awaiting processing to make a mad dash across the wall, including about a dozen who were spotted on video jumping over the fence Wednesday morning.The migrants seen in the video surrendered to border agents in the "enforcement zone" between the two barriers shortly later. However, officials say one man did make it over the second fence, running about a quarter mile on the beach before giving up in exhaustion.According to Border Patrol, roughly 100 migrants have shown up along the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego every day over the last couple weeks. This year so far, the agency estimates that as many as 204,000 migrants have been picked-up in the area. Over $5M in illicit marijuana seized at Otay Mesa Port of Entry The surge has put additional p...

TikTok says it regrets Indonesia’s decision to ban e-commerce sales on social media platforms

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Chinese-owned app TikTok on Thursday said it regretted the Indonesian government’s decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms and particularly the impact it would have on the millions of sellers who use TikTok Shop.But TikTok Indonesia said in a statement it will respect the regulations and laws that apply in Indonesia and “will take a constructive path forward.”“We deeply regret the government’s announcement, especially how it will impact the livelihoods of the six million sellers and nearly seven million affiliate creators who use TikTok Shop,” said the statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday.Indonesia banned goods transactions on social media platforms such as TikTok in a bid to protect small businesses from e-commerce competition, accusing them of predatory pricing.Indonesia’s Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Monday announced the decision after a meeting with President Joko Widodo. The ban ”is to prevent the domin...

Separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh says it will dismantle itself by January 2024

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh announced Thursday that it will dismantle itself and the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by Jan. 1, 2024. The move comes after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive to reclaim full control over its breakaway region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh lay down their weapons and the separatist government dismantle itself. Nagorno-Karabakh was run by separatist authorities for about 30 years.The Associated Press

Production at German Volkswagen plants resumes after disruption caused by an IT problem

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Production at Volkswagen is resuming after a problem with the German automaker’s information technology network caused a severe disruption, the company said Thursday.Volkswagen said on Wednesday evening that the IT disruption caused production to halt at its four vehicle manufacturing plants in Germany — its Wolfsburg headquarters, Emden, Zwickau and Osnabrueck. It also affected some other facilities, including at subsidiary Audi, it said.The company said Thursday morning that the IT infrastructure problems were resolved during the night and production was resuming, German news agency dpa reported. It said there were no indications of any external cause for the disruption.The Associated Press

After Malaysia bans his book, author says his depiction of Indonesian maid was misunderstood

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:34 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government has banned a book following protests over what was perceived as an insulting depiction of an Indonesian maid, and the book’s author on Thursday apologized for the offensive material and said it was misunderstood.Boey Chee Ming, a Malaysian artist now based in the United States, said he was shocked to learn that his book “When I was a Kid 3” was banned by the government almost a decade after it was released in 2014. It was his third book in a series of graphic novels about his childhood in Malaysia.The Home Ministry has said the book contained material that was “likely to be prejudicial to morality” and issued the ban on Sept. 15, local media reported. Indonesian non-governmental organization Corong Rakyat staged a rally outside the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta in June to protest the book, which it said belittled Indonesian maids, Malaysia’s national Bernama news agency reported. Home Ministry officials couldn̵...