CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy

First came the fury. Now comes the disbelief.

A day after a Canadian men’s curler unleashed an expletive-laden denial over a rules violation, the country’s women’s team faced the same accusation—and responded with stunned silence.

In the first end of Saturday’s match against Switzerland, officials called a foul on Canadian skip Rachel Homan for “double-touching” her stone after releasing it. Switzerland went on to win 8-7.

The call added fuel to a controversy that has divided the curling community at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Late Friday, Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian men’s player Marc Kennedy of the same infraction during Canada’s 8-6 win.

On the ice, Kennedy repeatedly used profanity while denying he broke any rules. Although video appeared to confirm the violation, Kennedy maintained his innocence and accused Sweden of having a “premeditated” plan.

The women didn’t erupt like their male counterparts. But their incredulous expressions said everything.

For Canada, the double-touch controversy has now touched both teams.

By James Kisoo

NEW YORK

The calendar says April 15 is still weeks away. But for a stress-free tax season, the time to start is now.

With the IRS deadline looming, tax experts have a simple message: don’t wait, but don’t rush either.

“Don’t wait until the last minute, but also don’t rush,” said Tom O’Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals.

The path to a smooth filing begins with organization. Gather all your documents early, sign up for direct deposit to speed up any refund, and keep copies of past returns for reference. These small steps, experts say, can prevent big headaches later.

This year, taxpayers should also be aware of new deductions stemming from the Republican tax and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump over the summer.

Certified public accountant Miguel Burgos, an expert for TurboTax, outlined several key changes: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, deductions for car loan interest, and deductions for those who were 65 or older by Dec. 31.

The bottom line? A little preparation now can mean the difference between a frantic April and a filing season that actually lives up to its name.

By James Kisoo

MUNICH

A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” delivering a sharp rebuke to Washington’s bleak assessment.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after U.S.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to allies—less aggressive than Vice President JD Vance’s lecturing last year, but firm on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Kallas aimed her response at the U.S. national security strategy released in December, which argued that Europe’s economic stagnation “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.”

The document blamed immigration policies, declining birth rates, suppression of speech and a “loss of national identities.”

“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference.

Her evidence? People still want in.

“In fact, people still want to join our club,” she said, noting that during a visit to Canada last year, she was told many Canadians have expressed interest in joining the EU.

By James Kisoo

ALEPPO, Syria

The bullet-scarred walls of Sheikh Maqsoud still stand. The rubble from the drone strike has been pushed to the side. And on a quiet Saturday, Aaliya Jaafar stood outside her hair salon, marveling at a small miracle in a country accustomed to loss: nearly everyone came home.

One month after clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces turned this Kurdish-majority neighborhood in Aleppo into a battle zone, most of the tens of thousands who fled have returned.

The quick turnaround is a rarity in Syria, a country where conflict has displaced families for years—sometimes forever.

“Ninety percent of the people have come back,” Jaafar said. “And they didn’t take long. This was maybe the shortest displacement in Syria.”

Her family’s flight was brief but terrifying. They abandoned their house when a government drone struck a nearby lot storing weapons, triggering explosions that shook the neighborhood.

Days later, they returned to find their home still standing—and their community already piecing itself back together.

The Associated Press visited Sheikh Maqsoud as Syria navigates a fragile transition from years of civil war.

The new government is struggling to assert control while trying to win the trust of minority groups like the Kurds, who remain anxious about their security in a shifting landscape.

For now, in this corner of Aleppo, the people have chosen to return. Whether they can stay—and rebuild—depends on whether Syria’s “shortest displacement” becomes its last.

By James Kisoo

LONDON

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of South American poison dart frogs, five European countries alleged Saturday, in a coordinated diplomatic offensive against Moscow.

The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said laboratory analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine”—a neurotoxin secreted by dart frogs that is not found naturally in Russia.

In a joint statement, the nations laid out a stark case: “Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison.”

The five countries said they are now reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. There was no immediate comment from the organization.

The allegations add a new and devastating chapter to the long saga of Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe.

He died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024, while serving a 19-year sentence that he believed to be politically motivated.

Saturday’s coordinated指控 (accusations) mark the first time European nations have jointly attributed his poisoning to the Kremlin with such specific forensic detail—naming not just the perpetrators, but the exotic poison they allegedly used.

By James Kisoo

MUNICH

They came by the quarter-million, drumming and chanting under gray German skies, answering a call from exile. And their message to the world was clear: stand with the people of Iran, or watch them die.

About 250,000 demonstrators flooded the streets of Munich on Saturday, police said, in one of the largest gatherings of the Iranian diaspora in recent memory.

The rally unfolded on the sidelines of a major gathering of world leaders—a coincidence of timing that amplified its urgency.

The crowds had heeded the call of Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince, who had declared a “global day of action” to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests.

Similar demonstrations were planned in Los Angeles and Toronto.

“Change, change, regime change!” the crowd roared, waving green-white-and-red flags emblazoned with the lion and sun—the emblem of the monarchy that ruled Iran until the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled Pahlavi’s dynasty.

Police had expected a large turnout, but the numbers surpassed even organizers’ hopes. In a post on X, authorities put the figure at 250,000, a sea of humanity pressing against the Bavarian capital.

At a news conference, Pahlavi struck a grave tone. He warned that more deaths in Iran are inevitable if “democracies stand by and watch,” following Tehran’s deadly crackdown on protesters last month.

“We gather at an hour of profound peril to ask: Will the world stand with the people of Iran?” he said. He argued that the survival of Iran’s government sends a dangerous signal: “Kill enough people and you stay in power.”

For the exiled prince and the quarter-million who marched with him, the question now hangs in the air, unanswered.

By James Kisoo

CAIRO

In just over three days, more than 6,000 people were killed when a Sudanese paramilitary group unleashed an assault on a city in Darfur so brutal that the United Nations described it as “shocking in its scale and brutality.”

The Rapid Support Forces’ offensive to capture el-Fasher in late October included widespread atrocities that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, the U.N. Human Rights Office said in a report released Friday.

“The wanton violations that were perpetrated by the RSF and allied Arab militia in the final offensive on el-Fasher underscore that persistent impunity fuels continued cycles of violence,” said Volker Türk, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The RSF and their allied Janjaweed militias overran el-Fasher on Oct. 26, seizing the Sudanese army’s last remaining stronghold in Darfur after more than 18 months of siege.

What followed was a rampage through the city and its surroundings—three days of killing that the U.N. says left at least 6,000 dead.

The report adds to mounting evidence of atrocities in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, where cycles of violence have repeatedly drawn accusations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes.

Friday’s findings, investigators say, point not just to the horror of those three days, but to the pattern of impunity that made them possible.

By James Kisoo