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Biden labels China’s Xi Jinping a dictator

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

President Joe Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator on Tuesday when speaking about a spy balloon that the U.S. shot down in February.“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said in remarks at a campaign event in Kentfield, Calif., according to a White House pool report. “That was the great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened.”Military reports about an unidentified Chinese surveillance balloon traversing continental U.S. made headlines at the beginning of February, sparking bipartisan outrage and concern about foreign intrusion into American airspace. A few days later, an American fighter jet shot the balloon down off the coast of the Carolinas.“It was blown off course up through Alaska and then down through the United States and he didn’t know about it,” Biden said about the balloon’s path. Biden didn’t ...

Italy has won migration, it’s aiming for Europe next

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

BRUSSELS — The stage was set. In one corner: Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and a coterie of conservatives sensing an opportunity.In the other: Germany, Olaf Scholz, and a fractious coalition on the left. The two combatants were battling over a deal to reshape, for the first time in years, how the EU welcomes and relocates migrants. And the talks were on the brink of failing, just as they had for years. Italy wanted more authority to remove rejected asylum seekers. Germany was worried it would create human rights violations. But this time, when Italy and the conservatives didn’t budge, Germany and the left blinked. It was a telling moment. Germany, the EU’s most populated country and its largest economy, often gets what it wants when negotiating in Brussels. Italy, with its constantly changing governments, doesn’t.This time, however, the ground had shifted. Europe’s traditional center-right conservatives were now willing to caucus with Meloni, who leads a post-fasci...

Europe’s new Marshall Plan: The EU makes a bet on rebuilding Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

It’s a huge ask — convincing countries and investors to plow billions of dollars of aid and investment into a country at war.But for a growing number of countries, supporting Ukraine looks like a gamble worth taking, as Europe tries to stave off a humanitarian and economic disaster on its continent. The price tag is already a cool $411 billion, according to the World Bank, United Nations and European Commission — a figure that will only increase as the war grinds on. But as top global figures, governments and private investors flock to London Wednesday for the Ukraine Recovery Conference, signs point to the Western world preparing to open its purse strings to help Ukraine rebuild.  On Tuesday, the European Commission unveiled a new multi-year, billion-euro project to help with the reconstruction of Ukraine — the first major economic grouping to outline a costed, multi-annual funding plan. Private investors are also limbering up. BlackRock and JPMorgan C...

Stock market today: Asian shares mostly lower, tracking Wall Street retreat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

By ELAINE KURTENBACH (AP Business Writer)BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower Wednesday in Asia after Wall Street benchmarks retreated following the S&P 500’s rise to its highest level since the spring of last year. U.S. futures were little changed and oil prices rose. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to 33,427.14, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.5% to 19,607.08. The Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.5% to 3,240.36 and the Kospi in Seoul slipped 0.4% to 2,594.19. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 7,345.30.This week has few potentially market-moving events. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will testify before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. Last week, the Fed held its benchmark lending rate steady, the first time in more than a year that it didn’t announce an increase. But it also warned it could raise rates twice more this year.The Bank of England will meet on interest-rate policy Thursday. Central banks around the wo...

Four pedestrians struck, two critically hurt near Guaranteed Rate Field before a White Sox game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Eight people were injured Tuesday evening, four of them in an apparent hit-and-run near Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side before a White Sox game, authorities said.A silver sedan with four occupants struck two men and two women just outside the park in the 300 block of West 35th Street around 6:20 p.m., Chicago police said during an evening news conference near 35th Street and Shield Avenue. All four victims were fans heading to the Sox game against the Texas Rangers, officials said.Three of the victims were left injured at the scene of the collision, while the impact of the collision tossed the fourth victim onto the car, leaving them “partially inside the sunroof,” Chicago deputy police chief Fred Melean told reporters.Illinois state police and SWAT officers pursued the speeding car onto the southbound Dan Ryan Expressway,with the victim holding on, until it finally stopped near the 47th Street exit. All four victims, ranging in age from 24 to 64, were taken to a...

NFL star Tyreek Hill under investigation for alleged assault in Miami: report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill is reportedly under police investigation after the NFL star allegedly got into a physical altercation in Miami on Sunday.Authorities confirmed the news Tuesday without providing details into the case, except for the fact that Hill is being investigated in connection to an assault.The incident allegedly occurred at Haulover Marina, following a dispute between Hill and an employee at the South Florida boating location, according to Local 10 News.The 29-year-old football star has been visible on social media this week. On Father’s Day, he posted a picture of himself in Miami and Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, shared a video on Tuesday of the two fishing at sea.In the video, Rosenhaus is seen swimming next to a shark which had already been caught and subdued, with Hill’s voice in the background.Neither Hill nor his agent have yet commented publicly on the current investigation.The police have investigated Hill before, most notably for ...

Crawford’s scoreless gem and Arroyo’s career night extend Red Sox win streak to 6

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Christian Arroyo wasn’t supposed to be in the Red Sox lineup Tuesday night.But Pablo Reyes was a late scratch due to a right abdominal strain, so less than an hour before first pitch, Arroyo found himself penciled in.On what should’ve been a night off, Arroyo took the opportunity to have a career game. Over the first seven innings, he went 4-for-4, his first-ever four-hit performance.And in the ninth, he made it his first five-hit game, a perfect 5-for-5 night. It was the first time a Red Sox hitter collected at least five hits in a regular-season game since Rafael Devers’ six-hit bonanza on Aug. 13, 2019. (Kiké Hernández had a five-hit game during the 2021 ALDS.)“Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,” Arroyo told NESN’s Jahmai Webster following a 10-4 victory at the Minnesota Twins.The infielder drove in four runs with a solo homer in the fourth and a bases-clearing double in the seventh. All in all, the Boston bats plated 10 runs on 1...

Controversial Virginia state senators, including ‘pro-life’ Democrat, ousted in primary election

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A handful of Virginia incumbents prevailed over challengers in Tuesday’s primary election, but two of the state’s most controversial political figures — Democratic Sen. Joe Morrissey and Republican Sen. Amanda Chase — lost their party’s nomination, along with at least three more of their Senate colleagues. Morrissey, a political centrist and increasingly rare Democrat who supports limits on abortion access, lost to former state legislator Lashrecse Aird, an unapologetic, “100%” supporter of abortion rights. “Joe’s been here too long. It’s time for new blood,” said Gail Coleman, 62, who voted for Aird Tuesday afternoon in suburban Richmond. Chase, a right-wing firebrand who has served in the Senate since 2016 and embraced falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election, was edged out by Glen Sturtevant, a lawyer and former member of the chamber seeking a political comeback in the red-leaning suburban Richmond district. Dozens of other races took place aroun...

Parents take on struggle for trans rights for their kids and others in conservative Poland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The parents stood by side-by-side wearing signs offering free hugs at Warsaw’s Pride celebration last weekend. One after another, young gay and transgender people accepted the warm embrace of other people’s parents. Agata Misiorna, the mother of a transgender son, wore a T-shirt in rainbow colors saying “you are safe here.” She knows how many Polish transgender youth are rejected by their families, how many suffer depression and attempt suicide.As she hugged one teenager and young adult after another, Misiorna kept crying, and some of them cried too.“It’s so emotional when I feel they don’t have acceptance from their parents,” Misiorna said. “”And they always say that ‘I wish I have the same at home.’” Her journey as the mother of a transgender child has led her to advocating for understanding and acceptance. She has teamed up with others in a group called “We, the Parents,” which works to defend transgender...

Highway 401 in Pickering partially closed due to major collision, explosions: Durham police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Part of Highway 401 in Pickering has been shut down due to a major collision and “multiple explosions,” Durham Regional Police officers say.An update posted by the Durham Regional Police Service’s road safety Twitter account just after 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday said the crash happened on Highway 401 near Brock Road.An OPP spokesperson said the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 401 between Whites Road in Pickering and Westney Road South in Ajax were closed due to the incident, leading to major traffic delays in the surrounding areas.Officers also said Brock Road between Pickering Parkway and Plumber Street was closed as part of their investigation.Footage from Ontario Ministry of Transportation cameras and posts on social media showed a large fire on the highway.The circumstances leading up to the incident weren’t immediately clear. As of late Tuesday, it was unknown if anyone was injured. More to come.TRAFFIC ALERT: EB 401 – right under the overpass ...