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UK, France mend ties, leaders agree to tackle Channel boats

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

PARIS (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed Friday to strengthen the military ties between their countries and step up efforts to prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel, at a summit that signaled a thaw in relations after years of Brexit-induced chill.Sunak traveled to Paris as part of efforts to mend relations with France and other European Union members following the tensions created by the U.K.’s departure from the EU. At a cordial joint news conference, Sunak said his meeting with Macron, the first French-British summit since 2018, marked “a new beginning, an entente renewed.”It was also a chance to signal to Sunak’s Conservative Party and British voters that the government is making progress on its promise to stop migrants reaching the U.K. in small boats.Britain agreed to pay France more than 500 million euros over the next three years for measures including a detention center for migrants in northern F...

Stocks fall on worries about banks, pain of higher rates

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling Friday as worries flare about the banking system and the painful effects of high interest rates meant to drive down inflation. The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower in midday trading. It’s heading for its worst week since September even though a highly anticipated report on Friday showed pay raises for workers are slowing and other signals Wall Street wants to see of cooling pressure on inflation.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 159 points, or 0.5%, at 32,095, as of 12:10 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% lower. Some of the market’s sharpest drops were again coming from the financial industry, where stocks tanked for a second day. SVB Financial, which ran Silicon Valley Bank and served the industry surrounding startup companies, plunged more than 60% this week as it raised cash to relieve a crunch. Analysts have said it is in a relatively unique situation, but it’s still led to concerns a broader banking cri...

Another US hiring surge: 311,000 jobs despite Fed rate hikes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added a substantial 311,000 jobs in February, fewer than January’s huge gain but enough to keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively to fight inflation.The unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, from a 53-year low of 3.4%, as more Americans began searching for work but not all of them found jobs.Friday’s report from the government made clear that the nation’s job market remains fundamentally healthy, with many employers still eager to hire. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told Congress this week that the Fed would likely ratchet up its rate hikes if signs continued to point to a robust economy and persistently high inflation. A strong job market typically leads businesses to raise pay and then pass their higher labor costs on to customers through higher prices.February’s sizable job growth shows that so far, hiring is continuing to strengthen this year after having eased in late 2022. From October through December, the average m...

Lineker won’t present BBC soccer show after Twitter post

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former England captain Gary Lineker will not present a soccer highlights show on the BBC until an agreement is reached on his social media use, the network said on Friday.Lineker criticized the British government’s new asylum policy in a Twitter post, comparing lawmakers’ language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.The BBC considers Lineker posting such views on social media as a breach of its guidelines and has been in discussions with him over his involvement in the “Match of the Day” program that is broadcast on Saturday nights and shows highlights of English Premier League games that day.Lineker will not present “Match of the Day,” the BBC said, “until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media.”Lineker has yet to make an official comment.Ian Wright, a former Arsenal and England player who works as a pundit on “Match of the Day,” said on Twitter he would not be appearing on the program this weekend out of “solidarity” with Lineker.Co...

Judge allows Google antitrust case to move ahead in Virginia

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A judge has rejected a request from Google to transfer a federal antitrust lawsuit against it from Virginia to New York.The ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema is a victory for the Justice Department and several states, including Virginia, that sued Google earlier this year and wanted to keep the case in the commonwealth.The lawsuit alleges that Google holds a virtual monopoly in online advertising that works to the detriment of consumers. The complaint alleged that Google “corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers, to facilitate digital advertising.”Google said that similar lawsuits, including one filed by the Texas attorney general, have been consolidated into a single case that’s being now being heard in New York. Google’s lawyers said consolidating the Virginia case as well w...

Canada bans Russian steel, aluminum imports as part of sanctions regime

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada is banning the import of Russian steel and aluminum as part of its sanctions regime.Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says this will help undermine Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.The Department of Industry says Canada imported $208 million in steel products from Russia in 2021 and $79 million last year.Canada also imported $44 million in aluminum from Russia in 2021, followed by $16 million last year.Russia’s trade with Canada plummeted in the first 10 months after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, with a 78 per cent per cent drop in exports from the same period one year prior.Ottawa’s economic measures already bar the export of everything from forklifts to barbers’ chairs, unless Canadian businesses convince the Liberal cabinet to issue exemptions.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2023.The Canadian Press

DeSantis visits Iowa as interest in likely Trump rival rises

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Ahead of a widely expected presidential campaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis introduced himself to an eager audience of Iowa Republicans on Friday with a message that leaned into the antagonism toward the left that has made him a popular figure among conservatives.“We will never surrender to the woke mob,” he said at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in the eastern Iowa city of Davenport. “Our state is where the woke mob goes to die.”With the Iowa caucuses less than a year away, Republicans in the state are taking a harder look at DeSantis, who is emerging as a leading rival to Donald Trump. The former president, who is mounting his third bid for the White House, will be in Davenport on Monday as early signs warn that some Republicans may be looking for someone else to lead the party into the future.DeSantis appeared alongside Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and was heading to the capital city of Des Moines later in the day to meet with a small contingent of GOP lawmakers a...

Silicon Valley Bank seized by FDIC as depositors pull cash

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized the assets of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, marking the largest bank failure since Washington Mutual during the height of the 2008 financial crisis.The bank failed after depositors — mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies — began withdrawing their money creating a run on the bank. Silicon Valley was heavily exposed to tech industry and there is little chance of contagion in the banking sector as there was in the months leading up to the Great Recession more than a decade ago. Major banks have sufficient capital to avoid a similar situation. The FDIC ordered the closure of Silicon Valley Bank and immediately took position of all deposits at the bank Friday. The bank had $209 billion in assets and $175.4 billion in deposits as the time of failure, the FDIC said in a statement. It was unclear how much of deposits was above the $250,000 insurance limit at the moment.Notably, the FDIC did not announ...

Eastern Congo hit by rebel attacks; 45 civilians killed

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

GOMA, Congo (AP) — The death toll from several attacks this week by extremist rebels in eastern Congo has risen to at least 45 people, local officials said on Friday.Dozens of people were killed by rebels using machetes over two days when rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, a militia with links to the Islamic State group, killed civilians in several villages in North Kivu province, said Saidi Balikwisha, the province’s deputy.“Here, three or four days don’t go by without us recording deaths, the result of barbarity of the ADF terrorists. That is why once again, we repeat, we need a considerable military force to come that can contribute to the restoration of peace,” he said.Little has been done to help others whose homes were burned down by the rebels, he said.Conflict has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, influence and resources and some to protect their communities. The ADF has been largely active in North ...

Belgium bans TikTok from government phones after US, EU

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:50:39 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium is banning TikTok from government phones over worries about cybersecurity, privacy and misinformation, the country’s prime minister said Friday, mirroring recent action by other authorities in Europe and the U.S.The Chinese-owned video sharing app will be temporarily prohibited from devices owned or paid for by the Belgium’s federal government for at least six months, according to a post on Alexander de Croo’s website. TikTok didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. Owned by China’s ByteDance, the company has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government and that its data is not held in China.TikTok unveiled new measures this week to ease concerns about protecting user data in Europe.But the European Union’s three main institutions and Denmark’s defense ministry have already ordered employees to remove the app from devices used for official business. Similar bans have been imposed in Ca...