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UK Treasury chief predicts no recession in Britain this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt is staging a moment of high political theater Wednesday, unveiling his budget to a crowd of baying lawmakers as consumers demand more help with the high cost of living and workers press for higher wages with strikes at schools, hospitals and the offices of civil servants.Even as Hunt plays his historically scripted role — emerging from his official residence with the spending plan in a battered red dispatch box, then carrying it to the House of Commons where he was greeted by jeers and cheers — the truth is he sought to be as boring as possible.That’s because the last time the government staged a similar “fiscal event,” the mini-budget presented by Hunt’s predecessor last September, it set off an economic catastrophe by promising huge tax cuts without saying how it would pay for them. The value of the pound plunged, mortgage rates soared and the central bank was forced to intervene to protect pension funds.This time, strong and stable is...

Russia downplays jet’s encounter with US drone

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia does not rule out “constructive dialogue” with the United States even though relations between Moscow and Washington are in a “deplorable state,” the Kremlin’s spokesman said a day after the U.S. reported that a Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea, .U.S. officials accused Russia of attempting to intercept the unmanned aerial vehicle, which American forces brought down. Asked Wednesday if the incident could inflame tensions with Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement that Russian jets didn’t use their weapons or impact the U.S. drone.Peskov described U.S.-Russia relations as being at their lowest point but added that “Russia has never rejected a constructive dialogue, and it’s not rejecting it now.”U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the drone was flying in international airspace and over international waters when the en...

Neighbors Bulgaria, Romania sign agreement to boost ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian President Rumen Radev held talks Wednesday with his visiting Romanian counterpart as the two neighbors and NATO allies signed a cooperation agreement to boost bilateral ties amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.Radev met with Klaus Iohannis in the capital, Sofia, where the two leaders discussed topics including regional security, energy, and economy. They also discussed their countries’ bids to one day join Europe’s ID-check-free travel zone, the so-called Schengen area.In a news conference afterwards, Radev highlighted Tuesday’s U.S. drone collision with a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea, saying “we must do everything possible” to prevent events from escalating into a global conflict.“In addition to supporting Ukraine,” he said, “we must work to end this conflict as quickly as possible.”Iohannis called Wednesday’s meeting “a key moment for bilateral relations” and said the Black Sea drone incident was “serious and regrettabl...

Man arrested after homicide in Kingston Road and McCowan Road area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

One man has been arrested after a homicide investigation in the Kingston Road and McCowan Road area.On Mar. 14 Toronto police arrested 35-year-old Jahmaal Frederick-Dywer of no fixed address. He has been charged with first degree murder.Toronto police investigated a shooting after responding to a call on Mar. 6 at approximately 1 a.m. at the Roycroft Motel located on Kingston Road.Officers located a man with gunshot wounds who was transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries.The man succumbed to his injuries on Mar. 12, identified as 39-year-old Shawn Walters of no fixed address.Frederick-Dywer is scheduled to attend Toronto East Courts on March 15 at 10 a.m.

Northeast digs out from winter storm, faces power outages

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Parts of New England and New York were digging out of a nor’easter Wednesday that caused tens of thousands of power outages, numerous school cancellations and whiteout conditions on the roads.The storm began Monday night and lasted throughout Tuesday, dumping as much as 3 feet (91 centimeters) of snow and gusty winds. Others got just a few inches or a wintry mix. More high winds and below-normal temperatures were in Wednesday’s forecast before a warm-up later in the week.“The storm is still centered off the New England coast and there’s still some snow showers wrapping around the backside of the system that is impacting portions of New England,” National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira said. He added the system is expected to “gradually work its way off to the East.”Some of the highest snow totals reported were 35 inches (89 cm) in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and in Ashby, Massachusetts, about 15 miles away (24 kilometers), the Nat...

Publishers, sellers, authors form Creative Economy Coalition

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Organizations representing book publishers, booksellers and authors have formed a coalition to protect copyrights and oppose legislation across the country that it fears could drive down e-book prices and damage writers’ ability to support themselvesThe Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild and the American Booksellers Association are among the members of the Protect the Creative Economy Coalition. Their current focus is proposed legislation in Connecticut, Kentucky and elsewhere that sets boundaries on what publishers can ask for when negotiating with a given state’s library system. Libraries and publishers have long battled over terms for e-books, which in principle are far easier than printed books for libraries to loan out repeatedly. Publishers often charge libraries double or more the average retail price for e-book rights and limit how often they can be made available to patrons. Supporters of the state laws have contended that they want ...

2 Americans appealing convictions for Italian police slaying

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italy’s highest court on Wednesday was hearing the final appeal of two U.S. citizens convicted in the stabbing death of a police officer during a plainclothes operation in Rome in the summer of 2019.Finnegan Lee Elder, now 23, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, now 22, were convicted in May 2021 of slaying the 35-year-old officer, as well as of attempted extortion, resisting a public official and carrying an attack-style knife without just cause.The two men, who were friends back in northern California, were sentenced to life, Italy’s most severe penalty, in the initial trial. An appeals court last year upheld the convictions, but reduced the sentences to 24 years for Elder and 22 years for Natale-Hjorth. The Italian system allows defendants yet another appeal to Italy’s supreme Cassation court.Their lawyers are arguing that there were flaws in the prosecution’s reconstruction of events the night Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerceillo Rega was stabbed 11 times near the...

EU eyes more naval visits in disputed South China Sea

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The European Union wants to step up its naval visits and possibly engage in joint military training exercises to promote freedom of navigation and respect for international law in the disputed South China Sea, an EU official said Wednesday.EU special envoy to the Indo-Pacific region Richard Tibbels said the 27-nation bloc is also ready to provide satellite surveillance to help countries like the Philippines respond to natural disasters and protect their interests, as tensions pitting China against its smaller neighbors escalate in the disputed waterway.The outreach is part of an EU strategy, unveiled in 2021, to focus its actions in the Indo-Pacific to contribute to regional security amid more intense geo-political competition. The long-term engagement would be grounded on shared values, including a commitment to respect democracy, human rights and the rule of law, Tibbels said. “We really have a strong interest in making sure that freedom of navigation an...

Canadian Press NewsAlert: Home sales drop 40% in February compared with year ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

OTTAWA — The Canadian Real Estate Association says homes sales in February dropped 40 per cent compared with a year ago. The drop comes as national home sales rose 2.3 per cent in February compared with January. More coming.The Canadian Press

Austrian police: Possible threat to Vienna places of worship

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:19:13 GMT

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian police warned Wednesday of a possible “Islamist-motivated attack” in Vienna against churches and other houses of worship, citing undisclosed information received by the country’s intelligence service.Police in Vienna tweeted that they had heightened security in front of certain buildings and increased the presence of officers in the Austrian capital.“There is a nonspecific threat of an assault against churches,” Vienna police tweeted. “As (a) precautionary measure … points of interest have been put under increased guard by regular and special operation police forces.”“If there is a concrete danger for the population at a concrete location, Vienna police will warn immediately via all available channels,” police added.Later on Wednesday, Vienna police clarified in another tweet that the threat warning included not just churches but also other houses of worship.“Our precaution measures don’t exclusively affect Christian churches, but also houses of wo...