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Stock market today: Asian markets higher after US rate hike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly higher Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark lending rate again to cool inflation and said it wasn’t sure what may come next.Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced while Seoul and Sydney declined. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index fell 0.7% on Wednesday after the Fed announced a 0.25 percentage point increase in its lending rate. The Fed dropped a reference to “additional policy firming” in its statement but stopped short of declaring an end to rate hikes.“The key takeaway, in my view, is that we are likely at or very near the end of the rate hike cycle,” Kristina Hooper of Invesco said in a report.The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6% to 3,341.73 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong surged 1% to 19,899.02.The Kospi in Seoul lost 0.2% to 2,495.40 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 7,187.20. India’s Sensex opened up 0.2% at 61,300.29. New Zealand and ...

In latest abortion law chapter: Bill signings, court rulings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

Courts this week blocked abortion restrictions from taking effect in two states, while lawmakers in a third are forging ahead with a plan for a new ban that’s less stringent than most.Those are some of the latest developments in an abortion landscape that is being crafted by lawmakers, governors and courts across the country in the aftermath of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to an abortion.Some things to know:NORTH CAROLINA GOP LAWMAKERS GET ON SAME PAGENorth Carolina lawmakers said they have agreed to new abortion restrictions that would be among the least onerous adopted since last year.The bill, a GOP priority, would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions in cases of rape, incest or fetal abnormality. The current exception for cases where the life of the pregnant woman is in danger would remain. The state currently bans abortion in most cases after 20 weeks of pregnancy.Democratic Gov. Roy ...

Philadelphia mayoral race hones in on crime policies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

In Philadelphia’s first mayoral race since crime spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, the crowded Democratic field is trying to make public safety a campaign cornerstone, advocating approaches that range from mental health interventions and cleaner streets to echoes of “tough-on-crime” Republican rhetoric. Six Democrats are considered serious contenders to succeed term-limited Mayor Jim Kenney. Because Philadelphia weighs heavily Democratic, their May 16 primary will likely determine who leads the nation’s sixth-largest city.They’re talking not only about gun violence — 473 people were fatally shot and 1,789 were wounded by gunfire last year, according to city statistics — but also about how they would address other public health and safety detriments, including darkened streetlights and issues with trash pickup.“A two-year spike in crime leaves deep scars on cities and we’re seeing that in this election cycle,” said John Roman, director of the nonpartisan Center on P...

Video captures baby inside stroller nearly rolling into traffic in San Bernardino County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

A terrifying video captured the moment a runaway baby stroller nearly rolls into heavy traffic before being saved in Hesperia.Security video shows a woman unloading items from the backseat of her SUV parked outside of the A1 Hand Car Wash on Monday around 3:30 p.m. A stroller with a baby inside was placed outside near the vehicle.As she’s rummaging through the car, the stroller suddenly starts to roll backward. When the woman notices, she runs toward the stroller, but trips and falls down. She gets up again, only to fall down once more.Just as the stroller is moments away from hitting traffic, a good Samaritan suddenly dashes in from the side and grabs the stroller. He pushes the baby back up the driveway as another person helps the fallen woman stand up. When he reaches the woman, he gives her a hug.Security video captures the terrifying moment a baby stroller nearly rolls into oncoming traffic in Hesperia on May 1, 2023. (OnScene.TV)Security video captures the terrifying moment a ...

50 koi fish stolen from San Jose's Japanese Friendship Garden

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

(KRON) -- San Jose Parks & Recreation reported Wednesday that 50 koi fish are missing from the city's Japanese Friendship Garden. The garden was built "as a symbol of everlasting friendship between the City of San Jose and its Sister City of Okayama, Japan in 1965," the parks department said. The garden is located at 1615 Senter Road. Koi fish is a species of fish that are commonly kept in outdoor ponds, according to Pet MD. They are known for their many varieties and colorful patterns. "The city is heartbroken at the disappearance of these beautiful creatures," the parks department said.The theft was reported to the San Jose Police Department. Anyone with information is asked to call 408-277-8900.

Acusan a un hombre de Mississippi de amenazar de muerte al senador Roger Wicker

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

(CNN) — Un hombre de Mississippi está en la cárcel tras ser acusado de amenazar de muerte al senador estadounidense Roger Wicker la semana pasada.William C. Sappington está acusado de amenazar con herir o matar a un funcionario de Estados Unidos, un delito federal, y un juez de instrucción estadounidense ordenó su ingreso en prisión a la espera de juicio durante una vista celebrada este miércoles.El FBI declaró en documentos judiciales que Sappington había acudido a la casa del primo de Wicker en Hickory Flat (Mississippi) el pasado miércoles en busca del senador republicano por Mississippi.El primo de Wicker dijo a un agente del FBI que Sappington se acercó a la puerta trasera de su casa, preguntó por el senador y luego le dijo: “Dile que voy a matarlo”, muestran los documentos.El primo de Wicker, George, preguntó a Sappington por qué buscaba al senador y éste respondió: “Porque lo sabe”, según los documentos judiciales.Encuentran sin vida a un fugitiv...

Spain’s Juan Carlos I offers cautionary tale for Charles III

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

MADRID (AP) — A playboy past that was once brushed under the carpet, a popular son whose telegenic family threatens to eclipse his own star, and endless leaks about his private life: Spain’s Juan Carlos I can empathize with the lot of Britain’s Charles III.The former Spanish head of state abdicated in disgrace in 2014. His story serves as a warning for any European royal who wants their achievements on the throne, rather than torrid gossip, to be their lasting legacy.“What he lives is sex, money and power, the three dimensions of all the problems of humankind,” said Álvaro de Cózar, an investigative journalist who wrote and directed “Ex-Rey” (Ex-King) a popular podcast that delved into the 85-year-old Juan Carlos’ troubled life. “It’s a very Shakespearean plot.”The former king has become an object of open hostility in some quarters of Spanish society following his recent second visit home from exile in Abu Dhabi. Gone are the days of a pliant press covering up his long history of af...

Israeli military kills 3 wanted Palestinians in West Bank

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli troops killed three Palestinians wanted in connection with a deadly attack against Israelis, the Israeli military said Thursday, the latest bloodshed in a relentless wave of violence.The military said the men were behind an attack last month on a car near a Jewish West Bank settlement that killed a British-Israeli mother and two of her daughters.The military said it entered the heart of the flashpoint city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank early Thursday, and in a fierce gunbattle killed three suspects, two of whom it alleged were militants affiliated with Hamas. It identified the men as Hassan Katnani, Moaz Masri and Ibrahim Hura.The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people were killed but did not immediately identify them. The violence in Nablus comes at a particularly sensitive time in the region, days after a prominent Palestinian prisoner who was staging a lengthy hunger strike over his detention died in Israeli custody. His death set off ...

‘Not my king’: UK republicans want coronation to be the last

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

LONDON (AP) — On his way to be crowned this week, King Charles III will travel by gilded coach through streets swathed in red, white and blue Union flags — and past a warning from history.At Trafalgar Square stands a large bronze statue of King Charles I, the 17th-century monarch deposed by Parliament and executed in 1649. On Saturday, more than 1,500 protesters, dressed in yellow for maximum visibility, plan to gather beside it to chant “Not my king” as the royal procession goes by.“We’ll try and keep the atmosphere light, but our aim is to make it impossible to ignore,” said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic. The coronation, he said, is “a celebration of a corrupt institution. And it is a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned.”Republican activists have long struggled to build momentum to dislodge Britain’s 1,000-year-old monarchy. But they see the coronation as a moment of opportunity.Queen Elizabeth II, who died in Sept...

DIARY: Waiting to leave Sudan, a hotel became a sanctuary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:56 GMT

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — We were a diverse group of more than a dozen people, hunkered down in a small hotel in central Khartoum — a Sudanese family and the Sudanese hotel staff, a few British and French citizens, a Syrian family and a Lebanese man. In better times, the Lisamin Safari Hotel catered to small tour groups that came to see Sudan’s little-known attractions — the ancient pyramids of Merowe and the coral reefs of the Red Sea.Now, it was simply a five-story place of refuge. Fighting between Sudan’s two most powerful generals had reduced the capital to an urban battlefield. The city had never seen anything like it, as the army and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces blasted each other in the streets with automatic rifles, artillery and airstrikes. Each day, millions of Sudanese caught between them faced terrifying choices of how to survive: Stay hiding at home, where a bullet or a missile could blast through a wall, or make a run for it, risking the ...