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China, EU summit exposes divisions over Ukraine, trade, subsidies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The leaders of China and the European Union held talks Thursday that focused on their disputes over trade, subsidies and a deep divide over the war in Ukraine. Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing with the two European presidents, Ursula von der Leyen from the EU Commission and Charles Michel from the EU Council. The European Union is calling on China to improve market access to address an annual trade imbalance of more than $200 billion between the two sides. China is unhappy with EU restrictions on technology exports and an EU investigation into subsides for electric vehicles. The EU has also urged China to use its influence with Russia to help bring an end to the Ukraine conflict. Von der Leyen said the two sides need to manage their differences responsibly.“China is the EU’s most important trading partner,” von der Leyen said in opening remarks posted on the commission’s website. “But there are clear imbalances and differences that we must address.”Xi...

Blinken afirma apoyo de EE.UU. a Guyana en disputa territorial con Venezuela por el Esequibo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

(CNN) — Antony Blinken reafirmó el apoyo de Estados Unidos a la soberanía de Guyana en una llamada telefónica este miércoles al presidente de Guyana, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, según un comunicado del Departamento de Estado.El presidente de Venezuela ordenó este martes la creación de un nuevo estado llamado “Guayana Esequiba”, luego de un controvertido referéndum dominical en el que los votantes venezolanos aprobaron la anexión de tierras de la vecina Guyana.ANÁLISIS | ¿Qué podría pasar en la disputa entre Venezuela y Guyana por el Esequibo?El área en cuestión, la región de Esequibo, densamente boscosa y rica en petróleo, representa alrededor de dos tercios del territorio nacional de Guyana. Venezuela ha reclamado durante mucho tiempo la tierra y desestimó un fallo de 1899 de árbitros internacionales que establecían los límites actuales.En la convocatoria, Blinken pidió una “resolución pacífica de la disputa” y que ambos “respeten el laudo arbitral de 1899”...

Leah Pruett to start family with Tony Stewart, who will drive her NHRA Top Fuel dragster in 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

Leah Pruett will step away from the NHRA drag racing series in 2024 to focus on starting a family with Tony Stewart. Her NASCAR Hall of Famer husband will replace her next season in the Top Fuel dragster that Pruett drove to a career-best third-place finish in the NHRA standings this year.Pruett and Stewart married just over two years ago. “This is an incredibly personal decision, and what led to making this decision are other personal situations that have happened in my life and our lives,” Pruett told The Associated Press in an interview with Stewart. “Time is not on anyone’s side and time is not gender neutral. But when it comes to being a female and a female racer, time is particularly not on your side,” she said. “One of the decision-making factors was, ‘What do we want our life to look like when we have a family?’ And it is easy to sit back and have the immediate view that we’ve got this killer race team and we can do what we didn’t do this year —...

Health officials warn about cold weather after first seasonal death in Maryland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

Health officials in Maryland are warning residents, especially seniors, to be careful while out in the cold.It comes after the state reported its first cold-related death of the season Wednesday.The Maryland Department of Health said an elderly man, who was between the age of 70 and 80 years old, died from a cold-related illness in Baltimore County. However, officials haven’t released any additional details.When the temperatures drop, the department recommends residents limit exposure to the outdoors, dress in layers and wear insulated clothing along with protective hats and gloves.As for heating your home, use caution to stay warm because sources like space heaters can cause fires or carbon monoxide poisoning, if not properly installed or maintained.Marylanders in need of warming centers should contact their local health department or call 211 to find a location near them.More resources to help stay safe in cold weather are available on the Office of Preparedness and Response...

Salah aims for hat trick of African best player awards on shortlist with Hakimi and Osimhen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Mohamed Salah will aim for a hat trick of African player of the year awards after being named on a three-man candidate list for the 2023 prize with Achraf Hakimi and Victor Osimhen on Thursday.There was no space for two past award winners, Sadio Mané and Riyad Mahrez, who moved this year to play for clubs in Saudi Arabia.For the women’s award, record five-time winner Asisat Oshoala is competing with Thembi Kgatlana and Barbra Banda.The Confederation of African Football announced the candidates ahead of its annual award ceremony to be held on Monday in Marrakech, Morocco.Voting is by the African soccer body’s technical committee, media, captains and coaches of national teams, plus clubs who took part in continental competitions, CAF said.Egypt star Salah won back-to-back African honors for 2017 and ’18 before his then-Liverpool teammate Mané won the next two editions awarded for 2019 and 2022. Salah was runner-up last year.Paris Saint-Germain right back Hakimi was...

Stock market today: Wall Street mixed ahead new jobs data and upcoming Fed meeting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

Early trading is mixed on Wall Street ahead of new data on the labor market and a meeting next week where the Federal Reserve will decide what to do with the benchmark interest rate, which it’s pushed higher in part to cool hiring.Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.1% before the bell, but they slipped 0.2% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. While still healthy, the labor market has started to cool recently, boosting hopes that the Fed’s interest rate hikes are over. Part of the Fed’s goal in ratcheting up interest rates for nearly two years has been to loosen the job market and slow wage growth, which can lead to higher prices.U.S. job gains have slowed in the past five months to an average of 190,000 per month, down from an average of 287,000 in the first five months of the year. Analysts forecast that U.S. private non-farm job gains will come in around 173,000 when the government issues its November jobs report on Friday.On Thursday, the Labor Department iss...

Denver opens hotel in Central Park for those experiencing homelessness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The City of Denver will open a hotel on the east side of town on Thursday to house people experiencing homelessness.The location is an old DoubleTree Hotel at 4040 Quebec St. in the Central Park neighborhood. One hundred people are expected to move into the new location. They will come from a homeless encampment at 20th and Curtis Street near downtown Denver. It’s been a year since migrant buses began to arrive in Denver That site was closed and cleaned up on Wednesday after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the camps closing on Dec. 1 as a part of his House1000 Initiative.Denver City Council agreed to purchase a master lease on the DoubleTree property for $3.9 million in October.The hotel will offer 300 rooms and 450 beds. There is also a commercial kitchen and laundry service. Mayor’s office to close 2 more homeless encampments, move hundreds indoors The hotel's opening is part of Johnston’s plan to get 1,000 homeless individuals off the streets by the end o...

UNLV shooter was a career professor with connections to other schools, source says, as police work to determine motive

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

(CNN) — Investigators are searching for the motive of a shooter who killed three people Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a law enforcement source told CNN the suspect was a 67-year-old career college professor with connections to schools in other states.The shooter, identified by law enforcement sources as Anthony Polito, died at the scene after a confrontation with police outside of a university building, according to Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill.CNN was told the investigative theory on a possible motive is that Polito sought a position at UNLV but was not hired.The suspect had worked for schools in Georgia and North Carolina, a law enforcement source told CNN.The shooting began shortly before noon on the fourth floor of the university’s Beam Hall business school building, where students and professors were preparing for next week’s final exams, the sheriff said. Outside, students were gathered for an event with games, food and a Lego-building activit...

Russia warns US that Ukraine will be its ‘second Vietnam’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

The Kremlin’s spy chief Sergei Naryshkin warned the U.S. that Ukraine will turn into its “second Vietnam,” amid disagreement in Congress over funding for Kyiv. “Ukraine will turn into a ‘black hole’ absorbing more and more resources and people,” Russian foreign intelligence chief Naryshkin said Thursday in a written statement published by his agency’s house journal, the Intelligence Operative. “Ultimately, the U.S. risks creating a ‘second Vietnam’ for itself, and every new American administration will have to deal with it,” he added.The warning comes after U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday urged Congress to further support Ukraine with funding. “We can’t let Putin win,” Biden said. Biden is trying to push through a $61.4 billion emergency funding request for Kyiv, but opposition against further aid to Ukraine has grown among Republicans in the House of Representatives. The U.S. was engaged in th...

‘Fuck you Daily Mail,’ raged Daily Mail’s Boris Johnson

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:37:51 GMT

LONDON — Well, this’ll make for an awkward Friday news meeting.Boris Johnson — the former U.K. prime minister — launched into a four-letter tirade against Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper over its coverage of coronavirus rules, the country’s official pandemic inquiry heard Thursday.It’s an awkward one for Johnson, whose current employer is … the Daily Mail. The paper snapped him up for a handsome sum earlier this year as its star columnist.Diary extracts from Britain’s then-Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance, dated September 2020, describe Johnson raging about the way his coronavirus “rule of six” restrictions — designed to limit the size of social gatherings without opting for more stringent lockdown measures — landed with the right-wing, middle-market paper.Vallance quotes Johnson as lamenting: “everyone says rule of 6 so unfair, punishing the young, but FUCK YOU Daily Mail – look this is all about stopping deaths. W...