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NATO’s Stoltenberg vows more air defense systems in Ukraine visit

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will ask NATO member countries to send additional air defense systems to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.Zelenskyy said that in the context of expected Russian attacks on the critical infrastructure, the possibility of supplying additional air defense systems by NATO member states was discussed.“The secretary-general agreed to make his efforts to help, to support us in this matter, to mobilize the member states of the alliance,” he said.Speaking at a joint press conference in Kyiv where Stoltenberg is visiting Thursday, Stoltenberg said: “Today, your forces are moving forward.” The visit comes as Ukrainian forces continue their counteroffensive against Russia in a bid to reclaim occupied territories.“They face fierce fighting, but they are gradually gaining ground,” Stoltenberg said.Stoltenberg added that NATO has secured €2.4 billion of contracts for ammunition aimed at helping allied ...

Silvio Berlusconi is back! ( … as a hologram)

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

Italian politicians, footballers and TV celebrities will gather Friday in the small town of Paestum to celebrate “Berlusconi Day,” on what would have been the controversial former prime minister’s 87th birthday. Silvio Berlusconi, who died in June, will also be present from beyond the grave — in the form of a hologram. A small rendering of the Italian ex-leader will be projected at the entrance of the venue, greeting participants with a grin while reciting the speech that Berlusconi gave at the U.S. Congress in 2006. “His silhouette will be transparent, as if it’s floating,” explained a member of the team that worked to develop the hologram.Participants might be disappointed to hear that even though Berlusconi was not a tall man — standing 1.71 meters in height — the hologram will be shorter still, at a diminutive 60 centimeters. The three-day Forza Italia event, at which Berlusconi will be honored on “Berlusconi Day,” will be the center-right party’s s...

Let them eat burgers! Austrian chancellor says low-income families should eat at McDonald’s

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has come under fire after video footage emerged in which he says low-income parents should feed their children burgers from McDonald’s.In the footage, Nehammer talks about poverty before complaining about how child hunger is dealt with in the press.“So what does it mean that a child doesn’t get a hot meal in Austria? Do you know what the cheapest hot meal in Austria is? It’s not healthy, but it’s cheap: a hamburger at McDonald’s — €1.40, if I buy fries with it, €3.50. Now someone is seriously claiming that we live in a country where parents can’t afford this meal for their child,” he said.“If I have too little money, I go to work more,” he added in the video, which was filmed during a wine-and-cheese event near Salzburg — with no burgers in sight — his conservative People’s Party confirmed to Plus24.A spokesperson for McDonald’s Austria told POLITICO that although prices vary, i...

2nd New Hampshire man charged in 2-year-old boy’s fentanyl death

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A second New Hampshire man has been charged in connection with the death of a 2-year-old boy who was exposed to fentanyl.Ezekiel Cassy died in October 2022 in Manchester. His father, Claudy Cassy, 36, was indicted earlier this year on 17 charges, including manslaughter, child endangerment and a slew of drug offenses, and is set to go on trial in December.In court documents released Tuesday, Idris Terrell, 30, also is accused of recklessly causing the toddler’s death by acting in concert with Cassy. He was charged with manslaughter and reckless conduct.No attorney is listed for Terrell in court documents. Cassy’s attorney did not immediately respond to a phone message.

Stock market today: Wall Street sticks near its lowest level since June as stocks drift

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street is holding near its lowest level since June as stocks drift. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower shortly after Thursday’s open, still on track for its worst month of the year by far. The Dow was up 12 points, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.4%. Stocks have tumbled this month as Wall Street increasingly accepts a new normal where interest rates will stay high for a while. The 10-year Treasury yield rose further following a stronger report on the job market than expected. Crude oil prices fell, putting at least a temporary halt to their swift recent rise. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.(AP) — Wall Street turned lower early Thursday as concerns over interest rates, rising oil prices and a possible government shutdown hung over markets.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials inched back about 0.1% before the bell, while the S&P 500 lost 0.2%.After more than a decade in which the Federal Reserve would quickly cut rates in order to he...

US government estimates economy grew last quarter at a 2.1% rate, unchanged from previous projection

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.The second-quarter expansion of the nation’s gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — marked a modest deceleration from the economy’s 2.2% annual growth from January through March. Consumer spending, business investment and state and local government outlays drove the second-quarter economic expansion.The economy and job market have shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates to combat inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since March 2022, sparking concerns that ever-higher borrowing rates will trigger a recession. So far, though, inflation has eased without causing much economic pain, raising hopes that the cent...

Aurora Cannabis to raise $33.8M in share offering, plans to repay convertible debt

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

EDMONTON — Shares of Aurora Cannabis Inc. were down more than 10 per cent after the cannabis company announced plans to raise $33.8 million in a share offering.The company says Canaccord Genuity has agreed to buy, on a bought deal basis, 46,250,000 shares of the company at a price of 73 cents per share.It has also granted Canaccord Genuity an over-allotment option for up to an additional 6,937,500 shares on the same terms. If the over-allotment option is exercised in full, the offering will total $38.8 million.Aurora says it plans to use the money raised to repay the remainder of its outstanding convertible senior notes at or prior to maturity.The company says the remainder, if any, will be used for strategic purposes, including potential acquisitions.Aurora’s stock price was down 13 per cent at 79 cents per share in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:ACB)The Canadian Press

New Thai prime minister pays friendly visit to neighboring Cambodia’s own new leader

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Two of Southeast Asia’s newest national leaders, both in office for just over a month, exchanged congratulations Thursday as Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin paid a one-day official visit to Cambodia for talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.Although there are currently no major issues of contention between the two nations, the visit touched on one of the region’s highest profile problems, the proliferation of cybercrime, particularly online scam operations that include false romance ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.Human trafficking is also often involved, as many of those forced to carry out the scams have been lured by criminal gangs with fake job offers and then forced to work in conditions of virtual slavery. Cambodia and Myanmar are two centers for such crime, although there have been efforts to crack down.Srettha and Hun Manet remotely attended the inauguration of a new center for victims of trafficking in Ca...

A man in military clothing has shot and wounded a person at a Dutch teaching hospital, police say

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A man wearing military clothing and carrying a handgun shot and wounded a person Thursday in a classroom at a university hospital in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, police said.Another person was injured in a home nearby, Rotterdam police said in a message on X, formerly Twitter. It wasn’t immediately clear if the two shootings were linked.Police said the shooter possibly left the scene on a motorcycle, with authorities appealing for witnesses. They later added that an arrest team was checking the Erasmus Medical Center to establish if he was still in the building.Local media said that a large number of police, including specialized arrest teams, were at the hospital.Further details weren’t immediately available.The Associated Press

Statistics Canada says job vacancies continued to fall in July

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:37:11 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies in July fell 5.8 per cent to their lowest level since May 2021.The agency says the number of job vacancies fell declined by 43,100 to 701,300 in the month, continuing a steady downward trend since June last year.On a year-over-year basis, Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies was down by 28.1 per cent or 273,700.The number of unfilled jobs in retail trade fell by 10,800, or 12.8 per cent, while the accommodation and food services sector saw a drop of 10,400, or 11.6 per cent. The job vacancy rate — which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand — fell 0.3 percentage points to 3.9 per cent in July.Statistics Canada says there were 1.7 unemployed people for every job vacancy in July, up from 1.5 in June and 1.2 at the start of the year. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2023.The Canadian Press