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Stock market today: Wall Street points toward gains ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s speech

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street pointed higher as markets wait to hear what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has to say in his speech later Friday at a conference of central bankers.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 each rose about 0.4% before the bell.With no major economic news and few earnings reports to review Friday, all eyes will be on Powell, who will be speaking at an event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that in the past has been the site of major policy announcements by the Fed.Reports on the U.S. economy were mixed Thursday, with one showing fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, pointing to a still healthy job market. Another said orders for long-lasting manufactured goods slumped by more last month than economists expected. For now, weaker-than-expected reports on the economy may be more welcome in financial markets. The economy has managed to avoid a long-predicted recession, but the fear is that it’s so solid that it will keep upward press...

Taiwan’s vice president accuses China of attempting to influence upcoming elections

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s vice president and front-runner in upcoming presidential elections accused China on Friday of employing unfair trade practices that could be used to influence the voting.William Lai, in a meeting with foreign journalists in Taipei, said China “will be hoping to interfere in the elections with all sorts of tactics.” If they succeed, he said, “it will be an undermining of Taiwan’s democracy.”His comments come after China announced on Monday that it was suspending mango imports from Taiwan, alleging that authorities had detected pests on the fruit. The trade curb is widely believed to be politically motivated.Lai said Beijing was engaging in “unfair trade practices against our agricultural products, potentially in an effort to undermine the coming elections.”Taiwan is due to hold presidential elections in January 2024. Over the weekend, Beijing launched war games around Taiwan, a self-governed democracy that China claims as its own territory. ...

Spain busts record 9.5 tons of cocaine hidden in a banana shipment from Ecuador

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spanish customs agents and National Police said Friday they confiscated the country’s biggest cocaine haul to date of 9.5 tons hidden in a banana freight container originating from Ecuador.The drug was found Wednesday in the southwestern port of Algeciras in a refrigerated container among a cargo shipment supposed to have held 1,080 boxes of bananas, said José Carlos Arobes, a senior official for the Spanish tax agency that covers customs inspections.Prior to this seizure, Spain’s biggest cocaine bust was of 8.4 tons in 2018, also found in a supposed banana container in Algeciras.The tax agency said the investigations began in July when police received information about a pending shipment of Colombian cocaine via Ecuador in August. The organization behind the shipment operated through a banana exporting company in Machala, Ecuador, the agency said.The cargo was due to be delivered in Portugal for later distribution throughout Europe.No arrests have been made so f...

Federal judge: West Virginia can restrict abortion pill sales

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia can restrict the sale of the abortion pill, despite federal regulators’ approval of it as a safe and effective medication, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Chambers determined Thursday that the near-total abortion ban signed by Republican Gov. Jim Justice in September 2022 takes precedence over approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “The Supreme Court has made it clear that regulating abortion is a matter of health and safety upon which States may appropriately exercise their police power,” Chambers wrote in a decision dismissing most challenges brought against the state by abortion pill manufacturer GenBioPro, Inc. in a January lawsuit filed in the state southern district’s Huntington division.Regulation of medical professionals “is arguably a field in which the states have an even stronger interest and history of exercising authority,” than the federal government, Chambers decided. GenBioPro,...

Will Canada place a cap on international students?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, it’s an issue that sits at the intersection of Canada’s identity and reality. Our country is extremely diverse and pro-immigration, but a massive housing crisis means we simply don’t have enough homes for everyone who needs one.This week, Canada’s housing minister said the government would consider a cap on the number of international students who can enter the country, in hopes this might ease the housing crunch.“Canada is still generally a really pro-immigrant country, and [The Liberals] really want to avoid being seen as xenophobic, and in fact, that’s a brush they’d rather paint their conservative rival with. So it’s a tricky one for Trudeau,” said Laura Dhillon Kane, Ottawa bureau chief for Bloomberg News.Would it alleviate some of the housing crunch? What are the trade-offs to such a move? And is there a risk that the housing crisis pushes more Canadians towards anti-immigration sentiment?You can sub...

Legionnaires’ disease kills 7 people in a strategic Polish city on the Ukrainian border

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s internal security officers were searching for the source of a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which has killed seven people and infected more than 100 others in the strategic city of Rzeszow, near the border with Ukraine, authorities said Friday. Rzeszow region, in Poland’s southeast, is a key transit hub for international military support for Ukraine, following Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. Some 10,000 U.S. troops are also stationed in the area. Officials from the Internal Security Agency were inspecting various sites in Rzeszow, but primarily the water pipelines, where experts suppose the bacteria might be coming from. The deputy minister for state special services, Stanislaw Zaryn, said Russia’s attempts to sow “panic” among Ukraine’s allies were among the reasons for the inspection.“This is a factor that has made us (take steps) to eliminate some scenarios,” Zaryn said. At least 113 residents have be...

Today is deadline to claim a Facebook privacy settlement payment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Don't procrastinate any longer – if you haven't submitted a claim for a piece of the massive Facebook lawsuit settlement, the hours to do so are numbered. The deadline to file a claim is on Friday, Aug. 25, 2023. If you file a claim by mail, it has to be postmarked by that date. If you file it online, it needs to be done by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time the night of Aug. 25. Facebook’s $725M settlement is huge, but how much will you actually get? Millions of Americans qualify – why put it off any longer? Here's what you need to know about getting your payment. What is the lawsuit about?Facebook parent company Meta recently agreed to pay a $725 million sum to settle claims it allowed people’s personal data to be shared with third parties. The most famous third party to get access was Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Meta agreed to the payout, but denies any wrongdoing. When will Facebook settleme...

Hundreds of inmates evacuated as fire erupts at Texas state prison

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KIAH) – A unit of a prison in Huntsville, Texas, caught fire early Friday morning, prompting the evacuation of all inmates. The state prison, nicknamed "The Walls," caught fire about 2:30 a.m. Friday morning, when heavy smoke was first reported. Crews arrived to find heavy fire coming from one unit of the historic prison. All 655 inmates were evacuated from the unit to another facility and were accounted for. While the fire at the state facility has been contained, there was no word on where it started or the cause. The fire marshal was investigating. "This is pretty significant so it will take some time," said Huntsville Fire Chief Greg Mathis.No injuries have been reported.

Facing indictment, George Santos says his focus is 'civic duty'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

(NewsNation) — Embattled Republican New York Rep. George Santos says he remains focused on his duties as a congressman despite facing a 13-count indictment on allegations he diverted campaign funds for personal use.He generally denied the allegations and declined to comment about the criminal case during a wide-ranging interview Thursday on NewsNation's "Dan Abrams Live." "I'm challenging everything," Santos said of the criminal charges, as well as a House Ethics Committee investigation. ‘I did nothing wrong’: Trump surrenders at Fulton County Jail Santos' tenure in Congress has been mired by allegations that he lied about his resume — which he admitted — and a criminal indictment. Santos has been charged with — and pleaded not guilty to — duping donors, stealing from his campaign and lying to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve.Among the allegations, prosecutors say Santos created a company and then induced su...

San Marcos CISD receives grant for STEM club

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:24 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) – The San Marcos CISD said Thursday a $1,500 grant will help create a new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) club at San Marcos High School (SMHS) and give students a chance to attend out-of-state STEM camps. The district said it recently received funding from the Catalyzing Inclusive STEM Experience All Year Round (CISTEME365) grant initiative. CISTEME365 is an initiative by the University of Illinois’s Grainger College of Engineering in partnership with the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE), according to the district. CISTEME365 gets money from the National Science Foundation, according to the district. The grant will also provide SMHS’ STEM Club with supplies, the district said, and it will provide students with access to scholarships to attend the University of Illinois STEM Summer Camps. The district said a group of San Marcos High School teachers went to the University of Illinois’s Increase Diversity, ...