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NATO leaders set to offer Ukraine major support package but membership is off the table for now

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO leaders will agree next week to help modernize Ukraine’s armed forces, create a new high-level forum for consultations and reaffirm that it will join their alliance one day, the organization’s top civilian official said Friday. But the war-torn country will not start membership talks soon.At a two-day summit starting Tuesday in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts will also agree to boost defense spending as allies pour weapons, ammunition and other support like uniforms and medical equipment into Ukraine, 17 months into the war.They also hope to welcome Sweden as the next member of the world’s biggest security organization, if they can overcome Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objections, even though its accession would only be made official in coming months.“For 500 days, Moscow has brought death and destruction to the heart of Europe, seeking to destroy Ukraine and divide NATO,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Sto...

Suspect killed, officer wounded as robbery spree ends with pursuit, shootout on Ohio interstate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An armed robbery spree in Ohio ended with a police chase and shootout that left one suspect dead and an officer critically wounded, authorities said. Two other suspects who fled on foot from the shootout were later captured.The spree began around 2:15 p.m. Thursday, when a man stole the keys to an SUV at gunpoint from a worker at a Porsche dealership in Whitehall, according to Whitehall Deputy Police Chief Dan Kelso. That suspect and two other men then robbed a bank in Columbus but were confronted by police.The trio fled in the SUV and the police pursuit began, eventually winding up on Interstate 70 in Columbus. Greg Bodker, the city’s assistant police chief, said the suspects then began shooting at officers, who returned fire.One suspect wounded in the shootout was pronounced dead at the scene. The wounded officer’s partner took him to a hospital, where he underwent surgery and was later upgraded to stable condition. Authorities did not release the name ...

Brazil’s lower house finds compromise in a major reform of the country’s ‘dysfunctional’ tax system

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved a major reform of the nation’s notoriously complicated tax system early Friday, showing compromise is possible between the conservative Congress and leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.The long-awaited tax reform aims to simplify the system, widely considered overly burdensome for both individuals and businesses, and boost economic growth that has drifted between downturns and doldrums for the last decade. “Brazil will have its first tax reform of the democratic period. A historic moment and a great victory for the country,” Lula said on Twitter.The vote in the Chamber of Deputies followed decades of attempts to comprehensively reform the current system. The measure will now go to the Senate. If it makes significant modifications, the proposal will return to the lower house for a final vote.Given last year’s highly divisive electoral campaign, there had been speculation that legislative gridlock could stymie any...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens mixed as job growth cools slightly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is opening mixed after data suggested the U.S. job market is still plenty warm enough to keep the economy growing but maybe not so hot that it stokes inflation. The S&P 500 was little changed in early trading Friday. The Dow fell 42 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.1%. A lot is riding on whether the economy can navigate the narrow pathway to avoid a long-predicted recession. Friday’s report showed U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs last month, a slowdown from May and not far off economists’ expectations. Treasury yields were mixed. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.U.S. futures fluctuated after monthly U.S. jobs numbers came in slightly better than expected, likely keeping the Federal Reserve on track to raise its main borrowing rate at its meeting later this month.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 were largely unchanged before the opening bell Friday after being down marginally befor...

National employment numbers for June from Statistics Canada, at a glance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

OTTAWA — A quick look at Canada’s June employment (numbers from the previous month in brackets):Unemployment rate: 5.4 per cent (5.2)Employment rate: 62.2 per cent (62.1)Participation rate: 65.7 per cent (65.5)Number unemployed: 1,147,100 (1,093,000)Number working: 20,172,800 (20,112,900)Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 11.5 per cent (10.7)Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.4 per cent (4.3)Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.4 per cent (4.2)This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2023.The Canadian Press

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for June, by province

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s national unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent in June. Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ Newfoundland and Labrador 8.8 per cent (10.2)_ Prince Edward Island 8.2 per cent (7.2)_ Nova Scotia 6.4 per cent (5.7)_ New Brunswick 6.4 per cent (6.1)_ Quebec 4.4 per cent (4.0)_ Ontario 5.7 per cent (5.5)_ Manitoba 4.3 per cent (4.8)_ Saskatchewan 4.7 per cent (4.4)_ Alberta 5.7 per cent (5.7)_ British Columbia 5.6 per cent (5.0)This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2023.The Canadian Press

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for June, by Canadian city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

OTTAWA — The national unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent in June. Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ St. John’s, N.L. 5.0 per cent (5.0)_ Halifax 5.7 per cent (4.9)_ Moncton, N.B. 5.4 per cent (5.5)_ Saint John, N.B. 6.0 per cent (5.2)_ Saguenay, Que. 3.4 per cent (3.4)_ Quebec City 3.1 per cent (2.6)_ Sherbrooke, Que. 4.0 per cent (4.6)_ Trois-Rivières, Que. 3.8 per cent (3.9)_ Montreal 4.4 per cent (4.4)_ Gatineau, Que. 4.2 per cent (3.9)_ Ottawa 4.4 per cent (4.3)_ Kingston, Ont. 3.9 per cent (4.3)_ Belleville, Ont. 6.7 per cent (5.3)_ Peterborough, Ont. 7.4 per cent (7.1)_ Oshawa, Ont. 5.2 per cent (5.1)_ Toronto 6.1 per cent (5.9)_ Hamilton, Ont. 5.0 per cent (5.0)_ St. Catharines-Niagara...

Iraq opens an investigation into the kidnapping of a missing Israeli-Russian academic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq opened an investigation into the case of a dual Israeli-Russian academic who has been missing in Iraq since March, a government spokesman said Friday.Bassem al-Awadi’s comments were the first official Iraqi statements since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive “and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being.”Netanyahu said Tsurkov is being held by the Shiite group Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, a powerful Iran-backed group that the U.S. government listed as a terrorist organization in 2009.Tsurkov, whose work focuses on the Middle East, and specifically war-torn Syria, is an expert on regional affairs and has been widely quoted over the years by international media. Tsurkov last tweeted on March 21.Tsurkov, who is pursuing a doctorate at Princeton University, is a fellow at the Washington-based think tank New Lines Institute.“Due to the ongoing official investigations into th...

Germany, Austria issue warning to elderly and infirm as heatwave rolls in

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Friday warned the elderly, people with health conditions, pregnant women and parents with young children to seek out cool places amid forecasts for a sharp rise in temperatures over the weekend.The country’s weather agency, DWD, predicted the mercury could rise to 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) with high humidity particularly in the west of the country Saturday. The heat will spread eastward by Sunday, reaching highs of 37C (99F), it said.Germany’s Health Ministry urged people to stay indoors, consume enough liquids and avoid strenuous activity, particularly during the day. Austria, where temperatures are expected to reach 35C on Monday, advertised a free hotline for people to get tips on how to cope with the heat.The southern state of Carinthia activated a heat protection plan for more than 900 care homes, hospitals and other sites to identify people who might be particularly vulnerable to high temperatures.Each year, thousands of peop...

Poland starts observances of WWII massacres by Ukrainians that have marred neighborly ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:19 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s prime minister and Catholic church leaders opened several days of observances Friday to honor victims of World War II massacres of tens of thousands of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists, which have marred the tightening strategic relations between the neighboring nations. “We can say that for many years this has been an unhealed wound in Polish-Ukrainian relations,” said Rafal Bochenek, the spokesperson for Poland’s ruling right-wing party. “We would expect truth to be told and things to be called by their proper name,” Bochenek said. Poland says the 1943-44 massacre of some 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists was genocide. Entire villages were burned down and all their inhabitants killed by nationalists and their helpers who sought to establish an independent Ukraine state. The killings took place in Volhynia and in other regions of what was then eastern Poland under Nazi German and then Soviet occupation, and which are now in west...