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Germany used to be the world’s export powerhouse. Now, it’s not growing. What happened?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The German economy is still failing to grow, figures showed Friday, as the country that should be the industrial powerhouse for all of Europe struggles with high energy prices, rising borrowing costs and a lagging rebound from key trading partner China. Economic output in Germany stagnated in the April-to-June quarter, the Federal Statistics Office said. That follows a decline of 0.1% in the first three months of the year and a drop of 0.4% in the last three months of 2022 as the energy shock from Russia’s war in Ukraine echoed through Europe’s largest economy. It comes after the International Monetary Fund forecast this week that Germany would be the globe’s only major economy to shrink this year, even with weak economic growth around the world amid rising interest rates and the threat of growing inflation.In Germany, the economy has been buffeted by several challenges. Above all, its long-term dependence on Russian natural gas to fuel in...

A rights lawyer who was fleeing China has been arrested in neighboring Laos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese rights lawyer stripped of his license for taking on sensitive cases has been arrested in the Southeast Asian country of Laos, with activists and family members worried he will be deported back to China where he could face prison time.Lu Siwei was seized by Laotian police Friday morning while boarding a train for Thailand. He was on his way to Bangkok to catch a flight to the United States to join his wife and daughter.“I’m extremely worried for his safety,” said his wife, Zhang Chunxiao, in a text message. “If he’s sent back to China, he’d definitely be imprisoned.”Phone numbers listed for police in Lu’s hometown of Chengdu rang unanswered. The Chinese foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Lu had a history of taking on sensitive cases, and of navigating the fraught and murky waters of defending people who are deemed to be political targets by authorities. Under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, China’s fledging legal right...

Putin woos African leaders at a summit in Russia with promises of expanding trade and other ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin courted leaders from Africa at a summit on Friday, hailing the continent’s growing role in global affairs and offering to expand political and business ties.Addressing the two-day day Russia-Africa summit, Putin emphasized that Moscow will closely analyze a peace proposal for Ukraine that African leaders have sought to pursue.“This is an acute issue, and we aren’t evading its consideration,” Putin said, emphasizing that Russia is treating the African initiative with respect and “looking at it attentively.”Putin also reaffirmed his pledge that Russia will maintain steady supplies of grain and other agricultural products to the continent after its withdrawal from a deal allowing grain shipments from Ukraine that fueled concerns of global food crisis.“Russia will always be a responsible international supplier of agricultural products and will continue to support the countries and region in need by offering free ...

Stock market today: World shares are mixed after Bank of Japan fine-tunes bond purchase policy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in Europe and Asia were mixed on Friday after the Bank of Japan adjusted its bond purchase policy but kept its negative benchmark interest rate unchanged. Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Sydney fell while Hong Kong, London and Shanghai advanced. U.S. futures rose and oil prices fell. Japan’s central bank opted to keep its benchmark interest rate at minus 0.1% at a policy meeting that ended Friday. But it adjusted its bond purchases to allow greater flexibility in yields, saying uncertainties for the economy and prices required a nimbler approach.The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond rose after the BOJ said it would offer to buy those at a 1% yield each business day, instead of the upper limit of 0.5% that was imposed under its “yield curve control program.”The aim is still to keep long-term interest rates near zero percent, the central bank said. Markets in Japan wobbled before Friday’s announcement. Afterward, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dipped more...

Weekend need to know: Beaches Jazz Festival, Jays vs. Angels; road closures

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

Summer festivals continue to take over city streets and parks this weekend including the annual Beaches Jazz Festival, the Festival of Beer, and an Afro-Caribbean Food Festival.Plus, the ‘Boys of Summer’ are back at Rogers Centre playing against the Los Angeles Angels.Toronto will spend one more day under a heat warning, before more comfortable temperatures move in for the weekend.There are no scheduled subway closures this weekend. However, several road closures continue in and around the city.But, for this weekend, there will be no closure of Niagara-bound traffic lanes on the QEW Burlington Skyway as originally scheduled. The Ministry of Transportation says this update is due to recent weather affecting the necessary pre-work for repairs. The bridge will also remain open during the August long weekend.Here’s what to do this weekend:Top eventsBeaches International Jazz Festival StreetFestThe 35th annual Beaches International Jazz Festival’s StreetFest retur...

Arizona mom never stopped looking for her missing daughter. She showed up 4 years later in Montana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note for her family promising she would return.“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”Believing she would keep her promise, Jessica Nunez never stopped searching for her daughter.She paid for a billboard ad in Mexico that featured a photo of her daughter for a year. She bought 10 more ads in Las Vegas. She spoke at events and gave countless media interviews to raise awareness about the case. She left flyers all around Glendale — at salons, truck stops, parks.Nunez’s yearslong search came to an end Sunday when her daughter, now 18, walked into a small-town Montana police station near the Canadian border and identified herself as the missing teenager.Police said Navarro told them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.Investiga...

German far-right leader urges conservatives to break down ‘firewall’ against his party

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany on Friday urged members of the country’s main opposition conservative bloc to break down a “firewall” meant to isolate his party, which is at record levels in polls.The 10-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD, gathered in the eastern city of Magdeburg for a convention stretching over the next two weekends at which it plans to choose candidates and set its policy platform for next June’s European Parliament election. Recent polls put support for AfD at 19-22%, behind only the main conservative opposition bloc. Earlier this week, the latter’s main leader, Friedrich Merz, insisted that there would be no cooperation even at the local level between his Christian Democratic Union and AfD, after his apparent suggestion that they might work together prompted criticism from fellow conservatives.AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla told delegates that “polls aren’t results” and they should view recent surveys ...

Friday Forecast: Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for NW Indiana

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

CHICAGO — Another round of storms are moving through the Chicago area Friday morning.Severe storm chance is expected in the morning hours, along with hot and humid conditions. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for Northwest Indiana. A Heat Advisory is in effect across the area until 9 p.m.TONIGHT: Mostly cloudy, severe storm threat 4P-12A. 71TOMORROW: Morning thunderstorm chance, decreasing clouds, N 5-15. 81/77Full forecast details and more at the WGN Weather Center blog

Nearly 200 million people in the US are under heat or flood advisories

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

Nearly 200 million people in the United States, or 60% of the U.S. population, are under a heat advisory or flood warning or watch as high temperatures spread and new areas are told to expect severe storms.The National Weather Service said a “dangerous” heat wave began to scorch the Northeast and mid-Atlantic on Thursday and will continue into the weekend. Severe thunderstorms and flash floods are possible for parts of the Northeast and South, New England and South Florida. Meanwhile, the string of record-breaking temperatures will persist for the Southwest and Midwest.“It's (hitting) all the big cities,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. “That's why the population (affected) is so high.” Former Trump administration lawyer on Mar-a-Lago investigation: ‘The evidence is so overwhelming’ Scientists have long warned that climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, will lead to more and prolonged bouts of extreme ...

'No silver lining in slavery': Tim Scott hits DeSantis on new Florida curriculum

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:47:06 GMT

(The Hill) - Republican presidential candidate and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) criticized Florida Gov. Ron Desantis (R) for his state’s new standards on the teaching of Black history. Scott rebuked the new curriculum guidelines, including language that Florida students be taught enslaved people “developed skills” that benefited them under the system of American slavery, during a campaign stop in Iowa on Thursday.When asked by a reporter, the South Carolina senator said there was no upside to the system whatsoever.“There is no silver lining in slavery,” Scott said. “Slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives. It was just devastating.”DeSantis has also faced criticism about the curriculum from Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), the only Black Republican in Florida’s congressional delegation, and Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris called the teachings “propaganda” last week. “They dare to push propaganda to our children,” Harris said ...