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Western officials: Niger junta warned they’d kill deposed president after any military intervention

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s junta told a top U.S. diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if regional countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press.Representatives of the junta told U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.A U.S. official confirmed that account, also speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Bazoum was deposed by coup leaders on July 26 and says he is being held hostage at his residence.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.West African heads of state began meeting Thursday on next steps after Niger’s military junta defied their deadline to reinstate the nation’s deposed president, but analysts say the bloc...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises with hopes that inflation will keep cooling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rising Thursday as Wall Street lets out a bit of an exhale following the latest update on inflation across the U.S.The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in midday trading and on track for just its second winning day in the last eight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 231 points, or 0.7%, at 35,455, as of 11:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.Thursday’s highly anticipated report showed U.S. consumers paid prices that were 3.2% higher in July than a year earlier. That’s a touch milder than the 3.3% inflation rate economists expected to see and down sharply from last summer’s peak above 9%. Beneath the surface, underlying trends for inflation were also within expectations.The readings bolstered hopes among investors that the Federal Reserve’s campaign to grind down inflation is progressing and that maybe it could even be done hiking interest rates. High rates undercut inflation by slowing the entire economy and hurting investment ...

Virgin Galactic flies its first tourists to the edge of space

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic rocketed to the edge of space with its first tourists Thursday, including a former British Olympian who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean.The space plane glided back to a runway landing at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert, after a brief flight that gave passengers a few minutes of weightlessness.Cheers erupted from families and friends watching from below when the craft’s rocket motor fired after it was released from the plane that had carried it aloft. The rocket ship reached about 55 miles (88 kilometers) high. Richard Branson’s company expects to begin offering monthly trips to customers on its winged space plane, joining Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the space tourism business.Virgin Galactic passenger Jon Goodwin, who was among the first to buy a ticket in 2005, said he had faith that he would someday make the trip. The 80-year-old athlete — he compet...

Toronto, GTA gas prices expected to hit highest price of year on Friday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

Gas prices are expected to hit their highest price of the year across the Greater Toronto Area on Friday, spiking an additional three cents to 173.9 cents a litre according to En-Pro.The previous high for 2023 sits at 170.9 — the level it soared to in both July and early August.But sadly, it’s expected to get worse.Some experts are forecasting that the price at the pumps could tickle $2 a litre this fall.“$1.90 or $1.85 is very possible, and more importantly. We’re going to stay there,” said Dan McTeague, President of Canadians for Affordable Energy.McTeague blames supply issues for the surge.“We’re seeing supply continually dwindling and the fact that OPEC has in no small way contributed to this by saying ‘we’re gonna cut back a million barrels a day’ on top of the million that Saudi Arabia has committed to, it means that it’s leaving the world short about a million-and-a-half barrels a day compared to demand at any time.”The we...

No joke: Satirical websites get caught up in Meta’s quest to block news in Canada

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

OTTAWA — Satirical websites are getting caught up in Meta’s quest to remove all news from its Facebook and Instagram platforms in Canada, which the publications say could threaten their survival. Luke Gordon Field, editor-in-chief of The Beaverton, says the site’s satirical content began getting blocked from Canadian eyeballs this week.He says most of his website’s traffic comes from Facebook, and it would be a disaster if access is not restored — one that could even result in the publication’s demise.Scott Slute, who runs the satirical site The Toronto Harold, had his content blocked by Meta last month, which he said similarly affected his business. Slute says he contacted Meta and the company determined the removal of the content was an error.Meta says it’s removing news for Canadians in response to the Online News Act, and its phased approach aims to ensure the process works as expected. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, ...

High court won’t examine acquittal of B.C. old-growth logging protester

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s highest court has refused to hear an appeal of a British Columbia Supreme Court decision that acquitted a demonstrator of criminal contempt for taking part in a blockade of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island.In its decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed the appeal application from the B.C. Crown and awarded costs to the demonstrator who now uses the name Emily Henderson.As is customary, the high court did not provide reasons for its ruling.Henderson was cleared of contempt in February when B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson found RCMP officers only read a shortened version of an injunction to hundreds of protesters, including Henderson, who were arrested at the Fairy Creek logging blockade on southern Vancouver Island.Thompson ruled the abbreviated script used by the officers didn’t contain enough information to give protesters “actual knowledge” of the injunction contents and prove they were “wilfully blind&#...

India’s Modi appeals for peace in Manipur, months after ethnic clashes erupted in the state

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s Narendra Modi appealed for peace during a Parliament debate Thursday, after opposition lawmakers had called for a no-confidence vote, accusing the prime minister of staying silent as a northeastern state governed by his party convulsed in months of ethnic violence. Modi raised the conflict in Manipur state some 90 minutes into his speech in response to the no-confidence motion — and only as opposition lawmakers staged a walk-out in frustration. It was Modi’s first statement about the violence in Manipur, where clashes since early May between two dominant ethnic groups have killed over 150 people and displaced more than 50,000. The opposition has slammed Modi’s silence and moved the no-confidence motion to force him to address the conflict from the Parliament floor.For an hour and a half, Modi did not mention the crisis but made repeated digs at the opposition. Many opposition lawmakers stood up and chanted “Manipur! Manipur!” before walking...

Kentucky governor’s efforts to help storm-ravaged towns may dilute GOP advantage in rural areas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Gina Thorn’s life was uprooted when a monstrous tornado tore through her Kentucky hometown of Mayfield, but her family stuck it out and now they’re homeowners for the first time.Thorn says Gov. Andy Beshear deserves credit for their brighter outlook, and the hardware store cashier intends to show her appreciation by voting for the Democratic incumbent in November.Thorn’s story had a happy outcome when Beshear, who is seeking a second term in a state that’s trending Republican, recently headlined a ceremony where house keys were presented to the Thorns and four other Mayfield families. But that hasn’t happened yet for everybody, and some storm survivors grumble about the slow pace of recovery. In a governor’s race that could turn on whether Republican Daniel Cameron, the state’s attorney general, is able to run the table in rural Kentucky by large enough margins to overcome a Democratic advantage in the state’s two bigges...

Dutch customs officials make record cocaine seizure worth 600 million euros

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Customs authorities in Rotterdam have confiscated more than 8,000 kilograms (17,600 pounds) of cocaine, the largest seizure of the drug in the Netherlands, prosecutors said Thursday.The drugs had an estimated street value of 600 million euros ($662 million), the Rotterdam Public Prosecution Service said in a statement. No arrests have been made yet in an investigation following the discovery, which was kept secret because of the ongoing probe.Prosecutors said the drugs, which have been destroyed, were discovered on July 13 hidden in a container of bananas from Ecuador. The announcement came the day after a presidential candidate known for speaking out against drug cartels and corruption in the South American nation was fatally shot at a political rally.The flourishing drug trade in Europe also is fueling violence and corruption on the continent, the European Union agency that monitors drugs and addiction said in its annual report in June.It said record ...

Russia is to launch its first mission to the moon in almost 50 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:39 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Russia is scheduled to launch its first mission to the moon in nearly 50 years on Friday, pitting it in a space race with India which is also aiming to land a lunar craft this month. The launch of the Luna-25 craft to the moon will be Russia’s first since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union and will be conducted without assistance from the European Space Agency, which ended cooperation with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.The Russian lunar lander is expected to reach the moon on Aug. 23, about the same day as an Indian craft which was launched on July 14.Both countries’ modules are headed for the lunar south pole, an area where no spacecraft has landed smoothly. Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, said it wants to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon,” and “ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface...