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Saudi Arabia’s surge of diplomacy brings Syria’s Assad, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy to Arab summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia hosted an Arab League summit on Friday in which Syrian President Bashar Assad was welcomed back after a 12-year suspension and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to rally support against Russia.Russian airstrikes have left a swath of destruction across both countries, but in Syria they came at Assad’s invitation and helped him cling to power through years of grinding civil war. Several other Arab states have maintained warm ties with Moscow while remaining largely neutral on the Ukraine war.The odd pairing of the two leaders in the same forum is the result of a recent flurry of diplomacy by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pursuing regional rapprochement with the same vigor he previously brought to the oil-rich kingdom’s confrontation with its archrival Iran. In recent months, Saudi Arabia has restored diplomatic ties with Iran, is ending the kingdom’s yearslong war against Iran-backed rebe...

Stock market today: Wall Street opens higher, on track for best weekly gain since March

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is ticking higher as it heads towards its best week since March, despite a long list of worries hanging over it. The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in early trading Friday and on pace for a 2% gain for the week. That would break a long, listless stretch where it failed to rise or fall by 1% for six straight weeks. The Dow was just barely higher while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%. Rising hopes that the U.S. government can avoid a disastrous default on its debt have been one of the main engines for the market.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed toward gains before the bell Friday, potentially setting up markets for their best week since March as optimism about a U.S. debt ceiling deal grew heading into the weekend.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 each rose 0.2% in premarket trading.Hopes are high that the United States Congress would reach a deal to avoid defaulting on the nation’s...

Russia-Georgia flights resume despite protests, strained ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Direct flights resumed on Friday between Russia and Georgia amid protests and sharp criticism from the South Caucasus nation’s president, just over a week after the Kremlin unexpectedly lifted a four-year-old ban despite rocky relations.Georgian police on Friday afternoon dispersed protesters who had gathered at Tbilisi airport to meet an Azimuth Airlines flight from Moscow, the first to arrive from Russia since July 2019, with signs and slogans criticizing the Kremlin and what they described as the current Georgian government’s pro-Russia course.Georgia’s pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has previously clashed with the government over mending ties with Moscow, also voiced her opposition in a tweet posted on Friday.“Despite the opposition of the Georgian people, Russia has landed its unwelcome flight in Tbilisi. No to flights to Russia!,” Zourabichvili said.Russian President Vladimir Putin last Wednesday unexpectedly abolished visas for Georgian nationa...

Gunman kills one, wounds another at General Motors plant in Ohio

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

MORAINE, Ohio (AP) — Police say a man shot two people at a General Motors engine factory in Ohio, killing one and wounding another before wounding himself.Officers and firefighters responded just after 9 p.m. Thursday to a report of an active shooter at the DMAX plant, Moraine Police Sgt. Andrew Parish said.Parish said the suspect “targeted” the two victims. One died at the scene and the other was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect also shot himself and was transported to a hospital for treatment, Parish said. Other people were injured while the workplace was being evacuated, he said.The DMAX plant in Moraine provides diesel engines for pickup trucks, according to the General Motors website. It’s a 60/40 joint venture between GM and Isuzu Motors that employs more than 800 workers and has built engines in Moraine since 1999.Pat Morrissey, GM’s vice president of corporate communications, said production at the plant has been suspended until...

In Cannes, Harrison Ford bids adieu to Indiana Jones

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — As the Cannes Film Festival crowd stood in rapturous applause, a visibly moved Harrison Ford stood on the stage, trying to keep his emotions in check. The warmth of the audience and a clip reel that had just played had left Ford shaken. “They say that when you’re about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes,” he said. “And I just saw my life flash before my eyes — a great part of my life, but not all of my life.”If last year’s Cannes was partially defined by its tribute to “Top Gun Maverick” star Tom Cruise, this year’s has belonged to Ford. This time, it’s been far more poignant. Ford, 80, is retiring Indiana Jones, saying goodbye to the iconic swashbuckling archeologist more than 40 years after he first debuted, with fedora, whip and a modest snake phobia.It’s been a moving farewell tour — most of all for Ford, who has teared up frequently along the way. Speaking to reporters Friday, Ford was asked: Why give up Indy now...

WestJet ramping up after reaching deal with pilots, but not before cancelling flights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

CALGARY — The WestJet Group averted a strike after reaching a last-minute deal with the airline’s pilots early Friday, but not before cancelling more than a hundred flights and upending the long weekend plans of thousands of passengers. Travellers stuck at airports expressed frustration with cancellations and delays, while others took to social media with stories of ruined vacations. WestJet said Friday it’s ramping up operations as quickly as possible, but warned that the full resumption of operations will take time. The airline encouraged travellers to continue to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.WestJet and the Air Line Pilots Association announced a tentative agreement to avoid the job action early Friday morning after eight months of negotiations, but not before the airline grounded the bulk of its fleet Thursday, including for its Swoop subsidiary, ahead of the strike deadline.The shutdown affected dozens of routes within Canada and to...

Statistics Canada reports retail sales down 1.4% in March, but core sales up 0.3%

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says retail sales fell 1.4 per cent to $65.3 billion in March.However, the agency says core retail sales — which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers — rose 0.3 per cent in the month.Sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers dropped 4.4 per cent in March, their first decline in eight months as sales at new car dealers fell 4.8 per cent. Sales at gasoline stations and fuel vendors were down 3.9 per cent.Meanwhile, sales at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers rose 1.6 per cent and sales at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument, book, and miscellaneous retailers gained 1.6 per cent.In volume terms, Statistics Canada says retail sales fell 1.0 per cent in March.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2023.The Canadian Press

Authorities say 11 people killed in border road accident, highlighting China-Vietnam human smuggling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say 11 people were killed in a road accident Friday along the China-Vietnam border, including nine Vietnamese citizens. The incident highlights the persistence of human trafficking in the mountainous border region, where there has long been a trade in agricultural goods and workers coming from Vietnam to the relatively poor Chinese province of Guangxi. One of the other victims was Chinese and the nationality of the other has yet to be determined, according to the social media account of the local Jingxi county government. They were among 14 people aboard an off-road vehicle that overturned and fell into a gully, the government said. It said the incident was related to human smuggling. The survivors included the Chinese driver, a Chinese assistant and two Vietnamese citizens, all of whom are being questioned, the government said.Limited job opportunities in parts of Vietnam have prompted some of its citizens to seek their fortunes in countries where...

Philanthropy helps boost manufacturing in areas with high job vacancies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Mary Lamar had been searching for a job that was a good fit. She worked for a time as a nursing assistant but found it boring. A stint as a shipyard welder ended because she could no longer bear the winter cold. Then Lamar had what she described as a “rift” in her life. That rift led her to plead guilty to robbery in 2019 and to serve time in prison.Now Lamar, who lives in Cleveland, operates a stamping press, churning out thousands of specialty metal washers each day at Talan Products, a local manufacturer.“I’ve always been mechanically inclined,” she said. “My mom told me I should have been an engineer.’’Lamar got her job through a program developed by business and community leaders — with help from philanthropy — to match people of color, women, and formerly incarcerated people with manufacturing jobs.Manufacturers in Cleveland and other cities, including Buffalo, Chicago, and Milwaukee, are dealing with a retiring workforce that’s left thousands of jobs unfilled...

Dr. Seuss plaque missing on Mulberry Street

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:55:25 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - A plaque memorializing the home where Springfield, Massachusetts, native Dr. Seuss authored his first book has disappeared. 4 Falcon chicks nesting at Monarch Place in Springfield The office of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said officials were contacted about the missing plaque, which was reported stolen to Springfield police after it was determined that it had not been removed to be cleaned or restored.The plaque was attached to a rock on Mulberry Street that read:“This was the site of one of Mulberry Street’s oldest houses, circa 1830. Mulberry Street was memorialized in “AND TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET,” the first book authored by Springfield native Theodore (sic) Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss.”Springfield police confirmed that the plaque has not been accounted for for several months, but it is unknown exactly how long it has been missing.Mayor Sarno is hoping to find those responsible for the theft and have the plaque returned. In a st...