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China responds to US complaint over plane intercept with demand for end to surveillance flights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing responded Wednesday to complaints from the United States about a Chinese fighter jet’s dangerous interception of an American Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the South China Sea by demanding an end to such flights.The incident adds to military, diplomatic and economic tensions between the sides over U.S. support for self-governing Taiwan, China’s refusal to engage in dialogue between their armed forces and Beijing’s flying of a suspected spy balloon over the U.S.Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a daily briefing Wednesday that China would keep taking measures it deems necessary to safeguard its sovereignty.“The U.S. should immediately stop these dangerous provocations,” Mao said.The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called the Chinese plane’s actions an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver,” adding to complaints that China’s military has become significantly more aggressive over the pas...

Do the Ravens need star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins? It’s a complicated question. | ANALYSIS

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

If in quarterback Lamar Jackson’s view “running can only take you so far” in the modern NFL, how far would signing three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins take the Ravens?With the Arizona Cardinals releasing Hopkins on Friday, it’s a question worth asking. It’s also a complicated one.Hopkins said on the “I Am Athlete” podcast last week that Jackson is one of his favorite athletes and he would welcome the opportunity to team up with the 2019 NFL Most Valuable Player. Likewise, Jackson during his contract extension negotiations with Baltimore asked the organization if it was possible to acquire Hopkins, along with Odell Beckham Jr. So, the mutual admiration is there.But while the Ravens added Beckham, it seems unlikely they’ll land Hopkins, too.Already, general manager Eric DeCosta told Jackson that it would be too costly to acquire both star receivers. But that was when Hopkins was still on the Cardinals’ roster and the r...

National Bank reports Q2 profit down from year ago, raises quarterly dividend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

MONTREAL — National Bank of Canada raised its quarterly dividend and reported its second-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as it faced higher non-interest expenses and increased provisions for bad loans.The Montreal-based bank said Wednesday it will now pay a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share, up from 97 cents.The increased payment to shareholders came as National Bank reported a profit of $847 million or $2.38 per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30, down from a profit of $889 million or $2.53 per diluted share a year earlier.Revenue totalled $2.48 billion in the quarter, up from $2.44 billion in the same quarter last year, while the bank’s provisions for credit losses amounted to $85 million, up from $3 million a year earlier.On an adjusted basis, National Bank says it earned $2.38 per diluted share, down from an adjusted profit of $2.53 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $2.40 per sh...

EU aspirant Moldova prepares to host major international summit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

BULBOACA, Moldova (AP) — Final preparations for a major summit of European leaders were being made in Moldova on Wednesday, a sign of the Eastern European country’s ambitions to draw closer to the West and break with its Russian-dominated past amid the war in neighboring Ukraine.Moldova, Europe’s poorest country which is cradled by Ukraine on three sides, is putting its best foot forward for the second meeting of the European Political Community on Thursday, a gathering which will bring together around 50 leaders from 47 countries in what organizers are calling the largest international event in the country’s history.In the capital, Chisinau, and on the 35-kilometer (21-mile) route to the rural summit venue, roads were being resurfaced, crosswalks painted and EU flags hung in anticipation of the arrival of the heads of state and government from European Union countries and other continental nations.The choice to hold the summit in Moldova, a former Soviet republic of around 2.6 mill...

Germany orders closure of four out of five Russian consulates in tit-for-tat move

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany says it has told Russia to close four out of five consulates in Germany in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow set a limit for the number of German embassy staff and related bodies that can operate in Russia.Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday that the measure is intended to create a “parity of personnel and structures” between the two countries.The Russian government recently said that an upper limit of 350 German government officials, including those working in cultural bodies and schools, can remain in Russia. Burger said this means Germany will have to shut three consulates in Russia by November.He said Russia will be allowed to continue operating the embassy in Berlin and one further consulate after the end of the year.The Associated Press

Myanmar court convicts journalist injured by army on 2nd charge, extending jail term to 13 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in military-ruled Myanmar has convicted a 34-year-old journalist of violating the country’s counter-terrorism law, adding 10 years to the three-year prison sentence she was handed last December for filming an anti-military protest, according to her lawyer and a family member.The conviction of Hmue Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun, a video journalist for the online Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, was the latest move against press freedom by the country’s ruling military, which has cracked down on independent media since seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.Myanmar is one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists, second only to China, according to Reporters Without Borders, and it is ranked near the bottom of the watchdog’s World Press Freedom Index – 173rd out of 180 countries this year.“By imposing this additional 10-year sentence on Hmu Yadanar, the military junta led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has yet again demonstrated t...

North Korea’s failed satellite launch triggers public confusion, security jitters in neighbors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s launch of a spy satellite on Wednesday ended in an embarrassing failure, but still prompted public confusion and security jitters in neighboring South Korea and Japan, which are wary of the North’s growing weapons arsenal.About 14 minutes after the launch at 6:27 a.m., authorities in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, sent text messages to all mobile phones in the city urging people to prepare to move to safer places, without explaining the reason. In some areas, the warning was broadcast over loudspeakers.Then, about 22 minutes later, the Interior and Safety Ministry sent messages to Seoul residents saying the earlier warning was sent in error. Ministry officials said it was only intended for people living on a front-line island off the west coast that is closer to the rocket’s flight path, and that a warning had been sent to them at 6:29 a.m.Seoul, a city of 10 million people, is only an hour’s drive from the heavily fortified border ...

Al Jazeera says Qatar’s prime minister met with Taliban’s supreme leader in Afghanistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The supreme leader of the Taliban met in Afghanistan with Qatar’s prime minister this month, the first-such publicly known meeting between the Taliban’s reclusive leader and a foreign official, the Al Jazeera satellite news network reported Wednesday. Haibatullah Akhunzada met Qatar’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on May 12 in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, Al Jazeera said. Sheikh Mohammed also is the foreign minister of Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula. The state-owned network did not specifically discuss what the two officials spoke about, though it described the meeting as aimed at ways to end the Taliban’s international isolation. Qatari government officials declined to discuss the meeting, which Reuters first reported. The Taliban did not respond to requests for comment regarding the meeting. The U.S. State Department did not immedi...

Master business skills without paying for an MBA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

Lindsay Mack earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2005. Nearly 15 years later, when she considered the best way to grow her business acumen, an MBA was not it.Mack, who is from Philadelphia, grew her career without an MBA. When ready to advance her skills in platform strategy, she opted for a faster, lower-cost cohort program instead.For students like Mack, the cost of a top MBA — averaging $225,605 in the U.S., according to a 2022 report by BusinessBecause, an online publisher of graduate business content — is daunting, and the value is questionable.“I didn’t see how making such a significant investment (in an MBA) would really leapfrog me to the next level,” says Mack, now Comcast ’s executive director of product management.Cost isn’t the only barrier to attaining a graduate business degree. BusinessBecause reports that the average acceptance rate for the most competitive U.S. business schools is 16%, based on its analysis of data from U.S. News & World R...

4 shot outside store in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:59:45 GMT

CHICAGO — Police are searching for the person who shot four people outside a store in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood.The shooting happened in the 7000 block of South Halsted around 8:35 p.m. Tuesday. Police said a group of people were on the sidewalk outside a store when an unknown person began shooting in their direction from a grey Dodge Durango.Four people were struck. A 36-year-old man was shot in the head and transported to University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. A 34-year-old man was shot twice in the buttocks and once in the abdomen and was also transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. North Lawndale family seeks justice for woman killed in hit-and-run A 43-year-old man was shot twice in the left leg and transported to Stroger Hospital in good condition. A woman suffered a graze wound to the arm and received medical attention on the scene.It is unknown if the victims were the intended target. No further details hav...