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Canadian quits Chinese-founded development bank, complains ‘Communist Party hacks’ dominate it

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — A Canadian public relations manager for a Chinese-founded development bank announced his resignation Wednesday in a statement that accused it of being dominated by “Communist Party hacks” and said Canada’s interests weren’t served by being a member.The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank confirmed in an email that Bob Pickard resigned as its director general of global communications and rejected his criticism as unfounded.The AIIB, seen by some as a Chinese rival to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, was founded in 2016 to finance railways and other infrastructure. It has 106 member governments including most Asian countries and Australia, Canada, Russia, France and Britain. Japan and the United States aren’t members.Pickard, who worked for AIIB for 15 months, said in a statement on Twitter that resigning was his only course as a “patriotic Canadian.” He complained that the bank was dominated by “Communist Party hacks” who were “like an in-house K...

White Sox’s Clevinger leaves start against Dodgers with right biceps soreness

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chicago White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger left his start against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning Wednesday night because of right biceps soreness.The right-hander exited the field in apparent physical discomfort with two outs. Clevinger was biting the top of his jersey while accompanied by the team’s trainer.He will be reevaluated Thursday.He was pitching to J.D. Martinez when he kicked his right leg high and the momentum spun him around with his right arm twisting in a different direction. Clevinger nearly went down to his knees, using his left hand to keep himself on his feet.He was replaced by Gregory Santos with the White Sox leading 2-0.Clevinger gave up three hits, struck out five and walked two on 77 pitches in his 12th start of the season. He was on the injured list from May 21 to June 2 with right wrist inflammation, missing two starts. Clevinger has appeared in just 42 games since the start of the 2020 season. The 32-year-old missed the entire...

UK’s own climate adviser brands government ‘hypocrites’ over North Sea oil and gas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

LONDON — The U.K. would undermine its international reputation as a climate leader if it goes ahead with a major new oil and gas field, the outgoing chair of the country’s official climate advisory committee said.John Gummer, the Conservative peer who chairs the U.K.’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), told POLITICO that the British government’s current stance in favor of expanding production of fossil fuels in the North Sea meant the U.K. had “perfectly properly been called hypocrites.”The committee advises parliament on progress on emissions targets and was designed as an independent check on the U.K.’s progress.A government decision is expected within weeks giving the go-ahead to start drilling in the biggest undeveloped oil and gas field in the North Sea, Rosebank. A green light for Rosebank is likely to prove highly controversial at a time when the future of U.K. oil and gas production in the North Sea has become a major dividing line between the government and the opposition Lab...

POLITICO Pro Central Banker: Fed holds — ECB poised — BoE pressured

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

Our one-stop source for central banking & monetary policy news.View in your browser or listen to audioBy GEOFFREY SMITHwith CARLO BOFFA, JOHANNA TREECK, BEN MUNSTER, BJARKE SMITH-MEYER and IZABELLA KAMINSKASNEAK PEEK— The ECB is expected to raise interest rates by 0.25 percent, 2:15 p.m.— The Federal Reserve suspended its cycle of rate hikes but warned that more would be needed later this year. — Beyoncé’s Stockholm concert drives inflation higher in Sweden.POLICY TICKERECB 3.75% ⇡ — BOE 4.5% ⇡ — FED 5.35% ⇡— SNB 1.5% ⇡— BOJ -0.10% ⇣— RBA 4.10% ⇡— PBOC 3.65%⇣— CBR 7.5% ⇣ — BOC 4.75 ⇡— SARB 8.25% ⇡Good morning and welcome to part two of the G3 central bank trifecta. The Federal Reserve held off hiking interest rates for the first time in 15 months, as expected, but chair Jerome Powell warned that “nearly all” policy-makers thought that further increases (sic) would be necessary by year end, the first of them coming as soon as July. Powell’s signalling — wh...

Migrants bused from Texas to Los Angeles in move mayor calls 'despicable stunt'

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A group of migrants who arrived by bus in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday were sent from Texas in a move the city's mayor called a “despicable stunt” by a Republican governor. Forty-two people, including some children, were dropped off at Union Station around 4 p.m. and were being cared for by city agencies and charitable organizations, Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León’s office said. “They left yesterday and it was 23 hours on the bus and they did not have a chance to eat or to have water,” said Jorge Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, who spoke to several migrants.“They are being fed; they're taking shelters; they’re talking to attorneys,” he said. “These are migrants that have been allowed by the U.S. to enter because they have credible fears. They have not yet received asylum."Many were from Latin American countries, including Honduras and Venezuela, and one person had an immigration appointment in New York, he said.Mayor ...

Colorado gay nightclub shooter expected to strike plea deal: ‘I have to take responsibility’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17, several survivors told The Associated Press. Word of a possible legal resolution of last year’s Club Q massacre follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from the suspect to the AP expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at the next scheduled court hearing this month.“I have to take responsibility for what happened,” 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich said in their first public comments about the case. Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys declined to comment on a possible plea deal. But Colorado law requires victims to be notified of such deals, and several people who lost loved ones or were wounded in the attack told the AP that state prosecutors have given them advance word that Aldrich w...

Takeaways from AP report of expected plea deal in Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17, several survivors told The Associated Press. Here are the key takeaways:WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE LEGAL CASE?Word of a possible legal resolution of last November’s Club Q massacre follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich to the AP expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at the next scheduled court hearing this month.Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys declined to comment on a possible plea deal. But Colorado law requires victims to be notified of such deals, and several people who lost loved ones or were wounded in the attack told the AP that state prosecutors told them Aldrich will plead guilty to charges that would ensure the maximum state sentence o...

Bill Cosby sued by 9 more women in Nevada for alleged decades-old sexual assaults

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nine more women are accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault in a lawsuit that alleges he used his “enormous power, fame and prestige” to victimize them.A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Nevada alleges that the women were individually drugged and assaulted between approximately 1979 and 1992 in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe homes, dressing rooms and hotels. One woman alleges that Cosby, claiming to be her acting mentor, lured her from New York to Nevada, where he drugged her in a hotel room with what he had claimed to be non-alcoholic sparkling cider and then raped her.The 85-year-old former “Cosby Show” star has now been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women. He has denied all allegations involving sex crimes. He was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era — and spent nearly three years at a state prison near Philadelphia before a higher court threw out the conviction and released him in 2021.E...

Palestinians say Israeli gunfire kills man in occupied West Bank

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli gunfire killed a Palestinian man Thursday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, the latest death in a spike of violence that has rocked the region.The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20-year-old Khalil Yahya Anis was shot in the head in the city of Nablus, a frequent flashpoint for confrontations between the Israeli military and Palestinians.The Israeli military said troops operating in the city came under fire and fired back. The troops were demolishing the home of a Palestinian behind the killing of an Israeli soldier last year. Israel demolishes the homes of attackers in what it says is a deterrent against future attacks. Critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment.Israel and the Palestinians have been gripped by months of violence, focused mainly in the West Bank, where some 120 Palestinians have been killed this year.Israel has been staging near-nightly raids in the West Bank in response to a spasm of Palestinian vio...

Chinese premier meets with Palestinian president in effort to increase Middle East presence

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:16:36 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday in a drive by Beijing to elevate relations and increase its overall presence in the Middle East. Li, who took office just this spring with little foreign policy experience, called Abbas “an old friend of the Chinese people” who has made “important contributions to the promotion of China-Palestinian relations.” The meeting came a day after Abbas was greeted with full military honors by Xi Jinping, China’s president and head of the ruling Communist Party.The sides then announced the formation of a “strategic partnership,” paving the way to boost China’s influence in the region at a time when Beijing’s chief rival for global influence, the United States, is seen as withdrawing from the region following the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and complications in ties with regional power Saudi Arabia. China, meanwhile, is seeking energy resources and markets for its milita...