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Keir Starmer gives Emmanuel Macron an Arsenal shirt, some warm words

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

LONDON — Keir Starmer met Emmanuel Macron in Paris and all the French president got was a t-shirt.Starmer, the U.K. Labour leader, told Macron Tuesday he intends to improve relations between France and Britain if his opposition party wins power.And Starmer came bearing a gift: a die-hard Gunners fan, he gave Macron an Arsenal Football Club t-shirt. It had “Macron 25” on the back — a reference to the fact Macron is France’s 25th president. The president gave Starmer a pair of cufflinks emblazoned with the Elysée logo. The U.K. opposition leader met France’s president in Paris Tuesday, as he attempts to build on his international reputation and establish links with foreign leaders. Starmer has a commanding polling lead over current U.K. prime minister Rishi Sunak ahead of an expected general election next year.Speaking following his meeting with Macron, Starmer told Sky News the behind-closed-doors talks had been his first chance to say how much he values the r...

UK foreign secretary confirms China invite to AI summit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

LONDON — Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed the British government has invited China to its November summit on artificial intelligence.In a press release Tuesday, Cleverly said: “We cannot keep the U.K. public safe from the risks of AI if we exclude one of the leading nations in AI tech. That’s why China has been invited to our AI Safety Summit in November.”“The U.K.’s approach to China is to protect our institutions and infrastructure, align with partners and engage where it is in the U.K.’s national interest.”It’s the first time a senior member of Rishi Sunak’s government has confirmed the invite, first reported by POLITICO in late August. U.K. government officials did however previously confirm the China invite to reporters at a background briefing in Washington two weeks ago. The invite to Beijing has ruffled feathers, especially among the U.K.’s allies in the G7. Japan has voiced particular opposition to Chinese involvement, believing it to be too soon to involve t...

United Lowrider Coalition champions state bill as it cruises to governor's desk

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A bill that could legalize lowrider cruising in California is now just waiting on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. The National City-based United Lowrider Coalition worked with Assemblymember David Alvarez to help author the bill.“We all listened and just tears, tears of joy.”That was Jovita Arellano’s reaction last Thursday when AB 436 was among some of the bills to be passed by the California legislative deadline. Arellano is president of the coalition. California campsite reservation bill heads to governor’s desk AB 436 passed both the State Assembly and the Senate with overwhelming support.“It shows that they understand. They embrace the lowrider community, they embrace our culture, they embrace the art,” Arellano said to FOX 5.Since the 1980s, state vehicle code has allowed local governments across California to stop drivers from cruising and driving cars modified to be a certain height. AB 436 would remove those restrictions.“It’s not the late 80’s, early 90’...

Tampa Bay Rays finalizing new ballpark in St. Petersburg as part of larger urban project

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays are putting the finishing touches on plans for a new 30,000-seat ballpark in St. Petersburg as part of a huge $6 billion development project that includes affordable housing, retail, bars and restaurants and a Black history museum.The site is on the same 86-acre (34-hectare) tract of downtown land where Tropicana Field now sits. That domed, oddly-tilted ballpark will be demolished once the new one is built, in time for Opening Day 2028, said Brian Auld, co-president of the Rays, in an interview Monday.The plan, which still has some political hurdles on funding and approvals to clear, would keep the Rays in St. Petersburg for the foreseeable future despite constant talk of the team moving across the bay to Tampa, possibly to Nashville, Tennessee, and even a plan to split home games with Montreal that was shot down by Major League Baseball.“We’re going to be here for a very long time,” Auld said. “We’re all reall...

The UN chief summons world leaders to action. But, he says, they seem ‘incapable of coming together’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Insisting that international cooperation is critical, the United Nations chief delivered a dire warning to leaders from across the world Tuesday, declaring that the planet is becoming unhinged with mounting global challenges and geopolitical tensions — and warning that “we seem incapable of coming together to respond.”Addressing presidents and prime ministers, monarchs and ministers at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly’s high-level meeting, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ticked off a list of “existential threats” the world is facing, from climate change to disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence.“Our world is becoming unhinged. Geopolitical tensions are rising. Global challenges are mounting. And we seem incapable of coming together to respond,” Guterres told the people who run the world’s nations. He said that the United Nations — and the ways that countries cooperate — must evolve to meet the era.“The world has changed. Our institution...

Judge rejects defense effort to throw out an Oath Keeper associate’s Jan. 6 guilty verdict

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday upheld an obstruction conviction against a Virginia man who stood trial with members of the Oath Keepers extremist group in one of the most serious cases brought in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta rejected a defense effort to throw out the Washington jury’s guilty verdict against Thomas Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer who was convicted last November in the U.S. Capitol attack alongside Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. Mehta said there was sufficient evidence to find Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia, guilty of obstructing an official proceeding — in this case, Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over President Donald Trump — and tampering with documents or proceedings.The judge said that while Caldwell didn’t enter the Capitol, evidence supports the argument that he aided extremists who stormed the building. The judge pointed to Caldwell’s own...

Azerbaijan opens fire on Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh and 3 people are reported killed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Azerbaijan’s forces opened fire Tuesday on Armenian positions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in what it called an “anti-terrorist operation,” and ethnic Armenian officials reported at least two civilians were killed and 23 wounded amid heavy artillery fire around the region’s capital. Azerbaijan’s authorities also accused Armenian forces of killing a civilian, which brought the civilian death toll of Tuesday’s hostilities to at least three. The Azerbaijani defense ministry announced the start of the operation hours after four soldiers and two civilians died in landmine explosions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The reports raised concerns that a full-scale war over the region could resume between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which fought heavily for six weeks in 2020. The ministry did not immediately give details, but said front-line positions and military assets of Armenia’s armed forces were being “incapacitated using high-precision...

Police say 12-year-old pointed replica gun at Oshawa homeowner

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

Durham regional police have charged a 12-year-old boy after he allegedly pointed a pellet gun at a homeowner in Oshawa on Saturday. Police were called to the Mary Street North and Taunton Road area at around 5:25 p.m. after the boy allegedly showed up at a home and started kicking the front door. When the homeowner opened the door, police say the boy pulled a black pellet gun from his backpack and pointed it at the homeowner. He then fled the area. A Oshawa boy was later charged with pointing a firearm, assault with a weapon, possess weapon for committing offence, mischief under $5000 and failing to comply with an undertaking. He was held in custody for a bail hearing.

Stock market today: Wall Street slips ahead of Fed decision on rates

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are slipping Tuesday as Wall Street waits for the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on interest rates.The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in morning trading, a day after barely budging. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 181 points, or 0.5%, at 34,442, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower.Stocks have been see-sawing for weeks on uncertainty about whether the Fed is done with its market-shaking hikes to interest rates. By pulling its main interest rate to the highest level in more than two decades, the Fed has helped inflation to cool from its peak last year but at the cost of hurting prices for investments and damaging some corners of the economy.The Fed is beginning its latest meeting on interest rates Tuesday, with an announcement scheduled for Wednesday. The overwhelming expectation is for the Fed to announce no change to rates. More focus will be on updated projections Fed officials give for where they see rates heading ...

House Republicans set first Biden impeachment inquiry hearing for Sept. 28

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:28:22 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans plan to hold their first hearing next week in their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his family’s business dealings. The hearing — scheduled for Sept. 28 — is expected to focus on “constitutional and legal questions” that surround allegations of Biden’s involvement in his son Hunter’s overseas businesses, according to a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee. Republicans — led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — have contended in recent weeks that Biden’s actions from his time as vice president show a “culture of corruption.” The committee also plans to file subpoenas for the personal and business bank records of Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James Biden “as early as this week.” The White House has called the effort by House Republicans in the midst of the presidential campaign “extreme politics at its worst.”“House Republicans have been investigating the president for nine months, and they...