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US government estimates economy grew last quarter at a 2.1% rate, unchanged from previous projection

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.The second-quarter expansion of the nation’s gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — marked a modest deceleration from the economy’s 2.2% annual growth from January through March. Consumer spending, business investment and state and local government outlays drove the second-quarter economic expansion.The economy and job market have shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates to combat inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since March 2022, sparking concerns that ever-higher borrowing rates will trigger a recession. So far, though, inflation has eased without causing much economic pain, raising hopes that the cent...

Aurora Cannabis to raise $33.8M in share offering, plans to repay convertible debt

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

EDMONTON — Shares of Aurora Cannabis Inc. were down more than 10 per cent after the cannabis company announced plans to raise $33.8 million in a share offering.The company says Canaccord Genuity has agreed to buy, on a bought deal basis, 46,250,000 shares of the company at a price of 73 cents per share.It has also granted Canaccord Genuity an over-allotment option for up to an additional 6,937,500 shares on the same terms. If the over-allotment option is exercised in full, the offering will total $38.8 million.Aurora says it plans to use the money raised to repay the remainder of its outstanding convertible senior notes at or prior to maturity.The company says the remainder, if any, will be used for strategic purposes, including potential acquisitions.Aurora’s stock price was down 13 per cent at 79 cents per share in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:ACB)The Canadian Press

New Thai prime minister pays friendly visit to neighboring Cambodia’s own new leader

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Two of Southeast Asia’s newest national leaders, both in office for just over a month, exchanged congratulations Thursday as Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin paid a one-day official visit to Cambodia for talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.Although there are currently no major issues of contention between the two nations, the visit touched on one of the region’s highest profile problems, the proliferation of cybercrime, particularly online scam operations that include false romance ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.Human trafficking is also often involved, as many of those forced to carry out the scams have been lured by criminal gangs with fake job offers and then forced to work in conditions of virtual slavery. Cambodia and Myanmar are two centers for such crime, although there have been efforts to crack down.Srettha and Hun Manet remotely attended the inauguration of a new center for victims of trafficking in Ca...

A man in military clothing has shot and wounded a person at a Dutch teaching hospital, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A man wearing military clothing and carrying a handgun shot and wounded a person Thursday in a classroom at a university hospital in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, police said.Another person was injured in a home nearby, Rotterdam police said in a message on X, formerly Twitter. It wasn’t immediately clear if the two shootings were linked.Police said the shooter possibly left the scene on a motorcycle, with authorities appealing for witnesses. They later added that an arrest team was checking the Erasmus Medical Center to establish if he was still in the building.Local media said that a large number of police, including specialized arrest teams, were at the hospital.Further details weren’t immediately available.The Associated Press

Statistics Canada says job vacancies continued to fall in July

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies in July fell 5.8 per cent to their lowest level since May 2021.The agency says the number of job vacancies fell declined by 43,100 to 701,300 in the month, continuing a steady downward trend since June last year.On a year-over-year basis, Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies was down by 28.1 per cent or 273,700.The number of unfilled jobs in retail trade fell by 10,800, or 12.8 per cent, while the accommodation and food services sector saw a drop of 10,400, or 11.6 per cent. The job vacancy rate — which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand — fell 0.3 percentage points to 3.9 per cent in July.Statistics Canada says there were 1.7 unemployed people for every job vacancy in July, up from 1.5 in June and 1.2 at the start of the year. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2023.The Canadian Press

Kosovo accuses Serbia of direct involvement in deadly clashes and investigates possible Russian role

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s interior minister on Thursday accused Serbia of direct involvement in weekend clashes and was investigating the possibility of Russian involvement in the violence that left four people dead and further strained relations between the former wartime foes.One Kosovo police officer and three gunmen were killed in Sunday’s shootout between Serb insurgents and Kosovo police. Eight people were initially arrested, but four of them have been released from custody because of a lack of evidence.Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla told The Associated Press in an interview that investigators were looking at evidence linking Russia, an ally of Serbia, to the armed assault. Russian weapons, other equipment and documents suggesting Russian involvement were discovered after the daylong gunbattle, he said.In one of the worst confrontations since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, about 30 masked men opened fire on a police patrol near the...

Germany and Israel sign an agreement for Berlin to buy a US-Israeli missile defense system

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany and Israel on Thursday signed an agreement for Berlin to buy the sophisticated Arrow 3 missile defense system, designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles. The development is the latest step in Berlin’s bid to strengthen its air defenses following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Germany aims to integrate the system into wider NATO air defense efforts. Last year, Berlin launched the European Sky Shield Initiative, which now includes 19 countries.Israel secured U.S. approval in August for the $3.5 billion deal, which was needed because the system was jointly developed with the United States. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant signed a memorandum of understanding in Berlin on Thursday for the purchase of Arrow 3. “It is, without exaggerating, a historic day for both our countries,” Pistorius told reporters, describing Arrow as “one of the best systems, if not the best.” “We see from the daily Russian a...

Ringo Starr on ‘Rewind Forward,’ writing country music, the AI-assisted final Beatles track and more

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — There are rock stars, and then there is Ringo Starr — drummer for the Beatles, award-winning soloist, photographer, narrator, actor, activist. To call him prolific would almost shortchange his accomplishments. But it also feels right.“Rewind Forward,” out October 13, is his fourth extended play release in three years.“I’ve loved EPs since they first came out in the ’60s,” he says of the format. “And then I heard the kids are making EPs and thought, ‘That’s good!’”The title is a classic “Ringoism,” as John Lennon used to refer to his malapropisms, an unusual phrase ripped from the same mind that came up with “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Assigning profundity to it came later. “I think it means that, you know, you’re sitting still for a while. You rewind and you find out ‘I was a much better person then,’ or ‘this was working for me better then,’ he says. You don’t have to ever live in the past, but just check it occasionally.”“Of course, I’m maki...

Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service bows out as its red-and-white envelopes make their final trip

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

The curtain is finally coming down on Netflix’s once-iconic DVD-by-mail service, a quarter century after two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs came up with a concept that obliterated Blockbuster video stores while providing a springboard into video streaming that has transformed entertainment. The DVD service that has been steadily shrinking in the shadow of Netflix’s video streaming service will shut down after its five remaining distribution centers in California, Texas, Georgia and New Jersey mail out their final discs Friday.The fewer than 1 million recipients who still subscribe to the DVD service will be able to keep the final discs that land in their mailboxes.Some of the remaining DVD diehards will get up to 10 discs as a going away present from a service that boasted as many as 16 million subscribers. That was before Netflix made the pivotal decision in 2011 to separate the DVD side business from a streaming business that now boasts 238 million subscribers and genera...

Lebanese singer and actress Najah Sallam dies at age 92

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:59:29 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese singer and actress Najah Sallam, who surged to fame in the mid-20th century in the Middle East for her songs promoting pan-Arabism, has died, her family said Thursday. She was 92. Her family did not disclose the cause of her death. Sallam was born on March 13, 1931, and became popular as a singer in the 1950s, especially in Egypt during the 1956 Suez Canal when then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and broke Egypt from its colonial past. The move angered Britain, France, and Israel, which invaded the country, sparking the second Arab-Israeli war. Nasser later granted Sallam an honorary Egyptian citizenship. Sallam was also a well-known actress and was involved in about a dozen Arabic-language films in the 1950s and 1960s.In 2018, then-Lebanese President Michel Aoun honored Sallam and other iconic artists in a celebration marking the 80th anniversary of Radio Lebanon, one of the region’s oldest radio stations.“The journey has ended,” her...