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Niger’s military regime orders police to expel French ambassador and revokes his diplomatic immunity

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s military junta has revoked the diplomatic immunity of France’s ambassador and ordered police to expel him from the country, according to a statement from the military regime.The mutinous soldiers who ousted Niger’s president more than a month ago gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country last week. The deadline expired on August 28 without France recalling Itte. The French government says it doesn’t recognize the coup-plotters as the country’s legitimate leaders. The communique sent by Niger’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this week and seen by The Associated Press on Thursday said Itte “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy.” The document also says the diplomatic cards and visas of the ambassador’s families have been canceled. France’s government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comme...

A Palestinian kills an Israeli soldier in a West Bank truck ramming attack and is fatally shot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A Palestinian driver slammed his truck into soldiers at a busy checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, killing one of them before being shot dead, Israeli authorities said, in the latest bloodshed in a relentless cycle of violence to roil the region.The violence came a day after Israeli police shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who stabbed a man in a Jerusalem light-rail station and after Palestinian militants detonated a bomb near a convoy of Israeli troops escorting Jewish worshippers to a holy site in the West Bank, wounding four Israeli troops. The unrest is part of more than a yearlong wave of violence that has surged to levels unseen in the West Bank in some two decades. According to Israeli authorities, the driver, identified as a 41-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank, was moving east toward the crossing when he spotted the soldiers near a bagel stand. He made a U-turn and slammed into the soldiers, who were in uniform. An Isr...

Stock market today: Wall Street higher as it tries to claw back losses from a brutal August

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

BEIJING — Wall Street pushed higher Thursday ahead of new inflation and jobs data that could influence the Federal Reserve and its policy decisions regarding benchmark interest rates. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials rose 0.5% and the S&P 500 advanced 0.2% as more corporate earnings reports trickled in after the bell Wednesday. Markets are trying to claw back losses on the last day of what’s been a brutal month. Even with a hot streak the past two weeks, the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq are all still down close to 2% in August. It would be just the second down month for the Nasdaq this year.The U.S. issues an inflation update early Thursday as part of its report on personal consumption and expenditures — the measure of prices most closely watched by the Fed. It eased to 3% in July from last year’s peak of 7%.The Fed has raised interest rates 11 times since March of 2021 in an attempt to stifle inflation. Higher rates help to cool the economy and slow price growth, but anal...

Fed’s preferred inflation gauge shows a modest rise in latest sign of slowing price increases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve remained low last month, adding to signs of cooling price increases and raising the likelihood that the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged when it next meets in late September. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that prices rose just 0.2% from June to July, the third straight modest increase. Compared with a year earlier, prices rose 3.3% in July, up from a 3% annual increase in June. The year-over-year figure, though, is down sharply from the 7% peak it reached a year ago, though still above the Fed’s 2% inflation target. The latest data follows other recent reports that suggest the economy and the job market may be slowing enough to cool inflation pressures. The number of advertised job openings, for example, tumbled in July, and fewer Americans are quitting their jobs to seek better opportunities. Both trends ease the pressure on companies to raise pay to find and keep ...

MDA signs deal to buy digital payload division of SatixFy Communications

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

BRAMPTON, Ont. — MDA Ltd. has signed an agreement to buy the digital payload division of SatixFy Communications Ltd. in a deal valued at US$40 million.MDA chief executive Mike Greenley says the deal for SatixFy Space Systems UK Ltd. (SSS) helps the company’s strategy to invest and expand in next generation satellite technology.Greenley says MDA and SatixFy have worked together and the acquisition is a natural next step in solidifying and strengthening the company’s market position and addressing customer demand.The deal will see the business, based in the United Kingdom, integrated into MDA UK, the company’s existing subsidiary in the country. The SSS team will also collaborate with MDA’s satellite systems business in Montreal.The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:MDA)The Canadian Press

'Skip-the-Line' program kicks off Friday at Illinois DMVs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

CHICAGO — Starting Friday, most DMV facilities will require an appointment to get drivers licenses, Real ID's and driving tests.It part of a move to modernize Illinois' Department of Motor Vehicles.The appointments will be required at the states 44 busiest DMV locations throughout the states, including all Chicago locations — except the Loop location.The Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced the "Skip-the-Line" program back in July.The idea is to cut the unpredicability of wait times at DMV's where people can wait hours or just a few minutes depending on the lines.Starting Friday, you will need to book your appointment online.A few more changes coming to the DMV are the hours. Instead of Tuesday through Saturday, the facility will be open Monday through Friday — however, about a dozen will remain open on Saturday.You will also not need appointments for titles to register your vehicle or get license plate stickers.The secretary of state says a number of service...

Tropical Storm Jose forms in Atlantic, 2 other disturbances being monitored

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Atlantic basin is ending August on a busy note. Tropical Storm Jose formed Thursday and the National Hurricane Center is monitoring two other disturbances.Tropical Storm Jose Tropical Storm Jose formed overnight. It is located about 785 miles east-southeast of Bermuda. PHOTOS: Hurricane Idalia impacts on the Tampa Bay area The storm has 40 mph winds and is moving north at 5 mph.Forecasters said the system is expected to be absorbed by Hurricane Franklin.2 disturbances in the AtlanticThe NHC is watching two disturbances in the Atlantic, including one with a 70% chance of development.Meteorologists said the system with a high chance of development is located just west of Cape Verde. The tropical wave continues to produce showers and thunderstorms that are gradually becoming better organized, the NHC said.Forecasters believe the system will likely become a tropical depression over the next few days.The NHC is also watching what was once Tropical Storm Gert. M...

Martha Stewart responds to backlash after putting an iceberg in her cocktail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

(WJW) — Hospitality maven Martha Stewart is just like us - she enjoys cruising, too. Naturally, you won't catch the 82-year-old on your typical tropical island-hopping trip. Instead, she recently shared her experience on her cruise around the Arctic. And one of her social media posts has gotten a frigid response from internet commenters. Renters left hanging after flooded apartments condemned "End of the first zodiac cruise from swanhelleniccruises into a very beautiful fjord on the east coast of Greenland. We actually captured a small iceberg for our cocktails tonight," she wrote on Instagram along with a photo of her raising a glass to the camera. FILE - A boat navigates at night next to large icebergs near the town of Kulusuk, in eastern Greenland on Aug. 15, 2019. A new massive study finds that Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are now losing more than three times as much ice a year as they were 30 years ago. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)Scrolling through the rest o...

How bees can lower your property taxes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) -- Beekeeping across Central Texas is thriving and so are the bees."They were declining. We figured out a whole lot of reasons for that decline and it's going back up now," Texas Beekeepers Association President Dodie Stillman said. The bee just became an honored resident of Bee Cave Which is good news for everyone who eats food."Every third bite relies on bees. Some bees are pollinating just about all the food we eat," Stillman said.Beekeeping isn't just a hobby, for some it can be a career. It turns out there's been enough interest in bees to justify a new brick-and-mortar retail store in the Round Rock area.Becky Barajas opened "The Bee Supply" in Round Rock just a few months ago."The demand in Texas is huge, but the demand for education is even bigger," Barajas said.And where there's honey… there's money."If you have agricultural use or wildlife conservatorship…you can get a discount off your property taxes, there is a whole process that you need to go...

Several Illinois hospitals experiencing network outages through week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:51 GMT

O'FALLON, Ill. - For the fourth day in a row, a significant health care provider in Illinois is experiencing a major system outage. It's a problem for several facilities.The problem is impacting facilities operated by the 'Hospital Sisters Health System,' or HSHS. The group operates multiple facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin, including St. Elizabeth's Hospital.An online post from HSHS says that a system outage has temporarily taken virtually all operating systems offline. The HSHS posting does not specify which exact systems are impacted, but the Belleville News Democrat reported that the outage involves websites, internet service, telephones, and computer applications.When checking the main HSHS website, all that came up was a message about the outage. Someone did answer when we called St. Elizabeth's. However, the person acknowledged that the problems are ongoing, and they are doing what they can to help people. Police: DWI, hit-and-run suspect caught by his own Tesla camera...