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Lebanese lawmakers fail in yet another attempt to elect president, end power vacuum

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese lawmakers failed Wednesday in yet another attempt to elect a president and break a seven-month power vacuum that has roiled the tiny Mediterranean country.The session — the twelfth try to pick a president — broke down after the bloc led by the powerful political party and militant group Hezbollah withdrew following the first round of voting, breaking the quorum. Hezbollah’s preferred candidate, Sleiman Frangieh, the scion of a political family close to the ruling Assad family in Syria, trailed behind his main rival, Jihad Azour, a former finance minister and senior official with the International Monetary Fund, in the first round of voting.Azour, who is supported by the opposition to Hezbollah and some of its nominal allies, received 59 votes to 51 for Frangieh, while 18 lawmakers cast blank ballots, protest votes or voted for minority candidates. However, Azour failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to win in the first round.The meeting came aft...

Stock market today: Global stocks, Wall Street futures mixed after US inflation cools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets and Wall Street futures were mixed Wednesday after a cooler reading on U.S. inflation buoyed hopes the Federal Reserve will postpone a possible interest rate hike.London and Frankfurt opened higher. Shanghai and Hong Kong declined while Tokyo advanced. Oil prices rose.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index hit a 14-month high after official data Tuesday showed U.S. consumer inflation eased to 4% over a year earlier in May from the previous month’s 4.9%. It was less than half last June’s peak of 9.1% but still double the Fed’s 2% target.That reinforced hopes the Fed will avoid announcing another rate hike when its monthly meeting ends Wednesday. Two Fed board members have said the U.S. central bank should put off a hike while it studies the impact of previous increases.“The Fed will see this as a window of opportunity to pause,” Clifford Bennett of ACY Securities said in a report.In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London r...

Senior officials meet in Turkey to discuss Sweden’s NATO membership bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Senior officials from NATO, Sweden, Finland and Turkey met in Ankara on Wednesday, Turkish media reports said, as the alliance pushes Turkey to ratify Sweden’s application to join the military bloc.Sweden and Finland applied for membership together following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Finland became NATO’s 31st member in April after the Turkish parliament ratified its request, but Turkey has held off approving Sweden’s bid.Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward terror organizations that Ankara says pose a security threat, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt. A series of separate demonstrations in Stockholm, including a protest by an anti-Islam activist who burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy, also angered Turkish officials.The officials meeting Wednesday were scheduled to discuss the steps Finland and Sweden have taken as part of a memorandum they signed with ...

Disney delays 'Avatar 3', sets two 'Star Wars' films for 2026

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — “Avatar: The Way of Water” may have finally arrived in theaters in 2022, but that long parade of “Avatar” delays isn't done, yet.The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday pushed the release of “Avatar 3” a year, bumping it from December 2024 to December 2025. The timeline is stretched even further for the next planned installments. “Avatar 4” is now slated to hit theaters in December 2029; “Avatar 5” is set to arrive in December 2031.If those dates hold, the “Avatar” film series will have stretched across the first four decades of the century. Director James Cameron, who launched “Avatar” in 2009, has said he may not direct films 4 and 5. By December 2031, the 68-year-old Cameron would be 77. “Avatar” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” have collectively made more than $5.2 billion at the box office. Five Takeaways from Trump’s arraignment “Each ‘Avatar’ film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for an...

Five Takeaways from Trump's arraignment 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

(The Hill) - Former President Trump was arraigned on 37 criminal charges on Tuesday in Miami — a day that was at once extraordinary and mundane.The extraordinary element was the nature of the event itself — the first-ever federal arraignment of a former president.The charges against Trump pertain to his possession of sensitive documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Related charges, including one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, also carry the threat of significant prison time if convicted.Trump pled not guilty to all charges.A trial could, potentially, land in the middle of the GOP primary race in which Trump is the frontrunner.The more mundane element was that the day proceeded largely as expected, with little new being learnt about the case and little drama at the court itself.Here are the main takeaways.Trump tries to seize back the narrativeTrump sought to punch back on Tuesday evening, trying to change the narrative of a day that highlighted the sheer gravity of...

ValleyCats strand 10, benches clear in shutout loss

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

TROY, NY (NEWS10) -- The Tri-City ValleyCats (14-14) began a three-game set with the Lake Erie Crushers (14-14), and were shutout 1-0 on Tuesday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. It was the first time the ValleyCats were shutout this season. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Lake Erie got on the board in the fourth. Mike Blanke hit a single off Elijah Gill. He advanced to second after Jiandido Tromp went to first on a walk. Kemuel Thomas-Rivero reached on an error from Pavin Parks, and Blanke scored to give the Crushers a 1-0 lead.The ValleyCats had a couple of opportunities to strike. They were gifted two walks, and a hit by pitch from Yasel Santana in the fifth, but were unable to plate a run with the bases loaded with two outs. Carson McCusker seemingly hit a ground-rule double to begin the sixth, but was originally ruled foul, the play was overturned to a double, and then changed back to a foul ball. Tri-City also walked t...

Vatican court orders climate activists to pay almost €30,000

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

Two Italian climate change activists who glued themselves to the base of one of the Vatican Museums' most famous statues must pay almost €30,000  in damages and costs, a Vatican criminal court ruled on Monday (12 June).Guido Viero and Laura Zorzini of the Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) group pulled the stunt against the Laocoon statue in August. The sculpture depicts a priest from Troy who tried to warn fellow citizens against taking in the Greek's wooden horse.The Tribunal of the Vatican City State, which has lay rather than religious judges, told Viero and Zorzini to jointly pay €28,148 in damages to Vatican authorities, and €1,000 in legal costs, a court ruling showed.They were also handed suspended jail sentences of nine months each, plus fines of around €1,500 each, also suspended. A third activist was given a suspended €120 penalty.Ultima Generazione has performed several high profile protests in Italy, often targeting artworks or monuments. Last month, they poured dilut...

Ask Amy: I’m behind on teenage milestones because I’m stressed about the future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

Dear Amy: I’ll be a junior in high school in the fall. So far, high school has been bland. The only excitement for me is the fact that I’m going to Japan on a school trip soon.I want to attend an out-of-state college because I want to have a fresh start.I want to have some kind of friend group (since I’m an introvert), to have a boyfriend, and to attend parties (but I don’t only want to party in college).I have a hard time making decisions because I’m so worried that whatever I choose will be a bad decision and affect my future.I tend to dwell on the future rather than the present.I also tend to be very hard on myself, which makes me feel like I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to this stuff.I’m always worrying about things instead of just relaxing and “being a teenager.” I feel like I’m behind in everything that should happen to teenagers.Sometimes, I just want to stop trying because nothing is going right for me. But other times, I want ...

Harriette Cole: I wonder if they think I’m trying to poach their men

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: Whenever I go to visit my sister in her summer community, it is awkward. She and all of her friends are coupled up. I am recently single.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: Three of my friends are dead, and I’m freaking out Advice | Harriette Cole: Anytime I complain, she implies I’m a coward Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m afraid her fashion choice is dangerous Advice | Harriette Cole: Was committing to this Midwestern university a mistake? Advice | Harriette Cole: How could I have kept this dorm situation from escalating? When I visit her, I’m not looking for a partner, I’m just there to chill, but at some point it feels weird for me to be the only one who is not with someone. I feel like her friends notice it, too.I know that once, years ago, there was a woman friend who came around, and she tried to seduce one of the husbands. That piece of history only...

“Hasta que no aparezca Wilson, la misión no acaba”: FF.MM. buscan a perro rescatista perdido en la selva colombiana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:44:28 GMT

(CNN Español) — Decenas de soldados de las fuerzas militares de Colombia siguen en la misión de buscar a Wilson, el perro rescatista que ayudó en la búsqueda de cuatro niños indígenas perdidos en la selva amazónica, que fueron rescatados luego de 40 días tras un accidente aéreo.El brigadier general de las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia, Herder Fernán Giraldo, dijo este martes a periodistas en Bogotá que la Operación Esperanza, con la cual se llevaron a cabo las operaciones de búsqueda y rescate de los cuatro niños durante más de un mes, no acabará hasta no dar con el paradero de Wilson.“La Operación Esperanza continúa. De acuerdo a los lineamientos del presidente y del ministro de Defensa Nacional, esta operación culminó, Dios mediante, con la ayuda de Él, hasta que logremos recuperar al canino Wilson. En este momento tenemos en esta área de operación a estos comandos de las fuerzas militares en la búsqueda y recuperación del canino”, dijo Giraldo este martes.La ...