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Kishida promises he’ll take appropriate steps ahead of a Cabinet shuffle to tackle a party scandal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday he planned to take “appropriate steps” over his governing party’s widening slush funds scandal as speculation is rife that he may purge implicated Cabinet members in a major shuffle this week. The scandal mostly involves the Liberal Democratic Party’s largest and most powerful faction formerly led by assassinated ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Its key members, including those in top Cabinet and party posts, were suspected of systematically failing to report several hundred million yen (several million dollars) in funds in a possible violation of campaign and election laws, according to media reports. The money is alleged to have gone into unmonitored slush funds.Kishida told reporters Monday that he is aware of the growing public distrust over the fundraising scandal and takes it seriously. He has acknowledged that authorities are investigating the scandal following a criminal complaint.“I’ll take appropriate action at the...

India’s Supreme Court upholds government’s decision to remove disputed Kashmir’s special status

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India’s top court on Monday upheld a 2019 decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to strip disputed Jammu and Kashmir’s special status as a semi-autonomous region with a separate constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs.The five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the region’s special status had been a “temporary provision” and that removing it in 2019 was constitutionally valid.The unprecedented move also divided the region into two federal territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, both ruled directly by the central government without a legislature of their own. As a result, the Muslim-majority region is now run by unelected government officials and has lost its flag, criminal code and constitution.But Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said the government has promised to restore Jammu-Kashmir’s statehood and should do so as soon as possible. Ladakh, however, will remain a federal territo...

Google antitrust trial focused on Android app store payments to be handed off to jury to decide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal court jury is poised begin its deliberations in an antitrust trial focused on whether Google’s efforts to profit from its app store for Android smartphones have been illegally gouging consumers and stifling innovation.Before the nine-person jury in San Francisco starts weighing the evidence Monday, the lawyers on the opposing sides of the trial will present their closing arguments in a three-year-old case filed by Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game.The four-week trial included testimony from both Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who sometimes seemed like a professor explaining complex topics while standing behind a lectern because of a health issue, and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who painted himself as a video game lover on a mission to take down a greedy tech titan.Epic alleged that Google has been exploiting its wealth and control of the Android software that powers most of the world’s smartphones to protect a lucrative payment ...

Israel battles militants in Gaza’s main cities, with civilians still stranded near front lines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants in Gaza’s two largest cities on Monday, with civilians still sheltering along the front lines even after massive waves of displacement across the besieged territory.Israel has pledged to keep fighting until it removes Hamas from power, dismantles its military capabilities and returns all of the scores of hostages still held by Palestinian militants after being captured during the Oct. 7 surprise attack into Israel that ignited the war.The U.S. has provided unwavering diplomatic and military support for the campaign, even as it has urged Israel to minimize civilian casualties and further mass displacement. The war has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and driven nearly 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.Residents said there was heavy fighting in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli ground forces opened a new line of attack last week, and battles were...

What did you Google in 2023? ‘Barbie,’ Israel-Hamas war are among the year’s top internet searches

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Your Google search history for 2023 has arrived.Well, actually, the world’s. On Monday, the California-based tech giant released its “Year in Search,” a roundup of 2023’s top global queries, ranging from unforgettable pop culture moments (hello, Barbenheimer ), to the loss of beloved figures and tragic news carrying worldwide repercussions.The ongoing Israel-Hamas war topped news trends in 2023, per Google’s global data, followed by queries related to the Titanic-bound submersible that imploded in June, as well as February’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.Damar Hamlin was Google’s top trending person on search this year. A safety with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, Hamlin experienced a near-death cardiac arrest on the field during a January game, but has since completed a celebrated comeback. Actor Jeremy Renner, who survived a serious snowplow accident at the start of 2023, followed. Meanwhile, the late Matthew Perry and Tina Tur...

UN officials and activists ramp up the urgency as climate talks enter final days

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Delegates at the United Nations climate talks have little time left to decide how the world plans to cap planet-warming emissions and keep the worst of warming at bay, ramping up the urgency as new drafts were expected on key outcomes of the summit. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres returned to the summit on Monday and said it was “time to go into overdrive to negotiate in good faith and rise to the challenge.” He said negotiators in particular must focus on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and climate justice.He said the global stocktake — the part of talks that assesses where the world is at with its climate goals and how it can reach them — should “phase out all fossil fuels” in order to reach the goal of limiting the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times.“We can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” Guterres said in brief remarks. “We are out of...

Council approves EU-UK fishing deal for 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

The Council has approved an agreement reached with the United Kingdom which secures the fishing rights of EU fishers in the Atlantic and the North Sea. The timely conclusion of the annual consultations for 2024 will ensure stability and certainty for EU fishers and for the industry.Our agreement with the United Kingdom secures important fishing opportunities for our fishers and was reached thanks to the good will demonstrated by both parties during the negotiations. We have ensured that our fishing rights in the Atlantic and the North Sea will continue to be protected in the coming year and we are living up to our sustainability commitments.Luis Planas Puchades, Spanish Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and FoodThe agreement in detailThe agreement reached in the EU-UK annual consultations determines fishing rights for 2024 for around 100 shared fish stocks, in particular the total allowable catches (TACs), that is, the maximum quantities of fish from specific stocks that can be ca...

Single family residence sells in Dublin for $1.7 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

11867 West Vomac Road – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 11800 block of West Vomac Road in Dublin was sold on Oct. 12, 2023. The $1,735,000 purchase price works out to $679 per square foot. The house, built in 1981, has an interior space of 2,554 square feet. This single-story house offers a capacious living environment with its four bedrooms and three bathrooms. In addition, the home includes a garage.Additional houses that have recently changed hands close by include:A 2,389-square-foot home on the 11800 block of West Vomac Road in Dublin sold in August 2022, for $1,530,000, a price per square foot of $640. The home has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.On West Vomac Road, Dublin, in May 2023, a 1,852-square-foot home was sold for $1,600,000, a price per square foot of $864. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In July 2023, a 2,286-square-foot home on West Vomac Road in Dublin sold for $1,900,000, a price per square foot of $831. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 ba...

This Week in Business: consumer prices, wholesale inflation, Lennar earnings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

INFLATION WATCHThe Labor Department on Tuesday issues its November report on prices at the consumer level.Long past its painful peak, inflation in the United States may be heading steadily back toward its pre-pandemic levels. Overall inflation didn’t rise from September to October, the first time that consumer prices collectively haven’t risen month-over-month in more than a year. Analysts expect that prices remained flat from October to November.Consumer price index, monthly percent change, not seasonally adjusted:June: 0.2July: 0.2Aug.: 0.6Sept.: 0.4Oct.: 0.0Nov. (est.): 0.0Source: FactSetWHOLESALE PRICESOn Wednesday, the government releases its producer prices report.The producer price index measures inflation at the wholesale level, before businesses pass costs along to consumers. U.S. wholesale prices fell sharply in October as inflationary pressure continued to ease under the weight of higher interest rates. Wholesale prices dropped 0.5% in October from September.Producer pric...

UN officials, activists ramp up the urgency as climate talks enter final days

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:41 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Delegates at the United Nations climate talks have little time left to decide how the world plans to cap planet-warming emissions and keep the worst of warming at bay, ramping up the urgency as new drafts were expected on key outcomes of the summit. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres returned to the summit on Monday and said it was “time to go into overdrive to negotiate in good faith and rise to the challenge.” He said negotiators in particular must focus on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and climate justice.He said the global stocktake — the part of talks that assesses where the world is at with its climate goals and how it can reach them — should “phase out all fossil fuels” in order to reach the goal of limiting the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times.“We can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” Guterres said in brief remarks. “We are out of...