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Kremlin says Putin will meet Erdoğan on Monday in Sochi

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host a summit with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia on Monday, the Kremlin has said.“The talks will take place on Monday and will be held in Sochi,” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters today.The meeting marks a rare visit to Russia from the leader of a NATO member country since the start of Moscow’s all-out war in Ukraine. Ankara is yet to confirm the date of the summit.Turkey is expected to push for the restoration of the U.N.-backed Black Sea grain deal, which Moscow withdrew from unilaterally in July, as well as access to cheap supplies of natural gas.

Dutch cozy up to US with controls on exporting microchip kit to China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

BRUSSELS — The Netherlands on Friday started enforcing new export controls restrictions on advanced microchips production machines to China, siding with Washington in the geopolitical tussle over who controls the critical technology.The export controls, part of a three-way deal between the United States, Netherlands and Japan at the start of the year, affect advanced microchips printing equipment. “Uncontrolled export [of the equipment] can have risks for the public security,” the Dutch regulation said. The Dutch rules come in support of a U.S.-led strategy to choke off China from critical parts of the supply chain needed to manufacture high-end microchips used in consumer electronics, computing and other domains — including military applications. “It’s necessary to check in advance who’s the end user and what the end use is of the production equipment,” the Dutch advocate in the regulation.But the measures also put a target on the back of Dutch s...

Daywatch: White Sox chairman dismisses idea of gun brought into stadium

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

Good morning, Chicago.Nearly a week after two women were injured by gunfire while attending a White Sox game, team Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf dismissed the notion that someone could get a firearm into Guaranteed Rate Field.Addressing the media Thursday about team issues, Reinsdorf took up the shooting mystery that has perplexed Chicago for days. He said he has spoken to police leaders and they told him they have not ruled out that gunshots fired outside the stadium landed in the bleachers and injured the women.“They’re still investigating. I don’t want to get into specific facts while they’re investigating but have really done a deep dive into this and I don’t see any way in the world that the shots could have come from inside the ballpark,” Reinsdorf said. “Let’s let the police continue with their investigation. At this point all the superintendent is prepared to say is they have not ruled out that they came from outside the ballpark.&#...

Spain’s men’s coach asks for forgiveness for applauding Rubiales’ diatribe against ‘false feminists’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The coach of Spain’s men’s national soccer team asked for forgiveness Friday for applauding the claim by Luis Rubiales that he was the victim of a smear campaign from “false feminists” following an uproar after he kissed a player on the lips at the Women’s World Cup.“I don’t think I have to resign, I think I have to ask for forgiveness,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said in Madrid in his first public appearance since Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso on Aug. 20 after the final in Sydney, Australia. “I made a human error. It was inexcusable.”De la Fuente was speaking one week after he clapped several times during an emergency general assembly of the Spanish soccer federation when Rubiales, the organization’s president, refused to step down as was expected. Rubiales’ speech included claims that Hermoso had consented to his kiss during the awards ceremony — a claim she has denied — and against what he called the “scourge” of feminism in Spai...

CWB Financial Group reports third quarter profit up from a year ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

EDMONTON — CWB Financial Group reported its third-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago.The Edmonton-based bank says its common shareholders’ net income totalled $83.1 million for the quarter ended July 31, up from $70 million a year earlier.That equated to 86 cents per diluted share for its most recent quarter, an increase from the same period last year when it reported earnings of 73 cents per diluted share.Revenue totalled $283.5 million, up from $264.4 million a year earlier.On an adjusted basis, CWB says it earned 88 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 74 cents per share a year ago.Chief executive Chris Fowler credits the bank’s strong quarter to targeting lending opportunities “that provide strong returns within a prudent risk appetite for the current uncertain economic environment.”This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:CWB)The Canadian Press

Weekend need to know: Labour Day long weekend, Air Show at CNE, Toronto Dragon Festival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

It’s the last weekend to check out the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) at Exhibition Place. The Canadian International Air Show is on this weekend at the fair, alongside live performances and more.It’s also the Labour Day long weekend, meaning certain businesses and services are closed on the holiday Monday. Click here to see what’s open and closed. There are no scheduled subway closures this weekend, but starting on Sunday, the 512 St. Clair streetcars will be replaced by buses from St Clair Station to Gunns Loop, until the middle of next year at least.The TTC also recently announced it will be restoring 126 school trips for elementary and high school students and adding more vehicles to nine routes that serve colleges or universities after Labour Day.Other road closures for events and construction are in place for the weekend. Scroll below for details.Here’s what to do this long weekend:Top eventsLast weekend of CNEThe Canadian International Air Show is ...

AP Election Brief | What to expect in Rhode Island’s special primaries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A crowded field of candidates will be on the ballot in Rhode Island on Tuesday with an eye on replacing former U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, the seven-term Democrat who resigned in May to run a nonprofit foundation.Among the 11 candidates competing in the special primary for the Democratic nomination are former Obama and Biden White House aide Gabriel Amo, state Sen. Sandra Cano, Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos and former state Rep. Aaron Regunberg. A 12th candidate, Don Carlson, suspended his campaign in late August after admitting he made a romantic overture to a student while he was a professor at Williams College. Carlson will remain on the ballot but has endorsed Cano.Regunberg leads the field in fundraising, bringing in nearly $630,000 in contributions and the largest war chest heading into the campaign’s final three weeks. Amo was a close second in fundraising with $604,000 in contributions, followed by Matos, who raised $558,000. Cano ranked a distant fourth.Matos faced...

In Mississippi, a tiny fish is reintroduced to the river where it disappeared 50 years ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

PINOLA, Miss. (AP) — A species of tiny fish that once flourished in a river running hundreds of miles from central Mississippi into southeastern Louisiana is being reintroduced to the Pearl River after disappearing 50 years ago. Wildlife experts say a number of factors likely contributed to the disappearance of the pearl darter from the Pearl River system, including oil and gas development, agricultural runoff, urban pollution, and dam construction. All are deemed detrimental to the pearl darter’s habitat and survival. And even though pollution and other threats to habitat remain today within the Pearl River, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) long, officials say the 1972 federal Clean Water Act has helped make it cleaner. Clean enough, in fact, that Mississippi and the federal government wildlife experts say there are signs that the pearl darter may be able to thrive there again. “This site has some of the highest species diversity in the entire Pearl River,” said Matt Wagn...

Rising tensions between employers and employees has put the labor back in this year’s Labor Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Labor Day is right around the corner, along with the big sales and barbecues that come with it. But the activist roots of the holiday are especially visible this year as unions challenge how workers are treated — from Hollywood to the auto production lines of Detroit.The early-September tribute to workers has been an official holiday for almost 130 years — but an emboldened labor movement has created an environment closer to the era from which Labor Day was born. Like the late 1800s, workers are facing rapid economic transformation — and a growing gap in pay between themselves and new billionaire leaders of industry, mirroring the stark inequalities seen more than a century ago. “There’s a lot of historical rhyming between the period of the origins of Labor Day and today,” Todd Vachon, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, told The Associated Press. “Then, they had the Carnegies and the Rockefellers. Today, we have the Musks ...

US House Foreign Affairs Committee chair calls Russia-China alliance the biggest threat since WWII

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:24 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The United States House Foreign Affairs chair said Friday that a partnership of the Russian and Chinese leaders worried him, adding, “We have never seen a threat this large-scale to Europe and the Pacific, I would argue, since World War II.”The alliance of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin “provides a very big challenges I think for the free world in this great power competition that we find ourselves in,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, during a visit to Sweden. Earlier in the year, the Biden administration warned Xi’s government of unspecified consequences if it supports the Kremlin’s war effort in Ukraine. A United States intelligence report said Beijing possibly provided equipment used in Ukraine that might have military applications. The report cited Russian customs data that showed Chinese state-owned military contractors supplied navigation equipment, fighter jet parts, drones and other goods, but didn’t say whether...