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Hopes for a Mercosur-EU trade deal fade yet again as leaders meet in Brazil

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — Heads of state from South America’s Mercosur trade bloc were in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday for a meeting all but certain to once again disappoint members hoping to finalize a long-delayed deal with the European Union.Negotiations with the EU were set to be the gathering’s main topic, and host Brazil had aimed for a swift conclusion to finalize a deal. However, the outgoing government of Argentina, the bloc’s second-biggest economy, has already said it opposes the agreement, although right-wing President-elect Javier Milei, who will be sworn in on Sunday, has expressed support.Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is an advocate of the agreement that has been in the works for two decades. His main partners so far have been Spain, which holds the presidency of the EU, and Germany. Paraguay and Uruguay are also a part of the bloc and the membership of Bolivia, which has been in the process of joining, is expected to be announced Thursda...

Trump expected to attend New York fraud trial again Thursday as testimony nears an end

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — He’s been a frustrated observer, a confrontational witness and a heated commentator outside the courtroom door. Now former President Donald Trump is poised to return to his civil business fraud trial again, first to watch and then to serve as star witness for his own defense.With testimony winding down after more than two months, court officials and Trump’s attorneys and aides have indicated that the Republican 2024 presidential front-runner is expected to show up voluntarily as a spectator Thursday, when his legal team is calling an accounting professor to testify about some financial topics important to the case. Then Trump himself is scheduled to take the stand Monday, for a second time.Even while campaigning to reclaim the presidency and fighting four criminal cases, Trump is devoting a lot of attention to the New York lawsuit. The case is putting his net worth on trial, scrutinizing the real estate empire that first built his reputation, and threaten...

Divides over trade and Ukraine are in focus as EU and China’s leaders meet in Beijing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The leaders of China and the European Union were holding wide-ranging talks Thursday that included their disputes over trade and a deep divide on the war in Ukraine.Chinese President Xi Jinping met at a state guesthouse in Beijing with the two European presidents, Ursula von der Leyen from the EU Commission and Charles Michel from the EU Council. The two European leaders were going to meet Premier Li Qiang, China’s No. 2 leader, later on Thursday. The European Union is calling on China to improve market access for products from its 27 member countries to address an annual trade imbalance of more than $200 billion between the two sides. China exported $458.5 billion worth of goods to the EU in the first 11 months of this year, and imported $257.8 billion, according to Chinese customs data released Thursday.The EU also has angered China by launching an investigation into the latter’s subsidies for electric vehicles to determine whether they give manufacturer...

Who are the Houthis and why hasn’t the US retaliated for their attacks on ships in the Middle East?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched missiles and hit three commercial ships in the southern Red Sea last weekend, it triggered an immediate question: Will the U.S. military strike back?The Houthis have sharply escalated their attacks against ships as they sail toward the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. And U.S. Navy ships have shot down an array of drones headed their way and believed to have been launched by the militant group from territory it controls in Yemen.But so far, the U.S. has avoided military retaliation — a marked difference from its multiple strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria that have fired rockets, missiles and drones at bases housing American forces in both countries.No one has been reported hurt in the Houthi incidents, although the commercial ships suffered some damage. And U.S. officials argue that the Houthis haven’t technically targeted U.S. vessels or forces — a subtlety that Navy ship captains watching ...

Centenarian survivors of Pearl Harbor attack are returning to honor those who perished 82 years ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Ira “Ike” Schab had just showered, put on a clean sailor’s uniform and closed his locker aboard the USS Dobbin when he heard a call for a fire rescue party. He went topside to see the USS Utah capsizing and Japanese planes in the air. He scurried back below deck to grab boxes of ammunition and joined a daisy chain of sailors feeding shells to an anti-aircraft gun up above. He remembers being only 140 pounds (63.50 kilograms) as a 21-year-old, but somehow finding the strength to lift boxes weighing almost twice that. “We were pretty startled. Startled and scared to death,” Schab, now 103, said at his home in Beaverton, Oregon, where he lives with his daughter. “We didn’t know what to expect and we knew that if anything happened to us, that would be it.”Eighty-two years later, Schab plans to return to Pearl Harbor Thursday on the anniversary of the attack to remember the more than 2,300 servicemen killed. He’s expected to be one of just six surv...

Climate talks shift into high gear. Now words and definitions matter at COP28

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The mood is about to shift, the hours grow longer and the already high sense of urgency somehow amp up even more as the United Nations climate summit heads into its final week.Every sentence, every word — especially those about the future elimination of planet-warming fossil fuels — will matter at the U.N. conference in oil-built Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Professional negotiators who have been working on getting options into shape will turn over their work to senior national officials, many at minister levels, who will have to make the tough political choices.“We’re heading into quite a political process, less access into the negotiating rooms, negotiations will go deep into the night, a number of nights,” said David Waskow, international climate initiative director for the World Resources Institute.Even with the hard work to come, some of those who are about to do it have this sense of optimism, especially because everyone has the d...

Mild Pacific air heads our way; temps within striking distance of 60° Friday. Fast-moving system brings Saturday morning rain, possible thunder

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

Watch the "PINEAPPLE EXPRESS" at work—a persistent flow of moisture into a region meteorologists describe as an "ATMOSPHERIC RIVER" It's been drenching the Pacific Northwest in recent days, producing record rainfalls and abnormally mild temperature. This flood of abnormally mild, moist Pacific air with origins in the equatorial Pacific south of the Hawaiian Islands thousands of miles southwest of the U.S. West Coast, that's to bring Chicago unseasonably mild temps Thursday and Friday. This could include a near 60-degree high temp in portions of the Chicago area Friday.What you see here is a multi-day GOES WEST weather satellite animation produced by the folks at CIRA-RAMBB at Colorado State. This "movie" illustrates how persistent and targeted the flow of deep atmospheric moisture into the Pacific Northwest has been. Wave after wave of precipitation sweeps in—the rain intensity amplified by the flow's interaction with the West's mountains which act to lift and cool the air to satura...

Nikola Jokic has career-worst shooting performance as Nuggets fall to Clippers in Jamal Murray’s return

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

No Lob City vintage magic this time for the Nuggets.Nine days after going into Los Angeles and beating the Clippers without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon, the Nuggets lost 111-102 with all three in the lineup Wednesday.Denver (14-8) hosts the Rockets on Friday in another rescheduled game for teams eliminated from the in-season tournament.A Jokic low pointUsually, when Nikola Jokic’s rest minutes are shaky for the Nuggets and the game is closer than they’d like, the two-time MVP re-enters the game and everything fixes itself.Not this time. Jokic missed more shots than he had ever missed in a single game in his NBA career, finishing 9-for-32 from the field including a stretch of nine consecutive misses in the second quarter, also matching a career-worst streak.His night spiraled in spite of a promising start in the one area where he has struggled this season: the perimeter. His first two attempts of the game were made 3-pointers, seemingly getting him back on ...

Man arrested for punching stroller-pushing grandfather in Calabasas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

One day after security camera footage showed a man sucker-punch another man who was pushing his infant grandchild in a stroller in Calabasas on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said they arrested the attacker in Oxnard.The victim, a man in his 60s, called the LASD Tuesday evening to report the incident, which happened in the 4000 block of Lost Spring Road, a spokesperson confirmed. On Wednesday evening, the LASD announced they'd arrested 29-year-old Angel Sanchez Jr. in Oxnard on a charge of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. Thousands of Southern Californians targeted in ATM skimming theft A video of the attack posted on Neighbors and shared with KTLA had rattled the community.The clip showed the attacker walking up to the victim and hitting him squarely in the face with a left hook. The victim falls to the ground and the stroller, which contained the man's 10-month-old grandchild, tumbles over. His assailant then gets into a minivan par...

2 arrested after violent retail theft in South Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:56:42 GMT

Two suspects were arrested after a violent confrontation during a retail theft in South Los Angeles.The suspects were identified as Jahana Boyce, 25, and Andrew Ramirez, 27, by the Los Angeles Police Department.On Aug. 31, Boyce and Ramirez entered a shop on the 8600 block of Avalon Boulevard at around 3:30 p.m.Inside, the duo began grabbing a variety of high-priced items before walking to the exit. An employee tried stopping the suspects from leaving. That’s when Boyce allegedly punched the worker in the face, knocking him to the floor, police said.The suspects walked out of the store with the stolen merchandise and left the area. The altercation left the employee with severe injuries that required surgery.The LAPD’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force later identified the duo as responsible for at least four retail thefts across L.A. Thousands of Southern Californians targeted in ATM skimming theft They had been previously arrested on Aug. 16 for a retail theft in East L.A. where ...