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Israeli president urges Netanyahu to halt legal overhaul

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s ceremonial president on Monday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately halt a contentious overhaul of the judiciary.Isaac Herzog’s plea comes hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a spontaneous show of anger at Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister after he called for a pause to the overhaul.Herzog called on the government to put aside political considerations for the sake of the nation.“The entire nation is rapt with deep worry. Our security, economy, society — all are under threat,” he said. “Wake up now!”The overhaul has sparked one of Israel’s gravest domestic crises, drawing widespread opposition from business leaders, legal officials and even the country’s military.An uneasy calm returned to the country’s streets after a raucous night of protests where tens of thousands of demonstrators lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, blocking that major through...

Australia steps toward making big polluters reduce emissions

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government took a major step toward implementing a key climate policy that would force chief greenhouse gas polluters to reduce emissions, with the minor Greens party pledging their support Monday.The center-left Labor Party administration said the so-called Safeguard Mechanism reforms are essential to Australia reaching its target of reducing its emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. The reforms would create a ceiling on the nation’s emissions and force Australia’s 215 biggest polluting facilities to reduce their emissions over time.The Climate Council, a leading climate communicator, described the reforms as the first Australian legislation in a decade that would regulate greenhouse gas pollution.With the support of the Greens’ 11 senators, the government only needs the backing of two unaligned or minor party senators to get the reforms through the upper chamber. Greens leader Adam Bandt said a “hard cap” on emission...

Asian shares mixed after weekend lull in bank worries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Monday after stocks on Wall Street shook off a weak start to end higher on Wall Street last week despite persisting worries over banks on both sides of the Atlantic.Coming off a lull in fresh news of troubles over the weekend, benchmarks slipped in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Taiwan but rose in Tokyo and Sydney. U.S. futures gained and oil prices were little changed. Concerns that higher interest rates are squeezing lenders have revived fears of recession and raised uncertainty about policies of the Federal Reserve and other central banks. On Friday, news about Deutsche Bank’s credit default swaps was the latest big news to shake the markets. “This is keeping financial stocks pressured with traders on the lookout for any other potential pockets of trouble in the global financial system,” Tim Waterer, an analyst at Kohle Capital Markets, said in a commentary. Given recent market gains, “it’s fair to say that traders are putting on a ...

Civil Disobedience Is Proof Democracy Can Work Peacefully

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

Loose tire launches car into midair spin on 118 Freeway in Chatsworth: video

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

Dash-cam footage from a Tesla captured the moment a vehicle on a Southern California freeway ran over a tire that had just come off a nearby pickup truck, launching the car into a midair spin.  The incident occurred on Mar. 23 on the 118 Freeway in Chatsworth and was caught on Anoop Khatra’s dashboard camera.  Video shows traffic moving along the roadway when a dark colored vehicle approaches a pickup truck that had just transitioned into the middle lane. Moments later, the truck’s front driver’s side tire pops off right in front of the dark colored car.  The driver of the dark colored vehicle runs over the tire and shoots into a midair spin before crashing back on the freeway hood first and rolling back to right side up. As if that weren't scary enough, video also shows the tire coming back into frame and slamming into the wreckage of the vehicle as it skids to a stop.  Dash-cam footage from a Tesla captured the moment a vehicle on the 118 Freeway in Chatsworth ran o...

This week: Walgreens earnings, inflation and consumer data

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:WALGREENS Walgreen Boots Alliance posts its second-quarter earnings Tuesday before the bell.The Illinois-based health care retailer and pharmacy is forecast by Wall Street to post a smaller profit compared with the year-ago period. Analysts project that Walgreens earned $1.10 in the second quarter, down from the $1.59 it earned a year ago. Walgreens shares are down 13% this year after tumbling 28% in 2022.HOW CONFIDENT?The Conference Board issues its monthly consumer confidence report on Tuesday.Analysts are predicting that the board’s consumer confidence index dipped this month to 101.3 from 102.9 in February. A reading of 90 or better reflects a healthy economy. Inflation and rising interest rates have shaken consumers’ confidence in the past year, but a strong labor market has helped to prop up Americans’ optimism.Consumer confidence index, by month:Oct.: 102.2Nov.: 101.4Dec.: 1...

SNP decision day: What you need to know as Scotland’s ruling party picks its new leader

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

It’s a huge day in Scottish politics as the long-dominant and pro-independence Scottish National Party decides who will succeed Nicola Sturgeon as its leader — and the country’s next first minister. Here’s what you need to know as the bitter contest comes to a close.Why the contest is happeningSturgeon — who has led the party and the country’s devolved government since 2014 — stunned Scottish politics last month when she announced she was stepping down. Citing the personal toll of the job and a desire to “free” her party to pick its own Scottish independence strategy, the 52-year-old leader said it had been a “privilege beyond measure” to serve as first minister.The move leaves the SNP — already openly split on a host of issues ranging from how to achieve its ultimate prize of independence to a law making it easier to legally change gender — facing its first leadership contest for almost two decades.Who’s running?Humza Yousaf: Yousaf announced his candidacy o...

Opposition to Netanyahu’s legal plan mounts after protests

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary was facing mounting opposition on Monday, with the country’s ceremonial president urging for an immediate halt to the legal changes. Universities countrywide shut their doors in protest and trade unions were expected to call for a general strike.The growing resistance to the plan came hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a spontaneous show of anger at Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister after he called for a pause to the overhaul. They lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing the throughway and many others throughout the country for hours.The overhaul, driven by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, and his allies in Israel’s most right-wing government ever, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked a sustained and intensifying protest movement that has spread to ne...

FDIC: First Citizens Bank to acquire Silicon Valley Bank

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has agreed on the sale of troubled Silicon Valley Bank to North Carolina-based First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co. The sale involves the sale of all deposits and loans of SVB to First-Citizens, the FDIC said in a statement late Sunday. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank rattled the banking industry and led the FDIC and other regulators to act to protect depositors to prevent wider financial turmoil. The bank, based in Santa Clara, California, failed on March 10 after depositors rushed to withdraw money amid fears about the bank’s health. It was the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history. The Associated Press

In Macron’s France, streets and fields seethe with protest

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:25:42 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A big day has come for French high school student Elisa Fares. At age 17, she is taking part in her first protest.In a country that taught the world about people power with its revolution of 1789 — and a country again seething with anger against its leaders — graduating from bystander to demonstrator is a generations-old rite of passage. Fares looks both excited and nervous as she prepares to march down Paris streets where people for centuries have similarly defied authority and declared: “Non!” Two friends, neither older than 18 but already protest veterans whose parents took them to demonstrations when they were little, are showing Fares the ropes. They’ve readied eyedrops and gas masks in case police fire tear gas — as they have done repeatedly in recent weeks.“The French are known for fighting and we’ll fight,” says one of the friends, Coline Marionneau, also 17. “My mother goes to a lot of demonstrations … She says if you have things to say, you s...