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This Week in Business: Consumer borrowing, consumer sentiment, small business update

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

Borrowing barometer The Federal Reserve delivers its monthly snapshot of U.S. consumer borrowing on Tuesday.The tally, which excludes mortgages and other loans secured by real estate, is expected to show consumer borrowing rose by $7.5 billion in September. Consumer borrowing is being watched closely by economists and investors as interest rates have risen to their highest level in more than two decades.Consumer credit, monthly change, seasonally adjusted, billions of dollars:April: 14.4May: 0June: 13.8July: 11.0Aug.: -15.6Sept. (est.) 7.5Source: FactSetSmall business checkupA monthly index that tracks small firms’ view of the U.S. economy and their business prospects is due out Thursday.The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index slipped in September, the 21st straight reading below the index’s 49-year average. The index is based on data from surveys of firms in the National Federation of Independent Business.NFIB small business index, by month:April: 89May: 89.4June: 91July: 91.9...

Polish President Duda set to nominate prime minister Monday

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

President Andrzej Duda will nominate a candidate for prime minister who will get the first shot at forming a Polish government in a speech on Monday evening, his head of Cabinet said.Duda’s decision, made after “consultation and deep consideration,” is “final,” Marcin Mastalerek, the head of Duda’s office, wrote on social media.Poland’s three largest opposition parties said after the October 15 election that they were ready to build a coalition led by Donald Tusk, a former PM and European Council president, to replace the incumbent Law and Justice (PiS) party and asked Duda to allow them the first opportunity to form a government. Tusk’s Civic Coalition, together with the center-right Third Way and the Left, have 248 seats in the 460-member lower house of parliament.PiS came in first in the election, winning 194 seats, but is unlikely to be able to find partners to bring it to the needed parliamentary majority of 231. However, Duda — wh...

Zelenskyy’s top aide slams West over ‘war fatigue’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

World leaders should stick by Ukraine, despite the additional demands of dealing with the Israel-Hamas war, the Ukrainian president’s powerful chief of staff told POLITICO in an interview from Kyiv.Andrii Yermak, head of the office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also pushed back hard on the idea, voiced last week by Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni in a call with Russian pranksters, that many are growing tired of the war in Ukraine. On Friday Ukraine faced its biggest barrage of drone attacks in weeks on critical infrastructure in the south and west of the country.Meloni said in the prank call — in which she thought she was speaking to the president of the African Union — that there was “a lot of fatigue … from all sides,” and that “everyone understands that we need a way out.” Yermak retorted: “Even if there are people who feel this fatigue, I’m sure they don’t want to wake up in a world tomorrow where there will be less freedom and le...

In the news today: Canadians in Gaza still waiting to cross into Egypt

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…No update on border crossing for Canadians in GazaCanadians trapped in the Gaza Strip who were previously told they could be allowed out over the weekend will have to wait longer for escape from the besieged Palestinian territory.The Rafah border crossing into Egypt remained closed over the weekend amid escalating attacks from Israel and Global Affairs Canada says it has no information on when it will reopen.The crossing is the only exit point for foreign nationals who wish to leave the Palestinian territory, which has been under constant bombardment since the Israeli army launched retaliatory attacks for the brutal Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas.Health care, energy costs on premiers agendaHealth care and the effect of carbon pricing measures on the rising cost of living across Canada are slated to take centre stage at today’s meeting of the country’s pr...

Germany’s Scholz faces pressure to curb migration as he meets state governors

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz is to meet Germany’s 16 state governors on Monday to address ways to deal with large numbers of migrants, an issue that has become a huge political problem for the government.Shelters for migrants and refugees are filling up and Scholz, who faces enormous pressure from the opposition and elsewhere to halt that trend, has said that “too many are coming.” The country also has seen more than 1 million Ukrainians arrive since the start of Russia’s war in their homeland. Over recent weeks, there has been a flurry of government activity, including legislation to ease deportations of unsuccessful asylum-seekers, to stiffen punishment for smugglers and to allow asylum-seekers to start working sooner, and the introduction of temporary checks on the Polish, Czech and Swiss borders. The center-left Scholz also has discussed the issue twice with the conservative opposition leader since state elections last month brought poor results for his quarrelsome...

Northeast China sees first major blizzard this season and forecasters warn of record snowfall

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Heavy snow blanketed swaths of China’s northeastern region, shutting schools and halting transportation in the first major snowstorm of the season. Major highways in the northeastern city of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, were closed and flights canceled, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. Elementary and middle schools also canceled classes for Monday. The National Meteorological Center said Monday that snowfall is likely to “breakthrough the historical records” for the same period. Heavy snowstorms are expected to continue in parts of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, with snow depth reaching 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) in some places.Footage showed delivery trucks stranded bumper to bumper, stretching 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) outside the city.Chaoyang city in neighboring Liaoning province and Chifeng in Inner Mongolia province also closed their schools and kindergartens. China’s weather authorities issued an orange alert on...

Hundreds of thousands of Quebec public sector workers on strike today

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

MONTREAL — Hundreds of thousands of Quebec public sector workers are off the job today in the first of a series of one-day strikes.Schools, health care facilities and social services will all be disrupted as four unions representing a “common front” of some 420,000 workers go on strike to protest the province’s latest contract offer.The unions are promising a historic fight to preserve their purchasing power during a time of high inflation. The government’s latest offer includes a 10.3 per cent salary increase over five years and a one-time payment of $1,000 to each worker — a proposal the unions have described as “paltry.”The strike will last from midnight until 10:30 a.m. in elementary and secondary schools, and until noon in junior colleges.Some health and social services including mental health, youth protection and medical imagery will operate at between 70 and 85 per cent capacity, depending on the department, while emergency and inten...

Vancouver man’s family in Gaza ponders whether to stay together so they die together

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

Bombs had scarcely started falling on the Gaza Strip last month when Omar Mansour’s family realized they had a crucial question to resolve: would it be better to face death together or apart?One day after Hamas fighters stormed into Israel — slaughtering at least 1,400 people, seizing roughly 240 hostages and triggering a war that rages on to this day — Mansour’s parents, brothers and sisters gathered in one of their homes to discuss the dilemma. After connecting with Mansour in Vancouver on Oct. 8, the relatives passed the phone around the group to debate the merits of moving to cousins’ houses, seeking shelter in United Nations-run schools or simply staying put.They’ve tried both options in the following weeks, but the core question persists as the war intensifies in the besieged enclave where local authorities say at least 9,700 people have died amid a full-blown humanitarian crisis.“So far the discussion is still the same but we are really running o...

Health care, energy costs expected to be focus of premiers meeting in Halifax

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

HALIFAX — Health care and the effect of carbon pricing measures on the rising cost of living across Canada are slated to take centre stage at today’s meeting of the country’s premiers and territorial leaders in Halifax.Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says health care is the main formal agenda item at the latest Council of the Federation meeting and he hopes talks will produce innovative ideas that can help provinces address the problems plaguing the health system.Houston says discussions may also venture into carbon pricing and Alberta’s plan to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan.The focus on the cost of fuel comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last month a three-year pause on carbon pricing for home fuel oil for the 10 jurisdictions where federal fuel charges apply.British Columbia Premier David Eby says the pause on carbon pricing is unfair to jurisdictions like his province, which collects its own fuel tax and is not eligible for the relief.Me...

No information on status of border crossing as Canadians wait to flee Gaza

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:48:44 GMT

Canadians trapped in the Gaza Strip who were previously told they could be allowed out over the weekend will have to wait longer for escape from the besieged Palestinian territory.The Rafah border crossing into Egypt remained closed over the weekend amid escalating attacks from Israel and Global Affairs Canada says it has no information on when it will reopen.The crossing is the only exit point for foreign nationals who wish to leave the Palestinian territory, which has been under constant bombardment since the Israeli army launched retaliatory attacks for the brutal Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas.Global Affairs says the Israeli military has assured Canada that more than 400 of its citizens will be able to cross “in the coming days” and added that three have already escaped with a third party, though they offered no further details.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he thanked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday for supporting the departure of foreign nationals ...