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European team ends questioning of Lebanon Central Bank chief

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — A European legal team on Friday wrapped up two days of questioning of Lebanon’s Central Bank chief in Beirut in a money-laundering probe linked to the governor, officials said.Several European countries are investigating Gov. Riad Salameh, who in recent years has been charged with corruption-related crimes, in a case of money laundering of some $330 million. Salameh, 72, has been the head of Lebanon’s Central Bank since 1993.He was questioned for two hours on Friday and six hours the day before, according to Lebanese judicial officials. The European delegation — with representatives from France, Germany, and Luxembourg — questioned Salameh through a Lebanese judge, acting as a go-between. Under Lebanese laws, the representatives cannot directly question Salameh.On Thursday, Salameh was questioned about an apartment in Paris rented by Lebanon’s Central Bank and Forry Associates Ltd, a brokerage firm owned by Salameh’s brother, Raja Salameh, the officials tol...

Wall Street opens a bit lower as worries about banks persist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is opening modestly lower as worries persist about the banking industry despite the lifelines it’s been getting. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% in early trading Friday. The Dow lost 0.6% and the Nasdaq was little changed. This week has been a whipsaw for global markets as concerns worsen about banks following the second- and third-largest U.S. bank failures in history. Markets had rallied a day earlier after two banks on both sides of the Atlantic tapped into tens of billions of dollars of cash to bolster their finances. But on Friday, both were lower. Treasury yields sank.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street drifted lower early Friday as a wobbly banking sector continued to be the focus in the U.S. and abroad.Futures for the Dow Jones industrials fell 0.8% and futures for the S&P slipped 0.7%. Despite a tumultuous week of wild swings spurred by the failure two U.S. banks, markets could still finish with gains fo...

Japan PM praises SKorea leader; biz groups vow to boost ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said hats off to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for “making a difficult decision and action” by overcoming the troubled history between the two countries, pledging to work with him toward better future relations.“I want to express my heartfelt respect to President Yoon for making a difficult decision and action by overcoming various (troubled) background and history between the neighbors Japan and South Korea,” Kishida told a news conference Friday, one day after the two leaders held talks in their first formal summit hosted by Japan in 12 years. The two sides seek to turn the page on the longstanding row that has divided the United States allies and form a united front driven by shared concerns over North Korea and Russia. During Thursday’s talks, the two leaders agreed to make the Japan-South Korea summit a start in resuming their “shuttle diplomacy” of regular visits, which had stalled since 2011. They als...

CP Rail, Kansas City Southern Rail to combine next month under new name

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

CALGARY — Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. says it will officially combine with Kansas City Southern Railway Co. on April 14 under a new name, Canadian Pacific Kansas City.The Calgary company says CP’s president and chief executive Keith Creel will helm the new company with CP’s Nadeem Velani to serve as the merged business’s chief financial officer.KCS president and chief executive Pat Ottensmeyer will become an advisor to Creel through the remainder of 2023 to foster continuity.CP says the new company will operate the first single-line railway connecting the U.S., Mexico and Canada. It is expected to shift about 64,000 truckloads annually from North America’s roads to rail.CP and KCS got approval for the takeover from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board earlier this week, clearing the final hurdle for the US$31 billion deal signed in December 2021 to close.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:CP, ...

Italy’s far-right premier addresses country’s oldest union

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday became the first Italian leader in nearly 30 years to address the annual meeting of the nation’s largest, oldest and most left-wing CGIL union confederation. Meloni, who heads post-war Italy’s first far-right led government, was met with a chorus of vocal protests as she took the podium, but the audience remained silent during her nearly 30-minute remarks that included her government’s plans to create jobs and ease the overall tax burden on workers. She received one round of applause, when she mentioned extreme-right attacks against CGIL offices, but immediately followed that up with a reference to left-wing attacks on Italian diplomatic targets abroad. Meloni told the gathering in the Adriatic seaside city of Rimini that despite their different views “we are working with the same goal, which is the for the good of our nation. If this is the spirit, then the confrontation is necessary, fundamental, inevitable and useful.” Meloni said sh...

Texas, Florida push border laws as governors eye presidency

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Led by tough-talking Republican governors weighing presidential runs, Texas and Florida are debating especially strict legislation on border security as the GOP tests federal authority over immigration. The moves in the two GOP-controlled statehouses come against a backdrop of polarization in Congress that makes any national immigration legislation seem unlikely as President Joe Biden tries to drive down migrant arrivals at the border while eyeing his own reelection bid.Republican proposals in Texas build on Gov. Greg Abbott’s $4 billion project Operation Lone Star, with its construction of more barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and busing of migrants to Democratic-led cities, including Washington, D.C., and New York. Abbott’s aides confirm he’s considering running for president.Operation Lone Star already has added more officers along Texas’ border with Mexico to detain migrants who trespass on private property. Now, Texas lawmakers have propose...

Pakistani court suspends arrest warrant for ex-PM Imran Khan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A top Pakistani court on Friday suspended an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Imran Khan, giving him a reprieve to travel to Islamabad and face charges in a graft case without being detained.Khan has been holed up at his home in the eastern city of Lahore since Tuesday, after failing to appear at an earlier hearing in the case. His supporters hurled stones and clashed with baton-wielding police for two days to protect the former premier from arrest.Khan, now in the opposition, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament last April. He is accused of selling state gifts while in office and concealing assets. It’s one of a string of cases that the former cricket star turned Islamist politician is facing since his ouster. He is now due in court on Saturday, after Aamer Farooq, the chief justice at the Islamabad High Court, suspended the warrant in the graft case. The court on Friday also warned Khan that he could face contempt proceedings if he again ...

German Cabinet minister to visit Taiwan, 1st in 26 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s education and research minister is making an official trip to Taiwan next week, officials said Friday. It will be the highest-level visit by a German official since 1997 to the island that China claims as part of its territory.The March 20-22 visit comes amid growing tensions between China and the West, including over Beijing’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine. China reacted when angrily when then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan last year.The visit by Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, whose ministry also oversees science, will focus on cooperation in areas of chip research and manufacturing, green hydrogen and battery production, spokesman Martin Kleinemas said.Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the visit didn’t indicate any change in position when it comes to Germany’s policy on Taiwan, which supports the European Union’s practice of cooperating with Taipei at the technical level wit...

City of Markham employee on leave after using N-word during college lecture

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

A municipal employee in Markham has been placed on administrative leave after using a racial slur during a guest lecture at a Toronto college.The City of Markham confirms a staff member was speaking to students at George Brown College on Wednesday, when she used the N-word while presenting a case study to a human resources class.“The city was recently made aware of a troubling incident involving the use of racist language by a staff member,” says Bryan Frois, spokesperson for the City of Markham. “After learning of the incident, the staff member was placed on administrative leave.”Markham officials say they have hired a third-party investigator to review the situation and “provide recommendations.”The college has also launched an investigation to address the issue and take steps to prevent it from happening again. The school says representatives began looking into the issue as soon as they learned of it.“(We are) aware of a disturbing and troublin...

Spain: Long-term drought to bring more heatwaves, widlfires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:48 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain has officially entered a period of long-term drought, owing to high temperatures and low rainfall over the past three years, and likely faces another year of heatwaves and forest fires.The country’s Aemet weather agency said Friday that statistics showed Spain entered a long-duration drought at the end of 2022 and the first three months of 2023 show no major signs of change.“The first available predictions for the summer of 2023 point to a likely situation of temperatures once again above normal,” said Aemet spokesman Rubén del Campo, adding that the coming summer “the risk of fires could be very high given the high temperatures.”But Del Campo pointed out that the country has experienced severe droughts before in 2017, 2005 and at the end of the 1990s and 1980s.“To put it in context, we´re in a drought but there have been worse droughts, which is not to say this will not be important,” he told a press conference.Aemet says Spain is geographically prone to high te...