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Stock market today: World shares retreat after China reports weaker than expected growth in 2Q

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares retreated in Asia and Europe on Monday after China reported weaker growth than forecast in the last quarter. Oil prices fell more than $1 a barrel. Germany’s DAX edged less than 0.1% lower to 16,097.87 and the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.7% to 7,323.91. Britain’s FTSE lost 0.1% to 7,424.61. The future for the S&P 500 was nearly unchanged. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1%. Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday and Hong Kong’s market was shuttered due to a typhoon.The Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.9% to 3,209.63 after China reported its economy grew at a 6.3% annual pace in April-June. That’s better than the 4.5% expansion in the January-March quarter but well below forecasts of over 7%. The economy is expected to slow further in coming months, though investors will be expecting moves from Beijing to prop up growth.So “the data will be viewed through the lens of how it will influence the policy decisions made at the...

Climate envoy John Kerry is in China for talks the U.S. hopes will raise relations from historic low

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. climate envoy John Kerry was holding talks Monday with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, as the U.S. seeks to restore contacts that were disrupted by disputes over trade, Taiwan, human rights and China’s territorial claims. China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Kerry was meeting with Xie Zhenhua for the first extensive face-to-face climate discussions between representatives of the world’s two worst climate polluters after a nearly yearlong hiatus.China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal and has proceeded with building new plants, while at the same time forging ahead with renewables such as solar and wind power. Yet, congressional Republicans questioning of Kerry ahead of his trip at times broke down into challenging the existence of the scientifically established fact of climate change. But with Republicans as well as Democrats overall accepting the science underlying the warming climate, much of the criticism from GOP committee memb...

Traffic on key bridge from Crimea to Russia’s mainland halted after attack that kills 2

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia — Traffic on the key bridge connecting Crimea to Russia’s mainland was halted on Monday after one of its sections was blown up in what Russian officials said was a Ukrainian attack that also killed a married couple and injured their daughter.Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said that the attack had been staged by the Ukrainian special services and involved two sea drones. Ukrainian officials didn’t claim responsibility for the attack, which is the second major strike on the bridge since October, when a truck bomb blew up two of its sections.Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command, said the explosions on the bridge could be a Russian provocation, but Ukrainian Ukrainska Pravda and RBC Ukraine news outlets said the attack was planned jointly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Navy and involved sea drones.Kyiv didn’t initially acknowledge responsibility for October’s bombing, but ...

In the news today: Record-breaking wildfires, North American Indigenous Games

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 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…Canada sees record-breaking wildfire seasonCanada’s wildfire season has broken an unfortunate record, with over 100-thousand square kilometres of land now scorched by wildfires.Blazes continue to burn out of control across the entire country, with the total amount of blackened earth equalling to roughly the combined size of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Michigan.The majority of blazes are now in British Columbia, with more than 370 of the country’s 878 active fires.North American Indigenous Games officially open in HalifaxPrime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to a large crowd of Indigenous athletes as the North American Indigenous Games officially kicked off in Halifax.Athletes from across the continent filled the main hockey arena in Halifax while Trudeau told the stadium that they will celebrate not only their athletic achievements, but their ide...

China’s economy misses growth forecasts, raising the odds of more support for its tepid recovery

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s economic growth missed forecasts in the second quarter of the year, adding to worries over surging youth unemployment and a weak property sector and raising the likelihood the government will double down on support for the faltering post COVID-19 recovery. The world’s second largest economy grew at a 6.3% annual pace in the April-June quarter, much slower than the 7% plus growth analysts had forecast given the anemic pace of activity the year before. Unemployment of youths aged 16 to 24 rose to a record 21.3% in June, up from 20.8% the month before. Investment in property development, a vital driver of both industrial and consumer demand, sank 7.9% in the first half of the year compared to a year earlier in a troubling sign of persisting weakness in an industry that slowed even before the pandemic as the government moved to rein in excessive borrowing. Officials have acknowledged that the economy is facing stiff headwinds, but said they expected ...

Canadian film, TV workers feel sting of twin Hollywood writer and actor strikes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

TORONTO — Canadian film and television workers are feeling the sting of twin strikes by Hollywood writers and actors.Vancouver-based Derek Baskerville, who rents costumes mostly to U.S. film shoots, says he laid off a part-time worker last week and has scaled back the hours of other staff as work dried up.Toronto agent Karin Martin says many of her clients haven’t worked since winter because U.S. studios anticipated job action and scaled back orders.She represents production designers, cinematographers, line producers and others who work behind the scenes. She says many are now “scared and at risk.”The Writers Guild of America walked off the job May 2 and the performers union SAG-AFTRA began its strike last Friday.Even though it’s a U.S. labour dispute, the strikes have touched U.S. films and series that shoot in Canada and employ tens of thousands of local crews and talent. “These are my family, all these people I represent and they’re scared,” says Martin.“Every day my...

One person remains in hospital after deadly gondola crash at Quebec’s Mont Tremblant

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

MONT-TREMBLANT, Que. — One person remains in hospital a day after a deadly gondola crash at Quebec’s popular Mont Tremblant resort.Two people were thrown from a sightseeing gondola at the resort in the Laurentian Mountains on Sunday, killing one and critically injuring the other.Provincial police said the crash occurred shortly before noon when a piece of construction equipment struck the gondola.A statement from Station Mont Tremblant said the construction equipment involved in the collision was operated by a third party. The gondola remains closed until further notice and Sunday’s activities on the mountain, including an ongoing Blues Festival, were cancelled.Quebec’s Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx said in a post on Twitter that she is following the situation closely.This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2023.The Canadian Press

Privacy Act allows disclosure for inmate transfers, Mendicino said it restricts them

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

OTTAWA — Soon after Canadians were told privacy law was preventing them from learning why notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo was moved to a medium-security prison, the federal privacy watchdog was reminded behind the scenes that there are ways around it.Bernardo had spent nearly 30 years in a maximum-security prison — most recently the Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ont. — before news broke that he had been transferred to La Macaza Institution in Quebec, a medium-security prison offering treatment for sex offenders, at the end of May.Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, whose handling of the prison transfer has dogged him for weeks, has said that the Correctional Service of Canada, which was responsible for the decision, owes Canadians an explanation given the severity of Bernardo’s crimes.But he has also said the Privacy Act was getting in the way of transparency.“The Privacy Act and other legislation currently puts significant limits on what can be discusse...

As immigration debate rages on, new report makes the case for more newcomers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

OTTAWA — At a time when skeptics are questioning Canada’s plan to ramp up immigration, a new report argues the country needs to welcome a lot more newcomers to counter-balance its aging demographic.A Desjardins report released Monday analyzes how much population growth among working-age Canadians is necessary to maintain the old-age dependency ratio, which refers to the ratio between 15 to 64-year-olds and those aged 65 and older. It finds that the working-age population would have to grow by 2.2 per cent per year through 2040 to maintain the same ratio that existed in 2022. And if the country wanted to go back to the average old-age dependency ratio it had between 1990 and 2015, that group of Canadians would have to grow by 4.5 per cent annually. “I feel like the discussion around immigration levels in Canada, by and large, focuses on the immediate impact on the Canadian housing market,” said Randall Bartlett, Desjardins’ senior director of Canadian economic...

The military chiefs of Pakistan and Iran agree to work together to stop border attacks by militants

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:17 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The top military leadership of Pakistan and neighboring Iran agreed to step up cooperation and intelligence sharing and take “effective actions” to prevent attacks by separatist militants along their porous border, Pakistani officials said Monday. The agreement was reached during a visit by Pakistan’s powerful army chief Gen. Asim Munir to Tehran over the weekend, officials said. Munir traveled to Tehran on a two-day visit following a surge in attacks in the country’s southwestern Baluchistan province, which shares a long border with Afghanistan and Iran.Pakistan’s relations with Iran have witnessed ups and downs in recent years because of cross-border attacks by Pakistani militants. Small separatist groups have been behind a long-running insurgency calling for gas and oil-rich Baluchistan’s independence from the central government in Islamabad. Pakistani anti-Iran militants have also targeted the Iranian border in recent years, increasing friction between the...