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Stock market today: Asian stocks mixed after China reports weak July data and cuts key interest rate

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday after China reported weak July consumer and business activity and its central bank cut a key interest rate to shore up the struggling economy.Shanghai and Hong retreated while Tokyo and Sydney gained. Oil prices rose.The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3% to 3,169.18 after official data showed growth in Chinese consumer spending and factory output slowed more than expected. The People’s Bank of China cut its interest rate on one-week loans to banks. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.8% to 18,622.55.“Policymakers are starting to hit the panic button,” said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management in a report.The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.8% to 32,314.90 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,310.30. Markets in Korea and India were closed for holidays. New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta gained while Bangkok declined.Chinese leaders are trying to shore up flagging economic growth without resorting to an across-the-board s...

Bethancourt homers and singles in run, Rays beat Giants 10-2

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tyler Glasnow knew a few days ago throwing a bullpen that he felt almost right again, and he sure looked like his dominant self after a two-week layoff dealing with back spasms.Catcher Christian Bethancourt realized it when Glasnow unleashed a 98 mph fastball that actually broke the webbing on his glove.“He was great,” Bethancourt said. “To be honest he was definitely better than what I expected coming from almost two weeks without pitching with back spasms.”Bethancourt homered and singled in a run to back Glasnow’s fourth straight winning decision, and the Tampa Bay Rays won their first game since placing All-Star shortstop Wander Franco on the restricted list, beating the San Francisco Giants 10-2 on Monday night.It was Bethancourt’s first homer since May 20 against Milwaukee.“I almost forgot what to do in the dugout, run the bases, it’s been a very long time,” Bethancourt joked.Osleivis Basabe hit a two-run single in the fourth for his first...

South Bay city looks to its neighbor for reference on adoption of encampment ban

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- Chula Vista city leaders are trying to get ahead of the growing homeless population. This comes after San Diego began enforcing its encampment ban. Now, the South Bay city says it's looking to its neighbor for reference. “Earlier I was passing by, and I saw these guys and I knew I had to stop and get them dinner," shared Jake Stonebreaker, a longtime Chula Vista resident who was providing food to the homeless Monday evening. The area and people he's referring to are a group of unhoused people camped right across the street from the county's Health and Human Services building along Oxford St. It's where Chieko Tanaka and her husband set up their tent Monday as she and others flock to the South Bay; some, choosing a tent over shelter for now. “It’s not safe. You’re actually more at risk going into the shelter than you are on the street," Tanaka said. After San Diego's controversial encampment ban, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann says more unhoused people are migra...

Russia targets western Ukraine with missiles overnight and hits civilian infrastructure

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile attack overnight damaged multiple civilian buildings in Ukraine’s western region of Lviv and injured local residents, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.Lviv, on the border with Poland, is hundreds of miles (kilometers) away from the frontline but is regularly a target of Russian attacks as Moscow tries to disrupt supply routes for Western weapons and as its war in Ukraine nears the 18-month mark.Multiple buildings in the region and its namesake capital were damaged in the attack, Lviv Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi said.A multi-story residential building caught fire in the city of Lviv after missile debris fell on it in the early hours of Tuesday, the governor said. Ten other residential buildings were damaged in the Stavchany and Sukhovolya villages outside the city.Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said one missile hit a yard at a local kindergarten, injuring four people. Sadovyi said the explosion destroyed the kindergarten completely and damaged more t...

Massive explosion at gas station in Russia’s Dagestan kills 30, injures scores more

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A massive explosion at a gas station in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan killed 30 people and injured scores more, Russian officials said Tuesday.Russia’s Emergency Ministry reported Tuesday that a total of 105 people were injured, and 30 of them died. Three of those killed were children, Dagestan’s governor Sergei Melikov said. The explosion took place Monday night on the outskirts of Makhachkala, the region’s capital. A fire started at a car repair shop and spread to a nearby gas station, prompting a blast, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the country’s Emergency Ministry. The subsequent fire raged on the area of 600 square meters (yards), the report said. Some of those injured will be airlifted to Moscow for treatment, according to the report.Russian authorities have begun a criminal investigation.Families of the victims will receive 1 million rubles (about $10,000) each, Dagestan’s authorities said, a...

As the Black Sea becomes a battleground, one Ukrainian farmer doesn’t know how he’ll sell his grain

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Victor Tsvyk harvested 4,800 tons of wheat this month, but after Russia exited a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to ship grain to the world, he has no idea where his produce will go. Or how his beloved farm will survive.Tsvyk, who normally exported up to 90% of his harvest from the southern port of Odesa, faces a crisis: His yield is 20% higher compared with last year, which would have been a boon in times of peace, but in war, exorbitant logistics costs and Russia’s blockage of the ports has made shipping grain too expensive for him.Tsvyk is one of thousands of Ukrainian farmers facing a similar dilemma. “It’s too painful to talk about,” the 67-year-old said when asked how he envisions the future.Last month, Russia pulled out of the deal that the U.N. and Turkey brokered to provide protection for ships carrying Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. Moscow has since stepped up attacks on Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure while Ukraine has hit one of Ru...

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin acquitted of four graft charges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was acquitted by the high court of four corruption charges on Tuesday, just days after his opposition bloc expanded its influence in local elections. Muhyiddin, 75, said the high court struck down four charges of abusing his power to obtain 232.5 million ringgit ($50 million) in bribes for his Bersatu party. He was charged in March and still faces three charges of money laundering involving 200 million ringgit ($43 million). “From the start, I have said that these are politically motivated charges. I have not done anything wrong … and today it has been proven that these were false allegations,” he told reporters outside the courthouse.His lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, said the court agreed with the defense contention that the charges were defective legally and lacked details on how the offenses were committed. With the collapse of the four main charges, Teh said they were confident the other th...

4 Australians and 2 Indonesians are rescued after being missing in waters off Aceh for 2 days

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Four Australian tourists and two Indonesians were rescued after being missing for two days in the waters off Indonesia’s Aceh province, officials and the father of one of the Australians said Tuesday.Peter Foote, the father of Elliot Foote, who had traveled to Indonesia to celebrate his 30th birthday with friends, said he received a text message from his son saying he is okay.“It says: ‘Hey Dad, Elliot here. I’m alive. Safe now. Love you. Chat later,’” Peter Foote said at a news conference in Sydney on Tuesday. “It’s great, it’s good news. I’ll have to talk to him and want to see photos and see what he looks like. It’s all good.”A wooden speedboat carrying the four Australians and three Indonesian crew members ran into bad weather on Sunday. The details of how they ended up in the sea remain unclear.One Indonesian crew member is still missing, according to the head of the local rescue agency.Peter Foote was told his son had paddled his surfboard...

Israel may uproot ancient Christian mosaic near Armageddon. Where it could go next sparks outcry

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

TEL MEGIDDO, Israel (AP) — An ancient Christian mosaic bearing an early reference to Jesus as God is at the center of a controversy that has riled archaeologists: Should the centuries-old decorated floor, which is near what’s believed to be the site of the prophesied Armageddon, be uprooted and loaned to a U.S. museum that has been criticized for past acquisition practices?Israeli officials are considering just that. The proposed loan to the Museum of the Bible in Washington also underscores the deepening ties between Israel and evangelical Christians in the U.S, whom Israel has come to count on for political support, tourism dollars and other benefits.The Megiddo Mosaic is from what is believed to be the world’s earliest Christian prayer hall that was located in a Roman-era village in northern Israel. It was discovered by Israeli archaeologists in 2005 during a salvage excavation conducted as part of the planned expansion of an Israeli prison.The prison sits at a histor...

Modi says India’s economy will be among the top three in the world within five years

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:55:11 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s economy will be among the top three in the world within five years, as he marked 76 years of independence from British rule on Tuesday.Wearing a flowing, multi-colored turban, Modi addressed the country from New Delhi’s 17th century Mughal-era Red Fort, saying his government had lifted over 130 million people out of poverty and that India’s growing prosperity was an opportunity for the world.“When poverty decreases in a country, the power of the middle class increases considerably,” he said. “In the next five years, I promise India will be among the top three economies in the world.”His statement comes after reports last year from S&P Global and Morgan Stanley forecast that India’s economy would overtake Japan and Germany’s to become the world’s third largest by 2030. They said India’s economic boom will be driven by offshoring, investment in manufacturing, growing digital infrastructure and energy transition.India...