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Retail sales rise 0.6% in August as inflation on many items eases, but gas price hike boosts number

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans stepped up retail spending modestly from July to August as the price of gasoline jumped, cutting into budgets as many families send their kids off to school. Retail sales rose 0.6% in August, compared with a revised 0.5% increase in July, according to a report issued by the Commerce Department on Thursday. The big rise in gas prices accounted for more than half of the inflation increase recorded in August, the U.S. reported Wednesday. Excluding gas, retail sales were just up 0.2%, according to the report.Sales at gas stations rose a robust 5.2%, while furniture and home furnishings stores saw a 1% drop in sales. Clothing and accessories stores had a 0.9% gain. Restaurants saw a 0.3% increase. Grocery stores had a 0.4% increase.The uptick in retail sales reflects the economy’s resiliency despite a still tough economic environment. Yet spending has been volatile this year after surging nearly 3% in January. Sales tumbled in February and March before recoverin...

Pakistani court rejects ex-PM Imran Khan’s bail plea in case related to leaking state secrets

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges of leaking state secrets, his lawyer said.Khan is accused of exposing an official secret document, dubbed Cipher, when he waved a confidential diplomatic letter at a rally last year.It was apparently correspondence between a Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad. Khan told the rally it was proof that his removal from power in April 2022 was a conspiracy.After a private hearing, Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain dismissed the plea under the Official Secrets Act. Zulqarnain made no immediate remarks on his rejection of Khan’s plea. He said at the hearing that “irrelevant persons” like journalists and lawyers not connected with the case were to leave the room at the request of the government prosecutor. Khan’s lawyer Naeem Panjutha denounced the decision to refuse bail. “The facts of the case are crystal clear...

Wholesale price inflation accelerated in August from low level

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices increases accelerated in August, a sign that inflation remains stubbornly persistent despite a series of sharp interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Labor Department said Thursday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — increased 1.6% last month from a year earlier. That is up from a small 0.8% yearly increase in July and just 0.1% in June. Sharply higher gas prices drove much of the increase.Excluding the volatile energy and food categories, core inflation rose 2.2% in August from a year earlier, down from a 2.4% yearly increase in July. Wholesale prices are still rising more slowly than consumer costs, a sign that inflation may continue to cool as the weaker wholesale price gains translate into smaller price increases for the consumer. The Thursday data reflect prices charged by manufacturers, farmers and wholesalers.The government said Wednesday that the consumer price index, the most wi...

No sign of Kim Jong Un on his Russian travels as Seoul expresses concern over meetings with Putin

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was expected to tour a Russian plant that builds fighter jets and visit the country’s Pacific Fleet, but his exact whereabouts remained uncertain Thursday following a summit at which he expressed unconditional support for Moscow.Washington has warned that the summit on Wednesday between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin could lead to a deal for North Korea to supply ammunition for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. There’s widespread concern in Seoul that North Korea would in return receive advanced weapons technologies from Russia, including those related to military spy satellites, which would increase the threat posed by Kim’s military nuclear program.“We express our deep concern and regret that despite repeated warnings from the international community, North Korea and Russia discussed military cooperation issues, including satellite development, during their summit,” said Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokespe...

American explorer says he thought he would die during an 11-day ordeal in a Turkish cave

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — An American researcher who spent 11 days stuck in a Turkish cave after falling ill said Thursday that he thought he would die there before a complex international rescue operation got him out. Mark Dickey, 40, appeared relaxed as he spoke to reporters at a hospital in Mersin, southern Turkey, where he is recovering from his ordeal.Asked if he ever gave up hope while trapped 1,000 meters (more than 3,000 feet) underground, Dickey replied, “No. But there’s a difference between accurately recognizing your current risk against giving up.“You don’t let things become hopeless, but you recognize the fact that ‘I’m going to die.’”Dickey fell ill on Sept. 2 with stomach bleeding while mapping the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains. He vomited blood and had lost large amounts of it and other fluids by the time rescuers brought him to the surface on Tuesday. What caused his condition, which rendered him too frail to climb out of the cave on his own, remained uncle...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet visits country’s close ally China on his 1st official trip abroad

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet arrived in Beijing on Thursday on his first official trip abroad since taking office last month. The visit demonstrates his country’s warm relations with China, Cambodia’s closest political and economic ally.Hun Manet was expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials in the capital and to attend a weekend trade and investment expo in southern China, according to Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry. A ministry statement said the two leaders would discuss tightening the nations’ ties with the building of a “Cambodia-China Community,” strategic directions for their bilateral relations, and regional and international matters.Chinese state broadcaster CGTN posted images of Hun Manet and his wife, Pich Chanmony, walking down the stairs from a plane to a red carpet on an airport tarmac, where they were greeted by two children, a Chinese official and others. Hun Manet later laid a wreath at a monument in Beijing...

Stock market today: US futures point higher after US inflation data ease rate hike worries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

Wall Street is pointing higher Thursday following a modest increase in inflation across the U.S. in August that eased worries over the likelihood of another interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.Futures for the S&P 500 edged 0.4% higher before the bell Thursday and futures for the Dow Jones industrials were up 0.3%. While the inflation data was a touch hotter than estimated, economists and investors don’t expect it to change the Fed’s anticipated track much. The forecast is still for the U.S. central bank to keep interest rates steady at its meeting next week.The inflation report showed that U.S. consumers paid prices last month that were 3.7% higher than a year earlier, up from July’s inflation rate of 3.2% and slightly more than the forecasts for a 3.6% increase.That’s discouraging for shoppers paying higher prices, but much of the acceleration was because of higher fuel costs. Underlying inflation trends indicated a continued moderation in price increases, economists said...

Stranded luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer has been pulled free at high tide in Greenland

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The operator of a luxury cruise ship that ran aground in Greenland with 206 people on board said Thursday that the MV Ocean Explorer was “successfully” pulled free by a fisheries research vessel at high tide.The ship’s owner, Copenhagen-based SunStone Ships, said that it was done “based on a pull from the vessel (owned by the Greenland government) and vessel’s own power. There have not been any injuries to any person onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull.”It added that “the vessel and its passengers will now be positioned to a port where the vessel’s bottom damages can be assessed, and the passengers will be taken to a port from which they can be flown back home.”The cruise ship ran aground above the Arctic Circle on Monday in Alpefjord, which is in the Northeast Greenland National Park, the world’s northernmost national park.The park is nearly the size of France and Spain combined, and approximately 80% is permanently covered ...

Police search for man who allegedly sexually assaulted woman in Logan Square apartment

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

CHICAGO -- Chicago police are investigating after a woman says she was sexually assaulted inside her Logan Square apartment.Police said the sexual assault took place just before 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. WGN is told the suspect got into the woman's apartment near Mozart and Armitage and it is still unclear how the man was able to enter. 11-year-old boy missing from Gary believed to be in ‘extreme danger:’ Police At some point, he sexually assaulted the woman and then left. Police have not made a detailed description of the man and only shared that he was in his 20s or 30s and was wearing a green camouflage jacket with a black hood and black stripes on the left sleeve with black shorts and back crocs. There is at least one surveillance camera that looks like it could have captured the suspect outside of the apartment building. WGN is actively following the incident and will update as more information is recovered.

Bears won't take one step toward a new stadium this fall

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:03:52 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — There is one step that the Chicago Bears won't take toward a new stadium over the next few months. Team president and CEO Kevin Warren said that the team won't be pursuing legislative support in Springfield for a new stadium during the Illinois General Assembly's fall session. This comes as the team continues demolition work at Arlington Park, which they closed on this past February, while also looking at other sites in the area to build a new venue. “Our process to find the best stadium solution for our franchise, our fans and the region continues to be methodical and intentional. Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Brandon Johnson and his team, we have recently engaged in positive and productive discussions with the City of Chicago," said Warren in a statement through the team. "We also continue to have dialogue with officials in Arlington Heights and other Chicagoland locations about a Chicago Bears stadium project.  "At this time, we want to appropriately explo...