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President Joe Biden and first lady plan to visit Maui next week. Follow live updates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

By The Associated PressFollow live updates about wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii, killing dozens of people and destroying the historic town of Lahaina. The wildfires are the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. Videos showing downed power lines apparently sparking some of the early blazes have become key evidence in the search for a cause.President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Maui next week in the aftermath of the deadliest wildfires in the U.S. in more than a century, the White House announced Wednesday.The Bidens will meet Monday with survivors of the fires, as well as first responders and other government officials. They will “see firsthand the impacts of the wildfires and the devastating loss of life and land that has occurred on the island, as well as discuss the next steps in the recovery effort,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday.Biden and White House officials have s...

The Dutch economy has slid into recession as inflation and interest rates hit exports and spending

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands has fallen into a recession after exports and household spending fell back amid rising interest rates intended to rein in inflation, the country’s statistics office reported Wednesday.The economy declined by 0.3% in the second quarter after shrinking 0.4% in the first three months of the year, Statistics Netherlands reported.The Netherlands, a small nation that has long punched above its weight in global trade, is now treading water after its robust rebound following the global COVID-19 pandemic, said the statistics office’s chief economist, Peter Hein van Mulligen.“After the coronavirus dip, the Dutch economy recovered much quicker and stronger than the rest of Europe. In the last year that has turned around,” he said.The economies in the Netherlands’ neighbors, France and Belgium, both grew in the last quarter while another neighbor, European economic powerhouse Germany, stagnated.Caretaker Economic Affairs Mini...

Syrian president doubles public sector wages as national currency spirals downwards

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s president early Wednesday doubled public sector wages and pensions as the war-torn country’s national currency spiraled further downwards, reaching a new low for the year. President Bashar Assad issued the two decrees just before midnight Tuesday as the Syrian pound’s value against the U.S. dollar declined to a new all-time low, down from 7,000 at the beginning of 2023 to 15,000 pounds to the greenback. At the start of the conflict in 2011, the dollar was trading at 47 pounds.For over a year, Damascus has been restructuring its program of subsidies for gasoline, diesel for heating, and bread. At the launch of the restructure in February last year, Syrian Prime Minister Hussein Arnous said the move to scale back fuel subsidies would allow the program to target the poorest families more effectively as well as reducing the Syrian state’s deficit.Though wheat and bread subsidies have not been affected, the move has sparked rare protests in the country, as families ...

Dominican firefighters find more bodies as they fight blaze from this week’s explosion; 13 killed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Firefighters struggling to extinguish a blaze caused by a deadly explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital this week found two more bodies Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 13, authorities said.The number of victims is expected to increase since responders have not been able to fully access the building where the explosion occurred Monday at a bakery in the city of San Cristobal, which lies just west of the capital of Santo Domingo.An additional 10 people remain missing, with anguished friends and family pacing outside hospitals and morgues in anger and frustration, saying no one has been providing them information.Jaissy Capellán, press coordinator for the Emergency Operations Center, told The Associated Press that the two additional bodies were pulled from the rubble early Wednesday.Meanwhile, authorities are probing what might have caused the explosion, vowing to crack down on any business that might not have been following regul...

Indonesia burns marijuana plantation that was discovered by drones

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

TEUPIN REUSEUP, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities on Wednesday burned a marijuana plantation in the northern province of Aceh after it was discovered by drones.A joint team of the National Narcotic Agency, known as BNN, and the National Research and Innovation Agency using drones detected 4.5 hectares (11 acres) of land with an estimated 21,100 cannabis plants ready for harvest, said Wayan Sugiri, the deputy for eradication at BNN. The aerial operation was conducted from Aug. 3 to 13 in Teupin Reuseup village in North Aceh district.More than 150 officers from the police, customs and BNN were deployed to uproot the 20 tons of marijuana for burning Wednesday, Sugiri said.“This is a form of the government’s firmness against illegal drugs and their circulation,” Sugiri said. The burning was the fifth this year, he said. In March, authorities burned 43 hectares (106 acres) with an estimated 190,000 marijuana plants.Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, adaman...

Target Q2 sales ebb on inflation, Pride shopper backlash and it cuts profit outlook

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Target’s second quarter sales were hit by inflation and a negative reaction by some customers, widely publicized on social media, to its Pride merchandise.The Minneapolis retailer expects high interest rates, which makes credit cards more expensive to use, and higher prices on food to continue to put a strain on customers and on Wednesday, the chain cut its profit and sales expectations for the year. In lowering its forecast, Target also cited the end of the student loan moratorium, which had provided one-time college students a little more financial breathing room. Profit came in above expectations, however, as the Minneapolis chain brought inventories closer in line with cautionary spending on discretionary items by customers. Shares rose 8% in pre-market trading before the opening bell Wednesday despite trimming profit expectations for the year. Target is among the first major U.S. retailers to report quarterly financial results and the impact of rising pric...

Pickering casino dealer accused of cheating with players; 4 people charged

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

Four GTA residents are facing dozens of charges after a table dealer at a Pickering casino allegedly cheated with a group of players.The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say a joint investigation with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) began on Aug. 3 after they were notified of allegations that a dealer at Pickering Casino Resort had colluded with patrons.Four people were charged as a result of the investigation.OPP say 24-year-old Sandeep Sogi from Scarborough is facing nine charges, including four counts of cheating at play and four counts of fraud over $5000.Three others are facing 12 charges each, including four counts of cheating at play, four counts of fraud over $5000 and four counts of property obtained by crime over $5000:Sukhvir Singh, 28, from MississaugaDeepak Kakkar, 30, from BramptonAnchhu Kumar, 24, from Brampton Police say the four suspects have been released from custody and are scheduled to appear in an Oshawa courtroom at a later date.The inv...

Wholesale sales excluding petroleum products and oilseeds and grains down in June

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grains, fell 2.8 per cent to $80.5 billion in June.The agency says a drop in the miscellaneous subsector led the decline in June as it fell 7.3 per cent to $10.3 billion, weighed down by a 19.4 per cent drop in the agricultural products industry group to $3.3 billion.The machinery, equipment and supplies subsector fell 4.2 per cent to $17.8 billion.Meanwhile, the motor vehicle, parts and accessories subsector dropped 3.1 per cent to $13.2 billion as the motor vehicles industry group fell 4.3 per cent to $10.6 billion.In constant dollars, sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grains, fell 3.7 per cent in June.Statistics Canada began including the oilseed and grain industry group as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade earlier this year, but is ex...

Testimony set to start in trial of 2 white Mississippi men charged in shooting at Black FedEx driver

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — Witnesses are scheduled to begin testifying Wednesday in the trial of two white men in Mississippi who are accused of chasing and shooting at a Black FedEx driver who had dropped off a package at a home.Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Charles Case, are charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle driven by D’Monterrio Gibson in January 2022. Gibson, who was 24 at the time, was not injured. But the chase and gunfire led to complaints on social media of racism in Brookhaven, about an hour’s drive south of the state capital, Jackson.District Attorney Dee Bates told the majority-white jury in his opening statement Tuesday that Gibson made deliveries for FedEx on Jan. 24, 2022, while driving a rental van with the Hertz logo on three sides. Gibson dropped off a package at a home on a dead-end road, Bates said. Gregory Case then used a pickup truck to try to block the van from leaving, and Brandon Case came outside...

'It means everything': Melrose Park native Bob Nardella, an original Chicago Wolves player, now is the head coach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:55 GMT

CHICAGO — It's full circle. It's fitting. It's historic. All would fit the next choice to lead Chicagoland's American Hockey League franchise into a new era. "I'm a Wolf at heart," said Bob Nardella, who'll be the head coach of the Chicago Wolves starting with the 2023-2024 season, and it makes sense. He's a Melrose Park native who was on the inaugural team, helped them to their first league championship, and has spent nearly a decade in the organization in a coaching role. Now Nardella is the 13th leader of the franchise on the ice, the first former player to ever get that job. For a native of the area who helped to get the franchise off the ground, it's quite a moment. "It means everything," said Nardella to WGN News Now about being the head coach. "Knowing everything that the organization stands for and tries to accomplish and everything involved to even the smallest little detail."That started when he joined the team in the 1994-1995 season, their first in the International Hock...