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Race to be EIB chief enters final furlong

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

Take out your popcorn to find out who will win the first of many EU top jobs soon up for grabs. Friday is the final day to put up your hand to lead the European Investment Bank. Pending some final vetting, the field of candidates is now clear. The race will intensify in the coming weeks — and is likely to include the usual horse-trading between EU capitals. Leading the world’s biggest multilateral financial institution has always been a prestigious post within finance and economic circles and has become more attractive because of its role in rebuilding Ukraine and greening the European economy. The EU is also discussing expanding its remit.The EU’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager is the most well-known candidate in Brussels. Just her presence on the list signals the body’s increased importance. Italy has put forward Daniele Franco, a former finance minister. At the last minute, Spain also threw Deputy Prime Minister Nadia Calviño’s name into the mix. In 2020, s...

Preparing for Hilary: Free sandbags at these locations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Even if Hurricane Hilary weakens to a tropical storm by the time it reaches San Diego, its remnants could still bring torrential rain and flooding to parts of the region. The storm is expected to move north along the Baja coast, with the National Weather Service anticipating its arrival in San Diego this weekend. For those living in the unincorporated part of the county, Cal Fire officials are offering advice and free sandbags in preparation for Hilary's stormy debut. MORE: Tracking Hilary For areas that are not covered by plants, landscaping, grass and trees, periods of heavy rain can cause abrupt flooding and erosion that has the potential to become dangerous.Cal Fire officials say rain runoff can sweep topsoil, mud, plant material and debris off land and downstream. This could damage homes, clog culverts and even storm drains. This flooding could also damage roadways. In an effort to help prevent flooding and extreme runoff, the county says sand and bags, or ...

Stock market today: Asian shares mostly decline after Wall Street drop on higher bond yields

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly slipped Friday as rising yields in the bond market on Wall Street set off expectations that high interest rates would continue in the U.S.Japan’s inflation data showed consumer prices rose 3.1% from a year earlier in July, down from 3.3% in June. But that was still higher than the 2.5% forecast by some analysts, and above the Bank of Japan target at 2%.The core CPI, which eliminates energy and fresh food prices from the measure, rose 4.3% on year, according to the government Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped nearly 0.2% in morning trading to 31,565.21. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to 7,155.00. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.5% to 2,506.56. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.2% to 18,110.52, while the Shanghai Composite edged down nearly 0.1% to 3,161.97. Also on investors’ minds is what appears to be China’s shaky recovery from the negative economic effects of the corona...

Emergency services chief on Maui resigns. He faced criticism for not activating sirens during fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Outdoor alert sirens on Maui stayed silent as a ferocious fire devastated the seaside community of Lahaina last week. The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency said he had no regrets about not deploying the system as a warning to people on the island.A day after making that statement, Administrator Herman Andaya resigned Thursday. Andaya had said he feared blaring the sirens during the blaze could have caused people to go “mauka,” using a navigational term that can mean toward the mountains or inland in Hawaiian. “If that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire,” Andaya explained.But the decision not use the sirens, coupled with water shortages that hampered firefighters and an escape route that became clogged with vehicles that were overrun by flames, has brought intense criticism from many residents following the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century. At least 111 people were killed.Mayor Richard Bissen accepted Andaya’s ...

Kentucky school district to restart school year after busing fiasco cancels classes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s largest school district is scheduled to return elementary students to school Friday, more than a week after classes were canceled because of chaotic busing problems on the first day. Jefferson County Schools, a public district with more than 90,000 students, drew up new bus routes and staggered school start times under a new plan that officials hoped would alleviate issues caused by driver shortages.Instead, it led to a shutdown of schools for more than a week. Officials decided to return elementary and middle school students on Friday and high school students Monday.District officials apologized to outraged parents after the bus disruptions and pledged to add resources to help with delays. Despite the quick fixes, school officials told parents in a note Thursday that they “expect some buses may drop children off at stops later than expected.” They also encouraged parents who can make alternate transportation arrangements to do so. The distric...

Russia's blitzkrieg on Ukrainian civilians

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

Russia is deliberately launching missile strikes on Ukrainian residential buildings, to cause civilian casualties, Dispatches, IFBG.On the morning of 15 August, the Russian Air Force carried out a massive attack on Ukrainian cities far from the front line - in particular, Lviv, Lutsk, Dnipro and Smila were hit. As a result of a missile landing on a facility in Lutsk, three civilians were killed. The devastation in Lviv was tangible: at least 100 houses were damaged and 70 flats were burnt out as a result of missile debris. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but 15 people were injured with varying severity. The Russians used 28 cruise missiles of the X-101/X-555, X-22 and Kalibr types, of which 16 were shot down by air defence systems. The nature of the damage caused shows that Russia deliberately targets civilian objects: in particular, one of the missiles, which could not be shot down in the air, destroyed a playground near a kindergarten in Lviv. The R...

Downtown burglaries alarm Walnut Creek business owners

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KRON) – Several small businesses in Walnut Creek have recently fallen victim to burglars. One of the latest happened at a coffee shop downtown.The owner of Tellus Coffee on North Main Street says after they were burglarized, they’re now strongly considering the difficult decision of going cashless, which may hurt customers.Walnut Creek police have already investigated multiple downtown burglaries over the last month, and it’s making business owners feel uneasy.  Starbucks no longer offering disposable cups at these North Bay locations At Tellus Coffee, two people, including one who appears to be a pregnant woman, are caught on camera breaking in and then stealing cash. “It feels pretty violating. Tellus is kind of like my second home and to be broken into, it’s just not a good feeling. It kind of puts me and my staff on edge,” said shop owner Janay McCullough. McCullough says the burglar stole $450 in cash on the night of August 7. Tellus is one of more ...

Wildfire nears capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories as fleeing residents fill roads and flights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories (AP) — Residents in the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories were rushing to beat a noon Friday deadline to evacuate their homes as one of hundreds of wildfires raging in the territories moved closer to the city of 20,000. Thousands fled on Thursday, driving hundreds of miles to safety or waiting in long lines for emergency flights, as the worst fire season on record in Canada showed no signs of easing.The fire was within 16 kilometers (10 miles) of Yellowknife’s northern edge Thursday and officials worried that strong northern winds could push the flames toward the only highway leading away from the fire, which was choked with long caravans of cars.Ten planes left Yellowknife on Thursday with 1,500 passengers, said Jennifer Young, director of corporate affairs for the Northwest Territories’ Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, adding that they hope to have 22 flights leave on Friday with 1,800 more passengers.“I want to ...

Gallen beats the Padres again, Pham and Moreno homer in the Diamondbacks’ 3-1 victory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Top NL Cy Young Award contender Zac Gallen beat the San Diego Padres for the second straight start and Tommy Pham and Gabriel Moreno homered to give the Arizona Diamondbacks a 3-1 victory Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series between teams trying to keep their wild-card hopes from slipping away.Each team had just three hits. The Diamondbacks won their third straight and the Padres lost for the eighth time in 11 games.Gallen (13-5) held the Padres to one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out three and walking one. The right-hander beat the Padres 3-0 in his previous start Saturday in Phoenix, throwing six innings of four-hit ball with eight strikeouts.Rookie reliever Justin Martinez, pitching in just his fifth game, earned a four-out save, his first. He walked two in the ninth before punching out Jake Cronenworth to end it.“A beautiful experience just to have the opportunity, right, and that it actually happened is a blessing,” Martinez ...

Puedes alojarte gratis por una noche en la casa de la playa de Ashton Kutcher y Mila Kunis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:48 GMT

(CNN) — Si necesitas desesperadamente un momento de descanso y relajación, Ashton Kutcher y Mila Kunis tienen la solución.La pareja de famosos puso en Airbnb su casa de la playa ubicada en el condado de Santa Barbara, en California, con vistas al océano y a las montañas de Santa Ynez.La oferta es solo por una noche, para un máximo de cuatro huéspedes que podrán vivir una “estancia de verano inolvidable” de forma gratuita.Kutcher le contó a Kunis su “idea realmente tonta” en un video de Instagram grabado fuera de la casa, en el que se ve cómo intenta convencer a su mujer de que deberían recibir a “completos extraños” para que se queden con ellos en su casa.Después de que Kunis se muestra de acuerdo con que la gente disfrutaría de la experiencia, Kutcher interviene diciendo: “OK, vamos a hacerlo”.Una sorprendida Kunis responde “¿qué?”, antes de que su marido diga “genial”, y el video llegue a su fin.Las rese...