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Ticker: Yellen books China trip this week; Workers strike at California hotels

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Beijing Thursday as part of an ongoing Biden administration effort to thaw U.S.-China relations, a senior Treasury official said.Yellen, who has called the notion of an economic decoupling from China “disastrous,” has frequently said in the past year that she would like to visit China.She says the two nations “can and need to find a way to live together” in spite of their strained relations over geopolitics and economic development.Yellen will meet this week with Chinese officials, U.S. companies doing business in China and with Chinese people and will stay through July 9, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the trip.The goal of her visit is to deepen and increase the frequency of communication between U.S. and China, the official said. While there are clear areas of common interest where Yellen can make progress, the official said, there are also significant disagreements...

2 dead, 3 hurt in small airplane crash in rural Alaska

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two people were killed and three others seriously injured when a small plane crashed shortly after taking off from a rural Alaska community over the weekend, officials said.Five people were on board the plane operated by Vertigo Air Taxi when it went down Sunday afternoon about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of Old Harbor, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Old Harbor is on the southeast coast of Kodiak Island, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) southwest of the city of Kodiak.The plane took off from Old Harbor and was bound for Kodiak when it crashed in hilly terrain, said Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region. The agency is investigating the crash, and a National Transportation Safety Board representative arrived in Kodiak on Monday.The names of those on board were not immediately released. Two of the people had serious injuries and the third was in critical condition, Johnson said.Vertigo Air Taxi on its website sa...

Search for two people missing after Quebec landslide a ‘colossal’ task: police

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

SAGUENAY, Que. — The search for two people swept away by a landslide and a flooded river in Quebec’s Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region is being complicated by the river’s geography and debris in the water, provincial police said Monday.A man and a woman, both in their 40s, went missing on Saturday after a major landslide along the Éternité River, which was engorged by torrential rain.“There’s still a lot of work to do,” police spokesman Sgt. Hugues Beaulieu said at a news conference in Rivière Éternité, Que. “There’s a lot of debris left to clear and the river at its highest point swelled to four times its normal size, so that left a lot of debris which is making the work enormously complicated for the people on the ground.”Around 30 police officers were searching the area on Sunday, along with police divers and two helicopters.Beaulieu said they’ve now been joined by officers specialized in search and rescue, along with trained vol...

Mexican president tells Americans not to vote for DeSantis because of Florida’s tough migrant law

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president called on U.S. citizens Monday not to vote for Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis because of his state’s enactment of a tough immigration bill.The comments about the Florida law, which the Mexican government has said is likely to cause discrimination against migrants, marks President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s second recent break with Mexico’s tradition of non-intervention in the politics of other countries. In March, he called Peru’s government racist and illegitimate.“We could not remain silent,” López Obrador said of the Florida law at news conference Monday.Under the Florida law that went into effect July 1, employers who hire immigrants who are in the country illegally will face tough punishments. It also bolsters DeSantis’ migrant relocation program and limits social services for immigrants lacking permanent legal status.López Obrador called for “not one vote for those who despise migrants.”T...

Alberta premier urges ‘rapid resolution’ to B.C. port strike

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the ongoing strike at British Columbia ports could cause “substantial economic harm” in Alberta and across Canada.Port workers across B.C. walked off the job Saturday morning, and Smith is urging the federal government to work with all parties “to ensure a rapid resolution.”Negotiators with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the BC Maritime Employers Association are expected to be back at the table today after talks paused late Sunday.Smith issued a statement saying her government is monitoring the situation and is concerned about the negative impact the strike will have on the Canadian economy, including increased inflationary pressures on consumers.Business groups across Canada have warned about the economic impact of the strike, which affects thousands of cargo loaders at more than 30 ports. They’ve urged the federal government to take action to get staff back to work, while the union has pu...

Barrie safest, Winnipeg least-safe place to live in Canada: Data

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

New data has been released on the safety and security of Canadian cities.Rentola — a rental housing site — says they released their data to help Canadians, while they consider new places to live.The site looked into various safety elements of Canadian cities, which includes, police forces, efficient emergency response systems, and community engagement initiatives.Looking at the dataCrime severity index map. (Photo Credit: Rentola)Cities in Ontario took the majority of the top ten spots listed in the safety index. Barrie took the top slot with an overall rating of 7.13 out of 10.Toronto slotted into fourth with a 6.63 rating, behind Brantford and Guelph. The only two cities in the top ten that are outside of Ontario are Saint John, New Brunswick, and Lethbridge, Alberta.Despite Lethbridge being in the top 10, Rentola found that the southern Alberta city has the highest crime rate across the country. The site noted that cumulative data indicates the majority of the crimes ...

Fright over crack on North Carolina ride serves as reminder of risks at amusement parks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A visible crack in the support beam of a North Carolina roller coaster served as a reminder of the risks that sometimes arise with amusement park rides, particularly as families and adrenaline junkies flock to the attractions throughout the summer.Video footage of the Charlotte-based Carowinds’ popular Fury 325 — known as a “Giga coaster” due to its dramatic height of 325 feet (99 meters) — showed a key support beam bending with the top visibly detached as cars packed with unsuspecting passengers whirled by at speeds of up to 95 mph (150 kph). The park, which straddles the North Carolina and South Carolina line, closed the ride late last week as questions swirled about how the crack occurred. Those answers remained largely unknown as state investigators were on site in Monday morning.Tommy Petty, chief of the state Department of Labor’s Amusement Device Bureau, confirmed investigators “already came and went” from Carowinds on Monday but declined to share...

Senegalese President Macky Sall says he won’t seek a third term in 2024 elections after protests

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegalese President Macky Sall declared Monday evening that he will not run for a third term in next year’s elections, ending years of uncertainty over his political future that had helped fuel deadly opposition protests last month.Top opposition leader Ousmane Sonko already had called for more demonstrations around the West African country in the event Sall had instead announced his intention to run again in February.In a speech carried live on his Facebook account, Sall said that he would not be a candidate “even if the constitution allows me to do so.”Babacar Dione, The Associated Press

Dutch and Luxembourg PMs urge Serbia and Kosovo to defuse tensions under shadow of war in Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The prime ministers of the Netherlands and Luxembourg on Monday urged Serbia and Kosovo to act to defuse recent tensions that have threatened to push the Balkan region into instability as Europe faces Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourg PM, spoke after meeting Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. Rutte and Bettel travel to Kosovo on Tuesday for meetings with top officials there.“We cannot, both of us, emphasize enough how important it is that both Serbia and Kosovo take steps toward de-escalation and ultimately normalization of their relations through the EU-led dialogue,” said Rutte.“This is crucial for the two countries themselves, first and foremost, but also for the entire region and Europe as a whole,” he added. “With a war raging between Russia and Ukraine on our continent, it’s more important than ever that we act together.”Serbia and its former province Kosovo have been at...

Sofia Kenin surprises Coco Gauff in a highlight-filled, all-US match at Wimbledon

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:19:51 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Sofia Kenin surprised Coco Gauff at a Grand Slam tournament again by beating her 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round of Wimbledon in a back-and-forth matchup Monday between two American women who both have reached No. 4 in the rankings and been to a major final.One key difference: Kenin was the 2020 Australian Open champion, beating Gauff along the way to that trophy; Gauff was the runner-up at the 2022 French Open.And while Gauff was seeded No. 7 at the All England Club, Kenin has tumbled so far down after three consecutive first-round exits at major tournaments that she is ranked 128th this week and needed to make her way through qualifying rounds just to get into Wimbledon’s main draw.“I’m just super,” Kenin began, before cutting herself off, during her on-court interview. Then she resumed: “Oh, my God. I can’t even, like, talk. I’m super happy. Coco played a tough match. I knew I needed to play my best in order to win.”Gauff played ...