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Russian strike on an eastern Ukrainian city kills 16 and wounds dozens, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile struck an outdoor market in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and wounding dozens, officials said. The deadly attack came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv and was expected to announce more than $1 billion in new American funding for Ukraine in the 18-month-old war.Associated Press journalists at the site of the attack in the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region saw covered bodies on the ground and emergency workers extinguishing fires at market stalls, with blackened and mangled cars nearby. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at least 16 people were killed. Another 31 were wounded, according to the regional prosecutor’s office. The Defense Ministry said the market was hit by a ballistic missile.Firefighters extinguished blazes that damaged about 30 pavilions at the market, Klymenko said. Crews searched the rubble for any trapped victims.Twenty shops, power lines, administrative building and...

Fall music releases: Pop powerhouses, country classics, hip-hop heavyweights and beyond

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Music fans, it is time to bid adieu to the sunny, slow summer months, and welcome fall — historically, one of the busiest times in the calendar year for new albums, EPs, and mixtapes.Trends have already begun to reveal themselves: Some of the biggest names in pop (and in pop’s future) are gearing up for back-to-school releases. A-listers are returning after years. Country legends are taking on new genres. And hip-hop heavyweights are back in full force.Others defy categorization — like a new Pretenders record (“Relentless”), the swoon-worthy “Live for Me” EP from Omar Apollo, and Steve Aoki’s “HiROQUEST: Double Helix” — and even more have yet to be announced. Take a look at what’s in store with The Associated Press’ 2023 fall music preview — a collection of releases scheduled to arrive between September and November.Pop powerhousesAfter a summer full of superstar tours — Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Drake among them — surely, it’s time to div...

The Rolling Stones announce release date for their new album and unveil lead single, ‘Angry’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Rolling Stones are back, and they’re “Angry.”At least that is the title of the debut single from the band’s new album, the first in 18 years to contain a dozen original songs. It’s also the first album the band has recorded without drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. The three surviving Stones — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — came to east London’s Hackney district on Wednesday to unveil the new album, “Hackney Diamonds” and announce its release date: Oct. 20.Jagger said not all the songs are furious. The album also contains “love songs, ballads, country-type” sounds, he said.Recorded in December and January at studios around the world, the album sees the Stones team up with Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt. It features drummer Steve Jordan on 10 of the 12 tracks in Watts’ place. Two more songs were recorded in 2019 with Watts. Former Stone Bill Wyman also puts in an appearance on one track.Hard-core fans lined up...

Canadian men beat Slovenia, advance to FIBA World Cup semis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

Canada is moving on to the semifinals at the FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup.Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points in Canada’s 100-89 win over Slovenia today at the Manila Mall of Asia Arena. RJ Barrett chipped in with 24 points and nine rebounds of his own to help Canada reach the semisSlovenia needed a win to have a shot to secure an Olympic berth this year. It will now have to play in a last-chance qualifying event next year.Slovenia’s star point guard Luka Doncic gave Canada trouble all game but was disqualified midway through the fourth quarter after receiving his second technical foul of the contest. He finished with 26 points, five assists and four rebounds before being ejected.Canada’s star defender Dillon Brooks was also removed from the game early after being assessed a disqualifying foul to start the final quarter.Tied 50-50 at halftime, Canada outscored Slovenia by nine in the third quarter to take an 80-71 lead into the fourth. The Canadians push...

Trump’s Truth Social gets a lifeline after deadline for a big cash infusion is extended

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

Donald’s Trump’s Truth Social got a lifeline this week after a blank-check company that could infuse the social media platform with cash agreed to extend a critical deadline for a year. Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, had a Friday deadline to complete its acquisition of, or merger with, Truth Social parent Trump Media & Technology Group. Digital World shareholders, who have agreed to extend the deadline four times already, agreed to do so again this week with about 72% of shareholders voting to push the merger deadline until Sept. 8, 2024, according to the company. A merger would release to Trump Media $290 million held by Digital World and another $1 billion that private investors had committed to the combined company. Trump’s company remains on its own, paying staff, leases and other expenses from $36 million raised from earlier sales of promissory notes. Digital World’s deal with Trump’s company has been troubled fr...

Michigan court hears arguments over murder charge against ex-police officer who shot Black motorist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Lawyers for a former Michigan police officer are asking the state appeals court to throw out a murder charge in the killing of a Black motorist in 2022.A court hearing is underway Wednesday in the case against Christopher Schurr, who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head after a morning traffic stop in Grand Rapids turned into a short foot chase and vigorous struggle.Schurr’s attorneys argued that lower courts wrongly applied the law to the circumstances of Lyoya’s death.“Common law allows police officers to use deadly force to stop a felon from fleeing when the officer reasonably believed a felony had occurred,” said Matt Borgula, one of Schurr’s attorneys.A judge in Grand Rapids last year found probable cause to send the second-degree murder case to the Kent County trial court. The evidence included video of the final moments when Schurr fired his gun while on top of Lyoya.Schurr, who is white, repeatedly told Lyoya, 26, to take his hand...

Jeff Daniels looks back with stories and music in new Audible audio memoir ‘Alive and Well Enough’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jeff Daniels tackles his life and career in an absorbing, unconventional way this month with a music- and skit-filled audio memoir from Audible that he calls “a little bit like a one-man musical.” In the 12-episode season of “Alive and Well Enough,” the actor, musician and playwright explores his influences and opinions, offering thoughts on everything from fedoras to folk star Arlo Guthrie.“Over the course of these episodic excursions, I’m going to let you peek under my hood. Frankly, I want to know what’s under there, too,” he says in the first episode.We learn that writer Aaron Sorkin gave Daniels a chance at career rebirth with “The Newsroom,” we hear Daniels’ curtain speech on Broadway after his run ended in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and about the time he played golf with Clint Eastwood.The Eastwood story leads to a fantasy sequence in which Daniels dreams up an Oscars telecast punctuated by a stream of all the actors shot on film by Eastwood, and then he sings th...

Stock market today: Wall Street loses ground as weak stretch continues

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Wednesday, continuing a weak stretch in a holiday-shortened week.The S&P 500 fell 0.5%., with slightly more companies losing ground than making gains within the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 77 points, or 0.2%, to 34,562 as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq slipped 0.9%.Big technology stocks fell and weighed on the market. Apple slipped 2.6%. Health care stocks had some of the broadest losses. Johnson & Johnson fell 1.6% and Pfizer shed 1.7%.Several companies made big moves after reporting earnings and other updates. Roku surged 8.6% after giving investors an encouraging financial update and saying it would cut 10% of its staff. AeroVironment jumped 27.5% after the maker of unmanned aircrafts raised its sales forecast for the year.GameStop and Dave & Buster’s will release their latest results after the closing bell.Investors face a relatively quiet week as they come off the Labor Day holiday in ...

US lawmakers visiting The Hague say Russian President Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine. Their comments came a day before they were scheduled to meet with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.The ICC in March issued an international arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. However, it has not yet charged him with any other offenses committed by Russian forces since their invasion of Ukraine more than 18 months ago.The committee’s chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, told reporters during a visit to The Hague that Putin “tried to erase a culture, a people and a religion, and that is the definition of genocide.”Another member of the committee, Anne Wagner, a Montana Republican, agreed, speaking of the “crimes against humanity, the downright genocide that this man has per...

Text of the Bank of Canada’s latest interest rate decision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:12:27 GMT

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate target on hold at five per cent Wednesday. Here is the text of the central bank’s decision: The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at five per cent, with the Bank Rate at 5.25 per cent and the deposit rate at five per cent. The Bank is also continuing its policy of quantitative tightening.Inflation in advanced economies has continued to come down, but with measures of core inflation still elevated, major central banks remain focused on restoring price stability. Global growth slowed in the second quarter of 2023, largely reflecting a significant deceleration in China. With ongoing weakness in the property sector undermining confidence, growth prospects in China have diminished. In the United States, growth was stronger than expected, led by robust consumer spending. In Europe, strength in the service sector supported growth, offsetting an ongoing contraction in manufacturing. Global bond yields hav...