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Stock market today: Asian benchmarks mostly slip after Wall Street’s losing week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mostly lower on Monday after U.S. employment data had Wall Street close out a losing week. Investors are also closely watching earnings reports due later this week, including from Disney in the U.S., Alibaba Group in China and Sony and SoftBank in Japan.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 recouped losses earlier in the day and was down less than 0.1% at 32,190.31 in morning trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 7,298.60. South Korea’s Kospi inched down less than 0.1% to 2,602.49. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.3% to 19,488.09, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.6% to 3,267.44. “Local stocks appear to be latching onto the U.S. downswing from Friday as investors are still absorbing a down week for most markets,” Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management said of Asian trading. On Friday last week, the S&P 500 sank 23.86, or 0.5%, to 4,478.03. It was the fourth straight drop for Wall Street’s main measure of hea...

Tens of thousands of young scouts to leave South Korean world jamboree as storm Khanun looms

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is preparing to evacuate tens of thousands of scouts from a coastal jamboree site as Tropical Storm Khanun looms, world scouting officials said Monday.The World Organization of the Scout Movement said it received confirmation from South Korea’s government of the early departure for all participants in the southwestern county of Buan. That means quickly moving about 40,000 scouts from 158 countries, mostly teenagers, out of the storm’s path.South Korea’s weather agency said the region will be affected by the storm as early as Wednesday. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said he called for “contingency” plans to protect the scouts from the storm, which could include relocating them to hotels and other facilities in the country’s capital, Seoul, and nearby metropolitan areas.Hot temperatures have already forced thousands of British and American scouts to leave campsite made on land reclaimed from sea. The Associated Press

Rahul Gandhi, Indian opposition leader, reinstated as lawmaker days after top court’s order

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s Parliament on Monday reinstated top opposition leader Rahul Gandhi as a lawmaker three days after the country’s top court halted his criminal defamation conviction for mocking the prime minister’s surname.His reinduction as a member of Parliament is likely to strengthen the opposition’s effort to corner Narendra Modi’s government ahead of a no-confidence motion this week over deadly ethnic violence that has roiled India’s northeastern state of Manipur for more than three months.A fierce critic of Modi and his main challenger in the 2024 polls, Gandhi was ousted from Parliament after his conviction by a magistrate’s court in March. The Supreme Court stayed his conviction Friday, which means it is temporarily halted while the court goes into Gandhi’s appeal in detail before issuing a final ruling.The court’s order also means that Gandhi will be able to contest next year’s general elections unless a final court decision goes against him.The defamation case invo...

A firefighting helicopter crashed in Southern California while fighting a blaze, officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

CABAZON, Calif. (AP) — A firefighting helicopter crashed in Southern California on Sunday while fighting a blaze in Riverside County, emergency officials said.The helicopter was performing work under contract with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, fire captain and spokesman Richard Cordova said.Sheriff’s deputies responded at 7:20 p.m. PDT to an air emergency in the area of Pipeline Road and Apache trail as crews were battling the Broadway fire near Cabazon, according to a post by the Riverside County Sheriff’s office on X, formerly known as Twitter.The department is still investigating the crash and whether other aircraft were involved, Cordova said. Details were not immediately available on the number of injuries or fatalities.The Associated Press

At least 4 Syrian soldiers killed in suspected Israeli airstrikes around Damascus

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit areas around Damascus early Monday, killing at least four Syrian soldiers, Syrian state media reported.Syrian state television, citing a military source, said four other soldiers were also wounded while the strikes caused “some material damage.”Israeli authorities did not immediately comment.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, said the strikes targeted weapons and munitions warehouses and positions of Iran-backed militias around Damascus. They say at least six were killed and seven others wounded. The Observatory said the strikes mark 22nd time Israel has struck Syria this year.Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment next door, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of neighboring Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them.Israel has also targeted the international airports in Damascus and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo several times over th...

Cambodia’s king appoints army chief Hun Manet as successor to his father, long-ruling Hun Sen

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s king on Monday formally appointed army chief Hun Manet to succeed his father and long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen as the nation’s leader later this month after their party sealed victory in a one-sided election last month.The royal decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni and shared to the public by state social media means the 45-year-old Hun Manet is officially the incoming leader and will take office Aug. 22 when the new National Assembly adopts the new cabinet.The appointment came after Cambodia’s electoral body on Saturday announced the final results of last month’s election. The polls that gave Hun Sen’s party a mandate for the next five years were criticized by Western governments and rights groups as neither free nor fair because the main credible opposition party was barred from participating.Hun Manet won his first seat in Parliament in the July election, and the handover from his father is part of a larger, generati...

Iran opens registration for candidates in next year’s parliament election, the first since protests

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Monday began registering candidates for parliamentary elections in March, which will be the first since nationwide protests rocked the country last year.Iran has held regular presidential and parliamentary elections since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But a clerical body vets candidates — disqualifying any seen as disloyal to the Islamic Republic — and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all major policies.Iran saw months of nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was being held by the morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code. The protests escalated into calls for the overthrow of the ruling clerics, marking one of the biggest challenges to their four-decade rule.The protests largely died down after authorities launched a fierce crackdown in which more than 500 protesters were killed and nearly 20,000 were detained. Last month, the morality p...

Tory Lanez to be sentenced for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rapper Tory Lanez could get a long prison term at his expected sentencing Monday after f elony convictions for shooting and wounding hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet.Los Angeles prosecutors are asking a judge to hand down a 13-year sentence to the 31-year-old Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson.They wrote in a sentencing memorandum that along with the crimes for which he was convicted, Lanez has re-traumatized Megan with social media posts about the case that emboldened many among his more than 2 million followers to attack her.Megan may appear in court Monday to give a victim impact statement, or may have one read for her in her absence.Lawyers for Lanez said in their own sentencing memo that he should get only probation and be released from jail to enter a residential substance abuse program.They say the evidence that led to his conviction was “questionable at best” and that his lack of remorse should therefore not be a factor in his sentenci...

Prison probably isn’t the end of the political road for Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan’s popular opposition leader, is now an inmate at a high-security prison after being convicted of corruption and sentenced to three years.It’s the most dramatic twist yet in months of political and legal wrangling between Khan and his political rivals since he was toppled in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.Khan’s party said it will appeal what government critics describe as a flimsy case, aimed at removing the former cricket star from politics ahead of a general election meant to be held this fall. The government defended the conviction as lawful and denied that Khan is a victim of political persecution.If the conviction stands, the 70-year-old Khan would be prohibited by law from running for office or leading Pakistan Tehreek e-Insaf, the party he founded in the 1990s. However, polls indicate a strong election showing for PTI, and Khan’s imprisonment could further boost its standing....

Evacuation order, alerts issued for Mayo and other areas in Yukon due nearby wildfire

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:11:45 GMT

MAYO, YUKON — Residents of the Village of Mayo are under an evacuation order and others in central Yukon are under an alert as a wildfire inches closer to the small communities.The Yukon Emergency Measures Organization says it issued the evacuation order for Mayo, located just over 400 kilometres north of Whitehorse, at 1 p.m. Sunday due to hazards to life posed by the Talbot Creek wildfire burning about seven kilometres south of the village.About two hours later, the organization issued an evacuation alert for the Village of Keno and Hecla Mine, located slightly north of Mayo, saying they are not under threat of the same wildfire but should be prepared to leave if the flames come closer.The order in Mayo covers all properties from kilometres 35 to 66 along Yukon Highway 11, known as the Silver Trail. “Evacuating a community of any size is never easy,” said fire information officer Mike Fancie with the Government of Yukon. “Everybody in Mayo is doing the best they ...