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Live Updates | NATO allies pledge to spend 2% of GDP on their militaries, but set no timetable

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Follow along for updates on the summit of the NATO military alliance in Lithuania’s capital:What to know: — Turkey’s decision to end opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership boosts summit— Sweden’s rocky road from neutrality toward NATO membership— What is NATO doing to help Ukraine in the war with Russia?— Ukraine, defense plans and Sweden’s membership top summit agenda——NATO allies pledged Tuesday to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on their national military budgets but set no timeframe for achieving the goal.After Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the organization agreed to halt spending cuts they had made after the Cold War and move toward spending 2% of GDP on defense within a decade.At their summit in Lithuania, the leaders set that percentage as a floor, rather than a ceiling for spending. But only 11 of the 31 NATO member countries are likely to reach that goal this year, according to the alliance’s latest est...

Embattled former national chief says AFN ‘has gone off the rails,’ as leaders meet

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

HALIFAX — The dramatic vote to remove RoseAnne Archibald as the first female leader of the largest First Nations advocacy organization in Canada “was not taken lightly,” its interim chief told a gathering on Tuesday, while some continued pushing for the ousted leader to be reinstated.Joanna Bernard, a regional chief from New Brunswick who was tapped to serve in the role temporarily, addressed the Assembly of First Nations for the first time since Archibald’s dramatic removal.“We know the decision was not taken lightly and was a result of careful consideration by the leadership and representatives of our nations,” Bernard said in Halifax at the AFN’s annual general assembly.She said that as interim chief, she is committed to maintaining stability. Bernard told chiefs that Archibald’s removal puts the organization in a period of transition, but said it has overcome many challenges before.Archibald, who was elected in 2021, was voted out during...

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher ahead of this week’s inflation report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are ticking higher Tuesday as Wall Street waits for updates later in the week on inflation and corporate profits.The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in afternoon trading and looks to be on track for another quiet day after a listless Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 202 points, or 0.6%, at 34,145, as of 1:32 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.Salesforce helped to prop up indexes after climbing 3.5%. The company said it’s raising list prices for products by an average of 9%. Amazon was also pushing upward on the market, rising 1.1% on the first day of the annual Prime Day sales event it created. Activision Blizzard jumped 11.2% after a judge declined to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of the video game maker. The week’s main event will arrive on Wednesday, when the U.S. government will offer the latest update on inflation at the consumer level. Economists expect to see another slowdown, with prices 3.1% high...

Jurors hear opening statements in $165k casino heists trial of Las Vegas police officer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jurors have begun hearing opening statements Tuesday morning in the trial of a Las Vegas police officer accused of a series of casino heists. Prosecutors for the federal government are expected to paint the officer as a gambling addict who carried out the robberies as his debts snowballed. Caleb Rogers, 35, allegedly stole nearly $165,000 from three casinos off the Las Vegas Strip over four months while his police colleagues were trying to catch the thief. Authorities have said Rogers was armed during at least one of the heists with a weapon issued by the police department he joined in 2015.Assistant U.S. attorney Daniel Cowhig told the jury in his opening statement that he planned to lay out a “roadmap of facts of the case,” in order “to prove to you he committed all three of these robberies.”Rogers, dressed in a gray suit with his hair pulled back into a low bun, showed no emotion as Cowhig revealed details of the case to the jury for the first time.Rogers’ ...

Smuggler sentenced to 12 years in deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants who suffocated in truck

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A Romanian man who was part of an international human smuggling ring was sentenced Tuesday to more than 12 years in prison for the deaths of 39 migrants from Vietnam who suffocated in a truck trailer on their way to England in 2019.Marius Mihai Draghici was the ringleader’s right-hand man and an “essential cog” in an operation that made huge profits exploiting people desperate to get to the U.K., Justice Neil Garnham said in Central Criminal Court known as the Old Bailey. Victims, who paid about 13,000 pounds ($16,770) for so-called VIP service, died after trying in vain to punch a hole in the container with a metal pole as the temperature inside exceeded 100 degrees F (38.5 C). Their desperation as they struggled to breathe was captured in messages they tried to send loved ones and and recordings that showed “a growing recognition they were going to die there,” Garnham said.There was no escape and no one could hear their cries, prosecutors said. Their fina...

Uncertain demand clouds future of Canada’s planned LNG exports, experts say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

VANCOUVER — Canadian liquefied natural gas projects looking to fill gaps in the global market left by the absence of Russian gas may run into more challenging conditions than expected, industry experts say.Officials from the LNG industry at an industry conference in Vancouver say the consensus among economists is that the gas shortage in Europe caused by the Ukraine war is unlikely to last beyond 10 years, while the rise of renewables will cut into demand from 2030 onward.Peter Abdo, chief commercial officer for LNG for German energy giant Uniper, told the conference his company is committed to entering into 10-year contracts with potential suppliers but will want “flexibility” with longer terms because of uncertainty over demand beyond a decade.Meanwhile, U.S.-based natural gas firm Tellurian’s president and CEO, Octavio Simoes, says the biggest opportunity opened by the European gas shortage is in Asia, with countries such as Germany paying more for LNG on the gl...

No winner in Monday Powerball drawing; jackpot now $725 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — No winning ticket drawn Monday means the Powerball jackpot is an estimated $725 million ahead of Wednesday’s drawing. No ticket matched the Monday drawing of white balls 7, 23, 24, 32, 43 and red Powerball 18. The new jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing is the seventh-highest in the history of the game. Ticket buyers have a chance at either $725 million paid out in yearly increments or a $366 million one-time lump sum before taxes. The game’s abysmal odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to build big prizes that draw more players. The all-time largest Powerball jackpot was $2.04 billion Powerball last November.The last time someone won the Powerball jackpot was April 19 for a $253 million prize. Since then, no one has won the grand prize in the past 35 consecutive drawings. Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Associated Press

Louisiana judge tosses some charges against officers in deadly arrest of Black driver Ronald Greene

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

A state judge has thrown out obstruction of justice charges against two of the five Louisiana lawmen indicted in the fatal 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, a death authorities initially blamed on a car crash before long suppressed body-camera video showed the white officers beating, stunning and dragging the Black motorist as he wailed, “I’m scared!”While the rulings this week marked a setback for the prosecution, the judge let stand several other felony charges and did not address the most serious charge of negligent homicide against Master Trooper Kory York, who was seen in the graphic footage dragging Greene by his ankle shackles and leaving the heavyset man face down in the dirt for more than nine minutes. Still, Judge Thomas Rogers threatened to toss several felony malfeasance counts against York and two other officers unless prosecutors this week correct certain “defects” in the language of the indictment — dismissals that would effectively gut the case. “It was clear they didn’t...

Iraq’s $27B deal with TotalEnergies could ease its longstanding energy crisis, but challenges remain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — A multi-billion dollar agreement signed with France’s TotalEnergies could help resolve Iraq’s longstanding electricity crisis, attract international investors and reduce its reliance on gas imports from neighboring Iran, a point of tension with Washington.The $27 billion agreement signed in Baghdad on Monday after years of negotiation marks the largest foreign investment in Iraq’s history. It could even help combat climate change by reducing oil flares, and relieve some of the stress on Iraq’s dwindling waterways through a new desalination plant.But that’s only if the parties implementing the agreement can overcome the endemic corruption and political instability that has undermined Iraq’s oil sector for more than two decades.The Gas Growth Integrated Project focuses on bolstering the country’s oil-rich but underdeveloped Basra province. TotalEnergies would take on a 45% stake in the Basra Oil Company, with Iraq holding 30% and Qata...

California man paralyzed from run-in with police gets $20 million settlement

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:30:59 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California man who was left paralyzed after he was slammed to the ground during a traffic stop won a $20 million settlement, one of the largest in the state’s history, officials announced Tuesday. Gregory Gross, an Army veteran who lives in Yuba City, sued the police department in 2022 after police officers used “pain compliance” techniques and expressed disbelief when he repeatedly cried out, “I can’t feel my legs.” Police officers also dismissed Gross when he said, “I can’t breathe,” while being held facedown on the lawn outside a hospital, video released by Gross’s lawyers shows. Gross was accused of driving drunk and causing a slow-speed collision in April 2020. Gross was left with a broken neck, and he underwent two surgeries to fuse his spine. He said the officers’ use of force left him unable to walk or care for himself, and he now needs round-the-clock nursing care for the rest of his life. “We are not against t...