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US State Department orders evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family members from Niger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

(CNN) — The US State Department on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family members from Niger following last week’s military takeover.“On July 26, President Mohamed Bazoum was placed under house arrest amidst efforts to overthrow the democratically elected government of Niger. Subsequent events have severely limited flight options,” the State Department said in an updated travel advisory.“Given this development, on August 2, 2023, the Department ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and eligible family members from Embassy Niamey,” it said. “The U.S. Embassy in Niamey has temporarily reduced its personnel, suspended routine services, and is only able to provide emergency assistance to U.S. citizens in Niger.”The travel advisory warns Americans not to travel to Niger, setting the advisory level at its highest possible: Level 4.“With the ongoing efforts to overturn constitutional order, there may be increased dem...

Barr obliterates Trump’s defense: ‘He knew well that he had lost the election’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

(CNN) — Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday undermined a key pillar of his old boss’s defense in the special counsel’s probe into 2020 election interference, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that Donald Trump “knew well he lost the election.”A central premise of the special counsel’s case is that Trump knew the election claims he was making were false after being told by several close aides that he had lost the election. Trump’s lawyers have argued that his statements were protected under the First Amendment, a position that Barr, in his first interview since Trump’s third indictment, said was not a valid argument.“As the indictment says, they are not attacking his First Amendment right. He can say whatever he wants, he can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen when he knew better,” Barr said on “The Source.” “But that does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy.”He added: “At first I wasn’t sure, but I have come to belie...

Hyundai and Kia recall nearly 92,000 vehicles and tell owners to park them outside due to fire risk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Hyundai and Kia are telling the owners of nearly 92,000 vehicles in the U.S. to park them outside because an electronic controller in an oil pump can overheat and cause fires.The affiliated Korean automakers are recalling the vehicles and also are telling owners to park them away from structures until repairs are made.The recalls cover certain 2023 and 2024 Hyundai Palisades, as well some 2023 Tucson, Sonata, Elantra and Kona vehicles. Affected Kias include the 2023 Soul and Sportage as well as some 2023 and 2024 Seltos vehicles.The companies say in documents posted Thursday by U.S. safety regulators that a capacitor on a circuit board in the oil pump assembly for the transmission may have been damaged by the supplier during manufacturing. That can cause a short-circuit and increase the risk of a fire.Kia says it has six reports of melting components but no fires or injuries. Hyundai says it has confirmed four “thermal incidents” and no injuries.Dealers...

Chicago White Sox snap their scoreless streak at 26 innings, but still suffer 11-1 blowout loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

Dylan Cease didn’t make it out of the second inning. Pedro Grifol was ejected in the third.The Chicago White Sox offense, meanwhile, put up zero after zero for the third straight game.It was another tough night for the Sox, who were blown out by the Texas Rangers 11-1 on Wednesday in front of 28,735 at Globe Life Field.“It was a rough one,” Cease said of his start. “Not enough strikes, not enough execution and they did a good job of hitting it.”The Sox lost for the ninth time in 11 games and are a season-high 23 games under .500 at 43-66.The rough times continued for the Sox offensively as they saw a scoreless streak extend to 26 innings before Seby Zavala hit a home run with two outs in the eighth.“We’re hitting too many groundballs,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “They’re pitching us down in the zone and we’re hitting too many groundballs. We chased quite a bit today, too. We’re not putting good swings on hittabl...

A car-carrying ship that burned for a week on the North Sea is towed to a Dutch port for salvaging

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

EEMSHAVEN, Netherlands (AP) — Tugboats towed a freight ship that burned for a week on the North Sea while carrying thousands of cars into a Dutch port on Thursday for salvaging, laying to rest fears that it could sink close to shipping lanes and a protected habitat for birds.The Fremantle Highway was taken to the northern port of Eemshaven, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management said. A boat that has special booms to clean up oil spills accompanied the nearly 200-meter-long (around 650-foot-long) vessel as a precaution.The ship with 3,784 new vehicles, including 498 electric ones, on board caught fire on July 25 while traveling from the German port city of Bremerhaven to Singapore.Much of the gray paint on the ship’s sides was gone, apparently scorched off by the heat inside the ship when the fire was raging.The fire on the Fremantle Highway burned out of control for a week as it floated near busy North Sea shipping lanes and the shallow Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World...

Bank of England hints that UK borrowing rates will stay high after its new hike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England raised its main interest rate Thursday to a fresh 15-year high and indicated it would stay high for some time to bring down persistently high inflation — another potential blow for those seeing their rents and mortgages rise during a cost-of-living crisis.The widely anticipated quarter-percentage point increase, to 5.25%, was the central bank’s 14th hike in a row. The bank said some of the risks from more stubborn inflation, notably higher wages, had “begun to crystallize,” leading it to push borrowing costs higher.There had been fears, certainly among hard-pressed households and businesses, that the bank would repeat its outsized half-point increase from June. But figures last month showing that inflation fell more than anticipated to 7.9% eased the pressure to act as aggressively again.In new forecasts, the central bank said inflation is expected to drop to 4.9% by the end of the year, with food price rises set to moderate.“Inflation is falling, a...

The 3 Baltic nations plan to accelerate their exit from Russia’s power grid by almost a year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The prime ministers of the three Baltic countries agreed Thursday to speed up their nations’ disconnection from Russia’s power grid by nearly one year and connect with the continental European energy network by February 2025.In a joint declaration, Kaja Kallas, Krisjanis Karins and Ingrida Simonyte – the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, respectively – pledged the countries would complete the decoupling as soon as the technical capacity was in place.“The shifted geopolitical situation, resulting from the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, has also significantly deteriorated the energy security situation in the region and increased the risks of unplanned de-synchronization of the Baltic states’ electricity systems” from the Russian grid, the three prime ministers said.The Baltic countries, which used to be part of the Soviet Union, do not currently buy electricity from Russia but remain physically connected to t...

Adidas brings in $437 million from the first Yeezy sale. Part of that will go to anti-hate groups

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Adidas brought in 400 million euros ($437 million) from the first release of Yeezy sneakers left over after breaking ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear maker tries to offload the unsold shoes and donate part of the proceeds to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate. The first batch of shoes released in June, which sold out, helped the company reach an operating profit of 176 million euros in the second quarter, better than it originally planned, Adidas said Thursday. A second sale started Wednesday.After Ye’s antisemitic and other offensive comments led the company to end its partnership with the rapper in October, Adidas said it had sought a way to dispose of 1.2 billion euros worth of the high-end shoes in a responsible way. “We will continue to carefully sell off more of the existing Yeezy inventory,” said CEO Bjørn Gulden, who took over in January. “This is much better than destroying and ...

Bombardier boosts Q2 revenue amid sustained demand for business jets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

MONTREAL — Bombardier is reporting revenues rose eight per cent year over year in its second quarter amid ongoing demand for business jets as deliveries and aftermarket services ramped up.The business jet maker says revenues increased to $1.68 billion in the three months ended June 30 from $1.56 billion a year earlier.Bombardier says net income turned up a second-quarter loss of $35 million versus a loss of $129 million the year before, due in part to professional fees related to the sale of Bombardier’s rail business in 2021.On an adjusted basis, earnings hit 72 cents per share, slightly below analyst expectations of 74 cents per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.CEO Éric Martel says the higher revenues landed despite supply chain snarls, with the company on track to reach its forecast of more than 138 business jet deliveries this year.The earnings boost last month came on the back of 29 jet deliveries and a big leap in income from repairs and parts replacem...

Canada Goose sees $85M net loss in Q1 as it opens more international stores

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:29 GMT

TORONTO — Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says its most recent quarter delivered an $85 million net loss as it opened a handful of new international stores.The Toronto-based luxury apparel company says the first quarter’s net loss compared with a net loss of $63.6 million a year earlier.Its net loss for the period ended July 2 amounted to 78 cents per basic and diluted share compared with 59 cents a year prior.Analysts on average had expected a loss of 88 cents per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.Canada Goose’s adjusted net loss totalled $73.4 million compared with a net loss of $59.7 million a year earlier.Its revenue climbed to $84.8 million from $69.9 million in the second quarter of its prior fiscal year.The quarter came as Canada Goose opened new stores in Dublin, Las Vegas and Washington and relocated its Beijing flagship property.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2023.Companies in this story: (...