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Putin welcomes China’s Xi to Kremlin amid Ukraine war

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the Kremlin on Monday, a visit that sent a powerful message to Western leaders allied with Ukraine that their efforts to isolate Moscow have fallen short.Xi’s trip showed off Beijing’s new diplomatic swagger and gave a political lift to Putin just days after an international arrest warrant was issued for the Kremlin leader on war crimes charges related to Ukraine.The two major powers have described Xi’s three-day trip as an opportunity to deepen their “no-limits friendship.” China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy, and as a partner in standing up to what both see as U.S. domination of global affairs. The two countries, which are among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, also have held joint military drills.Putin shook hands with Xi before they sat down to make a brief statement at the start of their meeting, calling each other...

Credit Suisse shares fall, but UBS deal raises hope on banks

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Credit Suisse shares plunged Monday after Swiss authorities cut a deal with its bigger rival UBS to acquire the troubled bank at a marked-down price. But European bank stocks and the wider market gained as investors watch whether moves to shore up banks will stem further upheaval in the global banking system. Shares of Credit Suisse, whose woes stem from questions over its internal controls, fell 60% a day after UBS said it would buy the fellow Swiss bank for a lowball price of 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion). The shares are now trading at about the level that they are valued at by the deal. Swiss regulators orchestrated the purchase in a bid to stop more turmoil after the collapse of two U.S. banks. In an indication of the frantic, behind-the-scenes deal-making by Swiss authorities to resolve the issue before markets opened, the acquisition was announced late Sunday.There is still uncertainty over how the deal will play out for the combined bank. Analysts say s...

Fed’s tough challenge: Confront inflation and bank jitters

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Still grappling with persistently high inflation, the Federal Reserve faces an entirely new — and in some ways conflicting — challenge as it meets to consider interest rates this week: How to restore calm to a nervous banking system.The two simultaneous problems would normally push the Fed in different directions: To fight elevated inflation, it would raise its benchmark rate, perhaps substantially, for the ninth time in the past year. But at the same time, to soothe financial markets, the Fed might prefer to leave rates unchanged, at least for now. Most economists think the Fed will navigate the conundrum by raising rates by just a quarter-point when its latest policy meeting ends Wednesday. That would be less than the half-point hike that many economists had expected before the recent collapse of two large banks. But it would still mark another step by the Fed in its continuing drive to tame inflation. If the Fed were instead to leave rates alone, which some anal...

Officials: US to send ammunition, tanker trucks to Ukraine

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is poised to announce that it will send Ukraine $350 million in weapons and equipment, U.S. officials said Monday, as fierce battles with Russian forces continue for control of the city of Bakhmut, and troops prepare for an expected spring offensive.The latest package of aid includes a large amount of various types of ammunition, such as rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and an undisclosed number of fuel tanker trucks and riverine boats, according to the officials. Officials said it will be announced later Monday.It comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Monday, giving a political lift to Russian President Vladimir Putin against the West just days after an international arrest warrant was issued for the Kremlin leader on war crimes charges related to Ukraine.Officials said the American aid will be taken from Pentagon stocks through the presidential drawdown authority, so it will be able to be delivered quickly to the ...

Former US Rep. John Jenrette, jailed in Abscam scandal, dies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

CONWAY, S.C. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. John Jenrette, a colorful politician who was convicted in the Abscam bribery scandal in the late 1970s and whose wife talked to Playboy about an in-session dalliance on the U.S. Capitol steps, has died. He was 86.Jenrette, who had been in declining health, died Friday, according to his obituary from Goldfinch Funeral Home in Conway, South Carolina.Jenrette served three terms as a Democrat in the U.S. House, and while his crime and escapades received the most attention, he also was known for securing federal help for his mostly rural district, including aid to tobacco and other types of farmers and a new bridge in Georgetown tall enough to allow ships to easily pass.Jenrette was elected to the U.S. House in 1974, knocking off the incumbent Republican in the wake of the Watergate scandal.Democratic leaders respected Jenrette and his ability to accomplish things. There was talk of leadership positions. But his splashy, outspoken nature would be his ...

Ontario to boost penalties for employers who withhold workers’ passports

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

Employers who withhold the passports or work permits of foreign nationals could soon face hundreds of thousands of dollars in new penalties under legislation being introduced in Ontario today.Labour Minister Monte McNaughton is tabling an omnibus bill Monday that includes the protections for migrant workers, expanding the reasons military reservists can take job leave, and requiring more washrooms on construction sites as well as some for women only.Currently, labour inspectors can levy penalties of $250 for each passport or work permit that is withheld, but with the proposed changes, that would rise to $100,000.As well, if an individual employer is ultimately convicted by the courts of such an offence, they would also be subject to a fine of up to $500,000, up to 12 months in jail or both, while corporations could be fined up to $1 million.The current fines are $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for corporations.McNaughton is also proposing to boost the fine for corporations conv...

Yemeni sides say deal reached to free nearly 900 prisoners

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s warring sides said Monday they agreed to release nearly 900 prisoners of war in a U.N.-brokered deal amid international efforts to end the yearslong conflict.The deal on a prisoner exchange capped 10 days of intensive talks in Switzerland between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Houthi rebels. The discussions were co-chaired by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.The deal involves the release of over 700 Houthi prisoners, said Abdul-Qader el-Murtaza, the head of the Houthi delegation. The Iran-backed Houthis would release more than 180 prisoners, including Saudi and Sudanese troops fighting with the Saudi-led coalition, he added.It’s unclear how many prisoners remain but the number is thought to be in the thousands on both sides.El-Murtaza said the releases would begin in three weeks, and that both sides would convene for another round of talks on more prisoner exchanges after the Muslim holy month of Ra...

Review: A writer investigates a UFO cult in East Texas

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

“The Donut Legion,” by Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland)Charlie Garner, a former private detective turned novelist, was staring through his telescope at the rural East Texas sky late one night when he received an unexpected visit from his ex-wife, Meg.Or did he?A storm had left the ground soft, perfect for leaving footprints and tire tracks, but in the morning there was no sign that she had ever been there. Had it been a dream? A hallucination? An apparition?Charlie was still in love with Meg, who’d left him to marry another man, and what she’d come to tell him — if he hadn’t imagined it — was disturbing. She thought her husband had been murdered, and she wanted him to look into it.As the plot of Joe R. Lansdale’s “The Donut Legion” gets rolling, Charlie is shaken but uncertain that there is anything to it at first. But soon, he learns that both Meg and her husband have disappeared, leaving all of their possessions behind.Charlie’s suspicions turn to The Saucer People, a cult that had pe...

US aid worker kidnapped in Niger released after 6 years

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American aid worker who was kidnapped in the West African nation of Niger more than six years ago has been released from custody, the Biden administration said Monday.Jeffrey Woodke was kidnapped from his home in Abalak, Niger, in October 2016 by men who ambushed and killed his guards and forced him at gunpoint into their truck, where he was driven north toward Mali’s border. A senior administration official who briefed reporters Monday on Woodke’s release described the action as the culmination of years of efforts, but declined to say what exactly led to him being freed from captivity or where he is now.The official said no ransom was paid and no concession was made to captors.Eric Tucker, The Associated Press

French journalist kidnapped in Mali in 2021 is freed

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 16:30:12 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A French journalist held hostage by Islamic extremists for nearly two years in Mali was released Monday, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which campaigned for his release.Olivier Dubois was kidnapped in April 2021 from northern Mali, a region of the country wracked by jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.France’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on the news. The conditions of Dubois’ release, including whether it involved a ransom, were not disclosed.“We feel joy and immense relief,” Reporters Without Borders, also known by its French acronym RSF, said in a statement.It thanked French authorities for “having implemented the necessary means to obtain his release,” without elaborating.Dubois’ release came the same day that two kidnapped aid workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross were freed in Mali.Jihadi groups have been abducting hostages for ransom as a way to fund their operations and ...