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US applications for jobless benefits fall again as labor market continues to defy the Fed actions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell again last week as the labor market continues defy the Federal Reserve’s attempt to cool it through higher interest rates.U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 237,000 for the week ending July 8, from 249,000 previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week ups and downs, fell by 6,750 to 246,750.Jobless claim applications are seen as a proxy for the number of layoffs in a given week.Overall, 1.73 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended July 1, 11,000 fewer than the previous week.For three weeks in late May and early June, jobless claims had appeared to reach a sustained, higher level, above 260,000. Even so, that increase may not have been enough for Fed officials to pivot from raising its main rate at its next meeting.The U.S. economy has added jobs at a frenetic pace since more than 20...

US wholesale prices for June point to further easing of inflation pressures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States decelerated again last month, the latest sign that inflationary pressures are easing in the face of the Federal Reserve’s streak of interest rate hikes.The government’s producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — rose just 0.1% last month from June 2022, the smallest such increase since August 2020. And from May to June, prices rose an identical 0.1% after having fallen 0.4% from April to May.The index that the Labor Department issued Thursday reflects prices charged by manufacturers, farmers and wholesalers. It can provide an early sign of how fast consumer inflation will rise.On Wednesday, the government reported that consumer prices in June rose just 3% over the previous 12 months — the mildest such pace since early 2021. The slowdown was driven by easing prices for gasoline, airline fares, used cars and groceries. Year-over-year consumer price inflation has steadily dropped sinc...

First over-the-counter birth control pill gets FDA approval

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, which will let American women and girls buy contraceptive medication from the same aisle as aspirin and eyedrops.The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it cleared Perrigo’s once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription, making it the first such medication to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter. The company won’t start shipping the pill until early next year, and there will be no age restrictions on sales.Hormone-based pills have long been the most common form of birth control in the U.S., used by tens of millions of women since the 1960s. Until now, all of them required a prescription.Medical societies and women’s health groups have pushed for wider access, noting that an estimated 45% of the 6 million annual pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended. Teens and girls, women of color and those with low incomes report greater hurdles in getting prescriptions and picking th...

Biden is showcasing new NATO member Finland as he closes out his Europe trip

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — President Joe Biden stood alongside Nordic leaders Thursday on the turf of NATO’s newest member, Finland, in a powerful demonstration of the military alliance’s expanding power and influence against Russia. “I’ve been doing this a long time,” Biden said, opening a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö at the Presidential Palace. “I don’t think NATO has ever been stronger.” Biden also met with the leaders of other Nordic nations including Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Sweden is poised to be admitted as NATO’s 32nd member country after it pledged more cooperation with Turkey on counterterrorism efforts while backing Ankara’s bid to join the European Union. Finland gained NATO membership earlier this year.Both Finland and Sweden abandoned a history of military nonalignment and sought to join NATO alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Biden’s brief stop in the shoreline Finnish capital is the coda to a tour that was carefully s...

Sudan’s neighbors meet in Cairo for summit as Egypt unveils new initiative to end raging conflict

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Leaders from Sudan’s six neighboring countries met in Cairo on Thursday for the most high-profile peace talks since conflict erupted across the northeastern African country in mid-April.The meeting, hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, was attended by the leaders of Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Libya.Sudan has been rocked by violence since April 15, when tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces burst into open fighting.The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and wounded more than 6,000 others, Health Minister Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim said last month. The actual death toll is likely much higher, doctors and activists say.El-Sissi in his opening speech proposed a lasting cease-fire agreement, the establishment of safe humanitarian corridors and a dialogue framework that would include all of Sudan’s political parties and players.The summit comes weeks after talks in the Saudi Ara...

France’s parliament approves big boost in military spending, spurred by Ukraine war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France’s parliament on Thursday approved a multi-billion-euro boost to military spending through the rest of this decade, spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine and fast-growing global threats.President Emmanuel Macron pushed for the bigger budget, which would spend 413 billion euros ($450 billion), the most significant spending hike in half a century. The money would modernize France’s nuclear arsenal, augment intelligence spending and develop more remote-controlled weapons.He has argued the boost was needed to ensure “our freedom, our security, our prosperity, our place in the world.” The defense minister has compared it to France’s push in the 1960s to develop nuclear weapons, making the country one of the world’s bigger military powers.The new military plan includes doubling the number of military reservists and reinforcing cyberdefense, as well as increasing weapons production capacity both to help Ukraine and to keep the French military adequately supplied.The new bud...

Helen Mirren visits Jerusalem for new film ‘Golda,’ says she is inspired by anti-government protests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Helen Mirren, who plays Israel’s first female prime minister in her latest film, says she has been inspired by the widespread protests against the country’s current prime minister.Mirren, who portrays the late Golda Meir during the 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states in “Golda,” is visiting an Israel similarly beset by crisis as mass demonstrations take place against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judicial system.Mirren told a news conference before the opening of the Jerusalem Film Festival that she is inspired by the protests.“I’m personally very moved and excited when you see these huge demonstrations,” she said. “I think it’s a pivotal moment in Israeli history.”Netanyahu’s coalition government, which took office in December, is the most hard-line ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox in Israel’s 75-year history. For over six months, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to t...

Amsterdam court needs more Canadian detail before sentence in cyberbullying case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

AMSTERDAM — Judges in Amsterdam said Thursday they need more information from Canadian authorities as they consider the sentence of a Dutch man convicted in Canada last year of crimes, including extortion and harassment of Canadian teenager Amanda Todd.The ruling delayed legal moves to convert Aydin Coban’s 13-year Canadian sentence into a Dutch prison term in the notorious case of online extortion.Coban blackmailed the 15-year-old to expose herself in front of a webcam. She took her own life in 2012 after recounting her ordeal in a YouTube video watched by millions around the world.In a brief court hearing Thursday at which a new sentence was expected to be announced, a judge instead said that the panel at Amsterdam District Court needs clarification from Canada about the most likely date Coban would be released if he were to serve his sentence in a Canadian prison.“We have to take into account when he actually would have been released and Canadian authorities have given a co...

Fire kills nearly every animal at Florida wildlife center

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An early morning fire on Thursday killed nearly all the animals at a wildlife center in Florida, officials said.News outlets reported the fire broke out around 3 a.m. Thursday at the Alligator and Wildlife Discovery Center in Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf Coast.“We suffered from a tragic fire last night. Nearly all of the animals are gone. We are devastated,” a post on the wildlife center’s Facebook page said.Sonny Flynn, who owns the center, told WTSP that all of the mammals inside the building died and many of the reptiles were injured. Small mammals, lizards, amphibians, turtles and tortoises, fresh and saltwater marine life, and alligators were among the 250 animals at the center.“They didn’t deserve this. This is my whole life,” Flynn said. “They all have names, they all have personality, I come in every morning and talk to them like Dr. Dolittle.”Flynn said about 95% of the animals at the center were “pet surrenders...

Man accused of terrorism over fire at South African Parliament says he ‘burned it intentionally’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A man facing terrorism charges over a fire that badly damaged South Africa’s Parliament building last year said in a courtroom outburst on Thursday that he “burned it intentionally.”Shouting and pointing his finger, Zandile Mafe said he was going to “burn it more” if the Parliament was not moved from Cape Town to either the city of Bloemfontein or Pretoria.The huge blaze badly damaged the historic Parliament complex in January last year as it ripped through various buildings, including the main chamber where lawmakers sit. It hasn’t been fully repaired, with estimates saying it will cost around $120 million and take at least three years.Mafe was arrested in the Parliament precinct soon after the fire started. He was charged with breaking and entering, arson and terrorism, but his case has been held up after a judge ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is fit to stand trial.The judge overseeing Thursday’s ...