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France under pressure over disabled rights as Olympics loom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Pascale Ribes and other campaigners for the rights of people with disabilities in France have an invite to meet the French president Wednesday. But because she uses a wheelchair, Ribes won’t risk traveling by public transport to the conference at the presidential Elysee Palace. The nearest wheelchair-accessible Metro line is about a kilometer (half a mile) away and public buses in the French capital — host of the next Olympic Games — can be a time-gobbling ordeal for people with limited mobility, Ribes says.So the president of the lobbying group APF France Handicap will instead ride by taxi in hopes of delivering her message to President Emmanuel Macron that France is lagging in its obligations to ensure equal rights for people with disabilities.Ribes warns that instead of showcasing France, the 2024 Olympics risk highlighting the country’s failings unless there’s quick action to make the Paris Games and the host country more mindful of the needs and r...

Central banks end crisis offer as bank system fears ease

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — In a sign fears about the global financial system have eased for now, major central banks are scaling back their offer of emergency dollar loans to banks, a crisis step launched after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. fed fears about wider troubles.The European Central Bank said Tuesday that it and other central banks found that pressure on banks’ cash needs has dropped and the crisis credits were not being used much lately.As of May 1, the central banks will move from daily offerings of dollars to any bank that needs them to the previous availability of every seven days. Making extra dollars available has been a tool in times of trouble because banks need the U.S. currency to handle many international transactions. The so-called dollar swap lines were used during the 2008 global financial crisis and the economic turmoil in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to ease the impact on the supply of credit to consumers and businesses. The...

GM, Samsung plan new EV battery cell factory in US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and South Korea’s Samsung SDI plan to invest more than $3 billion in building a new electric vehicle battery cell plant in the United States, the companies said Tuesday. They did not announce the intended location of the new factory, which is expected to begin operations in 2026, GM and Samsung SDI said in a statement. GM and Samsung SDI plan to jointly operate the factory, which is expected to make nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells. The companies said it was expected to create thousands of jobs. The project is GM’s fourth joint venture battery cell factory. It has announced three others with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution. A 900-worker factory near Warren, Ohio, is starting to build cells, while plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Lansing, Michigan, are in the works. The announcement coincides with a visit to the United States by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The two countries are marking the 70th anniversary of their ...

Brazil’s Lula visits Spain with Mercosur deal on agenda

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was due to arrive in Spain on Tuesday on the second stop of a European tour aimed at resetting relations and making progress on a long-delayed trade deal between the EU and the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.Following five days spent in Portugal, Lula will arrive in Madrid to attend a business forum this afternoon ahead of meetings with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI on Wednesday.The pending EU-Mercosur trade deal will be high on the agenda. The 27-member European Union completed negotiations with Mercosur in 2019, but ratification has stalled.Spain takes over the rotating EU presidency in July, while Brazil will simultaneously assume the equivalent role in Mercosur. Both are eager to finalize pending aspects of the deal. The Mercosur-EU agreement will mean the integration of a market of some 800 million people, about a fourth of the world’s gross domestic product and ...

Stock markets today: Global markets lower before US earnings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks and Wall Street futures declined Tuesday as investors awaited U.S. earnings reports and an update on economic growth.London and Frankfurt opened lower. Shanghai and Hong Kong declined while Tokyo advanced. Oil prices were little-changed.Some 170 of the biggest U.S. companies including Microsoft and Amazon are due to report earnings this week. On Monday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.1% after Coca-Cola Co.’s quarterly profit was better than expected. Also this week, U.S. data are expected to show economic growth is slowing following interest rate hikes to cool stubbornly high inflation. France and Germany also are due to report economic growth after surveys showed factory activity weakening.If the economy cools, tech stocks will face a “difficult environment” maintaining high prices that have helped to buoy the market, Edward Moya of Oanda said in a report. He said stocks face “big risks” from corporate earnings and a battle in ...

President Joe Biden announces 2024 reelection bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced that he is running for reelection in 2024, asking voters to give him more time to “finish the job” he began when he was sworn in to office and to set aside their concerns about extending the run of America’s oldest president for another four years.Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age. He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic rivals. But he’s still set for a hard-fought struggle to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.The announcement, in a three-minute video, comes on the four-year anniversary of when Biden declared for the White House in 2019, promising to heal the “soul of the nation” amid the turbulent presidency of Donald Trump — a goal that has remained elusive.“I said we are in a battle for the soul of America...

Horvat among NHL stars coming up small early in playoffs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

Leon Draisaitl has been lighting it up for Edmonton, Mitch Marner is scoring for Toronto and Roope Hintz is leading the way for Dallas.They are among the top performers early in the NHL playoffs.Then there are some big stars around the league who have not yet made a mark. A week into the first round, Bo Horvat and Aleksander Barkov have combined for a goal and two assists with the Islanders and Panthers, respectively, each trailing their series three games to one. Edmonton starting goaltender Stuart Skinner got the hook before the Oilers could fall into the same hole against Los Angeles.Skinner may not get the chance to rebound right away if the Oilers’ net now belongs to Jack Campbell, but time is running short for other standouts to contribute.BO HORVAT, IslandersAfter scoring a short-handed goal with 2:03 left in a loss to Carolina that put the Islanders on the brink of elimination, Horvat did not even celebrate. New York’s big midseason trade acquisition had been hel...

Rodgers latest aging NFL star to join Jets late in career

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The trade of quarterback Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay to New York puts one of the greatest players in NFL history in a Jets uniform. Despite a 54-year Super Bowl drought and the league’s longest active streak without a playoff appearance (12 seasons), the Jets have acquired several Hall of Fame players over the years. Some had big impacts, while others simply made a pitstop in New York on their way to Canton. Here are some of the most notable players who joined the Jets late in their careers and ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — mostly for their accomplishments elsewhere:QB BRETT FAVRE: After 17 NFL seasons, including 16 in Green Bay, the three-time MVP and one-time Super Bowl champion was traded to New York during training camp in 2008 for a conditional fourth-round draft pick. He got the Jets off to an 8-3 start before a shoulder injury affected his performance and New York missed the playoffs. Favre retired after his stint with the Jets before ...

Biden announces 2024 reelection bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

President Biden announced on Tuesday that he will run for reelection, ending months of speculation over whether he will seek another term.Biden, who turned 80 years old in November, announced his second bid after months of saying he intends to run and with questions lingering over whether his age and mental stamina would prevent him from holding the office again. Biden would be 82 at the start of a second term. He was the oldest president ever to be sworn-in when he took office in 2020.The White House suggested in January that a formal re-election announcement would come after Biden’s State of the Union address but had not signaled since a definitive time. Biden in recent weeks has hinted that he plans to run for reelection but left timing up in the air until reports surfaced late last week that his team was preparing to make the announcement via video on Tuesday.His campaign apparatus has slowly started to take shape. He's reportedly expected to name senior White House official Jul...

Key things to know about Danny Masterson's rape retrial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:21 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Five months after a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial for actor Danny Masterson, the former star of “That '70s Show" is on trial again in a Los Angeles court. Masterson is accused of raping three women between 2001 and 2003. He could get 45 years in prison if convicted.Here are the key elements, characters and issues that will factor into the retrial.DIRECT DISCUSSION OF DRUGGINGA judge is now allowing the prosecution to say directly that Masterson drugged all three women before raping them, in what may be the biggest difference from the first trial. Previously, the drugging could only be implied when the women testified to feeling disoriented, losing memory and going unconscious to a degree that could not be explained by the alcohol they had consumed.In opening statements Monday, Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller said all three women had consumed drinks Masterson had given them, and that the “evidence will show that they were drug...