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This Week: Consumer confidence, Fed policy, inflation update

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming this week:Staying confidentThe Conference Board releases its gauge of consumer confidence for July on Tuesday.Economists project that confidence remains high following a surprising jump in June, when The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index reached 109.7, its highest level in 18 months. The measure is expected to rise to 110.3 in July. A reading of 90 or better reflects a healthy economy. Consumers remain confident amid a strong labor market that has acted as a bulwark to slower economic growth elsewhere.Consumer confidence, by month:Feb. 103.4March 104.0April 103.7May: 102.5June: 109.7July (est.): 110.3Source: FactSet.Fed peaks interestThe Federal Reserve delivers its latest update on interest rates Wednesday.The central bank is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate a quarter percentage point to between 5.25% and 5.50% after forgoing a rate increase at its previous meeting. Wall Street...

Spain’s election yields a distorted mirror of the success and failure of its political leaders

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s elections proved to be a tight battle between two leftist and two rightist blocs poised to team up to form potential governing coalitions. Here is a glance at the four leaders of those blocs and how their future may change after the results.___PEDRO SÁNCHEZPedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister since 2018, again withstood the odds in Sunday’s election, defying most poll forecasts. His Socialists Workers Party gained two more seats than in the last election, at the end of 2019, rising to 122 deputies. But Sánchez will need the support of fringe parties, including separatist forces from Catalonia and the Basque Country, if he wants to keep his minority coalition going. He may find it particularly hard to work with the hard-line Catalan separatist party Junts. The party is led by Carles Puigdemont, who is still technically on the run from Spanish courts as the mastermind behind the 2017 secession attempt in Catalonia that put Spain on the brin...

Chinese authorities say 11 people were killed in the collapse of a gymnasium roof at a high school in the far northeast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say 11 people were killed in the collapse of a gymnasium roof at a high school in the far northeast.Source

Rusia afirma que los ataques con drones alcanzaron dos edificios no residenciales en Moscú

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

(CNN) — Los drones ucranianos atacaron dos edificios no residenciales en Moscú en las primeras horas de la mañana de este lunes y fueron “reprimidos” por las defensas de la ciudad, dijeron las autoridades rusas, describiendo el incidente como un ataque “frustrado”.Los ataques no causaron daños graves ni víctimas, dijo este lunes el alcalde de Moscú, Sergei Sobyanin, en Telegram.El Ministerio de Defensa de Rusia culpó a Ucrania, describiendo el ataque como un “ataque terrorista del régimen de Kyiv” y que los dos drones fueron “reprimidos” y se estrellaron en Moscú.“En la mañana del 24 de julio, se frustró un intento del régimen de Kyiv de lanzar un ataque terrorista utilizando dos vehículos aéreos no tripulados contra instalaciones en el territorio de la ciudad de Moscú”, dijo el ministerio en Telegram.“Dos UAV (vehículos aéreos no tripulados) ucranianos fueron suprimidos por medios de guerra electrónica y se estrellaron”, agregó el ministerio.ANÁLISIS |...

China secretly sends enough gear to Russia to equip an army

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

The pictures posted on the Chinese company’s website show a tall, Caucasian man with a crew cut and flattened nose inspecting body armor at its factory.“This spring, one of our customers came to our company to confirm the style and quantity of bulletproof vests, and carefully tested the quality of our vests,” Shanghai H Win, a manufacturer of military-grade protective gear, proudly reported on its website in March. The customer “immediately directly confirmed the order quantity of bulletproof vests and subsequent purchase intention.”The identity of the smiling customer isn’t clear, but there’s a fair chance he was Russian: According to customs records obtained by POLITICO, Russian buyers have declared orders for hundreds of thousands of bulletproof vests and helmets made by Shanghai H Win — the items listed in the documents match those in the company’s online catalog.Evidence of this kind shows that China, despite Beijing’s calls for peace, is pushing right up to a red line in ...

Fukushima nuclear plant water release within weeks raises worries about setbacks to businesses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

IWAKI, Japan (AP) — Beach season has started across Japan, which means seafood for holiday makers and good times for business owners. But in Fukushima, that may end soon.Within weeks, the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is expected to start releasing treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, a highly contested plan still facing fierce protests in and outside Japan.The residents worry that the water discharge 12 years after the nuclear disaster could deal another setback to Fukushima’s image and hurt their businesses and livelihoods.“Without a healthy ocean, I cannot make a living.” said Yukinaga Suzuki, a 70-year-old innkeeper at Usuiso beach in Iwaki about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the plant. And the government has yet to announce when the water release will begin. It’s not yet clear whether, or how, damaging the release will be. But residents say they feel “shikataganai” — meaning helpless. Suzuki has requested officials to hold the p...

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it will not sell shares in Ant’s buyback program

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it does not plan to sell any shares in its one-third shareholding in financial technology company Ant Group because it wants to retain its stake in an “important strategic partner.”Alibaba Group Holdings said in a filing Sunday that it will not participate in Ant’s share buyback program. It allows shareholders to sell back up to 7.6% of their holdings at an unspecified price that values the company at 567.1 billion yuan ($78.8 billion).Ant, which operates one of China’s leading mobile payments services Alipay, has seen its valuation fall nearly 70% from about $280 billion ($38.9 billion) at the time it was planning an IPO in 2020. That was derailed by regulators who conducted an investigation into the firm and then fined it nearly $100 billion for violating laws and regulations in the payments sector.Given the plunge in Ant’s valuation, investors who sell their shares to Ant will likely get far less than they would have go...

Greta Thunberg is appearing in a Swedish court on a charge of disobeying police at a climate protest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

MALMÖ, Sweden (AP) — Climate activist Greta Thunberg will appear in court on Monday on a charge of disobeying police at a protest in southern Sweden last month.Local newspaper Sydsvenskan reported that Thunberg and other activists were detained after they stopped traffic in the oil terminal of the port in Malmö on June 19.Thunberg was charged because she refused to comply with police orders to leave the scene during the protest, according to Swedish Prosecution Authority spokeswoman Annika Collin and a statement from prosecutors. Prosecutor Charlotte Ottosen told the newspaper that the crime of disobedience is typically punishable with fines.Thunberg inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts to fight climate change after staging weekly protests outside the Swedish Parliament starting in 2018.The Associated Press

Netanyahu leaves hospital as Israel faces a key vote – and a crisis – over divisive legal changes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was released from the hospital on Monday after an emergency heart procedure, facing an unprecedented national crisis ahead of parliament’s vote on the first major piece of legislation to remake the country’s justice system.Demonstrators, many of whom feel the very foundations of their country are being eroded by the government’s plan, stepped up their opposition, blocking a road leading up to parliament. Businesses across the country shuttered their doors in protest of the vote.Driven by a governing coalition made up of ultranationalist and ultra-religious parties, the judicial overhaul has divided Israel, testing the delicate social ties that bind the country, rattling the cohesion of its powerful military and repeatedly drawing concern from even its closest ally, the United States.Efforts to find a last-ditch compromise were underway, with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog shuttling between the sides, incl...

Democratic governor pushes back against transgender-related attacks by GOP in Kentucky campaign

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is pushing back hard against Republican efforts to cast him as an advocate of gender reassignment surgery for minors, saying his detractors have misrepresented his position and invoking his Christian faith and support for parental rights to explain why he vetoed a measure that banned gender-affirming care for children.Beshear, a Democrat seeking a second term in a race that could test the political potency of Republican messaging on transgender issues, said in an interview that he has always opposed gender reassignment surgery for children.“My position on this has always been clear,” Beshear said. “I have never supported gender reassignment surgery for minors, and they don’t happen in Kentucky.”It’s a direct response to what he says is a patently false Republican narrative that suggested he supports such surgeries. The Courier Journal has reported there is no record of such surgeries for minors happening in Kentucky. The GOP att...