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Diplomats from South Korea, Japan and China will meet about resuming a trilateral leaders’ summit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The top diplomats from South Korea, Japan and China are to gather in South Korea over the weekend to discuss resuming their leaders’ summit, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.An annual trilateral meeting among the leaders of the three Northeast Asian nations hasn’t been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the often touchy ties among them. The three-way summit began in 2008.While the three nations are close economic and cultural partners with one another, their relationships have suffered on-and-off setbacks due to a mix of issues such as Japan’s wartime atrocities, the U.S.-China rivalry and North Korea’s nuclear program.The foreign ministers of the three countries are to meet in the southeastern South Korean city of Busan on Sunday to prepare for their leaders’ summit and exchange views on ways to strengthen three-way cooperation and other regional and international issues, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.The three ministers ar...

Stock market today: Asian shares slide, as Hong Kong retreats on selling of property shares

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares declined Friday in Asia, with Hong Kong’s benchmark retreating on selling of property shares following recent gains. U.S. futures edged higher after markets on Wall Street were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Oil prices were mixed.Japan reported its consumer inflation rose for the first time in four months, with big gains in food prices and hotel rates as tourism has soared. The consumer price index rose 3.3% in October from a year earlier, up from 3% in September in a trend contrary to the Bank of Japan’s forecasts for price pressures to abate toward the year’s end. “Both the government and the BOJ will be concerned about higher-than-expected inflation,” Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ING Economics said in a commentary. That will likely lead the central bank to adjust its extremely lax monetary policy in the new year, they said. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.5% to 33,625.53. Chinese shares fell back after recent gains ...

Antitrust: Commission carries out unannounced inspections in the online food delivery sector

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

The European Commission is carrying out unannounced inspections at the premises of companies active in the online ordering and delivery of food, groceries and other consumer goods in two member states.The Commission has concerns that the companies concerned may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices (Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).Today's inspections are conducted in the context of an investigation for which the Commission carried out inspections in 2022. The Commission officials were accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities.The scope of the investigation, initially including alleged market allocations, has now been extended to cover additional conduct in the form of alleged no-poach agreements and exchanges of commercially sensitive information.Unannounced inspections are a preliminary step toward investigating suspected anticompetitive practices. The ...

Mother dead after suspected DUI driver crashes into pedestrians at L.A. bus stop

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

A woman was killed and her child was hospitalized Thursday after a driver crashed into a group of pedestrians near a bus stop in the Manchester Square neighborhood of Los Angeles.The child and a third person are currently in critical condition, officials said. The crash happened around 1:30 p.m. on the 1700 block of W. 83rd Street, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.A man, woman and the child, possibly an infant, were all transported to a regional trauma center by LAFD paramedics.Around 5 p.m., Los Angeles Police Department officials confirmed that one of the victims died from their injuries. Police later said the woman was killed, adding that she was the child's mother. The collision involved two vehicles, police said. One vehicle was exiting a private lot when it was struck by another vehicle. The first vehicle then crashed into the pedestrians who were on the sidewalk "at or near" a bus stop, authorities said. The driver was arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving...

Israel-Hamas truce begins ahead of hostage, prisoner swap

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

A four-day cease fire in the Israel-Hamas war began Friday morning in Gaza as part of an agreement that Qatar helped broker. The deal also includes the release of dozens of hostages held by militants and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, which was to take place later Friday.The diplomatic breakthrough promised some relief for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza who have endured weeks of Israeli bombardment, as well as families in Israel who fear for their loved ones taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza after a dayslong pause in its casualty report, which it attributed to the health system's collapse in northern Gaza making it impossible to provide a detailed count.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will press ahead with the war after a cease-fire expires. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion...

Kurtenbach: The 49ers’ defense is back from the depths and better for it

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

SEATTLE — The 49ers defense picked a great time to rediscover its identity.While September and October football seems important, that’s merely a feeling-out period.If you’re a good team, the games that really matter come when there’s a chill in the air and the wind chaps your face.All that’s truly remembered is how you play in November and December.The 49ers are a good team and their defense has started the season’s critical stretch with a statement to the rest of the league: This unit is still elite.If the Niners’ defense plays like it has the last few weeks — if it plays like it did Thursday night against the Seahawks — the possibilities for this team are endless.It might even result in some memories made in February.There was a feeling out period for this defense, yes.The Niners went into their bye week carrying a three-game losing streak and the bad taste of being carved up by the Bengals in Santa Clara.Nothing seemed to be working on defense....

2032 Olympics backers confirm main Brisbane stadium will be demolished and rebuilt for the Games

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — The cricket stadium that Brisbane Olympics backers pitched as the centerpiece venue for the 2032 Summer Games is set to be demolished and rebuilt.Queensland state’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles on Friday confirmed the 2.7 billion Australian dollar (US$1.8 billion) redevelopment of the stadium, widely known as the Gabba, would go ahead after the government accepted a project validation report.Miles said the project would increase the seating capacity of the stadium to 50,000 and connect the Gabba, which has been the state’s cricket headquarters for more than a century, with a new underground rail station. A local primary school will be relocated to make way for the stadium’s bigger footprint. Cricket teams and the Brisbane Lions, a leading club in the Australian Football League, will also be temporarily relocated during the building phase.Miles said construction would take four years, starting after the Gabba hosts an Ashes cricket test against England...

Seahawks can’t overcome shaky first half, get humbled in 31-13 loss to 49ers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Facing a tough division opponent on a short week, the Seattle Seahawks couldn’t afford to be sloppy, ineffective or get off to a slow start.That’s exactly what happened for the first 30 minutes of Thursday night’s 31-13 loss to San Francisco that once again showed the gulf that remains between the 49ers and the rest of the NFC West.“The first half of this game, we couldn’t get out of our own way enough,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.It was a humbling defeat that left Seattle (6-5) two games behind the first-place 49ers after dropping three of its last four. And it was the Seahawks’ fourth straight loss to the Niners, including the playoffs last season, with only one of those games decided by one score. It also had some of Seattle’s leaders calling out teammates afterward to make changes and make them quickly.“I think everybody needs to go look at themselves and have a reality check with themselves and ask themselves if they’re playing with the passion ...

What does the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas look like?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A temporary cease-fire agreement to facilitate the release of dozens of people taken hostage during Hamas’ raid on Israel is expected to bring the first respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza and a glimmer of hope to the families of the captives.After hitting a last-minute snag, the deal took effect Friday, a day later than originally planned. Under its terms, Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day halt in hostilities. Palestinian prisoners held by Israel would also be freed as part of the agreement.The deal was brokered by Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt and announced on Wednesday. It capped weeks of fitful indirect negotiations and set the stage for a tense period that could determine the course of the war, which was set off by Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid.Israel, Hamas and Qatar have released different details of the agreement, but those details do not appear to contradict one another.WHAT’S IN THE DEAL?Qatar announced that 50 hostages will be released in exchange...

Israel-Hamas cease-fire begins, amid plans for release of hostages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:39 GMT

The first captives held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas are set to be released on Friday afternoon as part of a prisoner exchange, as a four-day cease-fire deal with Israel came into effect at 7 a.m. local time (6 a.m. CET).The BBC reported that what appeared to be Israeli strikes on Gaza could still sporadically be heard until around 7:15 a.m., but that the truce held thereafter.The cease-fire will also allow aid to enter Gaza. The first fuel trucks entered the enclave from the Rafah border crossing with Egypt shortly after the pause in fighting began, local media reported.On Thursday evening, a spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry — which acted as an intermediary to help broker the cease-fire deal, together with the United States and Egypt — announced the first hostages would be released by Hamas at around 4 p.m. local time (3 p.m. CET) on Friday.“They will be 13 in number, all women and children and those hostages from the same families will be put together ...