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Iraq expels Sweden’s ambassador over a Quran desecration. It follows an attack on Sweden’s embassy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

BAGHDAD (AP) — Protesters angered by the planned burning of a copy of the Quran by an Iraqi man in Sweden stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad Thursday, overrunning the diplomatic compound and starting a fire. Hours later, Iraq’s prime minister cut diplomatic ties with Sweden in protest over the desecration of the Islamic holy book.Protesters stormed the diplomatic post early Thursday, waving flags and signs showing the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, and set a small fire. The attack on the embassy came ahead of a planned burning of the Quran in Stockholm by an Iraqi asylum-seeker who had burned a copy of the Islamic holy book in a previous demonstration last month. Following the incident, the Swedish Embassy announced that it had closed to visitors, without specifying when it would reopen. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement after meeting with security officials that Iraqi authorities would prosecute those respons...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts in early trading as more earnings roll in

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting in early trading following a mixed set of profit reports. The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower early Thursday, coming off its seventh gain in the last eight days. The Dow rose 150 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.5%. Netflix and Tesla helped weigh on the market after the two popular companies reported how much profit they earned during the spring. Tesla fell 4.1% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue than expected. Analysts said investors may be concerned about how profitable the electric vehicle maker will be after cutting prices. Netflix fell 8.6%.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Trading is mixed before the opening bell Thursday with more corporate earnings reports incoming and new data on jobs in the U.S. and housing. Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% before the bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1% and could extend its longest winning streak since 2019. Earnings se...

Dubai’s stock market hits an 8-year high, lifted by a real estate boom

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Buoyed by a surge in real estate activity, the Dubai Financial Market has reached its highest point in nearly eight years and extended year-to-date gains to nearly 25%.The city-state’s bourse peaked at 4,022 on Tuesday before pulling back to 3,986 on Thursday. It’s trading at the highest levels since August 2015. This year the Dubai Financial Market has outperformed the S&P 500, which is up nearly 20%, and the MSCI All Country World Index, a benchmark for global equities, which is up 16%.Dubai, a global business hub home to 3.5 million people, weathered the pandemic while keeping its vital tourism industry afloat. The latest real estate boom is driven in part by an influx of Russian investors following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.Shares of Emaar Properties and Emaar Development led the recent gains following a four-day break for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha at the end of last month. The state-backed developers are behind dozen...

Ukraine and Pakistan call for restoring the Black Sea grain deal after talks in Islamabad

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Pakistan called Thursday for the restoration of the Black Sea grain initiative to ensure global food security, days after Russia halted the wartime deal that had allowed grain to flow from Ukraine.The two sides made the demand at a news conference after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after arriving on his first visit to the Islamic nation.Pakistan has been a regular importer of wheat from Kyiv in recent years — as much as 1 million tons in 2021 by Kuleba’s estimate. The grain deal, negotiated in July 2022 among Turkey, the U.N. and Russia, had allowed grain to flow to countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty.Russia announced Monday it was pulling out of the deal, and on Wednesday, Russian strikes on Ukraine’s southern port areas destroyed some of its critic...

What to expect from Canada’s 2023 World Cup opener vs. Nigeria

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

The Canadian women’s national team will kick off its 2023 World Cup campaign on Thursday evening (Canadian time) in what should be an intriguing opener against Nigeria.Both sides drew 2-2 in a friendly last April, albeit with Canada missing a couple of key players. Regardless, a precedent has been set. Les Rouges won’t be able to take their feet off the gas in any of their three Group B matches, which makes an early win even more crucial.Here’s what we can expect out of both teams from a tactical perspective on Thursday starting at 7:30 p.m. PT.THE HIGH PRESSOne of Nigeria’s fascinating tactical quirks is its pressing intensity. Over the last calendar year against World Cup-bound opponents, the Nigerians are averaging 8.48 passes per defensive action (PPDA). That includes matches against the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Colombia, all higher-ranked sides.The output has slightly fluctuated based on Nigeria’s opponents, but the tactic ...

Cambodia’s leader returns to Facebook weeks after an acrimonious breakup with the platform

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen reactivated his Facebook account Thursday, three weeks after announcing he was forsaking the social media giant in favor of posting on Telegram, a popular messaging app that also serves as a blogging tool.Hun Sen’s return to the Facebook fold came three days before a general election in which his ruling Cambodian People’s Party is virtually guaranteed a landslide victory.Hun Sen said at the end of June that he would stop posting new material on his Facebook page but leave the account online. He said he was switching to Telegram because he believed the app provided a more effective way to communicate. But when a Facebook watchdog criticized the language in one of his videos and recommended suspending the prime minister’s account for six months, Hun Sen took down the page.Duong Dara, who manages the 70-year-old leader’s social media accounts, posted a message Thursday saying he had asked Hun Sen to reactivate his...

Correctional Service to release results of review into Paul Bernardo’s transfer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

OTTAWA — The Correctional Service of Canada is set to unveil the results of a review into the controversial decision to transfer notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison. Commissioner Anne Kelly will be joined by other officials at a scheduled 1:45 p.m. news conference, where she is expected to lay out the review of Bernardo’s transfer and security classification.Bernardo had spent nearly 30 years in a maximum-security prison — most recently the Millhaven Institution near Kingston, Ont. — before his late-May transfer to La Macaza Institution in Quebec, a medium-security prison offering treatment for sex offenders.He is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, assault and murders of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who has faced calls from the Conservatives to resign over the issue, has said the Correctional Service of Canada ow...

'Heartless': Video shows carjackers take man's Maserati, then total it

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (WJW) -- A longtime Cleveland attorney's Maserati was stolen and then crashed by the carjackers, and all of it was caught on video."I’m still stunned, shocked. I can't believe this happened to me," said the 59-year-old lawyer, who did not want to be identified.He said he was getting gas on the evening of June 19 and decided to grab a couple of items from the station's carry-out. He didn't notice a sedan that pulled into the station and then backed up, parking unusually close to his 2019 Maserati SUV. "I came back out and instantly sensed something was wrong, but I didn't follow my instincts," he said. After he got into his SUV, it became clear why the four teens in the sedan parked so close."One of them slammed the door into my car, and I was stunned. I got back out and he stuck a handgun to my stomach and said, "Your car or your life,'" he said.Surveillance video shows the longtime lawyer struggling with the gunman, who quickly grabbed his keys from his pocket. ...

Man dies from punching window of Illinois bar after getting kicked out

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

BEACH PARK, Ill. (WGN) — A man died early Monday after punching the window of an Illinois bar after getting kicked out.At around 2 a.m., authorities responded to a report of an injured person at a bar located in Beach Park. ‘Days of Our Lives’ actor Cody Longo died from alcohol abuse, report says Following a preliminary investigation, authorities believe Jonathan Banks, 32, of Chicago, got into a verbal altercation with another person at the bar and was escorted out by security.After being escorted outside, authorities said Banks punched his fist through a window of the bar. He suffered a severe laceration to his arm and was transported to Vista Medical Center East in critical condition.Banks died in the emergency room at the hospital. The coroner's office ruled his death was self-inflicted by sharp force injuries.

The key legal cases against Trump explained

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:54 GMT

(The Hill) -- Former President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that he will soon face arrest and indictment for his role in the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.Trump is basing that assessment on the fact that his attorneys have been informed he is a target of the federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.If Trump is indeed indicted, it would be the third case in which he has been charged this year. Possible charges loom in a fourth case in Georgia. Here is a roundup of the legal challenges Trump faces.New York and the hush money paymentsTrump’s first criminal indictment is in many ways the least compelling.In early April, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg laid out 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.The charges relate to three stories about Trump’s personal life. The most famous of these centers on porn actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. A $130,000 deal to buy Daniels’s silence was sealed by Michael Cohen,...