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China’s economic growth accelerates with consumption boost

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s economic growth accelerated in the latest quarter as consumer flocked back to shops and restaurants following the abrupt end of anti-virus controls.The 4.5% growth in gross domestic product from January to March compared to the same period in 2022 was the fastest in the past year, and outpaced the 2.9% growth in the previous quarter, according to government data released Tuesday. But authorities cautioned that China will likely face import and export pressures in the coming months amid an uncertain international economic environment, and also warned of inadequate domestic market demand in the world’s No. 2 economy.Fu Linghui, the director general of China’s National Bureau of Statistics, said Tuesday that authorities will implement various policies to “stabilize growth” and stimulate domestic demand, as well as help support the development of emerging industries.The higher-than-expected rise in GDP for the quarter comes amid a rebound in consumptio...

Putin visits Russian troops in occupied Ukraine

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited headquarters of the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.A video released by the Kremlin early Tuesday showed Putin visiting the command post for Russian forces in the southern Kherson region. It showed Putin receiving reports from the top military brass.He then moved by helicopter to the headquarters of the Russian National Guard in the Luhansk region to hear reports about the situation there.Russia took the Kherson and Luhansk regions into its fold along with the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in September in a move that was rejected by most of the world as illegal annexation.It was impossible to independently verify the footage released by the Kremlin. The trip marked a second visit by Putin to the areas that Russia occupied in Ukraine in as many months.The Associated Press

Volkswagen unveils electric luxury sedan at China auto show

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

SHANGHAI (AP) — Volkswagen unveiled an electric luxury sedan that promises a 700-kilometer (435-mile) battery range as global and Chinese automakers showed their latest SUVs, sedans and muscle cars Tuesday at the world’s biggest auto show.Auto Shanghai 2023 reflects the intense competition in China’s fast-growing electric vehicle market after the ruling Communist Party poured billions of dollars into promoting the technology. China accounted for two-thirds of global electrics sales last year.Brands including General Motors, BMW and Nissan and Chinese rivals BYD Auto and NIO unveiled dozens of new EVs in the cavernous Shanghai exhibition center. Brands touted faster charging, satellite-linked navigation and entertainment, and the future possibility of self-driving technology.Volkswagen’s ID.7 sedan, the new flagship model for its electric vehicles, was one of 28 models displayed by the German automaker, half of them electrified.“We are turbo-charging our electric campaign,” said the ...

Pastry artwork pits bakery against town in free speech suit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

CONWAY, N.H. (AP) — Bakery owner Sean Young was thrilled when high school art students covered the big blank wall over his doorway last spring with a painting of the sun shining over a mountain range made of sprinkle-covered chocolate and strawberry donuts, a blueberry muffin, a cinnamon roll and other pastries.The display got rave reviews, and Young looked forward to collaborating with the school on more mural projects at his roadside bakery in Conway, New Hampshire. Then the town zoning board got involved, deciding that the pastry painting was not so much art as advertising, and so could not remain as is because of its size. Faced with modifying or removing the mural, or possibly dealing with fines and criminal charges, Young sued, saying the town is violating his freedom of speech rights.The painting could stay right where it is it if showed actual mountains, instead of pastries suggesting mountains, or if the building wasn’t a bakery.“They said it would be art elsewhere,” Young ...

Rat ambassadors try to counter bad press amid NYC’s rat war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

SAN DIEGO (AP) — As an ambassador for rats, it’s never easy to win over the public. There’s that hairless tail after all. But Runa at the San Diego Zoo is doing her best to counter the bad press. She is one of a handful of such so-called ambassadors showing off the virtues of rats at three U.S. zoos. The rats were provided by a Tanzania-based organization that is training African giant pouched rats to combat wildlife trafficking, detect diseases and perform other useful tasks.At least twice the size of the common brown rats found in cities, African giant pouched rats like Runa are best known for ferreting out landmines and other explosive material on old battlefields in Angola, Mozambique and Cambodia, earning them the nickname “hero-rats.” Efforts are underway to expand the use of their keen sense of smell to finding people trapped in collapsed buildings, detecting diseases in laboratory samples and alerting officials to illegal goods at ports and airports.Six African r...

Rail CEO to testify in Ohio Senate about fiery derailment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Norfolk Southern’s CEO is set to testify before an Ohio Senate rail safety panel Tuesday, more than two months after a fiery train derailment including hazardous materials rocked the village of East Palestine. Alan Shaw has promised millions of dollars to help the Ohio-Pennsylvania border community recover, but also faces a lawsuit from Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost over costs for the toxic chemical spill cleanup and environmental damage. The federal government has also sued the railroad. Shaw previously testified before the Pennsylvania legislature as well as Congress over the derailment, but now faces Ohio lawmakers, who recently passed a state transportation budget that would impose new rail safety measures on Norfolk Southern and other railroads traveling through their state.Whether they’re allowed to do so, however, remains a point of debate. The Ohio Railroad Association, a trade group, has argued that several of the measures are pre...

Odd spiral appears amid northern lights in Alaska night sky. No, it wasn’t aliens or a stargate.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

In this photo provided by Christopher Hayden, a light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appears amid the aurora for a few minutes in the Alaska skies near Fairbanks, Saturday, April 15, 2023. The spiral was formed when excess fuel that had been released from a SpaceX rocket that launched from California about three hours earlier turned to ice, and then the water vapor reflected the sunlight in the upper atmosphere. (Christopher Hayden via AP)ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Northern light enthusiasts got a surprise mixed in with the green bands of light dancing in the Alaska skies: A light baby blue spiral resembling a galaxy appeared amid the aurora for a few minutes.The cause early Saturday morning was a little more mundane than an alien invasion or the appearance of a portal to the far reaches of the universe. It was simply excess fuel that had been released from a SpaceX rocket that launched from California about three hours before the spiral appeared.Sometimes rockets have fuel that need...

This mom left Minneapolis for a TV anchor career in Austin, Rochester. Now she’s Duluth-bound.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

Rochester news anchor Laura Lee’s path to TV news was different from that of most young reporters. She didn’t bounce out of college into an anchor job right away. She was already enmeshed in life’s responsibilities.Lee, 38, was the mother of three young children when, in perhaps the biggest gamble of her life, she made the move to Austin, Minn., from Minneapolis to launch her on-air news career.Now 13 years later, she is making another career move. Lee is leaving Rochester’s ABC 6 News for Duluth to become the main anchor of the NBC station in Duluth, Northern News Now.With her oldest child graduating from Rochester’s John Marshall High School this spring, Lee felt the time was right.“The decision may be a surprise to some, to be honest,” Lee said on Facebook. “It was a surprise to me, too. Duluth was my first choice more than a decade ago when I started my career as a reporter, but God took me to southern Minnesota. Now, God is taking me back there....

Funeral procession held as body of Sgt. Isaac John Gayo returned to Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

A funeral procession was held Monday as the body of 27-year-old Isaac John Gayo, a sergeant in the United States Army, was returned home to Los Angeles.  Sgt. Gayo and eight other soldiers were killed on March 29 during a routine training mission along the Kentucky-Tennessee border when two Black Hawk helicopters from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division crashed into each other.  The helicopter crews were practicing a “multi-ship formation” and using night-vision goggles at the time of the deadly collision.  Sky5 was overhead as the procession drove Gayo to his final resting place. The organization Honoring Our Fallen arranged for his remains to go from LAX to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, where his family said their goodbyes.  “He helped everyone,” his sister, Margaritta Gayo, said. “He gives his open hand to everyone.”  Staff Sgt. Carla Baldoza, his girlfriend, said Gayo inspired her.  “He always encouraged me whenever I doubt myself. He was my motivation and...

Street takeovers, looting plague Compton businesses

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:28 GMT

Compton residents say they have had enough of the escalating crime and violence in their city after three street takeovers in one night were followed by hundreds of people swarming an Arco gas station, trashing the store and stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise.  A total of six businesses were targeted over the weekend in Compton in what authorities called “flashmob” style incidents.  Surveillance video showed two men in masks break in the front door of Birrieria Gonzalez, a Mexican restaurant on Rosecrans Avenue and Beach Boulevard. The suspects headed straight to the cash register and take what they can before a third suspect is seen running into the business. A cook at the restaurant, Eduardo Zarate told KTLA that it’s not the first time Birrieria Gonzalez has been hit by thieves on a weekend, and this time around another restaurant in the strip mall was also burglarized. Zarate said the break ins happened after 1 a.m. as street takeovers were happening througho...