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Spanish leader Pedro Sánchez wins vital lifeline from Catalan separatists

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

An election repeat in Spain appears less likely after a last-minute deal was reached Thursday regarding control of the Spanish parliament’s main administrative body — providing a boost to socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Shortly after lawmakers were sworn in, the Catalan separatist Junts party gave its votes to Francina Armengol, the socialist candidate for the presidency of the parliament’s bureau, the powerful body which approves the creation of parliamentary groups, authorizes investigative commissions and ultimately determines which bills are taken up by MPs.Junts’ support was secured in an eleventh-hour deal, which was announced just minutes before the parliament began the new legislative session. The agreement comes as a relief for Sánchez, who hopes to remain in power in the fractured political landscape created by last month’s inconclusive national elections and has spent the past weeks attempting to cobble together sufficient support to form a m...

Rollover crash shuts stretch of Route 2 in Littleton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

A stretch of Route 2 in Littleton was temporarily shut down overnight while police investigating a violent rollover crash.The two eastbound lanes were closed as police were seen assisting with the removal of an overturned SUV and another vehicle that had its roof peeled back.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

‘You can feel there’s something brewing in this clubhouse’: Christopher Morel’s walk-off home run caps Chicago Cubs’ wild comeback win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

Somewhere between first and second base, Christopher Morel tossed his helmet windmill-style in euphoric celebration.By the time he sprinted around third, a mob of his Chicago Cubs teammates and coaches waiting for him at home plate, Morel ripped off his jersey and left it in his dust. His three-run, walk-off homer sparked bedlam at Wrigley Field where 40,869 fans watched the Cubs pull out a 4-3 win over the White Sox in the final game of the City Series.One thought flitted through during Morel’s mad dash around the bases: “I hit a home run — Cubs win!”David Ross started high-fiving bench coach Andy Green when his manager brain kicked in, making sure Morel touched every base.The biggest hit in his young career embodied the late-inning comeback fight the Cubs have often manifested, exemplified during Morel’s at-bat that highlighted his offensive development. His showdown against White Sox closer Gregory Santos represented a rematch from the day before whe...

Iranian filmmaker and his producer face prison for showing film at Cannes without state permission

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian filmmaker and his producer reportedly face prison time and being barred from filmmaking after they showcased a movie at the Cannes Film Festival without government approval, drawing immediate criticism internationally from leading American director Martin Scorsese and others.Director Saeed Roustayi and producer Javad Norouzbeigi traveled to Cannes last year to show “Leila’s Brothers,” competing for the festival’s grand Palme d’Or prize. The film focuses on a family struggling to make ends meet as Iran faces international sanctions and includes sequences showing protests in the Islamic Republic as a series of nationwide demonstrations shook the nation.The film also depicts security forces beating demonstrators protesting Iran’s ailing economy, which has already sparked mass protests and bloody security force crackdowns killing hundreds. The family in it loses all its savings over the rapid depreciation of Iran’s rial currency,...

Fires and other disasters are increasing in Hawaii, according to this AP data analysis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

KIHEI, Hawaii (AP) — Hurricane-fueled flash floods and mudslides. Lava that creeps into neighborhoods. Fierce drought that materializes in a flash and lingers. Earthquakes. And now, deadly fires that burn block after historic block.Hawaii is increasingly under siege from disasters, and what is escalating most is wildfire, according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency records. That reality can clash with the vision of Hawaii as paradise. It is, in fact, one of the riskiest states in the country.“Hawaii is at risk of the whole panoply of climate and geological disasters,” said Debarati Guha-Sapir, director of the international disasters database kept at the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. She listed storms, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes.Hawaii has been in more danger lately. This month alone, the federal government declared six different fire disasters in Hawai...

Stock market today: Global shares sink after Fed notes dent hopes of rate hikes ending

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks followed Wall Street lower Thursday after notes from a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting dented hopes interest rate hikes are finished.London, Hong Kong, Paris and Seoul declined. Shanghai and Wall Street futures advanced. Oil prices rose.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 lost 0.8% on Wednesday after minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting suggested board members are unsure what to do after raising their key lending rate to a two-decade high. Traders had hoped the board would decide inflation was under control and last month’s rate hike was the last.Fed officials face a “tough balancing act” between “the risk of an inadvertent over-tightening of policy against the cost of an insufficient one,” said Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank in a report.In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London fell 0.3% to 7,332.01. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4% to 7,233.00 and the DAX in Frankfurt retreated 0.3% to 15,738.25.On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and...

Ukrainian soldiers who were blinded in combat face the new battle of navigating the world again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

RIVNE, Ukraine (AP) — Along a bustling street in a western Ukrainian city, Denys Abdulin takes his first independent strides since he was severely wounded and blinded while fighting invading Russian troops more than a year ago. The 34-year-old former soldier, wearing black glasses and gripping a white mobility cane, steps onto a more crowded stretch of sidewalk. His movements become tentative and tense. He accidentally blocks the path of a woman approaching an ATM to withdraw cash. Like many other pedestrians, she responds with a compassionate smile and gracefully moves aside. Gradually, Abdulin covers 600 meters (almost 3/10 of a mile), guided by a trainer walking ahead of him with a bracelet of small metal bells. Five other Ukrainian military veterans conquered similar challenges while attending a rehabilitation camp for ex-soldiers who lost their vision in combat. Over several weeks, the men would learn to navigate the city of Rivne, to prepare their own meals and to use public t...

South Korea’s spy agency says North Korea is preparing ICBM tests, spy satellite launch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is preparing its second attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit as well as tests of long-range missiles to mark a key national anniversary and protest efforts by the United States to strengthen its regional alliances, South Korea’s intelligence service told lawmakers Thursday.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been expected to conduct weapons tests in response to major U.S.-South Korean military drills that begin next week and a trilateral U.S.-South Korea-Japan summit at Camp David in the United States this Friday. The National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that North Korea may try to launch a spy satellite in late August or early September ahead of the country’s 75th anniversary on Sept. 9, according to Yoo Sang-bum, one of the lawmakers who attended the briefing.The NIS said North Korea has been testing an engine for the rocket to be used for the satellite launch and has installed an additional land ant...

Spanish parliament holds crucial vote that could pave way for another leftist government

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s newly elected Parliament meets Thursday to choose the chamber’s speaker and presiding council, a normally routine vote but which this time will be read as a bellwether of a future government.Inconclusive national elections on July 23 left no party with an easy path to cobble together the support needed to lead a government. Parties on the left and right of the spectrum are delicately poised in the fight for power.Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez appears to have a slight edge over his conservative and rightwing rivals, but nothing is guaranteed and a new election in the coming months is still a real possibility.Thursday’s council vote by the 350 new lawmakers could therefore indicate whether Sánchez’s Socialists are making headway in building support among smaller parties. These include separatist parties in Catalonia that appear likely to decide both the speaker’s vote and the future session to elect a prime minister.Sánchez’s Socialists, the left-wing Sumar...

Norway raises key interest rate again to fight inflation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:51 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s central bank said Thursday that it is raising its key interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to combat high inflation.Norges Bank is hiking the rate to 4%, the highest level since 2008. It says inflation — which reached 5.4% in July — ”has edged down but remains high and markedly above the target” of 2%.“A somewhat higher policy rate is needed to bring inflation back to target,” according to the central bank. Bank Gov. Ida Wolden Bache said ”the future policy rate path will depend on economic developments” and added that the rate would most likely be raised again next month.“If the economy evolves as currently anticipated, the policy rate will be raised further in September,” she said in a statement.The bank noted that activity in the Norwegian economy, which is not part of the European Union, remains high.Central banks around the world have been raising borrowing costs to target painful spikes in consumer prices fueled by the economic ...