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Palace of Versailles celebrates its 400th anniversary and hosts King Charles III for state dinner

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France is rolling out the red carpet for King Charles III’s state visit at one of its most magnificent and emblematic monuments: the Palace of Versailles, which celebrates its 400th anniversary.Charles and Queen Camilla’s three-day trip to Paris and Bordeaux, starting Wednesday, includes a grand dinner at Versailles in the presence of over 150 guests in the Hall of Mirrors. The palace has recently opened a gallery retracing its history, from its creation as a modest hunting lodge in 1623 to last century’s key diplomatic events — including the visits of Charles’ predecessors. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Wednesday’s dinner echoes the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1972, when she was greeted at the Palace by President Georges Pompidou. King Charles liked the idea of following in his mother’s footsteps, according to Macron’s office. Elizabeth II also visited the palace in 1958 and 10 years earlier, four years before her...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts again ahead of Fed decision on rates

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting again as Wall Street waits for the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on interest rates. The S&P 500 was off 0.2% early Tuesday. The Dow slipped 37 points and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.4%. Stocks have been see-sawing for weeks on uncertainty about whether the Fed is done with its market-shaking hikes to interest rates. By pulling its main rate to the highest level in more than two decades, the Fed has helped inflation to cool from its peak last year but at the cost of hurting prices for investments and damaging some corners of the economy.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed modestly higher in cautious trading Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were essentially flat, up less than 0.1% before the bell.The Fed is gathering Tuesday for a two-day meeting before it announces its decision on wh...

EU urges Serbia and Kosovo to respect their pledges after a meeting of leaders ends in acrimony

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Tuesday called on Serbia and Kosovo to respect an agreement meant to end tensions between them and put their relations on a more normal path after talks between their leaders ended in acrimony last week.At a meeting in New York, EU foreign ministers said the commitments that Serbia and Kosovo made in the pact they sealed in February “are binding on them and play a role in the European path of the parties,” which refers to their chances of joining the 27-nation bloc.The ministers expressed concern about tensions in northern Kosovo, where 93 peacekeepers were hurt in riots in May. “Despite repeated calls by the EU and other international partners, the steps taken so far remain insufficient and the security situation in the north remains tense,” they said.Serbia and its former province, Kosovo, have been at odds for decades. Their 1998-99 war left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 20...

Unlicensed New York City acupuncturist charged after patient’s lungs collapsed, prosecutors say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man has been charged with performing acupuncture without a license after he punctured a woman’s lungs during treatment, sending her to a hospital for emergency surgery, prosecutors announced.Yong De Lin, 66, was arraigned on four criminal charges Monday in connection with unlicensed treatments he performed on 63-year-old Shujuan Jiang between May and October of last year, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.According to the indictment, Jiang, 63, visited a medical office in the Flushing section of Queens on May 10, 2022, for relief of stomach and back pain, and was introduced to Lin. Lin administered 17 treatments to Jiang over the next several months even though he is not a licensed acupuncturist and has never even applied for a New York state license to practice acupuncture, Katz said.Jiang began to feel unwell during the last session on Oct. 28, Katz said in a news release. Lin performed additional acupuncture and a cupping treatment a...

Health Canada recalls CUPKIN stainless steel cups for kids due to potential lead exposure

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

Health Canada has issued a recall on CUPKIN Double-Walled Stainless Steel Children’s Cups due to potential lead exposure.They recommend the public stop using the following products immediately:CUPKIN 8 oz (236.6 ml) and 12 oz (354.9 ml) double-walled stainless steel children’s cups sold as pairs in 12 different colour combinations with a matching coloured straw. “Cupkin” is printed on the front bottom of the cups.“The recalled products may contain excess amounts of lead present at the bottom seal, posing an exposure risk. Lead is highly toxic, especially to children. A range of serious health effects have been associated with exposure to lead, including anemia, vomiting, diarrhea, heart and immune system. In extreme cases, there have been deaths,” Health Canada explains on its website.An image of the CUPKIN Double-Walled Stainless Steel Children’s Cups that have been recalled. (Courtesy Government of Canada)The cups were manufactured in China, and were ...

Sponsor an ocean? Tiny island nation of Niue has a novel plan to protect its slice of the Pacific

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The tiny Pacific island nation of Niue has come up with a novel plan to protect its vast and pristine territorial waters — it will get sponsors to pay. Under the plan, which was being launched by Niue’s Prime Minister Dalton Tagelagi on Tuesday in New York, individuals or companies can pay $148 to protect 1 square kilometer (about 250 acres) of ocean from threats such as illegal fishing and plastic waste for a period of 20 years.Niue hopes to raise more than $18 million from the scheme by selling 127,000 square-kilometer units, representing the 40% of its waters that form a no-take marine protected area. In an interview with The Associated Press before the launch, Tagelagi said his people have always had a close connection with the sea. “Niue is just one island in the middle of the big blue ocean,” Tagelagi said. “We are surrounded by the ocean, and we live off the ocean. That’s our livelihood.”He said Niueans inherited and learned about th...

A mayor in South Sudan was caught on video slapping a female street vendor. He has since been sacked

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A video showing a mayor in South Sudan slapping a female street vendor has gone viral. Now he has been sacked. In the video, Emmanuel Khamis Richard, the acting mayor of the African nation’s capital, is seen wielding a pistol and walking up to where a policeman and a woman vendor are scuffling as the police are trying to clear a Juba street of illegal vendors last week. He the slaps the woman and walks away as the police operation continues. The video was shared widely on social media, prompting an uproar in the national legislature while women’s rights groups and activists have demanded the mayor be removed from office, citing rights violation and poor leadership.The mayor was then summoned to appear before city hall councilors and when he failed to do so, he was laid off over the weekend. Khamis Richard, who was appointed June 27, has not commented on the incident.He is the third mayor of Juba to be sacked since the formation of the transitional gove...

Spain allows Catalan, Basque and Galician languages in Parliament. EU ponders use in Brussels

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In a victory for millions of Spaniards who speak a language other than Spanish, the European nation’s Parliament allowed its national legislators to use Catalan, Basque and Galician for the first time on Tuesday.The reform of the linguistic policy of Spain’s lower chamber was a demand of Catalan separatist parties to support the appointment of a Socialist as the new Parliamentary Speaker last month following inconclusive national elections in July.Spain’s government is also trying to have Catalan, Basque and Galician recognized as languages that can be used in the European Union — even though that faces a much longer and apparently difficult path.The right to speak languages other than Spanish in the national Parliament is a long-held objective of smaller parties from the regions in Spain’s north that have bilingual populations.“(This change is) … to normalize something that is already common for citizens who speak a language other than Span...

Boy, 15, shot and wounded on Far South Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old boy was shot and wounded on the city's Far South Side.The shooting happened around 6:45 p.m. Monday on the 10100 block of South LaSalle Street, when the teen heard shots and felt pain.According to police, the boy was shot in the left elbow and left buttock and transported to Comer Children's Hospital in stable condition. Instagram post may shed new light in death of former NFL player’s mother No one is in custody. Area Two detectives are investigating.

Benches clear late in White Sox win over Nationals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:00 GMT

WASHINGTON D.C. — A rare White Sox victory in September wasn't without some drama in the closing moments on Monday night at Nationals Park. It came at the end of a strong performance for White Sox starter Mike Clevinger and concerned the one mistake he made on the night. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)Just an out away from a complete game shutout, Nationals first baseman Dominic Smith smacked a solo homer to right field for Washington's first run. As he got to home plate, replays showed Clevinger saying something to Smith as he made his way down the third base line.The first baseman then turned toward the pitcher and started yelling, with Clevinger eventually pointing toward the scoreboard. As the pair continued to jaw at each other, the benches cleared, but the pair remained separated as they yelled back and forth. No punches were thrown as calm was quickly restored before Clevinger struck out Carter Kieboom to end the White Sox 6-1 win. The starting pitched notched the fourt...