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Hong Kong leader defends removing politically sensitive books from public libraries

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader said Thursday the city’s public libraries would not recommend books featuring “bad ideologies” to residents after they pulled titles related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and certain political figures, further shrinking the city’s freedoms. Chief Executive John Lee was addressing a lawmaker’s question about dozens of books in public libraries that were taken down without a clear explanation. Those include publications about the bloody crackdown and others written by pro-democracy politicians and political commentators.Hong Kong is a former British colony that returned to China’s rule in 1997, promising to retain its Western-style freedoms. But the city’s cultural and creative sectors said the city’s freedoms have shrunk since Beijing imposed a tough national security law following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019. Critics said the book pulling would further undermine Hong Kong’s reputa...

WestJet starts to cancel flights as pilot strike looms, negotiations in stalemate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

MONTREAL — WestJet has started to cancel flights as talks with the pilots’ union remained at a “critical impasse,” the company said Thursday, jeopardizing travel plans for thousands of passengers ahead of the May long weekend. Some 1,800 pilots at the carrier and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to walk off the job as of 3 a.m. ET after the Air Line Pilots Association issued a strike notice Monday.WestJet issued a statement early Thursday saying negotiations with the union remained “in a stalemate.” “We remain at a critical impasse with the union and have been left with no choice but to begin taking the painful steps of preparing for the reality of a work stoppage,” CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said in a statement. WestJet Group is parking the majority of its 737 and 787 fleet in a “measured, phased and safe approach,” the statement read. The airline said WestJet Encore, WestJet Link as well as limited 737 flights will continue to operate during this time. With ...

China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. And it’s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving some with just months before that money is gone.Behind the scenes is China’s reluctance to forgive debt and its extreme secrecy about how much money it has loaned and on what terms, which has kept other major lenders from stepping in to help. On top of that is the recent discovery that borrowers have been required to put cash in hidden escrow accounts that push China to the ...

Iran warns Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers not to violate its water rights, over Helmand River

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president warned Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Thursday not to violate water rights of the Iranian people over their shared Helmand River, the state-run IRNA news agency reported..President Ebrahim Raisi said his government is determined to defend Iran’s water rights. “We will not allow the rights of our people to be violated,” he said and warned the Taliban to take his words seriously, emphasizing the importance of Helmand River, which flows from Afghanistan into Iran .Raisi spoke in a Pakistani border town on Thursday, during his first official visit to the neighboring country in 10 years, to inaugurate the first of six markets along the Iran-Pakistan border. He also urged the Afghan Taliban to allow Iranian hydrologists to check the water levels of the river, which originates in the Afghan Hindu Kush mountain range.The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after the United Sates and NATO pulled out of the country followi...

Syrian president heads to Saudi Arabia for regional summit, sealing country’s return to Arab fold

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad headed to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to attend a regional summit, his first visit to the oil-rich kingdom since Syria’s conflict began in 2011, the president’s office said. Assad’s attendance at the Arab League summit, which starts Friday, is expected to seal Syria’s return to the Arab fold following a 12-year suspension and open a new chapter of relations after more than a decade of tensions. The 22-member league, which is convening in the Saudi city of Jeddah, recently reinstated Syria and is now poised to welcome Assad, a long-time regional pariah, back into the fold. The Syrian president was officially invited to attend the summit last week. During Syria’s civil war, Saudi Arabia had been a key backer of armed opposition groups attempting to overthrow Assad. However, in recent months, Riyadh has called for dialogue to end the conflict that has killed half a million people and displaced half of Syria’...

Deutsche Bank to pay $75 million to settle lawsuit from Epstein victims, lawyers say

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that the German lender should have seen evidence of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier.A woman only identified as Jane Doe sued the bank in federal district court in New York and sought class-action status to represent other victims of Epstein. The lawsuit asserted that the bank knowingly benefitted from Epstein’s sex trafficking and “chose profit over following the law” to earn millions of dollars from the businessman.One of the law firms representing victims in the case, Edwards Pottinger, said it believed the sex-trafficking settlement is likely the largest with a bank in U.S. history.“This groundbreaking settlement is the culmination of two law firms conducting more than a decade-long investigation to hold one of Epstein’s financial banking partners responsible for the role it played in fa...

Australia to provide surveillance drones to Philippines amid South China Sea tensions

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Australia will provide surveillance drones and other high-tech gear to the Philippine coast guard and is considering whether to take part in joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday.Wong, who held talks in Manila with her counterpart, Enrique Manalo, also thanked the Philippine government for its help in the discovery of a ship that sank during World War II in the northern Philippines, killing nearly a thousand Australians “in a very sad chapter in our history.”The United States and the Philippines, which are longtime treaty allies, have been holding talks on proposed joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, where China has fortified its vast territorial claims by transforming disputed reefs into missile-protected island bases and deploying Chinese coast guard and militia ships on constant patrols.Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei are also embroiled ...

Austrian president, government at odds over offering Ukraine demining help

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The president and government of Austria are at odds over whether the country should offer Ukraine help with civilian demining, with the defense minister and a major opposition party pointing to concerns over the implications for Austrian military neutrality.President Alexander Van der Bellen, who is formally the military’s commander in chief but has no say over day-to-day policy, told the Austria Press Agency he doesn’t understand why the government continues to hesitate on the issue.“Support in demining civilian areas such as residential buildings, schools, kindergartens or agricultural areas certainly doesn’t contradict Austrian neutrality; it is a humanitarian matter,” Van der Bellen said in a statement to APA.Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner disagreed, telling Oe1 radio on Thursday that “the situation is currently so unclear that we are not in a position to be able to distinguish between humanitarian and military demining.” She also said Austrian is currently provid...

ATS reports $29.6M Q4 profit, revenue up more than 20% from year ago

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — ATS Corp. reported a fourth-quarter profit of $29.6 million, down from $39.9 million a year ago, as its revenue rose more than 20 per cent.The maker of industrial automation systems says the profit amounted to 32 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, down from 44 cents per share a year ago.Revenue totalled $730.8 million, up from $603.2 million in the same quarter last year.The company’s order backlog stood at $2.15 billion, up from $1.44 billion a year ago.On an adjusted basis, ATS says it earned 73 cents per share, up from an adjusted profit of 60 cents per share a year earlier.Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 54 cents per share and $664.4 million in revenue for the quarter, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:ATS)The Canadian Press

Pick a college bank account as carefully as your college

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:27:33 GMT

Attending college can get pricey, so you’ll want to avoid costs from other places — like your bank account.More than 668,000 students paid nearly $15.5 million in bank account costs in a year, an average of almost $26 per person, according to a 2022 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What’s worse is that some colleges endorse costly bank accounts as part of their partnerships with banks.“Do not assume that because your college or university partners with a bank, that bank is offering you a good deal,” Aaron Klein , senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said in an email.Before heading off to college, consider what factors you need in a college checking account. There’s no grade on this, but the wrong bank can cost you.DECIDE WHAT FEATURES MATTERChecking accounts work similarly wherever you bank, but some features vary or aren’t available at every bank, including branches, highly rated mobile apps, certain account fees and perks such as direc...