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A Hong Kong man gets 4 months in prison for importing children’s books deemed to be seditious

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong man was sentenced to four months in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to importing children’s books that were deemed to be “seditious publications.”Kurt Leung, a 38-year-old clerk, was sentenced after he admitted to importing 18 children’s books featuring wolves and sheep. He was arrested in March after he signed for a delivery from the U.K. containing the books.The books feature sheep that lived in a village and had to defend themselves against wolves. In the series of books, the sheep take action such as going on strike or escaping by boat, which are said to allude to incidents such as the 2019 anti-government protests and the detention of the 12 Hong Kongers who attempted to escape by sea.Authorities say that the books are an attempt at inciting hatred in young children and stirring up contempt against the government in Hong Kong and mainland China.The sedition offence, which is a colonial-era law that carries a maximum penalty of up to two years’...

Stock market today: US futures tumbles after yet another strong US jobs report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street quickly reversed course Friday after the government reported twice as many job gains as expected, Futures for the Dow fell 1.1% and futures for the S&P 500 tumbled 0.9% before the bell.The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added 336,000 jobs in September more than double the 163,000 analysts were expecting. August and July job gains were revised upward by a combined 119,000. The economy has now added a healthy average of 266,000 jobs a month in the past three months. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at a healthy 3.8%.Combined with strong reports on job openings and unemployment benefits applications this week, all signs point to a labor market that has largely been unaffected by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hiking campaign.Job openings tend to rise in an environment where workers can quit their current jobs because there are better offers out there.That suggests companies are paying more to lure workers, whic...

Ex-lover of Spain’s former king loses $153 million harassment lawsuit in London court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former Spanish King Juan Carlos I won his London court battle Friday with an ex-lover who had sought 126 million pounds ($153 million) in damages for allegedly being harassed and spied on by him after their breakup.Danish socialite and businessperson Corinna Larsen, also known as Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, said the former monarch caused her “great mental pain” by orchestrating threats and ordering unlawful covert and overt surveillance of her. Larsen was Juan Carlos’ mistress from 2004 to 2009, the court said. Juan Carlos, 85, who abdicated in 2014, denied wrongdoing and disputed the allegations, arguing that an English court didn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case because he doesn’t live in Britain. He has a home in Spain but currently lives in Abu Dhabi.High Court Justice Rowena Collins Rice threw out the lawsuit after agreeing with the king. She added that Larsen, who owns homes in England, had not adequately shown the harassment occurred here, which could...

Woman arrested after gunshots fired in Connecticut police station. Bulletproof glass stopped them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — A woman is under arrest after she fired several gunshots inside a Connecticut police station, local police said Friday.The shooting happened just after 10:30 p.m. Thursday when a woman entered the lobby of the Bristol Police Department and fired several shots at the front desk window, the department said in a news release.The front desk was unoccupied and the gunshots did not penetrate the window’s bullet-resistant glass, police said.Officers responded and tried to negotiate with the woman, but she fired more shots toward them, again stopped by bulletproof glass, the statement said. One officer shot back at her. She put her gun down and officers used a stun gun to subdue her. She was arrested and taken to a hospital for evaluation.The Connecticut State Police and the Inspector General’s Office are investigating the incident, Bristol police said. The woman’s name was not immediately released, and no charges were announced.Bristol police asked a...

Kosovo-Serbia tension threatens the Balkan path to EU integration, Germany’s foreign minister warns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister on Friday expressed the European Union’s deep concerns following the recent shootout between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police that left four people dead and sent tensions soaring in the region. Annalena Baerbock was in Tirana, Albania at a foreign ministers’ meeting ahead of the Oct. 16 summit on the Berlin Process, an initiative from Germany and France to encourage six Western Balkans countries to keep working toward membership in the bloc. The top diplomats of the six countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are meeting with Baerbock, EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi and other senior EU officials. “The foundation for mobility in the region is security and safety,” Baerbock said ahead of the meeting, adding that “tensions within the last days between Serbia and Kosovo are also endangering this Berlin Process.”“The key to resolving the conflict is in Belgrade and Pristin...

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for September, by Canadian city

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

OTTAWA — The national unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent in September. Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ St. John’s, N.L. 6.6 per cent (6.1)_ Halifax 7.1 per cent (7.1)_ Moncton, N.B. 5.7 per cent (5.5)_ Saint John, N.B. 6.6 per cent (6.2)_ Saguenay, Que. 3.9 per cent (4.4)_ Quebec City 2.9 per cent (3.2)_ Sherbrooke, Que. 3.5 per cent (3.1)_ Trois-Rivières, Que. 4.0 per cent (4.0)_ Montreal 5.2 per cent (5.1)_ Gatineau, Que. 4.2 per cent (4.5)_ Ottawa 5.1 per cent (4.9)_ Kingston, Ont. 4.2 per cent (3.9)_ Belleville, Ont. 9.8 per cent (10.5)_ Peterborough, Ont. 2.4 per cent (4.0)_ Oshawa, Ont. 5.8 per cent (5.1)_ Toronto 6.5 per cent (6.5)_ Hamilton, Ont. 5.5 per cent (5.3)_ St. Catharines-N...

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for September, by province

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s national unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent in September. Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ Newfoundland and Labrador 9.7 per cent (8.9)_ Prince Edward Island 6.3 per cent (7.6)_ Nova Scotia 6.9 per cent (7.0)_ New Brunswick 7.2 per cent (7.7)_ Quebec 4.4 per cent (4.3)_ Ontario 6.0 per cent (5.9)_ Manitoba 5.0 per cent (5.7)_ Saskatchewan 4.9 per cent (5.4)_ Alberta 5.7 per cent (5.7)_ British Columbia 5.4 per cent (5.2)This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.The Canadian Press

National employment numbers for September from Statistics Canada, at a glance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

OTTAWA — A quick look at Canada’s September employment (numbers from the previous month in brackets):Unemployment rate: 5.5 per cent (5.5)Employment rate: 62.0 per cent (61.9)Participation rate: 65.6 per cent (65.5)Number unemployed: 1,189,100 (1,181,000)Number working: 20,270,100 (20,206,300)Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 10.5 per cent (11.3)Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.9 per cent (4.5)Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.5 per cent (4.6)This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.The Canadian Press

Mystery objects falling from sky in California may be spider 'balloons'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

(KRON) - California residents submitted photographs and videos to Nexstar's KRON this week of mysterious objects falling on their neighborhoods. Morgan Hill resident Gina Watson shot images of strange, white webby objects that fell "from my house all the way to work," she said.John E. Banks, an environmental sciences professor at California State University Monterey Bay, said the objects are likely silky webs created by spiders that are ballooning. "No one has definitively figured out what they are, but they appear to be spider silk," Banks told KRON.(Photo by Gina Watson)Spiders spin out long lines of silk in a phenomenon called ballooning. Several spider species use ballooning to blow in the breeze from one habitat to another, Banks said. A spider will weave its own parachute, or "balloon," and drift through the sky with help from the wind, he explained. The New York Times reported that spider silk is so thin and light that air is like a "thick fluid" in comparison. "The...

Stouffer's frozen dinner advent calendar sells out in 15 minutes, but will be restocked soon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:31:12 GMT

(KTLA) – Yes, advent calendars have reached the frozen food stage. Stouffer’s is releasing an advent calendar of sorts — or rather, a "Comfort Calendar" — which includes seven dishes from its frozen food product lineup.Stouffer's further claims the Comfort Calendar marks the first time any company has released a frozen-foods advent calendar of any kind, according to a recent news release. Girl Scouts discontinue popular cookie one year after its release The Stouffer's Comfort Calendar, which comes in a gingerbread-house-shaped package, is filled with Stouffer's dishes including family-sized meals, individual meals, sides, and even French bread pizza.Specifically, the "advent calendar" includes the Family Size Macaroni & Cheese, Family Size Lasagna with Meat & Sauce, Chicken Bacon Ranch Bowl, Broccoli Cheddar Pasta Bake, Homestyle Mashed Potatoes, Pepperoni French Bread Pizza, and the Ultimate Five Cheese Mac.(Stouffer's) The first batch of Comfort Calendars, which went on...