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Typhoon Koinu strengthens while moving toward Taiwan and is forecast to hit land this week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Koinu, traveling westward from the Pacific, was strengthening as it moved toward Taiwan, meteorologists on the island said Monday.The storm was expanding in size and was expected to make landfall by Thursday morning, they said. Koinu was moving northwest with sustained winds of 144 kph (89 mph) and gusts of up to 180 kph (112 mph), according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau. Forecasters predict the center of the storm will hit the island’s southern cities, while bringing heavy rains to the east coast including the city of Taitung.In the Philippines, which will avoid the typhoon’s direct hit, the weather bureau issued storm warnings in at least six northern provinces and warned of possible flooding and landslides especially in mountainous regions. The typhoon will enhance seasonal monsoon rains elsewhere in the country in the next three days, forecasters said.On Monday, Koinu was blowing 485 kilometers (300 miles) east of Basco town in the ...

Laurentian Bank appoints new CEO after computer mainframe outage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

MONTREAL — Laurentian Bank announced the appointment of Éric Provost as president and chief executive on Monday, following a computer outage at the bank last week.Provost replaces Rania Llewellyn in the top job, effective immediately. He was most recently Laurentian’s group head of personal and commercial banking.The bank also said director Michael Boychuk has been appointed chair of its board of directors, replacing Michael Mueller, who has resigned from the board.“We have experienced challenges recently and the board is confident that Éric will successfully focus the organization on our customer experience and operational effectiveness,” Boychuk said in a statement.“Éric’s appointment as CEO follows his exceptional performance leading our commercial banking business and was part of our formal succession planning process.” Laurentian said it suffered a mainframe outage last week during a planned IT maintenance update. It said customer data and fi...

Few Americans say conservatives can speak freely on college campuses, an AP-NORC/UChicago poll shows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans view college campuses as far friendlier to liberals than to conservatives when it comes to free speech, with adults across the political spectrum seeing less tolerance for those on the right, according to a new poll.Overall, 47% of adults say liberals have “a lot” of freedom to express their views on college campuses, while just 20% said the same of conservatives, according to polling from the University of Chicago and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.Republicans perceive a stronger bias on campuses against conservatives, but Democrats see a difference too — about 4 in 10 Democrats say liberals can speak their minds freely on campuses, while about 3 in 10 Democrats say conservatives can do so.“If you’re a Republican or lean Republican, you’re unabashedly wrong, they shut you down,” said Rhonda Baker, 60, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, who voted for former President Donald Trump and has a son in college. “If they hold a rally, it...

New UN migration chief says private sector ‘desperate’ to take migrants despite negative narrative

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The new head of the U.N.’s migration agency said Monday that the private sector is “desperate” for their countries to take in migrants to mop up labor shortages, especially in the West — endeavoring to steer a narrative away from reticence and suspicion about migrants in many parts of the world.Amy Pope, the first woman to head the International Organization for Migration, sought to play up the economic benefits of migration for rich nations with aging populations and declining workforces — in the face of “build-the-wall” rhetoric in the United States to block migrants from Latin America and right-wing movements in Europe that want to keep foreigners out.”We hear from … the private sector globally, but especially in Europe and in North America, that they are desperate for migration in order to meet their own labor market needs and in order to continue to fuel innovation within their own companies,” Pope, who is American, told reporters.She said the evidence...

Malaysians urged not to panic-buy local rice after import prices for the staple rise substantially

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government on Monday reassured the country there is sufficient rice in the market and urged people not to hoard locally produced rice after recent panic-buying led to empty shelves in supermarkets and grocery stores nationwide.Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu said the government will increase distribution to rural areas to address a supply issue sparked by a hike in the price of imported rice. Malaysia and many countries are grappling with rising rice prices and low supplies after India’s curb on rice sales cut global supplies by a fifth.Mohamad said Malaysia’s locally produced rice is capped at 2.60 ringgit ($0.55) per kilogram (2.2 pounds), the cheapest in the region. So when sole importer Padiberas Nasional Berhad raised the price of imported white rice by 36% on Sept. 1, it prompted many Malaysians to switch from imported rice to cheaper local rice. He said the higher price of imported rice cannot be h...

Sam Bankman-Fried must now convince a jury that the former crypto king was not a crook

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For a while, Sam Bankman-Fried tried to convince politicians and the public that he was the next J.P. Morgan. Now, he has to convince a jury that he wasn’t, in reality, the next Bernie Madoff.The trial of Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency brokerage FTX, will begin Tuesday with jury selection. Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York are expected to lay out a case against Bankman-Fried that shows he stole billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits and used the money to fund his hedge fund, buy real estate, and make millions of dollars of illegal campaign donations to Democrats and Republicans in an attempt to buy influence over cryptocurrency regulation in Washington.While the case will involve the complicated world of cryptocurrencies, prosecutors are expected to try to boil it down to the simplest of terms for jurors: Bankman-Fried took money from customers and used it in ways he wasn’t supposed to.“Prosecutors are going to sa...

Record-breaking warmth expected in Toronto before Thanksgiving cool down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

It will feel more like summer than fall in Toronto to kick off the first work week of October, with mostly sunny and humid days in store before a cold front arrives ahead of Thanksgiving.Record-breaking warmth is expected for at least a couple of days this week as daytime highs hover near 30 C.“It is warm, well above average,” says CityNews 680 meteorologist Jill Taylor. “Tuesday and Wednesday there is definitely the potential for some record, very warm highs.”Summer-like heat and humidity continues for Toronto and the GTA but don’t get used to it! It will be a lot cooler for the Thanksgiving Long weekend. More wx details https://t.co/nqpfVr7W8a— Jill Taylor (@JillTaylorCity) October 2, 2023Monday will see sun and cloud with a guaranteed high of 26 C and a humidex near 30. It’s only expected to drop down to 17 C overnight, which is actually the average daytime high for this time of year.It’s the next two days when record temperatures are po...

Stock market today: World shares mostly lower as Congress averts a US government shutdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Europe and Asia on Monday even after the U.S. Congress averted a U.S. government shutdown with a last-minute compromise.Markets in China are closed for a weeklong holiday. Markets in India and South Korea also were closed. Oil prices gained and U.S. futures were higher as the threat of a federal government shutdown receded after Congress approved the temporary funding bill late Saturday to keep federal agencies open until Nov. 17. Germany’s DAX lost 0.2% to 15,358.22 and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2% to 7,117.58. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 7,579.23. The future for the S&P 500 was unchanged and that for the Dow industrials lost less than 0.1%. A Japanese central bank survey showed business confidence on the rise, though that failed to lift investor sentiment in Tokyo. The Bank of Japan’s “tankan” quarterly survey measured business sentiment among major manufacturers at plus 9, up from plus 5 in June. Sentiment among ...

Liz Weston: 5 surprising facts about assisted living

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

If you or a loved one can no longer live safely at home, assisted living may be the answer. Residents typically live in their own rooms or apartments and get housekeeping services, meals and help with personal care.But facilities can vary enormously, and people’s expectations about assisted living often clash with reality, elder care experts say. Here are some important things to know.1. MEDICARE DOESN’T COVER THE COSTMedicare does not pay for “custodial” care, which is what assisted living facilities provide, including help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, getting in and out of bed, and using the toilet. Most people pay for assisted living out-of-pocket if they don’t have long-term care insurance, says Amy Goyer, AARP’s national family and caregiving expert.Nationwide, the cost of assisted living facilities averaged $4,500 a month in 2021, according to the latest figures from long-term care insurer Genworth. But costs range enormously depending on the area and the s...

Georgia political group launches ads backing Gov. Brian Kemp’s push to limit lawsuits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:37:14 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — A political group linked to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says it is launching an ad campaign backing the Republican’s efforts to make it harder for people to file lawsuits and win big legal judgments.The group, called Hardworking Georgians, said Monday that limits would cut insurance costs and make it easier for businesses to get insured and to defend against lawsuits in court.The group says it will spend more than $100,000 on ads in the state.It remains unclear exactly what Kemp will propose, although one element will be to limit lawsuits against property owners for harms on their property caused by someone else.Kemp announced his plan to back lawsuit limits in August at a meeting of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.“For too long, Georgia tort laws have encouraged frivolous lawsuits that hamstring job creators, drive up insurance costs for families already struggling to make ends meet, undermine fairness in the courtroom, and make it harder to start, grow, and operat...