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Russia halts landmark deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain at time of growing hunger

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Russia on Monday halted a breakthrough wartime deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Black Sea Grain Initiative would be suspended until demands to get Russian food and fertilizer to the world are met.“When the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented, Russia will immediately return to the implementation of the deal,” Peskov said.While Russia has complained that restrictions on shipping and insurance have hampered its agricultural exports, it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.The suspension marks the end of an accord that the U.N. and Turkey brokered last summer to allow shipments of food from the Black Sea region after Russia’s invasion of its neighbor worsened a global food crisis. The initiative is credited with helping lower soaring price...

Cairo’s BBC staff begin a three-day strike, calling for equal pay with other Mideast colleagues

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — BBC’s staff in Cairo went on a three-day strike Monday to demand equal pay with other colleagues in the Middle East as Egypt’s economic crisis deepens further. According to Khaled el-Bashey, the strikers’ spokesperson and head of Egypt’s journalism union, the 75 staff members from the broadcaster’s Cairo bureau are demanding to be paid in dollars — like other BBC employees in the region, including in Beirut and Istanbul. The walkout is to end on Wednesday.Over the past year, the Egyptian pound has lost over 50% of its value against the dollar, with annual inflation reaching 36.8% in June, up from 33.7% recorded in May. The country’s economy is reeling from years of government austerity measures, the coronavirus pandemic and fallout from the Ukraine war. Egypt is a top wheat importer from Russia and Ukraine. El-Bahsey posted on Facebook that the BBC staff in Egypt consider the disparity in pay as a form of “systematic discrimination.” They had earlier asked for the...

Canadian meat industry urges MPs to reject U.K. membership in trade deal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

CALGARY — Canadian beef and pork farmers are calling on members of Parliament to vote against the U.K.’s membership in a major Asia-Pacific trade group.The farmers, as well as Canadian meat processors, are angry about Saturday’s announcement that the U.K. has been granted accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).The CPTPP is a trading bloc that includes Canada and ten other nations, encompassing 500 million people and 15 per cent of the world’s economy.But Canada’s meat industry says the U.K. should not be able to join, since Canadian beef and pork producers don’t have fair access to the U.K. market.One sticking point is that the U.K. refuses to accept beef treated with growth hormones, a common practice in Canada.The meat industry says the federal government must reject the U.K.’s membership in the trading bloc through a vote in Parliament, or compensate farmers and processors for the financia...

Meta faces $100K daily fine from Norway regulator over privacy concerns in user advertising

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Meta will face a hefty fine over advertising practices that violate user privacy, Norway’s data protection authority said Monday, unless the Facebook and Instagram owner takes action to comply with the law.Norwegian regulator Datatilsynet says that behavioral advertising — a common marketing model that profiles users by collection information like their physical locations, among other data — without consent is illegal. Because of this, Datatilsynet imposing a “temporary ban” of such practices on Facebook and Instagram.During the ban, which starts August 4, Meta risks a fine of up to 1 million Norwegian kroner (nearly $100,000) each day. The ban will “last for three months, or until Meta can show that it complies with the law,” Datatilsynet said.This decision “does not ban Facebook or Instagram in Norway,” Tobias Judin, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority’s international department head, stated in a release. “The purpose is rather to ensure that ...

Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra turns 10, training over 1,200 for music careers

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Teen musicians from the National Youth Orchestra of the USA walked onto the Carnegie Hall stage and acted in unison, much like string sections following their leaders: They pulled out cell phones and took selfies.Carnegie Hall’s initiative to train the next generation turned 10 this year. After arriving July 1 for intensive instruction that began the following day at suburban Purchase College, performers gathered at America’s premier concert hall to play for conductor Andrew Davis in a 2,800-seat auditorium filled with many family members and friends.“I learned how the orchestra itself is a living creature,” said Yuri Lee, a 19-year-old violinist from Tuckahoe, New York, who served as an apprentice composer last year. This year’s orchestra gives eight concerts on a tour through July 28, with performances in Groton, Massachusetts; Joliette, Quebec; Nashville, Tennessee; Dallas; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Stanford, California; and San Diego.There are 108 members this year ...

Second Alzheimer’s drug in pipeline can slow the disease by a few months but with safety risk

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Another experimental Alzheimer’s drug can modestly slow patients’ inevitable worsening — by about four to seven months, researchers reported Monday.Eli Lilly and Co. is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval of donanemab. If cleared, it would be only the second Alzheimer’s treatment convincingly shown to delay the mind-robbing disease — after the recently approved Leqembi from Japanese drugmaker Eisai.“Finally there’s some hope, right, that we can talk about,” Lilly’s Dr. John Sims told reporters Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam. “We don’t cure the disease,” he said. “Diabetes doesn’t have a cure either — it doesn’t mean you can’t have very meaningful treatments for patients.”Lilly announced in May that donanemab appeared to work, but on Monday the full results of a study of 1,700 patients was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association and presented a...

Microsoft and UK regulators want more time to work on $69 billion Activision deal

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Microsoft and British regulators sought more time from a court Monday as the U.S. tech company uses a rare second chance to overcome opposition to its $69 billion bid for video game maker Activision Blizzard.Lawyers for Microsoft and the Competition and Markets Authority tried to persuade a judge to delay an hearing planned after the CMA rejected the deal and Microsoft appealed. The regulator later gave Microsoft more time to make its case for the blockbuster purchase of the Call of Duty game maker to go through.The deal has already won approval in the European Union and a slew of countries but has faced opposition from antitrust regulators in Britain and the United States. The U.K. blocked the deal on concerns that it would stifle competition in the small but fast-growing cloud gaming market. The U.K. position, however, appears to be softening. The watchdog said last week that it’s giving itself six extra weeks to consider Microsoft’s submission outlining new de...

How the ‘Barbie’ soundtrack came together, according to mastermind Mark Ronson

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Ronson is showing off his Barbies.Scattered throughout his studio, the executive producer of the “Barbie” soundtrack — and a musical polymath known for his work with artists like Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga — has a few “leftovers” scattered across the room. One doll is placed in a permanent split, stretched across a Moog synthesizer. Another is styled to look like primatologist Jane Goodall. “I went to Toys R Us and I couldn’t find a single Ken,” he laughs. Fittingly, “that’s the theme of the movie.” Mattel HQ did end up sending over a few; the Ken that remains in Ronson’s studio is, appropriately, shirtless.Finding the sound of “Barbie,” poised to become one of 2023’s biggest blockbusters, required careful consideration and research for a film with such a rich visual palette. In the end, he produced a stacked soundtrack that included Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa (who also acts in the movie) and more. But it started with a simple text message.The musi...

2 parties on the left of the Dutch political spectrum have agreed to join forces ahead of election

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Members of two left-leaning Dutch political parties have overwhelmingly voted to join forces ahead of a November general election in an attempt to unify their side of the Netherlands’ splintered political spectrum, they said Monday.Green Left and the Labor Party officials said a week-long referendum among their members showed both parties strongly backed a plan to submit a joint list of candidates and campaign on a joint manifesto.In past elections, the center-left vote split between the two parties and the more left-wing Socialist Party. The divided support helped to usher in a series of center-right or conservative coalitions led by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.The Nov. 22 election for all 150 seats in the lower chamber of the Dutch parliament was scheduled after Rutte’s latest, four-party coalition failed to agree a package of measures to rein in migration and resigned earlier this month.The House of Representatives is currently made up o...

Adventurous duck takes ride on Ohio roller coaster

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:23 GMT

SANDUSKY, Ohio (WHTM) - We're used to humans on roller coasters, but sometimes animals want to join in on the fun. A duck found its way onto the Millennium Force roller coaster at the Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio last week. According to Cedar Point spokesperson Tony Clark, the park believes the duck got onto the coaster train while the ride was in progress. "It appears the duck may have flown into the ride vehicle at some point while it was in operation," Clark said. Couple checking out barking dog leads to encounter with escapee, his recapture The park believes that once the ride ended, a guest exiting the train removed the duck before the park's maintenance team could arrive. "That particular guest made the choice to immediately take the duck with her," Clark said.There was no word on whether anyone (or the duck) was injured due to the incident nor on what happened to the duck after it was removed from the ride. Millennium Force opened in 2000 and reaches speeds of 93 mp...