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This Week in Business: Consumer confidence, home sales, inflation update

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

Confidence checkThe Conference Board delivers its latest monthly snapshot of U.S. consumer confidence on Wednesday.Analysts expect that Americans’ confidence increased in December from November. Consumer spending accounts for around 70% of U.S. economic activity, so economists pay close attention to gauge how it may affect the broader economy. Rising consumer confidence would bode well for the ongoing holiday shopping season.Consumer confidence, by month:July 114.0Aug. 108.7Sept. 104.3Oct. 99.1Nov. 102.0Dec. (est.) 104.9Source: FactSetHome salesThe National Association of Realtors on Wednesday reports data on home sales in November.Analysts forecast that sales of previously occupied homes fell for the sixth month in a row amid high mortgage rates and a dearth of properties for sale. Homes sales slumped in October to their slowest pace in more than 13 years while home prices kept climbing.Existing home sales, in millions, seasonally adjusted annual rate:June: 4.16July: 4.07Aug.: 4.04...

Lucas scores 16, Nevada knocks off Hawaii 72-66

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Jarod Lucas’ 16 points helped Nevada defeat Hawaii 72-66 on Sunday.Lucas shot 5 for 12 (1 for 4 from 3-point range) and 5 of 5 from the free throw line for the Wolf Pack (9-1). Kenan Blackshear scored 12 points, shooting 5 of 18 from the field and 2 for 3 from the foul line. Nick Davidson shot 4 of 7 from the field and 3 for 3 from the free-throw line to finish with 11 points, while adding seven rebounds.Bernardo da Silva finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Rainbow Warriors (7-2). Noel Coleman added 17 points for Hawaii. In addition, Justin McKoy had eight points.___The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.Source

Stephen Curry’s 3-pointer streak ends at 268 games in Warriors’ win in Portland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Stephen Curry’s NBA-record 3-pointer streak ended at 268 games Sunday night in the Golden State Warriors’ 118-114 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.Curry was 0 for 8 from 3-point range, 2 for 12 overall and scored seven points. He began the streak Dec. 1, 2018, at Detroit.Curry, the NBA career leader who recently made his 3,500th 3-pointer, last went without one in a regular-season game on Nov. 8, 2018, when he was 0 for 4 against Milwaukee. He also owns the second-longest NBA streak at 157 games. “We can’t rely on Steph to bail us out on every single night,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It was a tough night for him, but that’s what a team is supposed to be about. Everybody filling in for each other, different guys stepping up each night. That’s a great sign, because he’s carried us for long enough this year. We need to give him more help.”The two-time MVP missed all nine 3-point attempts in Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals against Boston, one game befor...

Biden quietly shelves trade pact with UK before 2024 elections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

LONDON — President Joe Biden has quietly shelved plans for a “foundational” trade agreement with the U.K. ahead of the 2024 election — following Senate opposition and disagreements over the scope of the deal.A draft outline of the pact and its 11 proposed chapters, prepared by the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) office earlier this year, indicated negotiations would begin before the end of 2023.But after facing multiple headwinds, the deal is not expected to go ahead, two people briefed by the British and U.S. governments respectively told POLITICO. Both were granted anonymity to speak on a sensitive matter.“I don’t think we’re going to see that re-emerge,” said one of the people briefed on the proposed negotiations. The proposal’s timeline for talks — which would not consider market access or meet the World Trade Organization’s definition of a free trade agreement — set out that negotiations would wrap up ahead of elections in Britain and the U.S. next ...

15 suspected drug smugglers killed in clash with Thai soldiers near Myanmar border, officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Fifteen suspected drug smugglers were killed and about 2 million methamphetamine tablets seized in northern Thailand near the Myanmar border after a shootout with Thai soldiers, Thai officials said.The clash, which occurred Saturday night, came after the local army received a tip that there would be smuggling activity near the border in Chiang Rai province, said Phanurat Lukboon, acting secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board. Officers found a group of about 20 people carrying backpacks in the area, Phanurat said on Sunday. After the officers identified themselves and asked to inspect the bags, the group began shooting at them, he added.The clash lasted around 15 minutes and the Thai officers were all safe, Phanurat said while on a visit to the site where the incident occurred. He thanked the officers for their help in “preventing these awful things from entering our country and destroying our youth.”Seventeen backpacks made from fertilizer sack...

European Council conclusions on Ukraine, enlargement and reforms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

I. UKRAINE1. The European Council reiterates its resolute condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which constitutes a manifest violation of the UN Charter, and reaffirms the European Union’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and its inherent right of self-defence against the Russian aggression.2. The European Council recalls its previous conclusions and confirms the European Union’s unwavering commitment to continue to provide strong political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes.3. The European Union and its Member States will continue to address Ukraine’s pressing military and defence needs. In particular, the European Council insists on the importance of timely, predictable and sustainable military support for Ukraine, notably through the European Peace Facility and the EU Military Ass...

Family of man fatally gunned down say first responders 'negligent'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

While authorities are still searching for a gunman that opened fire at a Willowbrook shopping plaza on Friday, killing one man and wounding four others, the family of the victim who died is speaking out.  Los Angeles County deputies received calls of an assault with a deadly weapon on the 200 block of East El Segundo Boulevard at around 2:23 p.m. Arriving deputies found the victim, identified by family as 32-year-old Rahson Jerrel Bradford, suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper torso. He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The 32-year-old's family spoke with KTLA Sunday and criticized the response of both L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics.  “For the police, I feel like they’ve been negligent,” Kayana Bradford, one of the victim’s sisters, said. “They’ve given us no information. We still haven’t been able to see our brother.”  Quanika Bradford, another sister of the victim, said her brother was pleadin...

No. 23 UNLV making most of trip to New York for the holidays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — UNLV coach Lindy La Rocque plans on taking her team on a destination trip each year right before the holidays because the Lady Rebels’ home arena is being used for a rodeo.Last season it was Hawaii, this year it’s New York.“Travel is such a huge part of the student-athlete experience and you know, New York City, it’s such an iconic place,” La Rocque said. “You know people think we live in one in Vegas, and when you live there, you don’t always get the mystique of it. It’s fun to bring our team cross country and let them enjoy another major city that maybe they won’t get to travel to on their own.”No. 23 UNLV is making the most of its week-long trip east off the court. Besides playing games against Seton Hall and Fairleigh Dickinson, the team took in the sights while staying in New York. They went to “Hamilton” on Sunday and planned to visit the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center and Times Square later this week.“It’s excit...

Congress unlikely to finish work on Ukraine, border deal this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

The Senate looks unlikely to advance new border security restrictions alongside billions more for Ukraine aid this month, as negotiators work through complex border law in difficult closed-door discussions with the Biden administration and top Senate aides.Negotiating Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) met for three hours on Sunday and continued to cite forward progress afterward, with Sinema saying some portions of the challenging border language had been finalized. But the full deal is not complete enough for even a cursory framework or summary to be released yet, and senators on the Republican side suggested the bill shouldn’t be taken up until January when the House is back in session.Lankford said that waiting until January for final votes was a “realistic timeline” for completing their work and said senators are “working through this as fast as we possibly can.” The senators will continue discussions on Monday, when the Senate c...

EU countries destroy €4B worth of COVID vaccines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:08 GMT

At least 215 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines purchased by EU countries at the height of the pandemic have since been thrown away at an estimated cost to the taxpayer of €4 billion, an analysis by POLITICO reveals. And that’s almost certainly an underestimate.Since the first coronavirus vaccines were approved in late 2020, EU countries have collectively taken delivery of 1.5 billion doses (more than three for every person in Europe). Many of these now lie in landfills across the Continent.Calculations based on available data show that EU countries have discarded an average of 0.7 jabs for every member of their population. Top of the scale is Estonia, which binned more than one dose per inhabitant, followed closely by Germany, which also threw away the largest raw volume of jabs.If this average waste rate is projected across the rest of the EU, it would equal more than 312 million destroyed vaccines.It’s not easy to discover how many vaccines have been thrown out. Gover...