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IMF says inflation to slow growth across Mideast this year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Economies across the Middle East and Central Asia will likely slow this year as persistently high inflation and rising interest rates bite into their post-pandemic gains, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday. The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook blamed in part rising energy costs, as well as elevated food prices, for the estimated slower growth. The report said that while oil-dependent economies of the Gulf Arab states and others in the region have reaped the benefits of elevated crude prices, other countries — such as Pakistan — have seen growth collapse after an unprecedented flooding last summer or as economic woes worsened.The regional slowdown also comes as an explosion of fighting in Sudan between two top rival generals — who only a year ago as allies orchestrated a military coup that upended the African country’s transition to democracy — threatens a nation where IMF and World Bank debt relief remains on hold. Rising int...

No winning ticket sold for Tuesday’s $18 million Lotto Max jackpot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

There was no winning ticket sold in Tuesday’s Lotto Max $18 million draw.The jackpot for the next draw on May 5 will be an estimated $23 million.The Canadian Press

Warmer Days Ahead: Temps in the 60s Wednesday, and 70s by the Week's end—flirting to 80° by Tuesday next week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

Warmer days ahead for Chicago—we'll break into the 60s away from Lake Michigan Wednesday afternoon and make it to the 70s by week's end—though lake breezes will be cooling the shoreline—the weekend is to see organized east winds which will cool shoreline locations even as inland areas warm—but it appears we'll be flirting to 80 by TUES/WED next week!MAMMOTH SPRING STORM Below normal temps moved into an 11th consecutive day Tuesday—featuring a sub-normal high of 54° and 31 mph wind gusts at O'Hare (Midway made it to 55° Monday). It marked the 5th day in which Chicago's weather was controlled by the mammoth spring storm which has wreaked havoc over a wide swath of the Midwest and East coast—producing up to 29" of snow the past two days followed by 1 to 3.70" rainfalls in parts and 50+ mph wind gusts across a swath of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; generating Monday's deadly downstate I-55 downstate dust storm and forcing Chicagoans to keep a close watch on the sky for what little sun we'...

US believes Russians in Ukraine have suffered 100,000 casualties

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

The White House on Monday (1 May) estimated that Russia's military has suffered 100,000 casualties in the last five months in fighting in the Bakhmut region and other areas of Ukraine.White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the figure, based on US intelligence estimates, included more than 20,000 dead, half of them from the Wagner mercenary group, which includes convicts released from prison to join the fighting."Russia's attempt at a winter offensive in the Donbas largely through Bakhmut has failed," Kirby said."Last December, Russia initiated a broad offensive across multiple lines of advance, including toward Vuhledar, Avdiivka, Bakhmut, and Kreminna. Most of these efforts stalled and failed. Russia has been unable to seize any strategically significant territory."He said the Russians have made some incremental gains in Bakhmut but that this has come at a "terrible, terrible cost" and that Ukraine's defenses in the region remain strong."Russia has exh...

Explosion derails freight train in Russian border region

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

An explosion in a Russian bordering Ukraine region on Monday (1 May) derailed a freight train, according to a post made by the local governor. The governor added that there were no injuries.Social media pictures showed several tank wagons lying on their sides and dark gray smoke billowing in the air near the derailment site in the Bryansk area.Russian Railways, Russia's railway operator, confirmed that the incident took place at 10:17 Moscow Time (0717 GMT). The report said that the locomotive and seven wagons derailed, and the locomotive caught on fire.In a Telegram post, Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz stated that "an unidentified explosive went off at 136 kilometres on the Bryansk - Unecha railway line derailing a freight train."Russian authorities claim that the region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, has been the scene of multiple pro-Ukrainian attacks in the 14-month period since Russia invaded. The governor reported that four civilians were killed after Kyiv shelled an ...

Crews battling Cobble Fire in Riverside County

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

Firefighters in Riverside County were battling a vegetation fire that broke out in the Santa Ana River bottom Tuesday night in Eastvale.  Crews with the Riverside County Fire Department responded to reports of the Cobble Fire, located 7700 block of Cobble Creek Drive, just before 9 p.m., authorities said.  Aerial footage from Sky5 showed heavy flames and smoke as the blaze burned through heavy thick brush.  Aerial footage from Sky5 shows flames burning through heavy vegetation in the Santa Ana River bed in Eastvale May 2, Aerial footage from Sky5 shows flames burning through heavy vegetation in the Santa Ana River bed in Eastvale May 2, 2023. (KTLA)Aerial footage from Sky5 shows flames burning through heavy vegetation in the Santa Ana River bed in Eastvale May 2, Riverside County Fire crews on the scene of the Cobble Fire in Eastvale May 2, 2023. (KTLA)Just after 10 p.m., authorities estimated that the fire had burned around five to seven acres. It is unclear if crews...

Single-use plastics now banned in parts of Los Angeles County

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

Single-use plastics are now banned in restaurants throughout parts of Los Angeles County.The ordinance went into effect on May 1 and requires full-service restaurants in unincorporated L.A. County to provide only recyclable or compostable foodware. This applies to containers, cups, dishes, cutlery and more.The ordinance was passed by The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in April 2022 with aims to reduce waste and littering in communities and waterways, while increasing sustainability efforts.Main points of the ordinance include:-Requires full-service restaurants to use multiservice utensils (i.e., reusable foodware) for dine-in customers.-Prohibits food facilities such as restaurants, cafeterias, food trucks, etc. located in the unincorporated areas from providing single-use foodware accessories (e.g. straws, forks, condiment packets, napkins, etc.) to customers unless the customer requests them.-Requires online food-ordering businesses to include on their platforms a way for...

Presale Codes for Wizkid More Love, Less Ego Tour

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

“You don’t need no other body, only you fi hold my body” … ahem, hello, didn’t see you there. Well, Wizkid has announced the makeup dates to his much anticipated tour, and I can’t help myself. Dubbed the “More Love, Less Ego” tour in support of his 2022 album, the Nigerian superstar is hitting cities across Europe and North America. The North American leg will launch November 2 in Philadelphia, PA and wrap November 30 in Washington, D.C, with a stop here in Los Angeles at the Kia Forum on November 21 — see below for all dates. Passwords and presale codes for the Wizkid More Love, Less Ego Tour tickets are as follows:Presale codes for Wizkid More Love, Less Ego TourPresale tickets for the Wizkid More Love, Less Ego Tour go on sale today, May 3 and we’ve been told the following presale codes and passwords may work. Details are subject to change, and vary by event date:Live Nation website presale code or password: ICONICLive Nation mobile...

Lakers’ Anthony Davis shows why he, not LeBron, is Warriors’ toughest matchup

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO – Turns out, trying to contain LeBron James might not be the biggest challenge the Golden State Warriors face in their second-round playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers.Anthony Davis had a playoff game for the ages Tuesday, etching his name alongside some of the storied franchise’s all-time greats, as he had 30 points, 23 rebounds and five assists to lead the Lakers to a 117-112 win over the Warriors in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal at Chase Center.“For us, it’s a treat for us to be able to have such a dynamic player that can not only go out and get you 30 and 20,” James said, “but also command the paint defensively.”Davis did just in the final two minutes in the game’s most crucial sequence.After the Warriors went on a 14-0 run over a four-plus minute span to tie the game at 112 with 1:38 to go, guard D’Angelo Russell responded with a driving layup to give the Lakers back the lead. Then on the Warriors’ ensuing possession, Davis blocked a short Cu...

Could France protest fury spill into next year’s Olympics?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:52:53 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Retired and with time to kill, Bernard Gauvain wants to be a volunteer at the 2024 Olympics — but a bad one.His intention is not to help out, but to gum up the Olympic machine by refusing to turn up for work. If others do likewise in sufficient numbers, he hopes they’ll sting the VVIP who stands to gain if the Paris Games run triumphantly like clockwork: French President Emmanuel Macron.The 68-year-old former agricultural consultant in southern France is part of an otherwise mostly hush-hush band of Olympic opponents who call themselves “un-volunteers.” Also anti-Macron — the president has ignited a months-long firestorm of French protest with unpopular pension reforms — the anti-Olympic Trojan horses are working to infiltrate and then disrupt next year’s Paris Games by signing up as volunteers, posing as willing-to-help superfans when they’re anything but.Their surreptitious operation, and other Olympic contestation that is picking up online and...