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New Zealand lawmakers banned from TikTok amid data use fears

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand lawmakers and other workers inside the nation’s Parliament will be banned from having the TikTok app on their government phones, officials said Friday.The ban, which takes effect at the end of the month, follows similar moves in many other countries. However, New Zealand’s ban will apply only to about 500 people in the parliamentary complex, not to all government workers like bans in the U.S. and Britain. Other New Zealand agencies could decide later to impose their own bans.Global concern about the app comes after warnings by the FBI and other agencies that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance could share TikTok user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with China’s authoritarian government. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he didn’t have TikTok on his phone.“I’m not that hip and trendy,” he told reporters.The New Zealand move came on the advice of government ...

Asian shares up after First Republic aid spurs Wall St rally

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced Friday in Asia, tracking a rally on Wall Street after a group of big banks offered a lifeline to First Republic Bank, the lender investors had focused on in their latest hunt for troubles in the banking industry. Chinese markets gained more than 1% while others also rose. U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices climbed. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8% Thursday, erasing earlier losses following reports that First Republic Bank could get help or sell itself to another bank. Markets have gyrated this week on concerns over the toll on banks from the fastest set of interest rate hikes in decades. The turmoil flared with last week’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.8% to 19,545.94 and the Shanghai Composite index surged 1.6% to 3,278.01. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.8% to 27,222.25 and the Kospi in Seoul was up 0.8% at 2,396.06. Shares in major Japanese banks...

Biden hosting Irish prime minister on St. Patrick’s Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to host Ireland’s prime minister on Friday, after the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled the longstanding St. Patrick’s Day meetup two years in a row. Leo Varadkar, known as the taoiseach, and his partner, Matthew Barrett, will attend a breakfast with Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Then they will head to the U.S. Capitol for a lunch with congressional leaders and Biden before the two leaders convene. The meeting with one of the top U.S. allies comes after Biden said he plans to visit both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland this year, the 25th anniversary of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday accord, which helped end sectarian violence that had raged for three decades over the issue of Northern Ireland unifying with Ireland or remaining part of the United Kingdom.The agreement came under increasing stress following the U.K.’s exit from the European Union, but a recent agreement between the U.K. and the ...

Santos refuses to quit, brazenly says ‘truth still matters’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Besieged Republican Rep. George Santos arrives on the House floor most days to deliver short speeches — celebrating women-owned small businesses, a special high school in his district or raising concern about various countries in crises.At other times he can be seen dashing through the halls of the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers do, from one meeting to the next. He once passed out doughnuts to the press corps staking out his office.Far from being chastened by the widespread criticism, mockery and rejection that Santos has received after having admitted to fabricating many aspects of his life story, the newly elected congressman is breezily carrying on in Congress. He is refusing calls for his resignation all while rewriting the narrative in real time.For Santos, it’s an unusual up-is-down approach that would have been almost unthinkable in an earlier generation but one that signals the new norms taking hold amid the deepening of a post-truth era in Congress.“I was...

Man wanted on Canada-wide warrant for threatening several police stations in Peel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

A Canada-wide warrant has been issued after a man threatened several Peel region police stations. Police allege that just after 10 p.m. on March 12, 50-year-old Darbara Mann went to three stations in the area of Dixie Road and Eglinton Avenue in Mississauga, Erin Mills Parkway and Dundas Street in Mississauga, and Hurontario Street and County Court Boulevard in Brampton. Each time he shot off fireworks in the direction of the stations. Police also allege the same man called police stations in the area of Queen Street and Central Park Drive in Brampton, Erin Mills Parkway and Dundas Street in Mississauga, and Hurontario Street and County Court Boulevard in Brampton and uttered threats. Mann is wanted on three counts of mischief, three counts of uttering threats and one count of flight from police. He was last seen driving a 2017 black Ford Explorer with a push bar on the front and a Saskatchewan license plate 612 MVS.

Penn State spoils potential Lone Star State shootout, thumps Texas A&M to face Longhorns in NCAA 2nd round

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Andrew Funk had the shooting game of his career on Penn State's biggest stage in over two decades.Funk made 8 of 10 3-pointers and scored 27 points Thursday night in a 76-59 win over Texas A&M for the Nittany Lions' first NCAA Tournament victory in 22 years. March Madness: No. 2 Texas launches 3-point barrage to beat No. 15 Colgate in 1st round Funk, in his first year at Penn State after transferring from Bucknell, led the Nittany Lions to their ninth win in their last 11 games. They next play Texas in the second round of the Midwest Region on Saturday.Penn State's previous tournament win was its second-round upset of North Carolina in New Orleans in 2001. The Nittany Lions lost to Temple in the Sweet 16, and they lost to the Owls again when they returned to the tournament in 2011.Texas A&M (25-10) had won 10 of 12 as it entered its first NCAA Tournament since 2018. The Aggies lost in the first round for only the second time in nine appearances sinc...

Armed robbers targeting taco vendors in Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

Police are warning the public of armed suspects targeting taco vendors in Los Angeles.Over the past 10 days, four different taco vendor stands were robbed at gunpoint, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.The vendors were located along the Florence Avenue corridor at Crenshaw Boulevard, Grammercy Place, and Normandie Avenue, said LAPD.The robberies all took place between 12:40 a.m. to 2:40 a.m. as the vendors were closing up their stands for the night, authorities said.The suspects would rob the victims at gunpoint before fleeing the area in a vehicle, police said.Authorities are asking locals to be aware of their surroundings and to contact the police if they are targeted.The incidents remain under investigation.Anyone with information is asked to contact 77th Street robbery detectives at 323-786-5422.

1 hospitalized after stabbing near Santa Monica Beach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

Police are investigating after a stabbing near Santa Monica Beach left a person hospitalized on Wednesday.The suspect was identified as Allen Cranford Barna, 40, by the Santa Monica Police Department.Officers responded to reports of an injured person at Palisades Park near the Camera Obscura building around 8:15 a.m.When police arrived, they found the victim had been stabbed in the upper torso.The victim was a Santa Monica city employee who had “attempted to rouse an individual sleeping in the area,” police said.The suspect, Barna, had fled the area before police arrived. Man wielding metal pipe charged with hate crime attacks in Santa Monica The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.Barna was located on Thursday morning and taken into custody on charges of aggravated assault, authorities said.The incident remains under investigation.Anyone with information about the case or the suspect is asked to contact Detective Pollnow a...

Man shot, killed as Vallejo police search for suspect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

VALLEJO, Calif. (BCN) -- Vallejo police investigators are looking for a suspect responsible for shooting and killing a man Thursday afternoon. It is Vallejo's third homicide of the year. Pedestrian hospitalized in Union City collision; driver linked to disturbance at Starbucks A Vallejo police spokesperson said officers responded at about 3:15 p.m. to a report of a person shot in the 2000 block of Solano Avenue. Once on scene, officers found a man suffering from at least one gunshot wound. Paramedics soon arrived, but the victim was pronounced dead. The department's detective division has taken over the investigation. The motive and circumstances surrounding this shooting are under investigation. The victim's identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin by the Solano County Coroner's Office. KRON On is streaming news live now.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container ...

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:19:21 GMT

March 10-16, 2023This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published by Associated Press photographers in Asia and the Pacific.The gallery was curated by AP photo editor Hiro Komae in Tokyo.Follow AP visual journalism:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnewsAP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_ImagesAP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.comSource