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This Week in Business: housing market and inflation updates, Federal Reserve insight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

Housing market updateThe Commerce Department delivers data on April newly constructed home sales Tuesday.Economists forecast that sales slowed last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 650,000 homes from 683,000 in March. The housing market has cooled since the Federal Reserve began raising its main borrowing rate a year ago in its fight to bring down inflation. That substantially raised borrowing costs in an already expensive housing market.New home sales, seasonally adjusted annual rate, by month:Nov.: 582,000Dec.: 622,000Jan.: 648,000Feb. 623,000March: 683,000April (est): 650,000Source: FactSetFed insightThe Federal Reserve on Wednesday releases minutes from its policy meeting earlier this month.It raised its key interest rate by a quarter point in May. It has been raising rates at a feverish pace since 2022 to fight inflation. Inflation has shown signs of cooling, but analysts are growing increasingly worried about a possible recession. The latest minutes could provide ...

Foo Fighters anuncia a Josh Freese como nuevo batería tras la muerte de Taylor Hawkins

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

(CNN) — Los Foo Fighters han encontrado a su nuevo batería tras la repentina muerte de su viejo amigo y batería Taylor Hawkins, en Bogotá en marzo de 2022.Durante el evento “Foo Fighters: Preparing Music for Concerts”, que sirvió de adelanto del undécimo álbum de estudio del grupo, “But Here We Are”, la banda presentó el domingo al batería de estudio Josh Freese como sucesor de Hawkins.Freese es un veterano batería y ha tocado con Nine Inch Nails, The Offspring, Sting y Weezer, entre muchos otros. También tocó con los Foo Fighters durante un espectáculo de homenaje a Hawkins en Londres en 2022, incluso tocando en la propia batería del fallecido baterista.Foo Fighters anuncia su primer álbum desde la muerte de su baterista Taylor HawkinsSegún un post en su página de Instagram que muestra una foto de la batería de Hawkins, Freese dijo que insistió en tocar la batería para el show de homenaje de Londres, diciendo: “Quiero que ESA energía esté arriba ...

Washington hosts Connecticut following Bonner’s 21-point game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

Connecticut Sun (2-0, 2-0 Eastern Conference) at Washington Mystics (1-1, 1-1 Eastern Conference)Washington; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Connecticut visits the Washington Mystics after DeWanna Bonner scored 21 points in the Sun’s 80-74 win over the Washington Mystics.Washington finished 12-6 at home and 11-7 in Eastern Conference action during the 2022-23 season. The Mystics averaged 20.3 assists per game on 29.3 made field goals last season.Connecticut went 25-11 overall last season while going 11-7 in Eastern Conference play. The Sun averaged 85.8 points per game last season, 15.7 from the free throw line and 19.2 from beyond the arc.INJURIES: Mystics: Myisha Hines-Allen: out (knee).Sun: None listed.___The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.Source

Arena Stage hosts farewell gala for artistic director Molly Smith, who’s retiring after 25 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

Hear our full chat on my podcast “Beyond the Fame with Jason Fraley.” toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley salutes Molly Smith (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); It’s the end of an era in D.C. as Molly Smith is stepping down as artistic director of Arena Stage after 25 years.On Tuesday night, she will receive the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award at its Annual Gala and retirement party.“Beth Newburger actuall...

AP PHOTOS: Guatemala-born designer links history and culture with current trends in fashion show

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Guatemala-born designer combined Indigenous weaving technique, modern clothing design and colorful history from her native country in a recent runway showcase in Brownsville, Texas. The display offered a taste not only of Elena De León’s artistic vision, but of work by Guatemalan mothers, including some in the U.S. and others who remained at home to support their families.The Costumes of the Americas Museum in the border city hosted the May 12 event with assistance from the Guatemalan Consulate in nearby McAllen and Maryland, where De León lives after migrating to the U.S. seven years ago.“I’m a woman thinking of the needs of her community and Guatemalan towns,” De León told the crowd before models wearing clothes made by Guatemalan women sashayed down the runway.Applause, cheers and intermittent flashes from photos were heard throughout the fashion show as women, children and men walked to fast-tempo music while in deep red, woven fabric often displaying...

EU hits Meta with record €1.2B privacy fine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

U.S tech giant Meta has been hit with a record €1.2 billion fine for not complying with the EU’s privacy rulebook.The Irish Data Protection Commission announced on Monday that Meta violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when it shuttled troves of personal data of European Facebook users to the United States without sufficiently protecting them from Washington’s data surveillance practices. It’s the largest fine imposed under the bloc’s flagship General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy law and it comes on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the law’s enforcement on May 25. Amazon was previously fined €746 million by Luxembourg and the Irish regulator also imposed four fines against Meta’s platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ranging between €405 million and €225 million in the past two years.The Irish privacy watchdog said that Meta’s use of a legal instrument known as standard contractual clauses (SCCs) to move data ...

Russian business titans demand 6-day work week to cope with sanctions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

A Russian business association has called on the labor ministry to consider moving to a six-day work week so they can better deal with fallout from Western sanctions, Kremlin-controlled media reported Monday.With sanctions straining the Russian economy, “Our financial and economic system is still in need of additional investments,” the Avanti business club said in a letter to the labor minister, Anton Kotyakov, according to Russian outlet Izvestia.Russia has been under international sanctions since 2014 when the Kremlin’s troops invaded Crimea, and Western countries have ratcheted up their sanctions effort since Moscow initiated its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February.The EU is currently discussing an 11th round of sanctions against Russia, which could include measures targeting countries that continue doing business with Moscow, thus allowing it to bypass the sanctions.Created in 2014, the Avanti entrepreneurs group has members from the business sector bu...

Belgian unions demonstrate in Brussels to demand better worker protection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s trade unions are mounting a major demonstration on Monday to protest what they see as increasingly bad working conditions and the erosion of their right to strike. Action by transport workers is paralyzing subway and other traffic in Brussels. The trade unions are irked by companies that seek to impose new contracts on their workers that impact their social rights, affect their working conditions and cut their pay. They are specifically protesting the decision by the Delhaize supermarket chain to change the store management setup, directly cutting into the income and rights of staff. “We don’t want second-class employees. We want respect and equal rights for all,” the socialist ABVV union said in a statement.The unions are also protesting management measures to stifle strike action through court injunctions against the blocking of company premises, among other issues. “The defense of our social and trade union rights is being made impossible,” t...

Iran’s president appoints new official in powerful security post, replacing long time incumbent

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president on Monday appointed a new official to take over the post of secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, replacing the longtime powerful official Ali Shamkhani. The decree by President Ebrahim Raisi will see Shamkhani replaced after he had been linked to an alleged British-Iranian spy recently executed. However, Shamkhani also had key in negotiations with Gulf Arab states as they sought to de-escalate tensions with Tehran, including being on hand for the announced détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia reached in Saudi Arabia. Shamkhani’s replacement will be Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the former chief of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s strategic center. The decree, reported by the state-run IRNA news agency, offered no explanation for the change. Shamkhani had served in the position for just under a decade. The Associated Press

B.C. company denies misleading First Nation about rail terminal expansion plans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:46 GMT

The owner of a rail terminal in British Columbia’s Interior says a lawsuit launched by the Bonaparte First Nation is a “collateral attack” on the company’s “numerous” grants, permits, and licenses to operate the expanding facility.The nation’s claim filed last month alleges the facility operated by Ashcroft Terminal Ltd. has been developed without proper consultation, while unearthing and disturbing human remains on the nation’s ancestral territory.The Bonaparte First Nation alleges it was misled about the full scope of the terminal’s expansion plans, “adamantly” denying ever receiving the full build-out details, the nation’s lawyer Jason Gratl said. In its response filed in British Columbia Supreme Court earlier this month, the company denies misleading Bonaparte, saying it “extensively engaged” the nation over its development plans as well as “archeological issues of concern.” The termi...