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Investor buys Caribbean isles once owned by Jeffrey Epstein

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.S. investor has bought two Caribbean islands that were once owned by the late Jeffrey Epstein and where authorities allege many of the disgraced financier’s crimes took place.Stephen Deckoff, with SD Investments LLC, bought Great St. James and Little St. James islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands for $60 million and plans to build an exclusive resort, a spokesman told The Associated Press on Thursday. The islands were on sale for a total of $110 million.The investment firm said in a statement that a significant portion of the sale proceeds will go toward the U.S. Virgin Island’s government as part of a previous deal with Epstein’s estate.Forbes first reported the purchase of the islands on Wednesday.The 25-room resort is slated to open in 2025 and is expected to boost tourism and create jobs, the firm said.The islands were originally for sale at $55 million each. Little St. James, which locals had nicknamed “Pedophile Island,” has three beaches, ...

Telus: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Telus Corp. (TU) on Thursday reported first-quarter profit of $160.5 million.On a per-share basis, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it had net income of 11 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 20 cents per share.The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 21 cents per share.The telecommunications company posted revenue of $3.67 billion in the period, which beat Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.58 billion._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on TU at https://www.zacks.com/ap/TUSource

Pavelski, Draisaitl each score 4 goals in NHL playoff games

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl and Dallas’ Joe Pavelski made some history in the NHL playoffs, even if they couldn’t really celebrate it.Draisaitl and Pavelski became just the second pair of players to each score four goals in a playoff game on back-to-back days and the first in 35 years. They’re the first to do so with their teams each losing.“It’s pretty crazy amazing to get four,” Ray Ferraro, the last player to score four goals in a playoff game his team lost, said by phone Thursday. “And then you lose and you’re like, ‘What the hell just happened?’”Asked after the Oilers’ 6-4 loss at Vegas on Wednesday night in their series opener if he took any joy in scoring four goals, Draisaitl replied: “No. Nope.”Stars coach Peter DeBoer after his team’s 5-4 overtime loss in Game 1 against Seattle called Pavelski’s performance epic and added, “Ashamed we wasted it.”Told of DeBoer’s comments, Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft put the focus on the ...

Sheriff: Last of 4 escaped Mississippi prisoners found

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) — The last of four prisoners who escaped from a Mississippi prison was found Thursday morning at a home about 20 miles from the prison, the sheriff announced.The Hinds County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force took Corey Harrison, 22, into custody at a Crystal Springs home and a female acquaintance was also arrested and is facing charges in connection with the escape and investigation, Sheriff Tyree Jones announced in a social media post.Jones thanked the “state, federal and local law enforcement agencies that assisted with the tense days long investigation and search regarding the escapees. All escapees are accounted for.”Harrison and three other inmates escaped from the Raymond Detention Center near Jackson, Mississippi’s capital, on April 22, officials said.Casey Grayson was found dead at a New Orleans truck stop over the weekend, officials announced earlier this week. His cause of death will not be determined until results fr...

Italian conductor Muti to visit Syrian refugee camp

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Italian conductor Riccardo Muti plans to visit Syrian musicians living in the vast Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on the sidelines of his annual Roads of Friendship concert series that aims to use music to build bridges and help those affected by war.Muti will conduct Italian and Jordanian musicians in concerts set in ancient Roman amphitheaters in Jerash, Jordan, on July 9 and the Pompeii archaeological site on July 11, for the 27th Roads of Friendship concert series.The concerts will pay homage to the “generosity of the Jordanian people” for taking in millions of Syrian refugees fleeing civil war in the neighboring country, the Ravenna festival announced Thursday. While in Jordan, Muti plans to visit the Zaatari camp, a symbol of the long-running Syrian refugee situation and home to about 80,000 refugees nearly 11 years after it was set up near the Syrian border.He and a delegation from the Ravenna Festival will meet with musicians among the Syrian diaspora, bringing ...

Embraer: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil (AP) — SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil (AP) — Embraer SA (ERJ) on Thursday reported a loss of $70.8 million in its first quarter.On a per-share basis, the Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil-based company said it had a loss of 39 cents. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to 48 cents per share.The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 3 cents per share.The plane and jet manufacturer posted revenue of $716.7 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ERJ at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ERJSource

Look up to the sky for 3 space events this weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

(CNN) — With bright meteors blazing across the sky from the Aquariids meteor shower and a chance to see a lunar eclipse, Friday will be the time to look up to the sky for a day of spectacular celestial events.Anyone venturing out to spot a meteor with this year’s Aquariids show could see up to 20 meteors per hour, but you’ll have to be up early — the best times to try to see a meteor will be just before dawn on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The event’s estimated peak time is at 11 a.m. ET Saturday.Alongside the shower comes the May flower moon, the first full moon of the “month of flower,” and its almost perfect alignment with the sun and Earth. That alignment will create what is known as a penumbral lunar eclipse, which is when the moon enters Earth’s outer shadow. This event will be between 11:13 a.m. and 3:31 p.m. ET Friday but won’t be visible in the Americas because the moon isn’t up then. But it will cause a dimming of the lu...

UK-Australia trade deal will come into force this month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

LONDON – The U.K.’s bilateral trade deals with Australia and New Zealand will come into force this month, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set to meet the leaders of both nations tomorrow in London.Both deals will be implemented from May 31, with all tariffs on U.K. goods exports set to be dropped by Australia and New Zealand.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted Thursday that the U.K.-Australia agreement was a “good thing for both countries,” despite previous concerns by Sunak about the impact of the deal on British farmers.British farming unions have rallied against the deals as they will eventually give Australian and New Zealand producers of products like sheep and beef unfettered access to the British market.Previous U.K. government estimates suggested Britain’s food and farming sectors will suffer due to the Australia and New Zealand trade deals, while Sunak said in the Tory leadership contest last year that the agreements were “one-sided” against the U.K....

Italy’s foreign minister cancels Paris trip amid new diplomatic spat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

PARIS — Italy’s Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani on Thursday canceled at the last minute an official visit to Paris following comments made by France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Rome’s migration policy. “Offenses to the government and Italy by the minister Darmanin are unacceptable. This is not the spirit in which common European challenges should be addressed,” Tajani wrote in a tweet, saying that he would not attend a dinner meeting with his French homologue Catherine Colonna in Paris planned for Thursday evening.Earlier on Thursday, Darmanin told RMC radio that the “far-right” Italian government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was “incapable of resolving migration problems.”On Thursday afternoon, before Tajani canceled his trip, France’s foreign affairs ministry tried to avert a new diplomatic crisis with a statement, stressing that Paris wants to work with Rome “in a spirit of solidarityR...

China’s club for talking to Central Europe is dead, Czechs say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:37 GMT

China’s exclusive club for engaging with Eastern and Central European countries is defunct, the Czech foreign minister told POLITICO on Tuesday.Jan Lipavský’s comments position the Czechs firmly in the camp of the U.S., dealing a potentially devastating blow to the 11-year-old so-called 14+1 initiative, which Beijing once hoped would revive relations with former Soviet states. Speaking after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Lipavský said: “I thanked the U.S. on their strategic leadership on China. I assured Secretary Blinken that we are ready to work with them within the European framework. The 14+1 has neither substance nor future.”Asked if Prague will formally withdraw, Lipavský added through a spokesman: “We are not an active member. We won’t speculate on any possible steps that we might choose to take.”According to a readout from the U.S. State Department, Blinken and Lipavský “discussed shared concerns about the Pe...