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Japan’s central bank retains key interest rate while fine-tuning bond purchases for more flexibility

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s central bank opted Friday to keep its benchmark interest rate at minus 0.1% but said it will fine-tune its bond purchases to allow greater flexibility. The Bank of Japan said that extremely high uncertainties for the economy and prices required a more nimble approach than its previous policy. It said it would offer to buy 10-year Japanese government bonds at 1% each business day, instead of the upper limit of 0.5% that was imposed under its “yield curve control program.” It said its aim is still to keep long-term interest rates near zero percent. The BOJ has been under pressure to adjust its policies as Federal Reserve and other major central banks have raised interest rates to curb inflation. Japan’s inflation rate has lagged those in the U.S. and Europe but is now over 3%, adding to those pressures. Meanwhile, the gap between Japan’s negative benchmark rate and rates in the U.S. has caused the Japanese yen to weaken against the U.S. dollar, adding ...

PGA Tour 3M Open Par Scores

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

ThursdayAt TPC Twin CitiesBlaine, Minn.Purse: $7.8 millionYardage: 7,431; Par: 71a-amateurPartial First RoundPlay suspended due to inclement weatherLee Hodges 33-29_62   -8Hideki Matsuyama 33-31_64   -7Brant Snedeker 34-31_64   -7Tyler Duncan 33-32_64   -7Kevin Streelman 32-33_64   -7Justin Suh 32-33_65   -6Nick Hardy 31-34_65   -6Emilio Grillo 32-33_65   -6Billy Horschel 36-30_66   -5Tony Finau 34-32_66   -5Adam Svensson 34-32_66   -5Vincent Norman 33-35_66   -5Doc Redman 35-33_66   -5Callum Tarren 33-34_66   -5Augusto Nunez 32-35_66   -5J.J. Spaun ...

Canha’s sacrifice fly after rain delay lifts Mets to 2-1 win over Nationals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Canha had a sacrifice fly immediately after a 97-minute rain delay in the bottom of the eighth inning, lifting the New York Mets to a 2-1 win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.The Mets, who had four warning track outs against Nationals starter Josiah Gray, tied the score by stringing together three straight one-out singles — the last an RBI hit into right field by Daniel Vogelbach — against Mason Thompson (3-4). DJ Stewart was then plunked by a pitch to load the bases and Thompson was removed for Kyle Finnegan moments before umpires motioned the teams off the field.After play resumed, Canha hit Finnegan’s fifth pitch to deep right field and Pete Alonso beat the throw home.David Peterson (3-7) allowed three hits in two innings before Brooks Raley notched his second save with a hitless ninth.`Keibert Ruiz had a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning for the Nationals.Neither Gray nor Mets starter Kodai Senga factored into the decisions following strong si...

Judge orders release of 3 of ‘Newburgh Four’ and assails FBI’s role in a post-9/11 terror sting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Three men convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting have been ordered freed from prison by a judge who deemed their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust” and decried the FBI’s role in radicalizing them in a plot to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes.Onta Williams, David Williams and Laguerre Payen — three of the men known as the “Newburgh Four” — were “hapless, easily manipulated and penurious petty criminals” caught up more than a decade ago in a scheme driven by overzealous FBI agents and a dodgy informant, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said in her ruling Thursday.“The real lead conspirator was the United States,” McMahon wrote in granting the men’s request for compassionate release, effective in three months. She said that it was “heinous” of the men to agree to participate in what she called the government’s “made for TV movie.” But, the judge added, “the sentence was the product o...

Ticket sales nearing 1.6 million for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Ticket sales are nearing 1.6 million for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand after surpassing pre-tournament targets and FIFA revised record expectations.The previous record was around 1.35 million who attended a 52-game tournament in Canada in 2015. The 2023 edition has been expanded to 32 teams and will include 64 matches.Soccer’s international governing body said a combined 547,713 fans attended the first 21 games across Australia and New Zealand. The revised total target of 1.5 million was surpassed on Monday.FIFA said the average of 26,802 per game to that point was a 48% increase from France 2019, where the average after 21 games was 18,068. It did not give a breakdown for Australia and New Zealand.The opening games on July 20 set records for women’s soccer matches in both co-host countries. The crowd at New Zealand’s upset win over Norway last week set a new national mark of 42,137. Australia’s 1-0 over Ireland later that day attracte...

Japan’s central bank keeps its benchmark interest rate unchanged but pledges greater flexibility for bond purchases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s central bank keeps its benchmark interest rate unchanged but pledges greater flexibility for bond purchases.Source

DC man charged in hit-and-run near National Mall that left tourist dead

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

The driver accused in a hit-and-run near the National Mall that left a tourist dead earlier this month has been arrested, U.S. Park Police announced Thursday.Benjamin Robertson, 33, of Washington, D.C., has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the July 12 crash, which happened at the intersection of 17th Street NW and Constitution Avenue NW.Police said Robertson was driving with expired tags. When Secret Service officers tried to stop him, he initially indicated he’d comply with the stop, then fled southbound on 17th Street, crossing a red light and striking pedestrians in the crosswalk, according to police.Seventy-five-year-old Bing Wong, a tourist from Philadelphia, was killed. The Washington Post reported Wong was crossing the street with his 13-year-old granddaughter, who was treated at the scene for minor injuries.The Secret Service issued an alert to other area law enforcement agencies after the crash, leading to a multi-jurisdictional search for the...

Caught on video: Repeat vandal strikes Denver non-profit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Security video shows a man smashing windows, the aftermath leaves a non-profit with thousands of dollars in damage.JAMLAC, the Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Center, said the same man has hit the non-profit repeatedly. Why did Jeffco wait to warn about the trail predator? "Someone vandalized our building; this has been happening since a year ago," Marlene Bedoya, with JAMLAC, said.The man has been back 10 times over the last year, according to JAMLAC."He broke our window, he broke our main door, the main windows," Bedoya said, "he put some type of material on our walls and it's just destroyed."There are security cameras around their building and those cameras caught video of him approaching their main door, now covered in plywood, and using a baseball bat to shatter the windows."It's unfair," Bedoya said. "We're a non-profit, legal aid center that helps the community and to have this type of damage, it will cost us a lot." Multi-burglary truck found in Arvada, susp...

Coral reefs off Florida Keys are in danger from extreme heat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

LAYTON, Fla. (WSVN) — South Florida’s coral reefs are in danger of being harmed by the extreme heat, researchers say. The record-high temperatures have caused coral bleaching and even killed marine animals. Now researchers are taking action to protect the reefs from this deep sea emergency.The coral reefs off the Florida Keys are getting bleached by the unprecedented heat in the water. Experts said it could potentially be the hottest seawater ever measured.“Hot water has been steadily increasing for the entire month of July, and to temperatures that we’ve never seen or rarely see, and the real main difference is that we’re seeing this temperature earlier,” said Dr. Cynthia Lewis, director of the Florida Keys Marine Laboratory. Coral bleaching and deaths are being seen in what had been one of the most resilient reefs. Temperature readings have hit or exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit.It all comes as sea surface temperatures worldwide broke monthly re...

5 rescued after Monroe County sheriff spots sinking boat off Marathon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:25 GMT

Crews came to the rescue of five people after their boat started to sink in the Florida Keys.According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay on Thursday spotted the partially submerged vessel from U.S. 1 and got help out to them near the Old Seven Mile Bridge.Authorities safely brought the boaters back to shore in Marathon. None of them were hurt.