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Airbnb says it’s cracking down on fake listings and has removed 59,000 of them this year

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

Fake listings have emerged as a major problem for Airbnb, threatening to scare off consumers and prompting the short-term rental service to use AI in an effort to crack down on fraudsters.Airbnb says it has removed 59,000 fake listings and prevented another 157,000 from joining the platform this year.Fake listings and high cleaning fees are among several issues that Airbnb said Wednesday that its users highlighted in a company survey. Others included high cleaning fees and a desire for lower prices.The San Francisco company said more than 260,000 listings have lowered or removed cleaning fees this year, since it gave consumers the means to sort listings in order of all-in pricing.Airbnb says the change in how prices are displayed discourages hosts from touting low prices but piling on extra fees. However, only about one-third of Airbnb renters are using it.“We got a lot of feedback that Airbnb is not as affordable as it used to be,” CEO Brian Chesky said in an interview. The pricing...

Michigan’s top court won’t revive Flint water charges against 7 key figures

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a last-chance effort to revive criminal charges against seven people in the Flint water scandal, waving away an appeal by prosecutors who have desperately tried to get around a 2022 decision that gutted the cases.The attorney general’s office used an uncommon tool — a one-judge grand jury — to hear evidence and return indictments against nine people, including former Gov. Rick Snyder. But the Supreme Court last year said the process was unconstitutional, and it struck down the charges as invalid.State prosecutors, however, were undeterred. They returned to Flint courts and argued the charges could be easily revived with a simple refiling of documents. That position was repeatedly rejected all the way to the state’s highest court.“We are not persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this court,” the Supreme Court said in a series of one-sentence orders Wednesday.Orders were filed in cases ag...

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher ahead of Federal Reserve decision on interest rates

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street ticked higher early Wednesday ahead of a decision on interest rates by the Federal Reserve.Futures for the both the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials were up about 0.2% before the bell. The Fed gathered Tuesday for a two-day meeting on interest rates and will announce a policy decision later Wednesday. The Fed is largely expected to keep its benchmark rate where it is, around 5.3%, a more than two-decade high. There is a wider split on the thinking about whether the Fed will raise rates again this year, but most anticipate that rates will begin to be trimmed at some point next year. Cutting rates can infuse markets with oxygen, which is part of the reason why the Fed has maintained elevated rates. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is seeking to slow frothy investments and cool a red-hot job market in an effort to get inflation under control. Yet the broader U.S. economy, and in particular the job market, continue to held up much better than expected despite rising rates ...

France rolls out the red carpet for King Charles III’s state visit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

PARIS (AP) — King Charles III of the United Kingdom starts a three-day state visit to France on Wednesday meant to highlight the friendship between the two nations with great pomp, after the trip was postponed in March amid widespread demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension changes.Charles and Queen Camilla were greeted by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne at Paris-Orly airport. They were to attend a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in the presence of Macron and his wife, Brigitte. The visit shows “the deep historical ties that unite our two countries. It is also an opportunity to showcase France’s cultural, artistic and gastronomic excellence,” the French presidency said. At the Arc de Triomphe, both national anthems will be played before a review of French troops and a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to “mark the shared sacrifices of the past and an enduring legacy of cooperation,” according to Buckingham Palace.The jet fighters of the Patrouille de...

Putin accepts invitation to visit China in October after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister in Moscow

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he accepted an invitation from his Chinese counterpart to visit China in October during the Belt and Road Summit. Speaking after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, Putin said Russia and China are “integrating our ideas of creating a large Eurasian space,” noting that China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a part of that.The Initiative is a huge program in which Beijing has been expanding its influence in developing regions through infrastructure projects.Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin has pivoted the country toward China, selling it more energy, and increasingly carrying out joint military exercises. China has adopted a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine and even denounced Western sanctions against Moscow. It also accused NATO and the United States of provoking Putin’s military action and declared last year that it had a “no-limits” friendship with Russia.On Tuesday, senior Russian...

Rep. James E. Clyburn writing book about eight Black congressmen from the 19th century

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn is working on a history book he calls a “passion project”: The story of the eight Black congressmen who represented South Carolina in the decades immediately following the Civil War.Little, Brown and Company announced Wednesday that it has a deal with Clyburn for “The First Eight,” which does not yet have a release date. Clyburn, a Democrat first elected to Congress in 1992, is the first Black to represent South Carolina in the House of Representatives since George Washington Murray in the 1890s, when the Jim Crow segregation laws became fully entrenched in the South.“The lives and legacies of these ‘unique eight’ have been known to me for some time,” Clyburn said in statement, “but it is clear to me from my conversations in my home state and around the country, that their contributions and significances are not well known and appreciated nor are the devious and dubious circumstances and conditions that were made legal by state ...

Million-selling novelist Isabel Allende has a deal to write 3 children’s books

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — After 40 years of publishing and millions of book sales worldwide, Isabel Allende is ready to become a children’s author. Allende has a deal with Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, for three picture books. She will start with “Perla, The Mighty Dog,” to be released next June. Illustrated by Sandy Rodriguez and inspired by Allende’s rescue dog, “Perla” is the story of a dog with a big heart, a loud bark and fierce loyalty to her human soulmate, Nico Rico. “I love dogs more than people because we have so much to learn from them. Perla is joyful, loyal, loves unconditionally and is always ready to protect her family,” Allende said in a statement Wednesday. “Perla and Nico’s adventures are about the power of friendship, teamwork and the magic hidden in our daily lives.” Allende, 81, is known for such novels as “The House of the Spirits” and “Eva Luna.” The Associated Press

British police officer is charged with murder of unarmed Black man in London

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

LONDON (AP) — An officer with London’s Metropolitan Police force who fatally shot an unarmed Black man has been charged with murder, prosecutors said Wednesday. Chris Kaba, 24, was killed in south London on Sept. 5 last year, after police pursued his car and tried to stop it. His vehicle was hemmed in by two police cars in a narrow residential street in the Streatham Hill neighborhood. Police fired one round at Kaba, who was shot through the windscreen of the car he was driving.Rosemary Ainslie, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said that following a thorough review of evidence, a charge of murder was authorized against the police officer, who remains unnamed.Kaba died after he was struck by a single bullet, she said. The police officer was suspended from duty following the incident and is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.The case has sparked outcry and criticisms of institutional racism in the police force. Kaba’s family welcomed Wednes...

GTA school boards fly Pride flags in face of protests opposing gender ideology

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

Pride flags are flying outside a number of school boards in the GTA on Wednesday in a show of support for 2SLGBTQ+  communities.The flag-flying comes ahead of demonstrations planned the same day against the teaching of gender and sexual diversity in schools. Members of the group ‘1-Million-March-4-Children’ say rally participants are “standing together against gender ideology in schools” and are in favour of the elimination of curriculum that teaches it.The group will be at various locations across the country, including Queen’s Park in Toronto and city halls in Milton and Mississauga.In response, the public school boards in Toronto, Peel, Halton and Durham have released statements and raised Pride flags at all of their offices on Tuesday. The boards plan to fly the flags for the rest of the week.“There are demonstrations scheduled to take place in our city this week which, in some past cases, have fostered inflammatory, transphobic, and hateful b...

Girl, 11, beaten on Chicago's West Side

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:27 GMT

CHICAGO —  An 11-year-old girl was hospitalized after being beaten Sunday night on the city's West Side.The incident happened around 8:45 p.m. on the 1900 block of South Spaulding Avenue in the North Lawndale neighborhood.Police said the girl was outside when she was approached by an offender who struck her with an object. A second offender then began to batter the 11-year-old, according to police.A person at the scene intervened and a physical altercation ensued.The girl was transported to Lurie Children's Hospital. Her condition and injuries are unknown at this time. Man found dead inside Glenview home No one is in custody. Area Four Detectives are investigating.