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Bitcoin ETF appears to be on the way after court hands the SEC a stinging loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

NEW YORK — The cryptocurrency fund manager Grayscale won a major court battle Tuesday against the Securities and Exchange Commission, paving the way for the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund.Grayscale sued the SEC last year when the securities regulator denied its application to turn its bitcoin fund, known as GBTC, into an ETF. The ETF would be backed by bitcoin instead of bitcoin futures, according to Grayscale’s application at the time.The SEC rejected the company’s application over concerns about investor protections and other issues. However, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals sided with Grayscale, handing the SEC another setback in its attempt to regulate cryptocurrencies.Bitcoin jumped 8% Tuesday.ETFs are a popular vehicle used to gain exposure to certain assets without directly investing in a commodity, or in a company’s stock. ETFs track a desired index, sector or commodity, but they can be bought and sold like regular stocks.Grayscale had argued that a bitcoin ETF ...

Job vacancies, quits plunge in July in stark sign of cooling trend in the US labor market

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER (AP Economics Writer)WASHINGTON (AP) — Businesses posted far fewer open jobs in July and the number of Americans quitting their jobs fell sharply for the second straight month, clear signs that the labor market is cooling in a way that could reduce inflation. The number of job vacancies dropped to 8.8 million last month, the Labor Department said Tuesday, the fewest since March 2021 and down from 9.2 million in June. Yet the drop appeared to be even steeper because June’s figure was initially reported as 9.6 million. That figure was revised lower Tuesday.July’s figure was still healthy historically — before the pandemic the number of openings had never topped 8 million. And there are still roughly 1.5 available jobs for each unemployed worker, which is also elevated but down from a peak last year of 1.9. “While it might take more time, more applications, and stronger job interview performances to land a job than it did in 2021 and...

Hurricane Idalia is gaining power; possible catastrophic storm surge on Florida’s Gulf Coast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

Hurricane Idalia is gaining strength over the hot waters of the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a projected landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a major Category 3 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. The result could be catastrophic storm surge.Idalia, which became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday, was 120 miles west of the Dry Tortugas and 275 miles south-southwest of Tampa as of 11 a.m., traveling north at 14 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.  Life-threatening storm surge and winds are “becoming increasingly likely” for parts of Florida, the National Hurricane Center said. Evacuation orders and school closures already were in effect along the Gulf Coast.The hurricane center says the storm will come ashore on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday. If the hurricane arrives during high tide, storm surge could reach 8 to 12 feet in some areas, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.“If you’re there in that storm surge, you’re putting your life in jeopardy,” DeSantis sai...

School bus catches fire in San Marcos with students inside

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

SAN MARCOS, Calif. -- A school bus caught fire Tuesday morning in San Marcos while five students and the driver were inside, the San Diego Sheriff's Department said. Around 8 a.m., deputies were dispatched to the fire near Mission Road and Las Posas Road. According to SDSO in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the bus was on route to Twin Oaks High School when the flames erupted in the back engine of the bus.When SDSO arrived on scene, the students and driver were already safely evacuated and waiting on the sidewalk. UC San Diego among top public universities in U.S., according to new ranking Deputies boarded the vehicle to ensure no additional passengers were inside. Firefighters then worked to extinguish the fire.As none of the students were injured, a second school bus came to pick them up to take them to school, SDSO said.This incidents comes about two weeks into the school year for students in the San Marcos Unified School District, who held its first day of school on Au...

Woman killed in wrong-way freeway crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A woman was killed Sunday in a wrong-way collision on Interstate 15, California Highway Patrol said.According to CHP, the crash happened around 1:30 a.m. on southbound Interstate 15, south of Aero Drive, near the Serra Mesa neighborhood.A 25-year-old man was driving a Infiniti QX 30 northbound on the southbound lanes of I-15 and hit a Honda Fit driven by a 32-year-old woman, CHP Public Information Officer Salvador Castro said in a news release.The woman was killed as a result of the crash, CHP said. Another female passenger inside the Honda was transported to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.After hitting the Honda, the Infiniti driver kept driving and crashed into a Nissan Altima being driven by a 58-year-old woman, Castro said. Suspect dead after standoff in Encanto house with San Diego police The driver of the Infiniti was also transported to a nearby hospital following the crashes. CHP did not immediately announce what charges, if any, the man would face i...

Rain relief in sight for some B.C. fire zones as northeast swelters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

Large portions of northeastern British Columbia continued to swelter a day after some areas hit daily record temperatures, as the forecast for rain in the south and Interior brought the promise of relief for some wildfire zones. Environment Canada said Tuesday temperatures are again to push near or past 30 C in parts of the Peace River Regional District and the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.The heat warning for northeastern B.C. is expected to be in place until the evening, while another warning for the North Coast District, including Terrace and Kitimat, has been lifted.Historic records for daily high temperatures for Aug. 28 were broken Monday in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson.Fort Nelson reached 33.9 C, almost six degrees higher than the previous record for that day recorded in 1986.The BC Wildfire Service has cautioned that warm, dry conditions in northern parts of the province have led to increased fire activity in the region, with the Fort Nelson First Na...

Lawyers indicted with Trump say they were doing their jobs. But that may be a tough argument to make

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — As John Eastman prepared to surrender to Georgia authorities last week for an indictment related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, he issued a statement denouncing the criminal case as targeting attorneys “for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients.”Another defendant, Rudy Giuliani, struck a similar note, saying he was being indicted for his work as Donald Trump’s attorney. “I never thought I’d get indicted for being a lawyer,” he lamented.The 18 defendants charged alongside Trump in this month’s racketeering indictment in Fulton County include more than a half-dozen lawyers. And the statements from Eastman and Giuliani provide early foreshadowing of at least one of the defenses they seem poised to raise: that they were merely doing their jobs as attorneys when they maneuvered on Trump’s behalf to undo the results of that election.The argument suggests a desire to turn at least part of the sprawling pros...

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez suspends 2024 GOP presidential bid after failing to qualify for debate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on Tuesday suspended his bid for the presidency, dropping out of the 2024 race after failing to qualify for the first Republican debate.The two-term mayor became the first candidate to drop out of the crowded GOP field. He launched his campaign just over two months ago as one of the last competitors to join a primary race that has so far been dominated by former President Donald Trump.“While I have decided to suspend my campaign for President, my commitment to making this a better nation for every American remains,” he said in a statement.He did not issue an endorsement, saying instead, “I look forward to keeping in touch with the other Republican presidential candidates and doing what I can to make sure our party puts forward a strong nominee who can inspire and unify the country, renew Americans’ trust in our institutions and in each other, and win.”The 45-year-old Suarez was vying to become the first sitting mayor and first Latino elected p...

Sudan’s military leader visits Egypt on his first trip abroad since his country plunged into war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s top military officer made a one-day visit to Egypt on Tuesday for talks with the Egyptian president, making his first trip abroad since his country plunged into a bitter conflict this year.Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, chairman of the ruling Sovereign Council, arrived in the Mediterranean city of el-Alamein and was received at the airport by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, the council said.The two leaders discussed efforts to end the conflict in Sudan in a way that preserves “the sovereignty, integrity of Sudanese State,” an Egyptian statement said. The statement offered only generalities about the war.Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April when simmering tensions between the military, led by Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere.The conflict has turned the capital into an urban battlefield, with the RSF controling vast swaths of the city. T...

Scotiabank loan growth slows on cautious approach, deposit focus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

TORONTO — Scotiabank’s loan growth slowed last quarter as the bank took a more cautious approach to lending amid heightened strain on borrowers from higher interest rates.“Lending volumes in the quarter reflect a more cautious environment from both a household confidence and business investment perspective,” chief executive Scott Thomson told a conference call with investors and analysts to discuss the bank’s latest results Tuesday.The bank reported in its third-quarter report that while loans were up seven per cent from last year, they were down one per cent from the second quarter. Scotiabank also reported a one per cent decline in its residential mortgage balances.“We deliberately slowed the mortgage book as we signalled some time ago,” Dan Rees, Scotiabank’s head of Canadian banking, told the conference call.“We’re just being more disciplined with regards to customer selection at time of origination. I think this is a good ti...