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POLITICO Pro Morning Central Banker: Groupthink — CPIs — Lira losses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

Our one-stop source for central banking & monetary policy news.View in your browser or listen to audioBy GEOFFREY SMITHSNEAK PEEK— Cbank groupthink needs busting, former Pimco boss Mohamed El-Erian tells our Twitter Spaces.— Goldman points to “deposit beta” miscalculation as source of recent banking troubles.— Turkish Lira losses are accelerating as the CBRT runs out of ammo.POLICY TICKERECB 3.25% ⇡ — BOE 4.5% ⇡ — FED 5.25% ⇡— SNB 1.5% ⇡— BOJ -0.10% ⇣— RBA 3.85% ⇡— PBOC 3.65% ⇣— CBR 7.5% ⇣ — SARB 8.25% ⇡Greetings and welcome to Wednesday, and well done for making it through the first day back after a long weekend — especially if, like me, you always find yourself wondering at the end of May how you ever managed a five-day week in the first place. Tuesday’s missives out of Frankfurt made clear that we should all expect some long weeks ahead over the coming months, as the squeeze of higher interest rates exposes the vulnerabilities of a system that has spent too long under ...

How to watch Padres games starting Wednesday, May 31

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres on Tuesday announced new ways to watch the team's games starting Wednesday after Bally Sports San Diego's parent company, Diamond Sports, missed a rights fees payment and let the grace period expire.The decision prompted Major League Baseball to take over broadcasting rights, offering a direct-to-consumer streaming option that enables lifting blackouts for Padres games previously distributed on Bally Sports San Diego, Padres Vice President of Communications Craig Hughner said in a news release Tuesday.On May 31, viewers will be able to watch Padres games on the following television channels: DirecTV (now channel 694-3)AT&T U-Verse (now channel 781)Cox (now Yurview channel 4)Spectrum (now channel 305)Those who want to stream the game digitally can do so with:MLB.TV single Team Padres subscription available for $19.99 per month or $74.99 for the rest of the season;Padres games can be streamed for free through Sunday, June 4 on MLB.TV;You can also start a fr...

Who are the bride and groom in Jordan’s royal wedding?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

He’s heir to the throne in one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle East and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. She’s a Saudi architect with an aristocratic pedigree of her own.Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, 28, and Rajwa Alseif, 29, are to be married on Thursday at a palace wedding in Jordan, a Western-allied monarchy that has been a bastion of stability for decades as Middle East turmoil has lapped at its borders.The families have not said how the couple met or provided any details about their courtship. They were formally engaged at a traditional Muslim ceremony in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in August 2022 that was attended by senior members of Jordan’s royal family.The bride and groom are destined to become a power couple in the Middle East, forging a new bond between Jordan and Saudi Arabia as the latter seeks to transform itself into a regional power broker.Here’s a look at the bride and groom.A US-EDUCATED ARCHITECT WITH ARABIAN TRIBAL R...

No winning ticket sold for Tuesday’s $65 million Lotto Max jackpot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

There was no winning ticket sold in Tuesday’s Lotto Max $65 million draw.However, one of eight available Maxmillion prizes of $1 million each was won by a ticket holder in Quebec.The jackpot for the next draw on June 2 will be an estimated $70 million, with 10 $1 million Maxmillion prizes up for grabs.The Canadian Press

Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo gather again, threaten to take over northern municipality

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

ZVECAN, Kosovo (AP) — Troops from the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo on Wednesday placed metal fences and barbed wire barriers in a northern town following clashes with ethnic Serbs that left 30 international soldiers wounded.Hundreds of ethnic Serbs began gathering in front of the city hall in Zvecan, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of the capital, Pristina, in their repeated efforts to take over the offices of one of the municipalities where ethnic Albanian mayors took up their posts last week.NATO has decided to send 700 more troops to northern Kosovo to help quell violent protests after the clashes on Monday. The confrontation unfolded last week after ethnic Albanian officials who were elected in a vote overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs entered municipal buildings to take office. When Serbs tried to block them, Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse them in Zvecan, leading to clashes with NATO-led troops that left 30 international soldiers injured. Ethnic Serbs have insi...

China’s industry minister, Tesla’s Musk meet, discuss electric cars

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s industry minister met Tesla Ltd. CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday and the two discussed development of electric and “intelligent networked” vehicles, the ministry said.The ruling Communist Party is trying to revive investor interest in China’s slowing economy. Foreign companies are uneasy following raids on consulting firms and given the strained Chinese relations with Washington.Jin Zhuanglong and Musk “exchanged views on the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles,” said a statement by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It gave no details.China accounts for half of global electric vehicle sales and is the site of Tesla’s first factory outside the United States.On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Qin Gang told Musk during a meeting that China’s EV market “has broad prospects for development,” according to a ministry statement.Tesla opened the first wholly foreign-owned auto factory in China in 2019 after Beijing eased owners...

New Zealand airline is asking passengers to weigh in before their flights

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s national airline is asking passengers to step on the scales before they board international flights.Air New Zealand says it wants to weigh 10,000 passengers during a monthlong survey so pilots can better know the weight and balance of their planes before takeoff. But the numbers from the scales won’t be flashing up for all to see. There will be no visible display anywhere, the airline promised, and the weigh-in data will remain anonymous even to airline staff. “We weigh everything that goes on the aircraft — from the cargo to the meals onboard, to the luggage in the hold,” said Alastair James, a load control improvement specialist for the airline, in a statement. “For customers, crew and cabin bags, we use average weights, which we get from doing this survey.”Indeed the numbers are required by the nation’s industry watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority.Under the authority’s rules, airlines have various...

China warns of artificial intelligence risks, calls for beefed-up national security measures

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party is calling for beefed-up national security measures, highlighting the risks posed by advances in artificial intelligence.A meeting headed by party leader and President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged “dedicated efforts to safeguard political security and improve the security governance of internet data and artificial intelligence,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.Xi, who is China’s head of state, commander of the military and chair of the party’s National Security Commission, called at the meeting for “staying keenly aware of the complicated and challenging circumstances facing national security.”China needs a “new pattern of development with a new security architecture,” Xinhua reported Xi as saying. China already dedicates vast resources to suppressing any perceived political threats to the party’s dominance, with spending on the police and security personnel exceeding that devoted to the military.While it relentless...

Japanese knuckleball pitcher Eri Yoshida plays on her own ‘Field of Dreams’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

OYAMA, Japan (AP) — Eri Yoshida sat in the dugout of an all-dirt baseball field in rural Japan, surrounded by rice paddies, narrow roads, and traditional Japanese houses.The scene recalled instantly the 1989 film “Field of Dreams” — Asian style — and Yoshida certainly has her own.The 31-year-old Japanese woman is a knuckleball pitcher with a sidearm delivery that she hopes might carry her to the big leagues in the United States or Japan.“I know it’s a really difficult challenge, but I have a dream in my heart that I really want to stand on a mound in the majors with a knuckleball,” Yoshida told the Associated Press, speaking in Japanese and showing off her knuckleball grip. “So I’ve decided to challenge myself.”Even Yoshida acknowledges that it’s a far-fetched fantasy. But it’s also very real and reminds of another film, the 1992 classic “A League of Their Own” that celebrates a women’s baseball league in the United States during World War I...

Takeaways from AP’s report on legislative reforms to victim compensation programs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:30 GMT

Across the country, violent crime victims are using their stories to push for changes to state compensation programs meant to help them with medical bills, relocation, funerals or other expenses. Vanessa Martinez, who survived a gunshot wound to the head, has turned to speaking at rallies supporting legislation to fund a pilot trauma-recovery center in Arizona that would lead to more people getting help. Dion Green, whose father was killed in a mass shooting at an Ohio bar, testified in Ohio and served on a committee giving input on changes to federal victim compensation guidelines, pushing for removing existing barriers. Bernice “Tammi” Ringo, whose son died of gunshot wounds in 2019, testified before lawmakers in Michigan, which subsequently passed legislation that boosts money available to victims, eliminates police reporting deadlines and makes other changes. Their advocacy has spurred numerous changes in recent years when dozens of states passed bills changing their compensatio...