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Why the latest interest rate hike is likely more bad news for homebuyers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

A real estate sign is posted outside of a recently sold home, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in Valrico, Fla. On Tuesday, (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)(AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack) A real estate sign is posted outside of a recently sold home, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in Valrico, Fla. On Tuesday, (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)(AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack) The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate Wednesday for the 11th time in 17 months, a streak of hikes that are intended to curb inflation but that also carry the risk of going too far and triggering a recession.One of the key questions about what comes next relates directly to the housing market.“Certain buyers are going to be more motivated to buy something now out of fe...

Guardians trade shortstop Amed Rosario to Dodgers for pitcher Noah Syndergaard and cash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians traded shortstop Amed Rosario to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Noah Syndergaard and cash considerations on Wednesday in a deal that addresses major needs for both contending clubs.Rosario has been a valuable, versatile player for the defending AL Central champions the past few years. The 27-year-old is returning to the National League after spending three seasons with the New York Mets before going to Cleveland in the blockbuster trade for Francisco Lindor after the 2020 season.The Guardians’ surplus of young middle infielders made Rosario expendable. He’s batting .265 with six triples, three homers and 40 RBIs this season. But he was in his final contract year and eligible for free agency this winter.Rosario has been the subject of trade speculation for months, and Wednesday he sat out Cleveland’s 8-3 win over Kansas City. Rookie Gabriel Arias started at shortstop and had two hits.Tyler Freeman and Bryan Rocchio are a...

Aaron Rodgers takes a pay cut and agrees to a 2-year, $75 million deal with the Jets, AP source says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers has a new deal with the New York Jets — and he’s taking a pay cut to try to help deliver a Super Bowl to the winning-starved franchise.Rodgers agreed to a reworked two-year, $75 million guaranteed contract with the Jets on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the deal.The four-time NFL MVP had nearly $110 million in guaranteed money remaining on his previous deal signed with Green Bay. But Rodgers is taking less money with New York in a move that appears to also reiterate his stay with the Jets is likely to last beyond just this season.The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the team didn’t announce the contract, which will save the Jets nearly $35 million on Rodgers’ salary over the next two seasons. NFL Network, which first reported the sides had agreed to a new deal that includes no-franchise tag and no-trade clauses, also said the contract includes two option years to help prorate a $35 ...

4 injured in 3-car crash in Aurora

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Four people were taken to area hospitals after a three-car crash on Wednesday night, Aurora Fire Rescue said. The crash happened at the intersection of Parker and Arapahoe roads around 7:20 p.m. Two of the victims have life-threatening injuries and the other two have non-life-threatening injuries, AFR said. All four have been taken to the hospital. AFR paramedics were assisting in the incident.

Police release artist rendering of woman whose remains were found in suitcases in Delray Beach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

DELRAY BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – Police have released an artist rendering of the woman whose remains were found inside three suitcases in Delray Beach. According to Delray Beach Police, officers made the grim discovery — a suitcase containing human remains — near the 1000 block of Palm Trail in Delray Beach, Friday.Hours later, two more suitcases were found in nearby locations about a mile south along the Intracoastal Waterway.The suitcase contained the human remains of the same victim after a medical examiner conducted an autopsy.Investigators said the woman is between 35 and 55 years old, stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and has light brown hair and tattooed eyes.Police said she was wearing a floral tank top made by a Brazilian brand, with a black undershirt and black mid-thigh shorts.Detectives said she was dumped in the water between July 17 and July 20.Officials are asking residents who live in the area of Linton Boulevard and the north end of the city along the Intracoasta...

Putin can’t count on his friends in Italy anymore

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

When Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni walks into the Oval Office on Thursday, her transformation will be complete. Gone is the ghoulish caricature of an extremist monster, sympathetic to Moscow, whose party was descended from fascists, and in her place stands a pragmatic conservative willing to do business with a grateful international mainstream. For U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s backers in the West, securing Meloni’s long-term commitment to the war effort is vital: Italy will assume the leadership of the G7 next year, at what’s likely to be a critical time in the conflict. Initially, the signs weren’t good. Before she was elected last September, Meloni alarmed officials in Western capitals with her blunt brand of far-right populism. She banged the drum for nationalist causes, vowing to slam the brakes on immigration, stand up to the European Union’s leadership in Brussels and even opposed sanctioning Russia over Ukraine. Yet 10 months since Meloni...

Siemens: The bellwether of globalization

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and adviser at Gallos Technologies and a regular columnist for POLITICO.Siemens is the quintessential representative of the globalized economy.As soon as world leaders agreed on the Iran Nuclear Deal, it signed a €1.5-billion contract to modernize the country’s railways, only leaving after America’s withdrawal made it impossible for Western companies to stay. It remained in Russia after the annexation of Crimea. And it’s also stayed in China, even announcing a new large investment just this June. Weeks later, however, the engineering giant then announced a far larger investment at home in Germany.The fact that one of the world’s most enthusiastic embracers of reforming markets seems to be getting apprehensive about China is a sign of where globalization is headed — and other companies should take note.Siemens is a company known for its willingness to enter riskier markets. In the 1850s, founder Werner von Siemens...

It’s wishful to think Putin’s system is falling apart

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe.There was understandable glee in Kyiv when news broke that the Kremlin was turning on the self-styled Club of Angry Patriots — the ultranationalists who, for months, have been decrying Russia’s war effort as too soft and castigating the country’s top generals for ineptness.But given the bigger picture, the excitement may prove premature.Among the ultranationalists, the sinister Igor Girkin was the first to be targeted. A former Federal Security Service (FSB) intelligence officer who goes by the nom de guerre Igor Strelkov, Girkin was arrested last week for “public incitement of extremist activity.” He appears to have crossed the line by telling his 800,000 Telegram subscribers that Russia “won’t survive another six years with this talentless coward in power.” And more importantly, he appeared to be developing political ambitions.Girkin played a key role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 — as well as the war in Donbas —organiz...

Drive to Survive: Inside Belgium’s fight to save its grand prix

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

STAVELOT, Belgium — As American greenbacks and Gulf petrodollars pour into Formula 1, little Belgium is fighting to save its iconic motor race.This Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the dense Walloon forest — scene of numerous legendary F1 moments — could be one of the last as new owners, moneymen and TV executives steer the traditionally European sport in a new direction.Luckily for underdog Belgium, it’s got an ace lobbyist: Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. De Croo has personally made Belgium’s case with the head of Formula 1 twice since 2022, bidding to keep the country’s grand prix on the annual calendar in part to drive the flagging Walloon economy. Next year, as the sport grows globally, F1 will go from 22 to 24 races, but the number of events in Europe will stagnate — pitting the Continent’s historic rallies against countries with deeper pockets.On May 31 this year, De Croo sent F1 chief Stefano Domenicali a hand-signed...

Why Britain still can’t stop talking about Nigel Farage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:39:50 GMT

LONDON — He promised us he’d retired from the political scene.But two-and-a-half years after quitting as Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage still wields an outsized influence over British politics — dominating headlines, winning ratings wars and pushing the ruling Conservative Party in his favored directions on illegal immigration, “woke capitalism” and much else.This week Farage claimed a genuine scalp with the toppling of one of Britain’s most powerful bank chiefs, after a dispute over the closure of his account spilled out onto the front pages via a snowballing political row.Few other “retired” politicians have the power to turn a run-in over their personal banking status into an unstoppable news juggernaut, eventually forcing the bank’s chief executive to resign — and the head of the BBC to personally apologize for its erroneous reporting of the affair.“What it shows is that Farage is the best political communicator of our age, even be...