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Germany’s budget crisis: No clear way forward after coalition misses deadline

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

BERLIN — The German government missed a self-imposed deadline for reaching a 2024 budget deal Wednesday, fueling concerns that the European Union’s biggest economy is headed for a prolonged period of political and fiscal paralysis.Time is running out for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to agree on a spending plan for 2024 and secure required parliamentary approval by year’s end. If no budget is in place by January, the government will have to resort to using a temporary budget that keeps a freeze on new spending.Coalition officials had previously set the goal of agreeing to a 2024 draft budget ahead of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning. Economy Minister Robert Habeck even canceled his trip to the COP28 summit in Dubai to stay in Berlin for the ongoing negotiations. But late Tuesday, Scholz, Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner — representing three different parties with differing priorities — failed to reach a breakthrough during discus...

McDonald’s burger empire set for unprecedented growth over the next 4 years with 10,000 new stores

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

McDonald’s expects to open nearly 10,000 restaurants over the next four years, a pace of growth that would be unprecedented even for the world’s largest burger chain.Ahead of a day-long event for investors, the Chicago burger giant said Wednesday that it aims to have 50,000 restaurants in operation worldwide by the end of 2027. McDonald’s had 40,275 restaurants at the start of this year.Other national chains are expanding at a rapid clip as well. Starbucks said last month it expects to have 55,000 stores globally by 2030, up from 38,000 today.More details are expected Wednesday during McDonald’s investor event, including where store growth will be concentrated.The company also announced a partnership with Google Cloud, which it said Wednesday will help it accelerate automated services and reduce complexity for its employees.McDonald’s same-store sales rose nearly 9% worldwide in the third quarter, even as U.S. traffic fell slightly.The company is focused on core men...

Norman Lear, iconic TV and movie producer, dies at 101

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

(CNN) — Famed television producer Norman Lear, whose wildly successful TV sitcoms including “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” fused comedy with trenchant social commentary and dominated network ratings in the 1970s, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced on his website. He was 101.Lear’s shows, including “Sanford and Son,” “Maude,” and “Good Times,” tackled fraught topics of racism, feminism and social inequalities that no one had yet dared touch.He was executive producer of the cult movie classics “The Princess Bride” and “Fried Green Tomatoes” and was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay for “Divorce American Style.” His political advocacy led to the establishment of the liberal political organization People for the American Way.Even in his 90s, Lear kept working. Along with Jimmy Kimmel, a 95-year-old Lear produced and hosted three episodes of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which won Primetime Emmy Awards in 2019 a...

Taylor Swift and Lionel Messi dominated ticket sales in 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

New York (CNN) — If it seemed like everyone was buying tickets to see Taylor Swift or Lionel Messi this year, that probably wasn’t far off.StubHub released its 2023 “Year in Live Experiences” report that revealed some of the top-selling events sold on the ticketing website. Swift’s tour and Messi’s matches were among the most popular events.Perhaps it’s no surprise, but Swift’s “Eras Tour” was StubHub’s biggest tour in the website’s history and female artists — including Swift, Beyoncé and Pink —encompassed 73% of overall sales for the top 10 global touring artists that also included Coldplay, U2 and Bruce Springsteen.Swift, Beyoncé and Pink also “tripled the sales” of the entire top 10 highest-selling artists of 2022 on StubHub.The “Eras Tour” grossed about $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone, according to research firm QuestionPro, showing how the incredible demand for entertainment and experiences helped boost the economy.For Messi, his ...

‘Extremely disappointing’: Controversial late timeout angers Suns as Lakers make NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

(CNN) — A controversial late timeout call was the main talking point following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 106-103 victory over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday.With the Lakers leading 105-103 with approximately 10 seconds remaining, the ball was inbounded to Lakers guard Austin Reaves with Suns defenders swarming him.Reaves would eventually succumb to the defensive pressure as he lost control of the ball almost simultaneously as James – standing near an official on the other side of the court – signaled for a timeout.Suns players were furious with the awarding of the timeout, with the ball appearing to not be in Reaves’ possession when the whistle blew and it falling into the waiting clutches of Suns guard Grayson Allen.A gaggle of Suns players attempted to reason with the officials, while Phoenix head coach Frank Vogel also spent the break questioning why the decision was made.In the final seconds following the timeout,...

Start over? Stay the course? Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles is nearing a series of landmark decisions.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

Certainly Ryan Poles knows the cameras are everywhere, his every move being watched. Analyzed. Interpreted. Debated.Before Monday’s road matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Poles was doing his usual pregame speed-walk around the perimeter of the field when he crossed paths with Justin Fields, who was on his way to the locker room. Without breaking stride, Poles gave his quarterback a fist bump and, quite naturally, a Chicago television reporter caught the moment, delivering it promptly to Bears fans, including all the ravenous social media sleuths seeking clues on what the general manager might be considering.Was there possibly anything in Poles’ stride or Fields’ facial expression to decode?In the third quarter of the Bears’ 12-10 victory, the ESPN broadcast zoomed in on Poles, this time inside a U.S. Bank Stadium suite after a first down running play to Roschon Johnson. Briefly, the GM shook his head and circled his right index finger in a bit of a ̶...

Norman Lear, producer of TV's 'All in the Family' and influential liberal advocate, has died at 101

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Norman Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime time television with "All in the Family" and “Maude,” propelling political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of sitcoms, has died. He was 101.Lear died Tuesday night in his sleep, surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles, said Lara Bergthold, a spokesperson for his family. A liberal activist, Lear fashioned bold and controversial comedies that were embraced by viewers who had to watch the evening news to find out what was going on in the world. His shows helped define prime time comedy in the 1970s, launched the careers of Rob Reiner and Valerie Bertinelli and made middle-aged superstars of Carroll O'Connor, Bea Arthur and Redd Foxx.“I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family,” Reiner wrote on X, fomerly Twitter.“All in the Family” was immersed in the headlines of the day, while also drawing upon Lear's...

Dutch military police have discovered 47 migrants hiding in a truck heading for United Kingdom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch military police found 47 illegal migrants hidden in a truck that was about to board a ferry to the United Kingdom, the force said Wednesday.The men, women and children of various nationalities were discovered Tuesday night in the town of Hook of Holland after a dog trained to sniff out people alerted officers, the Marechaussee force said in a statement.The Dutch truck driver was detained on suspicion of people smuggling, and his illicit passengers will be handed over to migration authorities in the Netherlands, according to the statement.Interceptions of such large numbers of migrants are rare in the Netherlands, but further along the North Sea coast, thousands of people from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of crossing the English Channel to the U.K.More than 27,300 have done that this year, a decline on the 46,000 who made the journey in all of 2022.Last month, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that the government’s...

Italy reportedly drops out of China Belt and Road initiative that failed to deliver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Italy has formally withdrawn from China’s global Belt and Road initiative that seeks to deepen relations with foreign countries through infrastructure investments, Italian media reported on Wednesday.Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni had previously signaled Italy’s intention to withdraw from the agreement, which was up for renewal. The Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that a letter with the formal notice had been delivered to Beijing in recent days. Meloni’s office declined to comment on the report.Italy became the first G7 country to sign on to the initiative in 2019, when the populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement party-led government promoted it as a way of increasing trade with China while getting investments in major infrastructure projects. Neither appeared. In the intervening years, Italy’s trade deficit with China has ballooned from 20 billion euros to 48 billion euros ($21.5 billion to $51.8 billion.) And investments in Italian ports tha...

Big bank CEOs warn that new regulations may severely impact economy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:54 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The heads of the nation’s biggest banks say there are reasons to be concerned about the health of U.S. consumers — particularly poor and low-income borrowers — in their annual appearance in front of Congress on Wednesday.The CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and five other large firms also took the opportunity to impress upon senators that the Biden Administration’s new proposed regulations for the industry may hurt the U.S. economy going into an election year and at a time when a recession is possible. Wall Street’s most powerful bankers have regularly appeared in front of Congress going back to the 2008 financial crisis. Among those testifying before the Senate Banking Committee include JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, Jane Fraser of Citigroup and Goldman Sach’s David Solomon. When both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats, the CEOs would appear in front of both the House Fin...