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Spotify axes 17% of workforce in third round of layoffs this year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Spotify says it’s axing 17% of its global workforce, the music streaming service’s third round of layoffs this year as it moves to slash costs while focusing on becoming profitable. In a message to employees posted on the company’s blog Monday, CEO Daniel Ek said the jobs were being cut as part of a “strategic reorientation.” The post didn’t specify how many employees would lose their jobs, but a spokesperson confirmed that it amounts to about 1,500 people. Spotify had used cheap financing to expand the business and “invested significantly” in employees, content and marketing in 2020 and 2021, the blog post said. But Ek indicated that the company was caught out as central banks started hiking interest rates last year. “We now find ourselves in a very different environment. And despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big,” he said. Ek said the “leaner structure” of the company wi...

North Korea accuses US of double standards for letting South Korea launch spy satellite from US soil

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Monday accused the United States of double standards, slamming it for letting rival South Korea launch a spy satellite from U.S. territory after condemning the North’s earlier satellite launch.Last Friday, South Korea launched its first domestically built spy satellite into space from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. That came after North Korea put its own military spy satellite into orbit for the first time on Nov. 21.Unlike the South Korean launch, North Korea’s satellite liftoff drew immediate, strong rebukes from Washington, Seoul and their partners because it violated U.N. Security Council resolutions. The world body views any North Korean launch using ballistic technology as a cover for testing its missile technology. North Korea maintains it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles in the face of what it calls U.S.-led military threats.“It is a space-level tragicomedy that the U.S., going frantic with illegal denun...

Oxford University Press has named ‘rizz’ as its word of the year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “rizz″ as its word of the year, highlighting the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone’s ability to attract or seduce another person.It topped “Swiftie” (an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift), “situationship” (an informal romantic or sexual relationship) and “prompt” (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program) in the annual decision by experts at the publisher of the multivolume Oxford English Dictionary. The four finalists were selected by a public vote and the winner was announced on Monday.Rizz is believed to come from the middle of the word charisma, and can be used as a verb, as in to “rizz up,” or chat someone up, the publisher said.“It speaks to how younger generations create spaces — online or in person — where they own and define the language they use,” the publisher said. “From activism to dating and wider culture, as Gen Z comes to have more impact on society, differences in perspectiv...

Pakistan arrests 17 suspects in connection to the weekend bus shooting that killed 10

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police in Pakistan arrested at least 17 suspects in the weekend bus shooting that left 10 people dead and 25 others wounded, authorities said Monday. Security forces raided several areas in the northern Gilgit Baltistan region — where the attack took place — and arrested the men who were currently being questioned, local police chief Shah Wali said. He added that the death toll from the attack rose to 10 on Monday when one critically injured man died in hospital. The bus was carrying passengers from Gilgit to the city of Rawalpindi when it was shot at, causing the driver to lose control and crash into a truck, which in turn caught fire. Both drivers were killed on site.No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, however, the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, have denied involvement in the shooting in a statement on Sunday.The TTP is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanist...

South Africa intercepts buses carrying more than 400 unaccompanied children from Zimbabwe

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Border officials in South Africa say they have intercepted dozens of buses carrying more than 400 young children from Zimbabwe without parents or legal guardians in an anti-trafficking operation.The officials say the children were being “trafficked” into South Africa, although an organization representing foreign nationals living in South Africa says it’s likely the children were being sent to visit their parents, who are working in South Africa, for the end of year holidays. The buses were sent back to Zimbabwe.More than 1 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa, many of them illegally, having moved to their southern neighbor over the past 15 years to escape Zimbabwe’s economic turmoil.South African Border Management Agency commissioner Mike Masiapato said Sunday that South African police stopped and searched 42 buses entering from Zimbabwe on Saturday night and found 443 children under the age of 8 traveling unaccompanied.“We denied them entry and ...

White House warns Congress the US is out of money, nearly out of time to avoid ‘kneecap’ to Ukraine

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Monday sent Congress an urgent warning about the need to approve tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, saying Kyiv’s war effort to defend itself from Russia’s invasion may grind to a halt without it.In a letter to House and Senate leaders and also released publicly, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young warned the U.S. will run out of funding to send weapons and assistance to Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that would “kneecap” Ukraine on the battlefield. She added that the U.S. already has run out of money that it has used to prop up Ukraine’s economy, and “if Ukraine’s economy collapses, they will not be able to keep fighting, full stop.”“We are out of money — and nearly out of time,” she wrote.Biden has sought a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other needs, but it has faced a difficult reception on Capitol Hill, where there is growi...

Divers have found wreckage, remains from Osprey aircraft that crashed off Japan, US Air Force says

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. and Japanese divers have discovered wreckage and remains of crew members from a U.S. Air Force Osprey aircraft that crashed last week off southwestern Japan, the Air Force announced Monday. The CV-22 Osprey carrying eight American personnel crashed last Wednesday off Yakushima island during a training mission. The body of one victim was recovered and identified earlier, while seven others remained missing.The Air Force Special Operations Command said the remains were being recovered and their identities have yet to be determined.“The main priority is bringing the Airmen home and taking care of their family members. Support to, and the privacy of, the families and loved ones impacted by this incident remains AFSOC’s top priority,” it said in a statement.The U.S. military identified the one confirmed victim as Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacob Galliher of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on Saturday.On Monday, divers from the Japanese navy and U.S. military spotted what app...

Oxford names ‘rizz’ word of the year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “rizz″ as its word of the year, highlighting the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone’s ability to attract or seduce another person.It topped “Swiftie” (an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift), “situationship” (an informal romantic or sexual relationship) and “prompt” (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program) in the annual decision by experts at the publisher of the multivolume Oxford English Dictionary.An Oxford English Dictionary is shown at the headquarters of the Associated Press in New York, Aug. 29, 2010. Oxford University Press has named “rizz″ as its word of the year, highlighting the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone’s ability to attract or seduce another person. The four finalists were selected by a public vote and the winner was announced on Monday Dec. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)The four finalists were selected by a public vote and the winner was...

EU and Greenland sign strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials value chains

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

On 30 November in Brussels, the EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Greenland for a strategic partnership to develop sustainable raw materials value chains.Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič signed the MoU with the Government of Greenland, Minister of Business, Trade, Mineral Resources, Justice and Gender Equality, Naaja H. Nathanielsen.Greenland's extensive natural riches are a major asset for reaping the benefits of global value chains, as it seeks to diversify its economy in a sustainable way. 25 of the 34 critical raw materials identified by the Commission as strategically important for Europe's industry and the green transition can be found in Greenland.Following the signature of the MoU, the EU and Greenland will jointly develop a roadmap with concrete actions to put the Strategic Partnership into practice.The partnership signed today offers ...

Word Game: Dec. 4, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:01 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — MESCAL (MESCAL: meh-SKAL: A Mexican liquor made from the agave plant.)Average mark 18 wordsTime limit 25 minutesCan you find 21 or more words in MESCAL? The list will be published tomorrow.SATURDAY’S WORD — TEMPLATE tale tame tamp tape teal team teat teem temp temple tempt elate male malt maple mate matte meal meat meet melt meta metal metate mete mettle pale palette palm pate peal peat peel pelt petal plat plate plea pleat lame lamp late latte leap leapt alee ampleTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually...