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Retailers coax Black Friday shoppers into stores with big discounts and giveaways NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers in the U.S. have used giveaways and bigger-than expected discounts to reward shoppers who ventured out on Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving still reigns for now as the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season even if it’s lost some luster. Analysts reported seeing the biggest crowds at stores that offered real savings. They say many shoppers are being cautious with their discretionary spending despite the easing of inflation. Stores are even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Online sales figures from Thanksgiving Day gave retailers a reason to remain hopeful for a lucrative end to the year. Southwest Airlines says it is ending cabin service earlier to reduce chance of injury Southwest Airlines is ending its cabin service earlier starting next month. Beginning on Dec. 4, a company spokesperson says flight attendants will begin preparing the cabin for landing at an altitude of 18,000 feet instead of 10,000 feet. The company says it's making the changes to reduce the risk of in-flight turbulence injuries. For passengers, that means they will need to return their seats to an upright position or do other pre-landing procedures earlier than before. While turbulence-related fatalities are quite rare, injuries have piled up over the years. Why your favorite catalogs are smaller this holiday season PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — While retailers hope to go big this holiday season, customers may notice that the catalogs arriving in their mailboxes are smaller. Many of the millions of catalogs getting sent to U.S. homes were scaled down to save on postage and paper. Some gift purveyors are sending out postcards. In a sign of the times, the American Catalog Mailers Association rebranded itself in May as the American Commerce Marketing Association. Despite no longer carrying an extended inventory of goods, industry experts say catalogs help retailers cut through the noise and still hold their own in value because of growing digital advertising costs. Canada's Trudeau says he had an 'excellent conversation' with Trump in Florida after tariffs threat WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he had an “excellent conversation” with Donald Trump in Florida after the president-elect’s threat to impose significant tariffs on two of America’s leading trade partners raised alarms in Ottawa and Mexico City. It's unclear, as Trudeau headed back to Canada on Saturday, whether the conversation had alleviated Trump’s concerns. Trump’s transition team hasn't responded to questions about what the leaders had discussed at their dinner Friday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries don’t stop what he said was the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. Trump and Republicans in Congress eye an ambitious 100-day agenda, starting with tax cuts WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans swept to power on Election Day and now control the House, the Senate and the White House, with plans for an ambitious 100-day agenda come January. Their to-do list includes extending tax breaks, cutting social programs, building the border wall to stop immigration and rolling back President Joe Biden's green energy policies. Atop that list is a plan to renew some $4 trillion in expiring tax cuts that were a signature domestic achievement of Republican Donald Trump’s first term as president. It's an issue that may define his return to the White House. The ruble's in a slump. For the Kremlin, that's a two-edged sword Russia’s ruble is sagging against other currencies, complicating the Kremlin’s efforts to keep consumer inflation under control with one hand even as it overheats the economy with spending on the war against Ukraine with the other. Over time a weaker ruble could mean higher prices for imports from China, Russia's main trade partner these days. President Vladimir Putin says things are under control. One wild card is sanctions against a key Russian bank that have disrupted foreign trade payments. If Russia finds a workaround for that, the ruble could regain some of its recent losses. Iceland votes for a new parliament after political disagreements force an early election REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Icelanders are electing a new parliament after disagreements over immigration, energy policy and the economy forced Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson to pull the plug on his coalition government and call early elections. This will be Iceland’s sixth general election since the 2008 financial crisis devastated the economy of the North Atlantic island nation and ushered in a new era of political instability. Opinion polls suggest the country may be in for another upheaval, with support for the three governing parties plunging. Benediktsson, who was named prime minister in April following the resignation of his predecessor, struggled to hold together the unlikely coalition of his conservative Independence Party with the centrist Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement. Massachusetts lawmakers push for an effort to ban all tobacco sales over time BOSTON (AP) — A handful of Massachusetts lawmakers are hoping to persuade their colleagues to support a proposal that would make the state the first to adopt a ban meant to eliminate the use of tobacco products over time. Other locations have weighed similar “generational tobacco bans.” The bans phase out the use of tobacco products based not just on a person's age but on birth year. Lawmakers plan to file the proposal next year. If approved, the bill would set a date and ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after that date forever, eventually banning all sales. Vietnam approves $67 billion high-speed railway project between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has approved the construction of a high-speed railway connecting the capital Hanoi in the north with the financial capital of Ho Chi Minh in the south. It is expected to cost $67 billion and will stretch 1,541 kilometers (957 miles). The new train is expected to travel at speeds of up to 350 kph (217 mph), reducing the journey from the current 30 hours to just five hours. The decision was taken by Vietnam’s National Assembly on Saturday. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 and Vietnam hopes that the first trains will start operating by 2035. But the country has been beleaguered by delays to its previous infrastructure projects. Inflation rose to 2.3% in Europe. That won't stop the central bank from cutting interest rates FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro currency rose in November — but that likely won’t stop the European Central Bank from cutting interest rates as the prospect of new U.S. tariffs from the incoming Trump administration adds to the gloom over weak growth. The European Union’s harmonized index of consumer prices rose 2.3 percent, up from 2.0% in October, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat. However, worries about growth mean the Dec. 12 ECB meeting is not about whether to cut rates, but by how much. Market buzz says there could be a larger than usual half-point cut in the benchmark rate, currently 3.25%.fb777 download 。

On the other hand, the spike in oil prices has been welcomed by oil-producing countries, as it could help boost their revenues and support their economic recovery efforts. Countries heavily dependent on oil exports, such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Venezuela, stand to benefit from the increase in oil prices, providing a much-needed impetus to their economies.

Kosovo arrested several suspects on Saturday after an explosion at a key canal feeding two of its main power plants, while neighbouring Serbia rejected accusations of staging the blast. The explosion on Friday near the town of Zubin Potok, which sits in an ethnic Serb-dominated area in Kosovo's troubled north, damaged a canal that supplies water to hundreds of thousands of people and cooling systems at two coal-fired power plants that generate most of Kosovo's electricity. As security forces swarmed the area around the canal, whose concrete walls were left with a gaping hole gushing water, Prime Minister Albin Kurti visited the site and announced that authorities had arrested several people. Law enforcement "carried out searches" and "collected testimony and evidence, and the criminals and terrorists will have to face justice and the law", he said. Calling it "the most serious attack on critical infrastructure in Kosovo since the end of the war", Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla told the press that police had detained eight suspects. Police chief Gazmend Hoxha said that his office had seized "200 military uniforms, six grenade launchers, two rifles, a pistol, masks, knives" in the operation. "This is not a trivial attack, it was an act prepared by professional terrorist organisations," Svecla added. The arrests follow a security meeting late on Friday, when Kurti pointed the finger at Serbia. "The attack was carried out by professionals. We believe it comes from gangs directed by Serbia," he told a press conference, without providing evidence. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic hit back on Saturday, denying the "irresponsible" and "baseless accusations". "Such unfounded claims are aimed to tarnish Serbia's reputation, as well as to undermine efforts to promote peace and stability in the region," he said in a statement to AFP. Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric had earlier suggested on X that the Kosovar "regime" could itself be behind the blast, calling for an international investigation. The main political party representing Serbs in Kosovo, Serb List, also condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms". AFP journalists at the scene saw water leaking heavily from one side of the reinforced canal, which runs from the Serb-majority north of Kosovo to the capital, Pristina. However, electricity supplies to consumers were running smoothly on Saturday morning, with authorities having found an alternative method to cool the plants, said Kosovo's Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli. Repair work was ongoing, authorities said, while Kurti confirmed workers had managed to restore water flows to 25 percent capacity. The European Union denounced the explosion as a "terrorist attack". "It is a despicable act of sabotage on Kosovo's critical civilian infrastructure, which provides drinking water for (a) considerable part of Kosovo's population and is a vital component of Kosovo's energy system," the bloc's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in a statement. The United States, France and Turkey joined the international condemnation of the attack. "We call on all parties to exercise restraint to avoid escalation in the region," Turkey's foreign ministry said. The NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission for Kosovo likewise called for restraint. "It is important that facts are established and that those responsible are held accountable and brought to justice," it said in a statement. The force is providing security in the surrounding area and has offered logistical, explosives removal and engineering support to the Kosovo authorities, it added. Animosity between ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the end of the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move that Serbia has refused to acknowledge. Kurti's government has for months sought to dismantle a parallel system of social services and political offices backed by Belgrade to serve Kosovo's Serbs. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Saturday denounced "the act of sabotage on the critical water supply infrastructure in the Iber-Lepenc Canal" in comments on X, calling it "a serious crime that endangers the lives of Kosovo's citizens and undermines the process of normalising relations in our region". Friday's attack came after a series of violent incidents in northern Kosovo, including the hurling of hand grenades at a municipal building and a police station earlier this week. Kosovo is due to hold parliamentary elections on February 9. ih/ach/giv/jhb/sbk/bc

Developed by a dedicated team of game developers known for their attention to detail and commitment to creating captivating worlds, "Eternal Skies" has garnered a reputation for its beautiful graphics, engaging storyline, and complex survival mechanics. Players are thrown into a world on the brink of collapse, where resources are scarce, dangers lurk at every corner, and alliances are forged and broken in the pursuit of survival.

In response to the escalating situation, the health department initiated an immediate investigation to determine the root cause of the reported illnesses. Teams of health inspectors conducted thorough examinations of the bath center, focusing on water quality, hygiene protocols, and ventilation systems. Initial findings suggested potential issues with water sanitation and inadequate ventilation, which may have contributed to the spread of illness among patrons.The relationship between China and the United States has been strained in recent years, particularly over issues related to Hong Kong. The US government's interference in Hong Kong's internal affairs has been viewed as a blatant violation of China's sovereignty and a clear example of foreign intervention in its domestic affairs. The Chinese government has repeatedly stated that Hong Kong is an integral part of China and any attempts to undermine its stability and security will not be tolerated.

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