FEB 3, 2020 @ 2045 GMT | Shanghai, China | A security officer wearing a face mask walks in front of the Shanghai Stock Exchange building in Shanghai, Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. The Shanghai Composite index tumbled 8.7% Monday then rebounded slightly as Chinese regulators moved to stabilize markets reopening from a prolonged national holiday despite a rising death toll from a new virus that has spread to more than 20 countries. (AP Photo)
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening solidly higher on Wall Street as the market finds its footing after two weeks of losses amid uncertainty over the virus outbreak that began in China. China’s main index dropped nearly 8% as markets reopened there after being closed for more than a week for Lunar New Year holidays. Other Asian markets were mixed and European markets rose. The S&P 500 rose 23 points, or 0.7%, to 3,248. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 193, or 0.7%, to 28,454 and the Nasdaq added 85 points, or 0.9%, to 9,235. Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.55%.
FEB 1, 2020 @ 1800 GMT | FILE – In this Wednesday, May 29, 2019 file photo, a woman checks the Grindr app on her mobile phone in Beirut, Lebanon. Dating apps including Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder leak personal information to advertising tech companies in possible violation of European data privacy laws, a Norwegian consumer group said in a report Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020. The Norwegian Consumer Council said it found “serious privacy infringements” in its analysis of how shadowy online ad companies track and profile smartphone users. (AP Photo)
LONDON (AP) — Dating apps including Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder leak personal information to advertising tech companies in possible violation of European data privacy laws, a Norwegian consumer group said in a report Tuesday.
The Norwegian Consumer Council said it found “serious privacy infringements” in its analysis of how shadowy online ad companies track and profile smartphone users.
The council, a government-funded nonprofit group, commissioned cybersecurity company Mnemonic to study 10 Android mobile apps. It found that the apps sent user data to at least 135 different third party services involved in advertising or behavioral profiling.
JAN 31, 2020 @ 1500 GMT | Brussels, Belgium | British MEP Jonathan Bullock holds an Union flag as he leaves with other party members the European Parliament in Brussels to take the Eurostar train back to Britain, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday the first nation in the bloc to do so. (AP Photo)
LONDON (AP) — Britain begins the day as a member of the European Union. Its status at the end of the day — as a proud nation that has reclaimed its sovereignty, or a diminished presence in Europe and the world — will still be up for debate.
Britain officially departs the EU at 11 p.m. local time Friday, midnight in Brussels (2300 GMT, 6 p.m. EST). The departure comes 3½ years after the country voted by a margin of 52%-48% to walk away from the club that it had joined in 1973.
JAN 29, 2020 @ 1730 GMT | Washington, United States | US President Donald Trump speaks during an event at the White House to sign a new North American trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, in Washington. Vice President Mike Pence is left. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a major rewrite of the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico that he said replaces the “nightmare” of a Clinton-era agreement and will keep jobs, wealth and growth in America.
Trump made renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement a priority during his 2016 campaign, although trade experts say the impact of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be modest.
JAN 26, 2020 @ 1700 GMT | FILE – In this March 28, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant waves to the fans after his introduction before the start of the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, in Salt Lake City. Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020. He was 41. (AP Photo)
CALABASAS, Calif. (AP) — NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash on a steep hillside in dense morning fog in Southern California on Sunday, his sudden death at age 41 touching off an outpouring of grief for a star whose celebrity transcended basketball.
The chopper went down in Calabasas, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Authorities said that nine people were aboard the helicopter and presumed dead. Bryant, an all-time basketball great who spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, was among the victims, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
JAN 24, 2020 @ 1700 GMT | Wuhan, Central China | In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a medical worker writes their colleague’s name on a protective suit to aid in identification as they work at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. China announced Friday that it is swiftly building a 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to patients infected with a new virus that has killed 26 people, sickened hundreds and prompted unprecedented lockdowns of cities during the country’s most important holiday. (Xiong Qi/Xinhua via AP)
BEIJING (AP) — China expanded its lockdown against the deadly new virus to an unprecedented 36 million people and rushed to build a prefabricated, 1,000-bed hospital for victims Friday as the outbreak cast a pall over Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest, most festive holiday.
The number of confirmed cases around the world climbed sharply to more than 850, with at least 26 deaths, all of them in China.
Meanwhile, France announced that three people had fallen ill with the virus — the disease’s first appearance in Europe. And the United States reported its second case, involving a Chicago woman in her 60s who was hospitalized in isolation after returning from China.
JAN 22, 2020 @ 1100 GMT | Washington, United States | Night falls on the Capitol, in Washington, Wednesday evening, Jan. 22, 2020, during in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. House prosecutors are outlining what they refer to as President Donald Trump’s “corrupt scheme” to abuse power and obstruct Congress as they open six days of arguments in his impeachment trial. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for the Senate’s quaint rules and tradition.
Almost immediately after Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled in Wednesday’s session of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, bored and weary senators started openly flouting some basic guidelines in a chamber that prizes decorum.
A Democrat in the back row leaned on his right arm, covered his eyes and stayed that way for nearly a half-hour. Some openly snickered when lead prosecutor Adam Schiff said he’d only speak for 10 minutes. And when one of the freshman House prosecutors stood to speak, many of the senator-jurors bolted for the cloak rooms, where their phones are stored.
JAN 21, 2020 @ 1900 GMT | WEF 2020 – Davos, Switzerland | US President Donald Trump delivers the opening remarks at the World Economic Forum, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020, in Davos. (AP Photo)
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s led a “spectacular” turnaround of the U.S. economy and urged the world to invest in America, but had less to say about climate change issues that are a focus of this year’s gathering of top business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.
Trump kept to his speech script and did not mention the historic impeachment trial that was set to reconvene in the U.S. Senate in Washington later Tuesday. But he couldn’t resist commenting when asked about the trial by the hordes of reporters covering the forum in Davos.
“It’s disgraceful,” Trump said of the proceedings.
JAN 18, 2020 @ 1600 GMT | FILE – In this Tuesday, June 26, 2018 file photo Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex pose for a group photo at the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to no longer use their HRH titles and will repay £2.4 million of taxpayer’s money spent on renovating their Berkshire home, Buckingham Palace announced Saturday, Jan. 18. 2020. (AP File Photo)
LONDON (AP) — Goodbye, your royal highnesses. Hello, life as — almost — ordinary civilians.
Prince Harry and wife Meghan will no longer use the titles “royal highness” or receive public funds for their work under a deal that lets the couple step aside as working royals, Buckingham Palace announced Saturday.
Releasing details of the dramatic split triggered by the couple’s unhappiness with life under media scrutiny, the palace said Harry and Meghan will cease to be working members of the royal family when the new arrangements take effect in the “spring of 2020.”
JAN 17, 2020 @ 1100 GMT | Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. (AP Photo)
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — China’s President Xi Jinping was given a lavish welcome to Myanmar as he arrived Friday for a state visit meant to deepen bilateral relations at a critical time.
The visit nominally marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar, but also carries the promise of significantly boosting China’s profile and future investments.
Xi’s arrival was greeted with dancing children and youths waving the national flags of both countries and cheering, “Long live China-“Myanmar friendship” and “Health to President Xi.”
