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European markets head for negative open after France's government loses confidence voteEtobicoke high school in lockdown after reports of person with gunIt’s rare to experience a perfect blend of traditional culture, ancient buildings and spirituality alongside towering skyscrapers, ultra modern technology and lightning-fast trains, but Japan is a country of wonderful contrast, one that should be on everyone’s travel wish list. After our wedding back in September, my husband and I jetted off to Japan for our honeymoon. Wrecked from the journey and the celebrations, we arrived in Narita International Airport, which is an hour outside Tokyo, a tad dazed and confused. At the airport, we bought a pocket wifi, which is a little portable box that ensures you’ve internet access. Read more: Harry Potter fans can stay at the real Hogwarts this Christmas from under €85 Read more: I went to Europe’s number one Christmas market and I wouldn’t recommend it We then got Suica cards, which act as a Leap card and rechargeable bank card all in one. The subway system is very complicated so I advise booking the Limousine Bus (don’t be fooled by the fancy name, it’s a coach) to the Tokyo City Air Terminal (T-CAT), which is a bus and train station in central Tokyo. Immediately we noticed how amazing the toilets are in Japan. Each one has a remote with various functions, from warming the seat, playing the sound of running water for privacy, to a bidet that shoots out water! After we emerged into the quiet part of Shinjuku, we were greeted by the sound of running water and relaxing music at our hotel, the Onsen Ryokan Yuen. Our room was small but cosy and afforded us an amazing view of the city’s skyscrapers. The hotel also offered a delicious traditional Japanese breakfast. For our first few days, we explored all of the glittering towers that made up Tokyo’s skyline. Shibuya Crossing is a must see, think Times Square except cleaner and less tacky. Flashing neon signs, glowing restaurants and the most amazing shops await tourists here. I recommend going to Uniqlo for some great basics and Don Quiote for souvenirs and Asian beauty products (it’s like Dealz on steroids). I also loved the Nintendo and Pokemon stores which are located in the Shibuya Parco shopping centre. Here they have an army of plushies, stickers and accessories, all exclusively available in Japan, so stock up! During our stay in Tokyo, we also visited the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. It showcases the creative processes of the famous Japanese animation studio and the building is straight out of the films. Afterwards, we visited the Corn Barley restaurant in Kichijoji for a Ghibli-themed six-course meal. I consider myself a spiritual person and one of my favourite parts of my trip was visiting the Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Shintoism is an ancient religion involving the belief in the natural world and kami (spirits). The entrance to Shinto shrines are marked by giant Torii gates, and usually worshippers purify themselves with sacred water before ringing a large bell in front of the shrine (so the spirits are alerted to the worshipper’s presence), bowing twice, clapping twice, making their silent prayer, and bowing again. Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine, dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, was one of my favourites. This shrine was like a peaceful forest in the middle of the city. I also enjoyed the Gotokuji Temple, the birthplace of the lucky beckoning cat. Temples and shrines sell omamori, which are amulets promising various kinds of good luck, along with omikuji (fortune-telling slips), and original stamps known as goshuin. I purchased a goshuin book and got stamps at the majority of the temples and shrines I visited in Japan. The kannushi (priests) and monks also do calligraphy over the stamp and each one is unique, making my goshuin book a perfect memento of my honeymoon. After the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, we took a bullet train (which can be booked the night before) to the mountainous region of Hakone. This beautiful forested area was so peaceful and our hotel, which was a traditional Japanese inn called Hakone Onsen Guesthouse Tsutaya, was embedded into the mountain beside a gushing waterfall. We were instructed to take our shoes off at the door and were provided with slippers. Our bedroom boasted incredible views and traditional tatami flooring. Here, I enjoyed an onsen, which is a communal hot spring bath that is segregated by gender. A stipulation of using an onsen is getting completely naked, which I was a little shy about, but there was no one in the outdoor or indoor onsen when I used it, so I enjoyed a relaxing few minutes alone in the hot spring water. The best way of seeing Hakone is purchasing the Hakone Free Pass and doing the loop, which consists of bus journeys, trains, a funicular, cable cars and a pirate ship across Lake Ashinoko. On this journey, we saw the volcano Mount Hakone, Hakone Shrine with its famous red Torii gate that overlooks the lake, and on clear days you can see Mount Fuji. Traditional wooden Japanese architecture (minka) and some of the country’s finest temples and shrines are in Japan’s former capital. It’s well worth doing a walking tour to understand the city’s ties to the samurai and the history behind geishas. Our hotel, Gionkoh, was located in the historical Gion area and was complete with a koi pond, tatami flooring and futon beds. The city is famed for its many temples and shrines, and the Chion-in Temple with its massive front gate is worth seeing, as is the inside of the temple where you can see Buddhist monks chanting. My husband and I also went to the Kodaiji Temple, where newly-married couples can write a wish or a prayer on a wooden sign. This temple encompasses beautiful gardens and a bamboo forest. One of the most beautiful sites we visited while in Kyoto was the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which had a walkway of thousands of red Torii gates circling up a wooded mountain. While in Kyoto, we also enjoyed an amazing nine-course meal in Korin in the Higashiyama area. The owner of the restaurant correctly guessed we were honeymooners and gave us a little charm to wish us well. Arcades are still massive in Japan and Round 1 in Kyoto was filled with tourists as well as professional arcaders. They have hours of entertainment here, from karaoke, bowling, snooker, UFO (claw) machines, casinos and arcade games. After blowing our money on Dance Dance Revolution and Mario Kart Arcade, we got a bite to eat in a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. While in Japan, we did a short one-night trip to Hiroshima to pay our respects to the victims of the atomic bomb. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was hard-hitting but necessary to understand the devastation caused by nuclear weapons and why they must never be used again, and the surrounding Peace Park offers a quiet place for reflection.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell says it was a really easy decision to sign with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the presence of three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani played a part, too. Snell was introduced Tuesday at Dodger Stadium accompanied by his agent Scott Boras. The left-hander finalized a $182 million, five-year contract last Saturday. “It was really easy just cause me and Haeley wanted to live here, it’s something we’ve been talking about for a while,” Snell said, referring to his girlfriend. “Then you look at the team. You look at what they’ve built, what they’re doing. It’s just something you want to be a part of.” Last month, Snell opted out of his deal with San Francisco to become a free agent for the second consecutive offseason after he was slowed by injuries during his lone year with the San Francisco Giants. Snell gets a $52 million signing bonus, payable on Jan. 25, and annual salaries of $26 million, of which $13.2 million each year will be deferred . Because Snell is a Washington state resident, the signing bonus will not be subject to California income tax. “It just played out the way that people around me felt comfortable with, I felt comfortable with, they felt comfortable with,” Snell said. “We talked and found something that could work for both of us. You want your worth, you want your respect, and you want enough time to where you can really make a name for yourself. I've made a name for myself outside of LA, but I'm going to be invested.” Two-way star Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million, 10-year deal a year ago, had a historic first season with the Dodgers. He helped them win the franchise's eighth World Series while playing only as designated hitter and became MVP in the National League for the first time after twice winning the award while in the American League. “It helps with him in the lineup for sure. That’s big motivation,” Snell said. “You want to be around players like that when you’re trying to be one of the best in the game. Yeah, it played a big part.” Snell joins Ohtani and fellow Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto atop Los Angeles’ rotation. All-Star Tyler Glasnow will be back after having his first season in LA derailed by a sprained elbow. Ohtani didn’t pitch this year while recovering from right elbow surgery but is expected back on the mound in 2025. The rest of the rotation includes Tony Gonsolin, Landon Knack, Dustin May, Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan. “I pitched on six-man, five-man, four-man rotations,” Snell said. “I'm good with it all as long as we have a plan, we'll execute it.” Snell, who turns 32 on Wednesday, went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 20 starts this year, throwing a no-hitter at Cincinnati on Aug. 2 for one of only 16 individual shutouts in the major leagues this season. He struck out 145 and walked 44 in 104 innings. He was sidelined between April 19 and May 22 by a strained left adductor and between June 2 and July 9 by a strained left groin. Snell won Cy Young Awards in 2018 with Tampa Bay and 2023 with San Diego. He is 76-58 with a 3.19 ERA in nine seasons with the Rays (2016-20), Padres (2021-23) and Giants. He has known Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, since he was 18. In the aftermath of winning the World Series and discussing how the Dodgers could repeat next year, Friedman said, “All conversations kept coming back to Blake.” “Usually in major league free agency, you're buying the backside of a guy's career, the accomplishments that they have had,” he said. “With Blake, one thing that's really exciting for us is, as much success as he's had, we feel like there's more in there." Snell was 2-2 against the Dodgers in his career. “We couldn’t beat him, so we’re going to have him join us,” Friedman said. .___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLBPressure washers are the best tool for blasting grime off surfaces around the backyard. Yet they seem like one-note appliances. Once you've restored your patio to its original color, there doesn't seem much else you can do with a pressure washer. When you consider that these appliances cost hundreds of dollars, this seems like a waste of money. However, there are some extra uses for a pressure washer that make it a much more useful yard tool. As a product tester, I've tried plenty of pressure washers, and I've used them for more than just cleaning driveways . Here are five bonus uses for a pressure washer. 1. Clean gutters One unusual way to use a pressure washer is to clean gutters. Many companies sell pressure washer gutter attachments like this at Amazon , which let you reach up to gutters without a ladder and blast dirt and gunk out of gutters. However, there are a couple of things to bear in mind with this technique. The first is that it's very messy. It's a quick solution for cleaning gutters, but expect to be covered in dirty water. The second issue is that its usefulness depends on nearby trees and the time of year. In the fall, this might not be the wisest move if you have buckeyes or other hard tree seeds nearby. Blasting these out of a gutter at high speed can be dangerous. This is also true if you have gutting next to a bitumen roof or asphalt shingles. Rain dislodges little pieces of gravel from bitumen roofs into the gutters over time, and asphalt shingles shed little granules over time. It can be dangerous to spray these all over the yard at high speed. Instead, you could use a leaf blower with an attachment, or remove them by hand. The best way to prevent messy gutters, however, is to fit gutter guards like these at Amazon , which prevent the gutters from getting clogged in the first place. 2. Strip paint One of the biggest disadvantages of pressure washers can actually be a benefit with a little imagination. If you overdo it with a pressure washer on furniture, wood, or walls, you can strip paint off them. If all you were trying to do was wash the surface, this is a huge disadvantage. If you want to strip paint, however, this is incredibly useful. Say you've just moved into a new home, and the previous occupants left the wooden fences or deck an ugly shade of gray. Perhaps someone has left some graffiti on the side of your house. With a powerful enough pressure washer, you can blast it right off without damaging the surface underneath. This saves hours of backbreaking labor scrubbing at the paint, or the noxious fumes of a paint stripper. If you strip the paint from wood, just remember to dry out the wood and seal it up with wood sealant afterward to prevent it from rotting. This affordable electric pressure washer is perfect for more delicate tasks like cleaning gutters. The low-profile body work makes it easy to carry around a yard. A little pressure washer like this will do the trick on rugs and garbage cans. I've loved every Kärcher washer I've tried - it's a good product at a low price. For hardcore cleaning like stripping paint, you need a heavy-duty gas-powered pressure washer like this. It reaches up to 3600 psi. 3. Clean tools and equipment Pressure washers are also great for cleaning yard tools. Cutting grass in early spring means a lot of wet grass clippings that stick to the underside of your mower and its tires. By far the fastest way to remove this grass is to wash it off with a low-powered pressure washer. However, be careful. Gardens expert and Head of Gardens at H&G Rachel Bull says 'Whatever you do, make sure to keep the pressure low and keep the water away from the engine or battery. High-pressure water can easily damage these parts.' Pressure washers are also great for power tool attachments that get stuck in the soil. If you use an aerator attachment in clay or silt soil, each of the dozens of tines can pick up clods or dirt. A pressure washer makes it easy to remove all this dirt. However, it's not just big appliances like lawnmowers. Pressure washers can be great for hand tools, too. When I've been working in heavy clay soil in winter, sometimes a pressure washer is the only thing to shift soil off the blade of my shovel so that I can oil it properly. Rachel is a gardening editor, flower grower and floral designer. Her journalism career began on Country Living magazine, sparking a love of container gardening and wild planting. After more than a decade writing for and editing a range of consumer, business and special interest titles, Rachel became editor of floral art magazine The Flower Arranger . She then trained and worked as a floral designer and stylist in London for six years, before joining the Homes & Gardens team. 4. Restore muddy doormats and rugs Many of us will have seen hypnotic rug cleaning videos on TikTok or Instagram reels, where a gross, muddy carpet is pressure-washed back to its former glory. Believe it or not, this actually works. My family and I were caught in a flood a few years ago without much warning; sandbags were out of stock nearby and the only thing we could use to keep the water at bay were old offcuts of rugs from the attic. In a shed out in the yard where we stored old carpets, the water covered them, and we thought they might be ruined. After the flood, left with a bunch of muddy, sodden carpets, I tried a pressure washer to get rid of all the dirt - and it all came right out. You needn't have circumstances like those. A pressure washer is a great way to clean a rug soiled by a muddy footprint. It's also the perfect tool to clean a high-traffic doormat - just be sure to keep the pressure levels low, or the coir will detach from the backing. There's no real technique for this. The easiest way is to hang the rug up from an outdoor laundry line and blast it with relatively low-pressure water. If you don't have a laundry line outdoors, just spread the rug out on a patio or lawn and wash it with the pressure cleaner. If you use detergent, don't wash the rug on a lawn - the soap will damage the grass plants underneath. 5. Freshen up garbage cans Outdoor garbage cans can be pretty disgusting and difficult to clean. It's hard - and frankly, gross - to reach in with a broom or a brush and remove debris and residue. A pressure washer is the best way to remove these leftovers. A hose or shower can work, but they often aren't high-enough pressure to remove stubborn stains. Instead, the water runs right over them without doing any cleaning, creating gross effluence at the bottom of the can that hasn't even cleaned anything. Instead, use a pressure washer - it can blast sticky messes right off the side of the trash can, and then you can just tilt the waste water out in your yard or down the drain. This has the added bonus of removing the food smells that can attract racoons and other pests. A good pressure washer can be useful all over the backyard - that's why it's such an annoyance when they break. Learning how to fix a pressure washer can extend its working life for years.Stocks Buoyed by Tech Rally With Powell in Focus: Markets Wrap

Auckland International Airport has been granted a halt on trading of its NZX- and ASX-listed shares in preparation for the sale of Auckland Council’s 9.71% stake. According to a request made by the airport, and published to the market this morning, a “relatively large group of brokers” haveGlobal leaders commit to enabling and promoting the electronic Bill of Lading

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month — extending a diplomatic olive branch even as Trump threatens to levy massive tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump's incoming press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed Thursday that Trump invited Xi but said it was “to be determined” if the leader of the United States' most significant economic and military competitor would attend. Xi is likely to see the invitation as too risky to accept, and the gesture from Trump may have little bearing on the increasingly competitive ties between the two nations as the White House changes hands, experts say. Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Xi would not allow himself to “be reduced to the status of a mere guest celebrating the triumph of a foreign leader — the U.S. president, no less.” Still, Leavitt saw it as a plus. “This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies, but our adversaries and our competitors too,” she said in an appearance on Fox News' program ”Fox & Friends." “We saw this in his first term. He got a lot of criticism for it, but it led to peace around this world. He is willing to talk to anyone and he will always put America’s interest first.” CBS News first reported the invitation to Xi. Asked at a Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing on Thursday about Trump's invitation, spokesperson Mao Ning responded: “I have nothing to share at present.” Leavitt said that other foreign leaders have also been invited but did not provide any details. The move by Trump to invite a leader of an adversarial nation to the American moment that is Inauguration Day is unorthodox. But it also squares with his belief that foreign policy—much like a business negotiation—should be carried out with carrots and sticks to get the United States' opponents to operate closer to his administration's preferred terms. Jim Bendat, a historian and author of “Democracy’s Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President,” said he was not aware of a previous U.S. inauguration attended by a foreign head of state. “It's not necessarily a bad thing to invite foreign leaders to attend,” Bendat said. “But it sure would make more sense to invite an ally before an adversary.” Edward Frantz, a presidential historian at the University of Indianapolis, said the invitation helps Trump burnish his “dealmaker and savvy businessman” brand. “I could see why he might like the optics," Frantz said. “But from the standpoint of American values, it seems shockingly cavalier." White House officials said it was up to Trump to decide whom he invites to the inauguration. “I would just say, without doubt it's the single most consequential bilateral relationship that the United States has in the world,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. “It is a relationship both fraught with peril and responsibility.” Trump on Thursday during an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange , where he was ringing the opening bell to open the market, said he’s been “thinking about inviting certain people to the inauguration” without referring to any specific individuals. “And some people said, ‘Wow, that’s a little risky, isn’t it?’” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Maybe it is. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.’ But we like to take little chances.” Meanwhile, a top aide to Hungarian President Viktor Orban, one of Trump's most vocal supporters on the world stage, said Thursday that Orban isn't slated to attend the inauguration. “There is no such plan, at least for the time being," said Gergely Gulyás, Orban's chief of staff. The nationalist Hungarian leader is embraced by Trump but has faced isolation in Europe as he's sought to undermine the European Union's support for Ukraine, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. Orban recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Every country's chief of mission to the United States will also be invited, according to a Trump Inaugural Committee official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Xi invitation comes as Trump has threatened to enact massive tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China to get those countries to do more to reduce illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl into the United States. He has said that, on his first day in office in January, he would impose 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada and that China could be hit with even higher tariffs. China produces precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, but Beijing has stepped up efforts over the last year to crack down on the export of the chemicals. “We’ve been talking and discussing with President Xi, some things, and others, other world leaders, and I think we’re going to do very well all around,” Trump said in a CNBC interview Thursday. Xi during a meeting with President Joe Biden last month in Peru urged the United States not to start a trade war. “Make the wise choice,” Xi cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also pushed back on Trump's threats, warning such a tariffs move would be perilous for the U.S. economy as well. Trudeau earlier this week said that Americans “are beginning to wake up to the real reality that tariffs on everything from Canada would make life a lot more expensive” and said he will retaliate if Trump goes ahead with them. Trump responded by calling Canada a state and Trudeau the governor. In addition to the tariff dispute, U.S.-China relations are strained over other issues, including what U.S. officials see as Beijing indirectly supporting Russia's war on Ukraine. The Biden administration says China has supported Russia with a surge in sales of dual use components that help keep its military industrial base afloat. U.S. officials also have expressed frustration with Beijing for not doing more to rein in North Korea's support for the Russian war. China accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dispatched thousands of troops to Russia to help repel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk border region. The North Koreans also have provided Russia with artillery and other munitions, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration takes place a day after the U.S. deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media giant TikTok, to sell the social media app or face a ban in the United States.