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S&P/TSX composite moves higher on energy and telecom strength, U.S. markets mixed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index gained more than 100 points Friday, led by strength in energy and telecom stocks, while U.S. markets were mixed. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 110.64 points at 20,547.51.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 2.51 points at 35,227.69.The S&P 500 index was up 1.47 points at 4,536.34, while the Nasdaq composite was down 30.50 points at 14,032.81.Canadian retail sales for May came in weaker than expected, said Konstantin Boehmer, co-head of fixed income at Mackenzie Investments.Retail sales were up 0.2 per cent in May, according to Statistics Canada, led by gains at new car dealers and grocery stores. Early estimates for the month had indicated a gain of 0.5 per cent. The weaker retail sales combined with last week’s inflation print are helping lower the probability that the Bank of Canada will continue hiking interest rates, said Boehmer.“It starts to become a little bit clearer that the Bank of Canada probably does ...

A former Republican legislative candidate has been charged for his role in the US Capitol riot

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A former Republican legislative candidate who traveled to Washington for former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally was arrested Friday and charged with federal crimes for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot, officials said. Matthew Brackley, 39, of Waldoboro, Maine, entered the the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and asked for the location of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office before shouting, “Let’s go,” according to prosecutors. He was arrested on felony charges including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and civil disorder, along with several misdemeanors. He made his initial court appearance on Friday. It was not clear if Brackley had a lawyer, and he did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. Brackley tried unsuccessfully to unseat Democratic state Sen. Eloise Vitelli of Arrowsic last year. His campaign website described him as a Maine Maritime Academy graduate whose approach would be to have “respectful...

Uruguay suicide rate reaches new record in 2022, cementing position as outlier in region

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The suicide rate in Uruguay increased once again last year, reaching a new record and cementing the small country’s position as an outlier in the region.The South American country’s suicide rate reached 23.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, when the number of deaths by suicide totaled 823, marking an increase from the previous record of 21.6 that had been set in 2021, according to figures from Uruguay’s Health Ministry released this week.“Suicide rates have been on the rise since the 1990s up until the present, with some minimal declines in a few years,” said Gonzalo Di Pascua, a psychologist who is a member of the Coordinator of Psychologists of Uruguay and has studied suicide extensively. “The pandemic, much like in numerous other areas of healthcare and mental health, mainly exacerbated a pre-existing trend, which was the increasing suicide rate.”Uruguay is by far an outlier in the Americas, where the average suicide rate was nine per 100,000 peop...

AI is the wild card in Hollywood’s strikes. Here’s an explanation of its unsettling role

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Artificial intelligence has surged to the forefront of Hollywood’s labor fights. Standing alongside more traditional disputes over pay models, benefits and job protections, AI technology is the wild card in the contract breakdowns that have led actors and writers unions to go on strike. The technology has pushed negotiations into unknown territory, and the language used can sound utopian or dystopian depending on the side of the table. Here’s a look at what the unions and their employers each say they want.WHY IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SUCH A HOT-BUTTON ISSUE?As the technology to create without creators emerges, star actors fear they will lose control of their lucrative likenesses. Unknown actors fear they’ll be replaced altogether. Writers fear they’ll have to share credit or lose credit to machines. The proposed contracts that led to both strikes last only three years. Even at the seeming breakneck pace at which AI is moving, it’s very unlikely there woul...

FBI wrongly searched for US senator and state senator in Section 702 spy data, court says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI employees wrongly searched foreign surveillance data for the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator, according to a court opinion released Friday. The disclosure could further complicate Biden administration efforts to renew a major spy program that already faces bipartisan opposition in Congress. Another FBI employee improperly queried the Social Security number of a state judge who alleged civil rights violations by a municipal chief of police, according to the opinion by the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.News of the latest violations comes as the Biden administration faces a difficult battle in persuading Congress to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows spy agencies to collect swaths of emails and other communications. Already this year, U.S. spy officials have disclosed that the FBI improperly searched Section 702 databases for information related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at th...

Thousands of Muslims took to the streets to express outrage over Quran desecration in Sweden

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of people took to the streets in a handful of Muslim-majority countries Friday to express their outrage at the desecration of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, a day after protesters stormed the country’s embassy in Iraq.The protests in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran that followed weekly prayers were controlled and peaceful, in contrast to scenes in Baghdad on Thursday, when demonstrators occupied the Swedish Embassy compound for several hours and set a small fire.The embassy staff had been evacuated before the storming, and Swedish news agency TT reported that they were relocated to Stockholm for security reasons.For Muslims, any desecration of the Quran, their holy text, is abhorrent. Under scorching heat Friday, thousands gathered in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a stronghold of influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr, some of whose followers took part in the attack on the Swedish Embassy. They brandished Qurans, burned the Swedish flag and ...

Rapper Quando Rondo crashes car while awaiting trial. Prosecutors want him back in jail

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Prosecutors want the rapper Quando Rondo sent back to jail after he crashed a car while free on bond pending trial on gang and drug charges. The 24-year-old rapper, whose given name Tyquian Terrel Bowman, was indicted last month in his hometown of Savannah. He was released from jail June 26 on a $100,000 bond. Now prosecutors are asking a judge to revoke his bond.Their filing in Chatham County Superior Court says Bowman crashed a car while driving at high speed Wednesday, and that emergency responders “administered Narcan as he was exhibiting signs of an overdose.”Narcan is a drug used to treat opioid overdoses. Bowman was ordered to refrain from using illegal drugs as a condition of his bond, according to court records.Bowman’s attorney, Kimberly Copeland, had no comment on the case, said a woman answering the phone at Copeland’s law office Friday.A judge scheduled a Thursday hearing on Bowman’s bond. Prosecutors obtained a subpoena for toxico...

CPD seeks to ID man who sexually assaulted woman in Lincoln Park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

CHICAGO —  Chicago police issued a community alert Friday, hoping for leads on the identity of a man who the department says sexually assaulted a woman inside a residence vestibule in Lincoln Park. The alleged assault occurred just before 3:30 a.m. in the 1900 block of N. Sheffield Ave. on July 8.SEE ALSO: Suburban elementary school employee accused of distributing child pornographyAccording to police, the sexual assault occurred after the suspect followed the victim entering the vestibule.Police described the suspect as 5'9"-6', with a thin build and weight ranging from 165-175 pounds. The suspect may also be 25-35 years of age with short, black, receding hair. At the time of the incident, the suspect was wearing a black t-shirt and multi-colored drawstring pants, police added. Anyone with information may leave an anonymous tip at cpdtip.com.Tipsters may also call police at (312) 744-8261

A UPS strike could be just around the corner. Here's what you need to know

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The clock is ticking. As the deadline to reach a new contract nears, a potential UPS strike feels closer than ever.Negotiations broke down earlier this month and unionized workers have been holding rallies and practice pickets across the country. The Teamsters, which represent more than half of the company's workforce, will resume talks with UPS on Tuesday. That leaves less than a week to come to an agreement before the current contract expires on Monday, July 31. The union has authorized a strike and Sean M. O'Brien, a fiery leader elected last year to lead the union, has vowed to do so if their demands aren't met. “We’re sending a message... all 340,000 of our members are united and ready to fight,” O’Brien told The Associated Press at a practice picket Friday in Atlanta, where UPS is based. UPS's unionized workers still seethe about a contract they feel was forced on them in 2018, and say that the company delivers millions more packages every day than it did just ...

Biden names CIA Director William Burns to his Cabinet

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:54:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden elevated CIA Director William Burns to his Cabinet on Friday, a symbolic move that underscores the intelligence chief's influence and his work in U.S. support for Ukraine. In a statement, Biden said Burns had “harnessed intelligence to give our country a critical strategic advantage" and credited his “clear, straightforward analysis that prioritizes the safety and security of the American people.”Burns has been a central figure in the Biden administration, particularly in the White House strategy to declassify intelligence findings that Russia was intending to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A career diplomat and former ambassador to Russia, Burns was sent to Moscow months before the war to warn Russian President Vladimir Putin of Washington's analysis.In the nearly 18 months since Putin invaded, the U.S. has provided intelligence support to Ukraine along with weapons and ammunition. Burns has gone to Kyiv repeatedly to meet with Ukrain...