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Stock market today: Wall Street edges higher in early trading

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting higher in early trading as a listless week on Wall Street appears to be heading toward a quiet close, even as big worries continue to roil under the surface. The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher early Friday and on pace for its sixth straight week where it moved less than 1%. The Dow and the Nasdaq composite were also slightly higher. Despite the seemingly placid moves for the overall market, big swings have swirled underneath amid worries about a possible recession, weakening corporate profits and the U.S. government inching toward what could be a catastrophic default on its debt.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed slightly higher early Friday in a mixed week of trading amid ongoing volatility for some regional banks and the potential for a U.S. recession.Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked 0.4% higher. Investors have been on the lookout for the ne...

1 dead, 3 wounded in shooting outside Indianapolis fast-food restaurant

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Four people were shot, one fatally, outside an Indianapolis fast-food restaurant where the three surviving victims sought help after the late-night shooting, police said Friday.The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said four males were shot shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of a Steak ’n Shake restaurant on the city’s south side. One male was pronounced dead at the scene in the parking lot, while officers found the three other shooting victims conscious inside the restaurant, where they had run seeking help. They were hospitalized in stable condition, police said.Major Mike Leepper said police are investigating what may have led up to the shooting outside the restaurant.“We do not believe that the Steak ’n Shake business is associated in any way with the shooting other than the individuals were in the parking lot,” he told WXIN-TV. “The three individuals that sustained gunshot wounds that are still alive ran inside the business for...

Liam and Olivia continue to reign atop Social Security’s top baby names in the U.S.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dutton and Wrenlee are on the rise but they’re no match for champs Liam and Olivia as the top baby names in the U.S. last year.The Social Security Administration released the annual list Friday. The agency tracks baby names in each state based on applications for Social Security cards, with names dating to 1880.It’s Liam’s sixth straight year as No. 1. Olivia has reigned since the name unseated Emma four years ago. Emma is No. 2.Coming in third for girls’ names is Charlotte, followed by Amelia, Sophia, Isabella, Ava, Mia, Evelyn and Luna. For boys’ names, Liam is followed by Noah, Oliver, James, Elijah, William, Henry, Lucas, Benjamin and Theodore.Luna is the only newcomer in the Top 10, booting Harper.The agency has been compiling the list since 1997, often revealing the impact pop culture has on baby naming trends. The smash hit “Yellowstone” has clearly influenced new parents. The neo-Western starring Kevin Costner debuted in 2018, ...

Spain’s Supreme Court upholds 135-year child pornography sentence of nanny who changed name

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld the 135-year prison sentence of a British teacher and nanny who created and distributed pornography of children in his care after changing his name and country following previous convictions.Ben David Rose legally changed his identity after his conviction on child pornography charges in Britain, meaning that he didn’t appear as a registered sex offender during background checks in Spain. Rose, previously known as Ben David Lewis, received a two-year suspended sentence in June 2016 for the child pornography offenses in the English city of St. Albans. By August of the same year, with a new name and passport, he was working as a nanny in the Spanish city of Zaragoza. Rose then moved to Madrid and worked as a nanny there for two more young children before taking a job as an English teacher at a private school. When police later searched his phone, they found dozens of photos and videos of him with girls as young as age 6 i...

Canopy to refile financial results after finding BioSteel ‘material misstatements’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

SMITHS FALLS, Ont. — Canopy Growth Corp. says it will refile three of its past quarterly financial statements after uncovering “material misstatements” linked to its BioSteel business.The Smiths Falls, Ont. cannabis company says in a regulatory filing that its sports beverage business’s first-, second- and third-quarter sales information from 2022 “should no longer be relied upon.”The company discovered the misstatements when it was preparing its financial results for the financial year ended March 31.Canopy determined on May 4 that there were errors in its filings after a review of BioSteel results with independent external counsel and forensic accountants.The company says its review is ongoing and thus, it cannot quantify the impact the changes might have on its prior financial statements.Canopy says it also cannot predict how soon its review will be complete, but it promised to file new statements “as soon as practicable.”This report by T...

Pakistani court grants former Prime Minister Imran Khan bail, reprieve from arrests in graft cases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A high court in Islamabad on Friday granted former Prime Minister Imran Khan protection from arrest in a graft case and ordered him freed on bail. The ruling came as the government and legions of Khan’s supporters were on edge after days of violent confrontations sparked by the arrest of the former prime minister earlier this week. The government has vowed it will find a way to take Khan back into custody, a move that would likely cause a resurgence of riots and mob attacks.Friday’s ruling by the Islamabad High Court gave Khan protection from arrest on one of several corruption cases against him for a period of two weeks, a form of interim bail that usually is renewed in the Pakistan judicial system. Khan, however, remained in the court after the decision as his lawyers petitioned the judges for similar protection in a number of other corruption charges, trying to close off a legal avenue for the government to arrest him again. Khan’s chief lawyer, Babar...

Onex reports US$232M first-quarter loss compared with US$164M profit a year ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

TORONTO — Onex Corp. reported a first-quarter loss as the company worked to wind down its Gluskin Sheff wealth management business and move the adviser teams to RBC Wealth Management Canada.The private equity investment firm, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says it lost US$232 million or US$2.87 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a profit of US$164 million or US$1.89 per diluted share a year ago.Onex announced a deal in March that will see RBC Wealth Management Canada offer employment to all of the adviser teams of Gluskin Sheff, Onex’s private wealth business, and expand distribution of Onex investment products through its network.In connection with the plan, Onex recorded a non-cash impairment charge of US$171 million related to a writedown of property and equipment, goodwill and intangible assets.A restructuring provision of US$20 million was taken in the quarter in connection with the planned transition.The quarterly results came a day a...

‘No evidence’ of forcible confinement of young Black student: Toronto police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

Police say they have found no evidence of racism following an investigation into allegations that a young student was forcibly detained by staff at a midtown Toronto school.Officers have closed the investigation into John Fisher Junior Public School, saying they found no evidence that staff engaged in hate-motivated, forcible confinement of a six-year-old Black student earlier this year.The boy’s mother alleged her son was the victim of anti-Black racism and was involved in dozens of incidents at the school, claiming he had been put inside a closet-sized room alone with a desk that had hateful messages written on it.“Although we understand these allegations are upsetting, the thorough and consultative investigation undertaken found no evidence to support the laying of charges,” reads a statement from Toronto Police Service.Investigators say they interviewed dozens of people including the alleged victim, the victim’s family, school staff, students and parents....

United pilots to picket; airline unions press for higher pay

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Just ahead of what could be a record-breaking summer travel season, pilots from one of the nation’s biggest airlines are preparing to march in picket lines at major airports on Friday as they push for higher pay.The United Airlines pilots have been working without a raise for more than four years while negotiating with airline management over a new contract.The coast-to-coast protests come on the heels of overwhelming strike-authorization votes by pilots at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. United pilots could be the next to vote.Pilots at all three carriers are looking to match or beat the deal that Delta Air Lines reached with its pilots earlier this year, which raised pay rates by 34% over four years. United has proposed to match the Delta increase, but that might not be enough for a deal. “We still have a long ways to go to resolve some of the issues at the table,” said Garth Thompson, chair of the United wing of the Air Line Pilots Association. Thompson sa...

Stragglers pack up as Swiss village is evacuated under rockslide threat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:27 GMT

BRIENZ, Switzerland (AP) — Stragglers packed up belongings in cars, trucks and a least one pickup truck before a looming deadline on Friday to evacuate a village in eastern Switzerland that is facing an urgent rockslide threat.About 2 million cubic meters of rock on an Alpine mountainside overhead could soon come crashing down.As geologists and other experts in fluorescent vests took measurements on Friday, villagers and vacationers bared their emotion that the centuries-old Alpine village of Brienz — home to under 100 residents — could be soon be subsumed under spilling rock. The rumble of shifting ground and the sporadic crackle of a few rocks colliding and sliding down underscored the rising urgency for locals to get out of town by a 6 p.m. deadline set by Swiss authorities.One woman loaded up a pickup truck with a caged turtle and other belongings as neighbors packed up cars and trucks too. A Zurich woman who has for years vacationed in bucolic, calm Brienz, stood back about 30 ...