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Stock market today: Wall Street drifts again in the countdown to a Federal Reserve announcement

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are ticking higher Wednesday as Wall Street waits to see the Federal Reserve’s latest forecasts for where interest rates may be heading.The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in early trading, continuing a quiet run this week where markets have made few big moves ahead of the Fed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 82 points, or 0.2%, at 34,600, as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.It’s nearly a foregone conclusion among traders that the Fed will say in the afternoon that it’s keeping its main interest rate steady. The question is what Fed officials say in updated projections they’re releasing about where they see interest rates heading in upcoming years.Will they still pencil in one more hike this year, after they’ve already pulled the Fed’s main rate to its highest level in more than two decades? Will they indicate as many cuts to rates in 2024, which can goose prices for stocks and other investments, as traders are expecting?...

An American man is killed in a rafting accident in Slovenia, and two others are injured

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — A U.S. citizen was killed and two others were slightly injured in a rafting accident in northwestern Slovenia, police said Wednesday.The accident happened Tuesday when two rafts carrying 16 passengers and a guide were on a trip down the Soca river, police said in a statement. One of the boats hit a rock and passengers fell into the river. When the other boat came to help, it also hit a rock and its passengers and a guide fell into the water, police said.A 55-year-old American man was carried away by the current and later was found dead. Two other U.S. citizens suffered light injuries. The rest managed to get ashore safely.Police have launched an investigation into the accident. The small European country of Slovenia is known for its natural beauty and outdoor sports, with rafting along the Soca river a popular activity for tourists.The Associated Press

The Talking Heads on the once-in-a-lifetime ‘Stop Making Sense’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — You may find yourself in a movie theater with “Stop Making Sense” playing and the members of the Talking Heads in the audience.That was the once-in-a-lifetime scenario when the new 4K restoration of “Stop Making Sense” premiered recently at the Toronto International Film Festival. On screen was a young, elastic David Byrne. In the theater, he was dancing, too, along with a crowd who couldn’t stay seated for “Burning Down the House.”“For a moment I thought, ‘Is it OK for me to get up and dance at our own movie?” Byrne says, laughing, the morning after. “But how could you not?”For nearly four decades, “Stop Making Sense,” directed by Jonathan Demme, has exerted an inexorable pull on all who encounter the frenetic fever of arguably the finest concert film ever made. Its power to bring together — it opens with Byrne alone on a spare stage and swells into an art-funk spectacular — is such that it’s even managed to reunite the Talking Heads, too.For the first time in 21 yea...

Unifor president Lana Payne says deal with Ford solidifies foundations

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

TORONTO — The union representing workers at Ford Motor Co. facilities in Canada said its tentative deal with the company will solidify the foundations on which it will continue to bargain gains for generations of autoworkers.Unifor and Ford reached the tentative contract late Tuesday night after extending a Monday strike deadline by 24 hours.“We believe that this tentative agreement, endorsed by the entire master bargaining committee, addresses all of the items raised by members in preparation for this round of collective bargaining,” Unifor national president Lana Payne said in a news release.The tentative deal covers more than 5,600 workers at Canadian Ford facilities. It includes members at Ford’s Oakville assembly plant, Annex and Essex engine plants in Windsor, along with its parts distribution centres in Bramalea, Paris and Casselman in Ontario and Leduc, Alta.Along with higher wages, Unifor had said its other key priorities are pensions and issues around job security and the ...

Kraft Heinz is recalling some American cheese slices because the wrappers could pose choking hazard

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

Kraft Heinz said Tuesday it’s recalling more than 83,000 cases of individually-wrapped Kraft Singles American processed cheese slices because part of the wrapper could stick to the slice and become a choking hazard.The company, which is based in Chicago and Pittsburgh, said one of its wrapping machines developed a temporary issue that makes it possible for a thin strip of film to remain on the slice even after it’s been removed from the wrapper. The machine has since been fixed.Kraft Heinz said it initiated the voluntary recall after it received several consumer complaints. In six cases, people said the issue caused gagging or choking, but no injuries or serious health issues have been reported, Kraft Heinz said.The recall affects 16-ounce Kraft Singles American Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product with a “Best When Used By” date between Jan. 10, 2024, and Jan. 27, 2024. Also included in the recall are 3-pound multipacks of Kraft Singles American Pasteurized Prepared Chee...

UK’s new online safety law adds to crackdown on Big Tech companies

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers have approved an ambitious but controversial new internet safety law with wide-ranging powers to crack down on digital and social media companies like TikTok, Google, and Facebook and Instagram parent Meta.The government says the online safety bill passed this week will make Britain the safest place in the world to be online. But digital rights groups say it threatens online privacy and freedom of speech. The new law is the U.K.’s contribution to efforts in Europe and elsewhere to clamp down on the freewheeling tech industry dominated by U.S. companies. The European Union has its Digital Services Act, which took effect last month with similar provisions aimed at cleaning up social media for users in the 27-nation bloc. Here’s a closer look at Britain’s law: WHAT IS THE ONLINE SAFETY LAW?The sprawling piece of legislation has been in the works since 2021.The new law requires social media platforms to take down illegal content, including chi...

1 in 4 adolescents have been cyberbullied, StatCan says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

A new StatCan report says one in four adolescents in Canada have been cyberbullied and it’s taking a toll on their mental health. The study says youth who have been victimized online have a greater risk of depression, anxiety, eating disorder symptoms and thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts. The report says transgender and non-binary youth, as well as females attracted to other females, are at higher risk of being victimized online.Adolescents living with chronic health conditions such as asthma, epilepsy or learning disabilities are also at higher risk for cyberbullying, especially if they live in low-income households.  The report is based on data from more than 13,000 adolescents who were between 12 and 17 years old. The data was collected in 2019 and did not capture First Nations adolescents living on reserve, or youth in foster homes or institutions.  This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2023.Canadian Press health coverage receives support t...

Corporate ethics czar investigating Levi Strauss over alleged links to forced labour

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s corporate ethics watchdog has launched an investigation into allegations that Levi Strauss Canada is working with companies that use forced labour in China. Sheri Meyerhoffer, the ombudsperson for responsible enterprise, is looking into whether the denim company known for Levi’s jeans has supply relationships with Chinese companies that source materials from Uyghur people forced to work in the Xinjiang region.Meyerhoffer’s office is tasked with investigating complaints about possible human-rights abuses in the operations of Canadian garment, mining and oil and gas companies.Levi Strauss denies the allegations, saying they are based on outdated and inaccurate data. The company did not make itself available for an initial assessment meeting and did not provide information verifying its response to the allegations, the ombudsperson’s office said.Given the company’s limited participation in the complaint process, the watchdog said it may c...

Putin accepts invitation to visit China in October after meeting Chinese foreign minister in Moscow

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he accepted an invitation from his Chinese counterpart to visit China in October during the Belt and Road Summit. Speaking after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, Putin said Russia and China are “integrating our ideas of creating a large Eurasian space,” noting that China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a part of that.The Initiative is a huge program in which Beijing has been expanding its influence in developing regions through infrastructure projects.Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin has pivoted the country toward China, selling it more energy, and increasingly carrying out joint military exercises. China has adopted a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine and even denounced Western sanctions against Moscow. It also accused NATO and the United States of provoking Putin’s military action and declared last year that it had a “no-limits” friendship with Russia.On Tuesday, senior Russian...

Books on wildfires, race among finalists for Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:50:17 GMT

TORONTO — Books on wildfires, racism, and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls are among the finalists this year for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. The Writers’ Trust of Canada announced the short list for the $75,000 prize on Wednesday.The finalists include “Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast” by John Vaillant, which tells the story of how fire has become an existential threatin part by examining the aftermath of Alberta’s Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016.Also on the list is “Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls” by Angela Sterritt, which blends memoir with investigative journalism.“Ordinary Notes” by Christina Sharpe, about the everyday ups and downs of Black lives and how they exist within racist systems, also made the short list.“My Road from Damascus: A Memoir” by Jamal Saeed and translated by Catherine Cobham and “Ordinary Wonde...