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Stock market today: Crude prices are up after Saudi cuts, but energy prices way down from last year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

BEIJING — Wall Street is relatively flat Monday following last week’s last surge propelled by U.S. jobs data that raised new questions about if or when a recession might arrive. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are essentially unchanged heading into a week with little new data expected from major U.S. corporations or economic indicators from Washington. Energy prices are rising after Saudi Arabia said it will cut output by 1 million barrels per day to support sagging prices. But gasoline prices in the U.S. remain far below where they were at this point last year, according to price checker GasBuddy. The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. on Monday was $3.51, down $1.35 at this point in 2022, and down 4 cents from last week. Last year at this time, the cost for a barrel of oil was approaching $120. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index leapt 1.5% Friday after government data showed employers hired more people than expect...

Is it real or made by AI? Europe wants a label for that as it fights disinformation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The European Union is pushing online platforms like Google and Meta to step up the fight against false information by adding labels to text, photos and other content generated by artificial intelligence, a top official said Monday. EU Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said the ability of a new generation of AI chatbots to create complex content and visuals in seconds raises “fresh challenges for the fight against disinformation.” Jourova said she asked Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and other tech companies that have signed up to the 27-nation bloc’s voluntary agreement on combating disinformation to dedicate efforts to tackling the AI problem.Online platforms that have integrated generative AI into their services, such as Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Google’s Bard chatbot, should build safeguards to prevent “malicious actors” from generating disinformation, Jourova said at a briefing in Brussels. Companies offering services that have the ...

The ‘test case’ for anti-LGBTQ legislation in Canada

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

A policy in New Brunswick that took 10 years to create and was implemented by a Conservative government three years ago is now being “reviewed” by that same government.“Policy 713” was designed to provide safety for LGBTQIA+ kids in public schools, from washroom use to students being able to change their names or pronouns without parental contact. Premier Blaine Higgs has been vague about what the review entails, and phrases such as “parents have a right to know” have been used.Dale Smith, a parliamentary press gallery journalist and national columnist for Xtra, says that the Premier has not explained why the policy needs to be under review.“Policy 713 was entirely designed for these students, who don’t have safe environments at home, to be able to at least express themselves or be themselves in a school environment so that they can focus on actually learning rather than having to hide their identities and who they are,” Smith sa...

Iran to reopen its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia after a 7-year rift, state-run media say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign ministry announced it would reopen its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia this week, restoring diplomatic ties after a seven-year rift, state-run media reported on Monday.The foreign ministry’s spokesman, Nasser Kanaani said that the Iranian Embassy in Riyadh, its consulate general in Jeddah, and office of the permanent representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation would officially reopen on Tuesday and Wednesday.In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to establish diplomatic ties, in a Chinese-brokered deal, representing a major breakthrough in the region.Saudi Arabia broke ties with Iran in 2016 after protesters invaded Saudi diplomatic posts in Tehran and the northeastern city of Mashhad during demonstrations triggered by the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and 46 others in the oil-rich Kingdom.Kanaani added that Iran’s Embassy in Riyadh and its consulate general in Jeddah had already begun operating to help Iranian pilgrims h...

UK to house hundreds more migrants on barges, Sunak says

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government will house hundreds more asylum-seekers on barges, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Monday, as he unveiled the latest migration figures that he said showed that his plans to crack down on small boat crossings on the English Channel are working. Two more barges will house about 1,000 migrants, Sunak said, alongside one that’s set to be docked in Portland in southern England within the next two weeks. The move is meant to help save millions in taxpayers’ money currently spent to house asylum-seekers in hotels across the country.Sunak told reporters that compared to the same time last year, the number of people making the dangerous sea crossing on small vessels from northern France to the southern English coast so far this year has decreased by a fifth. He suggested that the U.K. was doing better than other countries in Europe, where he said unauthorized migrant crossings have increased by a third over the same period. Figures from the Home ...

Man seriously injured in fiery crash in Toronto’s west end

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

A man in his 30s is in hospital with serious injuries after a crash in Toronto’s west end.Toronto police responded to reports of a multi-vehicle collision on Weston Road near Oak Street, just south of Highway 401, around 7:45 a.m. Monday.A car became crushed after colliding head-on with a dump truck. A third vehicle was also involved in the crash.Paramedics say a man in his 30s has been rushed to hospital with serious injuries.One of the vehicles involved caught on fire, according to police. The fire has since been put out.Weston Road is closed in both directions at Oak for the investigation.COLLISION:Weston Rd & Oak Rd7:47 am– reports of 2 vehicle collision – one of the vehicles on fire– police o/s– unknown injuries–@TTCnotices advised– S/B Wexston Rd traffic being diverted– expect delays in the area#GO1278938^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) June 5, 2023    

At Normandy D-Day celebrations, echoes of Ukraine’s looming fight

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

STE MARE EGLISE, Normandy, France — (AP) — While U.S. military officers here caution against too direct a comparison between the 1944 D-Day landings and Ukraine’s upcoming counteroffensive, the echoes of what Kyiv faces today are a dominant theme of this year’s commemorations of the young U.S. soldiers who died on the Normandy beaches nearly 80 years ago. For days the villages and towns surrounding Omaha and Utah beaches have held parades, memorial events, flyovers and parachute demonstrations to build up to the annual celebration of D-Day, the launch of Operation Overlord. The June 6, 1944 invasion marked the beginning of the Allies’ massive ground invasion which would eventually lead to Germany’s surrender and the end of World War II in Europe. The celebration is taking place as Ukraine prepares to launch its own counteroffensive against Russia — an impending fight for which many of those same allied forces have now provided billions of dollars in weapons a...

NFI Group signs deal with TTC for up to 621 battery-electric transit buses

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

WINNIPEG — NFI Group Inc. says it has signed a five-year deal to build up to 621 40-foot battery-electric buses for the Toronto Transit Commission.The contract includes a firm order for 186 Xcelsior Charge NG heavy-duty transit buses, as well as the option for up to an additional 435 of the same buses.Financial terms of the agreement were not immediately available.Winnipeg-based NFI says it added 261 buses to its backlog in the first quarter of 2023 based on the TTC’s initial base firm and option order. The deal builds on a 2022 contract with the TTC for 134 Xcelsior 40-foot hybrid-electric heavy-duty transit buses and 68 Xcelsior 60-foot hybrid-electric buses. That four-year contract includes options for up to an additional 263 40-foot hybrid-electric buses and 100 60-foot buses.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:NFI)The Canadian Press

4 restaurants robbed within 30 minutes on North Side

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

CHICAGO -- Police investigates a string of robberies that took place at restaurants on the city's North Side within the span on 30 minutes. Police suspect that the same burglaries hit all four restaurants on the city's Northwest Side. The first burglary happened just before 4:00 a.m. Sunday at a restaurant, Rojo Gusano in North Center. About 10 minutes later, suspects hit a Mexican restaurant in Ravenswood. Woman killed, 6 injured in shooting at memorial gathering on West Side Police say a pizza place on Sunnyside was robbed next. Police stated that the suspects got into each restaurant using a ply tool to break the glass window. Once inside it is suspected that they removed the cash registers and took them and alcohol.The restaurants were in North Center and Lakeview. The last robbery happened at around 4:20 on North Lincoln Avenue near Diversey Parkway and Racine. Detectives are seeking up to five suspects Police haven't released any detailed description of the suspects. They w...

Massive sargassum seaweed bloom takes surprising turn

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:29:52 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – For the past few months, scientists have been sounding the alarm about a 5,000-mile long belt of seaweed that was threatening to wreak havoc on Florida and Caribbean beaches. The bloom of sargassum, a type of seaweed that smells like rotten eggs when it washes ashore and can cause breathing issues, reached record size in March – an estimated 13 million tons, University of South Florida (USF) researchers said. But something unexpected has happened, the university team said last week: The mass shrank.The quantity of seaweed found in the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB), which stretches from the western coast of Africa into the Gulf of Mexico, shrank by 15% between April and May, according to the team of researchers that monitors sargassum's growth and movement. Satellite images show 5,000-mile seaweed belt creeping closer to US "Such a decrease for this time of the year never occurred in history since the first year (2011) of the GASB," they wrote. The biggest...