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Stock market today: US futures, world markets higher as US debt talks said to make headway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

Wall Street followed world markets modestly higher early Friday, lifted by optimism that Congress and the president will strike a deal to unlock a vote for lifting the U.S. government’s debt ceiling and avert a potentially calamitous default.Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each rose about 0.2% before the bell.Officials said President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were narrowing in on a two-year budget deal that could open the door to lifting the nation’s debt ceiling. The Democratic president and Republican speaker hope to strike a budget compromise this weekend. A two-year deal would raise the debt limit for that time, past the 2024 presidential election. As their price for raising the legal debt limit, Republicans have been demanding spending cuts the Democrats oppose. U.S. markets on down this week on worries that Washington could run out of cash to pay its bills as soon as June 1, unless Congress allows it to borrow more.The widespre...

Flight cancellations, strikes raise fears of new summer travel chaos in Europe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British Airways canceled dozens of flights Friday, blaming computer problems for disrupting plans for thousands of passengers at the start of a busy holiday weekend — a rocky kickoff to the summer travel season in Europe.The technical glitches and strikes by airport staff across Europe are stirring concerns about a repeat of last summer’s post-pandemic air travel chaos that unleashed delays, cancellations and mountains of lost luggage from London to Sweden to Amsterdam.Most of the 42 affected flights in London were on short-haul routes to and from Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport. Computer issues on Thursday caused planes and crew to be out of position Friday, which was expected to be the busiest day for U.K. air travel since before the coronavirus pandemic.Other flights were delayed, with some passengers unable to check in online. Travel is expected to be especially busy over the next few days as a three-day weekend coincides with the start of a weeklong holid...

Man sentenced to prison over attempted arson attack on German synagogue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Friday convicted a man of attempted arson for a New Year’s Eve incident in which he broke a window at a synagogue in Bavaria, then tried to light a firework and throw it into the building.The district court in Bamberg sentenced the 22-year-old, who also was convicted of damage to property, to 2 1/2 years in prison, German news agency dpa reported. His name wasn’t released in keeping with German privacy rules.The defendant acknowledged during his trial that he had far-right views. He admitted to the charges, though he said he couldn’t remember everything because he was intoxicated at the time of the incident in the small town of Ermreuth. He said he regretted his actions and asserted that he didn’t know what prompted him to take them.Surveillance camera footage showed that, after breaking the window, the man tried repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — to light a firework and throw it into the synagogue. No one was in the building at...

A measure of inflation that is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve increased in April

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key index of U.S. prices ticked higher in April as consumer spending rebounded, a sign that inflationary pressures in the economy remain high. The index, which the Federal Reserve closely monitors, showed that prices rose 0.4% from March to April, much higher than the 0.1% increase the previous month. Measured year over year, prices were up 4.4% last month, up from 4.2% in March.The government reported Friday that the year-over-year figure was down sharply from a peak of 7% last June yet remains far above the Fed’s 2% inflation target, and it surpassed the 4.2% figure in March.Consumers kept spending last month despite the price rise: Their spending jumped 0.8% from March to April.The Fed monitors the inflation gauge that was issued Friday, called the personal consumption expenditures price index, even more closely than it does the government’s better-known consumer price index. The government has reported that CPI rose 4.9% in April from 12 months earlier....

18 Belgian students guilty for their role in deadly hazing ritual

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Eighteen Belgian students were found guilty on Friday for their role in the 2018 death of a freshman university student during a brutal and degrading initiation ritual and were sentenced to community service and fines. Sanda Dia was 20 when he died in a hospital in December 2018 after he, and two other first-year students, endured two days of vicious hazing to enter an elite student fraternity, Reuzegom. Dia was forced to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and fish oil, and made to sit in freezing water before he collapsed. The students were found guilty for their role in the involuntary death of Dia and degrading treatment, but were acquitted of intentionally administering harmful substances resulting in death and wilful neglect, court spokesperson judge Els De Brauwer said. The students were given sentences of up to 300 hours of community service and a 400-euro fine each. The prosecution had sought sentences of up to 50 months in prison for some of them. The high s...

CWB reports Q2 profit down from year ago, raises quarterly dividend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

EDMONTON — CWB Financial Group raised its quarterly dividend as it reported its second-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago and said it was targeting lower annual loan growth than previously expected.The Edmonton-based bank says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 33 cents per share, up a penny from 32 cents per share.The increased payment came as CWB says its common shareholders’ net income totalled $70.0 million or 73 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30, down from $74.2 million or 82 cents per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier.Revenue totalled $264.4 million, up from $258.8 million a year earlier, while its provisions for credit losses totalled $10.3 million, down from $11.2 million in the same quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, CWB says it earned 74 cents per share, down from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share a year ago.The average analyst estimate had been for an adjusted profit of 77 cents per share, according to e...

Safe supply and the overdose crisis: An FAQ

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, harm reduction programs tend to be divisive, but Safer Supply — an initiative that provides drug users with prescribed narcotics as an alternative to the tainted substances they might find on the street — might be the most controversial of them all. The program has been criticized by politicians, “exposed” in long newspaper features, and it’s been targeted by those focused on “getting users off drugs.”Dr. Lindsey Richardson, Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health Equity and Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of British Columbia, says the conversation surrounding harm reduction has become overly politicized.“We need to recognize that there are political dimensions here, but a lot of the conversation doesn’t address the broader context of what safer supply is for, which is to separate people from the toxic street drug supply.”So, does safe supply work, or are the claims made by its opponents true? Or b...

Bear who killed runner in Italy’s Alps is spared death for now by court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

ROME (AP) — A ruling by an administrative court in Italy’s Alpine region on Friday spared, for now, the life of the bear who fatally attacked a runner last month. The brown bear, identified as Jj4, was captured on April 18 following an intensive, two-week, hunt launched after a 26-year-old local man was killed while running on a mountain trail. The court panel in the city of Trento requested more details about the dynamics of the attack by the 17-year-old female bear and thus suspended an order by local authorities to have the animal euthanized. The suspension lasts until June 27. But the bear’s fate might not even be decided then, since a hearing was set for Dec. 14 to decide the merits of animal rights advocates’ proposals to transfer the bear to a refuge — just where is unclear — where the animal wouldn’t be a danger to humans. The Italian agency ANSA also said the court concluded that more details from the autopsy of the runner were needed before any decision c...

Chicago woman beaten while struggling with gunman who stole her French bulldog

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago woman says she was beaten and her French bulldog was stolen at gunpoint as she was taking it for a walk in her northwest side neighborhood.Alicja Pierzchala, 64, told reporters that the attack occurred Wednesday evening in Portage Park.“I just walk with my Peppa,” Pierzchala said. “She was sniffing, walking, all of a sudden behind of me I felt pressure.” Pierzchala said she struggled with the gunman and was later treated at a hospital for cuts to her wrists, forehead and a concussion.She adopted Peppa nearly two months ago.No arrests have been made, police said.In 2021, a dog walker for pop star Lady Gaga was shot and wounded and two of the singer’s French bulldogs were taken during an armed robbery in Hollywood.The man was walking three of Lady Gaga’s dogs at the time but one escaped.Authorities have said it was a coincidence that the dogs belonged to the singer and that the motive for the theft was the value of the French bulldogs, a bree...

13-year-old boy shot on NW Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:41:54 GMT

CHICAGO — A 13-year-old was injured when he was shot in the city's Avondale neighborhood Thursday afternoon. According to police, the boy was in an alley around 4:14 p.m. near the 3800 block of West Belmont when he was shot in the right foot by an unknown individual. 2 teens critical after shooting on Near West Side Police say he was transported to Community First Hospital in good condition. Police are investigating the incident.