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Government benefits helped lower-income households afford rising cost of living: PBO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

OTTAWA — The parliamentary budget officer says lower-income households maintained their purchasing power despite high inflation with help from government benefits.In a report released Thursday, the PBO analyzed how the purchasing power of households at different income levels changed between the final quarters of 2019 and 2022.The report says all households saw an increase in purchasing power over those three years, rising by five per cent overall.That suggests households could buy more with their incomes at the end of last year than they could before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada in early 2020.That is despite a rise in inflation that peaked at 8.1 per cent last summer.But for households in the bottom 20 per cent of income, their earnings were not enough to address the rising cost of living.The report says those households relied on government transfers to make up the difference.“Higher-income households are better able to handle the rising cost of living using their own so...

S&P/TSX composite down as energy and base metal stocks fall, U.S. stocks mixed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was down more than 150 points in late-morning trading as the price of oil fell below US$70 a barrel and losses in the energy and base metal stocks weighed on the Toronto market.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 157.16 points at 19,548.79.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 49.96 points at 33,901.56. The S&P 500 index was up 0.61 of a point at 4,366.30, while the Nasdaq composite was up 54.81 points at 13,557.01.The Canadian dollar traded for 75.98 cents US compared with 75.86 cents US on Wednesday.The August crude oil contract was down US$2.80 at US$69.73 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was down four cents at US$2.56 per mmBTU.The August gold contract was down US$18.10 at US$1,926.80 an ounce and the July copper contract was down a penny at US$3.91 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

King Charles III claims his 1st Royal Ascot winner as the reigning monarch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

ASCOT, England (AP) — King Charles III has claimed his first Royal Ascot winner as the reigning monarch.Watching the race alongside Queen Camilla from the Royal Enclosure, the king saw Desert Hero — wearing the royal silks and an 18-1 shot — win by a short head in the King George V Stakes on Thursday.“Royal winners at the royal meeting are extremely special, especially this one,” jockey Tom Marquand said. “It will live high in my career, probably at the top for the rest of my days in the saddle.”The king and queen were seen waving toward Marquand and Desert Hero after the race.Desert Hero’s trainer, William Haggas, said “the king and queen are absolutely thrilled.”“It is obviously very important for racing, but it is important that the king and queen enjoy it, which they clearly appear to do, and long may that continue,” Haggas said.The late Queen Elizabeth II was a big fan of horse racing and had 24 winners at Royal Ascot in her long reign.___AP sports: https://ap...

Winnie Ewing, icon of Scotland’s pro-independence movement, dies at 93

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Winnie Ewing, a charismatic politician considered to be the mother of the modern Scottish independence movement, has died. She was 93.Ewing’s relatives announced Thursday that she died the day before, “surrounded by her family.”The family statement said Ewing was “considered the most important Scottish politician of her generation.” Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that Scotland’s independence movement had lost “a beloved icon.”Trained as a lawyer, Winnifred Margaret Ewing joined the pro-independence Scottish National Party — then a small fringe group — and unexpectedly won election to the U.K. Parliament in 1967. Ewing greeted her surprise victory with the words: “Stop the world — Scotland wants to get on.”The win was a huge boost to the SNP, and Ewing became a high-profile champion of Scottish independence on the national and international stage.She served in the U.K. Parliament, then the European Parliament — where she was nicknamed Madame Écosse, or Madam...

Shifting S. Africa coal plant for clean energy needs millions in loans. Experts say that’s a problem

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

MIDDELBURG, South Africa (AP) — Plumes of heat-trapping pollutants last billowed from the giant stacks of Komati Power Station in October, when the coal-fired plant that fed South Africa’s hungry electrical grid for more than half a century was shut down to make way for a solar, wind and battery storage plant.Converting Komati to be part of the clean energy revolution is seen as an important test case for coal-reliant South Africa, the world’s 16th-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and developing nations elsewhere. It’s supported by $497 million, most of it from the World Bank.The problem, energy experts say, is that almost all that money is in the form of loans that can be difficult for developing nations to repay. And that risks hobbling the global effort to cut emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to stave off the worst effects of climate change.For South Africa, which needs an estimated $38 ...

Guatemalans worry about security, unimpressed by leading candidates ahead of election

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

SAN JUAN COMALAPA, Guatemala (AP) — Just days away from electing a new president, many Guatemalans remain undecided, unimpressed by the leading candidates and even considering casting a protest vote to express their disapproval.Concerns about extortion and violent crime cross class lines, and rural and urban communities, perhaps explaining why candidates leading the polls are promising heavy-handed security tactics, including reinstating the death penalty or hammering criminal gangs into submission.The machinations of electoral authorities keeping some popular candidates out of the race and cancelling others drew headlines in the capital and expressions of concern abroad. But for the average Guatemalan the controversies surrounding the election are nowhere near as concerning as the rising cost of feeding their families and protecting their loved ones.Ahead of Sunday’s election, the AP interviewed Guatemalans in rural San Juan Comalapa about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest o...

Body recovered from Lake Michigan near where 19-year-old woman went missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

CHICAGO — A body has been recovered from Lake Michigan near Foster Avenue Beach, where a 19-year-old woman has been reported missing.Around 9:40 a.m. Thursday, police discovered the body of a woman not too far from the beach area. Police have not confirmed that the body is the missing swimmer. Police said the teen was swimming at the beach around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Witnesses said she was last seen struggling to swim to the shore, before submerging under the water. The Chicago Fire Department’s dive team searched the area Wednesday night and resumed their search around 9 a.m. Thursday. Son of victim speaks out after driver in hit-and-run crash near Guaranteed Rate Field charged No further information has been provided by police at this time.

2 charged after Northwest Indiana man found beaten to death near fishing area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

PORTER COUNTY, Ind. — Two men have been charged after being arrested in Ohio in connection to the grisly death of a Northwest Indiana man.On June 13 at around 10:30 a.m., the Porter County Sheriff's Office responded to the Chustak Public Fishing Area, located just off State Road 149 at 331 West 600 North. A man, later determined as Derek Hartz, of Valparaiso, was found dead with trauma to his head just off a small trail.The Northwest Indiana Times reported that Hartz was found nude from the waist down on a deflated mattress with excessive bleeding from his skull.Police said at the scene, a Virginia identification card was recovered and Hartz's vehicle and cell phone were missing.The next day, authorities in the Cincinnati region warned each other that the stolen vehicle may be in the area.According to FOX19, Jawon Martin, 28, of Virginia, who is also known as Jada Monroe, was arrested following a police pursuit on I-75 near Cincinnati. His passenger, Domonic Brothers, 27, of Gary, a...

Woman, 14-year-old charged in fatal shooting on far South Side

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

CHICAGO -- A woman and a 14-year-old boy have been charged in a fatal shooting in the West Pullman neighborhood Sunday. Carlisha Hood is facing a felony count of murder and another count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. 2 charged after Northwest Indiana man found beaten to death near fishing area The 14-year-old boy is facing a felony count of murder. According to police, the two were arrested Wednesday in the 700 block of West 111th Street and were identified as the individuals who were involved in the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old man in the 11600 block of South Halsted Street Sunday.They were placed into custody and charged accordingly.

Illinois Lotto jackpot grows to largest amount in 4.5 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:42:52 GMT

ILLINOIS — Lotto players have a shot at nearly $18 million after the jackpot rolled once again.The Lotto jackpot for Thursday night's drawing has grown to $17.9 million. It's the largest jackpot for the Illinois-only game since December 2018 when a single ticket, bought at a gas station in Prospect Heights, matched all of the numbers for a $22.5 million win. Chicago award-winning restaurant one of the 10 best in the US, according to new report Though that makes it the biggest potential prize in 4.5 years, Thursday's offered jackpot still falls well shy of the all-time Lotto jackpot record. That title goes to a 1989 drawing where four people each bought a winning ticket and split the $69.9 million history-making prize. According to IllinoisLotteryNumbers.net, that's approximately $146 million in today's dollars.