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S&P/TSX composite down Friday morning, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

TORONTO — Losses in the energy, financial and utilities sectors helped lead Canada’s main stock index lower in late-morning trading on Friday, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 81.42 points at 18,793.89.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 71.23 points at 32,713.07. The S&P 500 index was up 15.63 points at 4,152.86, while the Nasdaq composite was up 173.48 points at 12,769.08.The Canadian dollar traded for 72.17 cents US compared with 72.33 cents US on Thursday.The December crude oil contract was up 86 cents at US$84.07 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was up nine cents at US$3.57 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was down US$6.70 at US$1,990.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$3.65 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)The Canadian Press

Outdoor gear retailer MEC names COO Peter Hlynsky as new CEO

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

VANCOUVER — Mountain Equipment Company says Peter Hlynsky is the retailer’s new chief executive.Hlynsky joined the Vancouver-based outdoor gear company in 2020, serving as its chief financial officer and then chief operating officer.He takes over from Eric Claus, who led the company in the wake of it filing for creditor protection and being sold to U.S.-based private investment firm Kingswood Capital Management.Hlynsky says he doesn’t expect to radically change the business but will continue with the supply chain overhaul the company has been working on for several years.He says the overhaul will be apparent to customers this holiday shopping season because the retailer has worked with vendors to lower prices by ordering twice as much product but selling it at half the price.Hlynsky says that model generates more sales because it gets product moving through the system and allows the company to quickly ready itself for the next season.This report by The Canadian Press was...

EU summit turns its eyes away from Ukraine despite a commitment to stay the course with Zelenskyy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — It was a good thing Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy had his videoconference address to the European Union summit pre-slotted for the opening session.Immediately afterward, EU leaders switched off and went to the order of the day — the Israel-Hamas war. They didn’t come back to the issue of Russia’s war in Ukraine again before Friday’s closing day of the summit.After dominating summit after summit since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the timing alone, anecdotal as it was, underscored a deeper reality: Zelenskyy will be facing tougher times to get all the attention and political, economic and military aid that Ukraine wants.Not only in Europe too, since the new U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has shown little interest in providing additional money from Congress to support Ukraine and also said that now is the moment “we must stand with our important ally in the Middle East and that’s Israel.”And it̵...

Ontario plans to expand midwives’ prescribing power

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

Ontario is planning to expand the list of drugs that midwives can prescribe and administer, including allowing them to prescribe birth control.But while midwives say the updates are good and will help them more effectively serve their clients, not being limited to a list of medications would be even better.The College of Midwives of Ontario has been working with the province for years to expand the list, but the registrar and CEO says that due to advances in medicine, a list can be out of date almost as soon as it is published.The president of the Association of Ontario Midwives says it would be more beneficial if they were allowed to order the full range of tests and medications used in pregnancy and post-partum care.A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the ministry is reviewing further scope of practice changes and is rolling them out based on advice from health-care partners.The proposal, which is open to public comment on the province’s regulatory registry ...

Federal government posts $4.3 billion deficit between April and August this year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government posted a budgetary deficit of $4.3 billion from April to August.In its monthly fiscal monitor, the Finance Department says this compares to a surplus of $3.9 billion during the same period of the 2022-23 fiscal year. Government revenues increased $2.4 billion, or 1.4 per cent, largely due to higher interest revenues and other non-tax revenues.Program expenses excluding net actuarial losses increased $7.4 billion, or 4.8 per cent. Public debt charges grew by $4.1 billion, or 27.7 per cent, largely due to higher interest rates. Net actuarial losses decreased by $0.9 billion, or 22.7 per cent, compared to the same period last year. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2023.The Canadian Press

Christian right cheers new House speaker, conservative evangelical Mike Johnson, as one of their own

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

Evangelical Christian conservatives have long had allies in top Republican leadership in Congress. But never before have they had one so thoroughly embedded in their movement as new House Speaker Mike Johnson, a longtime culture warrior in the courthouse, in the classroom and in Congress.Religious conservatives cheered Johnson’s election Wednesday, after which he brought his Bible to the rostrum before taking the oath of office. “The Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority … each of you, all of us,” he said.“Someone asked me today in the media, ‘People are curious, what does Mike Johnson think about any issue?’” Johnson said Thursday in a Fox News interview. “I said, ’Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.’”But progressive faith leaders are sounding the alarm about Johnson’s opposition to LGBTQ rights and his rallying of Republicans around former President Donald Trump’s legal effort to overturn t...

Cruise, GM’s robotaxi service, suspends all driverless operations nationwide

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Cruise, the autonomous vehicle unit owned by General Motors, is suspending driverless operations nationwide days after regulators in California found that its driverless cars posed a danger to public safety. The California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the license for Cruise, which recently began transporting passengers throughout San Francisco, this week.Cruise is also being investigated by U.S. regulators after receiving reports of potential risks to pedestrians and passengers.“We have decided to proactively pause driverless operations across all of our fleets while we take time to examine our processes, systems, and tools and reflect on how we can better operate in a way that will earn public trust,” Cruise wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday night.The choice to suspend its driverless services isn’t related to any new on-road incidents, Cruise added. Human-supervised operations of Cruise’s autonomous vehicles, or AVs,...

3 teens arrested as suspects in the killing of a homeless man in Germany

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Three teenagers were arrested as suspects in the killing in Germany of a homeless man, which one of them apparently filmed, authorities said Friday.A passer-by found the victim’s body on Thursday in a meadow in Horn-Bad Meinberg, a town in a rural region of western Germany. On Friday, police and prosecutors said in a statement that a 14-year-old boy and two 15-year-olds were arrested as suspects.They said that the suspects and the man appeared to have met by chance and that they had a video of the crime, which they believe was filmed and circulated by one of the suspects.Prosecutor Alexander Goerlitz told German news agency dpa that the two elder suspects had admitted to using violence against the man.The Associated Press

Kitten dies after woman used it to beat partner in domestic dispute: Kingston police

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

Kingston police have charged a 57-year-old woman after she allegedly struck her partner multiple times with a kitten before throwing it at him, killing the small animal in the process.Officers were called to a home in the city’s west end on Saturday, October 21, at around 4:00 a.m. for reports of a domestic dispute.Once at the home, police determined that a male and female were involved in a verbal argument that took a violent and disturbing turn when the female picked up the couple’s kitten and began “hitting the male in the chest with the kitten multiple times before throwing the kitten at him.”The kitten did not survive, police confirmed.“The female continued to throw items at the male, forcing him to leave the residence until police arrived,” police said in a release.The unidentified woman was arrested and charged with assault with a weapon as well as kill/maim/wound/poison/injure dogs/birds or animals other than cattle, and breach of recogniz...

Immigration minister announces new rules to curb international student fraud schemes

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:42 GMT

OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Marc Miller has announced new rules aimed at protecting international students from fraud, following an investigation this summer into more than 100 cases involving fake admission letters. The immigration department launched a task force in June to investigate a scheme that dates back to 2017, which saw immigration agents issue fake acceptance letters to get international students into Canada.Of the 103 cases reviewed so far, roughly 40 per cent of students appeared to be in on the scheme, while the rest were victims of it. Miller says schools that accept international students will have to confirm every applicant’s letter of acceptance with the Immigration Department starting on Dec. 1.The minister is also eyeing schools themselves, and plans to set up a system that benefits post-secondary learning institutions that have higher standards for services, supports and outcomes for international students in time for the next fall semester.Applicants f...