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Britain’s Treasury chief raises the minimum wage but angers some colleagues by ruling out tax cuts

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Britain’s Treasury chief announced a hike in the national minimum wage on Monday, as the governing Conservative Party tries to persuade voters it is on the side of those who are struggling financially.But Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt ruled out tax cuts, saying they would fuel inflation.“I do want us to have lower taxes,” Hunt told Sky News before his speech. But he said “it’s very difficult to see” it happening this year.That message was not what many Conservatives at the party’s annual conference wanted to hear. Hundreds of them packed a room to applaud as former Prime Minister Liz Truss — whose seven weeks in office last year plunged Britain’s economy into crisis — demanded Hunt slash taxes in his fall budget next month.Hunt told conference delegates that the hourly rate for workers 23 or older will rise in April from 10.42 pounds ($12.70) to at least 11 pounds ($13.40). The exact amount will be set after a recommendation by the Lo...

S&P/TSX composite down more than 200 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading as losses in the utility and energy stocks helped lead the way lower, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 243.18 points at 19,298.09.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.17 points at 33,473.33. The S&P 500 index was up 8.74 points at 4,296.79,while the Nasdaq composite was up 138.39 points at 13,357.71.The Canadian dollar traded for 73.66 cents US compared with 73.96 cents US on Friday.The November crude oil contract was down US$1.61 at US$89.18 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down six cents at US$2.86 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was down US$21.60 at US$1,844.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down 10 cents at US$3.64 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) The Canadian Press

A man suspected of fatally shooting 3 people is shot and killed by police officers in Philadelphia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia police officers on Monday shot and killed a man suspected in a quadruple shooting hours earlier that left three people dead, authorities said.The quadruple shooting took place shortly before 5 a.m. in the Lawncrest section of northeast Philadelphia. The police department’s interim commissioner, John Stanford, said police responding to a home found three people dead and one person wounded who was taken to a hospital in critical but stable condition.Three hours later, in the East Mount Airy section of northwest Philadelphia, officers tried to pull over a vehicle reported fleeing the shooting location, Stanford said. The man in the vehicle, believed to be responsible for the shooting, fired at least one round at police, and officers returned fire, hitting him, Stanford said. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead a little more than an hour later. One officer had minor injuries to a hand from broken glass. The name...

All Oneboard electric skateboards are under recall after 4 deaths and serious injury reports

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — All models of Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards are under recall after at least four deaths and multiple injuries were reported in recent years, federal regulators said last week.The 300,000 now-recalled skateboards, manufactured by the California-based Future Motion, can stop balancing a rider if the boards’ limits are exceeded — which risks serious crashes, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.Future Motion has received dozens of incident reports involving these skateboards, the CPSC said Friday — including four deaths between 2019 and 2021 and serious injuries like paralysis, traumatic brain injury, fractures and ligament damage.The deaths resulted from head trauma, the CPSC added. In at least three of the reports, the riders were not wearing helmets.People who own an impacted Onewheel skateboard should stop using it immediately, regulators said. The recall impacts all Onewheel electric skateboards — including Onewheel, Onewheel+, Onew...

Search resumes for missing 9-year-old girl who vanished during camping trip in upstate New York park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

MOREAU, N.Y. (AP) — Law enforcement, forest rangers and others resumed searching an upstate New York park on Monday for a 9-year-old girl who vanished during a camping trip over the weekend.Charlotte Sena may have been abducted while riding her bicycle Saturday evening in Moreau Lake State Park, about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Albany, according to the state police.More than 100 searchers, including police, rangers and civilians, scoured the park Sunday using drones, bloodhounds and an airboat. The park remained closed Monday because of the search, and officials asked members of the public who showed up hoping to help to stay away and leave the search to professionals.Charlotte, a fourth grader from nearby Greenfield, had been riding her bike around a loop in the bucolic park with other children when she decided to ride around one more time by herself. Her parents became alarmed when she failed to return after 15 minutes, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a briefing Sunday.The girl’s...

Book Review: Jo Nesbø offers a fresh twist on a coming-of-age horror novel in ’The Night House’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

Jo Nesbø, the Norwegian author best known for his 13-book crime series starring Harry Hole (“The Snowman” was made into a 2017 movie with Michael Fassbender), is out with something completely different.“The Night House” begins like something from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft, as a young, bullying boy in the English countryside dares a classmate to make a prank call from a phone booth. By page eight, the classmate’s ear is “stuck to the bloody, perforated listening end,” and the phone is making slurping sounds as it liquifies Tom and sucks him into oblivion. Suddenly Richard, the young bully, is a chief suspect in Tom’s disappearance.When another classmate mysteriously disappears after spending time with Richard, Richard is sent to the Rorrim Correctional Facility for Young People while authorities investigate. We learn bits and pieces of his back story in the next 100 or so pages — his parents died in a London fire when he was 14 and he’s now living with relatives in the U.K. — which ...

Knife-wielding man broke into woman’s home, stole car: Durham police

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

Police are searching for a suspect who allegedly broke into an elderly woman’s home in Durham Region and made off with her vehicle.Durham police say officers responded to a home near Church and Osborne streets in Beaverton around 2:45 a.m. Monday after getting reports of a break-in.It is alleged an elderly woman woke up to find a man armed with a knife inside her home. Police say the suspect stole a number of items from the home and the victim’s vehicle.The victim was not injured.The stolen vehicle is described as a 2006 teal green Pontiac Torrent with Ontario licence plate CRPB 471.The suspect is described as a tall man, 20 to 30 years old, with a small moustache. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie and black pants.Anyone with additional information is asked to contact police.

Taylor Swift watches Travis Kelce's Chiefs take on the Jets at MetLife Stadium

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Taylor Swift couldn't just shake off another chance to watch Travis Kelce on the football field.The 12-time Grammy Award winner arrived at MetLife Stadium about 40 minutes before kickoff Sunday night to watch Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs defeat the New York Jets 23-20.SNY posted video of Swift, wearing blue jean shorts, a long-sleeved black top and leather jacket, entering the stadium's security area with actors Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Hugh Jackman. NBC's telecast cut to Swift several times during the game, including a shot of the pop superstar with her arm around Kelce's mother, Donna, who was wearing her son's No. 87 jersey. WGN’s Jarrett Payton’s viral video captures Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift leaving Arrowhead Stadium together Swift's appearance comes a week after she was at Arrowhead Stadium — decked out in red and white — to watch the Chiefs' 41-10 rout of the Chicago Bears at home in a suite alongside Donna Kelce. Swift took advantag...

Former NFL star killed in New York plane crash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

(WFFF) — A former NFL star was among two people killed after a small plane crashed at an Upstate New York airport over the weekend, according to a report. The crash happened shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday at the end of a runway at the Lake Placid Airport.A spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board told Lake Placid News the plane made a "hard roll to the left" after taking off on Sunday, but the investigation remains ongoing. The outlet also reported that the victims have been identified as Richard McSpadden, the senior vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), and Russ Francis, a former NFL tight end. Francis had recently purchased the airport's Lake Placid Airways scenic tour business. Russ Francis #81 of the San Francisco 49ers works to escape a tackle during Super Bowl XIX against the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium, on January 20, 1985 in Stanford, California. The 49ers defeated the Dolphins 38 to16. (Photo by Tony Duffy/Getty Images)A...

13-foot-long python survives five months eating cats in Oklahoma trailer park

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:49:10 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - An expert hired to get rid of a snake slithering around a South Oklahoma City mobile home park found a python that was 13 feet long and had been in the neighborhood for around five months."We're talking, that thing has been eating opossums, foot-long rats, and cats," said Trevor Bounds of Red Beard Wildlife Control. "The mouth on that thing is the size of your foot and when it opens up you're going to be able to fit something pretty large in there." Sizeable snake seen slithering in OKC neighborhood creates a python problem Staff at the mobile home park had told residents to be on the lookout throughout the week, according to Nexstar's KFOR. The alert sent also said that they would be taking care of it soon. Experts say that more than likely the snake was a pet that either got loose or the owner let it out."The constricting is what can be the dangerous part," said Bounds. "You can't have small children or pets going near this thing that's why this should've ...