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Freeland says production subsidies for Volkswagen will be tax-free, matching the U.S.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday that the federal government plans to make the production subsidies it’s offering to Volkswagen tax-free to match the incentives offered by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Her comments came after the  parliamentary budget officer published a report saying Canada’s contract with the German auto giant to build an electric-vehicle battery plant in southwestern Ontario would cost the federal government up to $16.3 billion over the next 10 years. That figure is higher than what Ottawa previously said the deal would cost taxpayers, a sum that included a $700-million upfront capital investment and up to $13.2 billion in production subsidies.The Parliamentary Budget Office estimate included the $700-million contribution for the construction of the plant and $12.8 billion in production support. However, the PBO said that for the production subsidies to be equivalent to the incentives offered by the U.S., the federal gove...

What you should know as the Fed gets closer to the peak of its rate-hiking cycle

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to leave interest rates alone for the first time in 11 meetings raises hopes that it may be at least nearing the end of its rate-hiking campaign to cool inflation.That said, the Fed’s policymakers indicated that they envision potentially two more hikes this year — a more hawkish forecast than had been expected. And even after the Fed has stopped hiking, it’s likely to keep borrowing rates at a peak for months to come. Consumers would still have to bear the weight of higher-cost auto loans, mortgages, credit cards and other forms of borrowing. Still, some people may feel encouraged by the possibility that loan rates might not rise much more. And in the meantime, people with savings accounts are enjoying higher yields than they have in years. Fortunately, that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.HOW WILL BORROWERS BE AFFECTED BY ALL THIS?Though the Fed hasn’t likely reached the top of its rate-raising cycle, it...

Bell cutting 1,300 positions, shuttering six radio stations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

TORONTO — BCE Inc. is cutting 1,300 positions, around three per cent of its workforce, and closing or selling nine radio stations as the company plans to “significantly adapt” how it delivers the news. The plan entails “moving to a single newsroom approach across brands, allowing for greater collaboration and efficiency,” said Richard Gray, vice-president of news at Bell Media, in an internal memo distributed to staff Wednesday morning and provided to The Canadian Press.The company’s media branch “can’t afford” to continue operating with its various brands — such as CTV National News, BNN, CP24, its local TV news stations and radio channels — independently of one another, said Bell chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson in an interview.“It’s a consolidation of news gathering, news delivery,” he said.The layoffs include a six per cent cut at Bell Media, but Malcolmson said cuts are happening across the or...

Harvard Medical School morgue manager, 4 others indicted in theft, sale of human remains

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A manager at the Harvard Medical School morgue, his wife and three other people have been indicted in connection with the theft and sale of human body parts, federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced Wednesday.Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, stole dissected portions of cadavers that were donated to the school in the scheme that stretched from 2018 to early 2023, according to court documents. The body parts were taken without the school’s knowledge or permission, authorities said, adding that the school has cooperated with the investigation.Lodge sometimes took the body parts — which included heads, brains, skin and bones — back to his home where he lived with his wife, Denise, 63, and some remains were sent to buyers through the mail, authorities said. Lodge also allegedly allowed buyers to come to the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy.Bodies donated to Harvard Medical School are used for education, teaching or research purp...

Israeli military admits killing Palestinian toddler by mistake, closes initial investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military admitted Wednesday that it had shot and killed a Palestinian toddler in the occupied West Bank by mistake earlier this month — a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing. After an initial investigation into the killing, the Israeli military said it would reprimand one of the officers involved in the killing. The military said it hadn’t yet decided whether to proceed with a criminal investigation into the child’s death. Rights groups contend the Israeli military does too little to investigate and punish its soldiers for the killing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, creating a pattern of impunity. The death of 2-year-old Mohammed al-Tamimi after he was wounded by Israeli gunfire near his village of Nebi Saleh set off an outpouring of grief and anger.His 44-year-old father, Haitham al-Tamimi, dismissed Israel’s move to investigate the killing as a “cover-up.” The initial results, he said, added insult to injury. “Of cours...

Guatemala sentences renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora to six years in money laundering case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A Guatemalan tribunal sentenced newspaper founder and editor José Rubén Zamora to six years in prison Wednesday in a money laundering case, concluding a trial that press freedom groups decried as a political persecution aimed at silencing a critical voice.The three-judge panel convicted and sentenced Zamora on a charge of money laundering that affected the national economy and stability of the financial system. The tribunal cleared Zamora of additional charges of blackmail and influence peddling.Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei, and specifically his justice system, have been criticized internationally for backsliding on democratic principles and weaponizing the country’s prosecutors and courts to pursue perceived enemies.Giammattei has denied there was any political motivation.Zamora’s El Periodico newspaper was known as fiercely independent and published investigations about corruption in the administrations of Giammattei and his predecessors. Zamora’s...

`Cats’ returns at new Perelman Center, a $500 million building in downtown Manhattan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Andrew Lloyd Webber’s absence from New York City’s stages will be at most 14 months, with “Cats” returning in June 2024 at the World Trade Center’s new Perelman Performing Arts Center.The $500 million building, the next-to-last element of the World Trade Center redevelopment to open following the 2001 terrorist attacks, announced its inaugural season Wednesday.“Cats” will appear in June and July 2024 directed by Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, with choreography by Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles.The musical will have reimagined staging set in Harlem’s drag Ballroom Culture. Bill Rauch, PAC’s artistic director, said Ballroom Culture will come across in the casting, staging and design.“Certainly Ballroom beats will affect how some of the songs are orchestrated,” he said.Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” closed on April 16 at the Majestic Theater after 13,981 performances, leaving the legendary composer with no shows on Broadway for...

B.C. becomes first province to provide universal coverage for opioid treatments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia says it is providing universal coverage for opioid agonist treatments that help people with substance use disorders, making it the first province in Canada to do so.Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a news release issued Wednesday that full coverage of the medications will be available to all B.C. residents with an active medical services plan.The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said the policy became effective June 6, and expands full coverage to approximately 1,638 people who had been paying out of pocket, out of a total of 34,520 who had been receiving the treatments in B.C. last year.Dix said improving access to the medication strengthens the public health system. “By reducing financial barriers to opioid agonist treatment medication, we’re making it easier for people to get the care they need and helping to create more equitable health outcomes for people in B.C.”Opioid agonist treatment involves the use of medications suc...

Ex-Starbucks manager awarded $25.6 million in suit over firing after 2018 arrests of 2 Black men

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Jurors in federal court have awarded $25.6 million to a former Starbucks regional manager who alleged that she and other white employees were unfairly punished after the high-profile arrests of two Black men at a Philadelphia location in 2018.Shannon Phillips won $600,000 in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages on Monday after a jury in New Jersey found that race was a determinative factor in Phillips’ firing, in violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws, Law360 reports.In April 2018, a Philadelphia store manager called police on two Black men who were sitting in the coffee shop without ordering anything. Phillips, then regional manager of operations in Philadelphia, southern New Jersey, and elsewhere, was not involved with arrests but lost her job less than a month later after objecting to another white manager being placed on leave amid the uproar, according to her lawsuit.The company’s rationale for suspending the ...

Theranos founder objects to $250 monthly restitution sought by US due to limited financial resources

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:16:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors want Elizabeth Holmes to pay $250 each month to victims of her failed blood testing startup after she leaves prison, but her attorneys are pushing back citing “limited financial resources” available to the disgraced founder of Theranos. The U.S. filed a motion last week asking the court to correct “clerical errors” which included, prosecutors said, the lack of a timeline for restitution from the one-time billionaire once she exits prison. Holmes’ legal team objected to those changes this week. Holmes, 39, began an 11-year sentence at a minimum-security facility in Bryan, Texas, late last month after she and her former partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, were convicted of fraud for duping investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars while running Theranos, a Silicon Valley startup that promised to revolutionize health care.In a May 16 ruling, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila ordered Holmes and Balwani, who is serving a nearly 13-yea...