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Democrats pressure GOP on debt limit, spending cuts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

By KEVIN FREKING (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are pressuring Republicans on the debt ceiling impasse with a hearing Thursday focused on what they say are the the painful reductions in government services Americans would suffer if a bill recently passed by the House were to become law.No one expects that the House bill, which would importantly increase the nation’s borrowing authority as well as cutting spending, will reach President Joe Biden’s desk. The Democratic Senate won’t let it.Many Republicans admitted so when passing the measure. But they said action by the House was necessary to get Biden to the negotiating table with Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy. A meeting at the White House with congressional leaders of both parties is set for next week.Despite the legislation’s certain demise, Democrats are eager to tie Republicans, particularly in swing districts and states, to various provisions in the bill. Those include one ...

As oil boom transforms Guyana, a scramble for spoils

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

ANN’S GROVE, Guyana (AP) — Villagers in this tiny coastal community lined up on the soggy grass, leaned into the microphone and shared their grievances as someone in the crowd yelled, “Speak the truth!” And so they did. One by one, they asked for a library, streetlights, school buses, homes, a grocery store, reliable electricity, wider roads and better bridges. “Please help us,” said Evadne Pellew-Fomundam — a 70-year-old who lives in Ann’s Grove, one of Guyana’s poorest communities — to the country’s prime minister and other officials who organized the meeting to hear people’s concerns and boost their party’s image ahead of municipal elections.The list of needs is long in this South American country of 791,000 people that is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest offshore oil producer, placing it ahead of Qatar, the United States, Mexico and Norway. The oil boom will generate billions of dollars for this largely impoverished nation. It’s also certain to...

Attacks across Pakistan, including school shooting, kill 14

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen stormed a school in Pakistan’s volatile northwest on Thursday, killing seven teachers and gunning down another teacher from the school in a separate attack. Earlier in the day, a shootout with militants elsewhere in the region killed six Pakistani soldiers. The violence underscores the challenges the government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is facing amid a surge in militant attacks across the country in recent months. In Kurram, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan, a group of gunmen stormed a government school where students were taking exams. The seven killed teachers were members of Pakistan’s minority Shiite community, which is frequently targeted by militants. Another teacher from the same school, a Sunni Muslim, was gunned down on the road in a separate attack earlier in the day in Kurram, according to local police official Abbas Ali. No one immediately claimed responsibility for th...

BMW: Don’t drive older models with Takata air bag inflators

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — BMW is warning the owners of about 90,000 older vehicles in the U.S. not to drive them due to an increasing threat that the air bags might explode in a crash.The warning covers vehicles from the 2000 through 2006 model years that previously had been recalled to replace faulty and dangerous air bag inflators made by Takata.The company used volatile ammonium nitrate to inflate the air bags in a crash. But the chemical can deteriorate over time when exposed to heat and humidity and blow apart a metal canister, hurling shrapnel that can injure or kill drivers and passengers.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says drivers should park their vehicles and contact BMW for more information. Repairs are available at no cost to owners, as well as mobile repair and free towing. “These vehicles are 17 to 22 years old, and the risk to vehicle occupants is dire,” the agency said in a statement Thursday. “These are some of the oldest Takata air bags under recall and ha...

The Last of Us, Wii Sports entering Video Game Hall of Fame

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The first commercial video game and the first one marketed to girls are headed to the World Video Game Hall of Fame, alongside a post-apocalyptic nail-biter and a system that made gamers out of grandparents.Computer Space, Barbie Fashion Designer, The Last of Us and Wii Sports were announced Thursday as the Hall of Fame’s class of 2023.The Hall of Fame honors arcade, console, computer, handheld and mobile games that have influenced popular culture or the video game industry. This year’s additions bring to 40 the number of games to be enshrined since its opening at The Strong museum in 2015.The winners were voted in by a panel of experts from a field of finalists that also included Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, FIFA International Soccer, Goldeneye 007, NBA 2K, Quake and Wizardry. Nutting Associates’ coin-operated Computer Space appeared in 1971 as the first commercial video game and was recognized for proving tha...

How the writers’ strike will impact your favourite shows and Canadian jobs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, more than 11,000 writers in the film and TV industry are striking for the first time in 15 years after negotiations between the Writers Guild of America, studios and streamers failed to yield an agreement. The last time the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike, in 2007, it lasted for 100 days, and led to a noticeable drop in quality for some shows. Barry Hertz, the film editor at The Globe and Mail, says streaming has upended Hollywood’s traditional business model, which made this current action inevitable.“The system needs to break a little perhaps before people can build it back up to what it needs to be. The system wasn’t working for the past several years,” says Hertz.How will the writers’ strike affect Canadian audiences? Which popular shows or films are most at risk? How will Canada’s film industry or production jobs be affected?You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.You can als...

Police searching for man accused of spying on woman in clothing store change room

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

Toronto police are looking for a suspect accused of spying on a woman in a change room in Toronto’s west end.Officers responded to a clothing store in the area of Bloor Street West and Dufferin Street around 6:30 p.m. on April 28.A woman went inside a change room at the store to try on clothes when she allegedly noticed a man holding a cell phone under the change room door. The victim opened the door to confront the suspect but he fled the store.Police have released photos of the suspect and are appealing to the public in hopes of identifying him.He is described as five-feet-10 inches tall, with a medium build, black hair and clean shaven face. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, a red shirt, blue jeans, red shoes, and carrying a reusable shopping bag.Anyone with information is being asked to contact police.

Maryland Rep. David Trone announces US Senate run

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Rep. David Trone announced Thursday he will run for the U.S. Senate seat that will be opening with the retirement of Sen. Ben Cardin.Trone, a Democrat, has focused on issues including opioid addiction, mental health, medical research and criminal justice reform while in office. The congressman said he would continue advocating for those issues in the Senate.“Ben Cardin was a great U.S. senator, and we’re looking forward to following in his huge shoes,” Trone said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But we’ve got a lot of challenges that are facing Maryland, and we’ve got to focus on those challenges, and first and foremost, it’s the addiction crisis.”Trone, who is the wealthy founder of Total Wine & More liquor stores, spent more than $12 million of his own money on his House race last year. He said it’s too soon to say how much he would spend on a Senate race, but he said using his own fortune means he doesn&#...

At CPAC, Hungary’s Orban decries LGBTQ+ rights, migration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s populist prime minister likened liberalism to a “virus” in an opening speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the Hungarian capital on Thursday, painting a picture of a global right-wing movement mobilizing to defeat “progressive elites.” Viktor Orban’s speech at CPAC Hungary centered around battling what he frequently described as “woke culture,” and delved primarily into hot-button cultural topics such as transgender and LGBTQ+ rights, migration and the content of education for children. The two-day conference, the second in Hungary in as many years, featured segments titled “Make Kids Not War” and “No Country for Woke Men.” A sign over the entrance to the venue, a conference hall on the Danube River, read, “No Woke Zone.”After receiving a standing ovation, Orban said Hungary had become “world-famous” for its hard-line migration and cultural policies, and offered those in attendance a recipe for implementing a simila...

Stock market today: Wall Street falls as banks tumble again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:13:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are falling Thursday as Wall Street’s worries about the U.S. banking system crank even higher. The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower in early trading as several market-moving forces swirled, from the latest rate increase by the European Central Bank to a report indicating more U.S. workers got laid off last week than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 251 points, or 0.8%, at 33,162, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower. Some of the wildest action was in the financial industry, where shares of PacWest Bancorp tumbled 46.3%. It’s been under heavy scrutiny by investors recently following three of the four largest U.S. bank failures in history. Wall Street has been hunting for other possible weak links in the system, which could see a swift exodus of customer deposits as the industry contends with much higher interest rates. PacWest said overnight that it’s considering its options and that several potential partners and...