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Canada’s inflation rate falls to 3.4%, lowest rate since June 2021

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

Statistics Canada says the country’s inflation rate fell to 3.4 per cent in May — the lowest it’s been since June 2021.The federal agency says the slowdown was largely due to lower gasoline prices compared with a year ago.Meanwhile, grocery prices were still skyrocketing last month, rising nine per cent from last May.The slowdown in the headline rate comes after inflation ticked up slightly in April to 4.4 per cent, setting off some alarm bells at the Bank of Canada.Forecasters were widely anticipating a sharp decline in inflation this year, as price increases slow compared to the rapid run-up in the first half of 2022.The Bank of Canada will be paying close attention to today’s report as it gears up for its next interest rate decision on July 12.

How a murder in Surrey, B.C., spans the globe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, nine days ago, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was killed in a targeted daylight shooting in a crowded area outside of a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. Nijjar was a well-known community leader and pro-Khalistan activist who the Indian government has previously accused of terror offences — allegations he vehemently denied.His activism and controversial past have spawned many theories about who may have done this and why, but more than a week after his death, the public has seen little evidence to substantiate those rumours. Meanwhile, a community is in mourning, and they took to the streets on Sunday to demand answers.Sonia Aslam has been covering the case for CityNews Vancouver, and she says the politics surrounding the killing have made people lose sight of the tragedy at the center of the investigation.“His past … then becomes the overshadowing focus of what’s really happened here, and what’s happened here is that a 45-year-old man, father ...

Judge will weigh whether Donald Trump’s New York criminal case should be moved to federal court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. judge is set to hear arguments Tuesday over President Donald Trump’s attempt to move his criminal case in New York out of the state court, where he was indicted, to a federal court where he could potentially try to get the case dismissed.Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein will listen to the afternoon arguments, though he isn’t expected to immediately rule.Trump’s lawyers sought to move the case to Manhattan federal court soon after Trump pleaded not guilty in April to charges that he falsified his company’s business records to hide hush money payouts aimed at burying allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.While requests to move criminal cases from state to federal court are rarely granted, the prosecution of Trump is unprecedented.The Republican’s lawyers say the charges, while related to his private company’s records, involve things he did while he was president. U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be removed from state court if th...

Hunger kills hundreds after US and UN pause food aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, officials say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Hunger has killed at least 700 people in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region in recent weeks after the United States and the United Nations paused food aid, local officials and researchers say.The U.N. and the U.S. first suspended food aid to Tigray in March after the discovery of a scheme to steal donated wheat intended for needy people. They extended the pause to the rest of Ethiopia in early June, affecting 20 million people in need, or about one-sixth of the country’s population.Tigray’s Disaster Risk Management Commission has recorded 728 hunger-related deaths in three of the region’s seven zones since the food aid was suspended in March. The data is based on information gathered by district officials, said the commission leader, Gebrehiwot Gebregziaher.“The situation in Tigray is very difficult. Many people are dying because of the food shortage,” Gebrehiwot said.The figure includes 350 hunger deaths in the northwest zone of Tigray, which hosts thousa...

Toronto daycare hit by bullets during reported drive-by shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

Toronto police say no injuries have been reported after after bullets struck a daycare near St. Lawrence Market.Police responded to the scene at The Esplanade and Market Street just after 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday for reports of a drive-by shooting, with shots hitting a daycare.The daycare was not open at the time.There is no word on suspects.Police haven’t released further details at this time.SHOOTING:Market St + The Esplanade7:33 a.m.– Police have responded to reports of a drive-by shooting, with bullets striking a daycare – No reported injuries, daycare was not open– Officers are on scene investigating– Anyone w/info contact police @TPS51Div#GO1482496^lb— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) June 27, 2023

Conditions for Guantanamo detainees are cruel, inhuman and degrading, UN investigator says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The first U.N. independent investigator to visit the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay said Monday the 30 men held there are subject “to ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.” The investigator, Irish law professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, said at a news conference releasing her 23-page report to the U.N. Human Rights Council that the 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that killed nearly 3,000 people were “crimes against humanity.” But she said the U.S. use of torture and rendition against alleged perpetrators and their associates in the years right after the attacks violated international human rights law — and in many cases deprived the victims and survivors of justice because information obtained by torture cannot be used at trials.Ní Aoláin said her visit marked the first time a U.S, administration has allowed a U.N. investigator to visit the facility, which opened in 2002.She praised the Biden administr...

Stock market today: Wall Street mixed in muted early trading Tuesday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

BEIJING — Trading was mixed and light early Tuesday as inflation, interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty continue to hang over Wall Street and global markets.Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.1% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%. The Nasdaq gained 0.4% early, clawing back some of the previous day’s losses.Trading has been mostly muted in financial markets around the world as the fundamental, unanswered question remains the same: Will the economy be able to avoid a painful recession after central banks around the world hiked interest rates at a blistering pace to get inflation under control?Adding to the uncertainty was a short-lived armed rebellion in Russia over the weekend. The war in Ukraine has already helped push upward on inflation around the world, but investors mostly looked past the brief mutiny by mercenary soldiers. Stock prices have surged this year on hopes that a recession expected after the Federal Reserve and ce...

More grocery competition needed, federal watchdog finds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

Canada’s grocery sector needs better competition to help keep food prices down and encourage new entrants, the country’s competition watchdog has found.In a highly anticipated study released Tuesday, the Competition Bureau says concentration in the grocery industry has increased in recent years with the largest grocers increasing the amount they make on food sales.It says most Canadians buy groceries in stores owned by a handful of grocery giants, with Canada’s three largest grocers _ Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro — collectively reporting more than $100 billion in sales and $3.6 billion in profits last year.The study says Canada needs solutions to help bring grocery prices in check and more competition is a key part of the answer.It proposes four recommendations to improve competition and lower prices, including an innovation strategy to support new grocery businesses and expand consumer choice.The competition watchdog also recommends governments encourage the g...

Where do butterflies come from? Scientists discover origin of species

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

Gainesville, FL (KXAN) - Did you ever wonder where butterflies came from? A recently published research paper has revealed a surprising origin: North and Central America.The paper, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, examined DNA from nearly 2,300 species of butterfly. The team used the data to develop a family tree and track down where the species came from.Turns out, butterflies evolved from nocturnal moths around 101.4 million years ago. According to the National Science Foundation, after the death of the dinosaurs, bats grew in numbers. With moths facing a new threat, they began to take flight during the day, feeding on nectar from flowers.Researchers have developed a family tree for butterflies, tracing the origins to North and Central America. (Credit: Florida Museum, Hillis, Zwickl, and Gutell)The researchers used fossil records to connect the family tree they developed to North and Central America. 11 fossils that had been traced to the geological age were used...

TCSO deputies end search for carjacking suspects near COTA

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:13:25 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Travis County Sheriff's Office told KXAN Monday night deputies searched an area near Circuit of the Americas for carjacking suspects but halted the search when they could not find the suspects. According to TCSO, deputies went to a report of a carjacking at gunpoint in the parking lot of an apartment complex on William Cannon Drive at 8:30 p.m.TCSO said no one was hurt in the carjacking.Deputies were able to track down the vehicle to the area near Circuit of the Americas. Deputies approached the vehicle and the suspects ran off, according to TCSO. The sheriff's office declined to say how many suspects there were. TCSO said the case will be handed off to a detective for further investigation.