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Stock market today: Wall Street sluggish ahead of retail, factory data and more corporate earnings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street was largely unchanged Tuesday ahead of the release of U.S. retail sales, factory data and more quarterly financial reports from companies. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell less than 0.1% before the opening bell. Strong spending by U.S. consumers has been one of the main reasons for the economy’s resilience, driven by a remarkably sturdy job market, and the Commerce Department will release June data on consumer spending early Tuesday. This week also will bring a slew of corporate earnings reports that investors are looking to for signs of where profits for U.S. companies are heading. Bank of America shares rose modestly before the bell after it reported second-quarter profits grew 19% to $7.4 billion, or 88 cents per share, beating Wall Street’s targets by four cents. It’s the latest big bank to post strong results on higher interest rates, following Wells Fargo and JPMorgan last week. The bank’s net inte...

DeSantis becomes first major party candidate to enter South Carolina’s 2024 presidential primary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis filed paperwork on Tuesday for South Carolina’s Republican primary, becoming the first major party presidential candidate officially on the ballot for the first-in-the-South contest.DeSantis signed his filing documents during a stop at the South Carolina Republican Party headquarters in Columbia, flanked by supporters including state legislators who have endorsed his bid.The filing comes at a consequential moment for DeSantis and his campaign as the governor makes his third swing through South Carolina as a White House hopeful. He entered the race in May with expectations that he would become the primary threat to former President Donald Trump. But DeSantis has struggled to make inroads against Trump, who holds a commanding lead in the primary, and recently began cutting campaign staff.He returned to the campaign trial on Monday, when he held an event in Tega Cay, an affluent community on Lake Wylie along the state line with Nort...

China Evergrande reports its debt rose to $340 billion in 2022. It plans meetings with creditors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China Evergrande, the property developer whose woes helped bring about a slump in the country’s vitally important real estate market, has reported its debts rose further to about $340 billion by the end of last year. In a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Evergrande said it had losses totaling about $81 billion in 2021-2022 and that its revenues plunged by about half in 2021. Chinese leaders are trying to revive economic growth that fell to 3% last year, its second-lowest level since the 1970s. Regulators stepped in to supervise Evergrande’s debt restructuring, but apparently rejected a bailout to avoid sending the wrong message to companies about the need to reduce their debtsThe continuing troubles for Evergrande, said to be the global real estate industry’s most-heavily-indebted developer, augur poorly for a revival in the property sector, a major driver of business activity whose lost momentum has weighed on China’s faltering recovery after anti-COVID-...

Inside a mother’s struggle to clear her name after a wrongful arrest

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, 27-year old Breeanna Bascombe was trying to rock her infant daughter to sleep when police descended on her parents’ Brampton, Ont., home to arrest her, and charge her as an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. The charge was related to a crime allegedly committed by her ex-boyfriend that she had nothing to do with. Breeanna thinks her very public arrest was an attempt to coax him out of hiding. Eternity Martis is a journalist and author based in Toronto who wrote about Breeanna’s case for Chatelaine. She says women can often be caught up in investigations when a crime is committed by a man in their life“It’s not uncommon … for girlfriends, mothers, to be arrested in the hopes of getting a confession from them about their partners crimes, even when they’re not related, they haven’t done anything,” says Martis. Eventually, Breeanna’s charges were stayed, but she was left with what’s called a ‘non-conviction,’ wh...

Climate envoy John Kerry meets with Chinese officials in a new US push to stabilize rocky relations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told China’s top diplomat on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s administration is “very committed” to stabilizing relations between the world’s two biggest economies, as the countries seek to restart high-level contacts.On his second day of talks in Beijing, Kerry met with the ruling Communist Party’s head of foreign relations Wang Yi, telling him Biden hoped the two countries could “achieve efforts together that can make a significant difference to the world.”Ties between the countries have hit a historic low amid disputes over tariffs, access to technology, human rights and China’s threats against self-governing Taiwan.In his opening remarks, Wang said the sides had suffered from a lack of communication, but that China believes through renewed dialogue “we can find a proper solution to any problems.”“Sometimes, small problems can become big problems,” Wang said, adding that dialogue must be conducted on an “equal basis.”That was a...

COVID-19 outbreak declared at Etobicoke General Hospital

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

A unit at a west end Toronto hospital has been forced to limit new patients after a COVID-19 outbreak was declared on Monday.In a notice posted online, the William Osler Health System says an outbreak has been declared in the 7 East Cardiology unit at Etobicoke General Hospital. The hospital has not confirmed how many patients have the virus.An outbreak is declared when two or more individuals test positive “with any common link” within a 48 hour period, according to provincial guidelines.The notice says the unit is now closed to new admissions with the exception of those who require telemetry. The hospital says the following other measures are being taken:Notifying patients and using the appropriate precautions to prevent transmission of the virus.Testing and monitoring staff, physicians and patients, as appropriate.Limiting staff members who normally work on multiple units to work on one unit only.Enhancing cleaning of patient care equipment and the hospital units.&nbs...

Kenya doomsday cult deaths top 400 as detectives exhume 12 more bodies, with the pastor in custody

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The number of people who died in connection with Kenya’s doomsday cult has crossed the 400 mark as detectives exhumed 12 more bodies on Monday believed to be followers of a pastor who ordered them to fast to death in order to meet Jesus.Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who is linked to the cult based in a forested area in Malindi, coastal Kenya, is in police custody, along with 36 other suspects. All have yet to be charged. Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha on Monday said the number of those who died has risen to 403, with 95 people rescued.Last month, some suspects and people rescued started a hunger strike in prison and at the rescue center, prompting the prosecutor to take them to court for attempting to kill themselves. Most of them agreed to resume eating, but one suspect died in custody.Some 613 people have so far been reported missing to Kenya Red Cross officers stationed in Malindi town. Detectives are still finding mass graves.Onyancha said 253 of the 4...

Police in Florida fatally shoot man suspected of stabbing the mother of his 3 children

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Police in Florida shot and killed a 33-year-old man who they said stabbed the mother of his three young children and then opened fire on law enforcement officers during a brief pursuit, police said.Officers responded to a home in Tampa on Monday afternoon after receiving reports that a woman had been stabbed.“He had stabbed her in front of the children, who are between the ages of 2 and 6,” Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw said during a news conference.The father then loaded the children into his vehicle and took them to his brother’s home, where he stole an AK-47, police said.Around 5:40 p.m., police officers spotted his vehicle and began following him. When they attempted a traffic stop, the man pointed the rifle out the vehicle’s window, and continued driving. Officers used spike strips to try to stop the vehicle, but he was able to avoid them, police said.Just after 6 p.m., the man crashed into a vehicle and began shooting at officers who were pursuin...

Illinois Supreme Court to rule on SAFE-T Act, ending cash bail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on the controversial state law that could make Illinois the first to eliminate cash bail.The SAFE-T Act passed back in 2021. Since then, the law's future has been on the fence with the supreme court making a final ruling Tuesday.The issue at hand is getting rid of cash bail for Illinois. Multiple state's attorneys, including Kankakee County, have found issues with eliminating the cash bail system, saying the lawmakers needed to propose a constitutional amendment because the state constitution guarantees bail by sufficient sureties — which means sufficient enough that someone will come back to court. Illinois’ SAFE-T Act explained Lawmakers are saying the constitution says nothing about those sureties being cash. So under the SAFE-T Act, people would only be detained based on the offense they are accused of committing and their prior record, instead of posting bail.The supreme court will release their deci...

End of AIDS could happen by 2030, UN says  

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:52 GMT

(The Hill) - The United Nations agency focused on ending the AIDS epidemic released a new report that claims there is a clear path to end the epidemic by 2030. The report titled “The Path that Ends AIDS,” states the ending of the epidemic is a political and financial choice. “The data and real-world examples in the report make it very clear what that path is. It is not a mystery. It is a choice. Some leaders are already following the path – and succeeding,” UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima wrote in the report’s executive summary released last week. According to Byanyima, the report breaks down how countries “that put people and communities first in their policies and programs are already leading the world on the journey to end AIDs by 2030.” Byanyima pointed to Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe, who have already reached the “95-95-95,” targets and at least 16 other countries who are close to reaching the benchmark. The “...