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Unemployment rate ticks higher in May for first time in nine months: StatCan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s jobless rate ticked higher to 5.2 per cent in May, marking the first increase since August 2022 as economists have been watching for any sign of a softening labour market.Overall employment was little changed last month as the economy lost a modest 17,000 jobs, Statistics Canada reported Friday.The job report comes one day after the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, bringing it to 4.75 per cent, the highest it’s been since 2001.The decision was prompted by a string of hot economic data, including a surprisingly resilient labour market. The central bank said the resilience of the Canadian economy suggests getting inflation back to two per cent may be harder than it had previously expected.Canada’s unemployment rate was previously hovering at five per cent for five consecutive months, just above the all-time low of 4.9 per cent reached last summer.However, the federal agency noted in the report that job growth has moderat...

Chow still front-runner as Bailão, Saunders gain ground: Toronto mayoral polls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

Campaigning continues in the race to become Toronto’s next mayor as we enter the second day of advanced voting.Two new polls courtesy of Mainstreet Research and Viewpoints show Olivia Chow is still the frontrunner in the race but are at odds as to whether support for the former Member of Parliament is growing or shrinking.The Viewpoints survey shows Chow has 37 per cent of support among decided voters, with her closest competitor, ex-Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, at 15.4 per cent.Other candidates are hovering at or below 10 per cent, with Josh Matlow at 10.3 per cent, Ana Bailão at 10 per cent, Brad Bradford at 9.5 per cent, Anthony Furey at 9 per cent, and Mitzie Hunter at 6 per cent, respectively.RELATED: ‘I’m the only one’: Mark Saunders bills himself as only alternative to Olivia Chow“This data reveals that Chow’s lead has grown and widened. She has momentum as undecided voters start to firm up their choice,” said James Valcke of V...

France hails ‘hero with a rucksack’ who intervened in knife attack on very young children

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

LE PECQ, France (AP) — The attacker slashed at the 24-year-old man with the knife that he used to savagely stab one young child after another. But rather than run, Henri held his ground — using a weighty backpack he was carrying to swing at the assailant and parry his blade.French media hailed Henri as “the hero with a rucksack” Friday after he was shown in a video grappling with the assailant and charging after him during the knife attack that critically wounded four children between the ages of 22 months and 3 years old, and also injured two adults.Henri had a heavy rucksack on his back and was holding another in his hand when the attacker slashed at him. Even after being slashed at, Henri still continued to harass the attacker by pursuing him inside a playground — where the man repeatedly stabbed a child in a stroller — and then out of the park again, carrying his rucksacks all the while. He appeared to hurl one of the sacks at the assailant at one point and then pick it up again...

Report: Iran detains cartoonist again, journalist group calls for release

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian authorities have summoned and arrested a cartoonist who has a history of being imprisoned for political posts on her Instagram account, her lawyer said Friday.Mohammad Moghimi said in a tweet said his client, Atena Farghadani, a painter, cartoonist and former political prisoner, was summoned to the Evin courthouse in Tehran and arrested. He did not elaborate on why she was detained. In 2016, Farghadani was released after spending 18 months in jail for portraying lawmakers as animals to criticize a draft law restricting contraception and criminalizing voluntary sterilization.On Wednesday, Farghadani posted one of her cartoons showing people with animal and satanic faces.The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday that Iranian authorities must release Farghadani and stop efforts to silence commentators and members of the press.“This cycling of journalists and commentators through prison is a continuation of authorities’ ...

Is it time to change the Cannabis act?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

Currently, Canada’s federal government is undertaking a comprehensive review of the legislation that legalized recreational marijuana. While the basic aspects of the act are expected to remain largely unchanged, the review presents an opportunity to improve the system and make it more fair for everyone.Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, associate professor of criminal justice at University of Toronto and co-author of Waiting to Inhale: Cannabis Legalization and the Fight for Racial Justice, says legalization lacked measures to repair the harms of cannabis-related convictions. “I think the biggest oversight was really the lack of acknowledgment of the impact that drug prohibition and cannabis prohibition had on Indigenous, Black and other marginalized communities, period,” says Owusu-Bempah.Various aspects of the legal cannabis industry, including the pardon process, licenses, and overseeing boards, resemble the days of prohibition in one way–a lack of racial justice and the inability to pro...

Blue Jays’ Bass regrets sharing anti-2SLGBTQ+ video, stands by personal beliefs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

Toronto Blue Jays reliever Anthony Bass is slated to be part of the club’s pre-game Pride Weekend festivities one day after he admitted regret to sharing an anti-2SLGBTQ+ video on social media while defending the move citing his religious beliefs.The Instagram video Bass shared promotes boycotting companies, like Target and Bud Light, that support gay and trans rights in the name of the Christian faith.He followed comments from general manager Ross Atkins before Thursday’s game. He elaborated on his decision to share the video, delete it, share it again and then permanently remove it from his Instagram account.“The video itself, I took it down,” Bass said. “I felt like it was too much of a distraction. I stand by my personal beliefs, and everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, right? But I also mean no harm to any groups of people.”The video, which referred to Target and Bud Light’s support of the trans community as “demonic...

Sudan’s government declares UN envoy no longer welcome as both sides agree to a 24-hour cease-fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations envoy to Sudan, a key mediator in the country’s brutal conflict, is no longer welcome in the African country, Sudanese authorities say, as the warring sides agreed to a new 24-hour cease-fire.A terse statement issued by Sudan’s Foreign Ministry late Thursday comes just weeks after the head of the country’s military, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, demanded in a letter to envoy Volker Perthes that he should be removed from his post.UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been notified that Perthes has been formally declared “persona non grata,” the Foreign Ministry said.Since Apr. 15, Sudan’s military, headed by Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have been locked in a violent power struggle that has killed more than 860 civilians, according to Sudan’s Doctors’ Syndicate which tracks civilian casualties. The actual death tally is likely to be much higher.Later Friday, the military and the...

Pittsburgh synagogue trial is proving the obvious, but ultimately focused on the death penalty

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — One by one over the past two weeks, members of Jewish congregations in Pittsburgh have come to the witness stand in federal court and relived the horror of that October morning, when a gunman used high-powered weapons to kill 11 worshippers and badly injure others.Police officers have testified about responding to a scene of horrific carnage and immediately coming under fire themselves, some suffering life-altering wounds from a gunman raging against Jews in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. All of this is being entered fastidiously into the record for the benefit of the jurors and alternates in a federal courtroom in Pittsburgh. So are hundreds of court exhibits showing the aftermath of the violent invasion of sacred worship that day in the Tree of Life synagogue building.A prayer book torn by gunfire. A bullet-damaged glass door. A prayer shawl on a floor, a yarmulke on a stair, left where they had fallen from worshippers during the attack.And pho...

Woman found shot in West Side apartment fire dies: officials

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

CHICAGO — An investigation is underway after a 57-year-old woman died following a shooting and apartment fire on the city's West Side.Fire crews responded to a fire on the fourth-floor on the building in the 200 block of South Lavergne around 2:15 a.m. Friday. Upon arrival, authorities discovered a woman shot in the leg inside the unit.A witness who lives in the building tells WGN he heard a loud bang then smelled smoke. After the gunshot, they said they heard someone running down the stairs and out of the building.The fire was struck and the Chicago Fire Department transported the woman to an area hospital, but doctors could not save her.The woman has been identified by family as Eunice Moman. Docs: Logan Square woman found nearly decapitated in duffle bag; boyfriend had cleaning supplies An investigation is underway.

Friday Forecast: Mainly sunny and low 80s

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:39:08 GMT

Friday: Mainly sunny, ENE 5-10 G15. High: 81, Low: 76Friday Night: Mostly clear, SW 5-10. 59Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Saturday: Mostly sunny, mainly dry, increasing some clouds, 20% shower chance, WSW 5-10. High: 857-Day Forecast | Chicago, Illinois | WGN TV