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S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points; US markets mixed

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index moved higher on its first day of trading since the Christmas and Boxing Day holidays, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 135.17 points at 21,015.95.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 52.13 points at 37,597.46. The S&P 500 index was down 1.63 points at 4,773.12, while the Nasdaq composite was down 13.39 points at 15,061.34.The Canadian dollar traded for 75.73 cents US compared with 75.43 cents US on Friday.The February crude oil contract was down 59 cents US at US$74.98 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was up almost a cent at US$2.51 per mmBTU.The February gold contract was up US$20.90 at US$2,090.70 an ounce and the March copper contract was up half a cent at US$3.95 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 27, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)The Canadian Press

Trapped in his crashed truck, an Indiana man is rescued after 6 days surviving on rainwater

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

PORTAGE, Ind. (AP) — A 27-year-old man survived for six days on only rainwater while pinned tightly inside his crashed pickup truck beneath a highway bridge in northwest Indiana, police said.His ordeal ended when two men scouting for fishing spots on Tuesday afternoon noticed the badly damaged vehicle, its white airbag deployed, and reached inside.“They touched the body, and the person turned their head and started talking to them. So, that got a little rise out of them,” Sgt. Glen Fifield of the Indiana State Police told local news outlets.The truck went off Interstate 94 ahead of a bridge over Salt Creek, missing the guardrail and likely rolling several times before landing on the other side of the creek, hidden out of sight from the road above, Fifield said at a news conference. Matthew R. Reum of Mishawaka, Indiana, was freed from the wreckage Tuesday evening by first responders working under bright floodlights, then airlifted to a hospital in South Bend with life-threatening in...

CP NewsAlert: Quebec reaches tentative deals with all ‘common front’ labour unions

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

MONTREAL — The Quebec government has reached tentative agreements on working conditions with all the unions that are part of a labour alliance representing about 420,000 public sector workers.The last deal was reached overnight with a union representing around 1,000 professional workers at several school boards near Montreal.With the latest agreement, Quebec now has deals in principle with all the unions of the so-called “common front,” which launched a series of strikes starting in November that shut down schools and delayed surgeries.The agreements do not include salaries and benefits, which are still being discussed. Leaders of the common front have threatened to launch an unlimited strike early in the new year if deals for salaries and working conditions aren’t reached. The province has still not reached deals with two major unions — one representing about 80,000 health-care workers, and another with 66,000 teachers who have been on unlimited strike since Nov. ...

Young Russian mezzo bids for breakout stardom in Met’s new ‘Carmen’

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Aigul Akhmetshina likes to describe herself as “just an ordinary girl from a small village in the middle of nowhere in Russia.”Not quite.Akhmetshina started performing folk songs of her native Bashkortostan while still a toddler. Her family couldn’t afford a piano, so her first instrument was a button accordion. At 14, she left home to study singing in Ufa, the nearest large city more than 100 miles away, where she supported herself at odd jobs like handing out flyers while walking on stilts.Now 27, this “ordinary girl” is taking on one of the highest-profile operatic assignments imaginable: Headlining a new production of Bizet’s ever-popular masterpiece “Carmen” at the Metropolitan Opera opening on New Year’s Eve.It hasn’t been an easy journey from Ufa to New York. Along the way, Akhmetshina has had to overcome multiple setbacks, including failures in vocal competitions, an auto accident that left her unable to sing for months, then staking her hopes on a trip to Mo...

Neighboring New Jersey towns will have brothers as mayors next year

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

GIBBSTOWN, N.J. (AP) — Two neighboring New Jersey towns may feel even closer next year when they’re governed by two brothers.John Giovannitti, 61, will be sworn in Jan. 2 as mayor of Paulsboro, one day before newly-reelected younger brother Vince Giovannitti, 57, is sworn in to a second term as mayor of Gibbstown.Paulsboro, with a population of 6,300, stretches from Route 130 to the Delaware River, across from Philadelphia International Airport. Gibbstown, with just under 4,000 people in Greenwich Township, is connected to its larger neighbor through the main corridor, Broad Street.The Paulsboro brothers describe becoming mayors as a “happy coincidence” but also a natural next step after decades serving their communities. They told The Philadelphia Inquirer that being siblings aids the necessary collaboration of mayors of neighboring towns that share certain services.“We can say things to one another,” Vince said, acknowledging that he might be more reserved in dealings with s...

GTA developer ordered to pay $180K after illegally selling pre-construction homes

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

An Ontario court has ordered a GTA-based developer to pay over $180,000 in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to illegally selling pre-construction homes.Ideal (BC) Developments has been fined more than $34,000 and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution as the company collected more than $5 million in deposits from homebuyers for a pre-construction project north of Toronto without obtaining a licence to sell or build new homes.Illegally taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits on the sale of new homes in Richmond Hill, Ideal (BC) never had a licence to build or sell new homes in Ontario. As a result, the Ontario Court of Justice sentenced Ideal (BC) to fines of $15,625 for illegal selling and $18,750 for failing to provide evidence required by a search warrant.The Court also ordered Ideal (BC) to pay $150,000 to the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) as a restitution order, who will then distribute the funds equally among those who placed deposits...

Bold NHL predictions for 2024: A Canadian team makes the Stanley Cup Final

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

What was the wildest hockey thing that happened in 2023?Was it a seemingly cursed franchise making the Stanley Cup Final from the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference? Maybe it was having the first 100-point showing by a defenceman in over 30 years and the first 150-point campaign by anybody in nearly the same amount of time occurring in the same season?How about a team widely believed to be a Cup contender falling flat out of the gate and getting its coach fired? Or an all-time great hitting a goal-scoring wall and making us wonder if we’ll be denied a historic chase?From the Florida Panthers’ great run, to stunning seasons from Erik Karlsson and Connor McDavid, to No. 97’s Oilers beginning this year 2-9-1 to Alex Ovechkin’s sudden goal-scoring drought, the past 12 months have given us no shortage of shockers.Which brings us to the next 12.Surely 2024 — with some great storylines already percolating this year and more than a little off-season intrigue to follow — will b...

Rate increase for Chicago Skyway to go into effect starting Jan. 1

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

CHICAGO — Taking the Chicago Skyway is about to get more expensive.Starting Jan. 1, the rate for typical passenger vehicles and light trucks will rise 60 cents, from $6.60 to $7.20.Rates for the Skyway, which connects Interstate 94 to Interstate 90, went up last year, too. The Skyway has been sold twice in the last seven years, but the City of Chicago's lease of the Skyway to private operators continues for another 81 years. Read more: Latest Chicago news headlines Click here for full information on Skyway rate increases.

Record $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot claimed in Florida: What we know about the winner

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

TAMPA (WFLA) - The largest-ever Mega Millions jackpot — a $1.602 billion prize hit by a single ticket sold in Florida four months ago — has been claimed, but we still don't exactly know who the winner is. The winner came forward in late September, nearly two months after hitting the jackpot off a ticket sold at a Publix in Neptune Beach. Under Florida law, however, the winner's name wasn't released. Florida is one of a number of states that, at least temporarily, withholds the names of major lottery prize winners. After 90 days, a winner's name is no longer confidential in Florida. $44 million Florida Lottery ticket expires; what happens to the money now? As of Christmas, the Florida Lottery was legally allowed to release the name of the record-setting Mega Millions winner. Lottery officials confirmed the winner's identity Wednesday: It's as an entity called Saltines Holdings, LLC, which decided to take the jackpot's one-time, lump-sum cash payment of $794,248,882. An LLC is a b...

Crews begin taking down millions of lights at Zilker Park's Trail of Lights

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 18:18:52 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Christmas has come and gone, and now folks are looking ahead to the new year. Some people make New Year's resolutions with the goal of transforming themselves, others might just want Zilker Park to be transformed back into a park after hosting the Trail of Lights. If you're in the latter group of people, you're in luck. Crews began taking down the millions of lights Tuesday after the 59th annual Trail of Lights came to a close last week. Interesting things to know about Austin’s Trail of Lights Zilker Park anticipates being back to normal by Jan. 8. The Trail of Lights Foundation said over 1,000 volunteers helped bring the magic of the holiday tradition to life this year and planning for next year will begin in just a few weeks, starting in January. 2024 will mark the Trail of Lights' 60th anniversary.