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Is it a ‘richcession’? Or a ‘rolling recession’? Or maybe no recession at all?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The warnings have been sounded for more than a year: A recession is going to hit the United States. If not this quarter, then by next quarter. Or the quarter after that. Or maybe next year.So is a recession still in sight?The latest signs suggest maybe not. Despite much higher borrowing costs, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive streak of interest rate hikes, consumers keep spending, and employers keep hiring. Gas prices have dropped, and grocery prices have leveled off, giving Americans more spending power.The economy keeps managing to grow. And so does the belief among some economists that the United States might actually achieve an elusive “soft landing,” in which growth slows but households and businesses spend enough to avoid a full-blown recession.“The U.S. economy is genuinely displaying signs of resilience,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY, a tax and consulting firm. “This is leading many to rightly questio...

How a social media account has helped grow the UK fan base of MLB — and specifically the Chicago Cubs

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

A trip to Mexico six years ago unexpectedly changed the direction of Mike Ivory’s sports fandom.Four days into a vacation with his wife, Ivory stopped in to the sports bar in their hotel, where he saw a baseball game playing on the TVs. The England native was surrounded by Chicago Cubs fans in the bar and started talking with those seated around him as they watched the game, learning about the history of the franchise.“I was hooked,” Ivory told the Tribune. “I watched a lot of baseball throughout that whole holiday, but it was really the Cubs that I kept going back to to look at the scores.”When Ivory returned to the United Kingdom, he figured other baseball fans must be out there despite the sport’s low popularity in the country. So Ivory started a Twitter account (@ChicagoCubsUK) to connect with other baseball lovers in both his native country and the U.S. — and more specifically, Cubs fans.Ivory, 31, saw the engagement grow after the inau...

Elizabeth Warren wants cities, towns to apply for federal electric school bus grants

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants Massachusetts cities and towns to apply for federal grants allowing them to replace diesel-operated school buses, public buses, and train engines with their electric-powered counterparts.In a Tuesday letter to the heads of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Warren said the iconic yellow school buses used across the United States that still operate on fossil fuels are harmful to children.The air pollutants from tailpipes impact children’s learning, development, and health through asthma and other respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer, Warren said.“Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to this risk,” Warren said in the letter. “Furthermore, the greenhouse [gasses] that are emitted by diesel buses contribute to the climate crisis.”Warren pointed to $400 million in grants available through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Grants Program. The deadlin...

Pedro Pascal and World Bank’s Ajay Banga among those named to Carnegie’s 2023 Great Immigrants list

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — World Bank President Ajay Banga, Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan, singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette and “The Mandalorian” star Pedro Pascal are on this year’s Great Immigrants list announced Wednesday by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.Since 2006, the foundation has assembled an annual list of notable naturalized American citizens to celebrate the contributions immigrants make to the country and how they strengthen democracy.“These are extraordinary people,” said Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and a native of Ireland who is a naturalized citizen herself. “Presenting all these amazingly positive stories of people who’ve contributed hugely to American life I think is important every year.”However, she acknowledges that the issue of immigration has become more politicized.“I do think there is a growing sense that the numbers of migrants are somehow getting out of hand — and this is not unique to the U.S.,” Richardson told The...

London jury seated in Kevin Spacey sex assault trial on allegations over a decade old

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey walked into a London courtroom Wednesday to face trial on charges of sexually assaulting four men as long as two decades ago. The actor was dressed in a dark blue suit, light blue shirt and pink tie as he was called by his full name and asked if he was Kevin Spacey Fowler.“I am,” he said as he stood behind a window in the dock.Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges including sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in sex activity without consent. He could face a prison sentence if convicted.Spacey nodded and smiled at potential jurors as Justice Mark Wall told them that they may know Spacey by name or have seen his films. More than two dozen entered the courtroom and the first 14 were seated without objection from the prosecution or defense. Thirteen people were then excuse.Spacey stood with his hands clasped behind his back as nine men and five women, including two alternates, were sworn in as j...

Child reportedly bitten by loose dogs in Scarborough; police investigating

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

Police are investigating after a child was reportedly bitten by loose dogs in Scarborough.Toronto police received a call around 7:15 a.m. on Wednesday about two dogs on the loose in the area of Midland Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East.Police say the dogs reportedly bit a child and are advising residents to use caution in the area.Paramedics have arrived at the scene.The dogs were last seen heading northbound on Midland.This is a developing story. More to come.

More than half a million left Germany’s Catholic Church last year as abuse scandal swirls

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — More than half a million people formally left the Catholic Church in Germany last year, significantly higher than the previous record as the church wrestles with a long-running scandal over abuse by clergy and with calls for far-reaching reform.The German Bishops’ Conference said Wednesday that 522,821 left the church last year, up from 359,338 in 2021, the previous record. That compared with just 1,447 people joining the Catholic Church, around the same as the previous year.The departures left the number of Catholic Church members in Germany at nearly 20.94 million, just under a quarter of the population.In Germany, people who are formally members of a church pay a so-called “church tax” that helps finance it in addition to the regular taxes the rest of the population pay. If they register their departure with local authorities, they no longer have to pay that. There are some exemptions for low earners, jobless, retirees, students and others.The bishops’ c...

Dozens of Israeli air force vets threaten not to serve after Netanyahu resumes judicial overhaul

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Dozens of Israeli air force reservists said Wednesday they’ll refuse to show up for duty if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government moves ahead with a contentious plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary.The threat comes after Netanyahu said his government would proceed with the overhaul after talks with the opposition to find a compromise faltered. Coalition legislators have since been advancing a legal change to what’s known as the “reasonability standard” that critics say would allow the government to pass arbitrary decisions and grant it too much power.Israeli media reported 110 air force veterans signed the letter Wednesday saying that if the law moving ahead in parliament now, or any other law proposed as part of the overhaul, is passed, the reservists will not show up for duty. “Legislation like this grants the government limitless power with no restraint by the judiciary and it will bring us to a point of no r...

Just Stop Oil protesters briefly disrupt Ashes cricket test between England and Australia

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Two protesters from the Just Stop Oil group ran onto the field at Lords and briefly disrupted play about five minutes after the start of the second Ashes cricket test between England and Australia on Wednesday.The environmental activists tried to spread orange powder on the field but the England and Australia players intervened.England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow tackled one protester and carried the person about 50 meters (yards) before leaving him in the hands of security over the boundary hoardings. England captain Ben Stokes and Australia batter David Warner corralled the other protester.Some orange powder was released but only on the grass, away from the pitch.“Police have arrested three people and taken them into custody,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.Bairstow went to the England changing room to clean himself of some powder, Lord’s staff quickly cleaned up what little orange fell on the grass, and play resumed about five minutes l...

Ukraine accuses local man of directing missile strike that killed 10 at popular pizza restaurant

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:45:58 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities arrested Wednesday a man they accused of helping Russia direct a missile strike that killed at least 10 people, including three children, at a popular pizza restaurant in a city in east Ukraine.The Tuesday evening attack on Kramatorsk wounded another 61 people, Ukraine’s National Police said, in the latest bombardment of a Ukrainian city — a tactic Russia has used heavily in the 16-month-old war.Two sisters, both age 14, died as result of the attack, the educational department of the Kramatorsk city council said. “Russian missiles stopped the beating of the hearts of two angels,” it said in a Telegram post.The other dead child was 17, according to Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin. The attack also damaged 18 multi-story buildings, 65 houses, five schools, two kindergartens, a shopping center, an administrative building and a recreational building, the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said. Rescuers are still searching the rubble for...