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Woman critically injured by rare shark bite off NYC’s Rockaway Beach

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman was critically injured when a shark bit her on the leg while she was swimming at a New York City beach, officials said.The 50-year-old woman was swimming off Rockaway Beach just before 6 p.m. Monday when a shark bit her on the left leg, the city parks department said in a statement.Lifeguards pulled the woman from the water and administered first aid. The woman was taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical but stable condition with severe lacerations to her thigh, a police spokesperson said.Lifeguards cleared all swimmers from the water, and the police used a helicopter to search the area for sharks but did not find any, the parks department said.Rockaway Beach was closed to swimming and surfing on Tuesday as a precaution.Experts say shark bites are extremely rare, with only 57 unprovoked bites last year, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.The shark bite occurred amid a rise in shark sightings at New York City and Long Island...

Ukraine says Russia targeted rescue workers with a ‘double tap’ missile strike

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials on Tuesday accused the Kremlin’s forces of targeting rescue workers as the death toll from two Russian missile strikes that slammed into residential buildings in the downtown area of a Ukrainian city climbed to seven.The dead in the Monday evening strikes in the city of Pokrovsk were five civilians, one rescuer and one soldier, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Dozens more were wounded, most of them police officers, emergency workers and soldiers who had rushed to the scene to assist residents.The Russian missiles slammed into the center of Pokrovsk, which is in the eastern Donetsk region that is partially occupied by Russia. Emergency crews were still removing rubble at the scene on Tuesday. The Iskander missiles, which have an advanced guidance system that increases their accuracy, hit within 40 minutes of each other, according to Kyrylenko.Russia has since the start of the war aimed artillery and missiles at the exact same spot it struck ...

Two years after Olympics drama Belarus-born Tsimanouskaya to run for Poland in 3 track worlds events

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Now cleared to run for Poland after her drama at the Tokyo Olympics, Belarus-born sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is representing her new country in three events at the world championships this month.The Polish track federation said Tuesday that Tsimanouskaya is being selected for the 100 meters, 200 and 4×100 relay. She became eligible for her adopted country Sunday. The track and field worlds are held Aug. 19-27 in Budapest, Hungary.Tsimanouskaya has lived in Poland since Belarus team officials tried to remove her from the Tokyo Olympics two years ago during a crackdown on dissent by the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.She had run in the 100 heats but, before the heats of her favored 200, she criticized team officials on social media for putting her in the 4×400 relay team against her wishes. She did not train for or compete at the longer distance.When Belarus officials tried to force her to board a flight out of Tokyo, Tsimanouskaya plead...

FAA warns of safety hazard from overheating engine housing on Boeing Max jets during anti-icing

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

U.S. regulators are warning airlines to limit the use of an anti-icing system on Boeing 737 Max jets in dry air to avoid overheating engine-housing parts, which could cause them to break away from the plane.The Federal Aviation Administration says the risk to the flying public is serious enough that it will put the order into effect in just 15 days, and without allowing public comment first.The FAA said if the engine inlet gets too hot, parts of the housing could come off and strike a window, causing decompression and a hazard to passengers in window seats.The finding affects LEAP-1B engines used on all versions of the Max. The engines are made by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric and France’s Safran.In 2018, a Southwest Airlines passenger died after part of the engine housing on an older version of Boeing’s 737 jet flew off and broke the window next to her seat. That engine failure started with a broken fan blade.The FAA said there have been no...

Tim Hortons drives double-digit sales growth at RBI

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

Restaurant Brands International Inc. is reporting double-digit sales growth amid higher revenues at Tim Hortons and Burger King.In the quarter ended June 30, the company says global comparable sales increased 10 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier, led by even higher gains at Tim Hortons in Canada and Burger King International.RBI says net income in its second quarter nudged up 1.4 per cent to US$351 million from US$346 million the year before, despite higher operating expenses.The coffee and donut chain’s parent company, which reports in U.S. dollars, is posting a revenue boost to US$1.78 billion from US$1.68 billion a year earlier.On an adjusted basis, RBI is reporting diluted earnings per share of 85 cents versus 82 cents per share from the year before — well above analyst expectations of 77 cents per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.Consolidated system-wide sales jumped 14 per cent year over year and the number of net restaurants ...

News publishers, broadcasters call for investigation into Meta’s news blocking

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

TORONTO — A group of Canadian news publishers and broadcasters are calling on Canada’s Competition Bureau to investigate and prohibit Meta from blocking news content on its digital platforms.Social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has said it will begin blocking news on its platforms in Canada starting today after the Canadian government passed a bill forcing Google and Meta to pay publishers for content they link to or repurpose.News Media Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and CBC say in a joint statement  they have filed a request to the Competition Bureau to investigate Meta’s “abuse of its dominant position.”They say the practices of the social media giant are “anticompetitive” as they will prevent Canadian news companies from accessing the advertising market and significantly reduce their visibility to Canadians on social media platforms.The news publishers and broadcasters say they are calling on the Competition ...

Cronos: Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — TORONTO (AP) — Cronos Group Inc. (CRON) on Tuesday reported a loss of $8.4 million in its second quarter.The Toronto-based company said it had a loss of 2 cents per share.The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 3 cents per share.The cannabis company posted revenue of $19 million in the period, which missed Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $22.7 million._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CRON at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CRONThe Associated Press

US investigating power-assisted steering failure complaints in older Ram pickup trucks

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. auto safety investigators have opened a probe into reports that some older Ram 1500 pickup trucks can lose power-steering assistance with little or no warning.The investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers over 1.1 million pickups from the 2013 through 2016 model years.The agency says it has 380 complaints about the problem that include three crashes but no injuries. Investigators say in documents posted Tuesday that if the power steering fails, it takes extra effort to steer the trucks and drivers could lose control.Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, recalled 440 pickups in 2016 to fix a power steering problem. But the agency says the complaints indicate a similar failure in trucks that are outside the scope of the recall. The agency says the recall query will determine if enough vehicles were recalled or if another safety defect might be causing problems. A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from Stellantis. The Associated...

Eight Amazon rainforest countries open summit in Belem, Brazil

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — For the first time in 14 years, presidents of the South American nations home to the Amazon rainforest are converging to chart a common course for protection of the bioregion and address organized crime. The summit Tuesday and Wednesday in the Brazilian city of Belem is a meeting of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, a toothless, 45-year-old alliance that has met only three times before. The Amazon stretches across an area twice the size of India, and two-thirds of it lies in Brazil. Seven other countries and one territory share the remaining third — Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and French Guiana. Presidents from all but Ecuador, Suriname and Venezuela are attending.Massive destruction of the Amazon forest is a climate disaster and all the countries at the summit have ratified the Paris climate accord which requires signatories to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But that’s about as far as their s...

Italy proposes bank tax to help consumers and businesses cope with interest rate hikes

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:08:09 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italian bank stocks plunged Tuesday after the Cabinet approved a proposal to apply a temporary tax on some bank profits this year to help consumers and businesses cope with higher borrowing costs.Transport Minister Matteo Salvini announced the tax at a Monday evening press conference, saying it was a measure of “social equity” to make up for a series of interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank. Those increases are aimed at fighting inflation and make it more expensive for people to get loans to buy homes and cars or for companies to get new equipment or build facilities.UniCredit shares fell over 7%, Intesa Sanpaolo was down more than 8%, Banco BPM dropped more than 8.5%, and BPER and Banca MPS both plummeted over 10% in early afternoon trading on the Milan Stock Exchange.The Association of Italian Banks has not yet commented publicly on the proposal, whose approval apparently took banks by surprise.The five major Italian banks reported a combined net profit of...