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Mary Quant, designer who epitomized Swinging 60s, dies at 93

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Mary Quant, the visionary fashion designer whose colorful, sexy miniskirts epitomized Swinging London in the 1960s and influenced youth culture around the world, has died, her family said. She was 93.Quant helped popularize the miniskirt — some credit her with inventing it — and the innovative tights that went along with it, creating dresses and accessories that were an integral part of the look. She created mix-and-match, simple garments that had an element of whimsy. Some compared her impact on the fashion world to the Beatles’ impact on pop music.“I think it was a happy confluence of events, which is really what fashion is so often all about,” said Hamish Bowles, international editor at large for American Vogue magazine. “She was the right person with the right sensibility in the right place at the right time. She appeared on the scene at the exact cusp of the ’60s.”He said Quant was also an astute businesswoman who was one of the first to understand how branding on...

Hudbay Minerals strikes all-stock deal to buy Copper Mountain Mining worth US$439M

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

TORONTO — Hudbay Minerals Inc. says it has struck a deal to buy Copper Mountain Mining Corp. in an all-stock deal it valued at US$439 million.The companies say the combination will create an Americas-focused copper mining company with an operating portfolio of three long-life mines, as well as a pipeline of copper expansion and development projects.Under the agreement, Copper Mountain shareholders will receive 0.381 of a Hudbay share for each Copper Mountain common share held.The companies say the proposal represents a 23 per cent premium based on Hudbay’s and Copper Mountain’s 10-day volume-weighted-average share prices on April 12.The deal, which requires approval by a two-thirds majority vote by Copper Mountain shareholders and a simple majority vote by Hudbay shareholders, is also subject to closing conditions including regulatory and court approvals.Once the transaction is complete, Hudbay shareholders will own about 76 per cent of the combined company, while Copper...

US wholesale inflation pressures eased sharply last month

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices fell last month, a sign that inflationary pressures in the economy are easing more than a year after the Federal Reserve began aggressively raising interest rates.From February to March, the government’s producer price index dropped 0.5% as energy prices plunged after having been unchanged from January to February. Compared with a year ago, wholesale prices were up 2.7% in March, down significantly from a 4.7% year-over-increase increase in February.The Labor Department’s producer price index reflects prices charged by manufacturers, farmers and wholesalers. It can provide an early sign of how fast consumer inflation will rise.Wholesale inflation has come down steadily — from a record 11.7% year-over-year increase in March 2022 — since the Fed began raising its benchmark interest rate to fight the worst inflation bout in four decades. Beginning in March of last year, the Fed has raised its key short-term rate nine times and is expected t...

President Joe Biden in Ireland: ‘It’s an honor to return’

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

DUBLIN (AP) — After spending most of a day on a whirlwind countryside tour of his ancestry, President Joe Biden is turning back to diplomacy on Thursday, with an address to the Irish parliament and meetings with the country’s leaders, and Ukraine is high on the agenda.In his first stop of the day, Biden met with President Michael D. Higgins at the president’s grand Dublin residence. The two octogenarian leaders clasped hands and laughed together as they walked the red carpet inside, where Biden signed the guest book with a writerly missive for Ireland’s poet-president: “As the Irish saying goes, your feet will bring you where your heart is. It’s an honor to return.” Biden shoveled in dirt for a freshly-planted Irish oak, not far from the one planted by then-President Barack Obama. He also rang the Peace Bell, unveiled in 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland. He clanged the bell fou...

New protests in France over Macron plan to raise pension age

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

PARIS (AP) — Protesters opposing President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the retirement age to 64 marched Thursday in cities and towns around France, in a final show of anger before a decision on whether the measure meets constitutional standards.Hours before the Paris march got underway, protesters piled bags of garbage in front of the Constitutional Council, which is expected to decide Friday whether to nix any or all parts of the legislation.The trash piles were cleaned up but signaled the start of a new strike by garbage collectors, timed to begin with the nationwide protest marches. A previous strike last month left the streets of the French capital filled for days with mounds of reeking refuse. Security forces guarded the Constitutional Council, located near a stretch of the Paris march path, and Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez inspected the site. Government spokesman Olivier Veran said the nine-member council needs calm to do its work.“The mobilization is far fro...

Biden infrastructure focus turns to celebrating new bridges

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is closing out a three-week push to highlight the benefits of infrastructure investments in local communities by awarding nearly $300 million to help repair or replace more than a dozen bridges across the country.Events in four states on Thursday will mark the end of the beginning phase of a more expansive White House push heading into President Joe Biden’s expected 2024 reelection race to remind voters of his accomplishments.During the administration’s “Investing in America” tour, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other officials held more than 50 events across 25 states at projects benefiting from the landmark infrastructure, climate and high-tech manufacturing laws passed during the Democratic president’s first two years in office.There will be much more talk about Biden’s record to come.“This is the focus of the next year-plus,” White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, who got the job in February with a mand...

Florida cleans up after deluge strands cars, closes airport

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — South Florida kept a wary eye on a forecast that called for rain Thursday, a day after nearly a foot (30 centimeters) fell in a matter of hours, causing widespread flooding, closing the Fort Lauderdale airport, and turning thoroughfares into rivers.Fort Lauderdale issued a state of emergency as flooding persisted in parts of the city. Emergency crews had worked through the night to attend rescue calls, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.Stranded cars littered streets around eastern Broward County, where rains started Monday, with the heaviest downpours coming Wednesday afternoon and evening. Crews worked to clear drains and fire up pumps to clear standing water. People were told to stay off roads until it drained.The Red Cross arrived at 5 a.m. Thursday and set up a staging area to help residents whose homes were flooded, providing them with blankets and coffee, officials said. The staging area also acted as a reunification point f...

Indonesia police kill 2 suspected Jemaah Islamiyah militants

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s counterterrorism police squad fatally shot two men suspected of ties to Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group blamed for a string of past bombings, police said Thursday.The two men, identified only by their initials, BA and ZK, were killed Wednesday in a shootout with police during a raid in Lampung, a province at the southern tip of Sumatra island, said Aswin Siregar, the spokesperson of the squad, known as Densus 88. An officer was seriously injured in the shootout and was hospitalized, he said.Siregar said at a news conference that the raid was part of a broader nationwide crackdown on Jemaah Islamiyah following tips that it is recruiting and training new members. The shadowy network is blamed for attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia, including the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The U.S. has designated it a terrorist group.Siregar said the two men were also accus...

Inside Canada’s Ozempic craze

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, if you’ve watched TV or attended a sporting event recently, chances are you’ve seen an ad for Ozempic.Originally created to treat Type-2 Diabetes, the drug is now most commonly used for weight loss, and it’s become so popular that some places in Canada have had to ban Americans from crossing the border to get it. And that isn’t the only controversy associated with the medication, which has intensified an age old debate about obesity, how it’s defined, and how doctors should treat it.Carly Weeks is a health reporter at The Globe and Mail, she joins us to explain some of the controversy surrounding Ozempic, and who can currently get access to the drug in Canada.“If we were talking about a medication that helped lower people’s blood pressure, I don’t think we’d see as much interest in the salacious coverage, as we’re seeing with Ozempic,” she said.So should insurance companies cover obesity and weight loss drugs? Should ...

China warns of rocket debris in area northeast of Taiwan

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s local maritime authorities have issued a warning for possible rocket debris in waters northeast of Taiwan, saying ships would be banned from entering the area on April 16.Southern Fujian province’s Maritime Safety Administration said that vessels would be prohibited from entering the waters from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on that day, according to a press release on Thursday.The announcement comes after China held large-scale military drills that formally ended Monday in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s transit visit last week to the United States, where she met U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California. Tensions remain high and China sent warplanes flying toward Taiwan more than 200 times over the weekend, while its navy ships circled the self-ruled island.The announcement designates a rectangular area northeast of Taiwan in the East China Sea. The notice sheds more light on the no-fly zone that China had warned it was setti...