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McDonald’s pumps brakes on prices as US traffic falls slightly, but Q3 sales beat expectations

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

McDonald’s said it’s pumping the brakes on higher prices and focusing more on value meals after seeing a drop-off in visits by some customers.The burger giant reported better-than-expected sales in the third quarter Monday. Global same-store sales — or sales at locations open at least a year — rose 8.8% in the July-September period. That was ahead of Wall Street’s forecast of an 8% increase, according to analysts polled by FactSet. But price increases have weighed on customers. McDonald’s said its U.S. traffic fell slightly in the third quarter as it saw fewer visits from customers with annual incomes of $45,000 or less.Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said the company did increase U.S. prices in the third quarter but at a lower rate. McDonald’s expects its U.S. prices will increase just over 10% for the full year, he said.“Inflation is starting to come down and we expect pricing to come down,” Borden said during a conference call with investors.But t...

A former British cyberespionage agency employee gets life in prison for stabbing an American spy

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A former British cyberespionage employee who had become angry and resentful toward his agency’s work was sentenced Monday to life in prison for attempted murder in the vicious stabbing of an American intelligence worker assigned to the U.K.Joshua Bowles, 29, punched the woman and knifed her repeatedly in what was called a “politically motivated” attack as she left a gym March 9 in the western England town of Cheltenham, which is home to the U.K.’s electronic spy agency, Government Communications Headquarters, better known as GCHQ.“I’ve just tried to kill her,” Bowles said, according to Steve Bunn, who helped stop the attack. “It’s … good … I didn’t have a gun, isn’t it? I make a pretty (expletive) terrorist, don’t I?”Bowles will serve at least 13 years in prison before any chance at early release.The woman, identified in court only by a code number, 99230, worked for the National Security Agency, which spies on electronic communications for the ...

Book Review: ‘The Warped Side of Our Universe’ a novel look at secrets of cosmos

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

Black holes, wormholes and other mysteries of the universe are so firmly embedded in popular culture — from Carl Sagan’s “Contact” to Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” — that readers with no scientific background have some images in mind when the concepts are mentioned. But in “The Warped Side of Our Universe: An Odyssey Through Black Holes, Wormholes, Time Travel, and Gravitational Waves,” physicist Kip Thorne and artist Lia Halloran find a novel approach to exploring these topics in startling detail. The collaboration between the two is just as fascinating as the book itself. Thorne is among three astrophysicists who won the Nobel prize in physics in 2017 for their research into gravitational waves. For the past 13 years he and Halloran have partnered on this book as a way to explain the research that has helped shed light on the far reaches the universe.Written in verse form, Thorne’s writing is perfectly complemented by Halloran’s vivid illustrations in ...

Poilievre calls on Liberals to exempt all forms of home heating from carbon price

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberals to exempt all forms of home heating from the carbon price, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an exemption on home heating oil.The federal government announced last week it is increasing the carbon price rebate for rural Canadians and lifting the carbon price off home heating oil entirely for the next three years.The changes come as affordability concerns leave their party flailing in the polls in Atlantic Canada.Poilievre wrote a letter to Trudeau on Sunday urging the Liberals to expand the exemption to all forms of home heating, including natural gas which is more common in Western Canada.In an interview with CTV News on the weekend, Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings said the Liberals’ Atlantic caucus pushed for the changes to home heating oil.Hutchings suggested that perhaps Prairie provinces should elect more Liberals to push for exemptions that affect constituents in thos...

Financial and tech stocks boost S&P/TSX composite, U.S. stock markets also up

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

TORONTO — Strength in financial and technology stocks helped lift Canada’s main stock index in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.The S&P/TSX composite index was up 28.81 points at 18,766.20.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 282.79 points at 32,700.38. The S&P 500 index was up 19.25 points at 4,136.62, while the Nasdaq composite was up 64.93 points at 12,707.94.The Canadian dollar traded for 72.25 cents US compared with 72.17 cents US on Friday.The December crude contract was down US$2.87 at US$82.67 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was down 14 cents at US$3.34 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was up US$7.60 at US$2,006.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up two cents at US$3.66 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) The Canadian Press

Teck Resources president and COO Harry Conger to retire Wednesday

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

VANCOUVER — Teck Resources Ltd. says Harry (Red) Conger will retire as president and chief operating officer, effective Wednesday.He is also expected to step down from Teck’s board of directors at the same time.Teck says chief executive Jonathan Price will assume the role of president, while a search will be conducted to fill the chief operating officer job.Conger joined Teck in September 2020 as executive vice-president and chief operating officer.He was promoted to president and chief operating officer in September 2022. The move comes as Teck continues to review options for its steelmaking coal business.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:TECK.B)The Canadian Press

Authorities say Puerto Rico policeman suspected in slaying of elderly couple has killed himself

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Puerto Rican police officer identified as the suspect in the gruesome slaying of an elderly couple that shocked the U.S. territory killed himself early Monday, authorities said.José Miguel Centeno Sánchez worked at a police station in the northwest town of Aguadilla and had been hired by the couple as a handyman, Police Commissioner Antonio López said in a news conference.López said Centeno died by suicide around dawn on Monday when officers arrived at his home to serve a search warrant.“For us, Centeno Sánchez was never a real police officer, and does not represent any of our more than 11,000 police officers committed to protecting the life and property of our citizens,” López said.The couple slain earlier this month in the northwest coastal town of Isabela was identified as Idelfonso Janeiro Rodríguez, 83, and Angélica Adorno Cruzado, 77. Authorities said they were bound, gagged and shot in the head, adding that they suspected robbery as the motive.A...

Bangladesh’s ruling party holds rally to denounce ‘violent opposition protests’ ahead of elections

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of supporters of Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party held a rally in the capital, Dhaka, Monday to denounce what they called violence by the main opposition party as tensions soar ahead of the elections expected in January. Since Saturday, at least four people — including a policeman — were killed and hundreds injured after clashes erupted during anti-government protests. At least 1,000 people were arrested — among them, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a key opposition figure from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia which called for Saturday’s rally. Protesters called for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the transfer of power to a non-partisan caretaker government to oversee the general elections. Zia’s party called for a nationwide strike Sunday and later called for three days of road and transportation blockades starting Tuesday across the country to protest police action and ar...

Outraised and embattled, Lauren Boebert heads back to Colorado with a revamped campaign strategy

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

PAGOSA SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Retreating from the turmoil in Washington, D.C., Rep. Lauren Boebert arrived in bucolic southwest Colorado to turmoil of a different sort — the lingering impact of an embarrassing moment when she was caught on tape vaping and groping with a date during a musical production of “Beetlejuice.”The scandal threw a wrench into an already tough reelection bid. After Beobert won her last race by just 546 votes, she began revamping her campaign strategy. It now includes apologies to voters at campaign events for an episode that has rattled even loyal Republicans.“Most of us were like ‘holy cow,’” said Beverly Cuyler, a long-time Boebert supporter. “And one of the big reasons for that is a gap between how she presented herself as a Christian and what ended up happening.”Expected to face a rematch with Democrat Adam Frisch, in a race that could determine which party controls Congress, Boebert tackled the embarrassment head-on at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Arch...

A ferry that ran aground repeatedly off the Swedish coast is leaking oil and is extensively damaged

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:59:25 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A ferry that ran aground off southeastern Sweden was leaking oil into the Baltic Sea and suffered “extensive damage,” a spokesman for the Swedish Coast Guard said Monday.On Oct. 22, the Marco Polo, operated by TT-Line of Germany, was running between two Swedish ports, Trelleborg and Karlshamn when it touched ground, sustained damage and started leaking. It continued under its own power before grounding a second time. The 75 people on board, both passengers and crew, were quickly evacuated. The ferry took on water but was not at risk of sinking.The accident released a slick of fuel which reached eventually the shores near Solvesborg, some 110 kilometers (68 miles) northeast of Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city. Swedish media carried photos of birds being partly covered in oil.Initially, the plan was to pump out the remaining oil from the ferry. However, that plan was thwarted Sunday when the ferry slipped off the ground ​because of severe weather, the Swedish coast ...