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Eligible electric and plug-in vehicle buyers will get US tax credits immediately in 2024

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Starting next year, people who want to buy a new or used electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle will be able to get U.S. government income tax credits at the time of purchase.Eligible buyers, including those that bought an EV or hybrid this year, have had to wait until they filed their federal income tax returns to actually get the benefits. The Treasury Department says the near-instant credits of $7,500 for an eligible new vehicle and $4,000 for a qualifying used vehicle should lower purchasing costs for consumers and help car dealers by boosting EV sales.Under the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the credits, buyers can transfer the credits to dealers, which can apply them at the point of sale starting Jan. 1. Plus, the government says people can get the full credits from dealers regardless of how much they owe in federal taxes.The vehicles have to qualify under guidelines spelled out in the law, and buyers’ incomes have to fall below limits. Dealers have t...

Toronto police to update missing elderly woman last seen in Midtown

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

Toronto police are set to provide an update in the search for an elderly woman with dementia who has been missing for a week.Investigators say 76-year-old Tulip was last seen around 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 29 in the area of Mount Pleasant Road and Eglinton Avenue East. Police are concerned for her safety.“Tulip lives with dementia. Please check your backyards, property, stairwells, undergrounds, and sheds,” Toronto police wrote on X.She is described as a Black woman between five feet six and five feet seven inches tall, with a thin build, short grey hair, missing top teeth, and a mole on her forehead.Police said she may have dropped a long black coat and may travel on public transit.A command post has been moved to Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery near Mount Pleasant Road and Eglinton Avenue East.Insp. Chris McCann is expected to provide an update in the area at 10 a.m.

Puerto Rican man who bred dogs for illegal fighting for decades sentenced to 7 years in prison

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A man who bred dogs for fighting for decades, selling them worldwide and exhibiting “extraordinary cruelty,” was sentenced to seven years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.Antonio Casillas Montero owned Stone City Kennels in Puerto Rico and had been accused of conspiring to violate the Animal Welfare Act. He pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced in late September.Authorities said he ran his business for more than 35 years, with dogs participating in more than 150 fights in countries including the United States, Mexico, Ecuador and Peru.“The government has not found a comparable case of someone with as many dogfights for as many years as Mr. Casillas,” prosecutors said during sentencing.Authorities accused Casillas of letting dogs die from their injuries instead of removing them from fights, which sometimes lasted more than an hour. In addition, dogs seized from his property had pustules, fungus, were limping and had jaw clamping, a...

A Hong Kong man gets 4 months in prison for importing children’s books deemed to be seditious

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong man was sentenced to four months in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to importing children’s books that were deemed to be “seditious publications.”Kurt Leung, a 38-year-old clerk, was sentenced after he admitted to importing 18 children’s books featuring wolves and sheep. He was arrested in March after he signed for a delivery from the U.K. containing the books.The books feature sheep that lived in a village and had to defend themselves against wolves. In the series of books, the sheep take action such as going on strike or escaping by boat, which are said to allude to incidents such as the 2019 anti-government protests and the detention of the 12 Hong Kongers who attempted to escape by sea.Authorities say that the books are an attempt at inciting hatred in young children and stirring up contempt against the government in Hong Kong and mainland China.The sedition offence, which is a colonial-era law that carries a maximum penalty of up to two years’...

Stock market today: US futures tumbles after yet another strong US jobs report

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street quickly reversed course Friday after the government reported twice as many job gains as expected, Futures for the Dow fell 1.1% and futures for the S&P 500 tumbled 0.9% before the bell.The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added 336,000 jobs in September more than double the 163,000 analysts were expecting. August and July job gains were revised upward by a combined 119,000. The economy has now added a healthy average of 266,000 jobs a month in the past three months. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at a healthy 3.8%.Combined with strong reports on job openings and unemployment benefits applications this week, all signs point to a labor market that has largely been unaffected by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hiking campaign.Job openings tend to rise in an environment where workers can quit their current jobs because there are better offers out there.That suggests companies are paying more to lure workers, whic...

Ex-lover of Spain’s former king loses $153 million harassment lawsuit in London court

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Former Spanish King Juan Carlos I won his London court battle Friday with an ex-lover who had sought 126 million pounds ($153 million) in damages for allegedly being harassed and spied on by him after their breakup.Danish socialite and businessperson Corinna Larsen, also known as Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, said the former monarch caused her “great mental pain” by orchestrating threats and ordering unlawful covert and overt surveillance of her. Larsen was Juan Carlos’ mistress from 2004 to 2009, the court said. Juan Carlos, 85, who abdicated in 2014, denied wrongdoing and disputed the allegations, arguing that an English court didn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case because he doesn’t live in Britain. He has a home in Spain but currently lives in Abu Dhabi.High Court Justice Rowena Collins Rice threw out the lawsuit after agreeing with the king. She added that Larsen, who owns homes in England, had not adequately shown the harassment occurred here, which could...

Woman arrested after gunshots fired in Connecticut police station. Bulletproof glass stopped them

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — A woman is under arrest after she fired several gunshots inside a Connecticut police station, local police said Friday.The shooting happened just after 10:30 p.m. Thursday when a woman entered the lobby of the Bristol Police Department and fired several shots at the front desk window, the department said in a news release.The front desk was unoccupied and the gunshots did not penetrate the window’s bullet-resistant glass, police said.Officers responded and tried to negotiate with the woman, but she fired more shots toward them, again stopped by bulletproof glass, the statement said. One officer shot back at her. She put her gun down and officers used a stun gun to subdue her. She was arrested and taken to a hospital for evaluation.The Connecticut State Police and the Inspector General’s Office are investigating the incident, Bristol police said. The woman’s name was not immediately released, and no charges were announced.Bristol police asked a...

Kosovo-Serbia tension threatens the Balkan path to EU integration, Germany’s foreign minister warns

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister on Friday expressed the European Union’s deep concerns following the recent shootout between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police that left four people dead and sent tensions soaring in the region. Annalena Baerbock was in Tirana, Albania at a foreign ministers’ meeting ahead of the Oct. 16 summit on the Berlin Process, an initiative from Germany and France to encourage six Western Balkans countries to keep working toward membership in the bloc. The top diplomats of the six countries — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — are meeting with Baerbock, EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi and other senior EU officials. “The foundation for mobility in the region is security and safety,” Baerbock said ahead of the meeting, adding that “tensions within the last days between Serbia and Kosovo are also endangering this Berlin Process.”“The key to resolving the conflict is in Belgrade and Pristin...

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for September, by Canadian city

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

OTTAWA — The national unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent in September. Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities. It cautions, however, that the figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples. Here are the jobless rates last month by city (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ St. John’s, N.L. 6.6 per cent (6.1)_ Halifax 7.1 per cent (7.1)_ Moncton, N.B. 5.7 per cent (5.5)_ Saint John, N.B. 6.6 per cent (6.2)_ Saguenay, Que. 3.9 per cent (4.4)_ Quebec City 2.9 per cent (3.2)_ Sherbrooke, Que. 3.5 per cent (3.1)_ Trois-Rivières, Que. 4.0 per cent (4.0)_ Montreal 5.2 per cent (5.1)_ Gatineau, Que. 4.2 per cent (4.5)_ Ottawa 5.1 per cent (4.9)_ Kingston, Ont. 4.2 per cent (3.9)_ Belleville, Ont. 9.8 per cent (10.5)_ Peterborough, Ont. 2.4 per cent (4.0)_ Oshawa, Ont. 5.8 per cent (5.1)_ Toronto 6.5 per cent (6.5)_ Hamilton, Ont. 5.5 per cent (5.3)_ St. Catharines-N...

Here’s a quick glance at unemployment rates for September, by province

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:38:02 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s national unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent in September. Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):_ Newfoundland and Labrador 9.7 per cent (8.9)_ Prince Edward Island 6.3 per cent (7.6)_ Nova Scotia 6.9 per cent (7.0)_ New Brunswick 7.2 per cent (7.7)_ Quebec 4.4 per cent (4.3)_ Ontario 6.0 per cent (5.9)_ Manitoba 5.0 per cent (5.7)_ Saskatchewan 4.9 per cent (5.4)_ Alberta 5.7 per cent (5.7)_ British Columbia 5.4 per cent (5.2)This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.The Canadian Press