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Bank of England keeps main UK interest rate at 15-year high of 5.25% and cautions over oil prices

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England kept its main interest rate unchanged on Thursday at the 15-year high of 5.25% and indicated that borrowing costs will likely remain at these sort of elevated levels for a while, especially if oil and gas prices increase sharply in light of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.In a statement, the bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee indicated that inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, is set to fall quite dramatically in the next month but will need time to get toward its 2% target rate over the coming year. “We’ve held rates unchanged this month, but we’ll be watching closely to see if further rate increases are needed,” Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said.Minutes to the meeting showed that three of the nine members of the policy committee backed a quarter-point increase to 5.5% in order to push down harder on the inflation rate, which stood at 6.7% in the year to September.In economic projections accompanying the dec...

Treasury Secretary Yellen calls for more US-Latin America trade, in part to lessen Chinese influence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants Latin America to trade more with the United States as part of an initiative that so far has failed to disrupt China’s dominance in global manufacturing.Still, U.S. efforts to diversify supply chains with “trusted partners and allies” including select South American nations have “tremendous potential benefits for fueling growth in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Yellen says in a prepared speech slated for delivery on Thursday. Yellen will kick off an Inter-American Development Bank investment event on the sidelines of the inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit, which will be hosted at the White House on Friday.The heads of state of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica will be in attendance for both events. Yellen, who regularly talks about her friendshoring strategy for increasing supply chain resilience by working primarily with friendly nations...

BCE reports Q3 profit down from a year ago, operating revenue edged higher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

MONTREAL — BCE Inc. reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as its revenue edged higher.The parent company of Bell Canada says it earned a profit attributable to common shareholders of $640 million or 70 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.The result compared with a profit of $715 million or 78 cents per share a year earlier.BCE reported operating revenue totalled $6.08 billion, up from $6.02 billion in the same quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 81 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from 88 cents per share a year ago.The average analyst estimate had been for an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share, based on estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)The Canadian Press

Millions more adults should be screened for lung cancer under new American Cancer Society guidelines

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

(The Hill) -- Nearly 5 million additional Americans should be screened for lung cancer, according to an updated guideline released Wednesday by the American Cancer Society (ACS). The update marks the first change to screening recommendations in a decade. The group now recommends annual screening with low-dose computed tomography for men and women between the ages of 50 and 80 who currently smoke or formerly smoked, with a 20-pack-year history. A pack-year is equal to smoking one pack, or about 20 cigarettes, per day for a year. For example, someone who smoked two packs a day for 10 years has a 20-pack-year history, as well as someone who smoked one pack a day for 20 years. A computed tomography scan uses X-rays to make detailed images of a person’s chest, including the lungs. It can help find abnormal areas in the lungs that may be cancer before they start causing any symptoms.The previous recommendation, from 2013, said screening should be for adults ages 55 to 74 with at least a 3...

Hundreds of Austin ISD students caught between a backlog and getting help

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Madalyn Betts has spent most of her life in special education classrooms, working through the challenges of having dyslexia, a speech impairment, and being on the autism spectrum. At 12, her aunt passed from a medical condition, and her grandmother died from coronavirus during the pandemic. Their deaths had a huge impact on Maddie. Her psychologist diagnosed her with social phobia and depression. She stopped going to Covington Middle School. Instead, she learned from her house as part of the Austin Independent School District homebound program. “Her anxiety popped up, and she was almost agoraphobic about going out,” Maddie’s mom Donna Betts said.  ‘She was struggling’: Austin ISD still working to finish delayed special education evaluations From home, the school’s special education services were inconsistent. State investigators with the Texas Education Agency found when Maddie was in seventh grade, the district violated special education requiremen...

UTMB researchers to use AI to study cultural barriers and cancer treatment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

GALVESTON, Texas (KXAN) – The University of Texas Medical Branch said Monday its researchers will study the social and cultural barriers patients face when getting cancer treatment. According to the UTMB announcement, its researchers along with those from Texas Southern University in Houston got a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to use human-centered artificial intelligence to study those barriers to diagnoses and treatment in the United States. Many Americans have social and cultural hurdles that prevent them from getting timely cancer diagnoses and effective treatments, the announcement said. It pointed to a lack of transportation preventing women from being regularly screened for breast cancer which can increase the risk of a late cancer diagnosis that can be difficult to treat.“Such social factors, also called social determinants of health, are well-known but have been difficult to analyze and interpret despite the use of powerful machine learning methods...

No. 4 Westlake goes for another perfect regular season Thursday vs. Buda Johnson

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The No. 4 Westlake Chaparrals are one win away from a fourth consecutive perfect regular season, and they'll try to complete the feat Thursday against Buda Johnson at Bob Shelton Stadium in the KBVO Game of the Week.The Chaps will advance to the Class 6A-Division I playoffs as the district's top seed regardless of Thursday's result against the Jaguars, but a Jags upset and a Bowie loss to Lake Travis would put Johnson in the postseason. Johnson and Bowie are tied for the fourth playoff spot out of the district at 4-3. If both lose and end up 4-4, Bowie would get the nod to the playoffs via a 21-16 win Oct. 12.REPORT YOUR SCORE: We'd love to post your team's score on our website, but we need your help to do it. Email the score of your game to [email protected] and we'll get it on our websiteChaps senior running back Jack Kayser needed just three carries to rush for 94 yards in a 62-0 win over Bowie last week. Kayser scored on runs of 58 and 37 yards before calling it a ...

Mohonasen students honor classmate with custom parking spot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Painting a parking spot at the Mohonasen High School parking lot is a senior tradition. It's a tradition that seniors this year decided to do in memory of one of their former classmates.Maddie would have been 16 this year, participating in the senior festivities. At age five, the kindergartener was diagnosed with an inoperable brain stem tumor. Maddie's mom, Erin Musto, says she lives with grief every day after losing her daughter. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Maddie's classmates remembered their friend this year by painting a parking spot in Maddie’s honor. Grace MacTurk, a senior and friend of the family, organized the act of kindness.“It’s important that she's remembered and she isn’t here to do it herself, so I think I wanted to be able to do it for her,” said Grace. Cosmetology teacher giving Albany students the hot tools to succeed Erin said, "I think one of the most special pieces ...

Crews responding to vacant house fire in north St. Louis City

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Crews are responding to a vacant house fire Thursday morning in St. Louis City. Our Bommarito Automotive Group SkyFOX helicopter is flying over the area located on the 5200 block of Palm in the Kingsway West neighborhood, where heavy smoke can be seen shooting from the roof. The St. Louis Fire Department is transitioning into 'defensive operations' as one firefighter was escorted out of the building and is being treated by EMS. Florida kidnapping victims rescued from downtown St. Louis hotel The extent of the injuries has not been revealed and the cause of the fire has not yet been reported. FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

Colorado consumers charge ahead with electric and hybrid vehicle purchases this year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:10:20 GMT

Nearly one in four new vehicles registered in Colorado this year is either battery-electric, hybrid-electric, or hybrid, according to data released by the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association.Electric battery-powered vehicles accounted for 11.2% of all vehicle registrations in Colorado through Sept. 30 this year, up from 7.8% of the total in the same period of 2022. Hybrid vehicles accounted for a 9.2% market share, up from 7.3%. Plug-in hybrid vehicles remain a sliver of the market at 3.3%, up from 2.3%.Combined that works out to nearly 36,500 vehicles or 23.7% of all registrations in the first nine months of the year. The momentum toward electric accelerated in the past three months. In the third quarter, electric vehicles accounted for 13% of all vehicle registrations in Colorado, up from 10.2% in the second, according to the Colorado Auto Outlook.The Polis administration wants the state to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2030. To help make that happen, the s...