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Slovakia’s central bank chief fined for bribery, faces trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — The head of Slovakia’s central bank, who is a member of the European Central Bank committee that decides monetary policy for 20 countries, was convicted Thursday of bribery and fined 100,000 euros ($110,000).The country’s Special Criminal Court handed National Bank of Slovakia Gov. Peter Kazimir a two-year suspended sentence, said Katarina Kudjakova, a spokesperson for the court. Not paying the fine would mean jail time.The verdict was issued without a trial, however, and the state prosecution service appealed it shortly afterward, sending the case back to court. Kazimir also could appeal.Kazimir is accused of handing a bribe of 48,000 euros ($53,000) to the head of the country’s tax office related to a tax investigation of private companies, but few details were available because there was no trial.Kazimir didn’t immediately comment, but he previously denied any wrongdoing.President Zuzana Caputova said Kazimir should consider resigning, and Prime ...

Amazon’s Jassy says AI will be a ‘big deal’ for company

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon CEO Andy Jassy signaled confidence that the company will get costs under control in his annual shareholder letter, where he also noted the tech giant was “spending heavily” on AI tools that have gained popularity in recent months. In the letter, Jassy described 2022 as “one of the harder macroeconomic years in recent memory” and detailed the steps Amazon had taken to trim costs, such as shuttering its health care initiative Amazon Care and some stores across the country. The company had also slashed 27,000 corporate roles since the fall, marking the biggest rounds of layoffs in its history.“There are a number of other changes that we’ve made over the last several months to streamline our overall costs, and like most leadership teams, we’ll continue to evaluate what we’re seeing in our business and proceed adaptively,” Jassy wrote.The company’s profitable cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services also faces “short-term headwinds right now,” despite growing 29% y...

Youth records in mainly Black Louisiana areas may go public

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As public frustration over Louisiana’s violent crime grows, Republican gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Jeff Landry is backing legislation that would make certain confidential juvenile court records public in three of the state’s parishes, all of which are predominately Black.Advocates for incarcerated youths oppose the bill with some calling it blatantly racist. They fear it would have detrimental generational effects on juvenile delinquents, some of who have not been convicted of a violent crime but simply accused of one. The advocates argue that making records public defeats one major purpose of the state’s juvenile system — rehabilitation into the community — and would risk their opportunities for employment, education and housing.“You have a (teenager) whose brain is not fully developed and who has made a mistake. And 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now, they still aren’t able to put that behind them,” Kristen Rome, the co-executive director of L...

Teck Resources board rejects latest Glencore takeover bid, updates own proposal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

VANCOUVER — Teck Resources Ltd.’s board of directors has rejected the latest takeover offer from Swiss company Glencore as it updates the terms of its own restructuring proposal. The Canadian mining company said Thursday the revised offer from the mining giant is not in the best interest of shareholders.Teck said its board and management team remain committed to its plan announced in February to split up its metal and steelmaking coal businesses into two companies, Teck Metals and Elk Valley Resources. The company updated the proposal Thursday to allow for an earlier split of the two companies, and to cap the spending of its spun-off coal division to maximize free cash flow.Glencore revised its unsolicited offer for Teck earlier this week to include an US$8.2-billion cash component. The proposal would see Teck shareholders receive 24 per cent of the combined metals company and cash. Teck called the Glencore offer “opportunistic and unrealistic.”Teck board chair She...

Cyberattack knocks out website and mobile app for Quebec’s hydro utility

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec’s power utility says its website and mobile application have been knocked offline by a cyberattack.Hydro-Québec says it was targeted at around 3 a.m. by a denial-of-service assault — when attackers flood an internet server with traffic and overwhelm it. The utility says the attack has shut down its website and cellphone application but says its critical systems are not affected. Hydro also says there was no data breach and personal data was not compromised.In recent days, Canadian websites have been targeted by cyberattacks with pro-Russian groups claiming responsibility.Targets included websites for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Port of Québec and Laurentian Bank.As of 10:30 a.m. neither Hydro-Québec’s website nor its mobile app were operational. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2023.The Canadian Press

Jonathan Toews' time with the Blackhawks is done

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

CHICAGO - A memorable and historic run for one of the best players in Blackhawks' history has come to an end with the franchise.On Thursday morning, the team announced that they will not be re-signing captain Jonathan Toews this offseason as his contract expires. The Blackhawks face the Flyers in their 2022-2023 regular season finale on Thursday at the United Center. "I've had a number of conversations with Jonathan throughout the season about his future with the Blackhawks, and recently, we had the difficult conversation that we won't be resigning him this offseason," said general manager Kyle Davidson in a statement on Thursday morning. "Tonight will be his final game as a Blackhawk, and it was very important to us to provide the proper send off to Jonathan and our fans."He has done so much for our organization, and no matter where he plays next, we're excited our fans get the chance to show Jonathan exactly how much he means to them." Jonathan Toews discusses his future as he r...

Missing 65-year-old man safely located in Skokie

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

SKOKIE, Ill. — A man was safely located after he was reported missing in Skokie Wednesday.

Dean speaks with screenwriter of 'Air'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

Dean speaks with the screenwriter of 'Air,' where Sonny Vaccaro and Nike pursue basketball rookie Michael Jordan, creating a partnership that revolutionizes the world of sports and contemporary culture.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

Dean's Streaming Picks: 'Penguin'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

Dean Richards shares his picks for new streaming offers this week.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

$2 billion CTA Red and Purple modernization project is underway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:02 GMT

CHICAGO — Construction crews will descend on the Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) Red and Purple Line tracks in the city's Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods later this year.They will be working to remove "nearly all of the century-old embankment structure and walls" between W. Lawrence and W. Ardmore avenues, creating more than one-mile of open space underneath the lines, according to a press release from the CTA. Jonathan Toews’ time with the Blackhawks is done The $2.1 billion project is the largest capital improvement project in CTA history, according to the project's website. The work highlighted Thursday is part of phase one, with multiple phases set to take place. Phase one construction is scheduled to run through 2025.CTA leaderships plans to discuss the launch of the modernization project at a Thursday morning press conference.WGN plans to livestream the event in its entirety within this story beginning at approximately 10 a.m.