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Fall abortion battle propels huge early voter turnout for an Ohio special election next week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A hastily called summer special election over a Republican-pushed measure that would make it harder for Ohio voters to pass future constitutional amendments, including one on the November ballot to guarantee abortion rights, has driven off-the-charts early turnout before Tuesday’s final day of voting.Early turnout has been so heavy that some election offices are straining to manage the load and trying to recruit additional poll workers.“This is gubernatorial-level turnout,” said Regine Johnson, deputy director of the board of elections in Stark County. As of Thursday, the board was about 100 volunteers short of the number it targeted as the minimum to be fully staffed.The early signs of a highly motivated electorate follows robust turnout in a handful of other states where voters have affirmed abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a little over a year ago.Issue 1, the question before Ohio voters on Tuesday, was placed on the ballot...

Telus announces 6,000-person layoff after Q2 saw 61% drop in net income

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

VANCOUVER — Telus Corp. says it is cutting 6,000 jobs.The Vancouver-based telecommunications company says the cut includes 4,000 workers at its main Telus business and another 2,000 at Telus International.The company also says it will offer early retirement and voluntary departure packages.Financial markets data firm Refinitiv says Telus had 108,500 workers at the end of last year.Plans to reduce its workforce were announced at the same time as the company revealed its second-quarter net income fell almost 61 per cent from the same period last year to $196 million. The company’s net income amounted to 14 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30 compared with 34 cents per share in the same quarter a year earlierThis report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:T)The Canadian Press

US employers add a still-solid 187,000 jobs in June; unemployment dips to 3.5%

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added 187,000 last month, fewer than expected, as the higher interest rates continued to weigh on the economy. But the unemployment rate dipped to 3.5% in a sign that the job market remains resilient.Hiring was up from 185,000 in June, a figure that the Labor Department revised down from an originally reported 209,000. Economists had expected to see 200,000 new jobs in July.Still last month’s hiring was solid, considering that the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest 11 times since March 2022. And the Fed’s inflation fighters will welcome news that more Americans entered the job market last month, easing pressure on employers to raise wages to attract and keep staff.The U.S. economy and job market have repeatedly defied predictions of an impending recession. Increasingly, economists are expressing confidence that inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve can pull off a rare “soft landing’’ – raising interest rates just enough...

National employment numbers for July from Statistics Canada, at a glance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

OTTAWA — A quick look at Canada’s July employment (numbers from the previous month in brackets):Unemployment rate: 5.5 per cent (5.4)Employment rate: 62.0 per cent (62.2)Participation rate: 65.6 per cent (65.7)Number unemployed: 1,166,800 (1,147,100)Number working: 20,166,400 (20,172,800)Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate: 10.2 per cent (11.5)Men (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.6 per cent (4.4)Women (25 plus) unemployment rate: 4.8 per cent (4.4)This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2023.The Canadian Press

FBI gives lie-detector tests to family of missing Wisconsin boy James Yoblonski

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The FBI is helping to look for a 13-year-old Wisconsin boy who disappeared in June, with investigators giving lie-detector tests to relatives and others, a sheriff’s detective said.James Yoblonski’s father reported him missing June 12 from the family’s home in Reedsburg, about 45 miles northwest of Madison. About three hours before William Yoblonski reported his son missing, a sheriff’s deputy had found the family’s van abandoned in the nearby town of Sumpter.James Yoblonski had taken his father’s cellphone, and a ping led sheriff’s deputies to search an area around Devil’s Lake State Park, in the same general area. They found a makeshift campsite they believe the boy used. His devices showed searches earlier this year about how to travel out of state.Sgt. Drew Bulin, a detective with the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office, told WiscNews on Thursday that the FBI joined the search about two weeks ago. Bureau investi...

Telus says it is cutting 6,000 jobs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

Telus Corp. says it is cutting 6,000 jobs.Telus, the Vancouver-based telecommunications company, says the cut includes 4,000 workers at its main Telus business and another 2,000 at Telus International.The company also says it will offer early retirement and voluntary departure packages.Financial markets data firm Refinitiv says Telus had 108,500 workers at the end of last year.Plans to reduce its workforce were announced at the same time as the company revealed its second-quarter net income fell almost 61 per cent from the same period last year to $196 million.The company’s net income amounted to 14 cents per share for the quarter ended on June 30, compared with 34 cents per share in the same quarter a year earlier.

AP Election Brief | What to expect in Ohio’s special election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The battle over abortion rights looms over an Ohio ballot measure that will be put to voters statewide on Tuesday.Known simply as Issue 1, the proposal would raise the threshold needed to amend the state’s constitution from a simple majority of the state’s voters to 60%. It would also increase the petitioning requirements to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.Although the text of the proposal does not specifically address abortion, the issue has quickly become a proxy for the nationwide debate over reproductive rights that was reignited last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.The stakes for both sides grew in July when state officials announced that a separate ballot measure that would establish “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in the state constitution had gathered enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. At issue is whether that proposed amendment would require a simple maj...

Lithuania declares more than 1,000 Belarusians and Russians to be national security risks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania declared more than a thousand citizens of Russia and Belarus living in the country to be threats to national security on Friday and said it was stripping them of their permanent residency permits.The decision comes after the government asked the Russians and Belarusians to answer a questionnaire that included questions about their views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the status of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.Lithuania, a Baltic nation that declared its independence from the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago, is a democracy that belongs to NATO and the European Union. It has been a strong backer of Ukraine and also a place of refuge in recent years for many who have fled an authoritarian crackdown in neighboring Belarus and increased repression in Russia.The Migration Department said Friday that it had established that 1,164 Belarusian and Russian citizens residing in Lithuania posed a threat to nat...

Japan’s Kishida hopes to further strengthen strategic cooperation with US and South Korea at summit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday he hopes to discuss further strengthening of three-way strategic cooperation with leaders of the United States and South Korea at a summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden at Camp David later this month. The Aug. 18 summit with Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is the first stand-alone summit among leaders of the three countries, not in connection with international meetings. The summit is also the latest sign of warming ties between Tokyo and Seoul. Both governments have moved to set aside decades-long tensions over wartime history, while Washington seeks to deepen its commitment in the Indo-Pacific region. “I have high hopes that this summit meeting will further strengthen the foundation for strengthening ties with the United States and South Korea, which have been built up through multi-layered efforts including at the summit level,” Kishida said, responding to a question about the summit, during a news...

U.N. group says people abused by late Japanese boy band producer deserve apologies and compensation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:39:00 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The men who came forward to allege they were sexually abused as teenagers by Japanese boy band producer Johnny Kitagawa now have a powerful listener: the United Nations.Damilola Olawuyi, chair of the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, told reporters Friday the number of victims may total several hundred, and he accused Japan’s mainstream media of standing silent about the alleged abuse for decades.Olawuyi raised serious questions about the sincerity of the response from the talent agency Kitagawa founded, Johnny & Associates. He urged other entertainment industry players to carry out a “transparent and legitimate investigation with a clear timeline.”Junya Hiramoto, one of seven men who talked with Olawuyi’s team, was moved to tears by the U.N. official’s remarks. “I felt our message had been clearly relayed,” he said. “They gave me such courage.”Pichamon Yeophantong, a fellow member of the U.N. group who appeared with Olawuyi at the Japan N...