• News
    BBC

    Nigeria's fuel subsidy: How the new president has shocked the nation

    Bola Tinubu has picked his first big fight with trade unions by deciding to scrap fuel subsidies.

  • News
    BBC

    The untold tale of America's first spelling bee victor

    Marie Bolden, a black teenager, won the first US spelling bee in 1908. Her win was eclipsed by racism.

  • News
    BBC

    US actor Danny Masterson found guilty on two rape counts

    Three women said the actor sexually assaulted them at his Hollywood home between 2001-03.

  • News
    The Canadian Press

    NASA talks UFOs with public ahead of final report on unidentified flying objects

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA held its first public meeting on UFOs on Wednesday a year after launching a study into unexplained sightings and insisted it's not hiding anything. The space agency televised the four-hour hearing featuring an independent panel of experts who vowed to be transparent. The team includes 16 scientists and other experts selected by NASA including retired astronaut Scott Kelly, the first American to spend nearly a year in space. “I want to emphasize this loud and prou

  • News
    The Canadian Press

    California advances fentanyl bills focused on prevention, increased penalties

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers have advanced more than a dozen bills aiming to address the fentanyl crisis, including some that would impose harsher prison sentences for dealers, ahead of a critical deadline this week. Legislators in the Assembly and Senate debated measures on Wednesday as they tried to wrap up several hundred pieces of legislation before Friday — the last day a bill can pass out of its original chamber and get a chance to become law later this year. Fentanyl ove

  • News
    The Canadian Press

    Former 'Family Feud' contestant Timothy Bliefnick guilty in wife's slaying

    QUINCY, Ill. (AP) — A jury Wednesday convicted a former contestant on the television game show “Family Feud” of first-degree murder and home invasion in the slaying of his estranged wife in western Illinois. Timothy Bliefnick, 40, was found guilty in the Feb. 23 shooting death of Rebecca Bliefnick. The Adams County Circuit Court jury in Quincy deliberated about four hours after Timothy Bliefnick did not testify and the defense did not call any evidence. Adams County sheriff's deputies took Blief

  • Business
    The Canadian Press

    Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs says in lawsuit that spirits giant Diageo neglected his vodka and tequila brands

    Rapper, producer and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs sued Diageo Wednesday, saying the spirits company didn’t make promised investments in his vodka and tequila brands and treated them as inferior “urban” products. The lawsuit, filed with the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, says Diageo North America starved Combs’ Ciroc vodka and DeLeon tequila brands of resources even as it showered attention on other celebrity brands. Diageo bought actor George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila brand for $1 bil

  • Sports
    BBC

    MS Dhoni: How a 41-year-old superstar is reshaping Twenty20 captaincy

    Is captaining an IPL team better left to the veterans who can see a fast-changing game from all angles?

  • Health
    BBC

    Every Canadian cigarette will soon carry a health warning

    Canada will be the first country to have warning labels on the tipping paper of individual cigarettes.

  • News
    BBC

    Warhammer: Royal Mail issues stamps to mark game's 40th anniversary

    Warhammer is a fantasy theme game, described as "a British institution and a global success".

  • Politics
    The Canadian Press

    House on track to raise debt ceiling and avert default, with Biden and McCarthy confident of passage

    WASHINGTON (AP) — To avert a dangerous U.S. default, the House was heading toward approval of a debt ceiling and budget cuts package late Wednesday, as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans against fierce conservative blowback and progressive dissent. The hard-fought deal pleased few, but lawmakers assessed it was better than the alternative, a devastating economic upheaval if Congress failed to act. Tensions rose wh

  • Business
    The Canadian Press

    Federal Reserve likely to skip interest rate hike at its next meeting in June, hike later

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Leading Federal Reserve officials are sending out stronger signals that they will forego an interest rate increase at the central bank's next meeting in June, though they indicate hikes could resume later this year. “Skipping a rate hike at a coming meeting would allow (Fed policymakers) to see more data before making decisions” about whether to further increase rates, said Fed Governor Philip Jefferson in a speech Wednesday. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker made simil

  • Business
    The Canadian Press

    Corporate Amazon workers protest company’s climate impact and return-to-office mandate in walkout

    SEATTLE (AP) — Telling executives to “strive harder,” hundreds of corporate Amazon workers protested what they decried as the company's lack of progress on climate goals and an inequitable return-to-office mandate during a lunchtime demonstration at its Seattle headquarters Wednesday. The protest came a week after Amazon's annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect returning workers to the office three days per week. Previously, team leaders were allowed to determine how t

  • News
    BBC

    CBI boss admits vote on plans to change 'critical'

    Rain Newton-Smith says a vote on the CBI's plans to change is "critical" for its future.

  • News
    The Canadian Press

    Family: Sisters among 4 missing boaters after vessel found partially submerged in Alaska

    JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two vacationing couples — including sisters — and a fishing boat captain were on a charter boat found partially submerged in southeast Alaska over the weekend amid rough seas, family members said Wednesday. The 30-foot (9-meter) aluminum charter vessel was overdue Sunday evening and last seen earlier that day near Sitka, a community about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Juneau, according to the Coast Guard. Crews later found the boat off an island about 10 miles (16

  • Business
    BBC

    Amazon staff protest climate record and office return

    Organisers say more than 1,000 staff participated in the protest on Wednesday.

  • News
    BBC

    Health alert system aims to cut heatwave deaths

    The aim is to protect the most vulnerable as high temperatures become more common due to climate change.

  • Politics
    BBC

    US presidential election 2024: Trump's top Republican challengers

    The former president could face a stiff challenge for his party's 2024 presidential nomination.

  • News
    The Canadian Press

    ‘That ‘70s Show’ star Danny Masterson found guilty of 2 rape counts, is led from court in handcuffs

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — “That '70s Show” star Danny Masterson was led out in handcuffs from a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday and could get 30 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty on two of three counts of rape at his second trial, in which the Church of Scientology played a central role. Masterson's wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, gasped when the verdict was read and wept as he was taken into custody, while a group of family and friends who sat behind him throughout both trial

  • News
    BBC

    AI: War crimes evidence erased by social media platforms

    Footage of potential human rights abuses may be lost after platforms delete it, the BBC has found.

  • Lifestyle
    The Canadian Press

    Scripps National Spelling Bee finalists flex their knowledge quietly

    OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Confidence on the Scripps National Spelling Bee stage manifests itself in subtle ways, like spellers asking questions even though they know the answers. Dev Shah, one of 11 spellers who made it through Wednesday's semifinals and will return Thursday to compete for the winner's trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes, was given the word “Perioeci” and quickly eliminated any suspense with his onstage banter. “Does this come from the Greek ‘peri,’ meaning around?” Dev

  • Sports
    CBC

    Canadian Isaac Brogan, 11, gets bitten by word 'tenrec' at Scripps spelling bee semifinals

    The word was "tenrec," and 11-year-old Canadian Isaac Brogan knew immediately there could be trouble. The definition — any of the numerous small, often insectivorous mammals of Madagascar — didn't provide him much help. "Well, prepare the bell," said the Windsor, Ont., resident, sparking laughter from the hundreds in the audience watching the semifinals of the 95th Scripps National Spelling Bee, held in National Harbor, Md., just outside Washington, D.C. The bell, as everyone at the competition

  • News
    BBC

    Argentina allows morning-after pill to be bought over counter

    The health ministry says making the pill more easily available "removes an important barrier".

  • News
    The Canadian Press

    'That '70s Show' actor Danny Masterson’s rape conviction: Key things to know

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday convicted actor Danny Masterson of two counts of rape in a retrial that focused on allegations the "That ‘70s Show’ star raped three women between 2001 and 2003. The verdict sided with two of Masterson's accusers, but the panel was unable to reach a verdict on similar allegations by a longtime girlfriend of Masterson. The actor, who was led from court in handcuffs after being a free man throughout the proceedings, faces 30 years to life in priso

  • Business
    The Canadian Press

    American Airlines says it will appeal a ruling that would break up a partnership with JetBlue

    DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines said Wednesday it will appeal a court decision that would force the airline to break up its partnership with JetBlue Airways in the Northeast. American and JetBlue face a late-June deadline to end the agreement in which they coordinate flights and share revenue. The Justice Department sued to block the alliance, and a federal judge ruled last week that the partnership violates antitrust law. “We've got a system that allows for appeal, and we are going to do that,”