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Inflation, longer sales season to weigh on shopping habits this Black Friday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

TORONTO — As scores of shoppers pack local malls to hunt for Black Friday deals, Dianne Debarros will be on the lookout for discounted toys and laptops her kids will soon need for school.The Sarnia, Ont., woman has already started her Christmas shopping but wants to supplement her purchases on a trip to Real Canadian Superstore, where the chain is doling out loyalty program points in exchange for $100 in purchases in some of its departments.“I feel like the last couple of years, the sales and the prices weren’t very good, but this year the prices seem to be reasonable and the incentives are there,” Debarros said. She and her partner, Tom, run a deal-hunting social media account on Instagram and TikTok.The annual wave of discounts, door crashers and sales timed to the holiday season will be especially welcomed by Canadians who are feeling stressed about money this year. Inflation remains above the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target, keeping prices high for h...

Marrakech hosts film festival in the shadow of war in the Middle East

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — International movie stars arrive in Morocco on Friday to kick off one of the Arab world’s largest film festivals amid a shadow cast by Israel’s latest war with Hamas and protests that have swept the region for almost two months.Directors Martin Scorsese and Richard Linklater and actors Jessica Chastain and Mads Mikkelsen are expected in Marrakech for a festival that Moroccan Prince Moulay Rachid called a “bastion of peace that brings people closer together.”The prince, who leads the foundation responsible for the festival, said in a statement that the festival was an “invitation for discovery, empathy and sharing,” noting Morocco’s September earthquake and the catalog of Moroccan films and filmmakers scheduled to be showcased.The Marrakech International Film Festival, along with Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival that is scheduled to open next week, are taking place despite war in Gaza. That’s in contrast to the Cairo International Film Festival and...

Daily horoscope for November 24, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

Moon Alert: Avoid shopping or making important decisions from 12:15 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST today (9:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. PST). After that, the Moon moves from Aries into Taurus.Happy Birthday for Friday, Nov. 24, 2023:Because you are spirited and energetic, you influence others. This gives you an opportunity to be a force for good. This is a year of service for you, especially service to family. Therefore, it’s important to take care of yourself so you can benefit others. Is it time for a makeover?ARIES(March 21-April 19) ★★★★Your desire to travel and explore new avenues in life will grow stronger because Mars changes signs today. This will boost your desire to explore more of your world for the next six weeks. You will want to go places by jetting off somewhere or jumping in your car. Do what you can. Bon voyage! Tonight: Save money.TAURUS(April 20-May 20) ★★★★Recently, you’ve been thinking about shared property, inheritances and insurance issues — red-tape stuff. Starti...

EU fleets caught 3.4 million tonnes of fish in 2022

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

The total EU fish catch in 2022 was about 3.4 million tonnes of live weight from the seven marine areas covered by EU statistics. Spain’s fishing fleet exceeded one-fifth of all EU catches (22%; 752,000 tonnes), followed by France (15%; 517,000 tonnes) and Denmark (13%; 459,000 tonnes).Source dataset:  fish_ca_main About 70% of the total EU catch was taken in the Atlantic, Northeast area. The key species caught in the Atlantic, Northeast area were small fish such as herring (19% of the live weight caught in this region), sprat (14%), blue whiting (11%) and mackerel (10%). About one fifth of the EU’s total live weight catch in this area was made by the fishing fleet of Denmark (19%) followed by France (about 17%), the Netherlands (11%) and Spain (11%).Approximately one tenth of the total EU catch was taken in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, where the main species caught were sardines (22% of the EU catch in the area) and anchovies (18%). Italian fleet made 36% of the EU catch, with ...

Harriette Cole: She’s the restaurant patron from hell, and she needs to hear that

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: I’m having a dilemma with my best friend. Lately, I’ve been embarrassed by her increasingly rude behavior toward service workers.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: How to reboot when Thanksgiving stress sets in Advice | Harriette Cole: What do I do about an ex-friend who’s trying to undermine my work? Advice | Harriette Cole: My newfound love of reading is disrupting my life Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m on the road to burnout and I can’t see a solution Advice | Harriette Cole: I felt like a loser so I quit my job after a week. Now things are even worse. We recently went to a restaurant, and she was unbelievably disrespectful. She ordered her food, and when it came, she kept asking where her smoothie was. They said it should be on the way, but it wasn’t because she never actually ordered it. She kept badgering the staff about it and eventually got ...

Miss Manners: Is this lowering of office chairs a common practice?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was at a dinner party where the hostess, a paralegal at a local law firm, was telling us about a conversation she had in her office with one of the partners.Related ArticlesAdvice | Miss Manners: How can I rein in a greedy co-worker? Advice | Miss Manners: How should I have responded to a loud comment about my makeup? Advice | Miss Manners: She was embarrassingly rude in public and then blamed it on anxiety Advice | Miss Manners: We had to give up our season tickets because of the hooters Advice | Miss Manners: Unless her house is on fire, I find the host’s behavior reprehensible The actual point of the story became secondary to our conversation when she set the stage with, “When he sat down, I made sure to lower my chair so that I sat lower than him.”The four other women in the room were stunned. We pressed her on this, and she was surprised at our reaction.I unde...

Cam Smith misses the cut in Australian PGA title defense. Lee leads by a shot from Scott

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Cam Smith missed the cut in his Australian PGA Championship title defense after slumping to 9 over Friday after a 78 in the second round, finishing 21 shots off the pace. Min Woo Lee took the lead at 12 under at the halfway point after a 5-under 66 on Friday, and Adam Scott was next at 11 under after shooting 65 in the second round.Hometown favorite Smith was 2 over after the first round but the 2022 British Open champion only slid further out of contention with a double-bogey, six bogeys and a solitary birdie in the second.He missed the cut by nine strokes and said he couldn’t remember playing a worse round as a professional.“Yeah, no words,” an emotional Smith, one of the stars of LIV Golf, said of his performance. “I’ve performed under pressure before and it’s not acceptable, a bit upsetting actually.”John Lyras was third at 10 under and two other Australians, Lucas Herbert and Curtis Luck, shared fourth place at 8 under Joel Moscatel of Spain. Lu...

Venecia revela las primeras tarifas que les cobrará a turistas desde 2024 y en qué fechas se aplicarán

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

(CNN) — Si quieres hacer una excursión de un día a Venecia el año que viene, tendrás que pagar.Las autoridades de la ciudad aprobaron ya las fechas y los precios de la tan discutida tasa de entrada a Venecia, destino turístico incluido en la lista de la UNESCO. Serán 29 los días afectados entre abril y julio de 2024.La entrada costará 5 euros (US$ 5,45) por día. La escala móvil de tasas que se había planteado anteriormente no se introducirá en 2024. Tampoco habrá reducciones.La primera serie de fechas en las que se cobrará la tasa abarca desde abril hasta mediados de julio de 2024. El periodo comprendido entre el 26 de abril y el 5 de mayo dará comienzo a la temporada, que continuará con el cobro todos los sábados y domingos desde mayo hasta el 14 de julio. Aún no se han fijado las fechas para el resto del año.Tendrán que pagar la tasa quienes entren en la ciudad sin reserva para pasar la noche (o con una exención) de 8:30 a 16:00 horas.El programa se gestionará a través de un...

Taiwan’s main opposition party announces vice presidential candidate as hopes for alliance fracture

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s main opposition Nationalist Party announced its vice presidential candidate Friday as hopes fractured for a cross-party alliance to challenge the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and relations with China remained tense. The outcome of the election could have major effects on relations between China and the United States, which is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the weapons it needs to defend itself. Differences over Taiwan are a major flashpoint in U.S.-China relations.Hou Yu-ih said former legislator and Cabinet member Chao Shao-kang would be his running mate in the January polls. Chao had led a breakaway faction of Nationalist politicians who established the New Party in the 1990s, but has since returned the Nationalist camp as the DPP has held on to power in both the presidential office and the legislature. The announcement comes days after the DPP announced that its presidential candidate, serving vice president William Lai, had rec...

UAPB visits Ball State after Pearson’s 24-point outing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:01:01 GMT

Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (3-3) at Ball State Cardinals (4-1)Muncie, Indiana; Friday, 2 p.m. ESTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cardinals -10; over/under is 154BOTTOM LINE: Ball State plays the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions after Mickey Pearson Jr. scored 24 points in Ball State’s 75-58 win over the South Carolina Upstate Spartans.The Cardinals are 4-0 on their home court. Ball State ranks second in the MAC in rebounding averaging 35.2 rebounds. Basheer Jihad leads the Cardinals with 5.6 boards.The Golden Lions are 1-2 in road games. UAPB ranks seventh in the SWAC with 30.5 rebounds per game led by Jyre McCloud averaging 5.4.Ball State is shooting 45.6% from the field this season, 1.1 percentage points lower than the 46.7% UAPB allows to opponents. UAPB averages 11.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 7.1 more made shots on average than the 4.2 per game Ball State gives up.TOP PERFORMERS: Jihad is scoring 15.6 points per game and averaging 5.6 rebounds for the Cardinals...