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MPs urged to support First Nations clean drinking water bill – National

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Politics

MPs urged to support First Nations clean drinking water bill – National

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak are urging MPs across party lines to support legislation to ensure First Nations have clean drinking water in their communities. The government has put forward a bill that seeks to do just that, and also seeks to protect source-water on First Nations territories.Hajdu has called it the first piece of truly co-developed legislation between Canada and First Nations — even though some First Nations disagree with that framing.The bill has been before a House of Commons committee for months, where MPs have heard chiefs and experts raise concerns that the legislation does not go far enough to protect their rights. They also question how robust it will be in ensuring their communities rec...

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Business

Banks aren’t in the clear just yet

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell holds a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Tom BrennerTom Brenner | ReutersFalling interest rates are usually good news for banks, especially when the cuts aren't a harbinger of recession.That's because lower rates will slow the migration of money that's happened over the past two years as customers shifted cash out of checking accounts and into higher-yielding options like CDs and money market funds.When the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by half a percentage point last month, it signaled a turning point in its stewardship of the economy and telegraphed its intention to reduce rates by another 2 full percentage points,...

Poilievre backs mandatory psychiatric, drug treatment for kids and prisoners

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Politics

Poilievre backs mandatory psychiatric, drug treatment for kids and prisoners

By Staff The Canadian Press Posted October 10, 2024 2:28 pm Updated October 10, 2024 2:31 pm 1 min read Descrease article font size Increase article font size Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he’s in favour of mandatory, involuntary drug and psychiatric treatment for kids and prisoners who are found to be incapable of making decisions for themselves. He said earlier this summer he was open to the idea, but needed to study the issue more closely. Get weekly health news ...

AMD launches MI325X AI chip to rival Nvidia’s Blackwell

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Business

AMD launches MI325X AI chip to rival Nvidia’s Blackwell

AMD launched a new artificial-intelligence chip on Thursday that is taking direct aim at Nvidia's data center graphics processors, known as GPUs.The Instinct MI325X, as the chip is called, will start production before the end of 2024, AMD said Thursday during an event announcing the new product. If AMD's AI chips are seen by developers and cloud giants as a close substitute for Nvidia's products, it could put pricing pressure on Nvidia, which has enjoyed roughly 75% gross margins while its GPUs have been in high demand over the past year.Advanced generative AI such as OpenAI's ChatGPT requires massive data centers full of GPUs in order to do the necessary processing, which has created demand for more companies to provide AI chips.In the past few years, Nvidia has dominated the majority of ...

Inflation rate at 2.4%, topping expectations

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Business

Inflation rate at 2.4%, topping expectations

The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday.The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus.The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.Excluding food and energy, core prices increased 0.3% on the month, putting the annual rate at 3.3%. Both core readings also were 0.1 percentage point above forecast.A separate report Thursday showed ...

Hurricane Milton leaves Florida with less damage than feared

10Oct

By No Comments

World News

Hurricane Milton leaves Florida with less damage than feared

By Leonara LaPeter Anton and Brad Brooks for Reuters Photo: AFP / Bryan R. Smith Storm makes landfall near Siesta Key, south of Tampa Bay At least 19 tornados confirmed, destroying homes in multiple counties Hurricane weakens as it reaches Florida's east coast State prepared for search-and-rescue missions Hurricane Milton plowed into the Atlantic Ocean after cutting a destructive path across Florida that spawned more than a dozen tornados, destroyed homes and killed at least four people, but the storm did not trigger the catastrophic surge of seawater that was feared. Governor Ron DeSantis said the state had avoided the worst-case scenario, though he cautioned the damage was still significant. The Tampa Bay area appeared to have escaped the storm surge that had prompted the most d...

Study finds over 600 different viruses from shower heads, toothbrushes

10Oct

By No Comments

Health

Study finds over 600 different viruses from shower heads, toothbrushes

Showerheads and toothbrushes in your bathroom are teeming with an extremely diverse collection of viruses -- most of which have never been seen before, warned a study on Wednesday. A team of microbiologists from Northwestern University in the US, identified more than 600 different viruses from samples collected from shower heads and toothbrushes. Surprisingly, no two samples were alike. The good news, the researchers said, is that these viruses do not target people. They target bacteria. The microorganisms collected in the study are bacteriophage, or “phage,” -- a type of virus that infects and replicates inside of bacteria. While little is known about them, phage recently have garnered attention for their potential use in treating antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. The prev...

Meta finally finds success in AR, VR three years after changing name

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Business

Meta finally finds success in AR, VR three years after changing name

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg presents Orion AR Glasses, as he makes a keynote speech during the Meta Connect annual event, at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S. September 25, 2024. Manuel Orbegozo | ReutersWhen Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the occasion to show the world his vision of a digital future of work and recreation accessible through a virtual reality headset. The company soon opened its play universe called Horizon Worlds, featuring floating personalized avatars.As the rebranding to Meta approaches its third anniversary, none of that stuff has gone mainstream. But the company appears to have found its footing in virtual and augmented reality through a different medium.After achieving surprise early success in the s...

Pfizer threatened renegade executives before schism: Starboard’s Smith

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Business

Pfizer threatened renegade executives before schism: Starboard’s Smith

Ian Read, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer Inc., gestures as he speaks during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesActivist Starboard Value accused Pfizer of threatening litigation against the company's former CEO and CFO in order to get them to break ranks with the investor's nascent turnaround campaign at the pharmaceutical giant.Starboard managing member Jeff Smith said in a Thursday letter to Pfizer's board that the company or its advisors also "threatened" to claw back former chief executive Ian Read and ex-CFO Frank D'Amelio's past compensation and cancel their unvested shares.Smith asked that the board assemble a special committee to investigate the matter, describing i...

‘The Office’ star Jenna Fischer reveals ‘aggressive’ breast cancer diagnosis – National

10Oct

By Aditi PawarNo Comments

Entertainment, Movies

‘The Office’ star Jenna Fischer reveals ‘aggressive’ breast cancer diagnosis – National

Actor Jenna Fischer announced she was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer last December and has been living “cancer-free” after treatment. On Tuesday afternoon, Fischer wrote on Instagram that she underwent a lumpectomy to remove a tumour, as well as chemotherapy and radiation to treat her “aggressive” breast cancer.Triple-positive breast cancer is known as a hormone receptor-positive cancer. This means tumour growth is encouraged by hormones including estrogen, progesterone and a protein called HER2, all of which naturally occur in the body.October is breast cancer awareness month. Fischer, 50, said she chose to disclose her diagnosis now to “implore” others to get their annual mammograms. She additionally hoped her disclosure would be a “source of support” to anyone currently un...