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WWE’s ‘Smackdown’ moving from Fox to USA Network in new rights deal with NBCUniversal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

WWE’s popular television show, “Friday Night Smackdown,” will be moving from Fox to USA Network next year under a new five-year domestic media rights partnership with NBCUniversal.“Smackdown,” a weekly two-hour live program that features wrestlers such as Roman Reigns, Charlotte Flair, Rey Mysterio and Bianca Belair, regularly performs strongly in the key 18-49 demographic. It’s also experienced strong ratings of late with regular appearances by John Cena and an unadvertised appearance by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. “Smackdown” will begin airing on USA Network in October 2024. Fox had a five-year deal for “Smackdown” that started in October 2019. Prior to that, “Smackdown” had aired on USA Network from 2016 to 2019.Financial terms of the deal between WWE and NBCUniversal were not disclosed.As part of the agreement, WWE will also produce four prime-time specials per year that will air on NBC, starting in the 2024/2025 season. This will be the first time that WW...

Self-driving tech company Waabi strikes partnership with Uber Freight

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

TORONTO — Self-driving tech company Waabi says it has struck a partnership with Uber Technologies Inc.’s freight division to accelerate autonomous trucking adoption.Toronto-based Waabi says the partnership will combine its core self-driving technology with Uber Freight’s logistics platform and marketplace tech. It says that over the next 10 years the combination of Waabi tech and Uber trucks will gather data from billions of kilometres of driving.The two are already running shipping routes in Texas between Dallas and Houston, with plans to expand in the state and beyond.Waabi is led by Raquel Urtasun, who previously led Uber’s self-driving research out of Toronto. Along with investments from Uber, the company earlier this year also attracted a strategic investment from Volvo Group.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2023.The Canadian Press

As ‘perfect storm’ pushes more to the brink, here’s what to know about bankruptcy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

With Canadians’ debt on the riseas they deal with surging pricesand interest rates, experts say many people are in the dark about the insolvency process, even though it could help those in dire straits get a clean slate. The mounting pressure is on display in consumer insolvency numbers, which rose significantly in the second quarter, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionalssaid in August that it expects consumer insolvencies will surpass pre-pandemic averages later this year. “It’s an absolute perfect storm,” said Scott Terrio, manager of consumer insolvency at licensed insolvency trustee firm Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc.He’s worried more Canadians are finding themselves on the brink — and don’t know where to turn. In the second quarter of 2023, total credit card balances hit an all-time high of $107.4 billion, according to Equifax Canada. Total consumer debt r...

S&P/TSX composite down nearly 300 points, U.S. stock markets also fall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

TORONTO — Losses in the base metal and technology stocks helped lead a broad-based decline as Canada’s main stock index fell nearly 300 points in late-morning trading and U.S. stock markets also tumbled.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 285.36 points at 19,929.33.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 190.40 points at 34,250.48. The S&P 500 index was down 46.42 points at 4,355.78, while the Nasdaq composite was down 158.60 points at 13,310.53.The Canadian dollar traded for 74.18 cents US compared with 74.50 cents US on Wednesday.The November crude contract was up 69 cents at US$90.35 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.91 per mmBTU.The December gold contract was down US$27.10 at US$1,940.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down nine cents at US$3.68 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

Banned New Zealand Olympic runner arrested in Kenya over sexual assault and weapon allegations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Banned New Zealand Olympic runner Zane Robertson was arrested in Kenya over allegations of sexual assault and possession of an unlicensed AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition at his home in the East African nation, police said Thursday.Police obtained a court order to keep Robertson in custody for five days while they question him and investigate. He appeared in a courtroom on Thursday for a short hearing. Police said he would be charged under the sexual offenses act and for illegal possession of a firearm after the investigation is complete.Robertson was arrested Wednesday at his home in the town of Iten in western Kenya, one of the world’s most famous training bases for long-distance runners. He and his twin brother moved to Kenya as teenagers years ago to pursue their running ambitions.Robertson, 33, is currently serving an eight-year ban from track and field for testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing substance EPO and for making up an ela...

Man executed for the 1996 killing of a University of Oklahoma dance student

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma executed an inmate Thursday for the 1996 killing of a University of Oklahoma dance student, in a case that went unsolved for years until DNA from the crime scene was matched to a man serving prison time for burglary.Anthony Sanchez, 44, was pronounced dead at 10:19 a.m. following a three-drug injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Even though he maintained that he had nothing to do with the killing of 21-year-old Juli Busken, he took the unusual step of opting not to present a clemency application to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board, which many viewed as the last chance to spare his life. Shortly before he was put to death, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request for a stay of execution submitted by his new lawyer, Eric Allen, of Columbus, Ohio. Allen had said he needed more time to go through the case evidence.Sanchez was convicted of raping and murdering 21-year-old Juli Busken, a Benton, Arkansas, native who had just compl...

Stephen Sanchez conjures jukeboxes and early rock n’ roll on debut album ‘Angel Face’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

For his debut record, “Angel Face,” Stephen Sanchez travels back in time with songs that you can imagine listening to in a Ford Thunderbird or watching a performance of on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”“Angel Face,” out Friday, is a concept album, about a fictional musician in the late 1950s, known as The Troubadour Sanchez, who finds fame with a hit single. The Troubadour meets and falls in love with a woman named Evangeline and ends up in a dangerous love triangle. “Telling stories that aren’t entirely my own I think is a lot more fun,” said Sanchez, “then I’m not having to relive like a devastating moment over and over and over again.”Sanchez is only 20, but he’s been a fan of retro music since he was a child, listening to his grandfather’s record collection. He feels “honored” to be “carrying the torch” by sharing his version of the sound with a new generation, and hopes to delight older fans with its nostalgia.The record comes after a whirlwind year. Last September, he rel...

Indiana woman admits to mistakenly stabbing baby niece instead of dog that ate her sandwich, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (WXIN) – An Indianapolis woman is accused of stabbing a baby inside a hotel while attempting to stab a dog for eating her chicken sandwich.The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to a report of a stabbing shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday at a Days Inn in the city's Castleton neighborhood.IMPD said they found a 1-year-old girl stabbed in the neck. A short time later, police found the suspect hiding near a bush outside the hotel.Police arrested the girl's 32-year-old aunt, Sharon Key, on allegations of criminal recklessness. Moose charges, headbutts and stomps on woman walking her dog on Colorado trail Sharon Key, 32, was arrested on allegations of criminal recklessness earlier this week. (Marion County Jail)According to police reports, the suspect tearfully said the stabbing was an accident.Police said Key told them the family went to Burger King to pick up food and then returned to the hotel. Key claimed her pit bull ate her chicken sandwich, according...

New Guinness brewery in West Loop gearing up for opening

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Fans of Guinness won't have to wait much longer for the opening of their second American brewery next week in Chicago's West Loop.After the announcement in March and a subsequent delay, the 15,000 square foot Guinness Open Gate Brewery, located at 901 W. Kinzie, is set to open up Thursday, Sept. 28.The project transformed a longtime vacant rail depot, which gained a second life for street art, into a new restaurant and taproom for the famous Dublin brewery. Photo by Kendall McCaughertyIt all starts with the beer, which will include five new beers brewed right at the Chicago brewery."The beer program is where everything begins for us," ambassador Ryan Wagner said. "For some people, Guinness isn't a brewery — it's a beer. Open Gate Brewery flips that on its head."While the famous Guinness Draught Stout will still be brewed and shipped over from Dublin, new beers like Corn Maize Cream Ale take shape from Illinois. The corn used in the cream ale was grown in Iroquois County.Be...

Durbin, No. 2 Senate Democrat, disagrees with change to dress code: 'We need to have standards'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:00 GMT

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) says he is “concerned” about a decision to loosen the Senate’s dress code to allow senators to wear whatever they want on the chamber floor, arguing “we need to have standards.”  Durbin, the No. 2-ranking Senate Democrat and chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, signaled he’s not ready to let hoodies, blue jeans or shorts become the norm on the Senate floor, which has been the venue of many important historic moments over the years. “Well, I’m concerned about it,” Durbin told “The Briefing with Steve Scully” on SiriusXM’s POTUS channel, when asked about the recent change in the rules of decorum.  Durbin acknowledged that changing the Senate’s dress code would accommodate his colleague, first-term Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who’s well-known for wearing a hoodie and shorts instead of a business suit like most senators, but suggested the issue is bigger than one senator.  “The senator in question from Pennsylvania ...