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Sweden close to becoming first ‘smoke free’ country in Europe as daily use of cigarettes dwindles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Summer is in the air, cigarette smoke is not, in Sweden’s outdoor bars and restaurants.As the World Health Organization marks “World No Tobacco Day” on Wednesday, Sweden, which has the lowest rate of smoking in the Europe Union, is close to declaring itself “smoke free” — defined as having fewer than 5% daily smokers in the population.Many experts give credit to decades of anti-smoking campaigns and legislation, while others point to the prevalence of “snus,” a smokeless tobacco product that is banned elsewhere in the EU but is marketed in Sweden as an alternative to cigarettes.Whatever the reason, the 5% milestone is now within reach. Only 6.4% of Swedes over 15 were daily smokers in 2019, the lowest in the EU and far below the average of 18.5% across the 27-nation bloc, according to the Eurostat statistics agency.Figures from the Public Health Agency of Sweden show the smoking rate has continued to fall since then, reaching 5.6% last year.“We like a healthy ...

Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo gather in northern town after clashes with NATO-led peacekeepers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

ZVECAN, Kosovo (AP) — Hundreds of ethnic Serbs on Wednesday gathered in a town in northern Kosovo, days after clashes that injured 30 soldiers from a NATO-led peacekeeping force and over 50 Serbs, provoking fears of a renewal of the region’s bloody conflicts and prompting the Western military alliance to send in additional troops.The Serbs reiterated that they want the Kosovo special police and ethnic Albanian officials they call “fake” mayors to withdraw from northern Kosovo. The crowd then spread a huge Serbian flag.Wednesday’s protest outside the city hall in Zvecan, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of the capital, Pristina, was peaceful as of late morning. On Monday, ethnic Serbs tried to storm municipal offices and fought with both Kosovo police and the peacekeepers. Serbs are a minority in Kosovo, but a majority in parts of the country’s north bordering Serbia. Many reject the Albanian-majority territory’s claim of independence from Serbia. A former provi...

CEOs got smaller raises. It would still take a typical worker two lifetimes to make their annual pay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

After ballooning for years, CEO pay growth is finally slowing.The typical compensation package for chief executives who run S&P 500 companies rose just 0.9% last year, to a median of $14.8 million, according to data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar. That means half the CEOs in the survey made more and half made less. It was the smallest increase since 2015.Still, that’s unlikely to quell mounting criticism that CEO pay has become excessively high and the imbalance between company bosses and rank-and-file workers too wide. Discontent over that gap has helped fuel labor unrest, and even some institutional investors have pushed back against a few of the most eye-popping packages.The smaller increase came after CEO pay soared 17% in 2021, when boards rewarded top executives handsomely for steering their companies through the pandemic-induced recession.Many of the compensation packages were approved early in 2022 but even a small raise might seem lavish in retrospect agai...

Canadian Blood Services calling for donations with donor base lowest in a decade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

Canadian Blood Services serves as a lifeline for patients in need, but the non-profit organization now needs saving of its own, currently having the lowest donor base in a decade.A campaign running throughout the months of May and June is looking to aggressively recruit donors across the country to maintain a stable base of donors.Andy Jr. Anyaele credits donors for saving his life, saying it’s a gesture that’s “truly priceless.”When he was just 19 years old, Anyaele, who has sickle cell disease, was hospitalized and in a coma for one week, after a doctor prescribed him an antibiotic he was allergic to.“That’s when my whole body shut down,” he tells CityNews. “I didn’t know anything, I’m in a coma and I’m being told everything after the fact when I start waking up. My parents let me know that I survived because of blood transfusions and donors.”Eight years later, the 27-year-old who lives in Markham continues to rely ...

Pay packages for female CEOs fell last year after big gains in 2021, ranks remain thin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Last year was a mixed bag pay-wise for the women who run companies in the S&P 500 — compensation increased for more than half of them, but the median pay package fell 6%.Of the 343 CEOs in the compensation survey of S&P 500 companies done by the AP and Equilar, only 20 were women. Because they are a small group, changes in pay for only a few can easily skew the overall figures.The drop comes after a 26% jump in the value of pay packages for female CEOs in 2021, a year when compensation reflected a recovering economy and soaring stock prices and profits. Many chief executives were rewarded for steering their companies through the worst of the pandemic.Overall, female CEOs saw their performance bonuses fall 13% to $2.8 million last year and stock awards fall 4% to an average of $10 million. Their median total compensation fell 6% to $14.7 million. The median pay for male CEOs rose 1% to $14.8 million.“We still do not have enough women CEOs,” said Lorraine...

Mayoral hopefuls face off in debate over social, economic challenges facing Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

Six of the leading candidates to be Toronto’s next mayor will face off tonight in a debate over what organizers call the critical social and economic challenges facing the city.The two-hour livestreamed event co-hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University, the United Way and the Toronto Star is scheduled get started at 6:30 p.m.Organizers say former NDP parliamentarian Olivia Chow, city councillor Josh Matlow, ex-police chief Mark Saunders, former deputy mayor Ana Bail?o, councillor Brad Bradford and former Liberal provincial education minister Mitzie Hunter have committed to attend.Last week, candidates sparred over issues related to the arts, affordable housing and the economy in four debates held over 48 hours.The busy debate schedule is in contrast to last year’s election campaign, when incumbent and former mayor John Tory took part in just two debates.The byelection to replace Tory, who resigned in February after admitting to an affair with a staffer, is set for June ...

Military says Sudan has suspended its participation in talks with paramilitary rival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s military has suspended its participation in talks with a paramilitary force it’s been battling for weeks for control of the northeastern African country, a military spokesman said Wednesday. The development was a blow to the United States and Saudi Arabia which have mediating between the two sides whose conflict has plunged Sudan into chaos. Brig. Nabil Abdalla, a spokesman for the Sudanese armed forces, told The Associated Press that the move is a protest to the Rapid Support Forces’ “repeated violations” of the humanitarian cease-fire, including their continued occupation of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in the capital, Khartoum.Abdalla said the military wants to ensure that the truce’s terms “be fully implemented” before discussing further steps. He did not elaborate.There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia or the United States, which have been brokering talks between the warring sides. So far, there have been seven declared cease-...

How AP and Equilar calculated CEO pay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

For its annual analysis of CEO pay, The Associated Press used data provided by Equilar, an executive data firm.Equilar examined regulatory filings detailing the pay packages of 343 executives. Equilar looked at companies in the S&P 500 index that filed proxy statements with federal regulators between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2023. To avoid the distortions caused by sign-on bonuses, the sample includes only CEOs in place for at least two years.To calculate CEO pay, Equilar adds salary, bonus, perks, stock awards, stock option awards and other pay components.Stock awards can either be time-based, which means CEOs have to wait a certain amount of time to get them, or performance-based, which means they have to meet certain goals before getting them. Stock options usually give the CEO the right to buy shares in the future at the price they’re trading at when the options are granted. All are meant to tie the CEO’s pay to the company’s performance.To determine what stock and option awards...

Global stocks sink before US Congress votes on deal to avoid debt default

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets sank Wednesday ahead of a vote by the U.S. Congress on a deal to avert a government debt default, while a downturn in Chinese factory activity deepened, adding to signs that the world’s economic activity is weakening.Markets in London, Shanghai, Paris and Tokyo retreated. Oil prices declined.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index edged up less than 0.1% on Tuesday as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy of the House of Representatives tried to line up votes to raise the amount the government is allowed to borrow. Officials warn the Treasury will run out of money as soon as next week, which would roil the economy and financial markets.“Any upcoming obstacle to a smooth pass-through of the deal could still trigger some de-risking,” Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report.On Wednesday, an official Chinese survey of manufacturers found activity contracted in May on weak global and domestic consumer demand.In early trading, the FT...

CEOs got smaller raises. It would still take a typical worker two lifetimes to make their yearly pay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:18:00 GMT

After ballooning for years, CEO pay growth is finally slowing.The typical compensation package for chief executives who run S&P 500 companies rose just 0.9% last year, to a median of $14.8 million, according to data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar. That means half the CEOs in the survey made more and half made less. It was the smallest increase since 2015.Still, that’s unlikely to quell mounting criticism that CEO pay has become excessively high and the imbalance between company bosses and rank-and-file workers too wide. Discontent over that gap has helped fuel labor unrest, and even some institutional investors have pushed back against a few of the most eye-popping packages.The smaller increase came after CEO pay soared 17% in 2021, when boards rewarded top executives handsomely for steering their companies through the pandemic-induced recession. Trump pledges to end birthright citizenship on first day in office Many of the compensation packages were ap...