Author: chicagoinquirer

by Amy Tennery and Karl Plume NEW YORK – Taylor Swift headlined the list of celebrities present at the U.S. Open final on Sunday, as another Taylor – Fritz – aimed to end a 21-year American men’s major drought on Arthur Ashe Stadium against Italian top seed Jannik Sinner. Sports, television and movie stars have flocked to Flushing Meadows over the past fortnight, occupying luxury boxes and sipping on the venue’s famous $23 “Honey Deuce” cocktails and the celebrities were back in full force for Sunday’s finale. But few stars shine brighter in American pop culture than Swift, who kicked…

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by Joseph Omoremi CHICAGO – Expectations are high on the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for ten years as thousands of Americans including Rev Jesse Jackson petitioned for its timely re-authorization and enhancement to include the disbursement of the $55 billion earlier pledge for the African Union 2063 agenda and the $5 billion for the Special Purpose Investment Fund for Africa (SPIFA). “We belief AGOA has played an integral role in creating good paying- jobs thereby reducing poverty, enhancing democracy and rule of law in Sub-Sahara Africa,” said recently by Fred Oladehinde, President of the Foundation…

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CHICAGO -September 8 – A special teams and defensive touchdown in the second half sparked the host Chicago Bears to a 24-17 victory against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in quarterback Caleb Williams’ NFL debut. Chicago scored 24 unanswered points to rally past Tennessee, which outgained the Bears 244-148. Tyrique Stevenson gave the Bears (1-0) their first lead of the game on a 43-yard interception return touchdown with 7:35 to play. Trying to escape the pass rush, Titans quarterback Will Levis flipped the ball away but Stevenson was waiting. Chicago notched its first TD with 9:07 left in the third…

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NEW YORK – The mother of the teenager charged with fatally shooting two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school on Wednesday called the school that morning and warned a counselor about an “extreme emergency,” the Washington Post reported. Marcee Gray, the mother of the suspected shooter, 14-year-old Colt Gray, said she told the counselor to find her son immediately, the newspaper reported. Phone records provided by a relative to the Post show a 10-minute call to Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, at 9:50 a.m., about 30 minutes before the attack began. Gray declined to detail what…

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – At least 48 people were killed on Sunday in a fuel tanker truck explosion following a collision with another vehicle in north-central Nigeria, the state’s disaster management agency said. The State Emergency Management Agency in north-central Niger state said the fuel truck collided with a truck carrying travellers and cattle. Several other vehicles were also caught up in the accident, it said. The agency’s spokesperson Hussaini Ibrahim put the death toll at 48 and officials were still trying to clear the scene of the incident. Nigeria’s state-owned firm NNPC Ltd last week hiked the price of gasoline…

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by Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS -Algerian authorities declared President Abdulmadjid Tebboune the overwhelming winner of Saturday’s election on Sunday, but a rival candidate alleged irregularities in the count and fewer than half of registered voters cast ballots. Official preliminary results gave Tebboune 95% of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off, with Abdelaali Hassani Cherif getting 3% and Youcef Aouchiche 2%. Turnout was 48%. Tebboune, backed by the military, was facing only nominal opposition from Hassani Cherif, a moderate Islamist, and Aouchiche, a moderate secularist, both running with the blessing of Algeria’s powerful establishment. Hassani Cherif’s campaign said polling…

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CHICAGO – Global investors ploughed money into equity funds in the week to Aug. 21, encouraged by expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September and easing concerns about the U.S. economy. According to LSEG data, investors snapped up $15.73 billion worth of global equity funds during the week, marking their largest weekly net purchase since July 17. Expectations of Fed rate cuts soared as the latest meeting minutes revealed that a majority of policymakers support a September interest rate cut if the data aligns with expectations. Investors are now poised for Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming remarks on…

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by Nandita Bose PITTSBURGH – U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz will tour several battleground states after her highly anticipated Tuesday debate with Republican former President Donald Trump, her campaign said on Sunday. With less than 60 days until the Nov. 5 presidential election, Vice President Harris will kick off the tour in North Carolina on Thursday and travel to Pennsylvania on Friday. Walz will travel to Michigan and Wisconsin. Polling averages show a tight race in the handful of states that could swing to Republicans or Democrats and will likely determine the election.…

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CHICAGO – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris are effectively tied heading into the final weeks of the election, according to a national poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College. Trump is up one percentage point, 48%-47%, over Harris, according to the survey released on Sunday, a difference that is well within the survey’s three-point margin of error, meaning a win for either candidate in the Nov. 5 election is well within reach. While the Trump campaign endured a relatively rocky stretch in the weeks after Democratic President Joe Biden…

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by Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON – U.S. employment increased less than expected in August, but a drop in the jobless rate to 4.2% suggested the labor market was not falling off the cliff to warrant a half-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve this month. The closely watched employment report from the Labor Department on Friday also showed solid wage growth last month, which should help to support consumer spending and keep the economy out of recession for now. Nonetheless, labor market momentum has slowed, with 86,000 fewer jobs added in June and July than previously reported. The report led…

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