Britain's Conservative government has unveiled a $19 billion package to ease a severe cost-of-living squeeze. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak said Thursday that the government would introduce a temporary windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas firms. The tax is expected to raise around 5 billion pounds ($6.3 billion) over the next year and fund cash payments to help millions of people cope with sharply rising energy bills. Sunak says about 8 million of the country's lowest-income households will receive a one-time government payment of 650 pounds ($818). The announcement came a day after Prime

The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook southern Peru on Thursday, though there were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The 7:02 a.m. (1202 GMT) quake was centered 13.1 kilometers (8.1 miles) east-southeast of Azangaro, but was fairly deep — 217.8 kilometers (135.3 miles) beneath the surface.

Former Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey has stepped down from the Twitter board of directors. The announcement came on Wednesday --the same day that Twitter held its annual shareholder meeting, TechCrunch reported. Dorsey's exit from the Twitter board marks his full exit from the microblogging site. The plan for Dorsey to leave the board has been in place since he stepped down as CEO in November 2021 and handed over the role to India's Parag Agrawal. At that time, the company noted that Dorsey would stay on the board "until his term expires at the 2022 meeting of stockholders." News of Dor

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who is seeking to bring opposition parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, on Thursday met JD-S leader HD Deve Gowda and said there will be a change at national level which cannot be stopped. KCR also took a dig at the BJP-led government's pitch for making India USD 5 trillion economy in the near future saying that China was already a USD 16 trillion economy. KCR, who talked to the media after his meeting with the former Prime Minister Gowda, said they discussed political issues related to Karnataka as also the country. Slamming the C

A man who admitted to terrorism-related acts with the militant group Islamic State is to be sentenced today in a Calgary courtroom. Hussein Borhot, who is 36, has pleaded guilty to one count of participating in terrorism group activity between May 9, 2013, and June 7, 2014, as well as to kidnapping for a terrorist group while in Syria. RCMP arrested him in July 2020 after a seven-year investigation. An agreed statement of facts read in court last month said Borhot travelled to Syria through Turkey to join the Islamic State. The statement said he signed up as a fighter, received substantial tr

The union for Calgary police officers is telling members to remove so-called 'thin blue line (TBL)' patches from their uniforms. The issue came to a head earlier this year when the police commission directed officers to remove the patches by the end of March. The commission had earlier said the decision to prohibit the symbol was made for reasons including its contentious association with colonialism and racism. Officers have until May 31 to remove the patches, although there was no word on how that will be enforced.

An official at Victoria International Airport estimates about 1,800 passengers were affected when it shut down due to an explosives scare. RCMP say they were called yesterday after a security employee spotted what appeared to be an incendiary device in a bag during a routine scan. They say two bags contained what the Mounties' explosives disposal unit determined were ``inert military surplus explosives'' and the man who claimed them has been released from custody with an upcoming court date. The airport's director of community relations says about 20 flights were cancelled, and police are rem

The gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas warned in online messages sent minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother. Salvador Ramos, who was 18, used an AR 15 style semi-automatic rifle in the bloodshed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. It ended when police stormed a classroom and killed him. Investigators have shed no light on the motive for the attack, which also left at least 17 people wounded.

British Columbia has launched the country's first provincewide lung cancer screening program. Health Minister Adrian Dix says the innovative program will both save lives and improve their quality. Screening will be available at 36 centres across all health authorities using existing CT scans for those who are between 55 and 74, currently smoking or have previously smoked, and have a smoking history of 20 years or more. Adrian Dix says the program is the first of its kind in Canada and an estimated 10,000 patients are expected to be screened in the first year. The medical director of the prog