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Wall Street rips higher after inflation data and strong bank profits

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks ripped higher Wednesday following a shot of adrenaline from an encouraging update on U.S. inflation. Strong profit reports from Wells Fargo and other big U.S. banks also helped launch indexes to their best day in two months. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 703 points, or 1.7%, and the Nasdaq composite leaped 2.5%. Treasury yields also eased in the bond market following the update on how much more U.S. households had to pay in December for eggs, gasoline, housing and other costs of living. The report said overall ...

Dozens of survivors and dead pulled from abandoned South African mine as hundreds remain underground

STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — Months after South African authorities initially cut off supplies to miners working illegally in an abandoned gold mine, rescuers brought dozens of bodies and emaciated survivors to the surface Tuesday with hundreds more still believed to be underground, many of them dead and others too weak to come out on their own. At least 60 bodies and 92 survivors had been pulled from one of South Africa’s deepest mines since Monday in a red cagelike device lowered thousands of feet underground, police said. Police are uncertain how many miners remain inside ...

U.S. recovers $31M in Social Security payments to dead people

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government clawed back more than $31 million in Social Security payments that improperly went to dead people, a recovery that one official said Wednesday was “just the tip of the iceberg.” The money was reclaimed as part of a five-month pilot program after Congress gave the Department of Treasury temporary access to the Social Security Administration ‘s “Full Death Master File” for three years as part of the omnibus appropriations bill in 2021. The SSA maintains the most complete federal database of individuals who have died, and the file contains ...

Millions have had student loans canceled under Biden — despite the collapse of his plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite failing to deliver his promise for broad student loan forgiveness, President Joe Biden has now overseen the cancellation of student loans for more than 5 million Americans — more than any other president in U.S. history. In a last-minute action on Monday, the Education Department canceled loans for 150,000 borrowers through programs that existed before Biden took office. His administration expanded those programs and used them to their fullest extent, pressing on with cancellation even after the Supreme Court rejected Biden’s plan for a new forgiveness ...