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Ukraine claims Russia is plotting ‘a provocation’ at nuclear plant, offers no evidence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military intelligence has claimed, without offering evidence, that Russia is plotting a “large-scale provocation” at a nuclear power plant it occupies in the southeast of the country with the aim of disrupting a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive. A statement released Friday by the intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry claimed that Russian forces would strike the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, and then report a radioactive leak in order to trigger an international probe that would pause the hostilities and give the Russian forces the respite they need to regroup ahead of the counteroffensive. In order to make that happen, Russia “disrupted the rotation of personnel of the permanent monitoring mission” of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency that was scheduled for Saturday, the statement said. It didn’t offer evidence to back up any of the claims. The IAEA said in an emailed res...

Quebec toddler dies after falling into grain mixer in farm accident

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

SAINT-LIN-LAURENTIDES, Que. — Quebec provincial police say a two-year-old girl has died after falling into a grain mixer on a farm north of Montreal.They say the accident occurred Friday at a family farm in St-Lin-Laurentides, about 85 kilometres from the city. Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau says emergency services were called at about 3:30 p.m. after the child fell into an industrial mixer.The girl’s parents also intervened quickly but she had already died.The young victims relatives were transported to hospital to be treated for shock.Police are investigating the death as is the case when a child is involved, but authorities say there is no indication of negligence.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2023.The Canadian Press

Clashes between Senegal’s police and supporters of opposition leader leave one dead, others hurt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Clashes between police and supporters of the opposition leader in Senegal left one person dead and several injured, friends of the victim told The Associated Press on Saturday. Aliou Bodian was killed Friday in the city of Kolda in the country’s south, said friend Boubacar Balde. “It’s a sad atmosphere that has overtaken the family,” he said. Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko had called on his supporters to follow him in a “freedom caravan” from his hometown of Ziguinchor, in the south and where he is the mayor, to the capital, Dakar — some 750 kilometers (465 miles) away — where a verdict is expected next week on the charges that he is facing. Sonko is being tried for rape and death threats against a woman working at a massage parlor, and could face up to 10 years in prison. If convicted, he would would be barred from running in next year’s presidential elections. Sonko did not attend the trial last week and was judged in absentia. He said he is prot...

Biden: Debt deal ‘very close’ even as two sides far apart on work requirements for food aid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Work requirements for federal food aid recipients have emerged as a final sticking point in negotiations over the looming debt crisis, even as President Joe Biden said a deal is “very close.”Biden’s optimism, in comments to reporters as he left the White House on Friday evening, came as the deadline for a potentially catastrophic default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans over raising the debt ceiling into another frustrating week. House negotiators departed the Capitol after 2 a.m. Saturday without a deal. They were expected to return hours later in hopes of reaching agreement with the White House over the holiday weekend.Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to expand existing work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal that Democrats have strenuously opposed.Even as they came closer to a framework on spe...

Iran exchanges heavy gunfire with Taliban on Afghan border, escalating tensions over water rights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Taliban and Iran exchanged heavy gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, sharply escalating rising tensions between the two nations amid a dispute over water rights. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country’s deputy police chief, Gen. Qassem Rezaei, accusing the Taliban of opening fire first Saturday morning on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. IRNA said Iran inflicted “heavy casualties and serious damage.” Taliban-controlled media in Afghanistan did not acknowledge the fighting. The advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues affecting the Baluch people in the predominately Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents in the area saying the fighting took place near the Kang district of Nimroz. It said some people in the area had fled the violence. Videos posted online, purportedly from the area, included the c...

Cracks emerging in Europe’s united front to battle climate change

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has been at the forefront of the fight against climate change and the protection of nature for years. But it now finds itself under pressure from within to pause new environmental efforts amid fears they will hurt the economy.With the next European Parliament elections set for 2024, some leaders and lawmakers are concerned about antagonizing workers and voters with new binding legislation and restrictive measures and are urging the 27-nation bloc to hit the brakes.Since Ursula von der Leyen took the helm of the powerful European Commission back in 2019, environmental policies have topped the EU agenda. EU nations have endorsed plans to become climate neutral by 2050 and adopted a wide range of measures, from reducing energy consumption to sharply cutting transport emissions and reforming the EU’s trading system for greenhouse gases.But cracks in the European united front against climate change have emerged in recent months. The first sign was earli...

Hong Kong’s 2nd largest pro-democracy party disbands amid political crackdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — One of the few remaining pro-democracy parties in Hong Kong voted to dissolve itself on Saturday, joining a growing list of organizations that have disbanded as authorities crack down on dissent. Civic Party chairman Alan Leong told reporters that the dissolution of the party was a “writing on the wall” as there was no one to take over. None of its members at an extraordinary general meeting filed nominations for executive positions. Thirty of the 31 members voted to disband, with one person abstaining.The party, which was founded in 2006, was made up of mostly professionals, lawyers and academics. At its peak, it won six seats in the Hong Kong legislature during the 2012 elections, and was the city’s second-largest pro-democracy party after the Democratic Party.Several members were charged with subversion under the sweeping national security law that was imposed by Beijing following massive 2019 protests calling for political freedoms that were promised the semi-au...

Officials: UN chief ‘shocked’ by letter from Sudan’s military ruler demanding removal of UN envoy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations secretary-general was “shocked” by a letter from Sudan’s army chief demanding the removal of the U.N. envoy to the country, Sudanese and U.N. officials said Saturday.Secretary-General Antonio Guterres received the letter Friday from Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, Sudan’s top military official and head of the ruling Sovereign Council, according to U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.“The Secretary-General is shocked by the letter he received this (Friday) morning,” Dujarric said. “The Secretary-General is proud of the work done by Volker Perthes and reaffirms his full confidence in his Special Representative.”The development comes amid fighting between the military and a paramilitary force that began in mid-April. The two sides had agreed to observe a weeklong cease-fire, brokered by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. However, the truce, which is scheduled to expire Monday night, did not stop the fighting in parts of Khartoum and elsewhere in the county.Dujarric didn’...

Resources abundant for rehabilitation at Canada’s female prisons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

It’s a one-stop shop for computer courses, post-secondary classes, anger management and even fork lift operation.If you want your food handlers’ certification, you can get it. Need assistance in coping with your addiction? Want to learn more about traditional Indigenous teachings? They’ve got you covered.If you need to delve back into primary school before even attempting your GED, they’ve got that too. The cost of admission? Your freedom.The Grand Valley Institution for Women, a federal prison for women convicted of crimes and serving sentences of two or more years, may not be viewed as a beacon of higher learning, but its a secure campus-like facility that helps inmates prepare for life on the outside.Unlike provincial jails and detention centres, Canada’s prisons offer extensive programming and courses to help inmates better prepare for life on the outside, education and skill-wise, but also emotionally.“I owe a lot to that place. I got my high school diploma while I ...

Trader Joe's addresses 'conspiratorial theories' about its small parking lots

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:38 GMT

Trader Joe's is known for many things: cookie butter, cheap wine, Hawaiian shirt-wearing staff members, 19-cent bananas — and yes, cramped and chaotic parking lots. The grocery chain knows about customers' complaints, and has heard the far-fetched theories. "If you spend any time on social media, looking at things about Trader Joe's, you will find there are lots of conspiratorial theories about our parking lots," said Tara Miller, self-described "director of words and phrases and clauses" at the company, on a recent episode of the Inside Trader Joe's podcast. "People out there in the world really seem to think — not all people, but a number of people — that we are purposefully making horrible parking lots," Miller continued. Trader Joe’s releases annual list of shopper favorites, new items take top spots "We don't open stores with the world's most ridiculous parking lot on purpose," responded Matt Sloan, the "marketing product guy" at Trader Joe's. Some have argued the Southern C...