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President Joe Biden plans to skip U.N. climate talks beginning this week in Dubai

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

By COLLEEN LONG (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to skip the annual climate talks in Dubai this week, an event that is expected to draw heads of state and diplomats from roughly 200 nations and the Vatican. He has attended twice before.The White House said it was sending a climate team, including Special Envoy John Kerry, climate adviser Ali Zaidi and clean energy adviser John Podesta.“Although we don’t have any travel updates to share for the president at this time, the administration looks forward to a robust and productive COP28,” said White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández, adding that Biden’s team would continue to build on the administration actions “to tackle the climate crisis.” Biden had also pledged to visit Africa before the end of the year, but that trip doesn’t appear to be happening, either. The White House offered no reasons, but the president has been deeply engaged in bo...

Boston man charged in alleged rampage through sacred, historic sites

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

A Boston man has been arrested after leaving an alleged trail of destruction overnight Saturday at historic and religious sites across the city, including the Holocaust Memorial and even Paul Revere’s grave.Police arrested Lawrence Hawkins, 46, at the Southampton Street shelter and charged him in multiple incidents of vandalism after reviewing video surveillance that traced his alleged spree of destruction along sites closely aligned with the Freedom Trail.An initial call came in to police just before midnight on Saturday when they received a report of a breaking and entering at Charles Street South. Upon arrival, police found the front door smashed and a brick inside the business.There was video surveillance from that incident and police broadcast the clip of the suspect.Shortly after midnight, an officer reporting for duty arrived at his cruiser and found his front windshield smashed. Again, there was video of the suspect and police broadcast a description.Another report came in f...

1 dead in fire at Toronto Plaza Hotel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

One person is dead after being pulled from a fire at a unit on the fourth floor of the Toronto Plaza Hotel on Monday morning. When fire crews removed the person they were without vital signs, and declared dead a short time later.It’s not clear how the blaze started at the hotel at 1677 Wilson Ave., near Jane Street.The building has been used to accommodate people experiencing homelessness since 2016, including refugees and refugee claimants, the City’s website states.The same address was the location of a sudden death on Saturday that is still being investigated, but is considered non-suspicious by police at this point.

A Dutch museum has sent Crimean treasures to Kyiv after a legal tug-of-war between Russia, Ukraine

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Historical treasures that were stored for years at an Amsterdam museum during an ownership dispute sparked by Russia’s annexation of Crimea have been safely transported to Ukraine, the museum announced Monday.Their transport ends a nearly decade-long legal tug-of-war over the artifacts including a solid gold Scythian helmet from the 4th century B.C. and a golden neck ornament from the second century A.D. that weighs more than a kilogram (two pounds).“This was a special case, in which cultural heritage became a victim of geopolitical developments,” Els van der Plas, director of the Allard Pierson historical museum, said in a statement.The museum displayed the 300 artifacts from four museums in Crimea in an exhibition that opened a month before the Russian annexation in 2014.Both the Ukrainian government in Kyiv and the four Crimean museums that had loaned bronze swords, golden helmets, precious gems and other artifacts to the Allard Pierson demande...

Russian FM says he plans to attend OSCE meeting in North Macedonia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that he plans to travel to North Macedonia later this week to attend a conference, a trip that would mark his first visit to a NATO member country since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine. Russia is one of the 57 members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, set up during the Cold War to help defuse East-West tensions. North Macedonia, which holds the group’s rotating chairmanship, last week invited Lavrov to an OSCE meeting that starts Thursday in Skopje, the capital of the small, landlocked Balkan country.NATO members banned Russian flights after Moscow launched its military action in Ukraine in February 2022. To reach North Macedonia, Lavrov’s plane would need to fly through the airspace of Bulgaria or Greece, which also belong to the Western military alliance.Speaking at a foreign policy conference in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said Bulgaria apparently has given permission for an overflig...

Montreal police investigating after ‘Molotov cocktail’ thrown at Jewish centre

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

Montreal police are investigating after an incendiary object was allegedly thrown against the door of a Jewish community centre early this morning. The Jewish Community Council says its building in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood was hit with a Molotov cocktail.Montreal police media relations officer Julien Lévesque says emergency responders were called at about 1 a.m. to a building whose location matches that of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal.Lévesque says firefighters transferred the investigation to the police’s arson squad, adding that no one was injured and there was only minor damage to the building.The executive director of the Jewish Community Council issued a statement condemning what he described as a frightening rise in antisemitism and the recent crimes targeting Montreal Jewish institutions since the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7 in Israel.Previous incidents in the city include firebombings that caused minor damage at a synagogue and a Jewish organizat...

More Canadians experiencing ‘inflation isolation,’ cocooning at home

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

The high cost of living is driving more people to stay at home to save money, and many Canadians say it is affecting their mental health.One consumer debt service describes it as a new social phenomenon — “inflation isolation.”An Ipsos poll for MNP LTD finds half of Canadians (51 per cent) say they are staying home more to save money, a third are spending less time socializing (35 per cent) or with friends (30 per cent), and about one-in-five describes a sense of social isolation (20 per cent) or loneliness (19 per cent) because of higher interest rates and inflation.Two-in-five respondents indicate they are feeling increased levels of stress and anxiety related to their finances.“High inflation and interest rates are not just impacting Canadians’ finances; they are also significantly affecting their mental health,” said Grant Bazian, president of MNP LTD.“Households are feeling anxious and stressed by the pressure to manage the increased cost of ...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 3-9

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 3-9:Dec. 3: Singer Jaye P. Morgan (“The Gong Show”) is 92. Singer Ozzy Osbourne is 75. Singer Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship is 74. Bassist Paul Gregg of Restless Heart is 69. Actor Steven Culp (“Desperate Housewives”) is 68. Actor Daryl Hannah is 63. Actor Julianne Moore is 63. Actor Brendan Fraser is 55. Singer Montell Jordan is 55. Actor-comedian Royale Watkins is 54. Actor Bruno Campos (“Nip/Tuck,” ″Jesse”) is 50. Actor Holly Marie Combs (“Charmed”) is 50. Actor Liza Lapira (“The Equalizer”) is 48. Actor Lauren Roman (“Bold and the Beautiful”) is 48. Musician Daniel Bedingfield is 44. Actor Tiffany Haddish (“Girls Trip”) is 44. Actor Anna Chlumsky is 43. Actor Jenna Dewan (“The Resident,” ″Supergirl”) is 43. Actor Brian Bonsall (“Family Ties”) is 42. Actor Dascha Polanco (“Orange Is the New Black”) is 41. Singer-songwriter Andy Grammer is 40. Drummer Michael Calabrese of Lake Street Dive is 39. Actor Amanda Seyfried (“Mamma Mia”) is ...

Black Friday sales hit $4.1 billion, top last year’s numbers: Shopify

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

OTTAWA — Shopify Inc. says this year’s Black Friday sales across its merchants were 22 per cent higher than the year before.The Ottawa-based e-commerce company says businesses using its software made $4.1 billion in sales on Black Friday.he average purchase in Canada over the Black Friday weekend totalled $171.60 with most sales coming in around noon eastern time on Friday.Shopify says the most popular categories for purchases in the country were cosmetics, necklaces, shirts, earrings, underwear and socks.Salesforce says online sales on Black Friday totalled $70.9 billion globally and in Canada were up two per cent from the year before.The surge in Black Friday shopping came as inflation and interest rates remain high, weighing on consumers and pushing many to seek deeper discounts than usual.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)The Canadian Press

Central European interior ministers agree to step up fight against illegal migration at EU borders

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:58:19 GMT

SZEGED, Hungary (AP) — Interior ministers from six European Union countries on Monday said their nations had agreed to step up efforts to protect the bloc from illegal immigration and target groups of human smugglers that operate on its borders.The ministers from the V4 group of Central European nations — including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — were joined by counterparts from Austria and Germany for a summit in the southern Hungarian city of Szeged, 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the bloc’s border with Serbia.Some EU governments worry that increasing pressure from the so-called Balkan migration route, which leads from Serbia into Hungary, requires a tougher response from countries in the region.The interior minister of the Czech Republic, Vit Rakusan, who organized the summit, said migration is a “shared challenge” for Europe, and that solutions must focus on preventing migrants from entering the bloc illegally.“We all are on the same migration route. We sha...