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China’s Xi welcomes President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus to Beijing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke of a “strengthened political mutual trust and international coordination” with Belarus after he met with the European country’s president in Beijing, according to official media. China has sought to make Belarus a core member of its “Belt and Road Initiative” to build infrastructure with nations from Malaysia to Greece. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has become increasingly isolated following a crackdown on political opponents and his support for ally Russia in its war on Ukraine.But the heavily state-controlled economy of Belarus has dimmed possibilities for major economic cooperation with China. China “opposes external interference in Belarus’ internal affairs,” Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying, a reflection of China’s unofficial alliance with authoritarian states from Cuba to Russia in opposition to the U.S.-led liberal democratic global order.Xinhua said Xi and Lukashenko “also ex...

Gore blasts COP28 climate chief and oil companies’ emissions pledges at UN summit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Don’t trust the oil and gas industry to report their actual carbon pollution, said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who added that the man leading the United Nations climate talks runs one of the “dirtiest” oil companies out there.“They’re much better at capturing politicians than they are at capturing emissions,” Gore told The Associated Press in a sit-down interview.The Nobel Prize-winning climate activist, author and filmmaker blasted Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the United Nations climate talks, who is also president of the national oil company of the host nation, United Arab Emirates. Gore said al-Jaber’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is “one of the largest and one of the dirtiest, by many measures, oil companies in the world.”Gore can make these claims because he just released a massive update of the Climate TRACE database of emissions that he helped create. It tracks carbon pollution from every nation and city across the globe with 352 ...

Filmmaker Charles Officer, chronicler of Black Canadian life, dies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

Toronto-born filmmaker Charles Officer, whose portraits of Black Canadian life earned him numerous accolades over the last two decades, has died, according to multiple media reports.The Globe and Mail first reported his death on Sunday.The Toronto International Film Festival remembered Officer as a significant Canadian talent, while the National Film Board said it was grieving his loss.Officer’s 2008 debut feature, “Nurse.Fighter.Boy,” premiered at TIFF and was nominated for 10 Genie Awards, the precursor to the Canadian Screen Awards.He went on to direct numerous features and documentaries that centred Black stories, including 2020’s “Akilla’s Escape.”Most recently, he won a Canadian Screen Award for best director on a drama series for the pilot episode of “The Porter,” the critically acclaimed CBC/BET Plus series.Fellow director and film school classmate Sarah Polley said in an Instagram post that Officer made masterpieces.R...

Woman seriously injured in Scarborough stabbing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a suspect following a stabbing in the city’s east end that left a woman in her 30s with serious injuries.Officers responded to the area of Eglinton Avenue East and McCowan Road just after 7 a.m. on Monday.Police say a woman was stabbed during an altercation.Paramedics transported the woman to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.Investigators have not released a description of a suspect at this time.No further details were immediately available.STABBING:Mc Cowan Rd & Trudelle St7:05 am– one person stabbed after altercation– police o/s investigating– woman has been transported to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries– anyone with info, contact police#GO2789463^sc— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) December 4, 2023

Spanish newspaper association files multimillion-euro suit against Meta over advertising practices

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish association representing more than 80 newspapers has filed a lawsuit against Facebook parent Meta accusing it of unfair competition in online advertising by allegedly ignoring European Union rules on data protection.In a statement, the Information Media Association said it is demanding 550 million euros ($600 million) from the social media giant. The association represents dozens of newspapers including Spain’s principal dailies El País, El Mundo, ABC and La Vanguardia.The association accuses Meta of “systematic and massive non-compliance” with EU data protection regulations between May 2018, when they took force, and July 2023.It said Meta has repeatedly ignored the requirement that citizens give their consent to the use of their data for advertising profiling.The company declined to comment, saying it hadn’t seen the legal papers.Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms have long used behavioral advertising to make money. The practice involves tracking...

Are we witnessing the end of retirement?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

In today’s Big Story Podcast, the concept of retirement used to be a few years at the end of your life between when you stopped working and when you died. But the average lifespan kept increasing, while the retirement age stayed at 65. Now Canadians believe they’ll need $1.7 million to retire in comfort, and most of the 1,000 people retiring each day in this country don’t have it. When you combine that with the economic turmoil, high interest rates and increasing cost of living, the savings they do have aren’t stretching as far as expected, either. So many “retirees” are going back to work.Cathrin Bradbury is a formerly “retired” journalist who wrote about retirement for The Walrus. She says part of the problem is a lack of conversation about what comes next as we near the end of our careers.“We made it illegal to say people had to retire [and] the conversation sort of stopped there, nobody said, ‘well, what’s that going to look like?’...

UN warns that 2 boats adrift on Andaman Sea with 400 Rohingya aboard desperately need rescue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency on Monday sounded the alarm for about 400 Rohingya Muslims believed to be aboard two boats reported to be out of supplies and adrift on the Andaman Sea.The agency, also called UNHCR, worries that all aboard could die without efforts to rescue them, said Babar Baloch, its Bangkok-based regional spokesperson.“There are about 400 children, women and men looking death in the eye if there are no moves to save these desperate souls,” he told The Associated Press. He said the boats that apparently embarked from Bangladesh are reported to have been at sea for about two weeks.The captain of one boat, contacted by the AP on Saturday, said he had 180 to 190 people on board, they were out of food and water and the engine was damaged.“They are worried they are all going to die,”″ said the captain, who gave his name as Maan Nokim.On Sunday, Nokim said the boat was 320 kilometers (200 miles) from Thailand’s west coast. A Thai navy spokesperson, contacte...

Guinea-Bissau’s president dissolves the nation’s parliament after last week’s failed coup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) — Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has dissolved the West African nation’s parliament, according to a presidential decree issued on Monday that cited last week’s shootout which the government said was a failed coup.“The date for holding the next legislative elections will be set in due time in accordance with the provisions of … the Constitution,” the decree stated. “This Presidential Decree comes into force immediately.”The order referred to the “seriousness,” of the shootout which started in the capital, Bissau, between members of the Presidential Palace Battalion and the National Guard as the former tried to rearrest two ministers released from custody while being investigated for alleged corruption.Guinea-Bissau’s semi-presidential system limits the president’s powers by allowing the majority party in the parliament to appoint the Cabinet. As a result, the National Guard — which is under the Ministry of Interior — is largely controlled by t...

Missing kangaroo found safe after escaping in Oshawa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

An escaped female kangaroo has been found safe after it was last seen in Oshawa on Friday.Durham Regional Police say the kangaroo was spotted by officers around 3 a.m. Monday and then was successfully apprehended by handlers around 6 a.m.“Officers were able to communicate with the kangaroo’s handler,” reads an update from police. “The kangaroo will be checked out by zoo staff, but appears uninjured.”Members from @DRPSCEDiv spotted the missing Kangaroo at approx. 3am this morning. Officers were able to communicate with the Kangaroo's handlers and successfully apprehended him at approx. 6am this morning. The Kangaroo will be checked out by zoo staff but appears uninjured. pic.twitter.com/XnnS3L7XDC— Durham Regional Police (@DRPS) December 4, 2023Oshawa zoo officials confirmed with CityNews that the animal was capture by the police canine unit and is safe at the zoo awaiting transport to Quebec.The animal had been previously spotted in Durham R...

Emergency hearing to be held on Brighton Park migrant base camp

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:26 GMT

CHICAGO — A hearing is scheduled Monday to determine if the construction of a migrant base camp in Brighton Park will be put on pause.Construction work continues on a large winterized tent camp that will soon shelter migrants in Brighton Park, despite a report showing that the site was contaminated. Environmental advocates say it is the latest example of unfair treatment that people on the city's Southwest Side are experiencing. There is a pending lawsuit and an emergency hearing is scheduled to take place on Monday where a judge will decide if work at the site near 38th and California will be halted or continue.  Man beaten, stabbed in early-morning attack on Near North Side "The fact that they have chosen to do this, you know, on a truck lot by the highway in the industrial corridor, on what we know find out to be toxic land kind of underscores a lack of attention to, you know, the safety of people involved," Anthony Moser, the founder of Neighbors For Environmental, s...