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‘It’s an emergency’: City, federal officials meeting to address refugees stuck sleeping on street

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

For several days now, a group of asylum seekers have been forced to sleep on a downtown sidewalk outside Toronto’s shelter intake office — often through extreme heat and rainfall.On Friday, an emergency meeting between city staff and officials from the provincial and federal governments is scheduled to take place. The three levels of government are expected to address the ongoing refugee crisis in the city and develop some sort of path forward.“We know that our shelters’ are full, we also know that a third of the residents in shelter right now are refugees,” said new Toronto mayor Olivia Chow on Wednesday.“Immediately, we need the federal government and the provincial government to come up with a plan. It’s an emergency.”The dozens of refugees, mostly from African countries, have been camping outside the shelter at 129 Peter Street, many using garbage bags to cover and protect their belongings. The city’s at-capacity shelter syst...

Suspect taken into custody in Long Island serial killings, AP source says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings, known as the Gilgo Beach murders, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Friday.The case has drawn immense public attention since human remains were found along a New York beach highway more than a decade ago. The mystery attracted national headlines for many years and the unsolved killings were the subject of the 2020 Netflix film “Lost Girls.”The suspect was taken into custody in Massapequa late Thursday and investigators were at a home connected to the case on Friday, the official said. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.The suspect’s name was not immediately released. The deaths of 11 people whose remains were found in 2010 and 2011 have long stumped investigators. Most of the victims were young women who had been sex workers. Seve...

Kevin Spacey denies that crotch-grabbing was his ‘trademark’ come on

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Kevin Spacey denied that grabbing men by the crotch was his “trademark” pickup move as he got increasingly testy under questioning Friday by the prosecutor who accused him of sexually assaulting four men.In a heated exchange that required the intervention of the judge, Spacey was asked about allegations he had grabbed a man backstage at a charity event in a theater.“Absolute bollocks!” Spacey replied to titters from the gallery in the packed courtroom.“Yes, because that’s exactly where you did grab him,” Prosecutor Christine Agnew snapped back.“Really?” Spacey said as he looked up at Justice Mark Wall. “Did he accuse me of grabbing his bollocks?”Someone said, “Yes,” and Wall told him to answer the question. “I did not,” Spacey said.Spacey was in the witness box for a second day in Southwark Crown Court, his final chance to convince jurors that he never assaulted anyone in a case that could affect whether he’s able to make a comeback after sexual...

Microsoft gets more time from UK to plead case to buy video game maker Activision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British antitrust regulators on Friday extended their deadline to issue a final order blocking Microsoft’s $69 billion plan to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, allowing them to consider the U.S. tech giant’s “detailed and complex submission” pleading its case. The Competition and Markets Authority had rejected the deal — the biggest in tech history — over fears it would stifle competition for popular game titles like Call of Duty in the fast-growing cloud gaming market. But the U.K. watchdog appears to have softened its position after a judge thwarted U.S. regulators’ efforts to block the deal.The authority says it has pushed its original deadline back six weeks to Aug. 29 so it could go through Microsoft’s response, which details “material changes in circumstance and special reasons” why regulators shouldn’t issue an order to reject the deal. The watchdog’s decision could be a good sign for Microsoft and Activision as they ...

Putin says he offered Wagner mercenaries the option to stay as a single unit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under their same commander when he met with them after the group’s brief revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule.Putin’s comments, published Friday, appeared to reflect his efforts to secure the loyalty of Wagner mercenaries, some of the most capable Russian forces in Ukraine, while the fate of their chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, remains unclear.They also came amid new cracks appearing in the Russian military as the war grinds through its 17th month and Ukraine conducts a counteroffensive against the invading forces.In remarks to the business daily Kommersant, Putin for the first time described a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including Prigozhin, on June 29, five days after their armed rebellion. He said he praised their efforts in Ukraine, deplored their involvement in the ...

Rocket being developed by Japan’s space agency explodes during testing but no injuries reported

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — A rocket being developed by the Japanese space agency exploded during testing on Friday, but there were no reports of injuries, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.The cause of the accident at the facility in Akita Prefecture, northeastern Japan, was still being investigated, the agency, JAXA, said. It was unclear and when testing for the Epsilon S rocket could resume. Japanese TV news footage from the site shows the test starting normally, with white smoke shooting out at the side. About a minute later, flames and gray smoke burst upward in an explosion, and the roof is seen blowing off a building. The failure is a setback for JAXA’s ambitions to enter fully into the launch market for small satellites, a market that is expected to grow. An Epsilon S demonstration launch had been scheduled for this fiscal year, but a launch attempt failed in May. JAXA’s launch of another kind of rocket called H3 failed in March.But an earlier Epsilon has worked and managed to se...

Disney is asking a judge to toss a lawsuit from DeSantis appointees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney is asking a Florida judge on Friday to toss out a lawsuit against the company’s efforts to neutralize a takeover of Disney World’s governing district by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees.The hearing scheduled for an hour in state court in Orlando involves one of two cases between the Disney and DeSantis or his governing district appointees stemming from the takeover, which was retaliation for the company’s public opposition to the so-called Don’t Say Gay legislation championed by DeSantis and Republican state lawmakers.Disney and DeSantis have been engaged in a yearlong feud that the governor has touted during his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, often accusing the entertainment giant as being too “woke.” Disney has accused the governor of violating its free speech rights.Disney is arguing before Circuit Judge Margaret Schreiber that any decision in state court would be moot since the Republican-controlled Legislature already h...

Small Town Week, Episode 5: How the new Six Nations energy storage facility could change Ontario’s grid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

(This is the final episode of Small Town Week, a five-part series in which we examine big problems facing small communities.)In today’s Big Story Podcast, so far this week, we’ve covered problems facing small communities — from housing to the economy to healthcare. Although these issues are felt across pretty much every community, big or small, in Canada, there’s one existential threat we must face globally: the climate crisis.We are hurtling rapidly towards a point of no return, and that’s pushing us towards alternative ways to create energy. In some communities, this is viewed as a threat, perhaps as dire as the climate crisis itself. In other places, like a First Nation in southern Ontario, it’s a solution to the needs of a province. It’s a chance to turn the tide of our increasing demand for power and move away from reliance on fossil fuels.Fatima Syed, Ontario reporter for The Narwhal, says the energy project near Six Nations of the Grand River cou...

Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif launches $3.5 billion Chinese-designed nuclear energy project

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday launched the construction of a 1,200-megawatt Chinese-designed nuclear energy project, which will be built at a cost of $3.5 billion as part of the government efforts to generate more clean energy in the Islamic nation.The ceremony to mark the project’s start comes less than a month after Pakistan signed an agreement with China’s National Nuclear Corporation Overseas in the capital, Islamabad, to construct a Hualong One reactor — a third-generation nuclear reactor and is considered safer because of the latest security features.Pakistan and China are longtime allies. Pakistan’s relations with Beijing are so close that its leadership calls China their “Iron Brother.” China is also building roads, bridges, power plants, and railways to link its far west with the Chinese-built port of Gwadar on the Indian Ocean.The nuclear power plant known as Chashma-5 will be constructed at a site along the left embankment...

Cannabis company Canopy Growth signs deals with lenders to reduce debt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:50 GMT

SMITHS FALLS, Ont. — Canopy Growth Corp. says it has signed deals with its secured and unsecured lenders that it expects will help the cannabis company reduce its total debt by about $437 million over the next six months.The company says the moves are also expected to help lower annual interest costs by approximately $20 million to $30 million. Canopy chief financial officer Judy Hong says the agreements will enable the company to preserve cash and further improve its balance sheet through accretive and meaningful reductions in its overall debt.The company says it will repay about $193 million in existing notes with a mix of cash, shares and new unsecured non-interest bearing convertible debentures.Canopy will also reduce $100 million debt provided under a credit agreement for a cash payment of $93 million, with the expectation of further principal reductions at 95 cents on the dollar upon completion of certain asset sales.The company has been selling some of its facilities as part ...