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Unprecedented Nova Scotia wildfires have evacuees fearing what awaits them

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

HALIFAX — As an unprecedented string of wildfires in Nova Scotia continued to burn out of control Wednesday, thousands of residents forced to flee their homes spent a fourth day wondering what their neighbourhoods will look like when they return home.Fire officials were hoping for a break in the dry, windy weather, but the forecast did not include any rainfall until Friday night.As of Wednesday, there were three wildfires burning out of control in Nova Scotia and about 18,000 people forced from their homes by mandatory evacuation orders. In the Halifax area, fire officials said 200 structures, including 151 homes, had been destroyed by a fire that started Sunday in a suburb northwest of downtown.Joe Benvie, one of 16,000 Halifax-area evacuees, said he was anxious to get home to rescue his two cats.“It’s horrible, horrible to have to wait,” the 45-year-old mechanic said Wednesday as he sat on a curb in a parking lot near a firefighting command post in Upper Tantallon, N.S...

Vatican questions how priest moved $17 million meant for missionary work into investment fund

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The former monastery on a quiet residential street in Rome once sheltered Jews fearing deportation during World War II. Purchased by the Vatican in 2021 as a dormitory for foreign nuns studying at Rome’s pontifical universities, the building now stands empty, a collateral victim of the latest financial scandal to hit the Holy See.Pope Francis has asked aides to get to the bottom of how at least $17 million, including money to refurbish the dorm, was transferred from the Vatican’s U.S.-based missionary fundraising coffers into an impact investing vehicle run by a priest, The Associated Press has learned. Two years later, the U.S. fundraiser says the money is gone, and the monastery is shuttered. Its renovation is tied up in bureaucratic red tape, while the nuns studying in Rome are still housed at a convent a 90-minute commute away.The story of what happened to the money is one that has vexed Vatican officials on both sides of the Atlantic, all the more because th...

Jaguar recalls I-Pace electric vehicles due to fire risk in batteries, tells owners to park outside

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — Jaguar is recalling more than 6,000 I-Pace electric SUVs in the U.S. due to the risk of the high-voltage battery catching fire, and it’s telling owners to park them outdoors.The recall is the latest in a series of electric vehicle battery recalls because of the potential for fires. Documents posted Wednesday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say the recall covers all of the SUVs from the 2019 through 2024 model years.In an email, Jaguar said customers should park away from structures until recall repairs have been completed, and where possible, they should charge outdoors. Owners with questions should contact a dealer if they have any concerns, the company said.The documents say the vehicle batteries were made by LG Energy Solution, which is under investigation by the NHTSA after five automakers issued recalls due to possible defects that could cause fires or stalling.The NHTSA opened the probe in April of 2022 covering more than 138,000 vehic...

Parts of Toronto, York and Peel regions under ‘extreme’ forest fire risk: federal government

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

As hot and humid air arrives in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), federal government officials say parts of the region are currently in an “extreme” forest fire danger risk.According to Canadian Wildland Fire Information System mapping data on Wednesday, the areas with the greatest risk are the eastern parts of Brampton and Mississauga, the southern parts of Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham, and large portions of Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough in Toronto. Officials classified these regions are “extreme” and at the highest threat level out of the five categories.A part of Barrie along with Essa, Borden and north of New Tecumseth, along with most of southwestern Ontario, were also under the “extreme” classification.Other surrounding communities in the GTHA and southern Ontario are under a “high” rating.The fire danger ratings are calculated to determine the ease vegetation can catch fire, how difficult it could be to...

Fort Erie, Port Colborne urgent care centres closing overnight permanently

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

Niagara Health says its urgent care centres in Port Colborne and Fort Erie will no longer operate overnight as it faces physician staff shortages.President and CEO Lynn Guerriero says today in a statement that the hospital network has made the decision in order to keep its three emergency departments operating in Welland, Niagara Falls and St. Catharines.She says Niagara Health’s emergency department physician group had warned that in the coming months the ERs would have been short 274 physician shifts.The urgent care centres will close from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. daily beginning July 5.A spokesperson says the decision is considered permanent at this time, as Niagara Health doesn’t believe the staff shortages will be resolved any time soon.Niagara Health’s decision comes one day before the ER in Minden, Ont., is set to close permanently, with Haliburton Highlands Health Services transferring all emergency services to its Haliburton site, about 25 kilometres away.

Real-life ‘Fast and Furious’: Car sent flying over tow truck in Georgia, video shows

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

VALDOSTA, Georgia (AP) — It looks like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster. A sedan rockets into the air after driving up the ramp of a flatbed tow truck on a Georgia highway. And the whole crash is caught on video by an officer’s body camera.Shocked motorists and law enforcement watched in horror as the Nissan Altima was launched 120 feet (37 meters) down the highway in Lowndes County, according to police report on the May 24 crash. The driver was a 21-year-old woman from Florida, the report says. She was taken to South Georgia Medical Center with serious injuries, Georgia State Patrol spokesperson Courtney Floyd said Wednesday. After landing upside down, the Nissan struck another car then tumbled end over end before coming to a rest 23 feet down the roadway, the report said. Even before the car stops, the officer whose body cam recorded the crash begins sprinting to render aid to the stricken motorists.A Lowndes County sheriff’s deputy was hit by flying debris, but his inju...

Kidnapping charge tossed out against ex-mayor in case of missing Mexican students

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The former mayor of a southern Mexico town where 43 students were abducted and disappeared in 2014 has been cleared of a kidnapping charge in the case, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed Wednesday.José Luis Abarca, who will remain in prison for other crimes, had been considered one of the key figures in the students’ disappearances on Sept. 26, 2014 in Iguala.The students from a rural teachers’ college at Ayotzinapa had hijacked buses — a common method for students from poor schools to obtain transportation — and were in Iguala that day. Iguala municipal police were among the first authorities to stop the buses and take the students off. More than eight years later, only small bone fragments of three of the students have been recovered and positively identified.Investigations have been riddled with flaws, and courts have tossed out cases against other potential suspects. Some charges didn’t hold up because evidence was obtained through torture.W...

UN envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer to leave post in June

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Noeleen Heyzer, the U.N. special envoy for conflict-torn Myanmar, will be leaving the job in June, the United Nations announced Wednesday.She took on the job in October 2021 following the military coup in February of that year that ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and has led to widespread armed resistance.U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Heyzer, a former U.N. undersecretary-general, will leave on June 12 at the end of her contract. Her nearly 20 months in the post is less than half the time of her predecessor, Christine Schraner Burgener.On her first trip to Myanmar last August, Heyzer met the head of the military-installed government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and called on him to urgently halt all violence, support a political path back to civilian rule and democracy, and allow the imprisoned Suu Kyi to return home and to meet with her.But the military took no action, and in a grim assessment Heyzer told the 193-member...

Chicago City Council approves $51M aid for migrant care

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

CHICAGO — BREAKING NEWS: Chicago City Council approved a $51 million proposal Wednesday to help with the growing costs of the city's migrant crisis.The vote was 34 "yes" and 13 "no." After passionate debate and loud outbursts by demonstrators, Chicago City Council approves using $51 million to help influx of migrants coming to city. pic.twitter.com/6zh4fEhGZG— Tahman Bradley (@tahmanbradley) May 31, 2023More than 8,000 migrants have been bussed to Chicago from Texas since August.Around 800 migrants are sleeping in police stations across the city.The $51 million is money the city received from opioid and vapor court settlements. One alderperson said it would only last about two months. 6 teens arrested after fight outside Six Flags Great America Last week, protestors packed the hallways outside the council chamber and their chants could be heard inside. Many demonstrating said the city should not be prioritizing migrants when so many communities have dealt with decades of di...

Pitbull, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias to bring 'Trilogy Tour' to Chicago

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 13:14:48 GMT

CHICAGO — Latin music superstars Pitbull, Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias announced Wednesday they are joining forces for the "Trilogy Tour."The tour will run across North America starting this fall and will feature unique headlining sets from each artist. The 19-city tour is scheduled to make a stop at Chicago's United Center on November 1.Tickets for the Trilogy Tour will be sold through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program. Registration is open now through midnight Sunday. Fans who are selected will receive an access code to participate in the presale starting June 7.For more information, go to: www.livenation.com