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Evacuation ends in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., as resident recalls terror when fire loomed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

Tumbler Ridge resident Joline Couture feared the worst last week as she prepared to pack up and leave under an evacuation order as wildfires loomed outside the small community in British Columbia’s northeast. “It was absolutely terrifying,” Couture said. As a Canadian Ranger, Couture was also waiting on orders to go door to door to tell people to leave as winds whipped up the flames and pushed them toward the town. “We were told it’s not a matter of if the fire was gonna hit Tumbler Ridge, it was a matter of when it was gonna hit, so that was pretty terrifying, to know that I was going to be knocking at doors and telling people to pack everything that they could because they might not have a place to come home to,” she said. “And there were some people that said that they didn’t want to leave.”But now the imminent risk to the town has lifted.Thanks to recent rain and favourable winds, Tumbler Ridge’s roughly 2,000 residents...

Most of 108 drowning victims in Nigeria boat accident were women and children

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Most of the 108 people who drowned after a boat broke apart in north-central Nigeria were women and their children, survivors and local authorities told The Associated Press on Thursday as search efforts ended. The wooden boat was carrying more than 250 people across the Niger River in Kwara state as they returned home from a late-night wedding when the craft hit a log and split early Monday, survivors said.“We took some little children to the ground, but some of the women did not want to leave their children behind and they drowned,” said Ibrahim Mohammed, who survived the accident on the Niger River, one of Africa’s largest, stretching about 4,100 kilometers (2,500 miles). “Most of the women in that boat had children, (and a) majority of the people dead are women and small children,” Mohammed said. He said he rescued three children but lost nine child relatives.Villagers ended the search operation Thursday afternoon, with the victims all buried near the river...

Biden hopes Su’s role in dockworker deal can sway Democratic holdouts to confirm her as labor chief

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is hoping that Julie Su’s role in brokering a deal between West Coast dockworkers and shippers will provide fresh momentum for the Senate to act on her long-stalled nomination to be labor secretary.Su flew to San Francisco to help seal the tentative agreement after a lengthy dispute that had led to sporadic disruptions at some of the nation’s largest ports. President Joe Biden asked Su, a civil rights lawyer who was deputy labor secretary when tapped for the Cabinet job in February, to join the negotiations, according to a White House official, in an effort to stave off potential work stoppages as the bargaining sessions grew tense.Biden thanked Su, the department’s acting head, and said he had relied on her “deep expertise and judgment” to move the negotiations along. “This is going to have a real positive impact on trade,” Biden said. “She’s shown she’s a true leader and I think she should be confirmed.” The International L...

June temperatures briefly passed key climate threshold. Scientists expect more such spikes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Worldwide temperatures briefly exceeded a key warming threshold earlier this month, a hint of heat and its harms to come, scientists worry.The mercury has since dipped again, but experts say the short surge marked a new global heat record for June and indicates more extremes ahead as the planet enters an El Niño phase that could last years.Researchers at the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said Thursday that the start of June saw global surface air temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels for the first time. That is the threshold governments said they would try to stay within at a 2015 summit in Paris.“Just because we’ve temporarily gone over 1.5 degrees doesn’t mean we’ve breached the Paris Agreement limit,” cautioned Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus program. For that to happen the globe needs to exceed that threshold for a much longer time period, such as a couple of decades instead...

Man sentenced to life for ’99 slaying of 2 teen girls in Alabama

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

OZARK, Ala. (AP) — A man convicted of the 1999 slaying of two teenage girls in southeast Alabama was sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison.Circuit Judge William Filmore officially handed down the sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole to Coley McCraney. The proceeding was a formality since a jury decided the sentence in April and Alabama law requires a judge abide with the jury’s decision in capital cases. A jury in April convicted McCraney of capital murder for the deaths of Tracie Hawlett and J.B. Beasley, court records show. The two 17-year-olds disappeared after setting off for a party in southeastern Alabama on July 31, 1999. They never returned. Their bodies were found the next day in the trunk of Beasley’s black Mazda along a road in Ozark, a city of 19,000 people about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Montgomery. Each had been shot in the head.“The families of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett have prayed for over two decad...

RONA Inc. getting rid of 500 jobs across Canada, citing ‘new market realities’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — RONA Inc. says it’s eliminating 500 jobs across Canada in a bid to simplify its organizational structure.The Boucherville, Que.-based home improvement retailer says in a press release Thursday evening that it needed to adapt to reflect new market realities amid a slowing economy. The Canadian economy has been showing some signs of weakness amid higher interest rates as the central bank seeks to quell inflation. However, GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.1 per cent in the first quarter, beating expectations. The Canadian consumer has proven resilient amid tightening conditions, with household spending helping to buoy the economy’s growth in the first quarter. In November, Lowe’s announced it was selling its Canadian retail business, including RONA, to New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners.  RONA says it operates or services around 425 corporate and affiliated stores under different banners across the country. It says it has 22,0...

Justice Department looking into PGA Tour deal with LIV’s Saudi backers, AP source says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

The Justice Department has begun to examine an agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabian backers of LIV Golf to determine whether it violates federal antitrust statutes, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.The inquiry is in its early stages, and it isn’t clear yet whether the Justice Department would take any enforcement action, the person said. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the inquiry and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.The Wall Street Journal first reported the story. The PGA Tour did not immediately comment.The PGA Tour, European tour and Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund came together in a partnership that was negotiated so privately over two months that none of the players and some board members were aware.PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had been critical of LIV Golf since the rival circuit began poaching some of golf’s biggest names with signing bonuses of $100 million or mor...

Michigan teenager guilty of killing father by throwing lye on him while he slept

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A jury convicted a Michigan teenager Thursday of killing her father by throwing lye on him and burning him while he was sleeping.Megan Imirowicz, 19, of Groveland Township in Oakland County, was found guilty of unlawful possession or use of harmful devices/irritants causing death and domestic violence following a four-day trial. She faces up in life in prison when she is sentenced, scheduled to occur on July 25.“This is a tragic case. The defendant lashed out in anger and wound up killing her father,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said.Imirowicz was arrested in October 2021 after she threw the lye, a chemical drain cleaner, on Konrad Imirowicz, 64, while he was sleeping. He suffered chemical burns all over his body. But he survived for five months before dying in March 2022 when removed from life support. Deputy prosecutor Jason DeSantis said Megan Imirowicz was upset with her father because he was drunk and unable to drive her to a hair salon appoin...

US says price caps on Russia’s oil are cutting revenue nearly in half and weakening its economy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Treasury Department official said Thursday that the cap on the price of Russia’s oil is severely curtailing its greatest source of revenue as it wages war in Ukraine.When the United States and other economic powers in the Group of Seven, along with the European Union and Australia, last year announced an ambitious plan to cap the price of Russian oil, U.S. officials said it would deliver a crippling blow to Russia’s economy.“In just six months, the price cap has contributed to a significant decline in Russian revenue at a key juncture in the war,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in remarks Thursday at the Center for a New American Security, pointing to a nearly 50% drop in Russian oil revenues compared with a year prior. The price cap was rolled out to equal parts skepticism and hopefulness that the policy would stave off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition to the price cap, the allied nations have hit ...

Musician honors late cousin by playing for children battling cancer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:10:48 GMT

A Northwest Indiana man has found a way to turn his family's personal tragedy into an opportunity to spread joy to others through music.Eli Hernandez is known for being many things; a musician, songwriter and singer. But few know the why behind what drives him. He has volunteered years of countless hours playing music for kids chasing nothing more than a smile. Hernandez plays for children who are in hospitals, for those battling cancer, at rehab centers and at Camp Quality Illinois."For that moment, whatever is going on in their world, they forget about it and all they're remembering or thinking of I, ‘ I get to be a musician right now,’" he said.Rick Peltier is Executive Director at Franciscan Health Foundation."Children who come here who may sometimes feel like there's no hope, they've been struggling with an illness or something their entire lives," he said. "When you see him bringing joy into the kids' lives just by playing and singing, it kind of puts ...