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Biden, Trudeau meet on migration, China and more

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

OTTAWA, ONTARIO (AP) — President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are set to announce an agreement aiming to stem the flow of asylum seekers at unofficial border crossings from the U.S. to Canada.The agreement on Friday comes as Biden makes his first visit to Canada as president. Wide-ranging Trudeau-Biden talks also were touching on the 13-month old war in Ukraine, military spending, shared concerns about China’s aggressiveness, and violence and political instability in Haiti.Biden and Trudeau met for private talks before the U.S. president was to deliver a speech to the Canadian Parliament. The leaders also were to hold a joint press conference, and Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, were to host Biden and first lady Jill Biden for a gala dinner before the visiting Americans were returning to the U.S.Biden in brief comments at the start of the Friday meeting said he often tells other world leaders the United States is lucky to have Canada as a...

Art duo Gilbert and George get their own gallery in London

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Artists, if they have really made a mark, might get a gallery dedicated to their work once they are gone.Gilbert and George don’t want to wait that long.The dapper duo, who have been creating beguiling and unsettling art together for over half a century, have poured their own time and money into the Gilbert and George Center, a permanent exhibition and research space devoted to their work. Located just off bustling Brick Lane in London’s East End, the building opens to the public April 1 with an exhibition of the big, bold photo assemblies for which the pair has become famous. Admission is free — and that, they say, is important.“We want to make art for people, not for collectors,” said Italy-born Gilbert Prousch, who met Englishman George Passmore at London’s St. Martin’s art college in 1967. They have been partners in art and in life ever since.“Our earliest slogan was ‘Art for all,’” added George in an interview Friday with The Associated Press.“We’re always being s...

Trudeau and Biden meet for bilateral talks on everything from migration to minerals

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

OTTAWA — Clean energy, irregular migration and economic growth will top the agenda as U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meet for bilateral talks Friday.Biden arrived in Ottawa Thursday night and had dinner with Trudeau and his family at their home but the major part of his first official visit to Canada as president takes place on Friday afternoon.Biden and Trudeau are expected to have several announcements following their bilateral talks, including expanding the Safe Third Country Agreement and co-operation on clean energy and critical minerals.“I think we’re gonna get a lot done today,” Biden said, seated beside Trudeau in his Parliament Hill office, in a brief photo op before their private meeting.Biden’s lengthy motorcade arrived on Parliament Hill shortly before noon Friday amid a sea of security, media and red carpet pomp. Trudeau greeted him outside and ushered him into the West Block, which is serving as the temporary home of ...

US-Canada migration deal could end walk-around crossings

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vermont (AP) — The immigration deal expected to be announced Friday by U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would end a process that has enabled tens of thousands of immigrants from across the world to move between the two countries along a back road between New York state and Quebec.Since early 2017, these migrants have entered Canada via Roxham Road outside Champlain, New York, where a reception center staffed by agents of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has been set up to process them, about five miles (8 kilometers) from the official border crossing where they’d be returned to the United States.The Mounties warn that they’ll be arrested if they take one more step. Then they do — and without being handcuffed, they are processed and usually released to live in Canada while their asylum cases are pending, which can take years. Canada is expected to announce as part of the agreement that 15,000 migrants from the Western Hem...

CP NewsAlert: Airbnb to pull listings that don’t have proper permits in Quebec

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

MONTREAL — Short-term rental company Airbnb says it will pull listings that don’t have a proper permit from the Quebec government.The San Francisco-based company made the announcement eight days after a fatal fire destroyed an Old Montreal building that housed illegal rentals.Four bodies have so far been pulled from the rubble and three people remain missing.More coming.The Canadian Press

US sanctions Belarus’ election officials, president’s plane

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. imposed sanctions Friday on seven Belarusian elections officials, two state-owned automotive manufacturers and President Alexander Lukashenko’s aircraft. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, intensified his repression after a wave of protests in 2020 following a presidential election that the West and Belarus’ opposition denounced as a sham. Lukashenko also has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has allowed him to station troops and weapons there to support his war in Ukraine. Those sanctioned Friday include a new slate of commissioners on Belarus’ Central Election Commission, which was originally sanctioned in December 2020. Lukashenko accused the opposition presidential candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, of plotting to overthrow the government. This month, a Belarusian court sentenced Tsikhanouskaya, now living in exile, to 15 years in prison. Lukashenko’s aircraft, a Boeing 737 that he uses for international ...

Fiery Maryland tanker crash injures driver, closes lanes

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

PIKESVILLE, Md. (AP) — A fiery crash involving a tanker truck full of fuel briefly shut down the Interstate 795 expressway where it meets the Baltimore Beltway on Friday morning, injuring the driver and sending up a plume smoke that could be seen for miles, according to officials and news reports.The crash happened around 6 a.m., according to the Maryland Department of Transportation. News outlets posted photos and video from the scene showing flames along the roadway and dark smoke billowing into the sky.The driver was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for treatment, Maryland State Police tweeted. No other injuries were reported. He was in serious condition, Baltimore County Government said in a statement.The crash initially shut down all lanes of the expressway, but southbound lanes opened shortly before 8 a.m. and the fire was extinguished by 9 a.m., officials said. The 8,500-gallon tanker truck was hauling heating oil and firefight...

German extremist jailed for driving into police officer

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German anti-government extremist was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for deliberately driving into a police officer during an attempted traffic check while intoxicated.The verdict delivered by the Stuttgart state court comes amid persistent concern over the activities of supporters of the Reich Citizens Movement, a loose far-right grouping whose backers deny the legitimacy of the present-day German constitution and government. The 62-year-old man, a German whose name the court didn’t give in line with local privacy rules, was convicted of attempted murder, bodily harm, resisting and attacking enforcement officers, leaving the scene of an accident without authorization and drunk driving. His driving license was withdrawn and his car confiscated. He was ordered to pay the injured police officer 30,000 euros ($32,600) in compensation.The court said the defendant became increasingly radicalized over recent years, had desc...

Brazil’s Bolsonaro turns in undeclared jewels to authorities

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A representative of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday handed a set of diamond jewelry he received during his presidency over to a state bank, as ordered by a government watchdog amid an investigation into the gifts.Federal police and prosecutors are investigating whether the goods brought into the country from Saudi Arabia were public gifts that Bolsonaro improperly tried to prevent from being incorporated into the presidency’s public collection, or private gifts that Bolsonaro tried sneak into Brazil without paying taxes. The Senate’s transparency commission also is investigating whether the sale of a refinery by Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant was related to the jewels. The state bank Caixa Economica Federal received the box of precious stones Friday at one of its branches in capital Brasilia, the bank’s press office told The Associated Press. A representative also turned in firearms Bolsonaro received as a gift from authorities in the ...

'The Dark Side of the Moon' show coming to Adler Planetarium

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 15:00:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Fans of Pink Floyd will have an extra reason to attend Adler Planetarium for the next year.In honor of the 50th anniversary of "The Dark Side of The Moon," Adler is hosting a new full-dome planetarium show of the same name. The show promises to focus on what Adler is best known for."It really is a space show," said Adler Sr. Director of Theaters & Visualization Mike Smail. "You will really see a lot of the same beautiful space as in our international productions."On Feb. 27, 1973, the album was debuted at the London Planetarium. "It promises to be immersive; an all-encompassing surround sound and visual treat that will transcend reality and take you way beyond the realms of 2D experience," part of a statement from Pink Floyd said. Pink Floyd releasing ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ box set for 50th anniversary This isn't the first time Adler has been involved with music, but it has been a while."It was called Sonic Vision and Moby curated the soundtrack of modern rock and e...