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UK Home Secretary James Cleverly visits Rwanda to try to unblock controversial asylum plan

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — British Home Secretary James Cleverly flew to Rwanda on Tuesday in a bid to revive a plan to send asylum-seekers to the East African country that has been blocked by U.K. courts.The U.K. government said Cleverly will meet his Rwandan counterpart, Vincent Biruta, to sign a new treaty and discuss next steps for the troubled “migration and economic development partnership.”“Rwanda cares deeply about the rights of refugees, and I look forward to meeting with counterparts to sign this agreement and further discuss how we work together to tackle the global challenge of illegal migration,” Cleverly said.The Rwanda plan is central to the Conservative government’s self-imposed goal of stopping unauthorized asylum-seekers arriving on small boats across the English Channel.Britain and Rwanda struck a deal in April 2022 for some migrants who cross the Channel to be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed and, if successful, they would stay. The U.K. go...

French lawmakers approve bill to ban disposable e-cigarettes to protect youth drawn to their flavors

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

PARIS (AP) — France’s National Assembly unanimously approved a bill to ban single-use, disposable electronic cigarettes, in an attempt to protect young people drawn to their flavors and mitigate the environmental impacts of the disposable products known as “puffs.”Lawmakers adopted the bill in a late-night vote on Monday by 104 in favor, zero against. The bill, supported by the government, will then move to the Senate where it is expected to be adopted as well. It could go into effect by September 2024.Disposable e-cigarettes — which cost about 10 euros (nearly $11) each — are small, battery-powered devices that are especially popular among teenagers for their sweet flavors. While they do not contain tobacco, many include nicotine, a dangerous chemical known for its addictive properties.They differ from reusable vaping devices in that they are not designed to be refilled or recharged. Their small, non-rechargeable lithium batteries often end up in landfills.This bill is part o...

‘That mountain is shaking’: First-of-its-kind assessment considers Indigenous stories

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

BANFF, Alta. — An Indigenous elder sits at a table telling a Blackfoot story about the Frank Slide in southern Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass.“The Piikani people, they had been in that area for thousands of years,” Hayden Melting Tallow of Siksika Nation, part of the Blackfoot Confederacy, says in a video during a learning circle.“The Europeans came and found some coal in that area and the Piikani people had been warning the people there, ‘Don’t build your house there, build it farther. That mountain is shaking.’ “They didn’t listen.”In April 1903, a rock slide from Turtle Mountain buried the coal mining town of Frank, Alta., and left at least 90 dead.Melting Tallow, who says the story is one example of why people should listen to Indigenous elders, was one of many contributors to the Canadian Mountain Assessment: Walking Together to Enhance Understanding of Mountains in Canada.The first-of-its-kind report considers both Indigeno...

First-degree murder trial of Saskatchewan Mountie enters second day

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — Crown prosecutors say they expect to call five witnesses today during the first-degree murder trial of a former Saskatchewan Mountie.Bernie Herman is on trial for the 2021 death of 26-year-old Braden Herman. The two are not related. Braden Herman’s body was found in an isolated area of Little Red River Park, on the outskirts of Prince Albert, Sask., that May. Bernie Herman, a 32-year member of the RCMP, has pleaded not guilty. Court heard Monday that the Mountie sent a text to his wife saying he shot someone. Const. Richard Wittal told the Prince Albert Court of King’s Bench that Bernie Herman’s wife and daughter went to his house the night of the killing. They showed Wittal a text message allegedly from Bernie Herman that read: “I shot Braden. It’s over and done with.”Court heard that Bernie Herman ended up driving to his staff sergeant’s home, where he was ultimately arrested. Wittal testified that Bernie Herman usually left his uniform and pistol at t...

CBC cuts could change what programming you see on TV: Tait

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

TORONTO — The CBC’s president says a round of layoffs and programming cuts the broadcaster announced this week could mean changes in what viewers see on television.Catherine Tait says slashing millions from the Crown corporation’s overall budget may mean fewer unscripted, factual or game shows.She says those kinds of content don’t fall under the broadcast regulator’s programs of national interest policy that CBC has to remain committed to.Tait’s comment came as the CBC and Radio-Canada revealed they will cut 600 jobs and not fill 200 vacancies over the next year as they reduce their English and French programming budgets.The broadcaster says the move would result in fewer renewals and acquisitions, new television series, episodes of existing shows and digital original series.But Tait says some jobs and programming could be saved from the chopping block should the broadcaster’s revenues or funding improve.“We play an outsized role as a vehicl...

Quebec pork farmers reeling as a ‘perfect storm’ creates economic crisis

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

ST-SEBASTIEN, QUE. — Over the last two years, François Nadeau has chosen to do something rare among his fellow Quebec pork farmers: invest in the future.Despite economic conditions that industry leaders have called a crisis, Nadeau and his wife and co-owner of their business, Julie Bogemans, went ahead with a new building to house some of their 1,200 sows. It features high-tech feeding and cooling systems and bigger, open pens to replace many of the crates and cages that used to keep the animals confined. In an interview at his farm in St-Sebastien, a rural community about 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal, Nadeau explained that the changes were made in part to ensure the farm complies with new federal animal welfare rules that come into force in 2029.“Despite everything that’s happening, we’re among those who still believe in (pig farming), despite the difficulties,” he said.In the current economic climate, leaving pork production altogether seems to be th...

Residents in Quebec’s Laurentians waiting for news after evacuation from eroded dike

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

Hundreds of residents of two municipalities in Quebec’s Laurentians region are awaiting further news after being ordered to leave their homes due to structural problems in a nearby dike.Government inspectors found structural weaknesses in the Morier dike during a recent visit that could lead it to burst.The evacuation order was issued Sunday night for about 1,000 properties near the Kiamika River in the municipalities of Chute-St-Philippe and Lac-des-Ecorces.The inspectors suspect internal erosion to be the cause of the structural damage.Martin Ferland, an engineer at the General Directorate of Dams of the Ministry of the Environment, says experts don’t know yet when it will be safe for residents to return, noting they’re still investigating and will try to give people an answer as soon as possible.The dike on the Kiamika Reservoir was built in 1954 and has the capacity to retain 382 million cubic metres of water, the equivalent of more than 100,000 Olympic-size sw...

2 boats adrift in the Andaman Sea with 400 Rohingya aboard desperately need rescue, UN says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — An estimated 400 Rohingya Muslims believed to be aboard two boats adrift in the Andaman Sea without adequate supplies could die if more is not done to rescue them, according to the U.N. refugee agency and aid workers.The number of Rohingya Muslims fleeing by boats in a seasonal exodus — usually from squalid, overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh — has been rising since last year due to cuts to food rations and a spike in gang violence.“There are about 400 children, women and men looking death in the eye if there are no moves to save these desperate souls,” Babar Baloch, the agency’s Bangkok-based regional spokesperson, told The Associated Press.The whereabouts of the other boat were unclear. The boats apparently embarked from Bangladesh and are reported to have been at sea for about two weeks, he said.The captain of one of the boats, contacted by the AP, said he had 180 to 190 people on board. They were out of food and water and the engine was damaged. The captain, ...

Israel strikes in and around Gaza’s second-largest city in an already bloody new phase of the war

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel intensified its bombardment in and around Gaza’s second-largest city early Tuesday, as ambulances and private cars came racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the war in Gaza.Under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north. Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-fourths of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, ambulances brought dozens of wounded people in throughout the night. At one point, a car pulled up and man emerged carrying a young boy in a bloody shirt, whose hand had been blown off.“What’s happening here is imaginable,” said Hamza al-Bursh, who lives in the neighborhood of Maan, one of several in and around the city where Israel has ordered civilians to leave. “They strike indi...

Stock market today: Global shares mixed after Moody’s downgrade of Chinese credit rating

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:11 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mixed Tuesday, with Chinese benchmarks falling after Moody’s Investor Service downgraded China’s sovereign debt rating, reflecting concern that the country’s property crisis is spilling into its local government and private financing. France’s CAC 40 added 0.2% in early trading to 7,348.10, while Germany’s DAX rose nearly 0.1% to 16,419.22. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7,499.67. The future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3% and that for the S&P 500 was 0.2% lower. In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.9% to 16,327.86, while the Shanghai Composite lost 1.7% to 2,972.30 as worries flared over weakness in the Chinese economy. Credit rating agency Moody’s cut its outlook for Chinese sovereign bonds to negative on Tuesday, citing risks from a slowing economy and a crisis in its property sector.Moody’s said the downgrade, its first for China since 2017, reflects risks from financing troubles of local and regi...