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More than 29,000 people are evacuated from communities throughout Alberta as wildfires rage in Canada

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

(CNN) — More than 100 wildfires raging across the Alberta region of Canada have forced more than 29,000 people to flee in what officials have called an “unprecedented situation” for the province.In the past 24 hours alone, 16 new fires have ignited in Alberta, Wildfire Information Unit Lead Christie Tucker said during a Sunday evening news conference.Firefighters across the province were battling 108 active wildfires, 31 of which were burning “out of control,” according to Tucker.This type of ferocious wildfire activity isn’t typical this early in the year, and firefighters don’t usually see such a large area burned, Tucker said Sunday morning.But bone-dry conditions, abnormally hot weather and high winds have converged to fuel this “really extreme wildfire activity,” Tucker said.“We could be sort of settling in for a long fight here,” she said.Wildfires have burned a total of 375,000 hectares, about 926,000...

Ontario driver charged for using licence-plate concealing technology

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

A Porshe driver in Ontario was pulled over and charged after police discovered they were using a licence-plate concealing device.Responding officers for the Halton Regional Police Service in Milton pulled a driver over on Sunday evening after it appeared the licence plate was covered.“Investigation revealed that the driver had a licence plate concealing device,” the police unit tweeted. “The driver was charged.”A police spokesperson said the licence plate covering technology was being operated through a button from the driver’s seatThe Milton District Response Unit stopped what they thought was a un-plated vehicle tonight. Investigation revealed that the driver had a licence plate concealing device. The driver was charged. The licence plate could be concealed by pressing a button from the driver’s seat! ^cm pic.twitter.com/WHpGvVmXWv— HRPS Milt HHills (@HRPSMiltHH) May 7, 2023Licence plate covers are illegal in Ontario but have frequently popped u...

Closing arguments start for columnist’s claims against Trump

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer told a jury Monday that Donald Trump should be held accountable for sexually attacking an advice columnist in 1996 because even a former president is not above the law.Attorney Roberta Kaplan delivered the first closing argument in the federal civil trial, showing jurors video clips of Trump from his October deposition and replaying the “Access Hollywood” video from 2005 in which Trump said into a hot mic that celebrities can grab women’s genitals without asking.Closing arguments were expected to last all day in the case as the jurors in Manhattan hear final remarks from attorneys about the claims writer E. Jean Carroll brought against Trump.Kaplan recalled Trump’s comment that “stars like him can get away with sexually assaulting women.”“That’s who Donald Trump is. That is how he thinks. And that’s what he does,” Kaplan said. “He thinks he can get away with it here.”She told jurors that it wasn’t a “he said, she said” case but rather...

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 14-20

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 14-20May 14: Guitarist Gene Cornish of The Rascals is 79. Movie director-producer George Lucas is 79. Actor Meg Foster (“Cagney and Lacey”) is 75. Director Robert Zemeckis (“Forrest Gump,” ″Back to the Future”) is 72. Musician David Byrne (Talking Heads) is 71. Actor Tim Roth is 62. Guitarist C.C. DeVille of Poison is 61. Singer Ian Astbury of The Cult is 61. Actor Danny Huston (“John Adams” miniseries) is 61. Musician Fabrice Morvan of Milli Vanilli is 57. Bassist Mike Inez of Alice In Chains is 57. Singer Raphael Saadiq (Tony! Toni! Tone!) is 57. Actor Cate Blanchett is 54. Singer Danny Wood of New Kids On The Block is 54. Director Sofia Coppola (“Lost In Translation”) is 52. Actor Gabriel Mann (“Revenge”) is 51. Singer Natalie Appleton of All Saints is 50. Singer Shanice is 50. Actor Carla Jimenez (“Growing Up Fisher”) is 49. Guitarist Henry Garza of Los Lonely Boys is 45. Singer Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show is 45. Singer-guitarist...

AP source: Biden would veto House GOP bill on immigration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden would veto a House GOP bill that aims to restrict asylum, build more border wall and cut a program that allows migrants a chance to stay in the U.S. lawfully for two years, an administration official said Monday. Republicans are looking to capitalize on the spotlight as immigration surges into the national news this week with the ending of COVID-19 restrictions that allowed border authorities to quickly return many migrants who crossed the border illegally. They aim to vote on their Secure the Border Act on Thursday — the same day the emergency powers expire. Officials have already seen a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and are bracing for more.The legislation represents the GOP’s first major immigration policy proposal since the Trump era, when hardline immigration opponents controlled the White House. The 213-page bill resurrects a slew of Trump’s policies, such as building barriers along hundreds of miles of border country, and in...

Uzbekistan calls snap presidential election for July 9

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Uzbekistan’s leader on Monday called a snap presidential election for July, with the announcement coming a week after a constitutional referendum extended the term from five years to seven.President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is in his second term, the maximum allowed by the constitution. But the referendum passage allows him to begin the count of terms anew and run for two more, raising the possibility that the 65-year-old leader could stay in office until 2037. Prior to the referendum, many analysts expected him to begin the count only when his current term would have expired in 2026.It wasn’t immediately clear who would compete in the July 9 presidential election, but Mirziyoyev would have almost no chance of losing. He has dominated Uzbek politics since taking over upon the death in 2016 of longtime leader Islam Karimov.Mirziyoyev has introduced reforms that eased the draconian policies of Karimov, but the country remains strongly authoritarian with n...

Wisconsin election officials want to revive ‘critical’ plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Election officials in battleground Wisconsin hope to revive a bipartisan plan they say is critical to rebuilding confidence in elections but that was killed last week by Republicans without debate.The state’s chief elections official said a new division designed to handle voters’ concerns and deal with an onslaught of records requests and complaints was “exactly what Wisconsin needs” and of critical importance.The Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget-writing committee rejected the commission’s request along with more than 500 other spending proposals from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in a single vote last Tuesday.The move is contrary to other battleground states that are taking steps to invest in trust in elections ahead of the 2024 presidential race.“I certainly hope it comes back,” said Don Millis, the Republican chair of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, which proposed the plan. “There are things we can do to improve c...

Energy companies curtail production due to Alberta wildfires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

CALGARY — Vermilion Energy Inc. says it temporarily has shut-in about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of production as it assesses the risk to its operations due to the wildfires in Alberta.The company says its assessment to date indicates minimal damage to its key infrastructure.Vermillion says it has accounted for all of its employees and contractors in the affected areas.Meanwhile, Paramount Resources Ltd. said on Sunday its operations in the Grande Prairie and Kaybob regions in Alberta are being affected and that it temporarily has curtailed about 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of production.Several thousand people have been ordered to leave their homes as more than 100 wildfires burn across Alberta.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith activated the cabinet’s emergency management committee Friday and said there would be daily media briefings on the wildfire situation.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2023.Companies in this story: (TS...

County official vows to fight NYC mayor’s migrant bus plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A top official representing a suburban New York county where New York City’s mayor wants to send asylum seekers vowed to fight the plan Monday by enforcing the state of emergency he declared over the weekend.Rockland County Executive Ed Day, a Republican, planned a news conference to discuss New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to bus up to 300 single adult male migrants to hotels in Rockland and Orange counties.Adams, a Democrat, announced the plan Friday to bus migrants to the two counties north of the city on a voluntary basis. He said the program would help the city handle the more than 37,500 asylum seekers already in the city’s care.Adams said the migrants would be provided with meals and other services during their time in the hotels.Day responded by announcing a state of emergency Saturday.The county executive said Rockland County already has an “extreme” housing crisis and sending busloads of migrants “will only compound that issue tenfold ...

‘Someone Lives Here’ takes home top prize at Hot Docs film festival

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:54:11 GMT

TORONTO — A film about a young carpenter who built shelters the homeless won the top prize at Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival Sunday.“Someone Lives Here,” directed by Zack Russell, took home the $50,000 Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary.Meanwhile, “Lac-Mégantic — This is Not an Accident,” a four-part series that chronicles the causes of one of Canada’s worst rail disasters, placed first in the overall audience poll, earning it the Hot Docs Audience Award.“When Spring Came to Bucha,” a German-Ukrainian film about what happened after Russian troops withdrew from a small town near Kyiv, won the Audience Award for Mid-Length Documentary.An American film about a conservation biologist’s efforts to protect desert tortoise populations from ravens, “Eco-Hack!”, was recognized with the Audience Award for Short Documentary. Hot Docs celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, and showed 214 films from 72 count...